Chapter 7
In a situation like this, I had to remain calm. My jaw was clenched so tightly it felt ready to crack, and I could barely steady my breathing. I bit down hard on my lower lip and considered every possibility carefully.
‘As I thought… she clearly hasn’t considered that my soul was transferred.’
In a way, it was only natural. My sister was also a member of the Friesna family, and she knew that freely transferring a soul was high-level magic of at least the eighth tier.
If I reconstructed the situation on that premise, my sister’s misunderstanding was obvious.
She must have concluded that the ‘protective device’ Rene had used to knock me unconscious on that fateful day had put her younger brother into a coma.
“Flamma!”
“What?!”
The heat of fierce flames flared at the nape of my neck. My sister’s eyes flashed with the sharpness of a snake. She let go of my collar and darted several steps backward.
“The fact that you’re resisting… I may take it that my guess was correct?”
My sister quickly regained her cold expression and summoned a wand from thin air without moving a finger.
I, too, managed to stand, barely supporting my staggering legs. The bones in my fused legs throbbed, but I forced myself to ignore them and drew my wand.
“I’ll explain everything… all the truth I know. So please, listen to me for just a moment.”
In a situation like this, rashly saying something like ‘I’m really Evan!’ would be the worst possible move. If I were facing my sister, who had lost all reason in her anger, I would turn to ash before I could even take a proper breath.
That was why I had to rely on the Friesna family’s chivalry, etched into my sister’s very bones. Even if the stranger before her were the enemy who had harmed her younger brother, once they had clashed under the name of a ‘duel,’ the hollow trappings of nobility would force her to show at least a minimum of courtesy.
“Even in this situation, you shamelessly attempt to make excuses.”
Though she glared at me with murderous intent, my sister did not recklessly unleash her magic. Yes, there was still a chance.
“It is not an excuse, Secretary.”
The mere fact that my heart had not stopped meant that I had at least accomplished my immediate objective. I rubbed my thigh, which was slowly regaining sensation, and spoke.
“I don’t know what clue you found, Secretary, but I swear that I wasn’t the one who did this to Evan. If you would tell me what you discovered, I’ll clear up every last misunderstanding.”
“You…!”
Her tightly pressed lips trembled slightly, as though she had clenched her teeth.
But she seemed to be barely holding on to her reason despite her anger. Taking a deep breath to suppress her emotions, my sister spoke calmly.
“Fine. I hate going on and on trying to persuade people with words, so I’ll let you see it with your own two eyes.”
Keeping her wand aimed at me, she briefly intoned an incantation.
“Levita Tendra.”
With a click, the handbag opened. A golden magic scroll sprang out from inside. It spun in midair, then unfurled like a carpet.
‘To manipulate mana with such precision without even a wand….’
The realm of a fifth-tier mage was still far beyond anything I could dare reach.
As I unconsciously bit down hard on my lower lip, the black crow sitting quietly on my sister’s shoulder fluttered its wings and flew up, landing lightly on the scroll.
“Now, show everyone everything you saw and heard.”
My sister whispered in an intentionally gentle voice. At that moment, the crow’s eyes glowed blue, and the snow-white magic scroll turned black.
‘There was a witness…?’
Of course, I knew what magic my sister had cast.
For some reason, a chill crept up the back of my neck. I furrowed my brow and held my breath.
At last, the pitch-black surface of the scroll began to glow faintly, and a blurry image appeared.
And that image vividly depicted a blond woman carrying a silver-haired man on her back as she walked through the darkness of the herb garden.
“……What?”
The breath I had held in surprise finally resumed. My heart seemed to drop into my stomach, and my veins stood out all over my body. I staggered and turned toward my sister. Her face had gone utterly cold. Her frozen lips slowly opened.
“Now, explain that.”
Then my sister began flicking her wand.
‘H-How can that possibly….’
My mind refused to understand. That scene was impossible.
For that to be possible… yes, there was only one possibility.
“K-Kairos was controlling me!”
It was the only answer that could explain this complete mess.
If Kairos was the freshman, he could easily handle high-level magic capable of controlling another person’s mind and using them like a puppet.
“I expected you to make an excuse like that.”
But my sister continued flicking her wand with an icy expression.
The image in the scroll wavered hazily once more, and this time, the familiar interior of the library appeared clearly.
Along with the freshman brat, seated in his usual spot beneath the window and reading with his lips firmly sealed.
“Kairos’s alibi for that day has already been confirmed. And in the lie detection I performed myself just now, I didn’t find a single suspicious thing.”
Her decisive voice sounded like that of a merciless judge condemning a criminal.
“There is no possibility that the image was tampered with, either. Unlike some people, animals can never lie, you see.”
The final blow. My sister’s gaze stabbed into me like a sharp blade. I could clearly see the tension in the hand gripping her wand, as well as the knuckles of her tightly clenched hand turning white.
‘……Crazy.’
I still couldn’t believe reality. Rene herself had done this—locked my soul inside her body?
What was even more maddening was that, if so, the statement ‘Rene put Evan into a coma’ was not technically false.
And naturally… there was no chance that talk of something as absurd as soul transfer would get through to my sister in her current state.
“Tenebre Suffocatio!”
As though she no longer even wanted to hear another excuse, my sister pronounced a sentence of execution without hesitation. Along the arc traced by her swinging wand, an ominous flash that foretold death gleamed.
