Mightiest Melee Magician

This was a type of challenge.

“You fucking…”

Against the third son of the Galehill family, who had cemented himself as the king of his peers.

It was a challenge against Michael.

Maybe that was why,

“R-Ruin…”

Even those who weren’t particularly nice to me before started worrying about my wellbeing.

It was quite similar to my last incident.

“You… So you still haven’t woken up after nearly dying last time?”

When one of Michael’s lackeys, Ben Polt, threw a Lightning Bolt at me.

I replied while agreeing with Michael,

“I guess so. Looking at how I’m not able to hold in my temper when I see disgusting shits like you, I guess I still haven’t woken up yet.”

“What? You bastard!”

Michael shook with rage.

He looked as if he would explode at any moment, this seemingly being the first time someone had acted this way against him.

However,

“Stop!”

Thanks to the timely entrance of the professors, Michael was forced to suppress his anger.

And like a stereotypical villain, he turned his back while muttering,

“You, I’ll see you after the test.”

“……”

Wow, so threatening.

I just shrugged my shoulders and bowed my head towards the professors.

“I apologize for the commotion.”

“Sure. Return to your seat.”

Among the professors was Professor Hydel.

The others probably didn’t see.

That when Professor Hydel saw me looking at him, he smiled, as if amused.

Then, another professor, who was in charge of the test, stepped forward to announce,

“The tests will begin soon. But before that, we have an announcement to make.”

As the first day of the practical exams, the test today would be <Multi-target Firing>.

A test to see how many standing targets you could hit at once.

Well, that’s what it would have been.

However,

“What? Why?”

The difficulty was raised greatly.

Usually, the targets would remain in set positions during the test, but not this time.

“Move─ Movement Magic?”

One of the professors would animate the scarecrows and periodically make them strafe left and right.

“As you can tell, the test has been changed for this year. If you observe closely, they are moving with a set pattern, so concentrate and figure it out!”

Why?

Why would they suddenly increase the difficulty?

All the students suddenly had a look of nervousness.

However, Michael was different.

He kept his usual relaxed composure.

Well, so did I.

“Ruin, what are you thinking of doing?”

When Jason asked me, I just shrugged.

“Dunno.”

For me, it didn’t matter if the target moved or not.

Since I wasn’t even sure if the magic I’d show would be accepted by the examiners or not.

Only thing to do now… was to hit it straight on.

“Hilk! You’re first up.”

Hilk walked forward, looking nervous.

At that point, the stationary scarecrows stood up and started moving from their positions.

“Start!”

The first test had begun.

* * *

“Next!”

“Ah……”

“Isn’t this too hard?”

A myriad of regretful sighs was ever-present among the students.

Most, if not all, were complaints about the increased difficulty.

The professors were not having a good time either.

“These results are beyond terrible.”

“That’s what I’m saying. They are worse than I expected. Was it an average of 2 hits?”

An average of 5 simultaneous magic evocations.

And from these, only an average of 2 hits.

Some students, those who were too scared of the moving targets and unconfident in their skills, usually hit none.

And even the ones who could hit more were still scoring below the recommended score.

While looking at this scene in silence, Director Tirion clicked his tongue.

“Tsk.”

The difficulty was raised intentionally.

This was to distinguish the real magicians from the average student and cultivate them before the graduation test.

But for none of them to have the talent.

“Tsk, tsk. None of them are up to the task.”

They weren’t up to the standard they should be for students that would be graduating soon.

Where were the times when Tirion himself studied magic?

When people studied as they strived to become archmages and had the passion to restlessly work forwards.

But these weren’t the times now.

Now, it was but a method to control the authority known as magic, only for these magicians to become servants to others’ authority.

Then, Professor Elrick from the department of potion crafting came up and said,

“Here he comes. The pride of our academy.”

The one Professor Elrick pointed out was Michael.

Michael Galehill.

Well, of course, Professor Elrick here was also from the Galehill House.

Knowing this fact, Director Tirion didn’t hide his displeasure.

“Talking about pride, Professor Elrick. The test hasn’t even begun.”

“Even so… Michael has always been dominant in these tests. You too know this very well, director.”

“I know you want your nephew to do well, but please separate your public and private affairs.”

“…Yes. I understand.”

Professor Elrick had no choice but to back down after Tirion became a bit sterner.

But luckily for Professor Elrick, the test results reflected what he had said.

“Woah! Look at that! Fire and Water! He casted two conflicting elements at once! One, two, three, four… Haha. There are too many to count!”

This was the truth.

Michael had succeeded in casting more than 10 Fireballs and Waterballs at once and sent them flying at the targets.

“13! He hit 13!”

He even showed a surprising scene of hitting over 13 of the targets.

With an accuracy of over 60%, it was an impressive record. 

“Haha. If it’s at this level, isn’t it enough to say Michael is the pride of our academy?”

Clap clap clap clap.

Professor Elrick was clapping repeatedly as Michael stood confidently and snorted a peal of laughter.

* * *

* * *

Michael Galehill.

Tirion didn’t want to admit it, but compared to the others, he couldn’t deny that Michael was at an unrivalled level in terms of magic.

