The surroundings were enveloped in silence.

Even the once noisy spectators,
Even Ray and the others who had been cheering me on passionately,
At this very moment, no one spoke.

“……..”

Dudley Claise, the Sword Saint candidate, stared at the sword pointed at him, his mouth moving but no words coming out.

He probably couldn’t believe it.
His own defeat.
Losing to someone with a useless skill.

“Impossible… no way…”

Dudley, eyes wide, struggled to rise to his feet.

“It’s pointless. You can’t get up anymore.”

“Damn it… why…”

“I can see it. I can see everything.”

Dudley’s right leg was still dyed red with the gauge. Moving in this state would be nearly impossible.

“Damn it… this can’t be happening…”

The Sword Saint candidate muttered in apparent resignation.

“We did it!!”
“Arios-san! You did it!”

Ray and Kaya cheered with delayed voices.

“Ha… those two…”
Their overjoyed reactions, even in the middle of battle, made me happy as well.

— It’s over.
The grudge of the Macba family that had been binding me is finally over.

★

Meanwhile,
The Sword Saint Leon Macba felt a shock so intense that his eyes nearly popped out.

He stared blankly at the arena, likely appearing pitiful, but he was so absorbed in the shock that he didn’t care.

“I can’t believe it… Dudley lost…?!”

To be prepared for the worst, he had enlisted the best mage he knew. To maximize Dudley’s abilities.
As a Sword Saint candidate, Dudley was supposed to be more than a match for Arios, who was a holder of a useless skill.
Everything was set up perfectly.
Yet…

“Why… why…?!”

“—Lord Leon. How many more lies will you tell me before you’re satisfied?”

“—!! Rayfar-sama…!”

“You said you would win this duel, didn’t you?”

“Y-yes…”

“Then end this now… unless, of course, you understand what will happen if you don’t?”

“I-I understand…!”

The First Prince Rayfar Fo Arceus.
As the man rumored to be the next King, his presence was so overwhelming that even Leon was humbled by it.

“I will definitely make Dudley win. Please give me a moment!”

“Yes, make sure it’s done right.”

At that moment, Leon hadn’t realized that Rayfar was secretly smiling to himself.

★

“Huff…”

I took a deep breath and looked down at Dudley, who was crawling on the ground below me.

It seemed like he had completely given up on the match.
There was no sign of him resisting anymore.

It’s over now.
Everything is finished.

As I thought that, I sheathed my sword.

“Ugh…!”

–That’s when I felt an odd weight.

Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by the sensation of something heavy pressing down on me, and I fell to the ground. The pressure was so intense that I couldn’t even move properly.

–Impossible. Why?

There was nothing actually heavy on me, so why…?!

The black gem I had been carrying rolled out of my pocket and bounced across the floor. It glowed brightly, exactly like when Remira had infused it with magic.

…Wait. No, no, no.

Why is there magic coming from it?

It can’t be Dudley’s doing. As I learned from our previous battle, he can’t use magic.

If not him, then there’s only one other possibility…

“Dudley! Now! Do it!”

In that moment, Leon’s shout echoed through the arena.

“Arios is being tormented by Dudley’s abilities! Now’s your chance!”

–So it was.
Leon Macba, desperate to win this battle, had resorted to such a deceitful trick…

“What… didn’t the match end already…?”
“Isn’t something strange going on with Arios?”
“Leon-sama also looks… unusual. But Dudley doesn’t have that kind of ability, right? What is he talking about?”

Even the spectators seemed to sense something was wrong.
But the situation was far from what they expected.

–Fooooooo…
The black gem, influenced by the mages’ magic, began to shine brighter than it ever had before.

–Most likely, this gem requires a certain amount of magical power to activate its circuits and unleash its power. It’s not much different from an ordinary magical tool. But to summon a monster with just that? It’s completely abnormal…

I recalled the words of the magical tool artisan, Remira.

This is bad.
If that much magic is poured in…!

“Leon! Stop it now! This will lead to something irreversible!”

“Dudley! Do it! Defeat Arios now!”

But my shout didn’t reach Leon. He was so blinded by his desire for victory that he seemed to have lost all sense of reason.

“Heh… hehehe… with this, even if my legs won’t move, it doesn’t matter.”

From above, Dudley’s nasty voice echoed. At the same time, I felt the presence of him gripping his sword.

“This is my time for revenge. Let me return the favor from earlier…!”

“Stop! This isn’t the time for that!”

“Heh, sore loser…”

In that instant,
The world changed.

Against the backdrop of the dimming sky, a huge black monster appeared—something I could only describe as a “black shadow.” It had arms and legs, almost humanoid in shape, and its eyes glowed red. It was far larger than any human could ever be.

“……”

Even with my knowledge of monsters, I had never seen anything like this before.
But one thing was clear:
It was stronger than any monster I had ever fought.

“Eh…?”

Dudley, who had been wearing a triumphant expression just a moment ago, now stood there with his mouth agape.

“W-what… what the hell is this?!”

“Gooooooo!!!”

The black shadow swung its right arm toward Dudley.

That alone caused massive damage.

“Pughe…!”

Dudley screamed in agony as he was sent flying. He didn’t even attempt to get back up. Crashed against the wall, he fell unconscious with his eyes rolled back.

I had barely escaped being hit by that arm myself.

Damn, I knew it…!!

“Hey, hey, hey! What the hell is that?!”
“Arios was just shouting something at Leon earlier, but could it be that Leon…?”
“No way, that’s not possible…”

The spectators murmured among themselves in confusion.