NOVPUB“What?”
Devian’s face twisted in fury as he finally processed what Ludger had said.
Even in this situation, Ludger didn’t bow his head or show a hint of desperation. Instead, he continued to act as if he were still in full control, and that attitude stoked Devian’s rage.
“Big Brother Hugo told me to keep things moderate, but... yeah, screw that. I’ll personally make sure you get wrecked today.”
“You won’t take my warning, I see.”
Ludger genuinely pitied Devian, who had so carelessly disregarded what had been sincere advice.
“A warning? Hah! Don’t make me laugh.”
Devian sneered, assuming Ludger was just trying to bluff and mask his growing panic.
To try and force a surrender now—when he was clearly drained of mana?
‘What a joke. He thinks throwing around a few strong words will scare me?’
Other instructors might’ve been rattled by that kind of psychological game due to lack of real experience—but Devian wasn’t like them.
He was a proud member of the Burteg family, a naturally gifted mage, and someone who had clawed his way up through sheer hard work. He hadn’t reached the finals by luck.
Hugo knew that too—knew it well enough to pick Devian to humiliate Ludger in front of everyone.
‘Lose while you still have magic? What a load of—’
As Devian’s hostility swelled, Ludger gave up trying to persuade him.
‘He’s asking for it.’
Ludger saw no need to keep appealing to someone who willingly walked into the fire.
[Then let us begin the semifinal round of the Magic Duel!]
At the commentator’s shout, Devian made his first move.
A semi-transparent shield of mana formed around him, shaped like a turtle shell.
Ludger immediately recognized the spell.
‘4th-circle defense magic, [Magic Protect]. This just got annoying.’
[Magic Protect] was a defense spell—but with traits that set it apart from others.
It was a core spell in mage duels.
It didn’t block physical attacks, but against magic, it offered superior protection—better than most other defenses. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
‘A high-tier 4th-circle spell—and deployed that quickly? Must be [Echo of Memory].’
[Echo of Memory] was a spell that stored complex formations for instant casting.
Devian had clearly stored [Magic Protect] before stepping onto the arena.
That’s how he’d activated it so fast.
‘He was ready for me trying to end it quickly.’
Smart move.
Ludger had indeed planned to finish the match in a flash, dumping his remaining mana into one burst through source code magic.
But now that [Magic Protect] was active, attacking would only waste his already low mana.
‘I’ll have to wait for an opening.’
Just then, a fireball came flying at Ludger.
He dodged with a sidestep and a twist of his torso—the fireball tore through the air beside him.
From behind the shield, Devian whistled mockingly.
“You dodged that? Guess that officer training wasn’t just for show.”
Ludger didn’t respond.
That wasn’t what mattered.
‘He’s attacking while [Magic Protect] is active?’
Casting an offensive spell required canceling [Magic Protect].
Only mages of 6th-circle and above could multitask between offense and defense simultaneously.
Devian, a 4th-circle mage, shouldn't have been able to.
‘There it is.’
Ludger spotted something coiled around Devian’s neck.
A translucent green snake—eyes fixed on him—was watching from atop Devian’s shoulders.
Just then, the commentator called out:
[Oooh! There it is! Instructor Devian Burteg’s magical beast—Grun Slanger!]
Magibeasts—one of the four major schools within Summon Magic, alongside <Spirits>, <Golems>, and <Necromancy>.
But Magibeasts had one distinct difference:
—Anyone could use them.
Summon magic normally required special aptitude.
<Spirits> required emotional resonance with elementals.
<Necromancy> demanded mental faculties strong enough to withstand spirits.
<Golemcraft> required mechanical and structural knowledge.
But Magibeasts were different.
Even someone without talent could summon them—as long as they had mana.
A Magibeast was a lifeform born from the caster’s mana.
Since all mages possessed mana, anyone had the potential to summon a magibeast.
Even Ludger’s own [Ater Nocturnus] was a magibeast—one in the form of a cloak.
Devian’s current summon was the translucent green snake coiled around his neck.
It opened its jaws—forming a magical glyph—and spat another fireball at Ludger.
The spell was weaker than the previous one, but much faster.
Judging that dodging it was impossible, Ludger cast a defense spell.
More of his limited mana dwindled away.
He narrowed his eyes.
‘So the beast casts spells on his behalf.’
He blocked the attack while analyzing the enemy.
‘Compared to its master, a high-end 4th-circle mage, the beast’s spell strength caps at low 3rd-circle. Its power scales with the user’s ability, huh?’
