The final day of the contest dawned with an energy Village Ainz had never felt before. A nervous electricity threaded through every street, every rooftop, every whisper. Even the wind seemed to carry the anticipation of what was about to unfold.
Children climbed fences to get the best view. Merchants abandoned their stalls. Elders formed a line around the arena, hands clasped in prayer. The shabby circle of stones and boards that once resembled a stage now looked like holy ground.
Sirius arrived silently, but his presence rippled through the square like a cold wave. Conversations stopped instantly. All eyes turned to the black-robed figure whose empty gaze saw everything.
He took his place at the arena's edge and folded his hands behind him.
Today was the final. Today, he would crown the champion. Today, he would test both of them to their limits.
Mira and Aria stood opposite each other in the arena. The difference between them was obvious at a glance.
Mira was calm—too calm. Her breathing even, her shoulders relaxed, her mana smooth and flowing like a steady stream.
Aria looked focused, sharp, intense—her mana buzzing faintly around her fingertips, filled with tension and calculation.
Two approaches. Two different paths and futures.
Sirius watched them long before saying a word.
Today's finals was all about precision versus complexity. Fluid adaptability versus layered strategy. Control versus creativity.
He needed both. But he only had one body, one mind, one set of hands.
How could he choose only one path?
He lifted his arm slowly.
"Finalists," he said, voice echoing across the crowd, "step forward."
Mira inhaled deeply. Aria exhaled steadily.
They moved. Facing each other. They shared a bow of respect with their eyes locked and their hearts steady.
Sirius's tone dropped to a whisper, cold but resonant. "Begin."
Aria acted first.
"Veil fracture!"
A rune snapped into place between them, a shimmering distortion like cracked glass. It radiated scattered mana, dangerous and unpredictable.
Mira didn't flinch.
She lifted her hand and shaped a small sphere of water. Once again, there was no chant or flare. Just pure elegance.
She flicked the sphere forward.
When it hit Aria's distortion veil, it broke into dozens of droplets.
Mira immediately guided each droplet back together into a stream around her opponent.
Sirius's eyes glowed faintly. 'She adapts mid-spell. Excellent.'
Aria stepped back, impressed but unfazed.
She drew two runes simultaneously, messy, unstable, but fast.
"Split spark!"
Twin arcs of lightning shot toward Mira.
Mira's eyes sharpened. She spun the water around her into a protective coil. "Ripple barrier."
The lightning struck the barrier and dispersed in harmless flashes.
Aria grinned.
"Not done."
She twisted her hand, pulling the scattered lightning back into a new shape.
Sirius stiffened. 'Did she just recompose a spell?'
The lightning reformed, combining with a faint wind spell she molded beneath it.
Wind mixed with lightning equaled acceleration.
The new bolt shot forward at double the speed.
The villagers gasped.
Mira reacted instantly, stepping towards her left with smooth mana and calm eyes. Her entire body moved like flowing water.
The bolt swept past her cheek, close enough to scorch the air.
Sirius felt a jolt run through him. 'She sees spells coming before the caster finishes forming them…?'
Aria did not let up.
She summoned a second rune, then dissolved it halfway through creation, using only fragments of its structure to amplify another spell.
It was messy and chaotic but also brilliant.
Aria thrust her hands outward.
"Mirror coil!"
A swirling ribbon of unstable mana formed, a hybrid of wind, fractured lightning, and raw magical force. It whirled around Mira in a chaotic spiral.
Mira frowned slightly. She lifted her hand.
"Flow bind."
Her mana surged outward, touching the spiraling coil gently, like a hand brushing a frightened animal.
The coil slowed and then, before all of them, it unraveled.
Sirius was speechless.
She had calmed an unstable spell.
Like smoothing a tangled thread.
But Aria did not panic. Her eyes sharpened. She lifted both hands at once and did something Sirius had only seen experienced magi attempt:
She cast three half-spells at the same time. A half-formed rune for water, a half-formed rune for air, and a half-formed rune for shock.
She layered them.
Sirius nearly stepped forward. 'She's combining incomplete spells on purpose.'
This was dangerous. Reckless. Genius.
All three at once but then, Sirius already knew not to interrupt. His mana was barely under control as it was.
