"Light is beautiful."
"What did you say?"
Alpeas asked. He knew nothing about the magic of photons, but this response was unexpected.
"Light is beautiful. Flowers are beautiful, and we are too. But the light you mentioned... doesn't sound beautiful."
Alpeas felt like he had been hit on the head with a hammer. It was a direct impact of a pure form of thinking that couldn't be expressed in words.
"W-well, but why would light be beautiful?"
For Alpeas, light was simply a photon. But Erina responded without hesitation as if she knew everything.
"Light clears away our darkness. How could we see the night sky without light?"
The world fell silent, like the universe itself.
Alpeas couldn't say anything. His thoughts, which he had longed for so much, flooded his mind like a waterfall.
Why try to separate the two things? By taking a step back, it became so clear.
Because it's beautiful.
Any contradiction ceased to be a contradiction.
"It's beautiful. You're beautiful, Erina."
Erina turned towards him with a pure laugh like a child. At that moment, Alpeas made a decision.
He would remember this moment for the rest of his life.
Alpeas knelt before Erina and extended his right hand with the most courteous gesture possible.
"Please, be my light."
***
That night, 40 years ago, under the moonlight, Alpeas' confession was a happy memory he wouldn't trade for anything in the world. When the Abyss Nova's veil was lifted, a soft smile formed on his face.
Kanis gazed at the white radiance burning in Shirone's palm. It was an overwhelming presence. He had the courage to face death without hesitation, of course. However, he thought he had to save his life, even if it meant doing anything.
[Havist. I'm in favor of fighting. Get closer.]
[How fast is that spell? We might not be able to avoid it.]
[You'll block it.]
[If I can't block it, you'll die. And if you die, I'll disappear too. In the end, we'll have to fight, but there are too many variables.]
The exchange of opinions at the speed of thought had great merit in combat. However, when opinions sharply diverged, there was also a disadvantage in not knowing which decision to make.
"What is happening?"
An unexpected voice broke the tension of the confrontation. A shadow rose like water from the cliff, and an oddly looking elder appeared.
The great dark archmage Arcane had arrived.
Arcane's demeanor crumpled as he understood the situation at a glance. The reason he could devote all his power to Ethella was that he was sure the situation here had already been resolved.
Arcane trusted Kanis. Or more precisely, he trusted Havist, who was Kanis's subordinate.
But once he got here, the situation turned out to be entirely different.
Lucas lay defeated on the ground, while Kanis and Havist were being threatened by a single young mage.
"I'm sorry, Master."
Arcane was not an open-minded person. Ignoring Kanis's apologies, he turned coldly to Shirone.
'It seems familiar.'
He resembled Alpeas. More than his face or appearance, he had a similarity in his general temperament. His boldness to speak candidly, even under the gaze of the great archmage, was the same.
"Are you the one who planned this?"
"You're bold, kid. What's your name?"
"I won't tell my name to a killer. Release the mind control right now and leave the academy. Otherwise, I won't stand by idly."
"Hehehe."
Arcane let out a mocking laugh. He wasn't angry. But his criterion for killing someone was not anger but how much fun he could have. In that sense, Shirone was a ripe fruit that could be savored immediately.
"I'm sorry, but I can't release the mind control. Because Alpeas' disciples must die."
Feeling threatened, Shirone, without even realizing it, fired his Photon Cannon.
It was a clear miss shot.
Arcane moved with agility to dodge the Photon Cannon and only turned back once he was sure the spell had dissipated.
"The radius of your Spirit Zone is 52.7 meters. Quite impressive, considering your age."
Even if a photon had some mass, its speed couldn't surpass the laws of physics. However, due to the basic speed of photon emission, it was much faster than most flying objects. Measuring the radius of the Spirit Zone in the blink of an eye was an achievement beyond human perception.
Shirone clenched his fists and concentrated the Photon, determined to fight, even though he had encountered an unpredictable expert. To stop hundreds of students freely falling from the cliff, they had no choice but to fight.
"Stop, Shirone."
Ethella emerged from the mountain. Her clothes were torn, and her body was covered in dirt from head to toe.
"Please, don't rush. Arcane is a dangerous person."
Arcane's forehead furrowed. He enjoyed the battle with her, but he had long erased from his memory any dirty meals he had trampled upon.
"It seems the loser is quite audacious. You should take care of your life."
Shirone's group was in shock. Could it be that Professor Ethella lost to a frail-looking elder? A bishop of the Kardis order. Authority in the Spirit Zone. A mage of rank 6 with an official title. No surrounding titles should be underestimated.
"Professor, are you okay?"
Shirone asked as he held Ethella.
"More or less. But it will take some time to recover."
"What's going on? Who is that guy? Why is he doing this?"
