Compared to Shirone, whose name had been everywhere since enrollment, it was strange.
Maria (honest): "N-no… I don't think I've ever heard your name before."
Sade (laughing): "Of course not. Middle-to-lower grades. No talent. Not from a wealthy family, either. Spent every day fighting outside school."
Maria (shocked): "You?"
Sade (nostalgic): "Took me two years for every class jump. Three whole years stuck in the final year. Though, I guess my situation was still better than yours. Hah!"
Maria's lips jutted out in a pout.
As if he could see her expression through the door, Sade grinned.
Sade (lightly): "Isn't it the same, though? Unless you're the best, you'll hit a wall eventually. I did. Barely clawed my way to the final year, but I was always dead last."
Maria (curious): "Then how did you…?"
Sade (grinning): "Become such an amazing teacher? Hah! Pure luck. Got chewed out by a real eccentric mage. Know what he told me? 'Dreaming of success without the courage to give up on anything is just lying to yourself.'"
Maria fell silent, her thoughts churning.
Sade (firm): "You don't have to compete. If you hate fighting, then win without fighting. Maybe your path is harder than others, but you do have that kind of courage."
Maria (thoughts): 'What can I do?'
She finally spoke again.
Maria (softly): "…What was he like? The mage who scolded you?"
Sade (smiling): "Someone very familiar to you. The headmaster of Alpheas Magic Academy."
Maria (stunned): "W-what?! Headmaster Alpheas?!"
Sade's eyes grew distant.
Sade (warmly): "Yeah. After that day, I became his direct disciple. Thanks to him, my life turned around. Who'd have thought a delinquent like me would end up hailed as a 'genius,' living comfortably just because a renowned mage taught me? Hah!"
Maria's mood darkened again.
Her situation felt so hopeless that even someone else's good fortune was hard to accept.
Sade (gentler now): "What I'm trying to say is—the world is unfair. Some are born talented. Some work hard. But sometimes, miracles do happen to people like me, who had nothing. Maybe that's what makes life worth living."
Brushing himself off, Sade stood and faced the iron door again.
Sade (encouraging): "So, Maria. Isn't it too soon to give up? Why not try a little longer?"
Maria buried her face in her knees.
Maria (tearfully): "And do what? Bet my life on a miracle that might never come? What if it doesn't? What happens to me then?"
Sade (knocking on the door): "What are you talking about, Maria?"
His voice softened.
Sade (smiling): "The miracle's already here. Right now."
Maria (silent): "..."
Her face twisted with emotion.
Maria (sobbing): "H-hic…"
Hot tears spilled endlessly—perhaps for the first time in her life, hearing the words she'd always waited for.
Sade (extending a hand, unseen): "Will you trust me and give it one more shot? I promise I'll make you a great mage."
Maria (voice trembling): "R-really? I can… do it?"
Sade (confident): "Of course. Talent isn't about skill—it's about love. That love makes everything possible. Maria, you are an outstanding student."
Maria burst into full, wracking sobs.
As she poured out years of pent-up emotions, she suddenly jolted upright and yanked the door open.
Maria (panicked): "Professor, hurry! The traps—!"
Sade clicked his tongue.
Sade (grim): "Too late. The signal flare already went off when I got here. The exam's canceled."
Maria (horrified): "Th-then…!"
Sade (calm): "Things just got complicated, but that's my problem. You focus on yourself."
Just then, another teleportation have flashed. Siana has arrived.
Siana (shouting): "Professor Sade! What are you doing?!"
Maria (surprised): "Professor Siana?!"
Siana's furious glare faltered when she saw Maria.
Sade (raising a brow): "What? The exam's over, isn't it? More importantly, we need to assign blame for—"
Siana (interrupting): "It's not over!"
Sade (startled): "What?"
Siana (urgent): "Neither of them gave up! The match is still going on!"
Was that even possible?
The Uncrossable Bridge's Level 10 difficulty was designed for graduating students.
