Chapter-58 A Scary Youth

"I think this would be good enough for the event....."

Erik calmly fixed his clothing while looking into the mirror, he was wearing a black suit with a red tie and as always black coloured gloves.

The [Ice-Pillar break] event was one of the two events that Erik was registered as a participant.

Icicle Destruction or "Ice Pillar Break" is a game where two players stand on a tower four meters in height, defending twelve pillars contained in twelve-meter square area while attacking twelve pillars in the opposition's field.

Players compete to destroy the opponent's pillars before their own are broken. There is no need to use the body, since players compete remotely with magic, so players may wear whatever they wish, with the only restriction being that "It Must Not Offend Public Order or Morals".

Erik wasn't going to stretch the match needlessly, he was simply going to crush every single one of his opponents. He wasn't the one to showcase his power but that didn't mean that he would go out of his way to mask his strength.

It was time for the world to see just how capable was Erik Saltzman, one of the world's biggest business empire.

"I guess it's time to use [Convergence-Type Magic] and [Absorption-Type Magic] to its true capacity..."

He needs to fight against 3-participants to enter the final round, where he would have to fight for one last time to win the event.

𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕣𝕖! (Blare!)

The buzzer went off, indicating that it was time for him to enter the stadium. Picking up a secondary C.A.D, gun-model, he took a last look at himself and swiftly made his way towards the stadium.

(At the stadium)

"Yeaaah!!!!...."

"Woohoo!....."

"The crowd is indeed excited for the [Ice-Pillar Break].....!"

"True, not that I can them. The last two events were so exhilarating that it got everyone pumped up...!"

"Who do you think will win this event?...."

"Well, I think [Second High School] has a high chance of winning, Tuchikage Onoki is a master at large-area type spells due to his high psion count...."

"Yeah, Onoki does have a high psion count but so does Erik of the Saltzman family..."

"His exact count isn't publicly known but [First-High School] did release a statement which stated that Erik has the highest score in practicals in the history of entrance exams..."

"Wow, that's quite a claim! Let's see how the young Saltzman performs in this event!....."

(Inside the spectator's box)

"It's Erik's turn! The announcers are about to call for the participants, I am curious to see what will he wear for this event..."

Mari was fired up for the event, her friend was about to be called forth to compete in the first match, she was very curious to just what kind of magic will Erik use.

"Calm down Mari! I know you are excited to see Erik's magic, so am I....!"

Mayumi calms down her friend as she turned towards the looking glass while Mari turned towards Katsuto, asking him about what kind of magic would Erik use.

"Say Juumonji-san, you have fought alongside with Erik once. What kind of magic does he use to engage in combat?....."

The behemoth of a man had his eyes closed as he answered Mari's question about Erik's specialization in magic.

"Erik is very talented in using [Convergence-Type Magic], is that the only type of magic he specializes in? No, he also seems to be capable of using [Absorption-Type Magic], that too such an extent that he can wield both of them simultaneously while casting..."

"I haven't seen anything major from him but considering the sheer amount of control and psion count he possesses, he is very much capable of using large-scale magic within seconds...."

"Do you think Erik would win [Ice-Pillar Break]....?"

Mari hadn't seen any kind of magic from Erik other than the very basic ones, she knew that her friend was very powerful but she had no idea when it came to large-scale magic sequence or destructive magic.

Hearing Mari's question, Katsuto opens his eyes to look at her with a serious expression.

"The real question is, will someone be even able to compete against him?....."

Mari was confused by Juumonji's answer, she knew her friend was strong but to completely crush the other participants, considering every one of them was the best of the bests, was a bit too much for her.

Katsuto didn't say anything else and just turned his head towards the event area.

(At the area)

"Participants are requested to enter the event area....."

"Everyone! The time we all have been waiting for has finally arrived!....."

"On the left side, we have.....Tuchikage Onoki from [Second-High School]...."

A rather short lad entered the arena wearing a green coloured haori and ancient-looking hand-fan.

The crowd cheered on for him, causing a smile to appear on his face as he made his way towards his side of the tower to stand on, he turns towards the organizers and bowed a little.

"Gotta love the short lad! So respectful....."

"Anyways, on the right side, we have...Erik Saltzman from [First-High School]....."

"Yeaaah!...."

"Go First-High!..."

"Woohoo!...."

Erik made his way toward his side of the tower, wearing a beautiful black suit and red tie, along with a round hat on his head, representing the attire of gentlemen in the late 80s.

He also turned towards the organizer committee, especially towards Kudou Retsu and bowed a little to pay respect to the former world's strongest magician.

The elderly magician smiled a little and nodded back towards Erik, sighing at the potential the newer generation has showcased so far.

"Alright, everyone! Without wasting any time, let us begin with first-round! The first one to destroy the 12-pillars on the opponent's side wins....."

"3...2...1...Begin!....."

As soon as the buzzer resounded, Onoki took his position and immediately injected psion into his C.A.D, activating his magic.

