Chapter 229. Turning Point (2)
Some say this.
That everything in this world already has its end decided.
Past, present, future.
No matter what thoughts one has, no matter what actions one takes, the result bestowed upon them does not change. The feeling that one has judged and chosen as the subject is nothing more than a mortal's delusion.
If one is destined to be a beggar, one will be a beggar.
If one is destined to be rich, one will be rich.
If one is destined to live, then even if one wishes to die, one will live.
If one is destined to die, then even if one wishes to live, one will die.
That is fate.
No matter how much you struggle, it is a shackle you cannot escape. Human, Elf, Dwarf, Transcendent, Dragon, nothing is an exception.
Everyone is hanging on invisible strings.
The marionette feels that it is free, but even that thought is nothing but fate. It merely moves along the determined path.
Then who is it, that handles fate.
Surely it must be the gods, the heavens themselves.
For they always exist above all things. To them, the talent chosen is praised as Genius.
Verden was a half-formed Genius.
A Genius easy to exploit, and a weakling.
Back then, he resented the heavens.
Had he been ordinary, at the very least he could have lived as a human being. Perhaps, to suffer like this and die, was his fate, so he despaired.
Once, that was so.
But look at the present.
He did not yield to fate, and in the end he cut the strings.
If he had been a fatalist who entrusted his will to the heavens, he would have shouted that even this was fate, but who knows.
When he achieved Defying the Heavens, Verden instinctively realized.
At last, his thoughts and actions, his will, were wholly his own. No longer was he the weakling who had only been used.
Choice and result.
Verden is the master of himself.
"I dare, to challenge."
"You will regret this."
Kuuuuung!
Magic power clashed with magic power.
A tremendous presence loomed, but it did not force Verden to his knees. The rank of Transcendent was no longer a shackle to him.
The Administrator twitched at the corner of his eye.
Verden went one step further.
From Orient, magic was unleashed.
A beam of destruction surged toward the throne, and the crimson explosion swallowed the Administrator. Power far greater than before.
Verden did not stop, he continuously computed flame-type magic.
Kwaaang! Kwaaaang!
Explosions shook the eardrums.
A flash blazed, flames roared and seared the air. As if to boast of Orient's performance, he mercilessly unleashed fire magic.
Heat haze filled his vision.
He raised the staff high. Flames gathered under the caster's will, layering one upon another, forming dozens of spears.
The rain of scorching heat.
Hellfire rained down on the throne.
Even from afar, the heat baked Verden's skin. If Verden had unleashed such magic in a Town-level settlement, it would have been annihilated.
Verden caught his breath.
As he calmed his mana circuits for a moment, a storm arose.
"Impressive."
Where the heat had vanished, the Administrator stood tall.
The Administrator's chamber, perhaps more reinforced than the other facilities, seemed hardly affected by the magic. The gray throne was without even a scratch.
"A mere 5th-tier upper mage, neutralizing his shortcomings with a computational speed unlike other Mages. To possess talent that surpasses tiers, what you hold is not only that abnormal amount of magic power. Truly, you are different."
"Thank you."
Though it was praise, Verden did not smile.
For in the end, he had not inflicted even a scratch on the Administrator, nor moved him a single step. But there was no reason to be surprised at that fact.
It was the expected result.
A 7th-tier Transcendent.
If even a fragment of the Demon King could be harmed this much, he would rather have been disappointed. Verden had yet to reveal even one of his trump cards.
The Administrator spoke.
"But at your current level, you can never touch a Transcendent. You are not foolish enough to think that merely this could challenge me, a fragment of the Demon King. Therefore───"
Thud.
The white staff struck the ground.
The Administrator's chamber trembled with a low roar. Magic power filled his eyes, the characteristic azure glow of the Demon King's bloodline flared.
"Young Mage, I advise you, show me all of your uniqueness, all that you have. If you wish to prolong your life, even a little."
The magic battle was only just beginning.
***
By the Administrator's will, Alpha was sent to the edge of the facility.
Sensing that some abnormality had occurred, the one-eyed Golem scuttled down the corridor on its small legs.
Thanks to the return of magic power, the facility was now bright.
Research Golems that had been dormant began to move, and though Alpha, as chief supervisor, should have overseen them, there was no time to care.
The highest priority was always His Majesty the Demon King.
Alpha entered the control room and operated the device.
The Golems' heads installed in the ceilings of each facility turned, and the images they were seeing floated into the air.
With the power source restored, the function could now be used.
In Alpha's sight appeared the Administrator's chamber.
The Administrator and Verden.
Each one's destructive magic aimed at the other.
Light flashed, tremors resounded. The impact was so great that the image shook.
[Abnormal state detected, Administrator is attacking His Majesty the Demon King, judged by the visible power, intent to kill is evident.]
An unforeseen situation.
[Administrator is the fragment of His Majesty the Demon King, it is impossible to be hostile toward His Majesty, calculating cause... unable to confirm, searching for resolution...]
Alpha's eye blinked repeatedly.
No matter how it calculated, no answer appeared. From the start, this was a variable not accounted for. For Alpha, who had always judged situations by variables, there was nothing it could do.
[Beeep... resolution impossible.]
The conclusion was made.
Alpha stopped calculating and looked back at the image.
The magic battle was already close to a clash of extremes.
The Administrator, standing before the throne, defended against magic while simultaneously counterattacking, and Verden maneuvered evasively as if determined not to be grazed.
