A searing flame rose up from her palm. Under the precise control of her mental energy, the burning blaze gradually condensed into the form best suited for an attack.
"Karmic Flame Inferno: Ignite!"
The leaping firelight lit up her lovely face, mirroring the crimson of her long hair.
The moment she called out the spell's name, she snapped her arm forward in a throwing motion!
The fireball whistled through the air, and then a thunderous blast tore through the chamber.
...
Karmic Flame Inferno
Freely manipulate the form of flame (mastery increases with level and control)
Fire Magic
Fast-Attack Magic
Karmic Flame Inferno: Ignite, Flames, come (hurl fire, fireball)
...
On her very first casting, Margaret quickly grasped the trick of it. No, to be more precise, it was an innate instinct.
As everyone knew, the magic a person unearthed through their Falna was tailored to their individual soul traits, their own desires, and other such factors. So even a freshly awakened power would, somewhere deep down, guide its caster to cast it along that instinctive resonance.
Right now, Margaret was immersed in exactly that state.
When she invoked Karmic Flame Inferno, some deep instinct told her that the ball of fire in her palm wasn't the form best suited for combat. So she followed that instinct, drawing on the "form manipulation" power the magic itself granted, and shaped the flame into a sphere-like mass that was easier to throw.
And naturally, the flame behaved like an obedient child.
As her thoughts shifted, her mental energy drained away quietly like a thin stream, and in an instant the flame's form changed accordingly, smooth and effortless.
...
The scorching wave of heat from the explosion brushed across everyone's faces. Rose tucked the strands of hair that had been blown loose back behind her ear, narrowed her eyes at the effect of Margaret's magic, and praised her with a smile:
"Well done, Margaret. A fire Mage with every point sunk into destruction specialization, just as I'd expect."
As she spoke, she turned to look closely at Margaret's slightly heaving chest and the face that had gone a little pale with nerves, then nodded.
"As an academy-trained Mage, pulling off a clean kill on your very first head-on fight with a monster... that alone already puts you ahead of the vast majority of rookies just starting out."
As if something had suddenly come to mind, she let out a soft laugh.
"Speaking of which, a little while back we ran into a few young Mages in the Dungeon who'd just graduated from the school district. The first time those kids faced a monster, how should I put it... well, they weren't calm enough, fumbling around in the fight so badly they couldn't even get a spell off. Especially when a monster charged them head-on, several poor souls ended up hurt by Ignis Fatuus."
"Magic... couldn't get it off?"
Margaret faltered slightly. But after putting herself in their shoes for a moment, she thought back to the terrifying pressure of that instant when the monster had lunged straight at her, and at once she understood what Rose meant.
"Is this the stress tolerance you mentioned before, Kureha?"
Kureha finished carefully wiping down her beloved blade with an oilcloth, slid it back into its sheath, and gave a small nod.
"Yes. In real combat, staying calm and having strong stress tolerance is absolutely crucial."
"Just like Rose said, those Mages weren't strong enough inside to finish chanting under the pressure of a monster bearing down on them, so of course they couldn't cast their magic."
"After all, a Mage can't have someone guarding her at all times, can she?"
Margaret nodded, taking in the deeper meaning behind Kureha's words. Even comrades had their lapses. Relying on others was, in the end, never as reliable as relying on yourself.
Rose noticed the subtle shift in her expression and drew her gaze back, a knowing look on her face.
While Margaret was finishing off her Killer Ants and taking stock of what she'd gained from her first battle, on the other side Iri had launched into a "fierce" fight with an "evenly matched" opponent!
"Remnants, I grant you life!"
"Angel's Poem!"
As Iri swung her staff, the runes carved into its shaft burst into silver light. The flowing silver threads seemed to take on life, rising into the air under the drive of her magic, crossing and weaving overhead to trace out an intricate outline.
The silver threads wove and joined together like finely crafted wickerwork, gradually building up a three-dimensional shape: spread mighty wings, a sharp beak, and talons that glinted with cold light. A delicate creation woven from silver thread, modeled on a giant eagle, took striking form.
The silver-thread eagle lifted its head, spread its wings, and let out a clear shriek that rang across the battlefield.
"Go!"
Iri pointed her staff forward, and the living silver eagle shot down like a bolt of silver lightning, plunging at the Killer Ant on the ground!
Those cold, gleaming talons beneath it looked as though they could rip flesh from any living thing with ease.
Clearly, this magic of Iri's wasn't just for show!
...
Well, when you thought about it, using something as naturally broken as magic to deal with a single lowly Killer Ant was honestly pretty ridiculous.
But there was no helping it. Who told the Hart family to be "big and powerful, with deep reserves"? Never mind magic specialists like Iri, Margaret, and Aura, even a pure swordswoman like Kureha had a hand of Holy Sword magic at her disposal.
This was probably the breathing room that talent and a cheat brought, and if you threw in Iri's already over-the-top pedigree on top of that...
For this Killer Ant to get treatment like this, you could almost call it an "honor."
There was no suspense at all. In the span of a single breath, the Killer Ant's screech cut off abruptly.
Watching the silver-thread eagle viciously crush the Magic Stone fragment in its talons, the corners of Rose's and Kureha's mouths twitched hard.
"Ahem, Iri. Rein in your feelings a little. If Leon finds out you wasted a Magic Stone, he'll punish you severely!"
Kureha hugged Iri's arm and said with a grin:
"Pretty miss, you don't want to follow in Jeanne's footsteps, do you?"
Iri: "..."
Margaret: "..."
Iri was naive, but how could Margaret not understand the state Jeanne had been in this morning!
Obviously, that was the look of someone Leon had thoroughly worked over!
"Ugh... sorry, Rose, I forgot Magic Stones can be exchanged for money!"
Rose waved a hand.
"It's nothing. The Magic Stones these Floor 7 monsters drop barely fetch any money anyway. But the two of you really should be careful, when you're able to manage it, it's best to recover the Magic Stones."
"All right, let's go."
...
Meanwhile, in Orario, the First District.
After the guards announced his arrival, Leon stepped easily into the front courtyard of the Twilight Manor.
...