CH 225

225 – The Scales of Justice Astrea

There is little information about the 13 Commanders of the Knights Order.

They are the successors of the Contract Inheritance. This means that the relationship with the Spirit is passed down to their descendants.

Their Lesser Spirits are the earliest large fragments separated from the main body and their power is considered to be second only to the main body.

Although it won’t be done single-handedly by the Commanders, even if the Contractors of the Four Great Spirits become the enemies of humanity with all of their powers still intact, the Knights Order have publicly stated that they are capable of defeating them.

Also, the Scales of Justice Astrea is even more special among the top knights.

After all, she is…a Hero.

Her movements were so swift and without hesitation that I could not follow them with my eyes.

So some of the moves I’m about to describe are from the information I got from replaying the recording in slow motion after the qualifying round.

First, she defended against Wraith’s Water Blades by stabbing her Holy Sword into the ground, then she avoided Fenix’s horizontal slash by leaning forward until her head was about to touch the ground.

Just like in the previous case with Contestant Olivia, the Black Magic that went through the safety zone of Invisible Pressure was resisted, then Lily’s arrows that went through a similar trajectory were made to float upwards.

In addition, Astrea formed a sword from the ground with Earth Magic as she stood up, grabbed it, and attacked Fenix.

Fenix parried the attack with his Holy Sword, but her sword retained its shape.

It was not possible for a sword made from Earth Magic to withstand the Holy Sword of Fire.

It was changed into a Holy Sword.

The sword of a Holy Sword is not special. What is referred to as a Holy Sword is simply the weapon that the Spirits have given a blessing to.

This is why it could accomplish the duty of defending against Wraith’s Water Blades, then she decided that a sword that she could not grasp from her previous stance is unnecessary. 

So she made a sword from the ground and transferred the Spirit’s blessing to it.

Naturally, the sword that had lost its blessing returned to being just a normal sword.

Is it really that simple to do?

I was a little late in understanding what exactly had happened, but Dark responded to my question. 

『It’s possible as long as the Spirit responds to her. However, looking at that response speed… they probably talk a lot on a regular basis. Spirits usually only watch over you humans, so it seems the Spirit that the Commander is in a Contract with is quite the eccentric one.』

I understand that, but with that theory, that means that you’re eccentric as well.

『Ahaha.』

As Fenix and Astrea were engaging in a fierce battle, Fenix’s body was pushed back as they exchanged attacks.

He’s losing?!

No, that’s not right.

There was no longer any doubt as to the true nature of that Spirit Magic.

If I had to categorize it, I’d say that it’s… a part of the Power of the Earth. 

It’s Gravity Manipulation.

She probably increased the gravity for Invisible Pressure and lightened it when she made the arrows float.

And now, it seems that she is doubling the Power of the Earth on her slashes.

To Fenix, her sword must have felt unusually heavy.

But interfering with gravity, and anything that has a similar effect to it, isn’t that part of Esoteric Spirit Magic?

『Yeah. Even if it is called a Lesser Spirit, if it can do this much, its abilities are almost on par with the main body. That said, the current main body of the Spirits are-』

I can’t even hear Dark’s voice.

I met her eyes. I’m not hallucinating this.

「I admit that I have made a mistake in the priority.」

This is what Astrea said.

I should’ve defeated the Black Sorcerer Lem first.

「Hey…!!」

I received an impactful blow.

As my body flew sideways, I saw the one who pushed me away.

I already knew it by his voice, it was Alba.

He looked at me for a moment and clicked his tongue.

「Tch, I’ve paid my debt.」

Debt… ahh.

If we’re comrades, it’s natural to help each other, but we are in different parties… in other words, we’re opponents.

Is receiving support considered being indebted to for him?　

For Alba, receiving my support probably meant that he is in debt to me.

So he tried to repay the debt.

But in doing so, he was crushed by the Invisible Pressure that was aimed at me and got sent off the field.

She is the Scales of Justice Astrea.

In the middle of a situation where four of her comrades were defeated almost simultaneously, she was getting targeted by two Heroes, and the rest of her opponents were also heading toward her…

While dealing with all of that, she cast Spirit Magic which is aimed at only me.

By the time I finished thinking about this, my feet had finally returned to the ground after being pushed off and floating in the air for a moment.

At the same time, I started to run.

「Lark! Bring Lily with you and get as far away as possible! Lily, fire your arrows at her at the farthest possible distance!」

I continued to run without listening to their response.

I can feel a large amount of Magical Energy falling behind me over and over again.

The situation is not good.

I’ve figured it out.

Astrea is, so to speak, a prodigy who has been working hard since her childhood.

She has the same observational skills that Furcus praised in me.

And that’s not all.

What if she was naturally destined to be a knight because of the Contract Inheritance?

She must have been trained in magic and swords from an early age.

Wraith’s abilities in things related to Magical Energy are high considering that he is only 10 years old.

This is because he, who had the Unyielding Hero as his father, showed his interest in magic from an early age, then his father and the people around him taught him well. For as long as he could remember, he has actively strived to train himself.

