I Possessed the Heroine’s Teacher

Strength clashed with strength, magic with magic, bloodlust with bloodlust. It wasn’t an even match. My master was slowly being pushed back. As a mage, my master was far superior. He was proficient in all forms of elemental magic. In contrast, this Tristan could only wield Earth magic. In terms of skill level, there was no doubt that my master held the advantage…

But in combat, things were different. My master was skilled in ten types of magic—fire, water, ice, lightning, earth, wood, wind, steel, light, and darkness. He wielded all these magical “swords” expertly. Meanwhile, Tristan was a master of just one—Earth magic—and he had honed it to its extreme.

“Why so silent, great mage? Have you stopped? Were you not trying to kill me? Is this all the courage you have as a ‘man’?”

“Shut the hell up…”

It seemed my master couldn’t exert full strength since he had injured his left arm. It would have been nice if I had a contract with the King of Spirits right now… but that damn little god still refused to let me form a contract, making all kinds of excuses.

“This movement… is it from Eastern martial arts? But even with such an arm, using such a technique is meaningless. Truly, you are not ‘manly’ at all. And for a mage to rely on such martial arts, it is not ‘mage-like’ at all.”

“Tch… Horn of the Thunder Dragon…”

“Your incantation is slow.”

Before my master could finish his incantation, Tristan swung the arm made of rock. My master was too busy blocking or dodging that attack to launch a proper counter. Even when he abandoned magic and tried to attack with his bare hands, he could only block or evade, while the stone armor deflected his strikes.

I had never seen this before… I hadn’t seen this side of the Master of the Earth Mage Tower, Gaius, before my reincarnation. I had met him before, but I didn’t know he was this strong. I only knew that he was once a bandit when he was younger. Back then, he always acted with the dignity of a tower master. I had never seen him behave or show signs like this. What happened that caused him to change so drastically?

The Black Round Table members I killed were just people linked to my master’s death. I thought they were part of an assassination organization connected to heretics, but what the hell is this monster?

After I started my research… I had created an impenetrable barrier around my lab to prevent any external intrusion, so I wasn’t sure what had happened.

Suddenly, a conversation I had with that little god came to mind.

[No matter how many times you turn back time, there will always be regrets. Even if you desperately turn back time for a single purpose, you will inevitably find something you couldn’t save or gain. And… destiny is not something that can be easily avoided. If you avoid one disaster, it will return as two or more.]

[You speak as if you’ve experienced it multiple times?]

[Oh, I met someone just like that. Aside from that person, no one can overcome the fate of reincarnation and achieve their goal. Of course, that person also left behind regrets.]

[It’s simple. I’ll just become stronger than that person. If I overcome the fate of reincarnation without leaving any regrets…]

[Don’t be ridiculous, you little brat. If that man swings his hand once, your world will crumble like biscuits.]

[What… ?]

[Don’t underestimate fate. This isn’t some gift for you. The reincarnation I’m offering you is a punishment I’m giving you.]

So, this is what it meant. No matter how you try to evade destiny… that damn fate twists everything to make sure the destined end comes to pass. You can’t change it, you just have to watch—that’s the punishment.

That damn little god speaks the same way. Who would just sit back and watch? Even without a contract with the King of Spirits, I’m strong.

“Bullet of fire—”

Just like what happened to my master earlier, a rock projectile flew toward me. Tristan again ricocheted the bullets off nearby rocks, targeting my thigh. My head spun from the pain. I almost broke the incantation from the agony.

“How dare you interfere in a ‘man’s’ duel? You’ve got some nerve. Even gods must never interfere in a man’s duel. And to challenge me even knowing my power… How irrational, truly not ‘mage-like’.”

It hurt. My consciousness was fading, and I thought my incantation would break. But even if I gave up… it’s nothing. This pain is nothing compared to the cold, lifeless body of my master, the indifferent gazes of others, my father’s indifference to me, the strained relationship between my mother and father due to my master’s death… compared to all that, this pain is nothing.

“Cut through the wind and advance!”

The bullet of fire broke through the stone armor that Tristan had surrounded himself with.

“Well done, Iris!”

Taking advantage of that opening, my master kicked Tristan’s ribs. The pain caused the rock arm he was wielding to disintegrate into dust. With that troublesome arm gone, my master continued:

“Twin Thunder Dragon’s Horn, pierce the enemy!”

