Chapter 260 - Leonil (2)
Leonil's Mado
The path he pioneered contained three traits.
First, he could release the mana of his heart as though detonating it, enabling the immediate use of flame-based magic.
The cost was a rapid depletion of mana and an accompanying physical backlash, yet the advantages gained as a Magus were undeniable.
Second, from the embers born of an initial flame explosion, a secondary detonation would occur.
In theory, even a single fireball could slaughter dozens, a strengthening of flame magic's destructive potential.
Lastly, Leonil possessed complete immunity to his own fire.
Kwaaaang! Kwang!
The center of Eznoren shook.
Structures forming the royal castle collapsed, engulfed in firestorms, reduced to ash. Neat avenues became rubble and ruin.
A true battlefield.
And yet, a one-sided one.
"Hahahahaha! Why do you only run away like that!"
Leonil reveled in indiscriminate destruction.
He had not even employed flight, instead planting himself in the center, brandishing his mana. Every magical faculty was devoted to flame magic.
Leonil had originally been a flame Magician specializing more in 'close combat'.
But now, having seized the power of a Transcendent, distance no longer mattered.
"That reckless bravado you showed earlier, where has it gone, Marquis of Esperanza! Struggle more, more!"
Leonil's epithet was Mad Flame, Raging Inferno.
As the name implied, his present figure was one steeped in madness.
Edmon could only scramble to avoid.
His eardrums ruptured from the ceaseless explosions, blood ran from his ears. If he were swept by those flames, instant death would follow without mercy.
The magic of a Transcendent was not something mortals could endure.
'Still, I must do something.'
Kwaaaaang!
A wave of heat rushed from the side.
Agonizing, yet Edmon endured, twisting his mana.
"Haaaap!"
The currents of a raging gale extinguished the furious blaze.
A force capable of weakening a Transcendent's flames was no common sight.
Seizing the opportunity, Melzard and the Marquis rushed Leonil from opposite directions.
"Yes, Edmon. Rough winds can indeed smother fire."
Leonil tilted his chin upward.
"But winds that lack such strength only feed the flames further."
The dying fire roared back to life.
Flames surged skyward, scattering, then rained down like a deluge.
"This—!"
All that touched the red downpour was reduced to ash.
In an instant, the place where Edmon had stood turned into a hell of fire.
But there was no time to spare concern for him.
The Marquis and Melzard gathered all their aura into sword and body alike, pressing forward with all they had. Opportunities were never many.
"That you wouldn't even blink though Edmon burned alive, truly heartless."
Leonil wrapped himself in blazing fire.
Flames erupted, scattering dozens of small fireballs across the sky.
Augmented by Mado, the ensuing chain of hundreds of explosions devastated the surroundings, and inevitably the Marquis and Melzard could not evade.
Thick black smoke blanketed the air.
Their figures were unseen, yet Leonil knew they could not be felled so easily.
Though he could not yet perfectly wield the stature of a Transcendent—perhaps because he had borrowed the witch's heart—the senses dwelling in his body informed him.
'Then I will erase the entire area.'
Just as he resolved this, his nerves were forcibly drawn to the right.
"I am not yet dead, Leonil."
Melzard's artistry.
A solemn voice resounded from within the smoke, imbued with an undeniable force.
Leonil did not resist, instead entrusting his mana to the flow of consciousness.
Quadra Casting.
Dozens of flames pierced the smoke.
Beyond him, they struck Melzard precisely, and the embers all ignited in unison.
His armor, unable to withstand the shock, shattered without recourse, Melzard was battered to a ruin and collapsed.
Complete incapacitation.
'Now, the last one.'
Leonil turned his head.
At once, the Marquis of Esperanza came flying through the air.
Predictable movements, Leonil unleashed
From afar, Silis reached out, panting harshly.
"I honored you as a witch, yet you meddle time and again."
In that moment, the Marquis landed, his blade flashing.
The pinnacle of martial artistry, an Absolute Technique.
Severing White.
He himself became a stream of pure whiteness.
A secret art passed down the Esperanza lineage, it momentarily granted a weapon supreme sharpness and bolstered its resistance to all.
Though unlike Grond, it was not an art he had forged himself, it was nonetheless an Absolute Technique.
Leonil spurred the mana in his heart.
His body became fire incarnate.
Heat that could effortlessly consume flesh and steel alike surged forth. Even an Absolute Technique could not withstand long against seventh-tier magic.
Delay, and the spirit would melt away.
Then, the Marquis's eyes caught it.
Leonil, unconsciously withdrawing his staff.
In that instant, the twisted trajectory of his strike targeted the witch's heart. Skin sizzled in the flames, muscles tore from the forced movement, yet he endured.
For he knew this to be Leonil's weakness.
"?!"
Leonil's eyes widened as he hid his staff, thrusting forth his left hand.
Kwaaaadduk!
The blade split fire and palm, striking bone of the wrist.
With a bit more force, an arm might be severed entirely.
But it could not be done.
Though his resolve remained firm, the sword in his grasp could not withstand the fire.
The blade shattered, molten fragments dripping away, even though it was forged of the finest alloyed metals.
Leonil's expression twisted with pain.
"You dare."
He swung his hand like a blade.
The blade of flame pierced through the Marquis's armor and body, he was flung afar, rolling on the ground as a scream tore from his throat.
