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[160] Marsha Clay (3)
Now even the students were serious. Everyone stared hard at Siina.
"But for that person to die, they must spend a night with me."
The boys' faces went red.
"T-t-teacher, that example is a bit…"
"There's no need to be embarrassed. I would never do such a thing. By staking a cost—something you absolutely do not want to do—you gain a powerful ability. That's equivalent exchange. Declaring the cost can itself be a cost, but what matters is that a Non-Regulation mage truly believes it. They inject a very personal circuit into others with the power of Omnipotence."
Only then did the students understand.
A Non-Regulation mage was a kind of human whose way of thinking had twisted completely away from ordinary people.
"It isn't something you can learn just by studying. It's a peculiarity of the mind manifested through obsession and bias. Non-Regulation magic is the most fearsome existence to a mage."
That was everything Sirone knew about Non-Regulation magic. He'd thought he understood it back then, but being hit by it himself was confusion at its peak.
Above all, he couldn't tell why his Spirit Zone had suddenly vanished. Since when? Even if it activated through constraints and cost, Sirone hadn't done anything to her.
'No— I have! I definitely…'
Sirone suddenly recalled the moment just before.
—You can kill me.
It was that instant. A magic incantation known only to Marsha and himself.
The moment she said the words, Marsha's Omnipotence invaded his mind and triggered a rule.
His heart pounded. He'd been caught by a Non-Regulation mage. What would happen to him now? He couldn't predict a thing.
'Stay calm. Only the Spirit Zone disappeared. If I keep my head, I can get out of this.'
Non-Regulation magic is like weighing the value of the possible and the impossible. So the cost to be paid has to be as great as the strangeness of the ability.
If the rule was "You can kill me," she must have endured a long stretch of defenselessness. Had he attacked then, Marsha would have died.
Then why hadn't he attacked? Because of Yuna? No—Yuna was safe.
His thoughts wouldn't connect. What on earth was happening to him right now?
'From the start. From the moment I met Marsha, I was already trapped.'
The moment he realized every event had been arranged under Marsha's script, Sirone got goosebumps.
Dragging him to the bar, provoking him using Yuna, not laying a finger on Yuna—
"All for this moment?"
Marsha laughed in delight, as if she could see straight through Sirone's thoughts. Watching him fluster made her giddy with joy.
"Hohoho! Of course. Ah, meeting you was a coincidence, sure. But I'm the kind of person who turns coincidence into inevitability. There's no harm laying the groundwork in any situation. This sort of thoroughness—that's my charm, don't you think?"
Sirone had to concede.
She hadn't targeted him specifically. She ran operations on everyone she met in life—on the mere small premise that she might meet them again one day.
This meticulousness was exactly why Marsha had slipped through the Magic Association's net.
"Then shall we begin? I'm not sure what I can do, though."
Marsha approached Sirone wearing an easy, overflowing smile. Sirone, by contrast, could only shrink back. He tried to cast Teleport, but it still wouldn't fire.
Surely it wouldn't last forever. But the very concept of stealing an opponent's mental power was an utterly foreign rule to Sirone.
'No way. What kind of magic like this exists in the world?'
Sirone felt the greatest crisis of his life. Marsha's Non-Regulation magic was clearly dangerous. It sealed even his Immortal Function, his last line of defense.
"Hoho! I'll gladly take your mental power."
All the mental power Sirone was about to use for Teleport flowed into Marsha. Using that force, she fired the sonic cannon again.
"Kh!"
Sirone turned and ran. A mage sprinting with his body in a situation like this was a shocking sight—but if he took a sonic cannon while he couldn't use magic, it could cost him his life.
"Hehe, I'll praise you for tossing your pride. But the fight's already over—since you're caught in my Deprivation."
Non-Regulation magic: Deprivation.
She could strip others of ownership and steal it. Among those, the spell she used on Sirone was called Pillage—a power to steal the Spirit Zone's mental power.
Sirone got as far away as he could. He had to buy time, somehow.
If merely not following "You can kill me" had cost him his mental power, then by equivalent exchange there had to be a time limit.
'There!'
As he'd predicted, Pillage fell off and his mental power returned. Without a view of what Marsha was doing behind him, Sirone spun and instantly cast Light Burst.
Like thunder crashing again and again, the surroundings flashed in rapid succession.
Cast deliberately out on open ground, Light Burst's effect—never mind its efficacy—was beyond anything he'd imagined.
"Whew, pretty. Really impressive."
Sirone glared at Marsha. The fact she wouldn't even close the distance meant she was looking down on them, no doubt.
Anyway, if there was a time limit, there was no need to fear Pillage anymore. He wasn't stupid enough to get caught by the same trick twice.
"Here I come!"
Sirone cast Teleport and surged at Marsha. But Marsha still oozed composure. As Sirone's Spirit Zone moved into hers, she extended her hand and murmured,
"Non-Regulation magic: Seizure."
At the same time, Sirone's Teleport unraveled. Carried by inertia, he hit the ground and slid several meters.
"Ghh! What the—?"
His magic had unraveled yet again. Had his mental power been stolen again? But his Spirit Zone was still up.
"Huh? Huh?"
Sirone couldn't believe it. A magic like this couldn't exist. It didn't feel real that this was happening to him.