"[Inferno].....!"

A magic sequence appeared inside the whole arena, covering both Onoki's and Erik's 12-pillars.

The area inside which Erik's pillars were located suddenly ignited into a sea of flames whereas, Onoki's area turned into a hail storm.

[Inferno] is medium-scale magic that works by dividing the target area into two sections and decreasing the kinetic and rotational energy of all objects within one section and this surplus energy can then be released into the other section in the form of heat.

This way, the conservation of energy is still maintained while applying the principle of reverse entropy from thermodynamics. 

Onoki was using this magic to not only damage Erik's pillars but also strengthen his pillar in the process.

Occasionally, this magic serves as a test for A-Rank Magicians, but due to its difficulty, many are unable to accomplish the employment of this magic. A testament to Onoki's skill is shown by the fact that he can use this with ease.

"Oh my god! The little lad can use an A-rank spell without breaking a sweat! What will Erik do now!?...."

(At organizer committee)

"Didn't expect the young Tuchikage to able to use such a complex spell with such mastery, looks like young Saltzman is in trouble....."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that....."

"Huh? Elder Kudou thinks Erik will win?...."

"Keep watching....."

(Back at Erik)

'Hmm....a talented magician indeed! Let's finish this quickly shall we...."

Erik raised his palm towards his area of the pillar, his Gun-shaped C.A.D within pointing towards his pillars.

"[Data fortification]....."

The caster replicates the Eidos, the records of the current status of an information body, and projects it back onto the target to protect the target's Eidos from being altered from that state dictated by the projected Eidos. This prevents magic from affecting the target.

Data Fortification, which focuses on single or few targets, is said to be much more efficient than [Zone Interference].

Data Fortification has been stated to be used both passively and actively by Magicians on their bodies to prevent themselves from being affected by an opponent's spell.

Erik forcefully cancelled out Onoki's magic with sheer magic power, left with no place to balance the laws of physics, [Inferno] directly ended causing Onoki to stumble back due to the backlash of his magic being cancelled half-way.

"[Soul Punisher]...."

Erik raises his left hand above his head, generating a rather large sphere of rainbow light before launching the prismatic sphere itself towards the 12-pillars.

The large sphere burst into 12-different beams of white light and flew towards the opponent's pillars at a speed nearing that of light itself.

The rather simple-looking white lights immediately connected with the 12-pillars, resulting in an extremely loud sound to rang out.

𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕞! (Boom!)

A powerful shockwave burst throughout the arena, causing the towers along with a good portion of the arena to shake. Onoki leaned forward and placed his hand in front of his face to withstand the powerful shockwave generated by the impact of the white light.

It took a few minutes for everyone to recover from the shocking power displayed by Erik's magic.

The 12-pillars on Onoki's side were demolished.

"T-The 12-pillars i-in Onoki's area h-have been destroyed while Erik's area is very much unaffected..."

"Th-The winner of this r-round is Erik from the [First-High School]...."

(In the Organizers Committee)

"W-What is that magic!?...."

"A mixture of [Convergence-Type] and [Absorption-Type] magic, he can extract about 95.6% energy from sunlight....."

"The maximum extraction of energy from sunlight is about 67.4% using special silicon alloy, but he seems to have mastered [Absorption-Type] to such lengths that he can store so much energy that its horrifying to even think about..."

"Each hour 430 quintillion Joules of energy from the sun hits the Earth. That's 430 with 18 zeroes after it! In comparison, the total amount of energy that all humans use in a year is 410 quintillion Joules...."

"Even if he only absorbs and store about a few meters worth of energy, even that would add up to become quite a lot....."

"He then uses [Convergence-Type] to give the stored energy shape and manipulates it seamlessly. Young Erik has a talent in [Convergence-Type] magic which surpasses even that of my most skilled student, Yotsuba Maya..."

"So isn't this magic out of bounds considering the nature of its power....?"

"No, while it sure is very powerful, near unavoidable and other than a Juumonji none can protect against it, it still has its drawbacks....."

"First of all, this magic will decrease in power as the number of time it is used increases, it has a rather limited range, unlike Yotsuba Maya's magic, this can be blocked using [Phalanx] or an energy field, or even a powerful [Data-Fortification] can work..."

"Unlike Saegusa Kouchi's magic, when the number of beams increases, the damage contained within that sphere decreases, though it is still enough to destroy or pierce through everything..."

"So, it does come within A-Ranked Magic but barely, just barely. You may as well as think of it as pseudo-Strategic magic, unfortunately, it's range is just not enough..."

"But if you encountered this young lad in a one V.s one battle, he will surely win....."

(At Spectators)

"Was that really [Convergence-Type Magic]...?"

"The hell is that magic...!?"

"I did warn you, Mari. Erik is far more powerful than you think....."

While Katsuto and Mari were discussions about Erik's magic, Mayumi was standing near the window with conflicted emotions within her eyes.

'Just when I thought, I have finally caught up to you.....'

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