Mercedes quietly realized that the nature of Wilhelm's magic barrier had changed.
It wasn't particularly harder or stronger.
However, even when aligning her blade's edge properly, the force slipped away laterally.
He had shifted from blocking across a plane to parrying along a curve.
The protective membrane enveloping him was gradually, but steadily, beginning to adapt to Mercedes's sword.
It seemed his time in the Imperial Archmage Faculty was not just for show.
"You are surprisingly clever, aren't you?"
Mercedes bounded off the ground, unleashing a slash against the spherical protective membrane.
A second blow landed perpendicular to the first, overlapping it.
Though small fissures webbed outward from the intersection of the slashes, Wilhelm's expression remained unchanged.
"Locke-san."
As if anticipating the cue, Garry, who had been waiting in reserve behind her, leaped forward to trade places with Mercedes.
The thrust of his lightning-clad spear was drawn straight into the fissure in the barrier.
Immediately afterward, a burst of lightning bloomed within the crack.
A deafening roar followed.
The fissure gouged even deeper and wider into the depths of the protective membrane.
Even so, Wilhelm quietly leaped backward with an impassive look on his face.
"Cinnamon: Incense Cordite."
The moment Amae briefly spun her magic words, red dust slid into Wilhelm's path of retreat.
Moving more like a serpent than smoke, it coiled around Wilhelm along with his protective membrane and detonated without a moment's breath.
A direct hit—yet tough.
From the tactile feedback of her magic, Amae sensed that Wilhelm was still unharmed.
"Coriander: Firefly Cordite."
She fired a rapid barrage of arrowhead-sized gunpowder aiming at a single point in the center of the damaged area.
Unable to withstand the ceaseless continuous bombardment, a section of the translucent membrane finally burst apart.
Suddenly, Wilhelm's staff traced an arc.
Deploying in under a single second, a magic barrier enveloped the three advancing students, halting their offensive.
"Baron."
The corner of Wilhelm's mouth twisted.
Once ensnared by Baron, there was no means of escape.
The barrier was not meant for defense; it transformed into a cage designed to trap and crush.
Unable to endure the constricting pressure, their bodies would be turned into mincemeat. Mercedes alone might hold out for two or three bursts, but survival was virtually hopeless for the other two.
So it ends without even needing my trump card, after all.
Still, the fact that they had stripped away a layer of the peerless genius Wilhelm's multilayered barrier, even for a moment, was worthy of praise. They could die while resenting the incompetent homeroom teacher who thrust such an unreasonable assignment upon them.
"I already saw that earlier."
A flash.
Mercedes's right arm whipped forward, vanishing from sight along with her long sword.
The next instant, the barrier of Baron that had been about to constrict expanded outward, as if forcibly made to inhale from the inside.
With a dry sound akin to breaking pottery, the spherical cage shattered to pieces.
"What?"
Faced with an unanticipated sight, Wilhelm involuntarily furrowed his brow. How had she seen through the momentary point of fragility that occurred when the magic barrier compressed and deformed? This should have been the first time Mercedes encountered it.
Was she saying that she had devised a countermeasure simply by observing the spectacle unleashed upon Blanchard earlier? If so, she was a dangerous woman indeed.
High output paired with consummate swordsmanship.
The other two were also covering her vulnerabilities after each action so Mercedes could attack with all her might.
"The prestigious Meltzelia lineage is not to be underestimated after all, is it? The brilliance of the sword inherited from your father, combined with an extraordinary magic coefficient. It is hard to believe you are only a first-year. Would you care to become my student, young lady?"
A chill of disgust shot through Mercedes. Wilhelm's unreserved, leering gaze was repulsive. As expected, he seemed to excel at infuriating people.
"You were expelled, so you don't even have a teaching license, do you?"
"Go play teacher somewhere else."
Before Mercedes could return a retort, Amae tossed out a light jibe. Beside her, Garry spat out his words with disgust as well.
"Good grief. This is precisely why the entrance examination at Magias lacks rationality."
Wilhelm let out a sigh, as if genuinely lamenting the state of affairs.
"Having talent. For that mere reason alone, even lowborn blood like yours finds its way into the Imperial Archmage Faculty.
I can tell by your conduct. It has not been long since your two families took root in the royal capital, has it? A person can never fake the innate grace they were born with."
His voice was calm.
That was precisely why the contempt laced within it sounded strangely muddied.
When it came to snide remarks, Mercedes possessed some self-awareness, but his words went beyond sarcasm into mere vulgar abuse.
"You two. We're going on the offensive. Get ready."
