Mantis’s mumble about this turning into a “dogfight” flashed through my mind.
I didn’t think what he said before we started would actually come true.
Yes, there was no mess quite like this one.
Now, everyone was pouring out magic regardless of who the opponent was.
It reached a point where I felt like if I just stayed still, everyone would eventually collapse from mana exhaustion and I’d win by default.
In the midst of the fierce exchange, Anakin gradually regained her senses at some point.
‘Is this really right? Doing all this just to get points?’
The structure where you had to take down everyone else and have only one person sit in that chair to obtain the artifact didn’t make sense.
After about ten minutes had passed, Anakin bit her lip and looked around.
If she poured in her stored mana and Ether, she felt she could somehow handle everyone and aim for first place.
However, Anakin simply observed the situation with a cold expression.
Hess, who had lost too much blood, slumped down.
Mantis was also huddled in a corner, barely breathing, with a severely injured arm.
Then, Roque fainted, leaving Lucien and Hilde facing each other in a battered state.
“Stop for a second.”
Hilde and Lucien, who had been fighting frantically, finally looked at Anakin.
“……Anakin.”
They were also breathing heavily from the intense battle.
In the feverish eyes of Hilde and Lucien, there was a lingering trace of excitement.
“Can’t we just have the opponent forfeit?”
“Why bother?”
“Sigh. Look around you.”
As Anakin sighed and pressed her hand to her forehead, Lucien and Hilde scanned their surroundings.
There was Roque, unconscious in a miserable state, and Hess and Mantis huddled in the corners clutching their wounds.
It was a gruesome sight for the price of a mindless battle fueled by excitement in a special environment.
“We’ll forfeit.”
She had vowed to eliminate everything that stood in the way of becoming a regular disciple, but not like this.
‘This really isn’t it.’
Anakin wasn’t in perfect shape either.
To be fine after constant explosions and magic attacks flying like breathing, you’d have to be someone like Chris.
Deep wounds were visible through her torn clothes, and red blood dripped from her cheeks and forehead, perhaps where stone fragments had grazed her.
Hilde stared at Anakin without a word.
“Anakin. Since it’s already come to this, we have to take the artifact.”
Lucien, exhausted from consuming too much mana, blinked tiredly and spoke.
“Besides, it doesn’t look like that guy has any intention of giving up either.”
He looked at Hilde with hazy eyes and then smirked.
“Lucien.”
Anakin stared at Lucien, who was too intoxicated by blood, with a flat expression.
At Anakin’s cold tone—the first he had heard—Lucien flinched.
Then, he turned his head with a creaking motion, like something broken.
“It’s better to give up here and get an artifact somewhere else.”
At Anakin’s cool words, Lucien went quiet.
His instinct was telling him to fight, but his head was telling him to follow Anakin.
Unable to find his bearings, Lucien eventually nodded reluctantly.
It was because of Anakin’s chilling gaze.
Hilde, who had been watching the two, shook her head and said:
“Forfeiting is impossible.”
“……What do you mean?”
Anakin frowned at Hilde’s words.
Hilde glanced at Anakin and then shifted her gaze toward the pedestal where the artifact sat.
“According to the inscription written there, only one person must survive. There isn’t even an exit here. It’s not a team; only one single person must sit in that chair to get out.”
“……There isn’t even a withdrawal option?”
“The exact name of this labyrinth is Judici Nex. It’s a labyrinth created by a mage named Judici.”
“…….”
Anakin had heard of Judici.
She knew how tragic his life had been.
It was said that once caught in a labyrinth he made, only one person could return alive.
“Are you saying this is that place?”
“Yes. Even if I go and sit there now, nothing will happen. Because everyone is still conscious.”
“If that’s the case……”
Anakin squeezed her eyes shut.
‘I really have no choice but to fight now.’
Just in case, Hilde tried sitting in the chair, but as he said, nothing happened.
“Everyone must die or lose consciousness.”
At those words, Lucien’s face brightened, and he said in an excited tone:
“Then can I fight?”
Anakin found it amazing that Lucien still wanted to fight even in that state.
‘He’s a total battle-maniac…….’
Anakin let out a sigh and said:
“Do whatever you want.”
Since it had come to this, there was no helping it.
Anakin stretched out and said:
“Instead, I’m fighting too. Since two-on-one is cowardly, let’s make it one-on-one-on-one.”
“……Are you serious?”
Hilde and Lucien looked reluctant to have Anakin join, but she answered nonchalantly.