“Vortex Defensio!”
I reflexively shouted the defensive spell and stepped backward.
A pitch-black flash sharp enough to flay flesh was instantly sucked into the enormous mana vortex that unfolded before my eyes.
‘Damn it, I can’t control my mana consumption at all….’
I somehow managed to block my sister’s magic, but at the same time, overwhelming fatigue swept through my entire body. Even without checking, I instinctively knew that more than half my mana had been consumed by that single defensive spell.
“What…?”
My sister, for her part, looked surprised that her fourth-tier magic had been blocked by a mere first-year’s spell.
My sister’s expression grew even colder as she asked,
“You… what are you, exactly?”
“Please… please listen to me, Secretary.”
To survive, I had to seize on her agitation and keep pressing.
I grabbed at my staggering legs and tried to force my voice out, but….
“Ignis Pila, Supremum!”
My sister’s shrill, furious voice rang out. At the same time, a fireball the size of my torso instantly washed everything around me in white.
She must have truly been angry; my sister had even tacked on the needless modifier ‘Maximize.’ I squeezed one eye shut and shouted a defensive spell.
“S-Scutum Terrae!”
A deafening roar and vibration struck as though an earthquake had occurred. At the same time, an enormous stone shield at least three meters tall rose before my eyes.
‘Crazy, the mana….’
No matter how intently I concentrated, I could not control my mana consumption at all. Merely chanting the spell drew out as much mana as if I had added ‘Maximize’ three times.
The enormous fireball collided head-on with the stone shield and exploded with a roar, but fortunately, the stone shield only developed a few cracks. I could not even properly feel its fierce heat.
I loosened the mana structure and brought down the stone shield, then immediately swung my wand at my sister.
“Pluma Lifto!”
I hated attacking my sister more than I hated death, but I had no other choice. For now, surviving came first.
The reason the faculty had not rushed out despite all this chaos was simply that my sister’s perception-obscuring barrier covered the entire herb garden. If only I could escape this cursed barrier, the knights and teachers would sense the mana and come rushing here.
“What a pointless move! Scutum Terrae!”
My sister gritted her teeth and raised her voice. A stone shield exactly as tall as she was rose up and began blocking the fragments of stone I fired.
‘Run…!’
Now that the stone shield blocked her view, she could not possibly aim at me accurately. I immediately turned and ran toward the edge of the herb garden.
“Vortex Defensio!”
When I squeezed out my last bit of mana and cast a mana vortex as a last resort, my mana reserves truly became completely empty. I could no longer even walk properly.
“Running away in the middle of a duel? Infernum Plasma, Supremum!”
Even so, the vortex I cast with every ounce of my strength managed to block my sister’s full-power fourth-tier fire spell once.
I felt the mana vortex shatter into pieces, but the edge of the herb garden was already right in front of my nose. I squeezed out every last ounce of strength, increased my speed, and finally stepped across the boundary with one foot.
But at that exact moment,
“Keh….”
My legs rose helplessly into the air. A rough fist the size of my face was pressed squarely into my abdomen.
What stopped me was not magic. It was a single merciless punch—so barbaric, so primitive, and yet so incredibly effective.
“Kheok… cough….”
The urge to vomit surged up into my mouth. As I sprawled helplessly across the ground, a familiar sigh drifted faintly from somewhere.
It was Egg. He casually brushed off his hands.
“Good heavens….”
My sister’s voice, sounding slightly startled, reached me through my already-blurring vision. I began to sense the scent of her perfume once more.
“Ventus! I told you never to use violence, no matter what!”
This time, I did not hear a sharp crack like a slap across the cheek. Only my sister’s shrill scolding rang through my hollow ears.
“I’m sorry, young lady.”
With Egg’s deep apology, a thick, rough hand gripped the nape of my neck. My body was lifted into the air with absurd ease.
“How shall I dispose of him?”
The grim conversation continued, but all I could do was cling to consciousness. I heard my sister say, “Hmm….” as she considered.
“Take him home. Judging by his magical output, he doesn’t seem like an ordinary first-year.”
‘……Fuck.’
Even through my dazed mind, the underground dungeon beneath the family home rose vividly before me, along with the screams of the ‘enemies of the family’ that had echoed there without end.
“Yes, young lady.”
Egg silently lowered his head and slung me over his shoulder like a piece of luggage.
“Umbra Cloak.”
My sister cast a temporary disguise over me.
Then she swept back her bangs and brought her face close to mine.
“You’d better think of a way to return my brother to normal quickly. The Friesna family never forgives its enemies.”
“Sis….”
“Take him away.”
My sister turned away coldly, as though she had nothing more to say. She sighed and took a powder compact from her pocket.
That was when it happened.
“Collapsus Instantis.”
“……!”
Egg’s body suddenly stiffened. At the same time, my body rolled limply onto the ground.
“Mentis Purga!”
My sister threw the powder in her hand straight onto the ground, then immediately drew her wand. Struck by her healing magic, Egg staggered and began to breathe heavily.
“Kidnapping a student is a clear violation of the school rules, Secretary.”
At the same time, a voice rang out—one I knew all too well, painfully so.
‘……The freshman?’
In my dazed mind, I whispered that name as though merely repeating it.
And at the same time, my body, drained of all its mana, shut down with a ping. My consciousness… sank deep into the abyss.