Chapter 57 - The World of Competition is Cruel

"Damn it. We're late."

"I told you we should run."

"You said your legs were shaking from all the running earlier. When I offered to carry you, you said you didn't want that. A maid should carry their master and pull rickshaws when they say their legs hurt, you know? Huh?"

Ah~ I can't hear you~ Sophia covers her ears with her fingers and shakes her head vigorously. I glared at the back of her silver head as I walked.

Then we came upon the spectator stands buzzing with noise, as if the match had already started. It seemed to be well underway.

"Ishia used Magic Chant Breaking well, right?"

"She was using it well until this morning? It should be fine since she said it doesn't work when you get close."

I asked just to confirm, but if that's the case, it's fine. She'll probably win if she mixes the tricks I taught her with Magic Chant Breaking. No need to worry.

We passed through the spectator stands which were bustling but not packed, perhaps thanks to all the ordinary spectators having left.

Then I saw them. Blue hair waving at us after spotting us. Blonde hair that spotted me while watching the match boredly.

She snickered and pointed at the arena. Following her snow-white hand, a scene that made me doubt my eyes came into view.

"Wow. What is that?"

"..."

I couldn't speak. I wanted to, but my mouth wouldn't move.

The reason? There's obviously only one.

My treasures are flying away over there. They're flying past the clouds towards the solar system.

It was shocking enough to cause such hallucinations. The two people weren't clearly visible.

What was visible were countless light purple flowers filling the arena and the smoke emitted by the flowers.

Probably poisonous mist made of poison. Ishia and Violet fighting could only be seen occasionally. The inside was barely visible.

I rushed over and asked the positive blue-hair and damn blonde.

"What's the situation? What happened? Why did you let such magic be deployed? That idiot?"

"Seonghoon. You should give up. You're losing one maid today. But it's fine since you still have two, right?"

This one has already given up. Raphael who was watching the arena boredly shrugged and snickered.

Should I kill her? Letting Ishia go from being a maid isn't particularly a problem. It's not like the hierarchy changes if I let her go.

The problem is the treasures. Treasures that wouldn't hurt even if put in my eye.

"Hmm. Master─"

"Just the name is fine. Don't even add -nim."

"Okay. Then what should I call you? You? Oh? This is nice? It already feels like newlyweds."

What newlyweds? Don't blush. Don't be embarrassed. Don't twist your ponytail.

This one is too hard to handle. I tell the others to call me master as a joke, but she really does it so it's tough.

As if the joke was over, Shin Gayeon who returned to normal explained the situation.

As soon as the match started, Ishia didn't think about fighting and just opened her eyes wide.

Then she kept looking around the spectator stands and allowed Lucy's magic.

As a result, those flowers spread on the ground and mist proliferated, making the fight disadvantageous.

"What about "Magic Chant Breaking"?"

"Don't know. Seems like it's not working."

"Hmm."

I sat down. I crossed my arms and whispered against the shoulder before Sophia or Raphael could sit beside me.

"Lachesis."

[Meow?]

"Trip Lucy. Quickly."

[Are you crazy meow? Doing that during a match─]

I showed the pattern on my wrist to the resisting Lachesis. The black cat who flinched hesitated for a moment then clicked her tongue as if she had no choice.

[You're really trash meow.]

"Yeah. I know."

What can I do. The world of competition is cruel. You use every method you can. That's competition.

That's the path leading to treasures. I'm just having my own duel.

I'm not bad. If anything is bad, isn't it Ishia who made me do this?

"Even cheating, you know. If you don't get caught it's not cheating. It's a trick."

"What if you get caught?"

"If you get caught it's cheating. Just don't get caught."

"Oh... You just got caught by me though?"

I pushed away Raphael's face with an expression like 'I got you!'. Getting caught by you doesn't constitute a crime.

"Go! Rakeemong!!"

[Sigh.]

Along with the sound of a sigh, an anomaly occurred. A scream was heard from the quiet battlefield that had been showing itself bit by bit until now.

─Eek!!!!

"Puhaha!!!!!"

Ah. Sorry.

I spit it out.

***

"Eek!!!!"

