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After that, we came up with a strategy using the three of our magics, trained intensely for a full week, and then the day of the special practical exam arrived.
The first day would be the block preliminaries, and the second day would be the finals for the teams that advanced.
Among the three blocks, A through C, we had been assigned to the Block A preliminaries.
Prince Felix’s team, said to be the strongest team, was apparently in Block C.
It seemed that the four top S-Class teams were considered the strongest contenders in Block A.
The stage for the battle was the training labyrinth within the academy.
This underground labyrinth, created by making use of something that had originally existed on this land, had a total length of three kilometers.
The teachers would create barriers to divide off sections of it, and the battles would take place within those areas.
As time passed and the number of participants decreased, the range of the barriers would shrink.
If all team members became unable to fight, that team would be judged eliminated.
Only the top ten teams could remain for the finals.
While we waited and kept our bodies moving, whispers from our S-Class classmates reached our ears.
“Look at that team.”
“I guess they couldn’t find anyone willing to team up with them.”
“I just hope they don’t get knocked out in the preliminaries and disgrace S-Class.”
“With that kind of strength, that’s impossible.”
They were students assigned to the same Block A preliminaries as us.
They appeared to be two close teams, and I often had the impression of seeing them together in class as well.
“They’re underestimating us. That works in our favor. Everything is proceeding exactly as I planned.”
Covering my mouth, I let out a quiet, amused laugh.
“Just as planned, Onee-sama.”
Claris said that while swaying the handmade cross accessory she seemed to be wearing.
“I’m just glad you two are having fun.”
Kate said that in a flat voice.
The time for the match to begin drew near.
The moment we entered the labyrinth, I broke into a run.
“For now, let’s take up position near the center first.”
“The center isn’t that way.”
“I know. I was just testing you, Kate. The real way is this one, right?”
“That’s wrong too.”
“…………”
It seemed I had no sense of direction.
I asked dependable Kate to guide the way.
“I feel nothing but anxiety…”
“I’m starting to get worried too…”
Neither of their voices had any energy in them.
That was strange.
For some reason, it felt like their trust in me had dropped at the very last moment.
(Well, it’s right before an important match, so I guess it can’t be helped.)
It was natural, and only to be expected, to feel anxious.
(This is where I, the leader and queen, have to lead everyone forward.)
“Let’s use this area where the visibility is poor. Kate, please.”
“Understood.”
Just as we had practiced, Kate used her magic to prepare for battle.
Pressing my ear against the dim wall of the labyrinth, I searched for signs of movement around us.
A tremor like an explosion shook my body.
It seemed to be quite a powerful spell.
(It’s probably S-Class…)
“That just now…”
“Are we really going to be okay if we don’t run?”
I shook my head at the two anxious girls.
“If we do what we practiced, we can win. Leave it to me.”
Greg Ausbeck was known as one of the academy’s most outstanding male students.
His rank within the academy was always in the single digits.
More than anything, what he took pride in was that he had achieved those excellent results without any voluntary studying whatsoever.
(Everyone works harder than I do, and still none of them can beat me.)
Greg enjoyed that situation, and because he remained among the top students despite putting in less effort than anyone else, he felt that he was the most superior person in this class.
If he got serious, even the top seat in the academy would be within reach.
He simply was not getting serious.
And in his heart, he looked down on his classmates who worked hard and still could not succeed.
That naturally included the promoted students who moved back and forth between S-Class and A-Class; as for the classes below that, they did not even enter his sight to begin with.
‘I just hope they don’t get knocked out in the preliminaries and disgrace S-Class.’
Those words he had spoken before the match had been his true feelings.
He could not tolerate low-ability students reducing the value of the S-Class he belonged to.
There was no higher class, so I’m only in the same classroom as the lower-ranked ones because I have no choice.
(There’s one team nearby.)
The presence of magical power mixed into the air.
Magic formulas being deployed.
Greg’s fire magic poured down on the three students hiding around the corner.
It was a kind of magic on a completely different level from what lower classes could use.
The magical barrier they had prepared and deployed shattered in an instant, and two of the students were incapacitated in a single blow.
“Y-you monster…!”
The last remaining girl, who had fled in terror, was engulfed in Greg’s flames and stopped moving.
Even so, the resistance enhancement granted by the uniform’s enchantment meant she was only temporarily incapacitated and her life was not in danger.
(I should have been able to leave them far more battered than this.)
Clicking his tongue, he moved on.
It was then that he sensed another team.
He had assumed they would judge him an unwinnable opponent and flee, but the enemy remained in place, holding their ground in one section near the center of the labyrinth.
(What a bunch of weaklings who can’t even judge their opponent’s strength.)
He approached with a twisted expression.
The instant he rounded the wall, magical attacks came rushing toward him.
(This is all they’ve got?)
The magical barrier he deployed neutralized the attacks launched by all three of them.
(So it’s Mythia Lumiore. She uses some very unusual magic.)
A strange presence of magical power and offensive magic he had never seen before.
The transfer student who had placed second in S-Class in the earlier exercise.
Even while acknowledging her strength, Greg could not help but feel disappointed in them as a team.
One lower-ranked S-Class girl who did nothing but make earth walls and reinforce their defense, and one F-Class student who could not even cast offensive magic and only kept shining brightly.
They functioned as a wall and as a blinding distraction, but they were far too lacking in power to stop top-ranking S-Class students like them.
“We’ll push through all at once.”
When he and his two teammates synchronized and released their magic, the enemy’s offensive spells were blown away, and the earth wall vanished without a trace.
It was a difference in power that would be obvious to anyone.
The total amount of power each side possessed had become an immense gap that could not be overturned, separating the two teams.
He chased after the three girls as they tried to flee, casting magic all the while.
In a situation where the enemy had no effective means of attacking, cornering the three of them was easy.
He drove them into a place with good visibility where they would be unable to evade attacks.
(Here, there are no obstacles.)
Guiding them into that open area, Greg became certain of victory.
“It’s over.”
It was at the moment Greg stepped in and activated his magic formula to finish them off for certain.
He felt as though the ground beneath him had dropped out.
A sensation of floating.
His vision flipped.
(――――――Huh?)
He could not understand what had happened.
The rushing air brushed his hair.
He was falling.
He slammed into soft earth like a swamp.
(A pitfall…!)
By the time he realized it, it was too late.
His body was already caught in the soft mire.
An utterly unexpected situation.
His mind went blank.
(It was all to lure us here. The F-Class student was glowing to reduce the amount of visual information we could process…!)
“So, in your mind, if someone gets knocked out in the preliminaries, that makes them a disgrace to S-Class, was it?”
Above the hole, Mythia Lumiore said that as her long hair fluttered lightly.
“Farewell, you disgrace to S-Class.”
In the next instant, a concentrated assault of household magic and earth magic rendered Greg and his two teammates unable to fight.
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