The magical power we radiated swelled explosively before clashing, making a sound like iron grinding together.
Neither Viktor nor I moved; even after he had called upon his god, the two of us were simply staring each other down.
“You gonna attack or what?”
Growing impatient, I tried provoking him. Viktor gave a half-smirk before answering.
“Just being careful, y’know? If I get even a little careless, everything will end in that instant.”
That made sense; unlike Pelmann, who gave into his anger and attacked immediately, Viktor was much more composed.
Compared to how aggressive his hair was now making him come off, Viktor himself was calmer than he was before. What had changed to make him this way?
Either way, I knew this wouldn’t be an easy fight.
If only he lost himself to his emotions and rushed in with an attack. Things would be so much simpler if that were the case.
In a way, this also meant Viktor would be a tougher enemy than Pelmann was.
If I continued observing, I could probably figure out more, but…
“And what about you? This is good enough for you? It looks like it would be to your disadvantage if our fight dragged on for too long. And really, how boring, how unsatisfying of a story’s conclusion it would be if it ended because of something like running out of time?”
He was right, this magical power would only last for so long. Still, compared to my usual levels, the amount I controlled now felt limitless.
Viktor claimed running out of time would be a boring ending, but he seemed to be expecting it anyway and made no move to change it. It was looking like there was no other choice for me but to make the first move.
Well, fine by me then. I had awakened to this unknown power, so the least I could do was act carefully and test it out for myself.
I condensed a sphere of magical power in the palm of my hand. It was only about as large as my fist, but it radiated heat like a miniature sun.
Without thinking too hard about it, I casually lobbed it at Viktor. Now, what would happen…
The sphere of destructive energy flew over to where Viktor stood, and…
“…Tch.”
I felt a slight pain on my shoulder, causing me to look over; there, a small cut had formed. Judging from slight numbness, I knew it had to have come from an attack.
I sensed a presence behind me; turning, I saw Viktor rising to his feet and staring back at me. It seemed he had lunged at me like an animal.
…That was fast — so fast that not only had I not seen it happen, but I also had not even seen him begin to move. It was as though he had become a bolt of lightning.
“Ahaha, are you for real? That only left a tiny scratch on you?”
It seemed he too was feeling unexpected surprise.
Viktor seemed just as delighted as he did astonished, and he bared his teeth in excitement.
No, wait, were those fangs? It seemed like there were more changes than I had first thought, at least physically speaking.
Well, that wasn’t really important, especially compared to what was going on right now: he wieldied inhuman levels of magical power after calling upon a devil — no, an evil god — to bless him. Any changes to his appearance after the fact didn’t mean anything.
I clenched my fist, willing myself to relax and for my spirit to calm down.
So he moved too fast for me to see — I understood that much. There was a way for me to deal with that.
There would be other preparatory motions to look for and — there: his gaze shifted, his face turned ever so slightly, and his hair shook the littlest bit.
It was simple solution: all I had to do to deal with an incoming attack was track his eyes and sense the flow of his magical power. To be clear, these were the very basics of fighting against a lightning-type mage.
“Hey, hey, hey, I’m being serious here! Just how much have you really fought to be able to handle this? What kind of person even are you?”
Well, it wasn’t like most people knew that much in the first place.
It seemed our exchanges had left Viktor in a cold sweat, and while he did ask a question, I saw no reason to answer him.
In the first place…
I hadn’t even begun to make good on my promise to beat this guy into a pulp. I relaxed my body before kicking off the ground into a sprint.
“Aren’t you being a little too cold now?!”
Still playing the fool, Viktor suddenly charged up with the power of his lightning magic.
It felt the same as it did when he performed that high-speed attack earlier.
This time, it didn’t seem like he used it to charge at me. If I had to guess, he probably felt that in a head-on collision, his magical power would lose out to mine.
Suddenly, a violet glow pulsed around his body, and he disappeared from sight, leaving behind the sound of a sharp clap.
