Volume 3 - CH 13

The time for the semi-finals had arrived.

In the midst of the large crowd, the MC announced in a loud voice. 

“Now, Seika’s opponent will be Mabel Crane, who was also recommended by the Magic Academy』\

I smiled lightly as I watched Mabel come onto the stage.

“Is that what you’re really good at, Mabel?”

“Ooto… Mabel changed her weapon! What a …… huge battle axe! 』\

Mabel, carrying a double-bladed battle axe that is nearly twice her height including the handle, confronts me.

“Pretending to be a hero is over.”

Mabel tells me, holding up her battle-axe.

I wonder how heavy that thing is.

At least, I don’t think I could lift it without magic.

I looked at Mabel and said. 

“The reason I didn’t want to abandon the semi-finals was because I wanted to see how you would fight. I thought there was more to the story, but I’m glad we talked yesterday.”

Mabel raises an eyebrow.

“Are you underestimating me? For the record, I’m still going to beat you.”

“I’m not underestimating you.”

I said, smiling.

“I’m just given a fair assessment of your abilities.”

“I still can’t believe you’re that strong. How can a child of nobility who has lived a quiet life —- beat me?”

“The two are complete opposites, even though they’re both students at the academy! Who will really win the second semi-final match? Let the match, begin! 』\

The whistle sounded.

“Haa!”

At the same time, Mabel kicked the ground.

Raising her battle-axe, she instantly brings me into the fray.

A heavy blade swings down.

But it’s not fast and its trajectory is easy to read.

I avoid it with a little time to spare.

The battle-axe strikes the left side of my body with a delay.

It was a blow that did not even graze me.

But in the next instant—- the ground beneath my feet is elevated up.

“Hah!?”

Looking down, something like stone material is exposed along with the soil that has been raised.

It seems that with a single blow, the stone that had been laid under the soil as the foundation of the stage was smashed.

What kind of power is that?

As I was out of balance, she swung her battle axe towards my side.

I had no choice but to shift to avoid it. However, she had already read where I was planning to move. The blade strikes again, but this time I bend down to avoid it.

Even though it is a battle axe of that size, it was as fast as a one-handed sword in its turnaround.

Perhaps she makes it extremely light when she swings it. Mabel herself hardly moves with the recoil.

Thanks to this, it’s easy to aim.

While running around, I send a shikigami to the stone that appeared on the ground earlier.

Then, I make a mark with one hand.

<<Phase of the sun —- Fajin no jutsu>>

Kinetic energy was added to the stone and shot out to Mabel.

The battle axe has just been cut back. It was too late to use it for defense.

Her response was a strange one.

The momentum of the battleaxe, which was supposed to swing, suddenly weakens. Then, as if the recoil had just been felt, Mabel was swung wildly. The stone material that missed its target cut through the air and shattered on the pillars supporting the spectator seats.

“…… interesting.”

I muttered to myself.

Mabel had now turned back the weight of her battle axe.

If the weight of the weapon changes, the center of gravity changes when the weapon and the user are viewed as a single object. If the center of gravity changes, the center of rotational motion shifts. The swinging of the weapon shifts from the battleaxe’s side to Mabel’s side.

Mabel, who had been forced to move out of my way, threw her throwing knives at me in a low trajectory.

I jumped back and avoided it, and a series of thin blades thrust into the ground. The impact must have been substantial, for a conical hole was punched in the ground, sending up a cloud of dust.

In my deteriorating vision, I squinted at Mabel.

I guess it was a check against a chase, but she took one hand off the battle axe as she released her throwing knives.

<<Tree Phase —- vine-binding jutsu>>

Vines grow up from under Mabel’s feet.

She doesn’t have her dagger with her today. It’s too late to swing the battle-axe now. As expected, this is—

“Is that it!”

Mabel waves her hand to the side.

With that, several vines were torn off in one piece, as if they had been knocked off by a metal rod.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yes.”

That’s good.

I knew that her previous matches had been nothing more than a front-runner.

I was happy to see this much.

The original plan was to lose here.

But now I have to win.

And since I said I was going to win by a comfortable margin. I had to finish quickly.

Mabel had closed the distance again, and her battleaxe with a side cleave was closing in.

I activated my technique, starting from the invisible shikigami that I had secretly attached to the belly of the blade.

<<Phase of the Sun —-the art of fruit fall>>

The weight of the battle axe increases a thousand fold at once.

“Eh!!”

The center of gravity is forcibly shifted and Mabel is swung around greatly.

When she was out of position, I made a further move.

<<Phase of Wood and Gold —- mercury vine binding jutsu>>

A faint blackish vine erupts from the ground.

“The same move!”

Mabel swings her arm again.

This time, however, the vines were not torn away.

It wrapped around the arm it touched, blocking its movement and then other vines wrapped around her entire body, tying it up.

Mabel let out a pained squeal.

The battle axe fell from her hand.

“Why…”

“This is a vine filled with mercury. It’s a lot heavier than the normal one.”

Even so, if she had used her full strength, it might have been torn apart, but I had already shown Mabel the “vine bind” twice.

The fact that she knew half of it probably made her let her guard down.

“This much ……!”

Mabel grabbed the vines that constricted her with her only free left hand.

The entire wooden vine began to creak.

The tremendous weight of the vine is breaking the tissue in places and the red sap of the mercury compound begins to leak out.

This thing won’t last long.

I pick up the hilt of the battle-axe that Mabel had dropped.

She saw it and glares at me.

“Oh…… you can’t possibly lift it.”

“Sure I can…”

<<Shadow Phase— art of floating leaves>>

The weight disappears from the battle axe.

I then wielded it with one arm in a flashy manner —-

The blade was placed squarely against the neck of the captive girl.

Mabel’s face contorts.

“With such a light axe, you can’t even scratch me.”

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

I tell her while smiling.

“I’m just trying to win the game.”

At that moment…

The whistle for the end of the match sounded —-

“The referee has ruled that the match is over. What a surprise! Mabel, who seemed to be dominating in the beginning, was overturned at once! No, it was in his hands from the beginning! The prodigy, Seika Lamplog, has advanced to the finals!”

I exhaled and threw the battle-axe behind me.

The battle-axe, freed from its magic spell, spun around in the air and then plunged to the ground with a thud.

I tried to imitate Reynas’s last attempt yesterday and it seems to have worked.

“I’ll leave you to deal with Kyle.”

Mabel said as she has slumped to the ground at the center of the rotting vine.

“Leave it to me. You get some rest.”

………………………………………….

Mercury Vine Binding Technique

The art of binding an opponent with heavy vines containing high concentrations of mercury. A group of plants called hyperaccumulators has the property of actively accumulating heavy metals taken in from the ground. Familiar examples include rice and willow, but others, such as Picnandra acuminata in New Caledonia, are known to shed a blue-green sap that contains as much as 25 percent nickel. If one were to replace a quarter of the total water content of a typical tree with mercury, which has a higher specific gravity, one could create a super-heavyweight plant with nearly three times the mass in the same volume.

*The Art of Floating Leaves.

The art of reducing the weight of an object. It’s the opposite of “Fruit Fall. While otherworldly magic selects one of the two elements, gravitational acceleration and gravitational mass that determine the so-called “weight” of an object, Fruit Fall and Floating Leaves can only increase or decrease the latter. Gravitational mass is linked to inertial mass by the principle of equivalence, so when used on a weapon, its handling and power change.