Perfect Transcendence
by Afuhfuihgs
Ellie’s eyes narrowed to slits at the sight of another Ross calling himself the King of Wizards. Noticing this, Ross firmly raised his index finger as if to say, don’t doubt me.
[Maelstrom―――]
“…?”
Magical power condensed on his index finger, creating a small sphere. The pure white sphere slowly rotated, transforming its presence, distorting and twisting the surrounding space, sucking it into itself as if tearing it away.
What appeared as the space disappeared was pitch-black darkness. That darkness was severing everything. Even the laws of the world, the storms of probability and causality.
To Ellie, it all looked like a magical phenomenon. Magic that defied the laws of physics, creating rifts in space itself and collapsing the world, was beyond her comprehension.
She wanted to deny it, but Ellie had a pure heart when it came to magic. When such magic appeared before her, she could only gape stupidly, unaware that her mouth was hanging open.
“Ah…!”
That sphere, smaller than a fist, possessed the power to destroy an entire world. Ellie couldn’t help but gasp at Ross’s ability to create something so dangerous so easily without any preparation.
Even the future her, who had become a Great Wizard, would find such an ability nearly impossible. And it wasn’t [Authority] borrowed from the power of a god, or a special ability. It was created solely from magical knowledge.
A true wizard who had transcended the limits of wizards, reaching perfect transcendence.
There wasn’t a wizard who wouldn’t call him the King of Wizards.
“So, are your doubts resolved?”
Ellie found Ross’s sly grin unsettling, but she sighed and admitted it.
“Of course… how could I doubt you after seeing that? I’m not that stupid.”
The artificial phenomenon was created by the harmony of hundreds of strands of magical energy, each smaller than a strand of hair, within that sphere. At this level, he could overwhelm Ellie with the power of his spells alone.
When Ross folded his finger, the sphere that had been rotating with fierce momentum disappeared as if it were a lie. Ellie almost fainted at the sight. The sphere, with the power to destroy a world, vanished with just a flick of his finger.
She had expected him to gradually reduce the magic’s power using magic or other special devices, and then dispel the spell, but he ended it with just a flick of his finger… Ellie felt like all her magical common sense was being denied.
Seeing Ellie like that, Ross laughed heartily.
“Why are you so surprised? This is all thanks to your help.”
“…From another world?”
“Yeah, in my world, you were my teacher. Well, later I became too outstanding and became the teacher.”
“Did we not get along in that world? I keep feeling the urge to swing my staff.”
“…We were the best of friends. So much so that we wouldn’t use magic on each other, no matter how angry we were.”
As he said that, Ross subtly avoided her gaze, making the quick-witted Ellie think that the Ellie of that world definitely wouldn’t have suppressed that impulse. Ellie stared at Ross for a moment, then turned her gaze back to her wrist, and something came to mind.
“Do you happen to have a bracelet with green runic letters on your wrist?”
Ross, who had been looking at his wrist, raised his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth.
“How do you know about that? This is magic based on [Authority], completely different from the magic of our world. Does the you in this world know something about the Administrator’s magic?”
His eyes were so clearly filled with interest that Ellie quickly replied.
“No, that’s not it. I just saw it in the memories that the Ross on my back gave me. It was a special magic from the Administrator that helped me travel to other worlds. Magic that could avoid the world’s rejection.”
For a moment, magical power flickered in Ross’s eyes. Ross, who had been lost in thought, smiled and waved his arm.
[Mindscape (心想世係)―――]
As soon as Ross finished speaking, the space where Ellie was standing instantly changed. It felt like entering someone’s room. The signs of life were still there, and there were unsorted socks and trash on the floor.
“This is….”
“I thought the story would be long. It’s better to have a comfortable conversation if possible.”
Mindscape… a unique magic containing Nelson’s uniqueness, like a snow globe, capable of constructing a small world of fantasy using one’s own mind. Noticing Ellie’s shaking eyes, Ross shrugged and explained as if it were nothing special.
“I told you, you were my teacher. Especially you, you were a person who never spared anything when it came to magic. No, it was a situation where you couldn’t spare anything. Because you wanted to use me to find Roel.”
While speaking seriously in a slightly lowered voice, Ross’s legs were busily shoving the socks and trash on the floor under the bed. Ellie didn’t like this scattered Ross, who was devoid of any seriousness, but his words endlessly stimulated her interest.
“What are you talking about? You wanted to find Roel?”
Ross, rubbing his forehead, approached Ellie and leaned in slightly, whispering.
“Roel went missing in our world.”
“…What?”
“I couldn’t find Roel anywhere at my entrance ceremony. No one else knew where Roel had gone either. Well, I was able to find out why Roel disappeared when my world was destroyed.”
Ellie stuck out her tongue and moistened her dry lips, asking.
“…What was the reason?”
“A test.”
“…”
“He was checking to see what would happen to a world without him. So he immediately moved on to the next world. Well, giving variables like that once in a while isn’t a bad method. It’s just a shame that it was my world’s turn.”
Without showing much regret, Ross pulled the Ross on Ellie’s back and laid him down on his bed.
“Hmm… the mirror really had a fatal distortion. Seeing my face directly like this, I’m definitely handsome-! If you round up, I can definitely be in Roel’s league.”
“No, that’s not true.”
Ross pouted his lips at Ellie’s retort, even in her dazed state, and turned his body.
“Anyway, let’s go back to the story from earlier.”
Ross waved his hand, levitating a kettle of coffee and teacups in the air, and pulled out a chair. At his gesture to sit, Ellie sat down, and Ross poured her coffee with a graceful demeanor, giving her a cheesy smile.
“Miss, this is our ambitious work, Winter is Com―er―urk!, freshly made with ground northern beans!”
In the end, Ellie couldn’t stand the cheesiness and punched Ross in the stomach.
“…?!”
Strangely, it felt too good. Like a punching bag she had hit thousands of times. Should she say the impact was good? She didn’t hit him that hard, but Ross’s exaggerated reaction made the impact even better. Ross, pretending to be in pain, slumped down in the opposite chair, rubbing his stomach, and said.
“Ouch, can’t you even joke around! It’s a problem that your fists come out first, you know? I’m okay, but if you marry Roel later and hit him like this, it’s domestic violence! You have to fix the habit of throwing your hands first, even now!”
When Ellie subtly raised her fist again, Ross immediately changed the subject as if nothing had happened.
“…So, the Ross lying on the bed has the ability to travel to other worlds?”
It seemed like he had done this once or twice before, as his voice tone and expression completely changed. Ellie snorted and said.
“Yeah, the magic that the Administrator intervened and added to the Magic Book of Patulga suddenly sent Ross to another world. But he can’t use it now. He couldn’t use it freely either….”
As if he had been holding it all along, Ross checked the contents of the Magic Book of Patulga as soon as Ellie finished speaking, sighed, and threw the magic book onto Ross’s chest on the bed.
“I knew the latter part was unreadable. But for the Administrator to intervene and deliberately lend such an ability even for a short time, the Ross in this world must be quite loved. Still, isn’t this blatant discrimination? How much easier would it have been if I had been given such an ability when I was suffering in the labyrinth, barely clinging to life!”
Ellie blinked slowly and said.
“No, because he’s the last Ross. Of course, they’ll try to help him with anything without holding back.”
“?”
“?”
The two, who had been looking at each other as if they couldn’t understand each other, finally realized why the conversation wasn’t flowing.
“The last one?”
“You didn’t know he was the last one?”
The two voices overlapped at the same time. Ross, with a shocked expression, slowly turned his head to the side and looked straight at you.
Then, he used his magic to ask.
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