The place Rest and Cedric moved to was the same forest where they once trained for combat against monsters.
It was also the place where Cedric had lured out the Rosemary sisters and put them in danger.
"Uraaaah!"
Roaring like a beast, Cedric lunged at Rest with Body Reinforcement active.
"You're slow. Almost impressively so."
"Gwah!?"
Rest, too, amplified his muscles with magic and drove his fist into Cedric's face.
Cedric's Body Reinforcement was actually quite decent. He may have failed the exam, but there was clearly some substance behind all the talk about him being a genius.
"But your combat instincts and your experience in fighting people are both completely nonexistent. You're worse than I was before I ever took on a teacher."
"You— you bastard…!"
"If you have time to groan, fix your stance. And your Body Reinforcement just wore off."
While saying this, Rest landed a low kick to Cedric's shin.
"Ow…!?"
"And there's another one for the face."
He grabbed the staggering boy's hair, pulled him in close, and drove his knee into his face.
Blood erupted from Cedric's nose, and fragments of broken teeth flew through the air.
This time, Rest seized him by the collar and slammed him down on his back.
"Bghaaah…!"
"Now that I've studied person-to-person combat, I really see it clearly… Cedric, you were genuinely pathetic all along."
People whispered that his magical talent was the highest of his generation, but that was all there was to it.
His hand-to-hand skills were nonexistent, and his casting speed was painfully slow.
Honestly, if the fight had kept going, the difference in ability was so vast that Cedric probably couldn't have won even by relying solely on Body Reinforcement.
"You… you little shit… just 'cause you're trash…!"
"[Healing]"
"Hah…!?"
Cedric was groaning in frustration, so Rest cast healing magic on him to mend his injuries.
Cedric didn't seem to understand the meaning behind Rest's actions. He furrowed his brow and snarled.
"You… are you mocking me!? Don't you dare feel sorry for me, you worthless waste!"
"Sorry for you? Not at all — you're wrong about that."
Rest sneered and launched his next spell — a fireball — straight at Cedric.
"Gahah!"
"This isn't mercy. If I hit you with everything you've ever done to me, you'd probably die pretty quickly. So I'm healing you in between."
He cast healing magic again, restoring Cedric.
"Everything… I've done to you?"
"Seventy-five. Do you have any idea what that number means, Cedric?"
"…?"
A question mark floated across Cedric's swollen face.
As expected, he truly didn't understand.
"It's the number of different types of magic you hit me with over the four years between when House Eberun took you in and when you started serving House Rosemary."
And at the same time, it was the number of spell types Cedric had inadvertently taught Rest — one perk of being used as a test subject every time Cedric learned a new spell. Rest's repertoire had grown considerably.
"Hah…!"
"I don't remember exactly how many times you hit me with each one… but I'm actually the type who holds a grudge. Everything done to me, I return in full."
"Guh…!"
Next, Rest struck Cedric in the gut with an earthball.
Cedric collapsed where he stood, coughing up the contents of his stomach.
Rest healed the retching Cedric and began preparing his next spell.
"Come on, get up. There are still seventy-three types left. Let's finish before dawn."
"Stop—"
"[Waterball]"
"Gueh!"
After that, Rest attacked Cedric with magic for as long as time permitted.
Fireball.
Earthball.
Waterball.
Windball.
Lightningball.
Venomball.
Fire Blade.
Water Blade.
Wind Blade.
Earth Blade.
Fire Spear.
Wind Spear.
Earth Spear.
Water Spear.
Burst.
Devastation.
Wind Manipulation.
Stone Bullet.
Water Burial.
Toxification.
Magic Bullet.
Mud Bullet.
…
…
…
By the time Cedric had been reduced to a whimpering doll incapable of anything but moans of agony, the seventy-five-spell assault was finally over.
"…Revenge turns out to be surprisingly unsatisfying. Honestly, it became tedious halfway through."
He had repaid every last thing that had been done to him, but… it wasn't enjoyable in the slightest.
There was nothing to gain from bullying a weaker person.
Halfway through, it had become nothing more than a mechanical task — Rest casting spell after spell, attacking Cedric like a machine.
"Well, maybe it wasn't the most fitting farewell ceremony for that house. But thanks to you, I can forget about House Eberun and move forward as a new person. You made a decent rust remover. Thanks."
"…Eh?"
"…Hm?"
"I won't… forgive you… never… no matter what happens, I swear I'll get my revenge…"
"…"
Even as he lay rolling on the ground, Cedric glared at Rest with venomous hatred in his eyes.
After being beaten that badly, he still had the energy to spit out grudges — in a way, that made him a psychopath worthy of admiration.
"You're not the only one… those women who rejected me, they're going to get it too…"
"Those women… you mean Viola and Primula?"