The others’ tests were the same as before.

None were able to exceed the performance shown by Michael.

Director Tirion stood from his seat.

“The levels of these graduation students… I’ve seen enough.”

His face was filled with disappointment.

Count Galehill.

The family used magic as a tool to ensure the longevity of authority.

Even though the family’s principles directly contradicted the founding philosophy of the academy, if no student appeared that could rival the son of the Galehill family, there was no more reason to continue watching.

But then, Professor Hydel of Combat Magics, who was sitting next to Tirion and silently grading the students, suddenly spoke up.

“Director, how about observing for a little longer?”

“No, I don’t think there will be any merit in me staying here.”

“The next student will be Ruin.”

Tirion stopped at the name ‘Ruin’, and Professor Elrick turned to look at Professor Hydel as if he had said something outrageous.

“Wh-who? Ruin? That magically disabled kid?”

“……”

“That student is taking the practical test? Even though he can’t use magic?”

At the sophistry of the rat-like Professor Elrick, Professor Hydel narrowed his eyes and told him,

“Professor Elrick, your words just now were quite strange. Is there a reason Ruin shouldn’t take the practical exams?”

“W-well, no… but he would fail anyways…”

“Professor, you seem to look at each student’s value differently, even though you were quite supportive of your nephew over there.”

“……”

“Even if we say you had those thoughts about Ruin, to say it out loud is a different matter altogether. Ruin himself hasn’t given up, so, as educators of these students, we shouldn’t give up on them either.”

“Well, what you said isn’t wrong…”

Professor Elrick quickly shut his mouth and looked away.

Professor Hydel’s words were genuine.

As Ruin was called up, he walked up to the training area with a calm face.

This scene caught the eye of Director Tirion.

“This… Looks like I’ll have to sit down for this.”

Ruin Ardell.

Even though everyone had given up on him, he himself had not.

The Icon of Indomitability.

Tiron, enjoying such perseverance, became expectant as to what he would witness.

And soon after…

“……!”

Tirion’s eyes widened, as if he had seen a ghost.

No, it was even more than that.

“W─w─w─what is this?”

“……”

Those observing, Professor Elrick, Professor Hydel, and all the other students, could do nothing but stare in shock, their mouths wide open.

* * *

A whopping two months.

For two months straight, I only punched and kicked.

My strength increased by 10 daily due to the rewards, but it wasn’t too much to say that the repetitive daily life became too tiring to handle.

But another gift had been given to me.

A ‘Skill’ to be more specific.

Bend Time

Active

For 30 seconds, you may twist and bend time for your benefit. You may move your body faster, as your Strength increases by 200%. You will move through the bent time.

Cooldown: 5 minutes

“…The hell is this?”

My first reaction was to question what this was.

What an ‘Active’ was, what it meant to bend time, and what a ‘Cooldown’ was.

I found out after using it.

This skill, at the point of my choosing, let me move at 200% my normal speed for 30 seconds.

As if I were moving between time itself.

It could be used to dodge enemy attacks.

And…

‘To destroy a bunch of scarecrows at once.’

An indispensable skill.

“Start!”

Whing- Whing-

With the signal from the examiner, the scarecrows started to move.

The multitudes of scarecrows,

‘You think you can hit us?’

They looked as if they were challenging me.

Power naturally flowed into my fists.

How many times had I imagined this situation?

How long had I waited?

Diligently training 3000 moves every day, how many times had I dreamed of this moment?

‘Let’s put on a good show.’

To show my magic to these real ‘magicians’.

I forced up all the power, packed to the brim in my Force Circle, in an instant.

The circle had finished powering up in the blink of an eye.

My strength exploded through my veins, and a flood of Fireballs flowed out from the top of my palm.

“Woah…”

“How─how many is that?”

“Thirty… No, no. That looks like fifty?”

“What the fuck?”

I could hear the disbelief of my peers.

And in the midst of the cries, I could also hear the voice of a flustered Michael.

“Fuck, that scared me for a second. Hey, you guys. What’s the point of getting surprised? Ruin has evocation disorder. It doesn’t matter if he can cast once or a hundred times. No way he hits anything.”

Even if he wanted to sound confident, his voice was definitely shaking.

There was no way he wouldn’t be shocked.

Who would have guessed that I could do such things?

My body felt hot.

My excitement continued to grow and wanted to explode out at any moment.

I wanted to show them.

That I, Ruin Ardell, had not had my life as a magician die.

That I would become stronger than anyone else,

That I would obliterate their perceptions of me.

Bend Time has been activated.

Your current strength will be increased by 200%.

Right.

Now.

“Wow!”

In an instant, my form bent time and darted forwards.

<Bend Time> didn’t simply increase how fast I moved.

In this time increase of 200%, all my actions, including my magic casting and movement, became faster.

But not enough to lose control.

My eyesight became clearer and my movement more concise.

I felt light, and also sturdy at the same time.

In the eye of my own storm, I reached out to the scarecrows in front of me with my fists.

Arms, legs, heads, shoulders.

Crash! Crash! Crash! K-K-K-KABOOM!

A large explosive roar came from every part that I touched, and the testing grounds were soon covered in dust.