Normally, the hardworking efforts spent in the training suitable for a specific Job is done after the Job Identification. That is, at the age of 10.

I also fall under this category.

However, Wraith and Astrea were different.

Wraith is now 10 years old and he can handle magic so well that it could surprise the world.

Then, what about Astrea? Just like him, she has been rigorously trained from an early age until now, in her late 20s.

She has mastered Spirit Magic. 

「Caught you.」

In the end, I was caught by the Invisible Pressure.

However, it was just in time!

My Magical Energy that has passed through the Holy Sword was released around me.

It is clear that the high concentration of Magical Energy is interfering with the Spirit Magic.

It seems that I have somehow managed to offset the Spirit Magic.

Just like that, I continued to run to get closer to her.

『It’s just as I suspected, she’s playing with the structure of the magic. The Spirit Magic they refer to as Esoteric Spirit Magic needs Magical Energy just like any other magic, but it meddles with the rules of “burning everything to ashes” or “putting the space under their control.” It basically has the same principles as magic, if you try to increase the magic’s power, the amount of Magical Energy used will increase.』

In other words, in the case of the Flames of the Gods, it takes a tremendous amount of Magical Energy to achieve the effect of”burn” “everything” “without any questions.”

『That’s right. What if you change the second keyword to “a single tree”? Wouldn’t the amount of Magical Energy used be super low?』

By relaxing the conditions from the true Gravity Manipulation, did she make it possible to activate it in rapid succession and for a long time to a certain extent? 

『You’re right. After all, the large-scale magic that the Commander of the Knights used right after the start of the qualifying round was almost on the same level as the large-scale magic of the Shotacon and Tsundere Contractors, right?』

Sho-…? …He’s probably referring to the main body of the Water Spirit and the main body of the Fire Spirit.

Certainly, if that magic is really Esoteric, it wouldn’t be strange for it to have more power.

『Rather, the fact is that she can flatten the mountain, so it might be Esoteric Spirit Magic. The magic was exquisitely degraded so that it had enough power to make the people kneel on the ground. While the swordsman was crushed because she made the magic aimed at Lem more powerful.』

…Is he talking about the main body of the Earth Spirit this time?

I don’t think what Alba did was surprising.

He is serious about winning.

But he still helped me, saying that he was repaying the debt.

Which meant that for him, this choice had the best chance of winning.

I sharpened my concentration and approached the center of the battle while refining my Magical Energy.

There are three Heroes and one Destroyer surrounding her.

Setting aside the three Heroes, Fran was boldly attacking her even while she was not able to offset the Spirit Magic with her Magical Energy.

「I understand that those fists are incredibly powerful.」

Fran’s feet were dissolved into the mud. That’s not right, it’s more like the state of the ground was changed by Earth Magic.

If I look at it closely, it’s not that the ground has melted, but that it became like sand, which caused Fran’s feet to sink into it.

The ground quickly returned to its original state and the little girl was buried from the ankles down.

Astrea attacked her before she could break out from it.

A lump of earth protruding from the ground unfolded on her front and back, sandwiching her body and her huge arms.

Fran has been restrained by Earth Magic.

「…Ugh.」

「You should be proud as you are a splendid warrior.」

「Can you please stay away from our Fran?」

「It’s sharp, but still light.」

She parried Wraith’s downward swing and made the tip of his sword face the ground.

「It’s hot, I guess you’re continuously maintaining the Magical Energy around the Holy Sword.」

As if it bounced up, the sword swung upwards, then it joined Fenix.

At the same time, multiple earth walls were created along Bella’s course to delay her from joining them.

I knew it, the amount of Magical Energy is strange!

This is similar to what I and Lemegeton’s direct subordinate, the Black Explorer Foras do, we continuously cast magic on ourselves to train our Magical Energy organ.

Wait, that’s probably right.

I’m not sure since when she’s been doing it, but she’s been applying Gravity Manipulation on herself, continued to use magic in that state, and trained her Magical Energy organ.

Even before that, she must have tried to use as much magic as possible.

It is a family that has been making Contracts with the same Spirits for generations, so it’s not surprising that they have a training method passed down in the family that could help them better utilize the power of the Spirits.

It’s as if she has the strong points of me, Wraith, Fenix, and Furcus.

Her powers of observation, Spirit Magic, and swordsmanship are extremely good.

What a strong person.

The only other person I can think of who has such an excellent overall strength is the Storm Hero Aerial.

But I’m not in despair.

She is really strong.

However, I don’t think we’re going to lose in terms of our individual abilities.

In the attack and defense just now, the only ones that got sent off the field were her four comrades. She even admitted that she had misplaced her priorities, didn’t she?

This current situation where we have to devote Magical Energy to offset the Spirit Magic is troublesome, but Wraith and Fenix are better at using maximum output Spirit Magic.

Master Furcus isn’t here, but in a one-to-one fight where they can only use weapons, the Reaper Knight could surpass her.

And Aerial, who I used as a metaphor for his overall strength, would definitely win if they fought.

There is no perfect life form.

And we are not alone.

I made my Magical Energy surround the entire Holy Sword.

Then, I approached one of my comrades.