Chapter 322 – Warlord (2)
Kwaaaaaaaang!
From the fractured earth burst forth a destructive force.
Immediately after the chaos of
Within that darkness, Verden computed magic.
The physical abilities of his entire body were enhanced.
By letting the light of magic power seep into his skin, he increased his resistance to physical force, and by surrounding himself with a transparent membrane, he raised his resistance to magic.
It did not end there.
A 6th-tier imbue magic he had learned from Arc's Library.
A higher-level spell that further strengthens the effects of enchantments already cast.
The three spells he had just bestowed upon himself began to pulse.
Not only were their original effects strengthened, but their durations increased, and even the physical burden upon his body was eased.
Almost akin to a Quadra Casting of enchantments.
Though it was his first time using it in actual combat, naturally, failure was not an option.
Even if he did not rely on the power of the Mystic Eye, spell computation was something Verden had been confident in even before Defying the Heavens.
'...It's coming.'
His senses tingled.
He immediately spread
Almost at the same moment, Legrit cleaved through the darkness, swinging her staff. The force, concentrated with aura and magic power, ripped through the air savagely.
The aftermath blew away nearly half of the darkness caused by
Verden observed his opponent.
'That much power without using magic?'
Aura, magic power, and divine power—these usually stand in opposition.
Containing two, no, three of these forces in a single body may be possible, but to achieve a meaningful level with them is nearly impossible.
Dissonance.
Forces of different natures oppose one another.
They do not allow one side to grow strong, hindering and pulling against each other.
Of course, there were exceptions.
'The lifeforms created by Gluttony.'
The city of Martes, in the Duchy of Riviant.
There, he had faced the doctor's magnum opus, the new humanity, who absorbed both aura and magic power through consumption.
Though they lacked knowledge and thus could not use spells, the two forces were said to have been balanced—something he had read in the doctor's research notes.
And then, the transplantees.
Those who grafted multiple bodies together, whom he had personally witnessed strengthening themselves with aura while simultaneously casting spells.
But the opponent before his eyes was different.
If Gluttony individually wielded both forces, Legrit seemed to embody a kind of harmony.
Perhaps this was the trait of the War Mage possessed by the Arnak Empire.
'Or maybe, it is something further, a form of Mado itself.'
It was too early to judge.
A few exchanges were not enough information to analyze.
'Therefore, this must be a probing battle.'
Triple Casting.
A spear of lightning fell vertically.
At once, he predicted where Legrit would move and prepared the next spell.
But she did not evade.
Fwoooosh!
A strange wave of magic surged as she swung her golden staff.
Exposed to that wave, parts of Verden's spell unraveled or veered off, detonating in other places.
"War Mages undergo harsh training to wield both aura and magic power. Among them, those whose talent and effort are in complete union break past the extreme of magic manipulation, and step into the next stage, named 'Magic Control'. What you saw just now, is that power. And───"
Legrit charged.
At a speed surpassing that of the 3rd-tier
"Even without forming the structure of a spell, it is possible to wield magic power like a weapon."
At the tip of her staff, a blade of magic power flared.
Overlaid with aura, its destructive force and durability were multiplied.
'Magic Control....'
Quite an intriguing technique.
He wondered just how capable it truly was.
Narrowing his eyes, Verden focused magic power into Orient and swung.
Hundreds of small Fireballs poured down like a torrential storm.
Yet Legrit did not stop. She twisted the trajectory of the oncoming spells head-on, and cloaked herself in a mantle of scales woven of magic power.
The distance closed.
Legrit bared her fangs as she lunged.
The horizontal sweep of her magic blade sliced Verden clean in half. Naturally, it was not his true body.
A doppelgänger of magic power.
"...Such a delicate mastery of magic manipulation. To think you could fool my eyes, even if only for a moment."
Immediately, Legrit shifted into evasive maneuvers.
The next instant, a blue flash pierced the sky, roaring with thunder.
Somehow, Verden had already slid along the ground to a new position.
He tilted his head slightly back, and saw Legrit pursuing with fierce speed. She was gradually catching up.
Indeed, swifter than ordinary
'She insists on close combat.'
Though she was fully capable of using spells.
The reason was clear without saying.
She too, was conducting a probing battle.
One retreating and casting spells, the other advancing and seeking a decisive strike... the archetypal clash of warrior and mage.
The chase continued, hunter and prey.
A flow Verden did not particularly favor, especially not in the role of the pursued.
Thus, he had no intention of prolonging the battle in this manner.
This was the situation the opponent desired.
Instead, Verden's way was to exploit the opening in such moments.
Hoooh.
He abruptly spun his body.
Reversing his course, Verden swung Orient.
A shockwave imbued with gravity force blasted forward, and Legrit, hurled upward into the air, came crashing down at once.
A resounding crash of magic power and metal colliding.
Neither's strike ended in a single exchange; each flowed into the next.
Claaang! Claaaang! Kaga-ga-ga-gak!
Both sought the gaps they perceived.
The two staffs spun dazzlingly, crossing again and again.
Even with enchantments enhancing him, the difference in physical ability was clear—Legrit held the advantage. Verden's body tended to be pushed back, but it was still a fierce contest.
They clashed.
Face-to-face at close quarters, staring into each other's eyes.
"Judging by the overall clumsiness of your movements, you didn't learn under anyone formally... yet to think you could stand your ground against me, a Warlord. Your instinct and experience, they are truly remarkable."
"Thank you."
"And you even know how to maintain composure. But you spoke informally earlier, so why revert to honorifics? Drop the speech of respect, it doesn't suit you."
Verden did not refuse.
"Well, as you wish."
As if exchanging greetings, their dialogue was calm.