A lightning dragon in the form of twin dragons severed Tristan’s right arm and pierced through his chest. No one could survive being hit by such magic.

“Thanks to my disciple, I have my life, great mage. After all that, can you still call yourself ‘manly’?”

Tristan was still alive. He regenerated his rock arm and stopped the bleeding from his severed arm. However, blood continued to flow from his chest, but he showed no signs of concern.

My master coldly ignored this and spoke:

“To take that hit and still get up… Could you, like that bastard Pellinore, have some special constitution?”

“No.”

Tristan adjusted his slightly crooked sunglasses and spoke.

“This is the perseverance of a ‘man.’ Did you think I would stop just because my arm and chest were cut off? Did you think that would stop me from proving myself?”

“Enough with your rambling about being a man and proving yourself…”

“Think what you will. I don’t expect you to understand, great mage. I wouldn’t expect an understanding from someone I’m about to kill. Even for a ‘man,’ asking for that would be greedy.”

“What should I do now? I have no intention of dying.”

“Indeed, when our interests no longer align, we settle things with life-or-death battles. That’s what it means to be a ‘man.’”

“Oh, I see. You’ve forgotten how to communicate, haven’t you?”

“I have no desire to speak in this rotten world anymore. And, any tactics like before will be interrupted… Perhaps it’s time to accelerate.”

Saying this, he stood up and shot rock projectiles again. Of course, this time, he ricocheted them. Dodging ricocheting projectiles flying at high speed from all directions, not knowing which one might target me, was almost impossible. My master was able to avoid them by focusing on the sound of the projectiles bouncing off, narrowly avoiding them… But the ricochets kept coming, continuously targeting my master.

Moreover, it wasn’t just the projectiles targeting my master’s body.

“It seems you’ve forgotten about my arm, great mage.”

Irregularly flying projectiles from all directions, and the rock arm that could kill with a single hit—avoiding everything was impossible. If only those rocks weren’t everywhere… but Tristan wasn’t foolish. If I destroyed one rock, he would immediately retaliate.

Earth magic boasted the highest density among magics. With my current power, it was nearly impossible to destroy all the surrounding rocks at once.

“…But, who cares about impossible?”

If I were to give up just because something was impossible, I wouldn’t have gone through reincarnation in the first place.

“Bullet of fire!”

“Again, such a crude thing, interfering in a ‘man’s’ duel…”

“Cut through the wind and advance.”

There was no need to destroy all the rocks. I had already identified the key rocks that formed the core of the ricochet. So, destroying just those would be enough.

Thanks to that, the ricochet stopped, and I was able to seal one of Tristan’s moves. However, a problem arose. In my haste to attack, I failed to pay attention to the rock arm that he swung.

With a sharp sound of wind being sliced, a heavy shock engulfed my entire body.

“Iris!”

“Master, don’t approach! If you do, you’ll be caught just like before.”

Tristan was furious. Yes, this was what I had aimed for. What made him so dangerous was his calmness and composure. Even as the projectiles he had shot earlier wildly ricocheted in all directions, he calculated their angles in advance and moved accordingly, continuing to pressure my master.

“Great mage, how pathetic you are. You couldn’t even save a weak disciple like this…”

“Shut the hell up, you bastard!”

“Weak people can’t protect those they love. Weak people only hold on to corpses and make promises to themselves. They aren’t worthy of being called a teacher, let alone having disciples. Weak people aren’t even worthy of being called ‘men.’”

My master seemed shocked by his words.

This bastard…

I spoke in a voice only Tristan could hear.

“Then you’re not a man either.”

“What…?”

“I just remembered… our master would lay down his life to save me… but you, you’re the ruthless teacher who let his disciple die. The one who’s not a real man is you. Why don’t you just cut off your manhood and die already?”

I successfully provoked Tristan’s anger even further.

“Great mage, today you will lose everything precious to you. Your disciple will die at my hands, and your fiancée will die by my comrade Kay’s hands. Watch helplessly and blame your own weakness.”

“Bullshit. Do you think that Glacies would die so easily? Even if she’s swallowed by a dragon, she’ll cut through its belly and come out alive. And my master is the greatest talent of all time…”

“Who the hell worshipped that so-called ‘talent’?”

“What?”

“I will reject everything and prove it. Even if it means rejecting magic, the world, and even the gods!!!”