After school finally let out, the Student Council led by Noah and the school delinquents led by Gazel gathered behind one of the school buildings, tucked away from prying eyes.
As for me, I stood quietly beside Gazel, simply waiting for the moment to begin.
"But hey, Lloyd, what’s with the mask?"
"I just don't want to stand out."
I had cast Illusion System Magic on the mask to blur my silhouette, ensuring my identity remained hidden. I’d set the spell up quite strictly; it didn’t seem like even Noah, who was standing right in front of me, had caught on.
Standing beside a sullen Noah, who was glaring at us, was a boy wearing a mask identical to mine—in other words, Grimo, currently possessing the Wooden Effigy.
「I had an inkling you were serious, but it still surprises me that you're actually going through with this, sir.」
Grimo’s exasperated voice reached me via Telepathy.
—To put it simply, my plan was this:
Grimo and I would stage a sham duel.
As long as we put on a decent show, everyone would be satisfied and the misunderstandings would be cleared up. Then, I could freely spend my time with both groups.
Yes, a truly perfect plan. I've already won.
「But will things really go that smoothly? I find it hard to believe a mere Majin could ever serve as an adequate opponent for Master Lloyd...」
「Don't worry, I'll go easy on him.」
「—That might not be necessary, sir.」
Grimo replied somewhat bluntly. In that same instant...
Rumble! A roar echoed as the ground beneath my feet gave way.
A flash of black light erupted from the earth.
"Whoa!?"
The force blew me into the sky along with the Barrier I always kept active. I used Levitation to remain suspended in midair.
Glaring up at me from below, Grimo held massive spheres of roaring flame in both hands.
"Scorching Flame Fang!"
Fangs of fire howled as they tore through the air toward me. I was a bit startled by the sudden consecutive attacks, but I was glad to see Grimo was so motivated.
"Still, there's something a little off about this Scorching Flame Fang."
I had been showered by Grimo's magic many times in practice, and it was usually quite orthodox. However, I sensed a slight discrepancy in the Spell Formula of this particular Scorching Flame Fang. ...Hmm, curious.
I immediately deactivated my Barrier and tried to take the Scorching Flame Fang with my bare hands.
Naturally, it hurt.
It was only fine because I was using magic to enhance my body and constantly heal myself while guarding with a shroud of mana. Good boys and girls everywhere shouldn't try something as dangerous as touching Supreme Magic with their bare hands.
「No, why would anyone even think to do that?!」
"Hot, hot."
The Spell Formula flowed into me along with the scent of singed flesh.
I see, I see. It looks normal at a glance, but there really is a discrepancy. ...Oh? The mana line drawing the formula—one part of it has a strange color.
The moment my curiosity led me to touch it...
BOOM! A deafening explosion resounded, and a tremendous shockwave slammed into me.
While I was being blown back, not even sure what had happened, a presence appeared behind me.
「I knew you'd touch it, sir. I knew you couldn't help yourself, Master Lloyd.」
Grimo whispered into my ear almost exactly as his black-stained leg swung in a wide arc.
I managed to guard against the blow aimed at my head, but between this and the flames from earlier, a spray of blood erupted from both my arms.
"Heh, so you hid a trap within the Spell Formula itself?"
Magic is activated by flowing mana through a Spell Formula, but if there's an error in the formula, it will malfunction and explode at that point. Grimo had created that error intentionally, knowing that letting me touch it would trigger a powerful blast.
It was a brilliant trap, exploiting my habit of deactivating my Barrier to touch any unusual Spell Formula I came across.
「It would only work on someone like you, Master Lloyd! But the effect is certainly remarkable!」
He let out a roar as he unleashed a flurry of strikes. Every time I blocked a mana-shrouded blow, my guarding arms let out an audible creak.
「Master Lloyd, why aren't you using your Barrier?! You're bleeding!」
「I can't! Redeploying a Barrier takes a massive amount of time!」
It was as Grimo said. Once a Barrier is deactivated, it takes a considerable amount of time to put it back up. That was why I normally kept multiple layers of Barriers active at all times, with formulas set to automatically deploy a new one the moment one was broken.