Watching Sirone flounder, Tess looked to Amy and asked,
"What is it? Did something happen to Sirone?"
"I don't know. The Spirit Zone hasn't vanished. But the fact that Teleport got canceled means…"
In that moment, realization struck Amy and she shivered.
No. It couldn't be. It mustn't be. Wasn't that far too cruel? How much had Sirone bled to reach that height?
Amy's bad feeling became reality. Sirone looked over himself in disbelief and muttered,
"I can't cast magic."
"Hehe, that's exactly it. Non-Regulation Seizure only works if you're under Pillage. Of course, there's also the constraint that I have to see the target magic with my own eyes."
Smiling, Marsha kindly explained—though she never offered any information beyond what would mock her opponent.
Sirone shook his head. It made no sense. Even with such constraints, ripping an opponent's magic away unconditionally could never fit the principle of equivalent exchange.
"Wow, I've gained such a wonderful magic. I'm thrilled. Sound magic was getting on my nerves. Thanks, Sirone—you really are a sweet little brother."
Spheres of light gathered before Marsha's eyes. It was Photon Cannon, the magic that gives mass to light.
Sirone hurled himself sideways. A heavy flash smashed the spot where he'd been.
Shards from the ground peppered Sirone's face. Being hit by his own magic felt flat-out horrible.
"Hoo… this eats mental power like crazy. How did you manage it? You're amazing, Sirone."
Sirone sprang up and glared at Marsha.
This time he couldn't contain his anger. No—he was aggrieved. Having every last one of his spells stolen made his body shake with resentment.
"But it's gorgeous. The Unlocker's ability."
Beaming with satisfaction, Marsha upped the taunt by showing off Laser as well.
Even as the Laser scraped toward him along the ground, Sirone couldn't respond at all. Even Teleport had been taken.
At that moment, Amy rushed in, grabbed Sirone, and cast Teleport. Her mental power was all but gone too, so she couldn't move far. Rian and Tess ran in and put themselves in front of the two.
Marsha watched them with a mocking gaze.
The swordsmen were in tatters, and Amy struggled to cast even Teleport. On top of that, their only hope—Sirone—had had his magic stolen and become an ordinary boy.
"Didn't I tell you? You can't beat me."
It was certainly a wretched situation. The mental shock to Sirone in particular was immense. An ordinary person would have cursed Marsha, bawled, thrashed about, and fainted.
"Sirone, get a grip. The fight isn't over yet."
"But my magic—my… magic."
Sirone's voice trembled.
Amy understood. If it had happened to her, she might have gone down with a stress fever.
To a mage, magic is everything. The thought of having handed it all over wholesale to someone else was chilling even in imagination.
"Sirone! Get up! We have to keep fighting!"
Staggering, Sirone pushed himself to his feet.
True to his iron will, the thought that he mustn't give up rose like instinct. But the wound in his heart was enormous.
"How? How am I supposed to fight?"
"Think rationally! What kind of magic can steal spells this easily? By equivalent exchange, there must be a massive risk attached."
Sirone snapped to. Hearing it said aloud, it was true. He'd been so hung up on having his magic stolen that he'd missed it: Marsha's Seizure couldn't just fire for free.
First, he had to be under Pillage. And she had to see the spell she wanted to steal. Those were strict conditions, yet even with both, Marsha's Non-Regulation magic was overpowered beyond reason.
Amy pressed on, desperately persuading him.
"If it's easy to steal, it must be easy to take back—no, easier to take back than it was to steal. That's equivalent exchange. So don't you dare give up."
"Got it. I'll try."
Sirone found his courage again. That didn't mean a method had sprung to mind, but he couldn't just sit and cry in a daze.
"I don't really get it, but…"
Rian, who'd been listening till now, spoke up.
"If she only steals what she sees with her own eyes, then you can use spells she hasn't seen, right? Like that Wind Cutter you showed us at home."
"Ah—you're right."
A strong thought punched through Sirone's mind at once. Yes. Strictly speaking, from the victim's side, Seizure was better than Pillage. At least he could still run the Spirit Zone.
"Yeah. We'll just have to crash in with our bodies. Thanks, Rian."
Amy wrapped an arm around Sirone's waist and whispered,
"I'll Teleport you in. From there, do what you can with Wind Cutter."
Amy poured everything she had into Teleport. As the two of them sliced the air in a flash, Marsha also cast Teleport and pulled away.
A magic stolen by Seizure only reproduces the opponent's circuit as-is, so without knowing the activation principles, you can't improvise with it.
So even though she'd stolen Sirone's Teleport, Marsha couldn't attempt the Patrol technique or Rainbow Drop.
Amy pressed that weakness relentlessly. With dazzling movement, she closed on Marsha and hurled Sirone.
Sirone thrust out a hand toward Marsha and cast Wind Cutter. Since it wasn't his specialty, it was hard to land unless he got close.
But that very drawback turned into a blessing in disguise—Marsha opened the distance far more than he'd expected.
'What is this?'
Marsha's movement was odd. Even if she wasn't used to it, she could have responded to Wind Cutter with Photon Cannon or Light Burst.
But she chose to retreat. Far.
"Could the constraint on Seizure be…?"
A possibility rose in Sirone's mind.