episode_0091

The battle with Fernand had evaluation as its purpose.

The battle with Virsia had survival as its purpose.

The battle with Pascal had broadening knowledge as its purpose.

And the battle with Ermina was.

‘For growth.’

If so, there was no reason not to give it his all. That was the reason Ashel brought out his Demonic Eye from the start.

Kigigigik!

As his pupils turned blackish-blue, he simultaneously visualized the remnants of magic existing all around. The magic characteristic of a Saint-ranked mage was scattered like white mist. Ashel’s blackish-blue magic burrowed between them and occupied the space.

‘Ah…’

A space fully imbued with magic. Whether it was his own or not. Ashel felt a sense of fulfillment and curled up the corners of his mouth. Seeing that appearance, Ermina tilted her head to the side.

“You.”

A deep smile bloomed on her lips.

“You’re enjoying yourself, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

An immediate reply came back. Ashel’s eyes flickered between ink black and blackish-blue. It meant he was freely controlling the activation and deactivation of his Demonic Eye. And through this, he imposed psychological pressure on the opponent, implying he could use the Demonic Eye at any time.

Then the opponent had no choice but to be wary of a Demonic Eye whose abilities they didn’t even know. Power that could be turned on and off at any time could gain an advantage in battle just by being revealed. Look at the evidence. Even though the spar had begun, Ermina wasn’t showing any notable attacks; instead, she was narrowing her eyes as if wary, wasn’t she?

That alone was enough to grasp success. Ashel tilted his head slightly without hesitation.

That alone became the incantation.

Pajijik.

The lightning bolts occupying the space around Ashel moved according to Ashel’s command.

[Areseomdong (亞雷殲動)]

Kwarurururu!!

A horrifying lightning bolt shot out with the force to tear nerves to shreds.

Ermina reacted instantly. Her magic condensed to create a ring, and the lightning bolt shot inside it was sucked in, drawing a spiral.

And that drew a single blue planet.

[Changseong (蒼星): Heup (吸)]

A blue star born from using the magic of others as its origin. A spell requiring an incantation as complex as its principle. Ermina activated it instantly without any preamble. It was proof that her understanding and mastery of Saint-ranked magic had truly reached the heavens.

But the face of the one who created the star was not good.

‘She couldn’t absorb it perfectly.’

Ermina is an Archmage who has reached the 8th rank. Naturally, she had also mastered magic control, and could absorb the magic of a 6th-ranked mage as if it were nothing.

That’s how it should have been. However, Ashel’s magic wasn’t perfectly consumed by Ermina’s magic, and a part of it returned to its owner.

Is that even possible? A 6th-ranked mage, competing with an Archmage over magic control?

“It’s preposterous.”

Ermina let out a hollow laugh and glared at Ashel, who was making hand signs.

“Ena was raising a monster.”

She extended her finger forward. Simultaneously, the blue star that bloomed poured towards Ashel at supersonic speed. The ring surrounding the star spun wildly, grinding away at the floor and ceiling of the sparring arena.

Kwaddeuk!!

Gravity originating from the center of the star pulled Ashel. Instead of stubbornly resisting the force, Ashel simply floated his body and accelerated forward following the pull. Just before colliding with the star like that, he flicked his finger.

Kuuung!

A massive wave of magic collided with the star and advanced. Then the star’s rotation direction changed to the reverse, and the magic that formed the spell was reversed and scattered. Ashel forcibly seized the magic scattered like that and manifested a spell he had incanted.

[Takroe (濁雷)]

Pajijik!

A lightning bolt with no visible form shot out at high speed. Ermina dodged the attack relying solely on her senses. The lightning bolt, having lost its target and crashed into the wall, let out a massive boom, resounding through the space.

Dodging wasn’t enough. Ashel, who had entrusted his body to the pull and accelerated, surged towards Ermina. He firmly grabbed her face and unleashed a full-directional spell from his grasp.

[Taeroejusal (太雷走殺)]

[Revision]

[Ryu (流)]

Originally, it was a spell that shot out lightning bolts the size of a house, but the spell revised by Ashel’s hand revealed its form to the world in a completely different way.

