4.19.

"Congratulations on your win."

'What a coincidence.. or did she come to find me on purpose?'

"Thank you. You did great yourself."

"You don't need to say that to console us," Azaleas said with an unperturbed smile.

Sequencee was planning to head on over to the spectator's platform as he would after the match, it happened that he stumbled upon her along the way.

'Yeah. It's definitely on purpose. If it were a coincidence, the other girl would be here too.'

"Let the bygones be bygones. What I wish to ask is in regards to Leticia. What is your decision, after hearing her opinion?"

"I'm not going to involve myself in this. "

"That's what you decided?"

"That's what she decided," Sequencee said.

"I see.. then I can't do much about it."

Sequencee nodded.

"No. It would be foolish of me to assume she would agree. In that case, it's one less plan to carry out."

"Plan?"

Sequencee felt a foreboding shadow of meaning behind her words.

.

..

…

["The finals between the underdog, Riestallia Academy and the past year's runner-up, Covenant's Academy!"]

Both teams stepped onto stage, knowing that the next time they step off from here, a victor will have been decided. A slow burning anxiety crept along the hearts of the ensemble members, the audiences were abuzz.

["The fate over which academy gains the head will be the biggest factor deciding which team wins, which team loses. Fingers cross as we witness which ensemble will be going first.."]

BUzzztt!

{-Lives-

Covenant's Academy: 2

Riestallia Academy: 2

}

The light lit up on Covenant Academy's side. Riestallia will be playing a defensive battle in the first round.

Seeing their third grand spell magic circle which was unveiled during the previous semi-finals against Saint's Academy, Din selected Conidal Dissemination– the defensive grand spell which had been hidden until now.

Like a wall of many pyramids, a spiky barrier manifested before Riestallia Academy's ensemble.

The green light for Riestallia academy's side came on, marking the completion of the defensive preparation.

Thud.

From Covenant Academy's side, a pulse rippled across the colosseum like a heartbeat.

Thud. Thud.

A pressure so strong it made it hard to breathe.

Thud.

The revolutions of the attacking magic circle expanded outwards, causing it to multiply to five, then to twenty five.

THUD.

Twenty five magic circles pulsated at once, the world dimmed.

"***"

YYINNNN–

Twenty five beams of intense light blossomed. The weaponized laser struck the Conidal Dissemination barrier and scattered into hundreds of beams at various points. The concept of the defensive barrier was this: it spread out the energy into smaller bits to be reflected back onto itself.

– Using the enemy's own attacks against itself.

A grueling ten seconds of intense fire caused the defense to give way, the laser struck the ground and blew a huge cloud of dirt into their air.

{-Lives-

Covenant's Academy: 2

Riestallia Academy: 1

}

["The first round goes to Covenant's Academy!!"]

'Well, yeah.'

While the Covenant's Academy had to spend a lot of mana on their attack, Din had told them to conserve their mana– and also to lower the enemy's guard.

Din angled his wand– Twelfth Starfall.

Again, conserving mana.

A red magic circle appeared above head, a feign.

Sequencee had coloured coded a red version of Twelfth Starfall in earlier confrontations to make it seem as if the colors reflected the strength of the attack. That however, was a trick to deceive. The colour had no direct correlation to the strength.

Either this would force Covenant's Academy to give up on this round's defense, or double down on it.

In any case–

Twelfth Starfall struck and easily tore through Covenant Academy's defenses. They weren't even trying.

{-Lives-

Covenant's Academy: 1

Riestallia Academy: 1

}

The attacking privilege returning to Covenant's Academy, they were likely going to push for the win in this round.

Din angled his wand: Conidal Dissemination, multi-barrier, full output.

The spiky barrier appeared once more– this time it was spinning with an axis in the middle. The green light flickered on, the oppressing pressure forthcoming from the twenty five magic circles– fired.

YINNN—

DOn!!

The laser struck the spires and disseminated into smaller pieces. The different pieces reflected back on itself, canceling out each other. Sequencee held out both his hands and gritted his teeth, the spinning of the barrier accelerated.

With the spinning motion, each pyramid was given time to recover before coming back into contact with the dense laser fire. This helped prevent overstraining of the reflective sections of the barrier.

Perhaps Covenant's Academy had seen it coming, the twenty five magic circles in the air also began to spin, creating a mesmerizing wave of noodle-twisty lasers.

Destruction and repair.

The single most dangerous aspect about Covenant's Academy's grand spell was that they could keep the attack going until they exhausted their mana completely.

A second barrier catalyst formed. Sequencee channeled his own mana into completing the base structure before shifting the ensembles' mana into this new barrier.

Some parts of the first barrier shattered loudly, the laser slammed into the second one.

A full minute passed as a third barrier completed itself. The density of mana moving through Sequencee was only increasing.

Two minutes.

