"Heh, you agreed pretty easily. Fantasies only mean something when they're made real. I, Kayneth, don't like bullying people either, so I'll choose two people to fight in place of you and me."
Kayneth glanced at the other students.
He quickly picked out two of them.
"Hmm... Amures, Kemia, you two, as the model students of the El-Melloi classroom, will represent me."
Kayneth said with a nod.
The two who had been called upon were overwhelmed with delight.
Amures and Kemia were both popular figures in the classroom.
Entirely unlike Waver and Moran, who were at the very bottom.
"Yes! Professor Kayneth! I definitely won't betray your expectations! I'll bring you victory!"
Amures was brimming with excitement.
He simply did not think dealing with Moran and Waver would be difficult.
"To fight in place of Lord El-Melloi is already an immense reward for me!"
Kemia was equally fired up.
If they could catch Kayneth's attention, then their future careers as Magi would be secure!
The two were already itching for a fight.
They could hardly wait to show Moran and Waver what they could do.
"M-Me too!?"
"Well, we're comrades in the same boat! Besides, what are you afraid of when I'm here?"
"Waaah... You being here is exactly what worries me!"
Waver was on the verge of tears.
Moran had completely dragged him aboard a pirate ship.
There was no getting off now.
And so, Moran ignored Waver's wails.
Amures and Kemia, chosen by Kayneth as representatives.
Faced Moran and Waver, who rejected the theory of bloodlines.
The El-Melloi students stood on either side of the training ground, and many of them believed the outcome had already been decided.
The finest model students against the lowest-ranked failures.
One glance was enough to know who would win and who would lose.
Because of Kayneth's and the El-Melloi classroom's great reputation, it was not only the classroom's students who had come to watch.
Magi from other departments were also present.
The Department of Creation, the Department of Modern Magecraft, and the Department of Evocation had all sent people.
"Lord El-Melloi is hosting the fight? I thought he would be fighting personally. So someone else is acting in his place... What a shame..."
A girl in a cute dress had also arrived.
A trace of regret showed on her childish face.
Although she was only seven years old, the poise cultivated by her bloodline and upbringing gave off an air of authority.
She was as elegant and magnificent as a princess.
"I'm not interested in the two people fighting as representatives. But one of the other two seems somewhat familiar..."
"Lady Luvia, the one you mean is Moran Edelfelt. He is the legitimate son of a collateral branch of our family."
"Huh? He's one of our family?"
"If one traces the bloodline back, he is your cousin... Of course, his talent and bloodline are far inferior to yours. Not to mention that he has now committed the foolish act of offending Lord Kayneth..."
There was a hint of disappointment and contempt in the servant's words.
Luvia did not think too much about it.
Her beautiful amber eyes looked toward the training ground, and an uncontrollable spark of curiosity rose in her heart.
"My lady, this is an unworthy farce."
"Why say that?
Crowne, since we are already here, let's watch for a while. Perhaps there will be an unexpected outcome!"
"Sigh, if that is what you wish, my lady..."
Luvia did not leave.
She did not know why such curiosity had arisen within her.
Perhaps it was because Moran was a relative she had never met, or perhaps because of his confidence in facing Kayneth without fear.
In any case, she wanted to watch this battle.
"One unrealistic Waver has already made our classroom look bad. Now, Moran, are you going to become just like Waver? Spending every day indulging in unrealistic fantasies?"
Kemia mocked Moran for associating with Waver.
The disdain in his eyes was impossible to conceal.
"Professor Kayneth's time is extremely precious, yet you have wasted so much of it today... Hmph. Rookie Magi like you are only here to make up the numbers at the Clock Tower. That is all you will ever be."
Amures smiled contemptuously, clapping one hand into the other and curling it into a fist.
A crackling sound like popping beans came from his knuckles as the Magic Crest faintly surfaced across his body.
His Magic Circuits were activated in turn.
"Make up the numbers? No! What gives you the right to say that!"
"What gives us the right? Because we are good enough. As Magi, effort without superior bloodlines is meaningless! Your inferior bloodlines have doomed you to miserable lives!"
Waver was left speechless by Amures's rebuttal.
It would not have mattered if he alone had been insulted.
But this whole matter had begun because of him. If he had not challenged Kayneth in class.
It never would have turned out like this.
Perhaps his fate truly was this unlucky.
"Unlucky? Meaningless? How arrogant.
Because you cannot achieve something yourselves, you beat down the efforts of others with a single stroke and call them meaningless... You really are arrogant."
Moran slowly stepped in front of Waver.
His calm tone carried an imposing pressure that did not need anger to be felt.
Like the king of beasts strolling through a dense forest, his aura surged forth like a crashing wave.
"I-I'm only telling the truth!"
Amures found himself trembling uncontrollably.
He stared at Moran, who looked no different from before.
There was nothing special about him at all, so why was his body reacting like this?
It was practically screaming at him not to get closer!
"Ha! The truth! How interesting. Waver, did you hear that? This guy says it's the truth! I love situations like this, because otherwise, beating someone up wouldn't be any fun.
Amures, your so-called rules of reality only apply to idiots like you. They do not apply to me."
"Moran! You!"
Amures angrily took a step forward.
He nearly failed to restrain the urge to attack.
"Those stale and boring rules of reality—some predetermined future, some inborn talent—if your worldview is built upon such things, then I will crush them without mercy."
Moran straightened his back and extended his arm with imposing resolve.
It highlighted his unshakable will.
His eyes seemed to glow with a dazzling phosphorescence.
Like a proud hero defying the heavens.
The emotion in his words spread outward, moving many Magi who had once refused to submit to bloodlines.
For one exceedingly brief moment.
They truly believed this man could shatter the shackles of fate.
P.S.: This modern arc will not be very long. It is mainly meant as a transition after the climax, explaining the protagonist's circumstances at the Clock Tower.
There will be no padding. It will end soon, and the next simulation will follow shortly.
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"Arrogant! Without superior bloodlines, a Magus is fundamentally meaningless! Someone spouting delusions like that can accomplish nothing!"
For an instant, Kemia had been intimidated by Moran.
When he came back to his senses, a sense of shame rose within him, immediately turning into embarrassed rage.
He had been intimidated by the other side's aura before the fight had even begun.
When clearly, he was the superior one.
After sweeping his gaze around the training ground, Kayneth briefly announced the rules of the contest.
This contest was intended to have the nature of an academic discussion.
Conventional magecraft and Mystic Codes were forbidden.
Only enhancement spells that strengthened the body could be used to assist in combat.
Both sides were required to stop at the appropriate point.
The El-Melloi classroom did not permit savage life-and-death brawls. Kayneth would act as referee and supervise the entire battle.
"Those are the rules of this battle. I trust that even the dumbest idiot can understand them—"
Kayneth paused and walked to the edge of the training ground.
He looked at both sides, already in position, and raised his hand high.
The instant his arm came down.
Would be the horn signaling the start of battle.
"The contest begins!"
Almost the instant Kayneth shouted.
Magical energy surged from the Magic Crest on Kemia's body in the form of electrical currents.
His legs exploded into motion as he launched himself forward.
"I'll make you idiots clinging to delusions understand! You are nothing more than third-rate Magi—!"
Kemia sneered with a curled lip.
Empowered by magical energy, he was as fast as lightning.
In only a few seconds, he had sprinted in front of Moran and Waver, his clenched fist gathering a tremendous amount of magical energy.
Everyone realized that Kemia had seized the initiative.
Waver had not even reacted.
Quite a few people believed Kemia was simply too fast, and that someone at Moran's level could not possibly track his movements.
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