With his senses extending 40 meters in diameter, tracking traces was easy.
'Here.'
Footprints.
'But that's it. Human strides don't exceed 10 meters, so they must've taken to the air…'
Just as he frowned in frustration, a sonic boom echoed from the northern sky.
'North!'
Shirone's head snapped toward the sound.
Black smoke curled around Amy's face—though in reality, it hovered three centimeters above her skin.
Air Shield, a spell that compressed the atmosphere to create an instant barrier.
Amy: "Changing the meeting spot just to ambush me? Still as slimy as ever."
She rose slowly from her landing stance, knees straightening. Behind her, the man who had delivered the note grinned crookedly.
Black Magician Grunt: "Heh, I've got a bone to pick with you. Would've been easier if you'd just played along."
Amy: "Spare me the trash talk. Where's Shirone?"
The moment she spoke, five figures descended from the sky, surrounding her.
Among them was Jake, leader of the Black Magicians.
Jake: "You actually came alone? Didn't think you'd care about someone that much."
Amy: "What're you babbling about? I don't need help against trash like you. Where's Shirone?"
Jake: "Hah! That weakling? Probably still in the library. Clueless that the girl who came to save him is in trouble. Pathetic."
Realizing she'd been tricked, Amy exhaled in relief.
No hostage meant Jake and his lackeys couldn't lay a finger on her.
Amy: "You called me here, so you're prepared to die, right?"
Jake: "Scary~ But you really think it'll be that easy? Every arrogant brat we've crushed started off just like you. Top grades don't mean shit in real combat—"
Amy stepped into her Spirit Zone.
Amy: "Did you learn nothing from yesterday?"
Jake reacted instantly, recalling the previous encounter—but the cost of losing initiative was steep.
Ignoring Jake, Amy targeted the grunts guarding the rear.
A rapid-fire barrage of Fire Strikes—her specialty—set one man's clothes ablaze.
Black Magician Grunt: "Agh! Hot! HOT!"
Pale-faced, the others froze.
They hadn't expected the top-ranked elite to wield combat magic.
'She's serious. This girl's insane.'
Even among magic students, fire spells were notoriously lethal.
Jake: "Put it out! The rest of you, MOVE!"
As the Black Magicians scattered, Amy's Spirit Zone twisted chaotically.
Unlike training, human movements were unpredictable—each reversal sent jolts of pain through her skull.
Yet her accuracy never wavered. Another man was engulfed in flames.
Black Magician Grunt: "AAAAH!"
Jake gritted his teeth.
'Damn, she really is the top student. But single-target types are weak against groups. And…'
Recalling the cross-shaped Spirit Zone, Jake soared upward.
'You're vulnerable to vertical rotation.'
Having shared classes, he knew her strengths—and weaknesses.
'If fire's your game, mine's wind.'
Swinging his arm, Jake compressed air into a razor-sharp blade and hurled it downward.
'Wind Cutter!'
Amy's flat cross-shaped Spirit Zone wouldn't detect it in time.
'Game over.'
As the spell closed in—just one meter away—Jake was certain of victory.
But before he could cheer, Amy's torso twisted at an impossible speed.
The Wind Cutter grazed her, slicing a lock of crimson hair.
Jake's eyes widened.
Jake: "No way! How did you—?!"
Amy: "It's called schema, idiot."
Smirking, she rotated her Spirit Zone vertically.
Feeling the shift, Jake frantically twisted midair—but aerial maneuvers were sluggish.
Amy's targeting speed? Unmatched.
'Flame Strike!'
A cannonball-sized fireball shot forth. Jake knew he couldn't dodge.
Jake: "Damn it!"
Enveloping himself in Air Suit—a high-tier wind spell—he took the hit head-on.
BOOM!
Crashing down, Jake immediately sprang back up, smoke rising from his singed uniform.
Jake: "You bitch! I'll KILL you!"
Amy: "Hah! That's all you've got? You're not just failing—you're embarrassing. No wonder you're stuck playing delinquent."
The Carmis Family.
Even among prodigies, her talent stood out.
And Jake hated it.
Jake: "Oh yeah? Let's see how confident you are now."
Not empty bravado—his lackeys raised their hands in unison.
Amy: "Ghk—!"
Her brow furrowed as a hammer-like shock shattered her Spirit Zone.
Amy: "...Anti-Magic?"
Jake: "Hahaha! Surprised? This is the Black Magicians' specialty. Every hotshot who thought they were tough crumbled to this. You're finished."
Amy: "Cheap tricks."
Banned by academy rules, Anti-Magic was devastating at student level.
'I have to endure.'
Igniting her crimson eyes, she forced her way back into the Spirit Zone—only for another wave of Anti-Magic to crush her focus.
Her mind reeled as if trapped in a thrashing machine. The distorted Spirit Zone mirrored her agony.
Amy: "Ngh…!"
Jake grinned.
Jake: "Tough as nails, huh? But the longer you resist, the worse it gets. You might break."
Break—as in, lose her mind.
