A Death Row Convict Teaches at a School of Magic

“…Tsk!”

It was out of the realm of possibility that this man could conveniently show up here at such a timing. On top of that, at the sight of Shiva’s patched-up head, the death of the man was palpable. Alice was undoubtedly manipulating him with her magic.

Almost as if by spinal reflex, my gun was ready and I fired. The spear in Shiva’s hand, the Thundering Spear as I recalled, shielded his face and obstructed the shot aimed at his head. Each bullet that struck a spot other than the head landed on Shiva’s body, yet no sign of effectiveness could be detected. As I thought, the only solution to deal with a dead man would be the destruction of the brain―

“!”

“Aah!”

Shortly after, a brilliant electric light gushed forth around him, emanating from Shiva’s immense magical power. So the light I caught sight of from the hospital belonged to this man after all. The surge of electricity that seemed to blanket the whole room drew a squeal from Arti, for the first time today. Unless this crisis was overcome soon, Arti’s heart would not be able to sustain itself.

“Kishaaaaaaah!”

A beastly yell issued from Shiva as he wielded his Thundering Spear, clad in voluminous amounts of electricity.

True to its reputation, “Li Thunderbird” was flying toward me, its prey, at lightning speed. Even my defensive magic was no match for it, and the electric shock hit me solidly.

“Guaaahhhh!?”

An odd sound snuck out of my throat on its own accord, and a burning smell emanated from my body. Perhaps the stimulation to my muscles was the reason behind my inability to perform maneuvers as I wished, and instead, my body began to move against my will.

“!?”

Even before the electric shocks subsided and the regeneration of my body was not at its end, a thrust of Shiva’s spear was driven into my chest. The massive Thundering Spear easily punctured through my body, but that was all. Deploying my Chakrameth, and forcing my still numb body into motion, my arm was lifted up, only to be inflicted with a rush of electricity from the Thundering Spear that had sunk into my chest.

“Tskkk!?”

My effort to detach myself from Shiva proved fruitless, as the electric shocks rendered my body immobile. This time, his magic was apparently not going to cease, which resulted in my body being continuously destroyed and regenerated, with purple lightning sparking out all the time. The persistent scorching physical sensation throughout my body was a problem, but an even worse issue was my stocks, which were dwindling away in the blink of an eye.

[You may regard me as a reckless and tactless woman, Kanaki, but I do conduct preparation and preliminary investigation when it counts, you know? That applies to you as well. With your ultra regeneration and high-purity magic crystal stone creation technique, I am not so foolish as to forgo any preparation when facing you as an antagonist. Of all the things I discovered after investigating you, there is only one magic that perfectly corresponds to the ability that you just demonstrated. ―The name of that magic is Soul Eater.]

Had my body obeyed my instruction at this stage, I would have clicked my tongue at least once.

In a voice dripping with conviction, Alice identified one of my darkest-kept magic.

[Even for me, discovering this magic was a struggle. After all, it’s a kind of magic that is considered to be unorthodox, even among the forbidden magic. How you acquired this magic, and how you came across it, is beyond my grasp, but if you are a practitioner of this magic, the explanation is plain to behold. Given this magic that can extract souls as an ultra-pure magical power, it is possible to use the extracted magical power to produce magic crystal stones that are unparalleled to anything on the market, and if you were able to incorporate them into yourself, it makes sense that you would have such super regenerative abilities.]

“…!”

It was not only her inward nature that eluded me. Even as a business associate, I had misjudged Alice. I had been under the assumption that she was more of a lax, pleasure-seeking person, as she had said. Yet, in reality, it never occurred to me that she had done so much behind the scenes, and had even traced it to “Soul Eater”…

Furthermore, the stocks of “Soul Eater” have fallen to a hazardous level. In any case, beginning with the recent battle with Rain, there have been too many occasions for me to utilize the spirits, on top of which Matthias had asked me to create more magical crystal stones than usual. Under normal circumstances, even if I were to die a hundred times, I would have amassed enough spirits to instantaneously regenerate, but now that has dwindled to about 20%, and the rate of regeneration has gradually reached a point where it can no longer catch up with this. The predicament was turning out to be a disaster, but no breakthrough solution was on the cards, and Alice’s good-humored laughter only served to accelerate my frustration and agitation.

[But that doesn’t mean you are invincible. Depending on the circumstances, there are some conditions that I would have to fulfill to kill you. In particular, the fact that it would take a substantial length of time to kill you is a fairly stringent condition. Well, thanks to Arti, who is still slumped over there, I managed to clear it.]

“…! It’s my fault…”

[Right, Arti, you are to account for all of it. Now the death of Kanaki can be fully guaranteed.]

Every word that was slipped out of Alice was colored with a distinguishable sense of amusement. Satisfaction with merely killing me was not enough; she must have been determined to break Arti’s heart as well.

But then, Arti took an unexpected action that neither Alice nor I had foreseen.

“…I won’t let you do it!”

[!?]

Arti immediately sped past me and sprang in front of Shiva as soon as I thought I heard the sound of kicking on the floor behind me.

The gushing electric shocks extended their arms toward Arti, but she dodged through them and deployed a semi-transparent blade in her right hand.

That was the magic, “Chakrameth”―which I haven’t yet taught her.

“Kishaaaaaaah!”

Arti swung down her Chakrameth, which sliced through Shiva’s defenseless right arm.

Despite its shallow impact, the blow caused Shiva’s right arm to lose its grip, and the lightning disappeared simultaneously. His tendon was perfectly severed by Arti’s sword. At the precise blow from Arti, whose dexterity was not exactly flattering, I was tempted to pat her, but I couldn’t afford to let this opportunity slip away now.

Pulling out the magic crystal stone I had in my inner pocket, I shattered it at once. Shiva was ready to withdraw his spear and retreat when I seized his head with my right hand without releasing him.

“―’Destruction’.”

Right after invoking my magic, Shiva’s face exploded.

No, “exploded” was not quite on point. To be exact, the bones and flesh that comprised Shiva’s head were obliterated, and the brain and eyeballs that were stuck inside the head simply burst out with the momentum of the explosion. Had I employed explosive-type magic, neither I would have escaped unscathed by now.

This magic had not been employed in a very long time, and it was more demanding than I had imagined. Even after using the entire magic crystal stone, it was still insufficient, so I had to make up the difference with my own magical power.

[…Hee. That kind of magic is novel to me. But it seems to be draining you as well, and that kind of stylish magic doesn’t suit you, Kanaki.]

“…It’s none of your business.”

While saying that, I can hardly keep my balance. In the meantime, a wave of new demons crawled out of the floor in droves. They didn’t strike me as being as formidable as Shiva, but that didn’t prove that I was capable of fending them off.