But unfortunately for him, I already knew where he would go, having tracked the movement of his eyes and the flow of his magical power. I didn’t know the exact location, but knowing the general direction of where he went was more than enough.
“Drop dead!”
I turned and fired off another sphere from my fist, one I had been holding in reserve. So long as I knew roughly where to point it, my shot would connect, no matter the distance.
“Wha…!?”
Viktor cried out in bewilderment, gathering magical power into his arms before crossing them to defend himself.
The ball of condensed light magic exploded with an intense light as it made contact.
Normally, the amount of magical power in that attack should be enough to blow away an entire body. I expected it to at least take out one or both of his arms, but…
“You’re pretty good…!”
The damage was visible, but it wasn’t a significant injury.
Well, considering how out of the ordinary our magical power was right now, I should have expected that much.
Actually, if anything, it was more abnormal that he took damage at all, despite focusing on defense.
Still, I wouldn’t be able to keep this up forever. I had an incredible amount of magical power available, but I was also using an equally incredible amount with each attack; I needed to finish this fight as soon as possible, before I ran out of magical power.
I pointed a finger at Viktor, whose figure emerged from the aftermath of the explosion.
He had a puzzled look on his face; he didn’t understand my intention.
“…Ah! Heh, hehe… Now, aren’t you an interesting one..!”
It was only after I turned my hand over and made a beckoning gesture with my fingers that Viktor understood. A ferocious grin formed on his face.
He understood my intention: Come at me. Surely you don’t want this fight to just be a series of boring back-and-forths, right?
And if he wanted a performance, I should make it as interesting for him as possible.
…Lightning magic swelled about him once more.
And it seemed…
“Oh Mylene! Sweet Mylene! Splendid Mylene! How wonderful you are, that you understand so well!”
…I had been right: Viktor was ready to bring our fight to its climax.
With another crack like a thunderclap, Viktor instantly appeared before me, with his fist bearing down to end it all.
I stooped low, giving me space to hold up an arm to intercept his fist.
And at the same time, I readied my other arm, drawing it back like I was pulling a bowstring and aimed for his exposed side.
“Take this!”
“Gah..!”
My fist struck his unguarded abdomen, and the force behind it seemed to shake our very surroundings.
…It seemed he still felt pain. I was reminded once again that while he had invoked his god as Pelmann did, there were stark differences between the two.
He was pretty tenacious then, to be able to remain standing after taking that hit. Anyone else would be rolling around on the ground in agony.
Magical power suddenly gathered around him where I still stood. Sensing danger, I quickly leapt away just as a wall of pure electricity appeared between us.
“Blurgh..! Ugh, ptooey..! Your reflexes are pretty good, too, it looks like..!”
His eyes gleamed with insane joy, and an unhinged grin twisted across his face even as he vomitted blood.
This guy was completely insane; it should have been hard enough for him to remain standing after taking my attack, and yet he still fired off a magical counterattack.
Well, I wasn’t too worried about having to take an attack like that in my current state, but I didn’t want my hair become absurd like his.
…In any case, he now looked more ready for action than ever before; after a moment, his smile disappeared.
It seemed he was done playing around now.
The air around Viktor crackled as he charged his lightning magic. I focused on his eyes to trace his path… He was coming from the right!
“…?! Guah!”
I heard the pop of a bursting sphere just as an electric shock hit me from my completely exposed left side. I involuntarily let out a cry of pain.
It felt as though burning needles were stabbing their way across my entire body! I nearly fainted from the agony of it, but the intensity of my anger kept me upright.
That bastard, he realized what had happened and feinted me out instead..!
“Hehe, looks like your reflexes will prove to be your own undoing.”
But though he had landed a hit, he would soon realize the situation wasn’t what he expected.
…Taken to the absolute extreme, a one-on-one fight wasn’t actually about being faster than — in otherwords, outperforming — your opponent. It was about outwitting them.