If people saw it, they would feel it beautiful.
If Mages saw it, they would feel awe and jealousy.
If Transcendents saw it, they would be purely astonished, that a mere Mage who had not even broken through the 6th-tier wall could offer such resistance against a Transcendent.
[Beeep.]
Verden was struck by magic.
The automatically reinforced mana barrier shattered. Slammed against the wall, he escaped without even a breath to spare. Magic spears pursued him.
[Beeep.]
Verden swung Orient, destroying the magic.
Then, dozens of mana arrows poured down like torrential rain. He hastily cast
A scratch appeared on Mage's Regret.
[Beeep.]
The scales were tilting.
Though he had not yet sustained any notable wounds, Verden was gradually being pushed back. Until now, the elemental magic that had boasted such overwhelming firepower had not touched the Administrator.
[His Majesty the Demon King.]
Why was the Demon King being pushed back by his own fragment.
Anyone with ordinary thoughts would have raised such a question. And would have suspected that Verden might not truly be the Demon King.
But Alpha was different.
This small Golem placed its creator above all. This was never part of its original programming, but a rule Alpha had set for itself.
[His Majesty the Demon King is in danger.]
It resumed the calculations it had halted. Into realms of thought it had never once entered. The reason this was possible, was because Alpha was a special Golem.
Autonomous thought. It was not only the Administrator who had been granted memories by the Demon King.
Designation Alpha.
For the first time since its creation, it judged on its own.
[Judgment, rescue His Majesty the Demon King, the sole solution, escape His Majesty the Demon King from the facility, time required until escape, 9 minutes 32 seconds, two problem factors, Administrator and Administrator's chamber door, facility Golems alone cannot eliminate these problem factors.]
Alpha's gaze turned to the secondary power room.
In the middle of the feed, a small power source glowed.
[...One solution confirmed, required time, 30 minutes, judged by current situation, survival probability of His Majesty the Demon King after 30 minutes, 4.3%, after each 1-minute delay, survival probability decreases by 0.4%.]
In about 45 minutes, complete death.
A low probability, but it did not matter.
[Designation Alpha, initiating rescue of His Majesty the Demon King.]
The calculations were finished.
Alpha dashed toward the secondary power room in haste.
***
Verden cooled the heat within his body with heavy breaths.
Mage's Regret and Robe of the Wanderer had been partially damaged, yet despite such a fierce magical battle, he bore not a single wound.
A brief lull.
The Administrator's gaze turned to Verden's hand.
"That ring, engraved with a high-grade rune that permanently enhances the senses, difficult for a Mage's body to endure, so you inscribed it directly onto your mana circuits. Had you failed, you would have had to sever the entire arm, and even your mana circuits would have been ruined. Truly, you are bold."
"I am, not comparable, to the Demon King."
"That is true, compared to you, my true body could only be called a madman. But, is that the extent of what you can show me."
A chilling voice.
The Administrator remained unmoving.
As Verden heightened his vision, he saw the shimmering blue veil surrounding the Administrator. A mana barrier that Verden's firepower could only scratch.
Had all his magic struck directly, it might have been destroyed, but the Administrator was vigilant of that fact, intercepting any magic deemed dangerous without hesitation.
'The Demon King's
When a Magus becomes a Transcendent, their mana evolves as well.
The mana barriers they create rival massive fortresses, and even if shattered, no backlash strikes their mana circuits.
The mana manipulation technique of a Transcendent,
A unique method of mana operation, created and refined by the Demon King through his own way of magic.
At present, it is taught only to the royal bloodline of the Magic Kingdom, a privilege reserved for those of the Demon King's lineage.
'The Administrator is using only
Perhaps because the presence or absence of equipment made it difficult to secure superiority.
If he used 7th-tier magic it would be different, but the Administrator was aware of his weakness as a fragment. Thus he judged to efficiently conserve mana and kill Verden.
Such was the disparity between the two.
Verden took two steps forward.
'There are two ways I can win.'
Either exhaust the Administrator's mana entirely, or pierce through that barrier and inflict a fatal wound.
Only one solution.
'Draw out the Administrator's full power.'
There was a way, and the groundwork was already laid.
Once again stirring his mana, he aimed Orient at the Administrator.
Triple Casting.
Vast mana was consumed.
Three massive boulders hung in the air and rushed toward the Administrator.
"Disappointing."
Three mana spheres formed around the Administrator.
Szzzzk! The boulders shattered, pierced by rays of mana that shot forth. Amid the scattering debris, the white staff aimed at Verden.
A concentration of mana unlike before shook the very air.
"This time, not even those senses of yours will let you escape."
A certainty.
To this, Verden answered.
"That, is my line."
"What."
In that fleeting instant, his right eye flashed.
Demonic Eye. The magic circle of Defying the Heavens, hidden until now, surfaced upon his pupil.
Kwaaaaduduk!
From the debris of rock, five stone spikes surged forth. A siege spell. Their tips pierced part of the barrier before shattering, disrupting mana.
The Administrator's eyes widened.
"How, without any prelude, magic from a distance..."
It was too early to be shaken.
Immediately, above the Administrator's head, a blue light poured down.
Flowing star, meteor.
A massive orb of mana crashed down toward the Administrator.
The prelude was over.
A dazzling flash and explosion.
Through the rushing aftershock, Verden charged.