At the murderous intent of the full-fledged assault the three were radiating, Wilhelm began to retreat as if it were nothing but a nuisance.
"Another all-out attack like a one-trick pony? However—"
Thud.
Suddenly, a heatwave surged from behind Wilhelm.
An explosion from the rear?
During the earlier attack, had she laid a trap with a portion of the gunpowder left unexploded?
The power was low, but it caught him entirely off guard.
Wilhelm's footwork, which had possessed not a single opening until now, faltered by half a step.
In that instant, Mercedes's eyes gleamed bewitchingly.
"Nijou Tengen."
Something at an imperceptible speed pincered Wilhelm from the left and right.
A tremor that shook his vision, and magic barriers peeling away all at once. Had this woman not been attacking with her full power until now?
"Tsuchigami!"
From behind Mercedes, who had just unleashed her strike, Garry's thrown lightning spear assailed Wilhelm this time. The spearhead he had effortlessly brushed aside until now bit deeply into the barrier.
The onslaught was not over yet.
In accordance with the movements of Amae's fingertips, black gunpowder undulated like a living creature. Due to the gloom of the underground, Wilhelm's reaction was delayed by a fraction of a second.
"Vanilla: Burst Cordite."
A roar and an impact.
Exposed to an even more potent blast of flame, Wilhelm was blown backward, unable to hold his ground. As he rolled along the stone-paved corridor, he recognized that he was on the verge of defeat.
The offensive performance of every single one of them had jumped two tiers all at once.
No, it hadn't jumped.
They had misled Wilhelm regarding their maximum firepower.
His complacency in absorbing every attack had backfired on him instead.
Calm down.
The true value of the multilayered magic barrier lay not in its solidity, but in its regeneration speed. Even if the surface layer was stripped away, all he needed to do was sprout a new barrier from the inside before their fangs could bite into the core.
It was an improvement Wilhelm had made upon the secret magic of the Braham family, which had once boasted absolute defense on the battlefield. No matter how exceptional they were, it was not something first-years could break through—.
"—Seven Heavens."
At the sword intent wafting from beyond the blast of flame, Wilhelm's instincts sounded an alarm.
"Batto."
Light streaked forth.
Having anticipated a follow-up of two or three strikes, what assailed Wilhelm was a bouquet of seven folded slashes.
Seven Heavens Batto.
One of the signature drawing techniques representing the Hinoe Ittou-ryu.
All seven strikes unleashed in a single breath boasted lethal power; failing to deflect even one meant an immediate, forced defeat. Such was the tale passed down among common martial artists.
However, no matter how powerful, it was merely antiquated Eastern swordsmanship.
There was no reason the sword of a rural noble who had merely racked up crude martial exploits could break through the secret art of the Braham family.
He excited his half-ruined magic barrier, bracing for the impact.
Playtime was truly over now.
Once this attack ended, he would settle matters with barrier magic meant to kill.
The moment Wilhelm firmly planted both feet on the ground, the magic barrier that had covered him until now was sliced to ribbons, blowing away along with the surrounding flames.
"—!"
The thick protective membrane dissolved into dust in midair.
Confronted with that reality, Wilhelm, who had been inside a safe zone until just a few seconds ago, could only stand frozen in stunned disbelief.
In that opening, Mercedes stepped in one pace deeper.
"Eek!"
Wilhelm's face contorted in terror.
He hastily made a motion to pull back from the sword's reach, but it was already too late.
Even Mercedes herself hadn't anticipated that hitting him with Seven Heavens would stop at merely neutralizing his defenses, but the next single stroke would end it.
"Just kidding♪"
The instant the long sword traced an arc meant to sever his head, Mercedes's knees abruptly buckled.
"—!?"
Lost for words at a sensation she had never experienced before.
Her body felt heavy.
The grip strength in her palms came undone, and the sensation of stepping into her stance peeled away from the soles of her shoes.
Immediately losing speed, the tip of her sword wavered like a butterfly, tracing empty air.
As Mercedes suddenly dropped to her knees, Wilhelm's magic bullet promptly detonated against her. What should normally have been sliced apart before impact struck Mercedes's right shoulder with utter ease.
"—!"
While taking the hit, Mercedes calmly understood what had occurred to her body.
Judging from everything that had happened so far, this was—.
"Good grief. Adding a target for magic control interference during combat proved to be quite an ordeal. Congratulations, Meltzelia. Without a doubt, the most dangerous mage in this place is you."
Clutching her dully numbed shoulder, Mercedes clicked her tongue.
She had miscalculated.
Had he been conserving resources for the barrier control?