But reality was different.
Both sharpened their senses, anticipating each other's next move, and the one after that.
Though she had told him to go all out, both were blatantly concealing their true strength.
Legrit was, and so was Verden. To put it plainly, if he used the Mystic Eye, he could overturn the battle instantly.
'But I will not use the Mystic Eye.'
This was an exchange match, not a slaughter.
To reveal his full power in earnest would be out of the question. The Mystic Eye was one of Verden's most powerful weapons and means.
Still, there was no problem.
Since he was conversing, he had been computing magic all the while.
Pazik, Pajijik.
Electricity and heat spilled from his body, intermingling.
"...!"
Legrit reacted.
The very moment she did, Verden finished the computation and derived the result. Around him formed a dark-blue barrier, enveloping him.
It was Verden who broke the balance.
A dark wave spread outward.
Soundless yet pulsating, a circular expansion of destructive heat engulfed Legrit, erasing part of the ground.
Kwaaaa-krkkk───!
Legrit jammed the blade of her magic spear into the ground to halt herself.
From the golden armor that cloaked her body, faint heat rose. Of course, it was not over yet.
Orient came flying.
'...He threw the staff?'
An unanticipated move.
Whatever it was, it must not touch her.
Lowering her stance and striking upward at an angle, she deflected it, and as if waiting for that instant, Verden immediately closed in.
A claw of bitter frost imbued with thunderbolts.
Legrit already knew the destructive power of that 6th-tier composite magic. She barely twisted her waist, slipping from its path.
Then, Verden reached out his hand.
All his magic power focused into the palm.
'He intends to use lightning magic.'
It could be nothing else.
At this range, the most devastating attribute.
There was no reason to avoid it.
In the first place, in a head-on clash, there was no way she would lose. Drawing upon both aura and magic power, she drove her fist forward with all her strength.
At the moment of impact.
Jjjjeeeeong!
Legrit's arm was flung back.
A shock coursed through her wrist, past her shoulder, piercing her entire body. Eyes widened at the wholly unexpected outcome.
'Wait, no way, this is...!'
She had seen it somewhere before.
The memory was about to surface, but she could not settle it immediately.
A body stiffened, her balance broken.
Verden was not one to miss such an opportunity.
Orient returned from the air.
Grasping it, Verden spun his body wide, his eyes gleaming.
Kwaaaaaaang!
A torrent of gravity slammed into her abdomen.
Legrit was sent flying, crashing into a distant rocky mountain.
A magic battle saturated with prediction.
The first victory in this battle of wits belonged to Verden.
***
Thudududuk, thududuk.
Small fragments fell with dust.
Legrit, trapped within the crevice, at once forced her way out of the wall.
A throb.
"...Quite painful."
She had been struck squarely, defenseless.
On top of that, the shockwave had ravaged her insides. Had it not been for the artifact [Golden Radiance] cloaking her body, she might well have been forced to one knee.
'Strong.'
Asher, a strength impossible at that age.
His amount of magic power already exceeded the 6th-tier, and his speed of spell computation was grotesquely beyond description.
To execute high elemental spells and composite spells not once but several times, in mere seconds, without showing the slightest strain—there was no one like that, not even in the Arnak Empire.
And provocation did not work.
Outwardly, he might show faint reactions, but inwardly, he remained rational.
'And that technique....'
Legrit's right hand trembled faintly. The shock had yet to fade.
Yes, now she remembered.
She had seen it firsthand, a few years ago.
None other than in the Mado Nation.
'That is undoubtedly the Demon King's magic power technique,
Specifically,
During her visit to the Mado Nation as Warlord of the Arnak Empire, the Demon King of that time had personally demonstrated it.
The impression had been so profound that she remembered it vividly.
That was the problem.
'How can Asher use that?'
It was a unique possession passed down solely through the bloodline, a fact known to anyone, the very reason it was revered.
So then, could it be that Asher was of the Demon King's bloodline?
Neither through the Empire's intelligence network, nor through information within Ark, had she ever heard of any illegitimate offspring. Thinking about it, the age did not even match.
That left only one cause.
The Demon King's Tomb.
He must have gained something there.
A chill ran through her.
Unlikely though it seemed, but perhaps, just perhaps...
'He may not have inherited the blood, but he may have become the Demon King's successor.'
The very thought made her shudder.
If true, it would overturn the entire structure of the magical world.
Taken to the extreme, Asher could immediately declare himself the legitimate successor of the Demon King and lay claim to the throne of the Mado Nation.
His distinctive magic power technique itself was proof.
A secret, and an unknown.
Legrit's nature burned within her.
She wanted to know.
What it was he was hiding.
Boom!
Kicking off the ground, she returned before Verden.
Ash-gray hair, blue eyes.
Fixing him with an unyielding stare, Legrit spoke.
"Let's end this probing battle here."
Breathing deep, wringing her lungs to the limit.
Clenching her teeth, she gripped her staff firmly. Within her body, the two raging forces clashed, and then fused into harmony.
Mado
A path Legrit had pioneered, transforming magic power to fuse with another. Wrapped in a blinding golden light, her eyes gleamed.
"Show me your Mado, Asher."
The very air shifted, her momentum on a wholly different level from before.
Now, at last, the true strength of the captain of the Ark and a pillar of the Empire was emerging.
"If that's your wish."
Verden did not refuse.
Focusing his mind, he opened his own path.
Then countless elements rose around him, flickering into existence, then vanishing.
Mado
An aggregate of countless possibilities.
Verden's will became magic itself.
Kugugugugu...!
The air currents twisted.
The clouds that had filled the island's surroundings churned violently, twilight fell in an instant, and dark clouds loomed overhead.
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