And that was all there was to a fight. And when it came to outwitting an opponent, I wouldn’t lose to anyone.
“Ugh… Are you immortal or something?”
Viktor yelped in surprise as he realized I had held on. As he did so, I wound up my fist for another punch.
Of course, I had been gambling on catching him by surprise; if not, it would be me who was in trouble.
From what I understood, Viktor couldn’t use that instantaneous movement technique of his in quick succession. I wasn’t sure why, but it might’ve had something to do with how the technique itself worked.
It was a lightning-quick killing blow that struck like a thunderbolt, one that should be unavoidable and unendurable. With that concept in mind, Viktor had probably never considered a follow-up to his attack.
And it seemed he needed to build up a ‘charge’ to use it at all. If it were less powerful, or even if he could control the output, it would be much more flexible. However, it seemed using the technique as a sure-kill attack took up all of that “charge” he built up.
Well, it only took a short amount of time for him to fully recharge, but now…
“You just keep prattling on and on! Just shut up already!”
I just had to endure it somehow, and that would leave him open to a decisive blow.
Viktor’s eyes widened in astonishment as he realized my fist was once again bearing down on him.
And he could do nothing to protect himself as it smashed into his cheek, distorting his handsome features. The force of my fist rippled across his face, knocking teeth free from his mouth. It was as though time had slowed for these moments, and I willed as much power as I could into my punch.
“Guh… Gaahhh!”
Viktor’s body soared through the air like he was performing a comedic stunt.
He crashed straight into a side of the auditorium, crumbling part of the wall.
Any ordinary person couldn’t possibly have survived that, but…
“Ugh… gh..! No… not yet..! It… isn’t over yet… I won’t let it end… like this..!”
Well, to no surprise, he got back to his feet.
Still, it felt great to finally get in a good hit on that face of his.
Now all that was left was to bring this to an end.
I silently glared at him, but his response was a wide-eyed grin.
“Ahh, how truly lovely..!”
He shook himself off, arms flailing about as they hung loosely about, and he instantly recharged himself with his lightning magic.
His magical power swelled within him like an overinflated balloon, and the excess began cracking about his body in the form of thorny red lines of electricity.
Just as it seemed his body could hold no more magical power, Viktor seemed to blink out of sight…
“HAAAAAAA!!!”
…only to suddenly reappear in front of me! With pure momentum pushing him forward, Viktor thrust his fist forward and cried out in triumph.
Ugh, he’d charged in even faster! At this speed, I wouldn’t be able to dodge in time..!
…but that didn’t matter as long as I hit him first! As his fist came into contact with my cheek, so too did my fist hit his cheek!
Both of his reeled back from the other’s attack. I shook my head to regain focus as I stepped back, and it seemed Viktor was doing the same.
“Just die already!”
“Guah…!”
I recovered faster and stepped forward to drive my fist into his stomach, before he had more time to gain a second wind.
His upper body buckled, folding over his lower half. I swung my leg up to drop my heel on his exposed head.
But my leather shoe only cut through empty air. At the edge of my peripheral vision, I spotted Viktor — it was that instantaneous movement again!
But how? There shouldn’t have been enough time for him to recharge…
…No, wait, just a moment ago, he must have overcharged and taken in more magical power than he could have safely handled.
In other words, there was still ‘charge’ left over for him to move..!
In the next moment, before my foot reached the ground, something grabbed hold of my leg.
I could feel a great strength lift my body by the leg high into the air…
..and the next moment, I slammed into the ground, like a branch knocked out off a tree.
“Gah, ha…!”
I managed to protect my head in time, but the slam crushed my lungs, knocking the air out of my lungs — for an eternally long moment, I couldn’t breathe at all.
But even that pain was short-lived, and I felt my body rise into the air once more…
If I were to slam in the ground again, I would be in real danger..! I forced myself to swing my free leg around to kick Viktor in the face..!
“Guh…”
Viktor groaned in pain before loosening his grip..