Was that why he had unnaturally leaned toward defense midway through?
"Both of you, fall back for no—"
Without even giving them time to communicate, a volley of magic bullets was unleashed.
Before the gasping Mercedes, Garry, having picked up his spear, leaped forward fiercely.
Though it looked like wide swings swatting at flies, his spearhead accurately knocked down every single projectile without exception.
On top of rare lightning magic, his spear technique was magnificent as well.
That was precisely why it made no sense.
This power was originally a divine gift meant to be granted only to the noble blood that built this country.
"Cinnamon: Incense Cordite."
A counterattack unleashed to buy time for Mercedes to escape.
Not a shred of agitation could be seen in it.
This explosive magic was swift and accurate.
Her gunpowder formulation technique was also advanced, yielding power beyond her magic coefficient.
Which was why he had been waiting for this.
To begin with, dispersing gunpowder in an enclosed space always carried the danger of catching allies in the blast.
Even so, the reason Amae had been able to provide one-sided support was because she controlled the flow of gunpowder with hair-thin precision.
However, perhaps due to her lack of experience, she showed no sign of being wary of external interference.
"Wall."
The moment the gunpowder was unleashed, Wilhelm erected walls in a way that trapped all three of them, including Amae.
Packing them neatly.
With just that, a sealed room full of explosives was complete.
"Oh no—"
A deafening blast cut off Amae's panic.
The sealed room formed by the barrier was filled with flames in an instant.
Wilhelm watched as if admiring a work of art as the three were swallowed by the explosive flames they had scattered themselves.
At the same time, Gerald's hands, which had been moving without hesitation until now, came to a halt.
His handsome brow twitched ever so slightly.
Just as the restoration of the formula was nearing the halfway mark, the re-overwriting of the barrier began, as if rewinding time.
It was likely a two-stage sabotage rigged to activate under specific conditions.
That just rolled back his progress significantly.
Now it made sense why it had been so easy to rewrite earlier.
He was past the point of exasperation and into genuine admiration.
Why couldn't Wilhelm have applied this tenacity and resolve toward a good cause?
"Everyone! It is an emergency!"
Even without asking, he knew immediately who the voice belonged to.
Without stopping his hands, Gerald directed his focus toward the witch's loud voice.
"This is Brendan. What happened?"
"A message from Lady Amae, who is engaged in combat underground! Lord Garry is severely injured, and Lady Meltzelia is suffering from magic interference as well! We need reinforcements immediately!"
Gerald calmly digested the meaning of the briefly conveyed words.
Even with Mercedes, the foremost combatant in the Imperial Archmage Faculty, handling it, this was the situation. The personnel available to move and resolve this right now were—.
"This is Filie. I've finished treating the professor and handed her over to the others. I will head over as reinforcement right away."
Since the three of them—Brendan, Gerald, and Luluck—could not leave their posts, it was only natural it turned out that way.
"Got it. Everyone head underground as soon as your own task is finished. Luluck, share what just happened with the others too, and Philie-san, run away immediately if things look bad."
"Understood."
"Understood!"
Sending Filiestra, who could hardly be called a frontline combatant, was honestly a gamble, but considering her performance during the extracurricular class, it wasn't reckless to the point of folly.
Above all, there were no other pieces left to move.
"Wilhelm Braham..."
As his hands moved even faster across the control console, Gerald muttered spitefully to himself. From here on out, the work required making corrections at a speed surpassing the overwrite.
It was a one-shot task with no time to verify consistency.
Even Gerald, talented as he was, had zero margin for error.
"Everyone! The evacuation of the general citizens is nearly complete! I shall also head underground with Philie-san shortly!"
"The emergency repairs on the tower are almost done on my end too. Luluck, you and I will—"
At that moment, a tremor strong enough to tilt Gerald, who should have been standing at the top of the Central Tower, enveloped the entirety of Magias.
Using the barrier's functions, he projected an instantaneous image of the grounds into empty space. In the rookie tournament arena, an exceptionally gigantic magic beast had appeared.
An additional large magic beast, and at this timing?
Just how much investment did it take to achieve this level of military armaments? It was on a scale where one could only assume he had allocated his entire fortune toward purchasing illegal magic beasts.
"...L-Lord Bren, a large magic beast has just appeared in the arena..."
"I saw it from here too. It's huge."
"W-What should I do...?"
"Stay calm and see the evacuation through to the end. Once you're done, coordinate with the instructors to hold that big one back."
"B-But what about everyone underground...?"
Luluck's distress came through via telepathy.
Brendan replied with just a single, concise statement.
"I'll go."