Instead of compressing the immense energy, it was deliberately released. It covered the entire sealed space as it was, allowing the lightning bolts to swim freely through the space. Amidst the lightning that bloomed like that, a small form revealed itself.

[Horoe (虎雷)]

-Kyaaaaaak!!

A tiger whose entire body was made of lightning bolted forward, its mouth wide open, with the momentum to sever the waist of Ermina, who was held in Ashel’s hand.

Just before its teeth reached Ermina’s waist like that.

“It’s surprising.”

Kuuung!

From within Ashel’s grasp, Ermina’s telepathic message resonated heavily. Ashel twisted his face sharply and deployed wings of flame from his back. Just like that, he accelerated explosively and leaped far back. Immediately after, a star bloomed where he had been standing and exploded.

Kwaaaaaaang!!!

With a massive roar, the fully formed space Ashel had unfolded scattered.

In its center. Ermina, who had grabbed the Tiger Lightning by the scruff of its neck and made it burst, stood there with a fierce smile.

She should have been hit directly at point-blank range by Ashel’s magic and fully exposed to the lightning swimming through the space. Yet, her appearance was perfectly fine. The only part that took a hit was her cheek, where the muscles were twitching.

Ashel knew well that he couldn’t defeat Ermina with the recent attack. However, he had expected to inflict at least significant damage. His expectation was nicely off the mark.

It seemed he would have to raise the magic output even further to break through Ermina’s magic barrier and directly hit her physical body. Ashel exhaled a long breath and wiped the expression from his face.

Simultaneously, Ermina continued speaking.

“You. Are you really 6th rank? The power of your magic is already comparable to 7th rank. Except for not having a unique property, most 7th-ranked would not even be able to present you with a business card.”

“Lady Ermina.”

Ashel cut off her words. He generated electricity between his fingers and murmured lowly.

“I would appreciate it if you could be surprised later. I want to concentrate on the spar.”

“……Ha!”

Bold words and actions that might seem rude at first glance. But Ermina, far from being displeased, rather cast her spell with a cheerful smile.

She read Ashel’s gaze. It might have felt inorganic, but the emotions contained within were no different from a child lost in curiosity. A competitive spirit, a thirst for knowledge, and a faint madness.

A collection of emotions only seen in mages who have dedicated their lives to magic. Ermina saw her past self reflected in Ashel and pressed her palms together.

“Alright. I’ll put the surprise aside for now.”

“……”

“I only hope that you are a mature person who won’t whine about getting slightly hurt.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Ashel smiled lightly and swung his hand.

“There is no one else as mature as I am.”

Simultaneously manifested magic was born in the air. Soon, they surged fiercely towards each other.

[Noerang (雷浪)]

[Oseong (五星)]

The lightning shot out like a wave and the five orbiting stars collided. In that process, the lightning completely dissipated, and three stars were destroyed.

Kwaaaaaaaaa-!!

With the aftermath, a massive shockwave burst out, and simultaneously, the two stars that were not destroyed advanced towards Ashel’s abdomen. Ashel stacked shields like mad, condensed them to a single point, and slightly dodged, twisting the stars’ trajectory in a completely different direction.

Kkadeudeudeuk!

The shield that briefly touched the stars was shattered just like that. The stars whose trajectories were twisted went in different directions and crashed into the walls. Ashel, his eyes shining within the scattering smoke, thought calmly.

‘Ermina’s unique property is rotation.’

A brief collision. And a fact discovered through the spell’s reversal.

All of Ermina’s spells contained the subtlety of ‘rotation’. And every time they rotated once, the power of the magic doubled.

To call it a characteristic of Saint-ranked spells, Celine’s magic didn’t rotate so violently. Rather, it was closer to long-range bombardment, shooting stars like arrows.

Therefore, the rotation itself was highly likely to be evidence of Ermina’s unique property manifesting.

If so, the weakness was also clear.

Either stopping the rotation, or rotating it in the opposite direction to reverse it.

Pascal’s unique property was also specialized in penetration, but just as its power decreased when colliding with magic of the same type.

A mage’s unique property had clear disadvantages as well as advantages.