When Rest asked for clarification, Cedric's swollen, puffy face twisted into a grotesque grin.
"Those women… both of them, I'll kidnap them and have my way… I'll never let them be happy… I'll violate them until they're nothing but soggy rags…"
"…"
"Even if… you protect them, it's useless… I will absolutely get to them… It's your fault, you worthless piece of garbage were the reason…!"
"…That's enough. Shut up."
"Hupp…!?"
Rest conjured water with magic and splashed it across Cedric's face, forcing him into silence.
Truly… you had to wonder whether he was actually a genius, given how effortlessly he could disgust Rest.
"The fact that you can make me this uncomfortable is practically an innate talent… My willingness to forgive you is completely gone."
In truth, Rest had already felt at peace with things the moment Cedric failed the academy entrance exam.
If Cedric hadn't come at him first, there would have been no reason to beat him like this.
"But… you brought up Viola and Primula. You were planning to drag them into our dispute!"
This wasn't even a question of whether Cedric's half-baked revenge scheme could succeed.
The mere fact that Cedric had spoken the Rosemary sisters' names in front of Rest was a sin worth ten thousand deaths.
"Hahahahaha… Serves you right… Tremble and beg for mercy…!"
"Oh, is that so?"
"Hah…?"
Rest raised his right hand.
At the tip of his palm, a black sphere materialized.
A sphere of absolute blackness that reflected no light whatsoever.
A Dark Star, plunged into depthless darkness, as if dark matter itself had been given form.
"Wh- what… is that… what kind of magic…!?"
The Dark Star, which invoked bottomless terror, distorted the face that had been laughing moments before.
Cedric tried to crawl away across the ground, but — naturally, Rest had no intention of letting him escape.
"[Bind]"
"Higihh…!"
Mana chains lashed around Cedric, binding him in place.
And then… Rest gazed up at the Dark Star hovering above his right hand.
"Do you know what the greatest honor for a mage is, Cedric?"
"What… is…"
"If you don't know, I'll tell you. It's not being appointed to the Court Mage Corps. It's not becoming a noble. The greatest honor for a mage is 'the development of a new spell.'"
Rest spoke flatly to Cedric, whose face was contorted.
"There are one thousand and seven spells officially documented in this world and recorded in the Compendium of Spells. The developer's name is preserved in the history of magic alongside the spell formula."
In this world, there existed an organization known as the Council of Sages.
It was an extralegal body that transcended national borders, and every one of its members was a mage powerful enough to sway entire nations.
To have one's spell designated as a "new spell" by the Council of Sages — that was the supreme glory a mage could achieve.
"If you managed to create a new spell, His Majesty would grant you a rank well above viscount — perhaps even count or higher… Though it's been over ten years since this country last produced a mage of that caliber."
Even the Court Mage Corps, the most powerful mages in the entire kingdom, could not easily develop a new spell.
Mediocre spells could be created endlessly.
But producing a spell that surpassed existing ones bordered on impossible. Even on a global scale, the Council of Sages recognized a new spell roughly once every five years.
"But still… everyone dreams of it, right? That's why, ever since I was taken in by House Rosemary, I've been trying to create a new spell of my own."
"…!"
"And this… is the result."
Rest looked up at the Dark Star and smiled with bitter irony.
"It was nice that I managed to create a spell with the effect I envisioned, but to be blunt, it's defective. Maintaining it alone drains an enormous amount of mana. The efficiency is atrocious."
This spell would never be recognized by the Council of Sages or inscribed in the Compendium of Spells.
It was an ugly, broken creation that consumed a thousand units of mana to produce a single effect.
Without Rest's bottomless, infinite mana reserves, even all the Court Mages working together would be unable to cast it.
"Spell name —[Star Eater]."
A spell utterly unworthy of a boy once branded as talentless and mana-less.
Its power was… the annihilation of all things.
This black sphere — the Dark Star — could erase whatever it touched, erasing it from existence entirely.
"It's a spell only I can use, but… at least now I can select what I want to erase. If I'm not careful, it can devour the atmosphere and the very space around it. True to its name, it could annihilate a star."
"You're lying… there's no way someone like you could create a new spell…"
"That's why I said it's a defective failure of a spell… But against someone like you, it's more than sufficient."
No matter how much mana Rest consumed, his infinite reserves would never run dry. Still, having the Dark Star drain his mana wasn't exactly pleasant.
"Well then — goodbye."
"Wai—"
"[Star Eater]"
Rest swung the Dark Star down upon Cedric, who was rolling on the ground. The black sphere swallowed Cedric's body whole.
"This is the end… forever."
It was the moment the tie between Rest and Cedric — his stepbrother — was severed.
Cedric could no longer hurt Rest, nor could he take anything from him.
Never again — for all eternity — would he be capable of doing so.