Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 54: Episode

The news was a shock. At the end of the semester, every student in the bottom squad of the Duel Evaluation would be expelled. Regardless of their grades, 10% of the student body would be cut. Since it took two semesters to advance to the second year, that meant nearly 20% of the first-year students could be forced to leave Kizen based on combat performance alone.

Jane continued her explanation. "Zquad promotionz and demotionz are determined zolely by winz and lozzez. However, the pointz awarded differ for each zquad. You will gain more pointz for lozing in a higher zquad than you will for winning in a lower one. Your goal muzt be to conztantly challenge yourzelvez and advanze."

She set down the chalk and faced the class. "A queztion. Can anyone tell me the differenze between monzter combat, which you have already experienzed, and interperzonal combat?"

One arm shot up faster than any other.

"Jamie Victoria."

"Yes, Professor!" Jamie stood. "In monster combat, we are the ones strategizing the attack. In interpersonal combat, our opponent can strategize against us as well!"

Jane nodded and turned her gaze to another student.

"Hector Moore."

Hector rose from his seat, his large frame seeming to rise like a hill in the classroom.

"Unlike in monster combat, the range of black magic one can effectively use is limited."

"Could you elaborate?"

"Techniques with long casting times, projectiles with predictable trajectories or slow speeds, and trap-type magic circles are all easily countered in one-on-one combat, restricting their use. Likewise," Hector’s eyes shifted, his gaze landing on Simon, who was seated far away, "the summoning magic of the Summoning specialization is ineffective. The counters are well-known, and an opponent can simply ignore the summoned creature and attack the caster directly."

"Good." At Jane’s gesture, Hector bowed politely and sat down. "The mozt important pointz have been covered. In truth, if you were to look clozely, you would find dozenz, even hundredz, of differenzez between monzter combat and interperzonal combat."

"Alright, then," Jane began, her voice cutting through the silence. "Can anyone explain why I feel the need to ztate zomething zo obviouz?"

The room fell dead quiet.

"Ztarting thiz week, you need to change the way you think." She tapped her forehead with a single, deliberate finger. "If you’re ztill bazking in the afterglow of the Zyclopz fight, you’re already falling behind. It’z time to rewire your thinking. Shake up your routinez and preconzeptionz, becauze no one iz going to figure thiz out for you. In every clazz, you muzt conztantly conzider how to uze the cardz you’ve been dealt to cruzh your clazzmatez."

"Yes, Professor!" the students answered, their voices ringing with newfound energy.

"And," Jane added, a faint smile touching her lips.

A shiver traced its way down Simon’s spine. How could a smile look so terrifying?

"Az Vize-Prezident of Kizen, I believe I have done my utmozt for you az the profezzor in charge of Clazz A," she continued, her tone crisp. "Out of all fourteen firzt-year clazzez, you are the only one to have run a zimulation in Avalon and fazed a Zyclopz in a real battle."

Simon nodded. He was truly grateful for such an incredible experience. ’But why is she suddenly bringing this up?’ he wondered.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear," Jane declared, a spark igniting in her usually cold eyes. "I cannot imagine any clazz ranking above my own. The Vize-Prezident herzelf haz taken the time to teach you. I truzt you won’t do anything to embarrazz me."

’Ah, so that’s what this is about,’ Simon realized. The professors never showed it, but they were intensely competitive about their classes’ performance. The Duel Evaluation was a system where all classes from A to N competed, and the results would immediately and clearly show which had triumphed and which had failed.

"Professor Jane!"

It was then that Dick, sitting next to Simon, shot up from his seat, his face flushed with excitement.

"Don’t you worry about a thing!" he proclaimed. "We’ll do our absolute best so you can hold your head high!"

Startled, Meirin yanked hard on his sleeve. "Hey! Sit down! Stop making a scene, you’re embarrassing everyone!"

"Let’s go! Go, Class A!" Dick cheered, ignoring her completely.

Boisterous laughter erupted around the room. A few male students, their competitive spirits ignited, even echoed his cheer.

"How adorable..." one of the TAs whispered to another, stifling a giggle.

"They’re so cute."

After dealing with the grim, overly mature third-years who typically trailed after Jane, handling these bright-eyed first-years was a refreshing change of pace.

Jane fixed Dick with a blank expression. "Dick Hayward."

"Yes, Professor!"

"You’re the one I’m most worried about."

’Hahahahaha!’ This time, the entire class roared with laughter. A wave of belated embarrassment washed over Dick, and he scratched his head as he slumped back into his seat.

