Ch.158Surpass – 4

Charlotte prided herself on being superior to everyone else.

Serena? Though they hadn’t fought to the death many times, whenever the opportunity arose, it was never Charlotte whose life was threatened first, but that woman’s.

Even if Charlotte had to overcome several near-death experiences, it was Serena who walked the tightrope with her life far more often. Not Charlotte.

It was always that woman who fell into danger first, who barely survived after desperately struggling in an unseemly manner, and who suffered more fatal wounds first.

Until now, they hadn’t been able to kill each other because the boy had desperately intervened in their fights, but Charlotte was certain that if such an opportunity ever came, she would undoubtedly be the one to survive.

So even if Serena was her equal, Charlotte didn’t place much value on it.

Christine? That mana nullification was the problem; without it, Charlotte could have crushed that woman regardless of holy power or whatever. This was a fact guaranteed by Charlotte’s husband.

Without mana nullification, Christine wouldn’t have been able to defeat Charlotte. That was an undeniable truth, so Charlotte let it slide with just a slightly bruised ego.

That bizarrely strange ability. Its origin unknown, how it worked, and even why it worked remained a mystery.

Without that ability, victory would have been Charlotte’s. She had to believe that. Only by surpassing Christine could she sever that neck, crush it, and claim the boy entirely for herself.

As for the woman who kidnapped Charlotte’s husband… honestly, Charlotte had to admit defeat.

Still, the possibility remained. Before being taken away, the boy had left words suggesting there was room for growth, and indeed, following that, she had found a means through the Dragon’s Ring.

It was a dangerous gamble that would cost her life if she failed. But Charlotte had gritted her teeth and succeeded, stepping into an entirely different world.

She thought that was the end.

However, the being Charlotte was now facing was something that transcended such concepts by far.

“Blessing the path you take, and trembling at not looking back.”

“The moon descends to earth, and the world begins to turn upside down.”

“The black sun shall lose its light, tremble and wail in that darkness.”

“Witness the end in the world, your demise has come.”

Four phrases flowed simultaneously from Charlotte’s mouth.

Multi-incantation.

It wasn’t casting multiple spells simultaneously, but rather dividing a single spell into several parts and casting them all at once—a formidable technique.

What should have been a lengthy incantation was divided into four parts, naturally reducing the waiting time to a quarter.

To illustrate, it was like having four hands—embroidering with one, weaving with another, spinning thread with the third, and stitching with the last.

Since humans have only one vocal apparatus, it was actually much more difficult, and the difficulty increased even further because ordinary humans couldn’t comprehend the sensation of having four arms.

Before that, most humans couldn’t even properly draw different shapes with each hand simultaneously, despite having only two arms.

Thus, multi-incantation was a casting method that only Charlotte could accomplish.

“Eclipse.”

As Charlotte finished her incantation, the sky was instantly covered in darkness. The boundary between light and shadow completely disappeared, and everything in the world was plunged into darkness.

And that darkness was entirely drawn into a sphere floating in the sky. The black sphere grew madly in size as it absorbed the darkness.

When all the surrounding darkness had been sucked into the sphere, the world had become much brighter. Only the black sphere remained apart from that bright energy.

However, the dragon standing before Charlotte merely calmly offered praise while looking at the black sphere.

—Excellent. There would be few dragons who could handle you if you entered a lair right now. If the others noticed this fact, it would evoke quite interesting emotions.

Ignoring such a gentle response, Charlotte drove the black sun down onto the dragon’s head. It was neither light, heat, cold, chill, nor anything else.

It was destruction itself, created solely to devour everything that existed under the protection of light.

—However, you’re still far from reaching me.

Red flames boiled up from within the dragon’s throat. The scales along its spine turned crimson red, and then the dragon straightened its neck and raised its head.

A torrent of red mana burst from its mouth.

The torrent of mana struck the black sun that was plunging downward. There was no explosion. No destruction or crushing occurred.

It simply, quietly, dispersed into mere mana.

It was too pitiful an end compared to the enormous danger and destructive power the black sun possessed. Charlotte clicked her tongue as she wiped away a drop of sweat flowing along her jawline.

‘…Time and power. Finding the balance between them is not easy.’

She could fire hundreds or thousands of spells that didn’t require incantations, creating magic circles in the air and launching them at will.

But such spells absolutely lacked power. Even if the dragon took them without any defense, they couldn’t even scratch its scales, so such magic was completely out of consideration.

Conversely, magic that might be able to penetrate those scales required Charlotte to recite lengthy incantations. Even Charlotte couldn’t simply cast such magic without preparation.

Although multi-incantation could dramatically reduce that time, it was naturally still much slower than instantaneous, non-verbal magic.