I shook my other leg away before falling away. It felt like a slow descent, and I put out buth hands to catch my fall and push me back on my feet with the momentum.
“Cough, cough…!”
My crushed lungs struggled desperately to take in air.
And through the hellish pain of trying to breath, I half-ran and half-stumbled my way to Viktor, who had fallen over.
“My… le..!”
It seemed he was also unable to properly breathe.
He tried to call my name, but he struggled partway through.
I lunged forward, still disoriented, and slammed my fist into his nose as I fell over forward.
“Buh, GAH!”
“Haa, haa…”
I wanted to make a sarcastic quip, but my body wouldn’t respond, too busy trying desperately to take in oxygen.
I really would fall over dead if I tried to push myself further, so I let up, rolled a little distance between us, and began focusing on my breathing.
Meanwhile, Viktor’s head lolled to the side, blood streaming from his mouth and nose.
I had hoped this was enough to stay down, but from the corner of my eye, I saw him stumble back to his feet.
“Hoo… Haa…”
Still, it seemed neither of us could continue for much longer.
I drew in another deep breath and climbed to my feet, steeling myself for the final clash.
“Dear Mylene… Splendid Mylene… Ahh, you really were the best..! That you existed, that you and I met — thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Phew… And, who exactly are you thanking? That god of yours?”
“Hah! Who knows! Not me, that’s for sure! Maybe I’m thanking you! Or maybe it’s that God that made you! Who cares! Everything is just perfect the way it is!”
Viktor shakily raised his arms into the air, and a purple-hued sphere of crackling lightning magic began to grow.
…Ah, this was bad. And it was even worse than I’d thought.
“Albert! Colette! Draw Melissa over and get behind me!”
I put all that I could into my shout, even as I kept my eyes on Viktor.
Every second now counted. I knew what I demanded of them now was reckless beyond anything, but at the same time, I began channeling my magic believing they would follow my command.
“What do you think you are doing, asking for something unreasonable so suddenly?!”
“N-not to worry! We will manage! Let us go, Princess Colette!”
“…Argh, fine, damn you!”
It sure was helpful that they would follow through without asking too much.
Now, all I had to do was deal with the incoming attack.
Viktor was still accumulating magical power, and by now, there was probably enough to completely level the entire Academy.
If that ball lightning were to come at the speed he could, there would be no way to avoid it. And even if I blocked it, it was likely the aftershock would destroy everything around me anyway.
So I couldn’t avoid it, and I couldn’t block it. What was I to do?
There was only one answer: I would simply crush it.
“Uuu…! Fuu!
“Enough already! Behave yourself! Mylene! We have come!”
“Good! Just in time!”
Colette and Albert were somehow able to come through, and I could even hear the sounds of Melissa’s enraged struggling.
They did their part, so now it was time for me to do mine.
I took a swordsman’s stance and made the motion of drawing a sword from a scabbard.
I brought both hands forward, gripping them tightly together as though I really was holding a sword in my empty hands, and…
“…! A sword… of light?!”
“Oh, Lady Mylene! You have become even more divine..!”
I had created a sword of pure magical power.
I concentrated more of my magical power, condensing and hardening it to form the sharpness and sturdiness of a sword.
And before long, it took shape: a beautiful sword of light, colored platinum and vermillion.
It hummed with radiant energy, indicating the density of magical power it was made of.
“This ends here, you bastard.”
“Hah..! Dear me! Are you ready then, I wonder..!”
Viktor’s face lit up with joy.
I still couldn’t understand this guy in the least.
I had him pegged as a opportunist when he had me fight Melissa, but at the same time, he ignored the chances he had to just take me out. And then there was the whole thing with how disinterested he was in working towards the goals of the Gods of the Moon.
Then there was the thing about his god favoring him more than the other had favored Pelmann. Viktor had come across as an arrogant and conceited bastard, but then he was more than willing to clash with me head-on.
And now, in this final exchange, it was like he purposely waited for me to prepare an answer. I really didn’t understand this guy.