"??"

Ishia who was fighting with a frown doubted her eyes. Lucy who was deploying magic and pushing her back fell.

Her legs just got tangled on their own with nothing there.

'That Lucy?'

It's impossible. She's absolutely not a woman who would fall on her own. She's a woman who would eliminate all reasons for falling if she thought she might fall.

A woman who eliminates variables that would result in falling.

She fell?

Ishia looked around hurriedly. Her eyes were full of expectation. Like the eyes of a child looking for parents who said they wouldn't come to observation class but came.

Then as she came out of the mist and looked around, she saw him.

A man smiling while looking this way between the eye-catching blonde and silver hair even from far away. Black hair. Black eyes.

Her furrowed brow until just now relaxes. Her protruding lips retract and the corners of her mouth rise.

Her bent eyebrows turn the other way, and her mood that had gone underground to the inner core starts to fly in the sky.

Ishia waved her hand without realizing.

But what comes back is a reaction of frowning and waving his hand as if telling her to concentrate.

"Hmph."

At the cold reaction, Ishia came back into the poison mist.

'He came to watch after all.'

Pretending he didn't. Is this what they call tsundere? As she smiled broadly, she met eyes with Lucy who was getting up while twisting her lips.

"Is it funny? Right now?"

"No. It's not?"

"....Nepenthes."

The purple flowers proliferating around look this way. She dodged attacks spit out like arrows.

"It really isn't!!"

She didn't laugh because she fell but they won't believe her. It's so unfair she could die.

It was already disadvantageous after allowing this magic while looking for Lee Seonghoon after the start, and now they won't even believe her so she felt miserable.

"Hah. Just surrender. It's a waste of time. The poison mist spit by my flowers decomposes magic power. Between me who can't use magic but has flowers fighting for me, and you with nothing. Who do you think will win?"

Ishia tilted her head at the obvious question.

"I'll win."

"Huh."

Honestly Ishia was a bit surprised too. She expected what method she would bring but she completely sealed magic. Since magic power won't concentrate, naturally neither "Magic Chant Breaking" nor "Parallel Chanting" can be used.

No need to mention tricks.

Since she does strange things using magic. She eliminates the variable of magic itself. It was truly Lucy Violet-like thinking.

"What are you trusting to say you'll win? When all you've been doing is dodging attacks."

"Because there's someone who believes in me."

"Huh?"

To be honest, it feels like she can't win. Her body that has learned defeat until now seemed to be saying 'You can't beat Lucy Violet.'

However, Ishia concluded that she can win.

She had seen it in a book before. That expectations kill people. That the heaviest emotion in the world is expectation.

But everything in the world was relative.

Ishia learned "Magic Chant Breaking" thanks to that expectation. She gains courage to fight with that one expectation.

She does her utmost to live up to expectations because she's expected to. That's all.

Since he said she can do it, Ishia can do it.

She took out an object she had been preciously keeping. She doesn't know its name. It's just a skull-shaped mask.

The mask she kept because Lee Seonghoon forgot when she told him to give it back.

She didn't have any particularly bad intentions. Just. She just had it..!

"It's useless to block with something like a mask. This poison sticks to the skin and blocks magic power concentration─"

Ignoring Lucy who was explaining noisily, she put on the mask.

[You have equipped Skull Mask.]

[From now on all abilities including skills, authorities, and magic based on visual effects will be nullified.]

[When nullifying abilities based on visual effects, there is a certain probability of inflicting status ailment "Fear" on the opponent.]

And a blue window appears. She ignores this too. The reason for wearing the mask is simple. To concentrate.

When you start concentrating, your field of vision narrows. Conversely, what happens when you start concentrating from a narrowed field of vision?

You become able to concentrate quickly even in situations where you can't concentrate. She thinks. She thinks and thinks again. While feeling like the flow around her has slowed down, Ishia grasped the situation.

Poison.

She said it was a poison harmless to humans that blocks magic power concentration. Lucy used this poison to block her magic, and fought using the Nepenthes spread around.

Then can magic not be used at all inside this poison?

Ishia could firmly answer no to that question.

