/
“

Doom Prime lost?”
The greatest magic school on the Frelian continent that produced the King of Magicians.
As he was the representative of the Raynac Magic Soldier Training School, the news of Doom Prime’s elimination was quite shocking.
On top of that, he wasn’t even 2nd, but 9th.
This unexpectedly low performance in the rankings by Doom Prime had nearly silenced the Altein Stadium with shock.
However, this was only for the citizens of Raynac.
“The victor has been decided!”
“Ruin! It’s Ruin Ardell!”
After the great wall of Doom was broken down, a new ‘magician of the generation’ had appeared.
“WOOOOOOOO!”
The Altein Stadium wasn’t filled with silence, but cheers.
Victory in the Battle Survival.
This meant victory in the Individual Competition, and everyone welcomed the newly appearing genius.
From here, one key factor that Ruin had that Doom didn’t was shown clearly.
It was his star quality.
“Have you heard about that student?”
“Ruin Ardell? Yeah, I did. I heard that he used to be a failing student?”
“That’s right. On top of that, he’s from a countryside family that didn’t have any connection to magic.”
“Hoho. For a student like that to show these results
 Isn’t Doom Prime from an elite family?”
“Who cares so long as it’s entertaining, right? Haha!
A dunce that appeared like a comet after squeezing past the geniuses.
A no-name magician that was originally a failing student and had no official experience in competitions.
A miraculous story that was played out by this no-name magician.
This was quite the charismatic story for the average tourist that went to the Grand Festival to have some fun.
And the night after the Battle Survival, talks of ‘who is Ruin Ardell?’ filled the streets.
This wasn’t that different among the participating students.
“I-if this keeps going like this, won’t Ruin actually win?”
“Hey. Shut up. That guy had a team. Doom Prime was alone.”
“B-but he was definitely in a one on one situation when he fought—”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up? What dogshit are you saying in front of Doom?”
“
S-sorry.”
Even the students of Raynac Magic Soldier Training School, who had never doubted their victories, had talked about Ruin Ardell.
Some students even started betting on who the winner of the Grand Festival would be.
And surprisingly, ‘Ruin Ardell’ was favoured quite highly.
It seemed that the one on one fight between Doom and Ruin had made quite the impression.
“Alright! The genius magician that appeared from nowhere, Ruin Ardell! We’re selling the seats to his next individual match!”
“Everyone, remember, this is the magician that defeated Doom Prime! He’s a once-in-a-generation magician!”
“

”
Doom was leaning on the terrace of his inn while looking down on the Altein district plastered with the name of ‘Ruin Ardell’ instead of his.
“Doom, are you ok?”
Asked a worried student to him, but Doom didn’t avert his gaze.
He only looked at his sword broken in two, his ‘Sword of Brilliance’, with a dejected look in his eyes.
On the inside, he was thinking,
‘I let my guard down.’
He tried to pass it off as a simple loss of focus,
“

”
But his pride wouldn’t let that happen.
He knew it himself.
That this wasn’t something he can pass off as just ‘letting his guard down’.
Even knowing that Ruin Ardell’s strength was unnaturally powerful,
‘

To aim for my sword.’
The fact that he didn’t aim at Doom, but rather the sword he was swinging and hit it head on was something that he had never expected.
No.
He furrowed his brows as he thought again to his fight against Ruin Ardell that he had meditated on for a few hundred times.
‘I could’ve dodged it.’
In that ‘second’ that decided the fate of the battle.
If he had noticed that Ruin was aiming for his sword and not himself, he could’ve even saved the sword.
But instead, he swung his sword without hesitation.
Because which would break when a fist met a blade was obvious.
Because he had never anticipated that he could lose.
However,
‘I lost.’
Doom Prime lost.
Twice on top of that.
He lost when his magic sword, which represented his status as a magic swordsman, broke.
“Has the Fire King
 not called for me?”
“No. Not yet
”
“

”
And since he lost in front of the Fire King, it was the same as losing twice.
“D-don’t worry too much. I’m sure he’s being kind and letting you rest up while—”
“I want to be alone now.”
“Eh

? Ah! O-ok. Sorry. I’ll leave. C-call if you need anything.”
“

”
Doom Prime turned his gaze again to the streets of Altein.
Everyone in this damned night was still noisy, and they looked to be having fun.
* * *
Ruin, celebrating the moment of victory, turned to Jason, drink in hand.
“Did you ever hear the tragedy of Draka, the World Ender?”
“No?”
“I thought not. It’s not a story the Mages would tell you. It’s a Dragon legend. Draka was a unique force in the dragons so powerful and so mighty he could use the force circle to influence the mana to create
 death. He had such a knowledge of destruction that he could even keep the ones he hated
 from living.”
“He could actually
 defeat all his enemies?”
“The strength side of the mana is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be
 unnatural.”
“What happened to him?”
“He became so powerful
 the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he fought with everything he could, then killed himself in the aftermath. Ironic. He could bring others death
 but not save himself from it.”
“Is it possible to learn this power”
“Not from a mana wielder.”
April Fools!