Grun Slanger served as an assistant familiar.
But its greatest advantage lay in its tactical flexibility.
‘The caster focuses on defense. The beast handles offense. Two separate systems.’
The user and the magibeast could operate independently.
A perfect union of offense and defense.
It was effectively a 2-on-1.
‘[Ater Nocturnus] isn’t suited for this. Its strength lies in stealth and ambush—not open duels.’
Worse, it consumed mana aggressively. In his current state, Ludger couldn’t maintain it for even ten seconds.
In a fight to the death, he’d win easily. But in this public duel, with spectators, he was constrained.
While he considered his next move, another fireball came from Grun Slanger.
Ludger blocked it again with a barrier—his mana nearly drained.
‘He’s blatantly aiming to exhaust my mana.’
A perfect strategy—he had the type advantage and knew Ludger’s weakness.
‘Then I’ll have to change my approach.’
Ludger precisely controlled his remaining mana.
Even [Magic Protect] wasn’t invincible—there were ways to bypass it.
—Coordinate Designation.
Between Devian and the [Magic Protect] shield, mana began to gather faintly.
Coordinate-based spells could manifest inside enemy defenses—if the caster had locked onto the space.
‘I normally avoid this—too mana-intensive. But I don’t have a choice.’
Now was the perfect chance.
The mana condensed—forming a small stone the size of a fist—and shot toward the back of Devian’s head.
But just then, Grun Slanger reacted.
Snap!
The snake leapt forward and bit down on the flying stone mid-air, shattering it.
Stone fragments clattered to the floor.
‘He blocked it?’
Devian clearly realized Ludger had tried to strike through a spatial spell—and grinned smugly.
“The famous coordinate spell, huh? You thought I wouldn’t be ready? My Grun Slanger doesn’t just attack—it intercepts.”
Grun Slanger’s hidden ability:
Pre-emptive threat detection and interception within a certain range.
It couldn’t stop powerful spells, but it was more than enough to counter Ludger in his current state.
“How does it feel? Watching your fancy magic get crushed over and over?”
Ludger didn’t respond.
The coordinate spell had consumed a large chunk of mana. Now, he had almost nothing left.
A headache began to throb in his skull.
“Professor Ludger... something’s wrong.”
Elisa, watching from the audience, sensed something was off and began to rise.
Her gut told her—if she didn’t intervene now, something would go horribly wrong.
But Hugo Burteg stepped in first.
“Headmaster, what are you doing? This is mid-duel.”
“I think... I need to stop this.”
“Heh. Stop it? This is the finals, Headmaster.”
“Something could happen.”
Hugo assumed she was only acting because she thought Ludger might lose.
And he couldn’t let that happen.
“Something happening mid-duel is part of the risk, is it not? Everyone here came knowing that.”
He spoke just loudly enough for the surrounding spectators to hear—blocking her from acting.
With so many eyes on her, Elisa furrowed her brow and sat back down.
“Professor Ludger...”
In another part of the stands, Selina—watching alongside Merilda—clenched her fists.
Devian smirked behind the [Magic Protect] shield.
“What’s wrong? You’re not even using spells anymore. Out of mana already?”
Blatant provocation.
Grun Slanger unleashed more flames, and Ludger had to devote everything just to defense.
The crowd, too, began to murmur.
“What’s going on? Professor Ludger hasn’t attacked in a while.”
“Why isn’t he using offensive spells like before?”
“Devian just said something {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} about mana... Don’t tell me—has he run out? No way. Him?”
The anxiety rippled through the crowd.
And behind it all, there were those who stirred the pot from the shadows.
Not the students who admired Ludger, but those who had always despised how high and mighty he acted—the ones who hated the very name Ludger Cherish.
They didn’t hide their disdain.
“See? Told you this would happen.”
“Must be the limit of a fallen noble.”
“Honestly, weren’t all those rumors about him just overhyped nonsense?”
As their voices filled the entire arena, Ludger quietly closed his eyes.
“Hah. Have you given up already?”
“...Noisy.”
“What?”
Did... did he just say I’m noisy?
Devian Burteg’s face twisted in disbelief, but Ludger gave no further reaction.
[───.]
A voice.
A voice he had always kept buried beneath layers of mana.
A voice that, on any other day, could be ignored like background noise—but now, with his mana depleted, it grew louder, echoing through his head.
Like an ancient dam breaking.
A flood of something long buried, now gushing out in one unstoppable torrent.
But it wasn’t just a voice anymore. It wasn’t just speaking—it was pressing in.