Sure, by then, most wouldn't even struggle with it—but for two Class Seven students to complete it was near impossible.
Sade (gritting teeth): "Damn it all!"
As he whirled toward the control room, another teleportation flare landed—Ethela, panting.
Ethela (frantic): "Professor! It's terrible!"
Seeing her pale face, Siana masked her unease.
Siana (steady): "What happened?"
Ethela (shouting): "Shirone—Shirone is…!"
Following Alpheas' orders, the teachers had fired signal flares to halt the exam.
The sky burned crimson with warning magic—yet Shirone and Mark refused to stop.
Shirone (thoughts): 'These traps are insane.'
Iron rods bent into rings of varying sizes, overlapping like nets with no gaps to slip through.
Shirone (thoughts): 'Should I give up?'
Shirone and Mark glanced at each other. The moment their eyes met—
FWOOOSH!
Both teleported straight into the obstacle's path, vanishing from view.
Teacher (yelling): "Fools! Do they want to die?!"
Siana (calm): "They can't back down now. The stakes are too high."
Teacher (frustrated): "This is a disaster! What is Sade doing?!"
Part of the teachers' panic stemmed from Alpheas' unreadable silence.
Truthfully, Alpheas was furious—especially at Shirone.
Alpheas (thoughts): 'There are times when retreat is the wiser choice. I thought you knew that.'
But life had also taught him another truth.
Alpheas (thoughts): '…And times when retreat is impossible.'
There were no absolute answers.
As long as one could bear the consequences of their choices, others' opinions meant nothing.
Alpheas (commanding): "Let it continue. Neither seems willing to accept my judgment."
The teachers were stunned.
Teacher (protesting): "But—what if there's an accident?!"
Alpheas (icy): "No matter what happens…"
His gaze hardened.
Alpheas (final): "I will take responsibility."
The instructors stood frozen, unable to respond to the icy composure they had never seen before.
The only one who might have guessed this side of the young Alpheas was Sade—who wasn't even present.
His gaze returned to the battlefield.
'Fine. I understand your resolve.'
Alpheas had heard everything—Shirone's past, origins, and the struggles he's faced just to enroll here.
'Every moment must feel like your last. I'll respect that. But if you can't bear the consequences…'
Alpheas hammered the point home.
'Your life as a mage ends here.'
Shirone's mind reeled.
"Ghk—!"
The traps came too fast—dodging one left no time to anticipate the next.
'I have to read everything at once.'
It was like memorizing an entire maze map before sprinting through it in a single breath.
'There's no end.'
In his struggle to evade obstacles, he had barely advanced two meters.
'At this rate, my stamina will give out first. I have no choice but to push forward.'
Mark was thinking the same.
'Both of us could fail. The one who goes farthest will have the advantage later.'
Like a circus lion leaping through rings of fire, Mark charged through the barriers.
"Here I go!"
A sharp turn sent him piercing through an obstacle, drawing gasps from the instructors.
"Directional shifts in teleportation are never basic. Mark prepared well."
Mark let out a triumphant cry.
'Yes! I can do this!'
A split-second glance back revealed Shirone still frozen in place.
'Heh. He's paralyzed with fear.'
Feeling the tide turn in his favor, Mark pushed ahead with renewed vigor.
Shirone shook his head.
"No."
Avoiding a few obstacles and advancing? That much was easy for him.
But analyzing every incoming trap from a distance revealed only one true path forward.
'The route Mark chose… it's a dead end.'
Just as he predicted, Mark soon realized the traps were escalating.
"Ghk—!"
A horizontal bar lashed like a whip, crashing down vertically before surging back in an X-shaped wave.
"Ughhh…!"
His face twisted in despair.
The endless barrage of bars twisted midair, weaving into an inescapable net.
'No dodging that.'
His mistake was taking the easy path from the start.
By the time he tried to deviate, the net was already upon him.
The students paled.
