The two were immediately led to the training ground as soon as they returned to the royal palace.
An opportunity was being prepared for everyone to witness Marius’s power.
Although surprised, Marius readily agreed in order to solidify his own position.
The man who was quickly granted the title of Royal Court Magician wondered about the reasons behind the King’s haste, but couldn’t reach a conclusion.
He could only guess that perhaps the King wanted to draw the attention of other countries, or simply strengthen his military power.
The realization that both were correct would come a little later.
The training ground was as vast as a soccer field in the previous world, with what appeared to be spectator stands several meters above ground, separated by a fence.
It was said that multiple defensive barriers were erected in the spectator stands for safety.
At the center, the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess, Chancellor Falk, Chief Court Mage Lucas, Knight Commander Yaders, Grand Marshal of the Royal Guard Josef, and Commander of the Magic Corps Nilson, along with soldiers, were waiting.
“I would very much like to experience Lord Marius’s power firsthand.”
Lucas and Nilson, who had offered themselves, were the opposing combatants. Yaders was appointed as the referee, considering the possibility of being caught in a magical battle.
Facing the two, Marius recalled Lovisa\’s boasting from Helka on the way back to the palace.
She had spoken of him as someone kind since childhood, patriotic, caring towards his people, and a genius who had prevented the nation’s decline with a new spell.
(Does spell format differ across continents… or rather, are spells not something one can learn in just one or two tries?)
This was a detail not present in the game.
Marius thought it might be wise to keep it in mind.
And the two men he was about to fight should, of course, have mastered it.
“Now, we shall commence a mock battle.”
As Yaders raised his right hand and declared, Lucas and Nilson readied their staves. Marius, standing ten meters away, followed suit a beat later.
“Be careful not to kill him. Begin!”
As Yaders\’s right hand swung down, Lucas and Nilson began chanting simultaneously.
“Fire, burn! [Fire]”
Nilson unleashed a fireball.
(Fast!)
Marius couldn’t hide his surprise.
Though he couldn’t understand the words, he somehow understood the intent. Nilson had likely not omitted any incantation.
Yet, his chanting was a beat faster than what Marius knew.
Instinctively, he cast “Magic Shield” without incantation, nullifying the attack.
Without a moment’s pause, Lucas’s follow-up strike came.
“—Annihilate! [Crimson Blaze]”
A wall of red flames, as tall as Marius, erupted and engulfed him.
The hastily erected “Magic Shield” had already vanished.
Since he had no intention of taking the hit, he had to defend against it. However, he couldn’t decide which spell would be appropriate and reflexively used “Dispel.”
Marius’s body was enveloped in a black mist, and the approaching red flames were extinguished.
A great murmur arose from the spectators.
“Without incantation…?”
“Can he defend against it without incantation!”
“And what did he use to defend himself in the first place?”
As the crowd finished their questions, all eyes turned to Raymond.
“Perhaps the first was Magic Shield, and the second, Dispel.”
An even louder murmur erupted.
“Dispel!”
Even those unfamiliar with magic had heard of it; it was a Grade 2 defensive spell.
To activate it without incantation was indeed a power on another level.
Gazing eyes filled with awe turned towards Marius.
The three had paused their battle during this time.
This was, after all, a mock battle designed to ascertain Marius’s strength.
Marius had planned to focus primarily on defense after the preliminary explanation.
However, he hadn’t anticipated being forced to deal with incantation-less magic right away.
He had just been shown the power of the “Lovisa Style” firsthand.
Needless to say, spells were the lifeline of any mage.
While magic could be used without incantation, it consumed a greater amount of magic power.
In actual combat, to conserve magic power, it was generally better to chant as much as possible.
(If all mages possess this chanting speed, it certainly wouldn’t be odd for military power to improve.)
He inferred from the surrounding murmuring that they were likely surprised by his use of incantation-less magic.
He couldn’t yet gauge the true strength of Lucas and Nilson, but he knew he had to stay alert, or he might take a good hit.
Lucas and Nilson also judged that they couldn’t break through Marius’s defense by simply chanting normally.
