Verity released his hold on Hoshino's face once they had gotten far enough.

Surprisingly, she did not seem too angry at him. She fixed her clothes and took a deep breath. Her usual dramatic smile returned and she raised her wand in the air. "Villains will be villains, but this Star shall never dim because of it! Haha!"

Verity was glad to see her back to her usual self. "Who was that guy anyway? He really looked like your typical early-story antagonist."

Hoshino chuckled. "You and I truly think the same, but…" Her face darkened slightly. "He is somewhat more troublesome than that…"

Verity raised an eyebrow. "Really? That provocation back there was almost childish. Don't tell me you fell for that kind of stuff…"

Honestly, Verity believed he could have found those exact lines in half of the novels he'd read. Even his look was too textbook, almost as if he'd read and taken everything from the 'Villain Starter Pack' book.

Seriously, 'Afraid?'. Who would ever fall for that?

Hoshino cleared her throat, her silence speaking louder than any words.

Verity scoffed. "...He totally beat you up didn't he?"

Hoshino's face crisped. "In all fairness, I had been a mage for no longer than a week!! Even stars must take the time to reach the apex of their brilliance!"

Verity scoffed again, he had hit the nail right on the head. He leaned forward. "But that's not all, is it? No pressure though, since it looks like you'd rather not say."

Hoshino looked at him without saying anything, and she clutched her wand slightly tighter.

Verity stretched. "Let's change the subject. I actually had a question about magic."

Hoshino beamed. "Haha! Then you've come to the right place, and the right person!! What knowledge do you desire, my Knight!?"

Verity leaned on the ledge. "You remember that writing on the ground back in the cave? I want to know more about that."

Hoshino's facial features contorted into pure confusion. "Runes…? You're interested in runes? Why!?"

Verity shrugged. He did have a solid line of reasoning, but he felt no need to lay it out before her at that time. "Just curious.." He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. "Why? You don't know?"

Hoshino's face flushed. "Of course I know!"

'So easy,' Verity thought.

She sighed. "...To think you'd ask about runes when you are before a magical genius… how rude!" She then cleared her throat, puffed her chest, and pointed dramatically into the air. "In any case, I shall tell you regardless… Long long ago.."

'I'm about to get the long version aren't I…'

—

As Verity ran alongside Hoshino who was riding her wand, he found time to mull over what he had just learned on runes.

First things first, and perhaps the most important aspect, was that runic magic had long been lost to time. Vestiges existed here and there, but no one really knew how to wield it, and no one had any interest in doing so.

The reason was simple, while runic magic was certainly interesting, modern magic accomplished all that it did more efficiently, faster, and most often on a grander scale.

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At some point in the distant past it had still been useful in enchanting weapons, structures, and other applications due to their permanence, but even that has been replaced by modern magic and through the Spellsmith class, making runes utterly obsolete.

Still, according to Hoshino, some records claimed that runes had been a large part of magical society in the past even with the emergence of spellcasting. They claimed that when wielded by the right hands, there was once a time where they could compete with what we call modern magic today.

Scholars are skeptical about such claims, but what they do agree on is what really led to them being forgotten. It was the extinction of dwarves, the progenitors and true masters of runic magic. Without them, the knowledge stopped being passed down, and it inevitably disappeared.

No one really knew why and how they went extinct as any record of it had been lost or erased, but with them, they took their knowledge of runic magic, and rendered it entirely unusable.

Verity had asked Hoshino if there was really no way to learn anything about it or at least get a clue, and she simply shrugged.

There is a book here that I have read, but the second half cannot be translated, and as for the first, it seems to be an entry to the basics of basics, only speaking in broad terms and providing rudimentary insight on the simplest of runes.

Verity clicked his tongue just thinking of it. If even the First Magic Tower of the Empire only possessed one book on runic magic, there was little hope in finding anything about it anywhere else.

Of course, if he had been the main character of some novel, he would soon have fallen into a pond somewhere and chanced upon the lost records of the most powerful runic sorcerer of all time.

'Ha… as if…'

For now, all he could do was use his wits and extract all that he could from the one book they had in this Magic Tower.

Not that that was why he was running at the moment. "Are you sure about this, Hoshino!?"

A loud alarm was ringing throughout the Magic Tower.

Hoshino flew ahead with a smile. "Yes! I've only ever heard about it, but look around you! Look at all of these mages flying toward the same place!"

Her smile widened. "The Tower Master is going to fight!"

And there was only one person he could be fighting against.

Neither Verity nor Hoshino would have missed this even if the sky were to come down.

When they finally arrived at no other place than the Arcane Combat Hall, Verity found himself in a room that was large enough to be compared to an entire Football stadium.

It made sense since magical battles happened over large distances, but he couldn't help but widen his eyes when he saw it.

Around him were droves and droves of mages, all wearing differently cololred cloaks, either riding their wands or using some other types of movement spells. Their number was such that perhaps every single mage in the entire Tower had rushed over after the alarm had been sounded.

Among them, Verity stuck out like a sore thumb. A lone figure wearing armor and wielding a spear.

No, that was not accurate.

There were two such figures.

The second one stood in the arena, her lustrous silver flowing behind her.

[APPRENTICE, INITIATE, MAGUS, AND EVEN ARCHMAGES, WELCOME TO THIS GRAND EVENT.]

Evangelina cringed. "An announcer, seriously? Couldn't we have done this somewhere more private…?"

Aurelius chuckled silently, and the bird-like creature spoke. "The Master says that no other place could contain your strength! This is the only place! The only place!"

Evangelina sighed. "Well, you're not wrong. So? How do you want to do this?"

Aurelius smiled, and his familiar spoke again. "The Tower Master feels that even this place could not handle a real bout between you two! He suggests limiting himself to basic spells and for you to limit yourself to internal Aura!"

Evangelina furrowed her brows. "That's not fair! How am I supposed to break your barrier without Aura!?"

Aurelius looked away and shrugged. "The Master says that he will not use his barrier either if you lack confidence! Confidence!"

A vein bulged on the side of Evangelina's temple. "Alright, I see you've become cheeky in the time we've been apart… Fine, I won't use any Aura."

A shiver ran down Aurelius' spine and he chuckled awkwardly.

In the first place, at higher levels, mages tended to have an inherent disadvantage in one on one battles against warriors. Aurelius had to give himself an edge, no matter how small it may have been.

Away from this conversation, the self-appointed announcer for this duel shined a light on a specific region of the audience.

Verity covered his eyes, and Hoshino smiled brightly as she flicked her hair.

[Not only have the Spear of Hell and our Tower Master descended here for a duel, but their direct disciples have also come to attend! Is this not almost poetic!?] The announcer then winked. [I certainly hope you will both burn this into your memories as you are about to witness the peak of peaks in your respective fields!]

The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers.

Verity had for some reason believed that mages would have been more… tame? But it seemed he was sorely mistaken.

The electric atmosphere was almost contagious, and a smirk crept up his lips.

Behind him, however, a man with jet-black hair and fox-like eyes was staring a hole into both his and Hoshino's skulls. There was no smile on his face, and his fingers dug into his arm as he grit his teeth.

"Direct disciple… Direct disciple…tsk… What a joke," he mumbled.

[Without wasting any more time, let the duel start!]

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