The air hummed.
Aria's shout already whispered the result to all. "Tri-spiral surge!"
A twisting torrent of elemental force erupted toward Mira, a spell too unstable to be controlled by ordinary mages.
Mira's eyes widened and she raised both hands. Mana flowed like a river through her veins—smooth, controlled, disciplined.
She formed a barrier but stopped.
Then she dissolved it.
Sirius blinked. 'She isn't going to block it…'
Instead, Mira stepped directly into the incoming spell. The villagers screamed. "Get out of the way!"
Sirius's fingers twitched.
But Mira touched the tri-elemental spiral with both palms and shaped it.
She twisted it, slowed it, and bent it around her, like a dancer weaving through silk ribbons.
It passed harmlessly by her and dissipated behind her in a soft rain of sparks.
Aria stared at her in shock. "You—reshaped—it—?"
Mira inhaled, calm as ever. "It was beautiful. I didn't want to break it." Her words seemed mocking but she was simply stating what she'd done.
Aria grit her teeth, not out of anger, but burning determination.
She wasn't done.
Her hands flew. Three runes.
Four.
Five.
All sloppy and unstable, but brilliant all the same.
She combined pieces from each into a final spell, her most refined attempt. "Elemental lattice burst!"
Booooom!
A web-like explosion of mana rippled outward.
Mira spread her arms, summoning a bubble of control around her.
However, the lattice shattered the bubble.
The explosion struck Mira directly, sending her sliding backward across the dirt.
Gasps erupted as they all thought she'd lost.
Sirius stepped forward unconsciously.
"Mira!"
But she caught herself.
She wiped a bit of dust off her cheek and smiled.
"That one hurt. Good spell."
Aria inhaled deeply, chest rising. "That… that was everything I have."
Mira nodded once. "Then it's my turn."
She lifted both hands and her mana pulsed—smooth, perfect.
Water formed around her in thin, elegant spirals.
But then, she stopped.
Aria blinked. "What—?"
Mira smiled softly.
"You deserve to win this. Not because of control… but because of creativity."
And she lowered her hands. "I surrender." Mira said with a smirk.
Sirius's mind froze. "No…" he whispered.
The villagers stared in shock.
Even Aria stood speechless.
Then Mira bowed deeply.
"You understand magic in a way no one else here does. I could reshape your spells… but you invented them."
Aria's lips trembled slightly.
"Mira… I…"
Sirius raised his hand.
"Winner: Aria."
The crowd erupted, half shocked, half ecstatic.
Aria covered her mouth, eyes shining.
Mira smiled proudly.
And Sirius stood there… stunned.
Sirius stepped forward slowly, the crowd silencing itself immediately. Aria and Mira bowed.
The champion stood on one side. The prodigy of precision on the other.
Sirius inhaled, his empty eye sockets glowing faintly.
"I made a mistake."
The villagers gasped. Aria and Mira straightened.
Sirius continued, voice steady but solemn.
"I thought I needed only one student. One path. One strength."
He turned to Mira first.
"Mira. Your control is unparalleled. Your flow is beautifully precise. You understand mana's nature better than anyone I've seen."
Mira's cheeks flushed pink.
Then he turned to Aria.
"Aria. Your spells are clumsy, unstable, and reckless… yet brilliant. You shape mana in ways even I have not considered. Your creativity knows no boundaries."
Aria swallowed hard.
Sirius spread his arms.
"I cannot choose only one. Nor should I."
The villagers fell dead silent.
Sirius pointed at Mira.
"You will teach me control."
Mira's eyes sparkled.
Then he pointed at Aria.
"You will teach me spellcraft."
Aria's breath caught.
"You are both my students as well as my teachers now."
The crowd exploded in cheers louder than anything the village had ever heard.
Mira ran to Aria and hugged her tightly.
Aria stiffened, then hugged back, laughter trembling from her.
Sirius watched them quietly.
His mana was too vast. His power was too unstable.
His knowledge was also too fragmented to use or depend on right now.
He needed both paths. The path of fluid mastery, and the path of arcane innovation.
Together?
They would rebuild magic in Village Ainz. They would rebuild him.