"He's going to crash!"
A deafening clang echoed as the obstacle passed—some spectators shut their eyes, while others stared wide-eyed.
"Shirone!"
At the last second, Shirone teleported in, yanking Mark free from the net.
A life-risking rescue—admirable courage, but reckless in the students' eyes.
"Did he just jump in to save Mark? Kindness has limits. Still it's reckless."
"How can you say that? He couldn't just let him die!"
"Oh? Would you have done it?"
"You—! Why drag me into this?!"
As the students bickered, Iruki smirked.
'Fools. That's not why.'
Meanwhile, Shirone was cornered.
Saving Mark forced him deeper into the trap's deadliest zone.
"Aghhh! S-Save me!"
Mark, now broken, sobbed and flailed.
"Stay still!"
Even as he shouted, Shirone's eyes tracked the encroaching obstacles.
'No exit.'
He had escaped the initial trap, but no second path remained.
'No… that can't be. They wouldn't design an inescapable test.'
Then, it hit him.
'Idiot…'
There was another option—retreat.
"We're gonna die!"
Leaving Mark's screams behind, Shirone teleported backward with all his strength.
Iruki shot to his feet.
"That's it!"
Retreat was a tactic.
The key was shedding the obsession to move forward and assessing all directions coldly.
"Go!"
Putting distance between himself and the chaos, Shirone vaulted over an oncoming massive barrier.
'Made it!'
But Level 10's difficulty wasn't so easily beaten.
As Shirone ascended, a horizontal bar curved in a parabola, chasing them.
'No escaping upward?'
Unless a participant fell, the bridge would pursue them relentlessly.
"Kgh—!"
The tilting terrain made traps harder to predict, and Mark's dead weight only slowed him further.
Seriel clicked her tongue.
"Why take such a risk? If Mark fails, he advances. Carrying someone during teleportation is emergency protocol—it's suicide!"
Amy sighed.
"That's just who he is. Others will hesitate, but he will act."
"I know se's kind, but Mark hired people to sabotage him!"
'Maybe that's exactly why…'
It was strange to understand Shirone's reasoning, but it was the truth.
"He never cared about rankings."
Just like when she'd chosen to advance to the graduate class, disregarding countless other paths.
"Shirone isn't competing with anyone. He runs to become a mage. Those with true purpose don't obsess over the process. First or last, everything we do is just…"
A means to master magic.
As Seriel mused, Amy watched Shirone's desperate struggle.
'Yeah… I'd have wanted to try too, but…'
This time, even luck wasn't enough.
'No advanced-class student has ever cleared Level 10. This test should've ended here.'
All she could do now was pray Shirone will return alive.
"Aghhh! Aghhh!"
Mark's screams faded as Shirone's focus narrowed to the traps.
'It's getting incomprehensible.'
Perhaps inevitably.
The complexity now felt less like objects and more like a writhing, living parasite.
'Unpredictable.'
By the time he pushed forward 100 meters, Mark's screams had stopped—he'd foamed at the mouth and passed out. Shirone, too, had lost himself.
Balancing macro-awareness with micro-focus was like escaping a collapsing labyrinth.
"..."
Even the arguing teachers and rowdy students fell silent.
Alpheas's eyes sharpened.
'Crisis draws out potential. But everyone has limits…'
How was he still standing?
'Humans have breaking points. Yet he shows no sign of satisfaction.'
This wasn't ambition.
What drove him was something deeper—a fundamental purpose.
'No obsession. Just…'
A mind fully unleashed.
Shirone wouldn't remember this later, but his body moved forward.
Step by step.
As if becoming air itself—the line between him and the world blurred.
Ethela trembled.
'Calculating paths in a trance… His Spirit Zone density must be 99.99%. Even grandmasters only achieve this in deep meditation.'
As the youngest bishop of the Carcius Order, she recognized this state.
To Shirone, every trap now felt like a single, coalesced entity.
'But…'