"Puppets and a cat."
As Touko Aozaki spoke, she gently exhaled a smoke ring and retreated slightly. In the next moment, two shadows appeared before her—one was a bizarre puppet with both arms covered in blades, and the other looked like an ordinary black cat.
"Miss Lainis."
Gray shouted as she swung her death scythe at the black cat. Her intuition told her that the cat was extremely dangerous. As she moved, the black cat let out a snarl and pounced at her.
The next moment, Gray sliced it cleanly in half. But before she could catch her breath, her scythe suddenly cried out a warning. Gray instinctively raised her weapon in defense. With a loud clang, a blinding flash of sparks exploded from the clash—somehow, the black cat had already returned to its original form, and its claws had struck the scythe.
"What in the world is this? Was this really made by a modern magus?" Add's voice rang out again.
Everyone could now clearly see what that black cat really was. While it still looked like a cat, it actually had no physical body—more like a shadow. And shadows, even when severed, would quickly restore themselves.
"Not bad at all, little lady of the El-Melloi family. In this regard, you've already surpassed the previous generation."
While Gray fought the black cat, Lainis's Moon Essence Automaton, Trimmaw, clashed with Touko Aozaki's puppet. Unlike Gray's fight, even when struck or severed, Trimmaw quickly reformed—after all, its true form was mercury.
But Trimmaw's attacks had little effect either. The puppet was clearly custom-made for combat. Though humanoid in shape, it had four arms, evidently specialized for both offense and defense.
Lainis said nothing in response. Or rather, she had no time to respond at all. She needed her full concentration to control the Moon Essence Automaton.
"So this is Touko Aozaki's Projection Magic…"
Watching the black cat repeatedly get sliced apart and restored, Daniel Davis swept his gaze to a tree trunk on the right and nodded slightly in realization.
If you didn't understand the principle behind Touko's magic, it was extremely difficult to deal with. Even if you sliced the black cat into hundreds of pieces in a moment, it wouldn't die.
Gray clearly hadn't discovered the secret of the magic and could only continue hacking at the cat with Add. The fight quickly reached a stalemate.
Boom.
Just as both sides were locked in combat, a thunderous explosion shook the entire Dual Towers, the ground trembling beneath them. The sudden change startled both Gray and Lainis, causing them to withdraw from the battlefield. Touko Aozaki also ceased her movements.
"Someone broke through the barrier—who would dare such a thing?"
Lainis looked west in shock. The sound came from the Dual Towers' boundary being shattered. At the same time, a flood of chaotic magical energy erupted from the distance—clearly, many intruders had stormed into the Izaluma estate.
"That's Weather Thaumaturgy… such scale—are they determined to seize something?"
Everyone involuntarily looked up. Where the sky had been clear moments ago, thick black clouds now surged overhead. In an instant, darkness enveloped the Dual Towers, and rain, lightning, and storm winds blanketed the Izaluma estate.
"Things are getting more and more interesting," Touko muttered, her expression showing a hint of excitement as she stood in the downpour.
"Gray, use your Noble Phantasm—dispel it."
Summoning a massive umbrella using the Law of Reason to block the rain, Daniel addressed Gray. Though the invaders' target was likely the Izaluma family, if the fight spilled over to them, he wouldn't hesitate to retaliate.
"Understood." Gray glanced at Lainis, then nodded firmly and began to chant.
"Anchor the holy spear, radiance of the final light—!"
A golden lance pierced the sky, obliterating the clouds in an instant. As radiant gold light poured across the land, the dark clouds vanished completely, and the storm ceased.
"So that's what it was, huh…"
Touko looked wordlessly at her now-dissipated black cat. Gray's attack had primarily targeted the storm clouds above, but the shockwave had struck a hidden familiar perched on the tree trunk, knocking it down and exposing its true form: a bird-shaped familiar, body and wings woven from brass wire, with ruby-like eyes.
Inside its body, something like a miniature old-style film reel spun, projecting light through the gemstones.
"I see," Lainis muttered, staring at the fallen familiar. Now she understood why the black cat her side had fought was seemingly unkillable.
"Lady Aozaki, shall we continue?"
Though chaotic magical waves could still be felt from the other side—indicating magi were engaged in battle—Lainis didn't care. The intruders were clearly targeting the Izaluma family, not her. All she wanted now was to get out before she got dragged into something worse.
"Apologies—I'm just carrying out a request." Touko didn't care about the other battle either.
"I see. Gray, are you still able to fight?" Lainis moved beside Gray and asked in a low voice.
"I need a short rest," Gray replied softly. Her earlier use of her Noble Phantasm had nearly drained her magic, but with Add continuously absorbing ambient mana, she would recover shortly.
"Then here's what we'll do…" Lainis whispered in her ear.
"I understand." Gray nodded firmly.
"Planning a tactic? Go ahead."
Despite being discussed right in front of her, Touko didn't seem to mind.
"Now, Gray!"
"Got it!"