Even if it was a battle to gauge Marius’s strength, their pride wouldn’t allow them to be passively defeated.
Even if they couldn’t win, they wanted to draw out as much of Marius’s power as possible.
The two exchanged a glance and moved into an attack formation.
(Oh, are they going to do something?)
Marius watched them cautiously, reflecting that his was a condescending thought.
“[Crimson Blaze]”
“[Thunder Rain]”
A wall of red flames and a torrent of lightning struck a few meters in front of Marius and converged.
“[Plasma Blast]”
With the two’s declaration, it transformed into a torrent of purple lightning and descended upon Marius.
(Composite Magic!)
Marius was once again surprised.
Composite magic was an extremely advanced technique that fused different spells to dramatically increase their power and effects.
It required synchronizing the will and magic power of both casters, and the fact that Lucas and Nilson achieved it with just an eye contact was testament to their skill.
Moreover, it exploited a weakness of “Dispel,” which could only nullify one spell at a time.
He could probably defend against it with “Dimension Shield,” the ultimate defensive spell, considering the difference in magic power.
However, it felt somehow dishonorable.
(They want to know my strength, so I’ll show them.)
Marius, having calculated this in an instant, responded with an incantation bypass.
“[Plasma Blast]”
The purple lightning torrent Marius unleashed canceled out the other purple lightning, striking the two with halved power.
However, they were no longer in their original positions.
(Warped without incantation, huh?)
The moment he thought this, he felt magic power from behind him and instinctively cast a spell.
“[Thunder Rain]”
“[Reflection]”
Nilson, who had moved behind Marius, fired “Thunder Rain” without incantation. However, a film of light that appeared immediately afterward reflected the torrent of lightning back, hitting Nilson.
“Guh…”
Nilson, who had unleashed what he intended to be a full-powered attack at close range, was hit head-on without being able to react.
With a small groan, he stumbled back two steps and then collapsed.
A particularly loud murmur arose, but Marius had more pressing matters.
Lucas, meanwhile, was fifty meters away, to Marius’s right front, and was about to finish his incantation.
“—Crush! [Maelstrom]”
A Grade 3 water spell. It was a wide-area annihilation spell that generated a large vortex to sweep away and crush enemies.
Due to its nature, its power didn’t decrease even against multiple opponents, and neither “Magic Barrier” nor “Dispel” were particularly effective.
In other words, Nilson had merely been a decoy.
Watching the muddy torrent of water, more than twice his height, Marius belatedly realized this.
While “Dimension Shield” could sufficiently defend against it, it would likely only lead to further attacks.
Despite deciding to focus on defense, being so outmaneuvered and constantly on the back foot made him want to counterattack.
“[Fire Storm]”
A giant bluish-white pillar of fire erupted, instantly vaporizing the muddy torrent.
“No way…”
Once again, the spectators erupted in murmurs.
“Fire Storm” should not have been able to cancel “Maelstrom.”
Magic, unlike natural phenomena, generally had no inherent countering properties.
The one with greater power simply won.
Therefore, it was abnormal for “Fire Storm,” a lower-ranked, small-area spell, to cancel out “Maelstrom,” a high-ranked, wide-area spell.
However, in reality, “Maelstrom” was canceled, not even generating steam.
This meant the caster’s power was abnormally different.
The power that had easily defeated the Wyvern horde was clearly visible, and for a moment, no one dared to speak.
Lucas felt exactly the same, yet he did not give up the match.
Lucas had never imagined that someone he, a person considered one of the strongest on the continent, couldn’t even scratch despite his best efforts.
He even felt a desire to see more of that power.
However, his magic was nearing its limit.
Thinking this was his last strike, he began to chant.
Sensing Lucas’s atmosphere, Marius met it with focused intent.
“Earth, pierce! [Earth Javelin]”
Earth rose from the ground, forming four spears that flew towards Marius.
Marius couldn’t tell if this was the final attack.
So, he decided to finish the match with this.
“Fire, burn the enemy! [Fire]”
The bluish-white fireball Marius launched pierced the four earth spears, then vanished and continued towards Lucas.
Lucas, depleted, didn’t move.
