Chapter 38
The umpire pointed at drawn circles .
Two drawn circles for the First and Second Academy reps, with a 20-meter gap between them .
I wonder if this gap is in consideration of the First Academy students who cannot use swords .
By the way, we've confirmed that there's no rule that disallows getting close to your opponents .
Carrying weapons like swords or bows are also allowed .
"Are you both ready!"
"Second Academy, we're ready!"
"Representatives of the glorious First Academy don't need to get ready to beat these bunch!"
This demon sure always finds a way to speak ill .
Well, a demon with polite language and good conducts can't possibly exist though .
"The 65th Royal Academy Interpersonal Match, begin!"
"Alright, let's go!"
I stepped forward as the match started .
Alma put an arrow on her bow, Ruli began to construct a magic .
"""Fire Mana that dwells in my body--"""
Our three opponents had begun to chant a spell .
No . That's not exactly correct . The demon's mana had moved before it started its chant .
In other words, the demon is just pretending to chant .
An arrow and a magic passed beside me as I ran forward .
They hit the the two people beside the demon splendidly, destroying the outer layer of their dual-layered barrier completely .
"Lychese, Jias, double knock out!"
"Wha . . . "
The audience were surprised .
Two of the First Academy reps forfeited the match five second after it started .
The demon is the only one left now .
Judging from the presences behind me, it seems Alma and Ruli are properly taking evasive maneuvers .
"Oraa!"
The demon finished its pretend-chant and shot its magic .
Even if they were weaklings, the demon didn't look perturbed at all with its teammates defeats .
Its face looked upset for an instant when it saw Ruli's and Alma's magic, but that seemed more like because of the chantless magic .
And the magic were directed at--Alma and Ruli .
Two magic were activated at the same time .
Moreover, the mana put into the magic is quite significant . Its power is clearly intended to break the defensive magic and make it into an 『Accident』 .
If it can hit that is .
"Ha!"
"And . . . there!"
The two evaded the demon's magic by jumping assisted with magic .
The heat and blast reached even me, but all of us are safe .
Evasion magic was one of the things I taught to these two during this one month .
The two used that to evade the demon's magic and ran to the waiting room .
"A-awesome! What power!"
"I didn't know that Devilis's magic was that strong! Surely he can beat them 1-on-3?"
The demon's name appears to be Devilis .
The audience doesn't seem to notice its fake chant magic just now at all .
"Look those two are running away! Laaame!"
"Get him, Devilis!"
I ignore the audience's voices and thrust my sword at Devilis's neck .
I haven't buffed it with magic . Since this attack won't kill it anyway, I'm saving my mana even a little .
However, an attack to the neck is the weakness of demons .
Devilis itself couldn't afford to ignore it, it invoked a light evasion magic and evaded my attack .
--Chantlessly .
"Oy . What about the chant?"
The demon's face warped when I said that . Looks like it noticed its blunder to hide it .
"Fire mana!"
Devilis shot a magic at me with an extremely slovenly shortened chant, filled with murderous intent .
I evaded it with jump magic and took a bit of distant away .
A demon that could use magic without chanting deliberately pretended to chant .
. . . . It's all clear now .
--The one that popularized chant magic is demons .
That explains the favoritism for First Crest and the cold treatment for the Fourth Crest .
Humanity getting weaker at magic is a good thing for demons, and magic of Fourth Crest that has a bad affinity for them must be undesirable for them .
Getting people to treat the Fourth Crest coldly should be quite easy if they slipped into a body of authority that decides on the standard of magic .
They can simply make the assessment require hitting a faraway target .
A question remains, why did they take such a roundabout fashion instead of just simply destroy humanity . . . . Perhaps, it's because the demons lack the manpower .
Demons have low reproductive power in the first place, they were already driven to the brink of extinction in my era . Their number might still haven't increased even after all this time .
In fact, this demon is the first demon-like mana reaction I've ever encountered since my reincarnation .
And this demon doesn't look seem like it has an abundance of combat experience .
Even putting aside the pretend chant matter, its combat spec doesn't live up to demon's standard .
After thinking all that, I constructed three magic while pointing my sword at the demon .