His organs were grievously damaged, and the molten armor bit into his flesh like teeth.
As Leonil moved to finish him, space twisted once again.
Silis. At her side stood the Marquis and Melzard, their spirit-bodies slowly recovering.
"Further resistance is meaningless—"
A sudden gale cut her words short.
Currents merged into a colossal storm, encasing Leonil.
"Your Highness! Take the two and flee at once—!"
Kwaaaang!
An unstoppable force shattered the storm.
Even with Edmon exerting his full strength, he failed to buy even a moment.
Leonil was suddenly upon him, burning away Edmon's leg. An indescribable heat assaulted his nerves.
"Guaaaahhh!"
"If you owed your life to the Princess, you should have stayed hidden. Even as a spirit-body, you prance about far too much. Do you think even if you die, the witch could restore all that damage? Had I wished, you would already be firewood."
Crack.
Leonil stomped on Edmon's head.
"Edmon, how utterly pathetic you are. To have such skill, yet end up in this state. Had you joined the Court Mage Corps, you would have lived a dazzling life beyond compare."
"Heh, you think I would join that mad group that toys with human experimentation? Get lost…! I'm not like you beasts, lower than animals."
"And that is why you lie beneath my feet. While I surpassed the limit to reach Transcendence, you clung to worthless ethics and so-called virtue. You are no Mage. You're just a fool who knows how to cast spells."
Edmon coughed blood, twisting his lips into a grin.
"A so-called Transcendent cut down by His Excellency's sword? Tower Master of DarkWarton would find that laughable indeed."
Leonil bared his teeth, grinding his foot down hard.
Edmon's groans filled the air, yet satisfaction eluded him.
His left hand throbbed with pain, the sting distracting him.
'Marquis of Esperanza. To think you would throw yourself at my heart.'
The cut on his hand had been a moment's carelessness.
Yet Leonil did not lose his poise as a Transcendent. In the end, the overwhelming victory was still his.
And then, someone approached.
The mana told him it was Rachel, the 2nd Seat.
"Tch, to be late in dealing with a mere young Mage—"
"Cough, cough! Cough!"
Landing on the ground, Rachel coughed up blood.
With death shadowing his face, he forced out words.
"Your Excellency, he is… a monster…"
Thud.
Rachel collapsed forward.
Light faded from his eyes, blood poured from the gaping hole in his chest.
A pool of crimson spread beneath him.
'Dead?'
Rachel's life-force was gone.
Death. He had indeed materialized, there was no doubt.
Leonil's brow twitched as he lifted his head. There stood the man he had dismissed as a small fry.
"You…"
Leonil stopped speaking.
Behind the man lay the corpses of the upper court mages, annihilated.
***
The Court Mage Corps was not merely a gathering of high-rank Mages.
As specialists in their respective fields, sworn to guard the royal family, each one possessed exceptional combat prowess, and beyond that, they excelled in group warfare.
They were on another level compared to mere scholars who only held lofty ranks and theories.
"…How."
Thus, Leonil was deeply shaken.
That the elite of the Court Mage Corps, the highest-ranked seats, had all been slaughtered. By a mere young Mage, no less.
Even if 1st Seat Heinel was absent, it was still inconceivable.
"Asher? Why are you here?!"
Behind Edmon's voice, Verden scanned the area.
The Marquis and Melzard, barely clinging to life, Silis shielding them, and Edmon trampled under Leonil's heel.
Understanding the situation, he turned to Silis.
"Silis, can you prevent Leonil from manipulating this spirit-realm?"
"Ah…"
Silis was briefly dazed.
She had not expected him to arrive so soon, though she knew he would not fall.
Regaining her composure, she nodded.
"Yes, if I expend all remaining mana, I can stabilize the world."
"Then do it. Before he escapes."
"What?"
Leonil blinked.
He replayed the words in his head. When their meaning sank in, his face twisted into the snarl of a demon.
"Who says I will flee?! To think a mere insect would dare!"
"Asher! Fall back at once!"
Kwagwagwagwaang!
Leonil swung his staff, a barrage of explosions engulfed Verden, erasing even the smallest path of retreat.
No one could survive in that sea of fire.
Edmon, who had warned them, sighed in despair.
But then.
A blue light flashed within the crimson blaze.
Leonil flinched, instantly raising his flame-wreathed left hand.
Pajijijijik!
A mighty bolt of lightning drove him back.
Though he blocked it without serious harm, the smile vanished from his lips.
A blackened mark lingered on his skin, electricity buzzed beneath his flesh, and blood from the wound carved by the Marquis clouded his focus.
From within the fire, a shadow emerged.
Verden. He walked forward calmly, without a single wound.
"You call yourself a true Transcendent?"
Verden halted in place.
The mana slumbering within him stirred.
"Ridiculous."
Sheer mockery.
In that instant, Leonil felt something snap in his mind.
An emotion he had not known even when struck by the Marquis's blade, forgotten since reaching a new realm, surged within him.
It was humiliation.
"You…"
Kwaadduk!
Leonil's grip on his staff warped as rage consumed him.
"Even your ashes, I will burn away."
Verden answered with mana flaring.
He had no intention of wasting more words or time on one unworthy.
He would slay Leonil here, uproot the royal family's human experiments, and leave the Kingdom of Estiria.
At once, flame and lightning collided.
The explosion between them heralded the beginning of their magical duel.
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