The fourth barrier had completely disintegrated, a fifth barrier readied itself.

Five minutes. A total of seven barriers had been expended, the attack finally ceased.

{-Lives-

Covenant's Academy: 1

Riestallia Academy: 1

}

["A grand defense! Not a single leak through the intense fire from Covenant's Academy! Both ensembles should've expended a lot of mana by this point. What will they do?"]

Sequencee's body was tingling all over, he reached up to touch the base of his horns. A few times earlier he had almost lost control over his illusion magic.

"Staff users, how much mana does everyone have available?" Din asked.

"Twenty-five percent on average," one of them announced.

"Use it all," Din showed a rare grin– he looked like he was having fun.

…

..

.

"Why did you want to resolve their problems?"

"..."

"There's some deeper reason why, isn't it? Not just for some altruistic reasons."

"Have you ever met an altruistic person?"

"Yes."

Sequencee thought about his mother. Her indigo eyes glowed.

"I want to see a beautiful butterfly show one more time," she said.

"Butterfly show?"

"You said it right? That you've met an altruistic person in this world? You can do it, right?"

.

..

…

{-Lives-

Covenant's Academy: 1

Riestallia Academy: 1

}

Seqeuncee took in a deep breath.

He stretched out his hands.

'I'm sorry if this fails.'

It's clear what kind of defensive spell Covenant's Academy would use. Till now, there hadn't been anyone capable of destroying the golden-shining runic barrier. What exactly do they need to do to bypass their defense?

Sequencee generated a large magic circle, appearing alongside it, four smaller ones.

A gale condensed around the formation of five arrays. Din himself was stunned, but said nothing. This was beyond the adjustments written in his magic formula– Sequencee had prepared something extra.

The infamous golden barrier appeared on their opponent's side, the runes shimmered like the stars.

The air shook with the arrival of the largest Star Auger; accommodating were four smaller Star Augers that spun in chaos.

The green light came on.

[Activated Trait: Focus]

…

..

.

"Why?" Sequencee asked.

"..."

Her lips parted after a short silence.

"I just thought how nice it would be if I could see the butterflies once more," she turned around swiftly, her hair swayed.

"Why?"

"Please?"

"If you don't tell me why, it's unlikely that I will fulfill that request. I'm not an altruistic person."

"I'm going on a trip after this," her voice was soft. "I want to bring some happy memories with me at least."

.

..

…

"Fire."

BOOOMM!!!

The main Star Auger slammed into the barrier right in the center. The other four slammed the four corners.

"Fire!" Sequencee said through his teeth.

Burning his own mana, another set of mini Star Augers bursted from the four mini magic circles.

"Fire!"

Another set.

"Fire!"

And then another.

Stacking, a total of sixteen mini Star Augers stuck themselves to various parts of the barrier. The golden ripples spreading across the surface of the barrier clouded the rune markings.

Sequencee leaned forwards and pressed his hands against his knee cap, catching his trembling breath.

Star Auger was a one and done spell. There was no need to keep supplying mana into the grand spell.

Crack.

Finally, something worked.

Linton, holding the defence had his eyes open wide.

Crackle!

Swwooossh!!

The modified Star Auger grand spell shattered the runic barrier and blew through the colosseum. Smashing into the ground, magic butterflies– or a very under-detailed version of origami butterflied exploded into the sky in the hundreds.

They fluttered, higher and higher– hundreds, if not thousands of them–

In the spectator seat, Azaleas smiled.

{-Lives-

Covenant's Academy: 0

Riestallia Academy: 1

}

["It broke through!! It broke through!! The Winner of this year's New Dawn Magic Showdown is the underdog!!! Please give it up for Riestallia Academy!!"]

As the butterflies fluttered upwards into the sky, fading, a roaring explosion surged from the crowd.

…

..

.

Azaleas turned around.

A melancholic smile, unlike the one she normally showed.

"I want to be free."

.

..

…

["Give another round of applause to both ensembles for their wonderful performance!!"]

"We wwoonnn!!!" Dominic slugged his arm around Sequencee.

"We won! We won!!"

"It's crazy!!"

Some of the students broke down into tears, others roared out with cheers.

"Yeah.. we won.." Sequencee said with an airy breath.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Dominic patted his shoulders.

"Nothing. Just, surprised."

Sequencee looked towards Covenant Academy's ensemble. Seeing the white-haried boy in the distance, a wry smile surfaced on his face.

Sequencee then looked towards the crowd. He found Schwii and the rest waving at him, cheering. He waved back.

Then towards the exclusive lounge, he saw Shiro, Risa, Aaron, Evelyn, Titania and Nearl, among other important figures.

'Still.. what is this premonition..'

Sequencee tried to find the sitting spot for Eluive Academy's ensemble, but before he could, Din began his speech.

'I'm probably overthinking things.'