“Hahaha! Then, at long last! Here comes the finale, Mylene! The curtain call! Let there be one, final, transcendental moment before we draw this performance to a close!”
But there would be no more; it would all end after this. Viktor finished channeling his magical power, shaking and crying out with jubilant glee
Personally, I already had more than enough of this crappy show of his.
And if he was finally lowering the curtains on the show, I was more than happy to help him.
“Your third-rate play…”
The sword in my hand began shining brighter, becoming an incandescent blade.
I tightened my grip.
“Witness the story’s conclusion! Gigant Ray!”
A thunderbolt of pure calamity closed in on us.
Though I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was there. I knew it was coming.
And I had already begun swinging my sword up.
Like a swallow making its ascent, my blade sliced the empty air, drawing a wave of vermillion light that carved across the floor of the auditorium.
“…ends here!”
And the wave shot toward the incoming lightning that was thick enough to engulf a whole person.
For a singular moment, the vermillion wave met the bolt of calamity; the power of severance met the power of destruction. And then…
The lightning… split in two.
Now halved in power, the bolt’s remains deflected, and the momentum carried it up and off into the air…
After a moment, a sonorous roar exploded across the sky, like it was signaling the beginning of the end of the world.
Those bolts had probably flown off into the distance before finally fizzling out in a grand explosion.
But that was only one half of outcome.
The other half — the vermillion wave that came from the sword of light — had streaked on after smashing apart the bolt of calamity, until it finally reached Viktor.
“Guh…Guaaaaaaahhhhh!”
It sliced right into Viktor’s body. Intense light shone from the open wound before finally subsiding.
“…Haa…Haa…”
Viktor still stood, but his arms had lowered, though they were stretching out as though to receive something.
After a long moment of silence, Viktor dropped to his knees before collapsing over on the ground.
Our fight… was finally over.
“Phew…”
The exhaustion suddenly caught up to me once I let myself feel relief, and I dropped down on my bottom.
I let out a deep sigh, and it felt as though something had escaped with that sigh because my body suddenly felt heavier than before.
I had worked even harder this time…
“Lady Mylene!”
“Mylene!”
And it seemed things were about to get even noisier. At once, I had to put all my strength into keeping Colette from pushing me over in her embrace while giving a thumbs up to Albert, who looked as though he was ready to cry.
Well, that was until, unable to hold himself back, he jumped in as though to follow Colette, and his dam of tears broke.
Ah, what was I to do with these two… It was a little annoying to be stuck like this, but… well, I could let them off this time, since they’d done so well following my last order.
— Or so I thought, until I realized…
“…Hey, wait a minute. What happened to Melissa!?”
I suddenly remembered Melissa, whom Viktor had been controlling.
If she were still running wild like before, I wouldn’t be able to do anything to stop her because of how exhausted I was..!
“Ah, she suddenly stopped and fell over just as that guy dropped.”
“It does not seem like she is still under the effects of what ever it is that man did.”
“That so? Then I guess it’s… actually, that’s not fine at all. Bring her over here.”
According to them, Melissa should be doing fine now.
No, actually, it was too early to say that. I couldn’t relax yet just because she stopped rampaging about.
I directed my words toward Albert, implying he should be the one to carry Melissa over.
And after he had done so, I looked over the unconscious Melissa; her breathing seemed normal, at least.
At first glance, she seemed to be sleeping… I lifted her eyelids to check her eye movement, but she seemed fine; there were no signs that showed she was still under that guy’s influence. Then again, the best I could do was judge if someone was fit enough for the battlefield, so we should have an expert look her over later just in case. For the time being though, it didn’t seem like her life was in danger at least.
“Haa…”
I slowly laid Melissa back down and sighed again.
It was all finally over now… No, wait, not yet; it wasn’t quite over just yet.
“And… whew! How tiresome…”
“Why are you acting like an old man? A girl as beautiful as you should be paying better attention to how she acts.”