The fireball stopped right in front of Lucas’s nose and then disappeared.
“Match over! Victor, Marius!”
Yaders raised his right hand and declared, enveloped by the loudest cheers yet.
Sensing that the match was decided, Marius let out a small sigh of relief.
The results clearly showed the effectiveness of his training in the forest.
If he hadn’t practiced enough to be able to control his power, he might have injured Lucas by not stopping his attack in time.
Still, Lucas and Nilson were surprisingly formidable opponents.
On paper, Lucas was only level ninety-four, and Nilson level eighty-five, but their skillful barrage of attacks meant that had he only defended, he would have eventually been hit.
Even though he had overwhelming pure power, he was at a disadvantage in terms of experience and tactics.
(In the end, I’m just a young man with high specs.)
He once again recognized his own immaturity and felt a sense of joy at the room for further growth.
He interpreted the rising cheers from the crowd as praise and high expectations, and resolved to meet them.
Ignorance truly is bliss, as Marius, unable to understand the words, couldn’t grasp the underlying fear the spectators felt but suppressed.
His belief that his power was accepted, now that he understood it, prevented him from making a more accurate judgment.
In truth, the discussions among the spectators contained very little pure admiration.
“He didn’t use any Grade 1 magic, did he?”
“And yet he completely suppressed Lords Lucas and Nilson. Frankly, he’s too strong.”
The fear they felt now was palpable, something they hadn’t experienced even with the information that he had routed a swarm of Wyverns.
Everyone present understood that Marius hadn’t exerted himself even a little.
“The fact that he continued to use incantation-less magic so nonchalantly was terrifying.”
“No, it’s the fact that he’s canceling higher-tier magic with lower-tier incantation-less spells that’s truly frightening.”
“Y-yes… it makes one doubt if it’s humanly possible.”
Klaus Adler, the legendary Archmage who sealed Demon King Zagan, who once conquered three continents.
And Melinda Guilford, who sealed Demon Queen Auraniess, who destroyed five continents and brought the world to the brink of ruin.
Some even imagined what it would be like if power comparable to these heroes who saved the world were directed at them, and felt dread.
This was typical of those who lived in the political world.
“It’s fortunate he’s on our side.”
“It was indeed His Majesty’s wise decision to hastily make him a Royal Court Magician.”
Chancellor Falk and Grand Marshal of the Royal Guard Josef attempted to change the somber atmosphere.
Of course, if the results had been unsatisfactory, there would have been no shortage of voices criticizing the decision as hasty and foolish.
Marius’s battle had saved the King’s reputation.
And thanks to the Chancellor’s quick thinking, the atmosphere improved, albeit slightly.
He had almost forgotten that Marius was part of their military might.
For many, overwhelming power only inspired fear.
Lovisa, watching the reactions of those around her, decided to give Marius some advice later.
Marius seemed rather oblivious to how his power was perceived by others.
At least, he was doing things that could easily be misinterpreted.
She felt a twinge of guilt, as she herself had been helped by him. But precisely because of that, she didn’t want to see her benefactor become object of fear and isolated.
The leaders of this country, even in her eyes, possessed a comical absurdity that made her frown.
She had gone through considerable trouble when developing the new spell.
It was obvious that spells in Firmiyan Language were superior, yet so many refused to acknowledge it, insisting only on Taliant Language.
“Firmiyan Language is the language of the barbaric invaders, the Firmiyan Empire. If a Taliant were to use it, their character would be tainted.”
Such foolish logic, when spoken by those with status and power, sounded like common sense.
While the nation was urgently trying to recover its strength and military power after suffering damage from demons, they were fixated on trivial matters, even managing to corner the King.
If the proposer hadn’t been the Princess, she likely would have been charged with some offense.
In the end, while it would have been better to develop the “Lovisa Style” in Taliant Language, which was superior to Firmiyan Language, they suddenly changed their tune.
At least, that was how it felt to Lovisa.
While it might be impossible for them to harm Marius physically due to his strength, it seemed not too difficult to stab him in the heart.
She decided to be careful herself and asked Emma and Helka for their help as well.