"Ugh, I hate you," Meirin muttered, burying her face in her hands. "You’re so embarrassing."

"Since we’re on the topic, let me offer some advice," Jane said, her gaze still fixed on Dick. "Your enchantments are excellent. The problem is getting your weapon to actually reach your opponent. You might have an edge against a Combat Magic specialist, but a Hemomancy specialist with ranged attacks will crush you before you can lay a finger on them."

It was a perfectly accurate assessment. Dick nodded, his expression stiff.

"All of you should consider your own strengths and weaknesses," Jane concluded, addressing the class. "Think about what you need to improve for one-on-one combat."

"Yes, ma’am!"

Descending from the podium, Jane gestured to the TAs, who immediately sprang into action. "Now, we’ll be moving to a new location."

---

Class A headed to the indoor training hall in the adjacent building. The reason Jane had brought them there was simple.

"From now on, you will all practice sparring," she announced. "Assess your specialties and consider which forms of black magic you will use in your duels. The TAs will be circulating, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask."

At the words "sparring," the students scattered as if a starting gun had been fired. Some began practicing black magic, visualizing combat scenarios, while others sat down and meticulously wrote out damage tables. They could even hold mock duels, and the TAs were lending out protective vests similar to the ones used in the Cyclops battle.

Meanwhile, Simon stood alone, leaning against a wall, agonizing over the point Hector had raised.

’Summoning itself is not effective in one-on-one combat. The counter-strategy is simple: ignore the summons and attack the caster directly.’

Hector was right. His opponents would relentlessly target him and him alone. It was doubtful his slow-moving skeletons could even catch up to students enhanced with Jet-Black.

Just as his thoughts deepened, a skeleton suddenly collapsed beside him with a clatter.

"Oh! Sorry! Did I startle you?" A boy with a bowl cut hurried over and began gathering the bone fragments into a box.

Simon crouched down beside him. "I’ll help."

"Ah, thanks!" The student glanced at Simon’s face, his initial surprise melting into a wide, delighted smile. "You’re Simon Polentia, right?"

"Yeah."

His eyes sparkled. "My name is Toto Amori! I was so impressed by the Cyclops battle! I’m a Summoning prospect too, and watching you really fired me up!"

Simon smiled warmly. After placing the last of the bone fragments in the box, he stood. "Are you planning to use this skeleton in the Duel Evaluation?"

"Well, that’s..." Toto scratched the side of his head, a sheepish grin on his face. "To be honest, I don’t really have a choice. I’m only good at Summoning—it’s how I got into Kizen. I’m terrible at all the other subjects." He looked up at Simon. "I’m jealous of you."

Simon blinked, confused. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"You’re good at Combat Magic," Toto explained. "And you seem to have a knack for Curses, too..."

"I’m a Summoning prospect, just like you," Simon pointed out.

"That’s why I’m jealous!" Toto insisted. "To survive as a Summoning prospect, you have to be good at subjects that give you an edge in one-on-one combat, like Combat Magic or Curse Studies."

Simon crossed his arms. "So, you’re saying Summoning isn’t very good for duels."

"Yeah. At least not at first. Summoning just needs more time." Just then, a female student from Toto’s group waved at him. He waved back. "Well, I’ll get going."

"Keep up the good work," Simon said.

Watching Toto’s retreating back, he was lost in thought. ’So Summoning is weak in one-on-one combat.’

Of course, it would be a different story if he could unleash the Legion, but that was impossible. For the Duel Evaluation, all he had were his three skeletons. Long after Toto had gone, Simon remained leaning against the wall, his mind racing.

"You look like you have a lot on your mind."

A smiling TA approached, her interest apparently piqued by his brooding. Startled, Simon quickly bowed his head.

"What’s the problem?" she asked kindly. "I’ve spent nearly two years at Kizen, so you can ask me anything."

"Oh, well..." Simon gave an awkward smile and scratched his head. "I’m just trying to figure out what style to use in a duel."

"Heh." She crossed her arms. "In my experience, it’s better to dive in headfirst than to stand around overthinking it."

"...Pardon?"

She handed him a protective vest. "Put it on. I’ll be your opponent."

Just like that, Simon found himself in a mock duel with a TA. They moved to a spacious area to avoid disturbing the other students and stood facing each other.

"You can check the barrier gauge on the blue scale on the vest. See it?" she pointed out.