At his limit, Ludger opened his eyes.
At that very moment, an ice arrow flew toward him.
But Ludger no longer raised a defense. Instead, with his wand still untouched in his right hand, he caught the arrow with his bare left hand.
“...Too noisy.”
His complexion was not good. Pale and cold sweat on his brow.
The shattered ice crumbled from his hand and clattered to the ground, then melted into nothing.
“I warned you.”
“W-What the...”
Devian hadn’t even begun to process what was happening.
Before he could react, he noticed something—something wrong.
Above Ludger’s head, in midair, a faint black hole had formed.
The moment he saw it, goosebumps crawled across his entire body.
A reaction rooted not in reason, but in instinct.
Flash!
From the tip of Ludger’s wand exploded a blinding light.
Radiant brilliance filled the arena, eclipsing the midday sun.
Caught off guard, spectators shielded their eyes.
“Gah! What is that light?!”
“Light magic?! Professor Ludger can use light magic?!”
The known elemental affinities of Ludger were five—water, fire, ice, wind, and earth.
Even having five was a rare talent—but now light, one of the two rarest elements alongside darkness?
Ludger had just demonstrated it, indisputably.
[Ahhh! It’s too bright—I can’t see anything! What on earth is happening?!]
As confusion spread, Ludger stepped forward—his form somehow unmistakably clear in the blinding white.
“W-What is this...”
In the flickering, glowing world, Ludger moved steadily toward Devian—who found himself paralyzed.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
Devian’s gaze was locked, forced onto that thing above Ludger’s head.
That small black hole—barely the size of a pinky joint—grew rapidly. It swelled to the size of an adult’s upper body.
Against the brilliant white background, the abyssal black void looked utterly alien.
Wrong. Impossible.
Something inside it was looking back at him.
Shhhhaaaaa—!!
Grun Slanger, Devian’s magibeast, screamed with its mouth wide open, then melted into nothing.
‘My magibeast... it’s afraid?!’
Crrrk... Creak...
Strange noises tickled Devian’s ears.
Bones cracking... or was it the sound of something massive crawling?
It was coming from the black hole.
“W-What...”
Something was emerging.
Thick, black, sticky—something viscous and vile.
“What the hell is that?!”
Devian screamed, his voice breaking in desperation.
And still, it continued to emerge from the hole, revealing itself.
Just seeing it made him feel like he was drowning in an ice-cold abyss—his brain felt like it was being torn apart.
Ludger stopped just before Devian, who could only gape in horror.
“Ah... Ahhh...”
What poured from the hole resembled tree branches—but upon closer inspection, they were bones. Human bones. Countless joints and knuckles twisted like tendrils, inching toward Devian.
And beyond those bones—was something worse.
Flesh and sinew twisted and pulsing, a grotesque form that defied comprehension.
“Ugh... uaaagh...”
Devian’s legs gave out, and he fell flat on his rear.
The bone-like tendrils crept closer... closer... until—
“Stop.”
At Ludger’s command, the creature halted.
He stared up at the black hole with a hollow gaze.
“That’s far enough.”
Crrrk.
“If you don’t like it, I’ll let someone else take your place. Would you prefer that?”
Crack...
“The choice is yours.”
Finally, the writhing limbs slowly retracted into the hole.
Ludger exhaled and bent down.
Devian still hadn’t recovered—eyes wide, lips twitching.
Ludger reached into his coat, fished through Devian’s inner pocket, and retrieved the stolen pill case.
The one taken from the faculty office the night before.
Without hesitation, he popped five pills into his mouth.
Crunch.
Cool, crystalline mana spread through his body and circulated to his limbs.
Above him, the black hole began to shrink—until it vanished entirely.
With the worst now averted, Ludger tucked the pill case into his inner coat and released the light magic.
“Ah—ah! I can see!”
“Devian’s collapsed!”
“What just happened?!”
Finally snapping out of it, commentator Jesse Luna shouted,
[Ahhh! Everyone look! The blinding light has vanished—and the match is over! The only one still standing... is Ludger! Professor Ludger Cherish!]
[Hmm... Professor Devian Burteg’s condition doesn’t look good,] said Carter Roar, the co-commentator, who had remained silent up until now. Even he couldn’t hide his unease.
“I told you, didn’t I?”
Amid the murmuring crowd, Ludger looked down at Devian with dispassionate eyes.
“I told you to surrender... while I still had the strength to use magic.”
Devian, his mind half-broken, could no longer even reply.