Amy: "Sh-shut up… You think I'd… bow to trash like you?!"
Realizing this was how they'd broken others, she clung to consciousness.
Jake: "Suit yourself. Honestly, going insane might be better. At least you won't remember me."
Amy lifted her head, eyes burning.
Amy: "Do it. But don't dare think you'll walk away unharmed."
Silence.
For the first time, Jake felt a chill. No one had resisted this long.
'This witch… Is she planning to drag us down with her?!'
Fear flickered—then vanished under the memory of his humiliation in the library.
As leader, he couldn't show weakness.
Jake: "Fine. Let's see who breaks first. CRUSH HER!"
The grunts hesitated—but mob mentality overrode guilt.
As they prepared another assault, a voice roared from the forest.
Shirone: "STOP, YOU COWARDS!"
The sudden shout startled them.
Black Magician Grunt: "Who the—?!"
Shirone stood there, fists clenched, breathing heavily.
Amy: "You…?"
Her eyes wavered in shock. Jake laughed.
Jake: "Well, well. The prince arrives. Too bad he's about to get his ass kicked."
Shirone: "What did you do to her?!"
Jake: "Oh, what did we do? Why not ask her yourself?"
Amy: "IDIOT! Why'd you come ALONE?!"
Shirone hadn't expected her to be this overwhelmed.
But the teachers would've been alerted by now. Buying time was key.
Grabbing a fallen branch, he shouted:
Shirone: "Let her go! Or I won't hold back!"
Jake: "PFFT—HAHAHA! Hear that, guys? He won't hold back! Kid, do you even know who we are?"
Ignoring the taunts, Shirone charged.
If he could stall them with his swordsmanship (which had even beaten Rian once), the teachers would arrive.
Shirone: "RAAAAH!"
Jake: "Boys, open the door for our guest."
Despite being vulnerable to physical attacks, the Black Magicians didn't move. They smiled, as if welcoming him.
'Something's wrong—'
Then, a hammer-like force smashed into his mind.
Shirone: "Guh—!"
Amy: "Fool! Dispel your Spirit Zone! It's Anti-Magic!"
Anti-Magic?
Now he understood why even she had been captured.
Shirone: "GRAAH!"
Five overlapping waves of resonance tore at his consciousness.
'I can't… pass out…'
If he fell here, no one would protect Amy.
Amy shouted again, her voice sharp with urgency.
"Get out of the Spirit Zone! If you keep this up, you'll lose your magic forever! Are you out of your mind?"
But Shirone didn't hear her.
'It's just a Spirit Zone. Anti-magic won't work here.'
Recalling Professor Ethela's teachings, he continued forward, step after relentless step.
Jake finally frowned, his lips twisting in irritation.
"Tch! You're holding up better than I expected."
Was this why the professors had their eyes on him?
"Still just a freshman!"
Driven by twisted envy, Jake unleashed the strongest anti-magic he could muster.
"No!"
As Amy reached out desperately, the members of Black Magician scowled in disbelief.
"W-what the hell? He's still standing?"
Though Shirone's steps had slowed, the Spirit Zone around him only grew denser.
'I need… more frames.'
Expanding a tetrahedral defense formation, a mental framework solidified, rapidly shrinking in size.
Then, the tables turned.
The Black Magician members suddenly clutched their heads, agony contorting their faces.
"Ugh… Aaahhh!"
Anti-magic was a mental seesaw—while the attacker held the advantage, resistance could reverse its effects.
"W-what's happening? Why is it like this?!"
Fear gripped them. Their minds felt crushed beneath an invisible weight, as if pinned under boulders.
At that moment, Shirone's eyes flashed.
'More frames…'
The mental construct interlaced perfectly, completing a cubic Spirit Zone.
"AAAAH! S-save me! My head—it's splitting!"
Every member of Black Magician collapsed simultaneously, blood trickling from their noses as they writhed on the ground.
Half-conscious, they trembled, still trapped in shock.
"H-huuuk… P-please… spare me…"
Anti-magic was a poison—unless one's mind was honed to near-inhuman resilience, it would only destroy the caster.
That was why the school had banned it.
"Unbelievable…"
Amy stood frozen in shock.
Shirone had just crushed the combined anti-magic of five people—alone.
'It feels like stepping on small insects.'
That was the sensation Shirone experienced with his tetrahedral defense active—a squirming resistance, but one that could never break free.
Soon, even that feeble struggle faded. They had released their anti-magic.
Amy approached Shirone, examining his Spirit Zone with her own.
Her eyes widened.
"Whoa."
If she was stunned, Jake's shock was beyond words.
The only one still conscious, he scrambled backward on his elbows as Shirone stepped closer.
"H-hyik! D-don't come near me!"
The moment their Spirit Zones touched, Jake felt something he never wanted to feel again.
'No! This can't be!'
He refused to accept it, but the sensory feedback was undeniable.
Shirone's Spirit Zone was a tetrahedral fortress—an 88-faced cube, seven meters in diameter, pressing down on reality itself.