"Vilthor Arcane. A dark archmage who reached rank 3 without recognition 40 years ago."
Shirone's group's gaze trembled. If you were a student at the magic academy, you knew what it meant not to have recognition in rank 3.
Although the hierarchy of mages is classified into 10 levels, there is a certain point where the merits and recognition points required to ascend are unattainable.
Specifically, between rank 7 and 6, and between rank 4 and 3.
Rank 6 was considered a high rank in the mage society, while rank 3 bestowed someone with a leadership position in the kingdom's most important facilities. Even Alpeas, an official rank 4 mage, couldn't imagine how high Archmage Arcane stood.
"Arcane has a grudge against the director. He won't back down until he gets what he wants."
"You talk too much, over and over. Complaining to your student will only make you look more pitiful."
"I'm not interested in winning. I'm a teacher. I'll do anything to protect my students."
"And what? What can you do? Do you think you can stop me now when you couldn't even win by attacking with all your might?"
"Your bluff is excessive, Arcane."
Arcane's expression changed terribly.
Half of Ethella's words were true, and the other half were false. In fact, Arcane's magical power, which had unleashed the Shadow Embrace, was only 10% of his normal state. However, it was 10% of an archmage. That was more than enough to overpower Ethella, who was practically in tatters, and her young students.
"It seems that times have changed. Have you come here just because you're a novice?"
Arcane increased his magical power. It was only 10% of what he had left to kill Alpeas, but he didn't care about making annoying calculations. Such calculations were foreign to his way of life.
"Master, let me handle this."
Kanis stepped in. Abyss Nova was a spell that drained an immense amount of mental energy, something that even the master couldn't use in his normal state.
Arcane looked at Kanis with annoyance. Even if he was his disciple, he couldn't allow someone to challenge his authority. However, after careful consideration, he seemed interested in Shirone and turned to look at him.
"Hey, kid, are you also a disciple of Alpeas?"
"Don't call the professor or the academy director by their names so casually."
"Haha! Is that so? So, you have quite a lot of respect for him, huh?"
Shirone felt no need to respond. How could he not respect him? Alpeas was the one who had opened his eyes to the world of magic and had allowed him to enter the magic academy.
"It doesn't matter if you're an archmage or rank 3. Compared to the academy director, you're absolutely nobody."
"Puhahaha!"
Arcane burst into laughter. However, his eyes burned with anger.
'Alpeas, how much hypocrisy have you been practicing? Don't you know? You have no right to be respected by anyone. You are not qualified for that.'
Having made a decision, Arcane nodded.
"Alright. I'll also enjoy watching the disciples fight. Kanis, fight against him."
"Yes. Thank you, Master."
Kanis finally felt relieved. This was his opportunity to redeem the mistakes he had made so far. However, Havist had different thoughts.
[Kanis, think about it again. It would be better to let Arcane handle this.]
[What are you saying? I've already disappointed my master. Now, even if I have to die, I must defeat Shirone.]
In a situation where the impending battle was right in front of them, lack of consensus between them was not a good thing.
[Havist, answer. Even if it's you, this time we can't back down. We must fight, no matter what.]
Havist didn't respond until the end. He was perplexed because he had never faced a situation like this. However, since Arcane was watching, he couldn't afford to show weakness.
When Kanis used Dark Port to move quickly to the place where Shirone was, he leaped into the air to prevent the impact from affecting the students. He didn't want them to suffer any harm.
"Hmph! Are you going to fight in the air?"
In the dark night, Shirone and Kanis, high atop a 1,000-meter cliff, engaged in an aerial battle while reflecting on their past.
Shirone concentrated seven photons in the front and fired them all at once. The Photon Cannon activated in the Infinite Area had much greater power than before, but it required an equally powerful recoil.
"What the hell is that?"
Ethella stared at the sky, amazed by the burst of photonic energy she had never seen before. The Photon Cannon was entirely new to her, and its power was astounding.
A dazzling beam of light from the Photon Cannon pierced the night sky. It was as if a golden pen was painting on a black canvas.
Eruki and Neid were left in awe of the beam. The Photon Cannon would destroy everything in its path, and even Ethella couldn't do anything about it. But that also meant that Shirone, the human behind the Photon Cannon, was putting his own life in danger.
"It's truly amazing, but is it safe?"
"We have to trust him. He did well in the presentation."
"But this is different. Now we're fighting for our lives. He could cross the line without even realizing it."
Ethella looked at Eruki and Neid with concern.
"What do you mean? Has Shirone been in the Immortal Function before?"
"Yes, well... it seems like he's been doing it quite often lately when he's bored."
Ethella sighed. She had warned him about the risks of endangering his life, but Shirone didn't seem to be taking precautions. But ultimately, that passion and dedication were what made him grow so rapidly.