Because of that, a mage whose unique property was exposed was effectively fighting while revealing their weakness.

Ermina, too, could not be free from that rule once her unique property was detected by Ashel.

Being in a state where a clear strategy had emerged. Ashel didn’t hesitate to copy the subtlety of ‘rotation’ contained in Ermina’s magic into his own magic. He twisted it as it was and applied it in the opposite direction.

Imitation possible only for him, who possessed natural talent in magic.

“Huu.”

Ashel, having finished a quick deep breath, sharpened his eyes and pressed his palms together. Just like that, he twisted them diagonally to form a cubic prison made of lightning.

[Sabangjeon (四方電)]

Pajijijijik!!!

Thunder surged inside the prison. Ermina tried to calmly respond to the lightning striking her magic barrier, but she felt the speed at which the barrier was being削られる was unusual and furrowed her brow.

Soon, having realized the reason, Ermina wore a fierce smile.

“You bastard…!”

Although her title for him had been demoted from ‘you’ to ‘you bastard’, Ashel didn’t care and chuckled.

“It’s because I have slightly good eyes.”

“Was the power of the Demonic Eye imitation?”

“Well. I don’t know either.”

A blatant lie he uttered. Ashel activated his Demonic Eye for psychological warfare and increased the magic output.

Kwarururururu-!!

The surging vortex of lightning. Ermina quickly incanted high-level magic before her magic barrier disappeared. She exploded the rising sun as it was, making the entire prison burst.

Thanks to that, the lightning that had been trapped scattered in all directions. Ashel forcibly seized them and spread them low across the floor.

Soon. From below, flowers of lightning bloomed.

[Noehwagongmyeong (雷花共鳴)]

The beautifully bloomed flowers scattered lightning in all directions and resonated with each other.

A feast of thunder supplied infinitely.

Ashel gathered the flowers that had bloomed at his feet together and transformed their shape. He joined them with the resonating lightning, replacing the magic needed for high-level magic incantation. Ashel, having made hand signs as they were, summoned a colossal Thunder Dragon (雷龍) from the tightly closed ceiling.

[Noeryongdeungcheon (雷龍登天)]

[Revision]

[Nakcheon (落天)]

The Thunder Dragon, which should have ascended from below to above, instead fell from the sky.

The Thunder Dragon, its mouth wide open, struck Ermina’s physical body, spreading blackish-blue light in all directions and emitting light like mad.

Kwaang, Kwaaaang!!

The Thunder Dragon thrashing about to shatter the sealed space, tear, burn, and sear Ermina.

But Ermina, caught between the Thunder Dragon’s teeth, chuckled and generated a galaxy between her fingers.

“So, a high-level magic that creates and uses an external magic core through resonating magic. It has completely erased the weakness of lightning spells, which is magic consumption.”

Instead of replying, Ashel drew his finger from top to bottom. Then the rampaging dragon moved according to his will, soared up to the ceiling, and then plummeted back down.

Just before it reached the ground like that.

Kiiiiiiing!!

Simultaneously with dazzling light blooming from the Thunder Dragon’s mouth, its body was torn into hundreds of pieces.

Scattering lightning. Beneath it. Ermina, standing as if nothing had happened, threw the generated galaxy behind her back and murmured softly.

“The warm-up is over.”

Kwaddeudeuk!!!

The galaxy expanded. In the expanded ‘universe’ large enough to cover an entire side of the wall, countless stars emerged.

Ermina, standing before it, spread her arms wide and shouted.

“From now on, it is the stars’ time.”

“……Huu.”

Ashel didn’t reply and let out a long breath.

Then, at his feet, flames and lightning, frost, and smoke rose one after another and wandered around Ashel.

The fruit obtained through continuous research.

Simultaneous manifestation of multiple attributes.

The turn to perform that demonstration match had finally arrived.

Ashel curled up the corners of his mouth and simultaneously emitted frost and flames.

He brushed back his dishevelled hair and spoke.

“Here I come.”

Simultaneously with uttering the words, the flames and ice that bloomed in front of Ashel collided.

Saaaaaa…

Thick steam scattered like mist.