Ch.71Decisive Battle (6)

When I came to my senses, both of us had long been expelled from the arena.

Ignius wasn’t worried since he wasn’t affected by magic created from his own magical power and was protected by Eterna’s magic, but Pelles was different.

The magic just now had been dangerous enough that Pelles could have died, so Eterna had no choice but to expel him from the arena in the end.

Eterna was watching all the matches from the top floor of the tournament building, serving as a judge.

She was particularly interested in the match between the Red Tower Master and the Black Tower Master.

‘That kid…’

Interest flickered in Eterna’s eyes.

It was amazing that he had not only improved upon the flame magic she had recently enhanced, creating his own unique flame, but had now even created magic in an entirely new domain.

She never expected him to recreate the explosion of a star.

And it wasn’t just Ignius.

That Black Tower Master kid, Pelles, also possessed remarkable talent.

He seemed to think he was inferior to Ignius, but…

‘How interesting.’

Eterna suddenly had such a thought.

Perhaps her lack of interest in this world and her focus solely on the forum was because she hadn’t made an effort to find joy in the present world.

If that was the case, then all of this was…

‘Midir, it’s all thanks to you, isn’t it?’

Eterna’s gaze shifted in another direction.

Where her eyes landed was a match where, unlike the two who had just been engaged in a fierce magical duel, two cute girls were simply facing each other.

“…Huh?”

The spectators were expressing confusion about what was happening.

And this wasn’t just limited to the audience.

“…What are they doing…?”

Even Eterna couldn’t understand what she was seeing.

* * *

Mental magic.

It’s quite an ambiguous type of magic.

There’s no doubt it can be cruel and powerful when used against creatures with the concept of a mind, but from a physical perspective, most of these spells make you wonder what they even are.

If there’s an area where they can shine, it might be in casting illusion magic, but unfortunately, illusion magic isn’t used very often.

How could moving something without substance directly impact combat?

Of course, if the opponent is weak, showing them an illusion might scare them into running away, but if they show any will to fight, illusions alone won’t be enough.

In the end, you need magic with substance that can deliver a direct hit.

But…

‘Is there something wrong with her head…?’

The Purple Tower Master, Alice, was confused by the current situation.

Until the match started, she had been fully prepared to forfeit immediately.

It was common sense.

The power of a dream mage is immeasurably weak.

How weak?

It’s at a level that can’t even be compared to other magic towers.

In a bad way.

How can you compare when you can’t attack?

And Midir knew this fact well.

So…

“Shall we duel with mental magic?”

Let’s duel with mental magic.

That’s what the Blood Tower Master, Midir Tepes, had proposed to her.

To her, the Grand Mage of Dreams!

Alice couldn’t understand.

She really couldn’t understand.

“Feel free to cast any mental magic you want.”

As soon as the duel began, the two girls approached each other, sat face to face, and held each other’s arms.

Alice was dumbfounded by what was happening, and…

“What’s going on…?”

“She’s holding hands with the Purple Tower Master?”

“Is this going to be a problem?”

“Wow… gasp… huh…”

The sight of two small, cute girls sitting on the dueling platform, holding hands in the middle of the arena, was adorable, but for those who came to watch a magic duel, it was confusing to say the least.

Of course, there were some who didn’t mind either way…

“Aren’t you going to use mental magic?”

At Midir’s question, Alice’s eyes widened.

This woman was serious.

She had willingly offered her body to have a mental magic duel with her.

‘I don’t know what she’s trying to do, but…’

Alice shook her head vigorously as if to clear her mind.

Since the other side had approached first and suggested a mental magic duel, there was no reason to refuse.

She must have had some thought behind this behavior.

Whether she was doing this deliberately to lose to her, or truly wanted to compete with her using mental magic… either way, there was nothing for her to lose, so it didn’t matter.

Since this was her first time dueling with mental magic.

‘I will definitely win…!’

Countless magic circles began to appear around Alice’s body.

“M-magic?”

“Are they fighting now?”

“But the Purple Tower Master can’t fight…”

“…”

Mental domination magic targeting humans, something she had never used before.

Even though it was mental magic, she didn’t want to hurt this kind girl who was being considerate of her, so Alice tried her best to dominate Midir’s mind.

And she had never failed at mental magic even once before.

Whether it was the targets she had used mental magic on until now, or when facing magical beasts, she had always penetrated the opponent’s mind without any hindrance and turned them into her puppets.

She thought this time would be the same.

At least for her, it was a given.

She was confident that when it came to human minds and her magic, she would never lose.

That was certainly the case.

‘Huh…?’

The mental magic wasn’t working.

More precisely, it was working, but…

‘Is this… a mental world…?’

It half-worked, you could say.

She had entered a strange space where she couldn’t even be sure if she had entered the mind or not.

Alice looked around with trembling eyes.

She couldn’t identify where she was.

Had she used the magic correctly?

This had never happened before.

She was sure she hadn’t made any mistakes when casting the spell, so why did it turn out like this?

As all sorts of questions filled her mind,

“…?!”

Alice felt something strange pass through her body.

Then,

“This is…”

When she came to her senses, what entered her vision was an old-fashioned mansion, and the sight of herself walking through its garden.

Why was she here? As that question arose,

“Welcome.”

At the sudden voice, Alice reflexively turned her head to see…

“I didn’t expect this to happen, but… welcome.”

Midir was sitting at a table with a wine glass in hand, giving her a gentle smile.

“Why are you here…”

“I don’t know either.”

“Huh?”

“The title of Grand Mage of Dreams isn’t wrong. But seeing how you maintain your self-awareness…”

Midir swirled the blood-red wine in her glass and smiled wryly.

Her small fangs reflected in the light.

“What happened…? This has never happened before…”

“To put it simply, you’ve been completely defeated.”

“What?”

What did that mean?

As Alice expressed her confusion, Midir flicked her finger.

Then, as the sensations of reality flooded into her mind, Alice’s eyes widened.

– Midir-niiim…♡ Hehe… hehehehe… Give me a kissss…

– No! I want to be with Midir-nim!

“Wh-what? Huh?”

What were these memories?

As Alice was confused, Midir spoke as if troubled.

“Vampires can use charm magic, you see. As a True Ancestor, there’s no living being immune to it… but this is the first time I’ve seen someone maintain their self-awareness while their unconscious mind falls under the charm.”

Despite Midir’s explanation, Alice continued to wear a blank expression.

Unable to continue explaining, Midir remained silent for a moment before quietly saying,

“I’m sorry. Let me… try to explain better.”

At Midir’s words, Alice slumped to the ground.

‘Ah…’

It was over.

Completely over.

She had been defeated even in mental magic.

Not only defeated, but she had been caught in a charm magic, a mental magic she had never heard of before, and had shown unseemly behavior for a Tower Master by clinging to Midir.

Tiny tears fell from Alice’s eyes as she wore a blank expression.

Midir clicked her tongue as she watched the poor girl who was on the verge of losing what little self-awareness she had left.

She muttered that she shouldn’t have suggested a mental magic duel if she had known this would happen.