Not to mention the dragon’s attacks that would come during the time spent reciting the incantation.

This was the dilemma.

Magic that could be cast quickly enough to prevent the dragon from gathering its breath couldn’t actually harm the dragon.

Even when a rain of magical barrage poured down, the dragon stood there unaffected as if merely tickled, so Charlotte completely excluded such magic from her consideration.

Conversely, powerful magic that might potentially harm the dragon would be countered during the incantation time, and even if she managed to cast it, it would be easily nullified by the breath.

Such magic was limited to one per magic circle, so she couldn’t form a barrage or scatter multiple spells at once.

—Isn’t your method of handling mana wrong? You should spread it widely downward rather than flowing it upward.

And after nullifying her magic with its breath, it kindly advised her on the problems that needed correction. Charlotte disliked this even more.

It wasn’t meant as mockery. It was genuinely pointing out the problems in Charlotte’s magic. More fitting to what one might call practice.

Though reluctant to admit it, she had no choice but to acknowledge it.

That she and this lizard were on completely different levels.

—I wish you would reconsider even now. Your talent is truly at a precious level. If you had been born a dragon instead of a human, I would have taken you as my direct successor—that’s how valuable you are. So won’t you give me a more positive answer?

“I have no time for such things. Even now, my husband must be anxiously waiting for me. What meaning is there in knowledge gained by abandoning love? It’s absurd.”

Charlotte prepared her next spell, letting the persuasion go in one ear and out the other. The dragon still hadn’t moved from where it first landed.

If that was the case, she would force that body to move.

Charlotte gestured to cut off the waist of a large nearby mountain and teleported the entire upper half directly above the dragon.

As an entire mountain was teleported above its head, the dragon looked up. Though its dignity was like a great mountain, its actual size was nowhere near that of a mountain.

—Splendid, child. The more I see, the more I regret.

Ignoring the voice that kept resonating in her head, she pointed her finger downward. The massive mountain crashed down onto the dragon’s head.

Not metaphorically, but literally a mountain.

—I think I understand your intention. So, I should comply.

The dragon spread its wings wide. Then with just one flap, it soared upward.

Immediately, the ground collapsed, creating an enormous crater. It was because the ground couldn’t withstand the recoil created by the flapping wings.

A thick cloud of dust spread in a circle. Charlotte magically dispelled all the dust around her and looked for the dragon’s position.

The dragon was in the process of piercing through the mountain from bottom to top.

It hadn’t even struggled. With just one flap of its wings, it was soaring skyward, piercing through the entire mountain that had been thrown at it from below.

Chunks of broken rock and piles of soil rained down. The acrid smell of dust filled the air.

It hadn’t even used magic.

It had simply shattered the mountain by colliding with it.

Having soared to an incredibly high altitude, the dragon hovered in place, flapping its wings. Charlotte felt its gaze fixed directly on her.

—Child. Your mind is too hasty. How about calming yourself a little?

“Shut that mouth. Until I tear that cursed woman to pieces and bring my husband back, I have never been anything but impatient for even a moment. Who are you to arbitrarily judge my emotions?”

Since the boy was kidnapped, Charlotte had never not been angry. No matter how many humans she killed or what tortures she inflicted on the rebels, her anger simply wouldn’t subside.

Even normally, Charlotte was the type of person who would remember and brutally kill any woman who approached the boy, spoke to him, or even brushed against his clothes.

With such a temperament, some woman she had never seen before had thoroughly defeated her, demonstrated an overwhelming difference in ability, and taken the boy into a black void.

It was impossible not to be furious.

—When everything in the universe is meaningless to the one you love, what makes our child so impatient? That child has been given infinite time, and haven’t you also reached a level where time has no meaning?

“Everything in the universe is meaningless? Infinite time has been given? Must I listen to such nonsense? I’m not discussing the size of the wounds my husband will suffer. The very fact that what’s mine is being held by another woman is utterly disgusting, so what meaning does my husband’s regenerative ability have, and why should infinite time matter?”

—Regenerative ability?

Suddenly, the dragon questioned. The feeling was so intense that even Charlotte hesitated momentarily.

After pondering something alone for a while, the dragon conveyed its voice into her mind, filled with a sense of pity.

—So that’s what it was. To think our child had such a misunderstanding, I should correct that misconception first.

“Misconception?”

At Charlotte’s question, the dragon landed on the ground with a thud. It was an action filled with the determination to correct this one thing, even if everything else had to be postponed.

—My child.

The dragon lowered its head to meet Charlotte’s eyes.

—Do you truly believe that what the one you adore possesses is merely a regenerative ability?