However, that didn't apply when I deactivated the spells myself.
「Ora ora ora oraaa!」
A storm of continuous strikes rained down. Needless to say, almost all mages are poor at close-quarters combat. Most magic requires an incantation, and there's a slight delay before activation.
It couldn't be helped. I’d have to engage him in a melee.
"Radiant Armament + Langris Style—"
Just as I tried to grip the Sword of Light I’d manifested in my palm, a sharp pain shot through my hand, and I reflexively dropped it.
「Master Lloyd!」
Jiriel, residing in my left hand, caught the falling Sword of Light. There was no pain there. My left hand was fine, but my right was a different story.
Looking down, I saw a black, bruise-like mark surfacing on my palm.
「Sorry, Master Lloyd, but I accounted for that, too.」
Grimo wore a triumphant smirk.
A Magic Trace. When the body is exposed to strong mana while defenseless, the flesh can have a rejection response that manifests as these marks. Of course, I’m never truly defenseless against mana, but my right palm—where Grimo used to reside—was the exception. Even if it was only skin-deep, that specific spot had been completely under Grimo's control, making it easy for him to leave a Magic Trace.
"—Langris Style Swordsmanship: Hedgehog."
I immediately gripped the Sword of Light with my left hand and unleashed a series of high-speed thrusts, but he dodged them easily.
「Hyaha! Too slow, too slow!」
As I thought, using my non-dominant hand halved both my power and speed. Instead of gaining distance, I ended up taking several counterattacks.
「What’s the matter?! Surely this isn't all you've got!」
With my counterattacks neutralized and my defense failing, merciless blows rained down on me. With my Barrier gone, my enemy at close range, and one of my hands sealed, even a significant difference in ability would be difficult for a mage to overcome.
「M-Master Lloyd...! Please, pull yourself together! Ugh, you damn Majin, if it's come to this, then I shall—」
Grimo lightly swatted away the Radiant Armament Jiriel fired.
「Shut it, you damn angel! Stay out of this!」
Grimo charged forward, his momentum building. In his hand, he prepared his most powerful magic.
Ultimate Black Spiral Strike. Of all the Ancient Magic Grimo used, this one specialized most in pure destruction. It required a long charge time and only functioned at full power at close range, but in exchange, its power was absolute—enough to shatter even my Barriers.
「With this, it's overrrrr!」
The strike, which condensed a colossal Magic Orb, thrust toward my chest. It stopped just before impact.
「Wh—a Barrier?!」
Grimo's eyes widened in shock. What had blocked his attack was the Wind System Lower Grade Magic, Windball.
The orthodox way to use this magic is to launch a sphere of air at an enemy, but by activating it and letting it standby instead of firing it, one can use the mass of air to cushion an attack.
By applying Military Magic to the spell, I had expanded and compressed thousands of those air spheres, deploying them directly in front of me. The result was a shield of high-pressure air that had completely neutralized Grimo's attack.
"And now, my Barrier is back."
And my wounds were gone, too.
「Healing Light is a magic that acts upon the human body, so recovery depends on the body itself. Its effect is naturally limited. To heal wounds like those, one would normally have to cast it for days on end... Master Lloyd is terrifying...」
Jiriel was muttering something to himself. It only takes a long time if you rely on the body's natural self-repair; if you simply use magic to synthesize replacement flesh and blood and attach it directly, you can heal at a decent speed.
Though even that still takes a few seconds.
「Guh... as expected, you're strong... way too strong...!」
Grimo gnashed his teeth, but he’d actually put up a great fight. He had exploited my weaknesses effectively. If I were at the level of the Demon I fought years ago, I might have actually struggled.
"Anyway, this should be enough of a settle. Let's head down, Grimo."
「...Yes, sir.」
With Grimo’s short reply, we both returned to the ground where the others were waiting.