This poison interferes with magic power concentration. When you try to use magic by writing a magic circle and flowing in magic power, the concentration soon unravels and disappears. There was no exception even for "Magic Chant Breaking".

The magic power scatters before manifesting as magic.

'Then if I bind it with magic before it scatters.'

Leave the body. Bind magic power to magic. The poison affects Ishia's body. It doesn't affect magic.

It was a gamble close to impossible. Because magic power scatters right away when concentrated.

It didn't even give 5 seconds of time. But the current Ishia can do it.

She's wearing Lee Seonghoon's mask and doing thought acceleration using the meditation method she learned a few days ago.

The skill "Magic Chant Breaking (EX)" assists magic.

Ishia just needs to concentrate and manifest magic before the magic power scatters.

It's not such a simple task, but she could do it. It feels like she can do it now.

'I can do it.'

─You can do it.

As Lee Seonghoon's words and her own thoughts overlapped, Ishia stretched out her hand.

She concentrates magic power.

1 second.

She concretizes the concentrated magic power into a technique.

2 seconds.

She doesn't float a magic circle. She stuffs magic power into the magic circle settled in her head.

3 seconds.

The stuffed magic power rummages through each circuit and infuses magic power. The magic circle in her head shines.

4 seconds.

A blue window appears.

[Skill "Magic Chant Breaking (EX)" assists magic.]

5 seconds.

The concentrated magic power left her hand. The magic power that transferred to magic changes into a sphere of darkness while emitting brilliant light.

A sphere of darkness floated up. It's not a silent incantation sphere.

Layer upon layer. A sphere that became one dark sphere after overlapping layer upon layer, a sphere too beautiful to describe.

The most powerful magic Ishia can use.

7-line incantation magic. Though its power is slightly reduced thanks to "Magic Chant Breaking", it's emitting a majestic appearance.

The effect is simple.

A sphere of darkness that sucks in everything. It's magic often used when driving and hunting monsters.

The sphere rotates. From the spheres inside. To the spheres outside. They rotate in order creating a gear-like shape.

And it does one thing. It sucks in everything around it.

"Wh-what is this?! How did you use magic?!"

Lucy shouted in surprise, but nothing changes just because she shouts. Even the poison thickly spread around. Even the Nepenthes that were spewing attacks like crazy.

Everything gets sucked into the sphere and is crushed.

"How did you use "Gravity" in such a short time?! Don't tell me?"

If she's thinking Magic Chant Breaking, she's right. Ishia took off the mask and grinned.

"I won!!"

As Ishia shouted, as if responding to her, the sphere that sucked in all the mist and flowers disappeared.

What's left is Lucy who fell backwards in surprise. And Ishia walking slowly.

Lucy who didn't want to lose somehow chanted magic and manifested a magic circle.

But at that moment 3 pillars of darkness rise up.

Lucy could only blink. Ishia walked slowly and stood in front of her with hands on her hips.

Then she opens her mouth with a triumphant expression.

"Lucy. You're no match for me!! You're so weak."

"Wh-what did you say?!"

"Loser!!!"

A feeling like her insides were cleared out. How many times had she lost to Lucy? She doesn't know. She lost too many times to count on her fingers, but she won now.

As someone said, the person who wins last is the winner.

Ignoring Lucy who was shouting this and that, she looked at the spectator stands. Isn't Lee Seonghoon shouting happily too?

As Ishia expected, Lee Seonghoon was shouting. He wasn't just shouting.

He was standing up from the spectator stands, stepping on chairs, with his feet even on the chairs in front, shouting strange noises towards the sky.

'Is he that happy? That I won?'

Ishia smiled too. She waved her hands towards Lee Seonghoon and bounced around, but the sounds she heard stopped her movements.

─Yesssssss!!!!! My treasures!!!!!!!! The treasures are mine now!!!!!!!!!!!!!

─Raphael!! We're rich now!! I'm going to be rich~~~!!!!!

─Neighbors!! I'm suddenly rich!! I'm someone who can laugh even if struck by lightning~~~!!! Woo~~~~~!!!

Okay. Let's go up and kill him right now.