9. Dark Jealousy (4)
They say that watching a fight is the most entertaining thing, but when the fighters are none other than Karla della Cascata and Lucas von Scheiskel, the talk of the Academy, there’s nothing more to say.
Lucas, who had been struck in the face by Karla’s fist, sprang up as if launched and wildly gestured with his hands.
A magical projectile larger than a fist scattered in response to his movements and shot toward Karla, who deflected it with ease.
The deflected magical projectiles shot off in all directions, but the students dining nearby had their own protective spells up and were chatting idly, thoroughly absorbed in watching the unfolding fight.
“Miss Karla… Karla! We’ll apologize on your behalf, so please stop!”
From the Western faction, Kiara, with her black hair tied up in a white ribbon, rushed between the two and shouted.
“Hmph.”
To begin with, he wasn’t even worth her time. Judging by the sensation in her fist and from deflecting the magical shot, Lucas was still nothing more than trash.
“Karla, if any problems arise, we’ll handle them appropriately. Plus, I’ll testify that Lucas was the one to provoke this, so this should be enough.”
Karla exhaled her breath, swollen with excitement, and loosened her fists. Moreover, if the fight grew bigger, it might actually disadvantage Karla, who had thrown the first punch. With someone already volunteering to support her side, there was no need to escalate things further… or so she thought, until Lucas, nose bleeding profusely, flushed red and approached Karla.
“You bitch, you hit me first! Damn it, don’t think this is over!”
Karla smirked and glared at Lucas.
They say a barking dog doesn’t bite, but this one was just making noise.
“Judging by your manner of speech, you’re incredibly vulgar, Lucas. You’re so low-class that if I were to call you commoner, I’d believe it.”
“Damn woman! I tried to be polite by associating with you because you’re the eldest son of the Cascata family, but look at you now, flaunting like a scarecrow! Just how long can that clever mouth of yours keep jabbering? I’ll check that for sure!”
Lucas extended his fingers, and magical power began to swirl around his entire body. This wasn’t just a mere magical projectile anymore—its ominous energy signaled that Lucas intended to cast a proper magical artistry. Karla smirked and crossed her arms in response.
“Go on, try it. Try anything.”
“…”
“I won’t dodge or interfere with the magical artistry you’re preparing. But if you fail to bring me down with it, then you’ll have to prepare to lose a limb.”
Karla’s eyes gleamed as she waited with crossed arms, indicating she would indeed not act.
“Lucas! Stop it! Damn it, someone fetch a faculty member quickly!”
“Just stop, Lucas! This isn’t going to end well!”
Despite the students from the Western faction trying to restrain Lucas, his eyes were already bloodshot and unfocused. Meanwhile, the older students had even cast a boundary spell to form a circle and were engrossed in watching the spectacle with great interest. The only ones growing anxious were the students from the Western faction.
“Hey—why stop him? This is entertainment! You should join us and watch!”
“That’s right—there’s no prohibition against duels in the Academy, so watch!”
“If you’re not going to watch, at least don’t interfere—”
“Damn it…”
Kiara could do nothing more.
Even as she watched, the magical circle around Lucas became sharper, and his incantation was taking quite some time, indicating how powerful the magic spell he was preparing might be.
“Let’s get out of the way, everyone! It’ll be unfair if we’re dragged into this and injured!”
Finally, with Kiara and the other Western students retreating into the protective perimeter created by the seniors, the dining hall transformed into what looked like a proper duel ground.
“To tell the truth, this is rather inefficient. An all-day incantation?”
Karla began her technique with [Awakening] while pulling magic into herself.
The exhilarating sensation of lightning coursing over her skin—her senses heightened dozens, hundreds, even thousands of times. Karla exhaled deeply, her face oddly flushed, possibly due to excitement of the fight or heightened sensitivity.
“Watch carefully, puppet of Cascata!”
With Lucas as the point, several magical circles lined up on either side.
A classic war spell.
Lucas was employing magic designed for widespread destruction, meant to project firepower onto countless enemies simultaneously.
“[Magical Flare]!”
Karla moved the moment the incantation ended. The spell Lucas was casting was not something that should have been left alone, regardless of intent. Even if so, wouldn’t a wide-range spell in such a confined space be inappropriate?
“Shame on you for disgracing the name of Shaiskeil, you foolish man.”