“Leave me alone already. I told you it’s too late for me.”
I used my hands to push off my knees to stand back up. Colette didn’t approve of it and scolded me for it, but I didn’t really care to listen right now.
Instead, I walked to the fallen Viktor and used my foot to roll him over on his back.
His hair no longer stood on end, nor could I feel even a hint of the magical power he exuded earlier.
“Heh… Hehe… I didn’t expect… the curtain call to close out… the show like this…”
And yet Viktor was still alive. Why were these guys like this, just refusing to die?
“Got any last words?”
“Nope. It was a most stunning performance. What would I have left to say? Ahh… The unpredictability of reality was so beautiful…”
After coming this far, seeing him satisfied like a person who had accomplished something great just left me feeling tired more than anything.
“Haa… Well, whatever. I’ve heard more than enough out of you by now. I’m leaving the rest to the guards.”
“Heh, that’s it? You know they’ll just kill me after that, right? Well, getting that kind of ending has its own charm, too.”
…Ugh, really? Wasn’t I the one who defeated him? It sure doesn’t feel like I won right now.
Nevertheless, it seemed he didn’t intend to kill himself, which meant I could question him at my leisure after they hauled him off to prison.
But before that — I tore the medallion that was hanging around Viktor’s neck.
At the very least, I could tell this thing was important. I had noticed it was emitting power before Viktor unleashed the power of his god. I still hadn’t figured out the whole truth behind it all, but taking this away from him would at least give me some peace of mind.
“Ooh… So you noticed it after all…”
“If we’re gonna be fighting more freaks like you from now on, we need to learn from anything we can find.”
“Ahaha, what a pity… If only I could be there to see it all unfold, with my own eyes…”
I clicked my tongue in exasperation but ignored him to examine the medal.
The medallion Pelmann had to call upon his god, Dia Myrth, depicted a horned serpent. This one, Viktor’s Zuri Dien, depicted a bird-headed man… and a rather nasty-looking one, too.
“A word of advice, in hopes that the story of the beautiful you will continue…”
“…”
I turned back to look at Viktor, who began mumbling, almost to himself.
Was this sarcasm..? No, it didn’t feel like it. It seemed the genius playwright really had taken a liking to me, and besides, getting any information would be helpful.
“The ‘freaks’ you are expecting… they are strong. But among your foes, be especially aware of the one they call the Ravenous Wolf.”
“The Ravenous Wolf?”
I hadn’t wanted to answer him, but my curiosity got the better of me.
Viktor’s mouth twisted into another warped smile, and he continued speaking.
“I don’t know much myself, but he is something like their strongest trump card… I have heard that if they really wanted to, they could have him destroy the whole world.”
Destroy the whole world’ was it? That didn’t sound very believable, but I would still keep it in mind.
“Yeah, that ain’t gonna happen.”
“Oh? And what makes you so sure?”
“All I gotta do is beat the life out of your so-called gods. That’s all it takes.”
“…Hah! True, very true! How so very… like… you…”
After one final satisfied laugh, Viktor finally fainted… If I wanted to hear more, it would have to be after he went to prison.
Unsteadily stumbling like I was tipsy, I made my way back to Colette and the others before sitting down.
It sure would be nice if I could just fall asleep right here.
All of a sudden, the doors of the auditorium slammed open; there, in the entryway, stood the school teachers with guards in tow.
It seemed a little careless for them to just barge the way they did when there were still spell tags all over the place, but it was too much effort to tell them so. Well, in the first place, there weren’t any of those traps in this building.
“M-miss Mylene..?! And Prince Albert and Princess Colette too..!”
When they finally realized what they were seeing, the teachers trembled at the sight of us: two members of royalty and a certain troublemaker.
I let out a long sigh as I tiredly scratched my head.
“Oh, uh… How do you do?”
It was too much trouble to think of an explanation, so I settled for a greeting.
Headcanon TL 
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