"Yep. Confirmed." A match against a TA out of the blue. Simon was bewildered, but a surge of nervous energy coursed through him.

"No need to be so tense," she said with a reassuring smile. "I’ll only use first-year level black magic. Are you ready?"

"Yes!"

"Then, here I come!" She opened her palm, and Jet-Black rose like a heat haze, forming four magic circles in the air.

Simon’s eyes lit up. ’Jet-Black Arrows.’ He remembered them from Jet-Black Dynamics. It was a common, basic offensive skill most first-years used for ranged harassment. ’She really is going to fight me at a typical first-year level.’

The TA spread her arms, and three of the arrows shot toward him. Simon dropped into a stance, quickly tracking their trajectories before throwing himself to the side.

The three arrows embedded themselves in the floor.

Simon’s eyes widened. The fourth arrow was flying precisely where he was headed. It was impossible to change direction now. Gritting his teeth, Simon reached out. A shortsword shot out from his Subspace. He snatched it from the air and swung, deflecting the arrow just in time.

"Oh! Not bad!" the TA chirped.

"Now it’s my turn!" Simon declared. Three skeletons burst from his Subspace and charged at her.

She cast another volley of Jet-Black arrows. Simon’s eyes widened. ’Dodge to the right!’

The skeletons moved with surprising agility. One was struck down, but the other two successfully evaded and closed the distance.

"Hmm," she hummed, clenching her fist. Her delicate hand was now faintly tinged with black.

’Whoosh!’

She ducked under a skeleton’s spear thrust and threw a punch. It connected with the center of its torso, and with a loud crack, the bones scattered in all directions. She then dropped low, pivoting to shatter the skull of the second skeleton with a precise elbow strike from behind.

’Oh!’ Simon thought, momentarily stunned.

"Is this really the time to be spacing out?"

’Thud!’

Simon’s torso bent backward as a streak of black energy pierced his chest. ’Damn it!’

An Exhaust curse. His body instantly felt heavy as lead. ’I was careless. I could have dodged that.’ The TA had expertly used the skeletons to draw his attention, preparing the curse with the hand hidden behind her back. She had timed her attack perfectly, striking the very instant his concentration wavered at his skeletons’ destruction.

’She’s only using basic skills, but her experience is on another level!’ Simon gritted his teeth.

"Alright," she said, her tone leisurely as she ran toward him. "I’ve dealt with the summons and landed an Exhaust curse. This is the perfect chance to take down the summoner, isn’t it?"

Simon summoned three more skeletons from his Subspace to intercept her. ’Block her!’

The moment the skeletons were about to close the distance, Jet-Black erupted from her legs like jet propulsion, and she launched herself over them in a single bound.

’Combat Magic’s Jet-Black Stepping, too!’

After clearing the skeletons, she kicked off the air again, descending directly toward him.

"It won’t hurt, thanks to the barrier!" she called out, her fist plummeting toward him with terrifying speed.

Simon’s eyes flashed. He folded his shoulder inward, pushing her descending fist away with a single fluid motion.

’Hmph.’ She had known from the start that he was skilled in Combat Magic. The TA’s lips curled into a smirk as she subtly opened her left hand. The Jet-Black arrow magic circle on her palm aimed directly at Simon’s head. ’This is the end...!’

In that instant, goosebumps erupted across her skin. Simon’s right shoulder wasn’t just folding; it was rotating at an impossible angle. Simultaneously, his right heel lifted, and his left foot swept in from the opposite diagonal.

’Not a guard...!’

The tip of his left foot, once in her line of sight, blurred into a black flash of unimaginable speed as it swept toward her face.

’A roundhouse kick!’

Simon’s leg traced a vicious arc, passing right through where her head had been. The shockwave rippled outward, startling nearby students who looked over in alarm.

Simon, who had thrown the kick, was just as surprised. ’I thought it was a clean hit, but my leg just passed through her head?’

The two paused for a moment before quickly backing away from each other.

"Ah, um... I’m sorry." The TA bowed her head in apology. "I said I’d only use basic black magic, but I ended up using my specialty, Spirit Form, without thinking. Ahaha... Let’s end the mock duel here."

"Thank you," Simon replied, bowing his head respectfully.

At that moment, the TA was staring at the top of Simon’s head, her face as pale as if she’d seen a ghost. ’What is this kid... He’s terrifying.’ If that had landed without the protective suit, she would have been on a one-way trip to the afterlife. The TA swallowed hard.