As bolts of magical energy were about to rain down on Karla, she darted toward Lucas. If striking the neck would be lethal, she must avoid that. Instead, Karla twisted around Lucas, binding his arms and legs and forcefully contorted his joints.
—Crack, crack.
“Ahhhh!”
The sounds of Lucas’s shoulders and knees breaking echoed throughout the hall. With Lucas’s concentration disrupted, the magical circles he had drawn shattered and dissipated.
“Use your brain, Lucas. Who would be crazy enough to use a wide-range attack indoors?”
With both his arms and legs broken, Lucas writhed on the floor in pain, unable to move, his body shivering occasionally from the intense agony.
“Truly repulsive, Lucas. If you behave this way, you’re no different from trash. Tsk.”
Casting a cold eye down at the trembling Lucas in pain, Karla turned around.
She had hoped to dampen the situation, but it had escalated greatly. Even though she thought it might have been settled quietly, it was too late by then.
That girl Kiara from the Western faction had promised a smooth resolution, so the aftermath would likely be managed, and in any case, Karla was satisfied with how thoroughly she’d beaten Lucas.
She was oddly in a good mood.
After all, suppressing everything doesn’t fit her temperament. She felt much better after unleashing her emotions so refreshingly.
“Hey, Karla.”
And then, Ivan’s voice interrupted before her thoughts could settle completely.
Karla furrowed her brow and pretended not to hear Ivan’s voice.
“Hey, are you alright?”
Since she couldn’t ignore this voice that came from right beside her, Karla turned her head slightly to glance at Ivan—along with three others whose names she wasn’t too concerned about.
“What would make me not alright? Nothing’s wrong with me.”
“Ah, okay… I was just concerned you might’ve been injured somewhere.”
“That worry is unnecessary.”
With that, Karla resumed her walk toward the classroom.
Thinking about it, those four would inevitably head to the classroom as well, and the idea of having to walk alongside them soured her mood slightly again.
*
Even after Karla and the accompanying students had departed, the dining hall remained bustling with cleanup work.
A horde of golems responsible for maintaining the Academy’s facilities swarmed in to repair the damaged dining hall. At that moment, atop the bell tower overlooking the dining hall, a silhouette stood watching the proceedings below.
“This batch has some rather interesting individuals.”
A man with one deeply hollowed-out eye and disheveled hair remarked. His single gaze followed Karla’s figure as she headed toward the classroom, tinged with keen curiosity.
“Especially that Cascata girl. It’s strange…she doesn’t seem like the product of one of the Four Great Families.”
Since the establishment of the current empire and even before its foundation, the Four Great Families had rendered invaluable services. But it was widely acknowledged that the present generation of heirs from those families was perhaps the weakest in history.
While the empire was fundamentally defined by strength, the education around benevolence, righteousness, and propriety was somewhat neglected. However, the heirs’ complete incompetence had been rare until now.
The successor to the House of Cascata—well-known as a male until now—was no exception either, and her reputation wasn’t particularly good. Her temper remained unchanged, even after revealing her true identity.
“For you to show interest in the offspring of the Four Great Families is a first. Shouldn’t you direct your attention elsewhere?”
“True as that may be, but these people from the Four Great Families tend to live in their own self-conceited worlds, yet this girl gives off a different vibe.”
“Even so, she’s still a kid. A kid who’s drunk on their own power without discernment. Rather than wasting time on someone like her, wouldn’t it be better to focus on more constructive pursuits, such as the bloodline of the ancient royal family?”
The woman cast a pointed critique with blood-red eyes.
The man, in agreement, nodded but still couldn’t help but follow Karla’s figure with his gaze.
“Yes…the priority is the Parliament’s order. But the command aside, it’s peculiar to see such a defiled bloodline, having lost all honor and dignity, crawling here like this… Hmm?”
At that moment, the one-eyed man grimaced and heightened his senses.
“Is it my imagination?”
“…It doesn’t seem like it.”
Karla, who had been walking, turned around. She turned completely to look toward the top of the bell tower where they were stationed.
“Could it be she made eye contact?”
“Seems that way.”
“Wasn’t the invisibility spell cast perfectly?”
“Of course, it’s still active. No one can see us. Especially since it was bestowed upon us by Him.”
“…Still, how did she?”
The woman remained silent in response to that question.
Meanwhile, after staring fixedly at the top of the bell tower for a while, Karla turned around with a huff when Ivan showed up beside her and continued toward the classroom.