“Of course. I like fighting, too.”
Since they had come this far, there was nothing to do but determine a winner.
The three of them put distance between each other and took their positions.
The battle began with Anakin’s preemptive strike.
As Anakin launched a fireball, Hilde and Lucien dodged lightly and cast their own spells.
A fierce exchange followed.
Hilde poured down wide-range lightning toward Lucien and Anakin.
Lucien, who dodged by throwing his body, fired condensed blue mana in two directions.
Anakin deployed a shield and simultaneously attacked with flaming arrows.
It was a fight that could very well be their last.
They gritted their teeth, squeezing out every drop of mana.
After about fifteen minutes, Anakin closed in on Lucien and pierced his shield with a mana blade.
Lucien smirked and spoke.
“Attacking a beauty isn’t really my taste.”
“Who fights according to their taste?”
“I do.”
At that moment, Hilde summoned a massive lightning spear as if to end it.
That wide-range spell, Hilde’s specialty, was hard to block when one was completely drained.
“Ah, I’m out of mana.”
“……Me too.”
Looking at each other, Anakin and Lucien immediately fled the spot with all their remaining strength.
Then, a massive explosion erupted.
KABOOM!
All the children except Hilde were caught in that attack.
In the completely silent labyrinth, only Hilde stood alone, looking around.
Then, a presence was felt through the smoke-like ash and dust.
At the sound of hacking coughs, Hilde raised her hand again, preparing to cast a spell.
But as a face gradually revealed itself, Hilde paused her incantation.
“You’re ridiculously strong. Really.”
It was Anakin, covered in wounds and coughing lightly.
Anakin still had physical strength left.
Strictly speaking, Lucien had done most of the fighting, and she hadn’t stepped forward much herself.
Hilde stared intently at Anakin with an unreadable face.
“I’ve wanted to fight you properly someday, Hilde.”
“……Can you handle it?”
Anakin blinked and nodded.
Hilde, whom she had always relied on by her side, was now standing opposite her.
A strange tension began to circulate in this situation.
‘I never imagined Hilde becoming an enemy…… she really is threatening.’
Is this how those who faced Hilde until now felt?
The feeling of facing an overwhelming opponent who is difficult to beat.
And a peer at that.
“Anakin. I’m telling you in advance, I don’t hold back in battle.”
At Hilde’s warning, Anakin let out a cough and said:
“Neither do I.”
Anakin and Hilde silently stared at each other in the quiet tension.
She had wanted to go all out against Hilde someday, but she didn’t think it would be today.
As stones showered down from the cracks in the ceiling, the two charged at each other simultaneously as if they had been waiting.
She poured blood-red mana blades at Hilde.
Hilde, deploying a shield, chanted a double casting.
He created lightning orbs and darkness to block Anakin’s vision.
At the crackling sound coming from the right, Anakin quickly pulled her body back.
While moving, Anakin paused at a chilling sensation.
She felt a tingling sensation not from the right, but from behind.
She quickly wrapped herself in a shield, but it was too late to dodge.
“It was a fake……”
Bzzzzzzzt!
Anakin’s body stumbled for a moment at the searing pain felt from her back.
However, she soon regained her focus and bound Hilde’s right foot with mana threads.
‘I don’t have much Ether left, but…….’
Anakin pulled out every last drop of Ether and chanted.
“Immortal Fire.”
An unquenchable flame struck Hilde’s shield.
Immediately after, Anakin shouted:
“Hellfire Storm!”
A giant storm of fire using Ether engulfed Hilde.
At that moment, Hilde’s lightning was also preparing to strike down toward Anakin.
‘Ah, I might lose consciousness first……?’
Thinking that, Anakin squeezed her eyes shut.
Simultaneously, a powerful impact struck the labyrinth.
Rumble!
The entire wall cracked as if shimmering.
Stones flew in all directions, and fissures appeared on the floor.
Now, nothing could be heard but the sound of the labyrinth crumbling—not even the sound of breathing.
“Sigh……”
Then, someone let out a sigh. Only one person stood up staggeringly within the thick dust.
“…….”
Standing and staring hazily into the air was Anakin.
Anakin struggled to maintain her consciousness as she checked on Hilde.
Hilde had lost consciousness and collapsed.
“…….”
Despite having won, Anakin covered her eyes with her hands, her face crumbling.
It was because she remembered Hilde’s face at the last second—when she had intentionally missed with her lightning strike.
