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I leap back as a flash of lightning appears, but it quickly vanishes again. For a moment, I think that was all, but I quickly discover I’m wrong. Marize’s stance tells me she’s ready to keep using magic against me.

“I can’t stand you, you’re annoying, and I hate you, and you’re so irritating!”
“Wait! Let me talk first!”
“Shut up!”

She shouts loudly, and a sequence of bright flashes follows. Without chanting, she had used the starting lightning spell, Thunder Spark, many times. I block everything with one hand. While I hadn’t expected her to do that, starting spells aren’t strong enough against me, even if there’s a bunch of them. But Marize’s anger is nowhere near appeased yet. Her mana output increases even more, creating crackling sounds around her as sparks light up.

“I’ll never accept anything from you!”

Now she’s launching multiple spells simultaneously—actually, no, now that I pay more attention, they’re all still coming one after another, just at a much faster pace than before. I stand my ground and block all of them, just like the earlier ones. No matter how quickly they come, their power is the same, so it doesn’t have a stronger effect on me. Still, Marize’s anger just keeps getting worse, increasing the frequency of her spells. I don’t want her to keep going, but if I hit back carelessly, it could end up even worse. I need to think of a way to stop her.

“Stop! Just listen to me! Or actually, no, tell me about yourself!”

I’m starting to feel like Marize knows enough about me; I need to know more about her instead.

“And why would I do that! It won’t change anything! There’s no point in talking about something that won’t change!”

Even when I speak to her through the continuous lightning attacks, she pays no attention to me. How do I get her to talk to me then? Wait, no… I have to let her see me as someone she can feel comfortable talking to first. I’m the one trying to get her to talk, too, after all. I’m the one who should talk to her first.

“I learned Magical Arts from my father! It was his way to train me since I was never good with swords!”
“What’s gotten into you now—”
“My mother taught me magic! My control over mana is garbage, so I failed time and time again, but she never gave up on me! They were both really strong, cool, and I’ve never stopped looking up to them!”

The endless torrent of lightning wouldn’t stop, but I kept shouting.

“I was devastated when my father passed away! But my mother was still alive, so I somehow was able to overcome that!”

When my father was brought back dead, cold and stiff, I wailed and screamed in anguish, but my mother gently comforted me. Eventually, I was able to get over his death, and I thought I’d be alright.

“But I was wrong; my mother was cursed but kept it a secret to not make me worry.”

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the despair and feeling of powerlessness I felt then.

“When I learned about it, it was already too late, and my mother had already accepted she was going to die. But I was heartbroken; I was afraid I’d be alone if my mother died as well. Thankfully, I was wrong; Natalia was there for me, supporting me through the entire ordeal. My best friend was also there.”

My mother knew she would pass away, and so she prepared everything for her departure. Natalia chose to serve me, of her own will and not because of any orders. And Amy was there too, my childhood friend who was always there for me.

“When I came to the Magic Academy, I also made many new friends. It was a bit of a rocky start, but eventually we overcame our differences and became good rivals. I was able to avoid going insane thanks to all the people around me.”

I had a bit of a conflict with Mathias and Chris at first, but now we’re friends. Then I felt like I was connecting with my mother again through Miss Annabelle and Plum.

And while I’m not sure why, something about Ryuka and Ruri makes me feel like they’re really close to me. All sorts of people supported me.

“It’s not as simple as me being strong.”

At some point, the lightning had stopped. Marize is just looking down silently. I don’t have concrete proof yet, but we’re probably really similar. We aren’t too different from each other.

“Marize.”

When I call her name, she takes a step forward.

“You… all you’re doing is flaunting just how privileged you’ve been!”

Tears are streaming down her cheeks, but her eyes are still filled with rage like before.

“Lightning surge, swirl! Tear through the air, whirls of light!”

Oh no!

Sparks appear all around Marize, which begin to spin around her, just like her chant indicated. I know that chant belongs to Thunder Storm, and she’s casting it while still using Thunder Spark!

“Thunder Sto—”

Just when she’s about to complete the spell, Marize’s body stumbles forward. I dash through the fading sparks and catch her before she hits the ground. She isn’t resisting at all. Though that’s to be expected; she fainted.

“I guess she ran out of mana.”

I’m pretty sure she had been training for a while before I arrived, and then she used a ridiculous amount of spells one after another, so it’s understandable. Either way, I need to get her some help. She’d definitely complain if she were awake, but I still lift her body and carry her to the infirmary.

Oswald clapped happily while watching the training grounds from within a school building. The two girls were too far to hear him, but that was obvious even to him, so there was no need to point it out.

“Olivia is so amazing! She didn’t even break a sweat resisting all those spells! She’s really cool, isn’t she, Mathias?”

Oswald turned around, speaking to Mathias who stood with a soured expression. He had his arms crossed, making no effort to conceal his displeasure.

“I went along with your plan to get those two to meet again, but I still can’t tell if it really was the best for either of them.”
“Well, that’s entirely up to Olivia and Marize. We did all we could to help them.”

Hearing that, Mathias frowned further, but then looked away, slightly irked. He was fully aware that Oswald was right, and that he was merely an outsider to the conflict. But knowing that did not stop him from being annoyed at the current state of things.

“…What are you scheming?”
“Nothing at all. I simply wanted to help Olivia.”

Mathias asked, his voice filled with suspicion and an almost accusatory tone, but Oswald replied with an unconcerned smile. There was no way of knowing whether Oswald was telling the truth or not, but Mathias was sure of one thing.

“If you try to use her, or do anything to take her freedom away, I’ll use everything in my power to stop you. I don’t care if that makes me an enemy of your family, so keep that in mind.”
“Are you speaking for House Feullade?”
“No, I’m speaking as her friend, and as an individual person.”
“Alright, I’ll make sure to keep that in mind then.”

Mathias was not quite satisfied with Oswald’s reply, but he had nothing more to say, so he just turned around and left that place.

“Heheh, you’ve gotten quite popular, my dear cousin¹.”

Now left alone, Oswald muttered that to himself with a jovial voice.

1. Silva: Cousin? Olivia’s? gasp