As soon as Gray had rested enough, Lainis commanded her Moon Essence Automaton Trimmaw to attack, shouting to Gray as she did. In response, Trimmaw's body suddenly shattered into liquid mercury, which flowed rapidly around Touko's puppet's legs, binding them in place.
"Add!"
"Got it!"
Gray shouted, and her death scythe transformed into a massive warhammer. Leaping high into the air, she swung it down toward the immobilized puppet.
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the puppet shattered into pieces under the force. At the same time, the mercury dissolved, but instantly reformed into Trimmaw.
Gray's Mystic Code Add could transform into many forms—shield, spear, boomerang, bow, greatsword, and more.
"Impressive. But it ends here."
Seeing her puppet destroyed, Touko clapped lightly. But before Lainis could say anything, the battlefield changed again. Countless runes appeared in the air around Trimmaw, freezing it in place before it could react.
Runes—Touko had somehow etched a massive number of runes into the air. And they happened to counter Trimmaw perfectly.
The Moon Essence Automaton was immune to slashing, but not to ice. Frozen, it could no longer move.
Rune magic—according to legend, Odin, the Allfather, hanged himself from the World Tree and sacrificed one eye to gain knowledge of runes. Thus, runes were said to contain the secrets of the universe.
This was why Daniel valued runes so highly—especially primordial runes. Their destructive power was secondary to the knowledge they held.
Of course, Daniel didn't claim to be Odin's equal, but that didn't stop him from drawing insight from rune magic.
Theoretically, runes could be combined to achieve anything. For instance, Touko once used runes to remove the concept of night from a park—leaving it eternally in daylight. With enough power, one could even remove night from an entire planet.
Of course, that was only theoretical. Even Odin likely couldn't pull that off. Touko's feat had a time limit.
"Is it your turn now?"
As Daniel stepped forward, Touko silently extinguished the half-smoked cigarette in her hand and tucked it into its case. Strangely, even through all the downpour, her cigarette had stayed lit.
"You're really that frugal?" Daniel asked, surprised at the gesture. As a Grand Magus, Touko certainly wasn't poor, yet she'd saved a half-smoked cigarette.
"Can't help it. This brand might be cheap, but it's long out of production."
Perhaps sensing Daniel's curiosity, Touko explained. Her cigarette was a gift from a friend, part of a single batch made years ago—an actual limited edition. Even though she'd smoked them sparingly, only a few remained.
"Touko Aozaki, may I ask you something?" Daniel suddenly had a thought.
"Go ahead."
"Do you know Shiki Ryougi?"
He had never looked into Shiki before, but seeing Touko reminded him.
"You know Shiki?" Touko looked at him in surprise.
"I see. That's enough for me to know she exists in this world."
"Go ahead."
Daniel quickly traced a rune in the air, shattering the ice imprisoning Trimmaw. Lainis, seeing her automaton freed, immediately retracted it.
"You want to fight me using runes?" Touko laughed. Rune thaumaturgy wasn't her strongest discipline, but when it came to runes, no one in the Clock Tower—or even the wider magical world—could best her.
"Just hoping to learn something."
Daniel drew five runes in the air, launching five fireballs at her. Touko countered by using runes to summon an ice wall to block them.
"What speed… Could this be what the Second described—using rune formations to create new runes?"
The two began exchanging rune-based attacks. Daniel wasn't using his full strength; he was here to observe and learn from Touko's rune combinations.
There were 24 runes, and their combinations created different effects. Even the sequence in which they were drawn altered their power.
In simple terms, runes were like a programming language. Different combinations were like different lines of code forming different software. Daniel could spend time studying combinations later, but learning from Touko now was faster.
If nothing else, just the ability to make runes generate new runes was worth facing her today.
"Ma'am, what's going on?"
As Daniel and Touko fought, a familiar voice called out. Lainis turned and immediately relaxed—Arriving was the Second, with Flat and Svin at his side. Byron, Baruelay, and a young man with short blond hair came with them.
"These are… runes?"
Flat stared in awe at the battlefield. The air around Daniel and Touko was filled with countless glowing runes. As someone who understood runes, he was shocked by their sheer scale.
Everyone else, including Lord Baruelay, was equally astonished.
"This feels like Xiaomeng fighting Xiaoyaozi… let's change things up."
Thinking this, Daniel suddenly switched from runes to using the Tao Te Ching. This sudden change excited Touko even more.
There was magic in the East too, even in the Moonlit World. The Tao Te Ching was a form of mystery. The key difference between Eastern and Western magic lay in the magical foundations—the way spells were cast. But that could be adapted, as shown when the Second was possessed by Zhuge Liang.
"I wonder… if the Second and Lainis summoned Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi respectively, would they end up like Mash?"
Sensing the others' arrival, Daniel had this odd thought and decided not to prolong the fight. Sensing this, Touko also prepared for the final clash. The two locked eyes—and unleashed all their magical energy at once.
BOOM.
A deafening explosion shook the earth, leveling the small forest nearby and leaving a crater dozens of meters wide.
Byron, watching his estate get blown to pieces, looked horrified—but upon seeing the culprits, he immediately fell silent. With that kind of power, they were not people he could afford to provoke.
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