42
"Mwahahaha!"
This is great!
So great!
I thought this event would be boring, but to think I'd enjoy it this much!
She used Meteor, huh?
Yes, that's a spell worthy of the name.
Perfect for the final.
And a perfect chance for me to shine!
All right, let's play.
"Mwahahaha!"
The meteor draws closer.
It's like the sky is falling.
No, more like the earth is plummeting down on me.
Dropping the whole earth itself—
"How uncivilized."
Anything over my head gets no mercy.
"Freeze over."
I encase the meteor in ice.
But it keeps falling.
It's about to land on me.
Heh.
Quite a daring move, blocking my view.
"Shatter!"
With a loud crack, the meteor explodes into fragments.
◇ ◇ ◇
A man dressed in black watches from above.
But thanks to the protective barrier around the arena, he can't see the final match clearly.
"How strange."
He murmurs.
He can't track his subordinates.
They were supposed to break into the venue so he could barge in during the final.
But there's no sign of them.
Everything is peaceful.
This man is one of the Dark Hand's higher-ups and belongs to an elite group called the Numbers.
He's Numbers VIII—Mukuro.
That's his codename.
The Numbers went through brutal training, drug injections, and many near-death missions.
Unlike nameless henchmen, most of the Numbers can still think.
But Mukuro is practically a puppet.
He has strong skills, but the torture he endured made him abandon all thought.
Whether or not he still has a will doesn't matter.
He just kills, following orders.
Standing at the top of the magic academy's clock tower, he peers down.
The final has already started.
No signal from his underlings.
So Mukuro decides by himself.
He has one order: kill both finalists—Arc and Medusa.
He grips his black spear and leaps from the tower.
He drops straight toward the arena.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meteor.
In a student tournament, it's overkill.
Medusa wouldn't cast it unless her opponent was Arc.
Against anyone else, it'd be too lethal.
But she knew Arc wouldn't die.
In that sense, she was right.
Still, she never thought it'd be destroyed so easily.
"…He's a monster."
She mutters.
Yes, Arc was never going to die.
She expected he'd survive, but not that he'd crush Meteor so simply.
—A chill runs through her.
She senses something eerie.
—Boom.
She looks up.
Someone in dark clothing breaks the barrier and slams to the ground.
Dust flies everywhere.
She thinks Arc attacked her, but—
"…!?"
A person in a skull mask steps out of the dust.
She realizes the threat she sensed isn't from Arc, but from this new figure.
This is definitely not normal.
There's no way the tournament would include a "surprise guest" like this.
She can't measure his strength, but she feels he's way above her.
Medusa isn't good at close combat.
Now that he's this close, she's basically lost.
Still, if she can stall him, help will come.
She tries to buy time without provoking him.
"…Who are you?"
The skull-masked man says nothing.
Instead—
"—!?"
He's in front of her in a flash.
Then—
"—Chototsu."
He aims his spear at Medusa's heart.
It's like he anticipated her stalling tactic—or more like he doesn't care at all. He's only here to kill.
But—
"Stone Wall!"
She barely manages to conjure a stone wall.
Yet—
"—"
It shatters instantly.
He raises his spear again.
"Chototsu!"
Mukuro's black spear goes straight for Medusa's heart.
Her eyes widen, and she feels death closing in—
"Icicle."
Suddenly, ice bursts from under Mukuro's feet.