Ch.83Decisive Battle: Second Half (Intermission)

“Huff…”

As the light from the explosion faded, Ignius finally able to look around, rolled his eyes to survey his surroundings.

The Supernova had activated successfully.

Successfully enough for him to be certain of it.

Despite this being only the second time he had used it directly against someone, he had executed the spell perfectly.

This was only possible because he was Ignius.

‘With this, it should be more than enough…’

The corners of Ignius’s mouth twisted upward.

He was certain that Midir had been hit by his magic.

He thought it was a strategy worth trying, believing that even Midir couldn’t do anything against a spell with enough firepower to blow away the entire arena.

Some might think this was an exaggeration, but such thoughts were only for “ordinary people.”

Anyway, his plan had actually worked, so wasn’t that all that mattered?

As Ignius leisurely searched for Midir’s position, surveying the arena left barren by the aftermath of the supernova explosion, he suddenly felt something strange.

‘Blood stains…?’

Blood stains still remained in the surroundings.

‘Why are there still blood stains…?’

Supernova was a spell that embodied a star’s explosion, literally “annihilating” the area.

His Supernova had such overwhelming firepower that the word annihilation was appropriate.

But…

‘It’s strange that mere blood stains remain…’

It was definitely odd that blood stains, which should have been completely swept away by the explosion’s aftermath, were blatantly remaining on the ground.

And…

‘This is strange…’

Setting aside how the blood stains remained, there was an even bigger issue.

‘There’s no way Eterna wouldn’t have taken action…’

If his magic was about to kill his opponent, or if something similarly dangerous was about to happen, Eterna had said she would personally intervene by manipulating space.

Even though this place was an alternate dimension created by Eterna herself as a phantom subspace, it was a precaution against any possible danger.

In fact, when the barrier couldn’t withstand Supernova’s firepower and was about to break, she directly moved him and Pelles outside. This clearly showed that Eterna was definitely focused on the match.

If she hadn’t pulled them out before the Supernova he activated could touch Pelles, Pelles could have been seriously injured. Given this, Ignius thought Eterna’s judgment couldn’t possibly be wrong.

However, if her judgment couldn’t be wrong, then the current situation actually meant something else.

‘Could it be…?’

If Eterna had responded as usual, there’s no way Midir would still be here…

So it had to be one of two things.

Either Eterna made a mistake and didn’t respond,

Or there was no need to respond in the first place.

‘No way…’

Ignius broke into a cold sweat.

That couldn’t be possible, could it?

Supernova’s firepower was strong enough to break even Eterna’s barrier.

How could someone take that head-on, at point-blank range, and still be fine?

Does that even make sense?

Even as he thought it was impossible, Ignius gulped, unable to believe the current situation.

‘No, that can’t be…’

Supernova was a spell created specifically to counter Midir.

To counter the powerful blood magic that could split even meteor spells in half, he had researched magic that would be meaningless to split, and among those, he had created a spell with the strongest firepower.

How many months of trial and error had gone into creating this spell?

Even for someone as talented as him, developing Supernova had been no easy task.

It was truly his masterpiece, no exaggeration.

A spell so powerful that it annihilated everything in all directions the moment it exploded…

‘She blocked it with just blood?!’

That’s nonsense.

It’s something that shouldn’t be possible by common sense.

No matter how much he thought about it, the fact that the match hadn’t ended yet suggested that Midir hadn’t taken any damage, leaving Ignius anxiously continuing to look around for her.

‘Then these blood stains…?!’

Are they not traces of blood magic?

Just as he was panicking at the thought, the blood stains began to wriggle and rise up.

Eventually, they formed the shape of a person, and Midir appeared, completely unharmed.

“Your firepower is certainly strong.”

“What…”

Ignius’s jaw dropped in astonishment.

He knew she was no ordinary being.

But…

‘What the hell is she…?!’

How could a person come back to life from blood?

Watching the blood transform into a human shape as if it had its own consciousness, Ignius muttered with a speechless expression.

“How… are you alive?”

“Hmm? The way you speak makes it sound like you wanted me to die.”

“That’s not it! I’m asking how you survived the Supernova!”

“Isn’t that the same thing?”

“If you were in mortal danger, Eterna would have moved us outside…!”

But she didn’t.

Instead, seeing Midir proudly emerge from the blood stains scattered on the floor, Ignius couldn’t help but feel confused.

Seeing her take form from the blood stains, it seemed like she had indeed been hit by his magic, but looking at her condition, she didn’t appear to have taken any damage at all.

That part was completely incomprehensible to him.

“Well… to tell you the truth without any lies, as you thought, I didn’t take any damage at all.”

“What do you mean…”

“I had no choice but to be hit by the Supernova. It was certainly impressive how you caught me off guard by creating the magic circle high in the sky and completing it remotely.”

Of course, it wasn’t impossible for Midir to detect the Supernova being created high above.

Although she claimed not to use magic, Midir was undoubtedly a member of the Hero’s party, a being with enough power to vanquish the Demon King.

Not just in terms of power, but also in experience, technique, and every other aspect, she stood in a position that Ignius couldn’t compare to.

This was also why, despite the overwhelming difference in compatibility and firepower, Seria had a good chance of defeating Ignius.

In a way, it was simple.

Because Midir had let her guard down, she didn’t expect him to remotely activate magic from such a height and drop it down, evading her eyes.

So she was hit.

“I suppose you could say I lost. Even if I say I let my guard down, the result is that I was hit by your magic.”

But…

“Unfortunately, killing me is impossible.”

Midir cannot die.

No matter what attack.

There was no way except to touch the soul itself.

Even if one could touch her soul, Midir’s rank was that of a Transcendent.

Unless it was another Transcendent, and one that could touch souls at that, there was no way to kill Midir.

She was truly a being worthy of the word “immortal.”

That was what a True Ancestor was.

“Well, I did have a way to avoid it if I wanted to. But that would have been a matter of pride, so I just took the hit.”

“What are you talking about.”

“If you want to know, you can come ask me later. It might be an opportunity for you to eliminate your weakness. I think you fought well enough already.”

“Ha, haha…”

Ignius laughed with a hollow voice.

“So if you want, I’ll face you seriously from now on.”

“You just said you were serious… so you weren’t serious before?”

“…Honestly, no. How could I be serious against a kid? But I did put in some effort, so don’t be too disheartened.”

“Damn it…”

Ignius hung his head low.

Whether her claim to face him seriously this time was true or not, the atmosphere around Midir had sharpened to the point where it was hard to believe it was the same Midir as before, and that sharp edge approached right up to his neck.

At this, Ignius smirked.

He couldn’t run away at this point, could he?

Since it had come to this.

“Until the end…”

Swoosh!

“I’ll fight…”

Crash!!

Something swept past.

“…?”

Drip

Ignius rolled his eyes as he touched the blood flowing from his cheek.

What Midir had just done was merely flinging blood.

But the aftermath was beyond imagination.

“Insane…”

The barrier formed beyond the arena behind him was destroyed.

Through the split space, the view beyond the subspace could be seen.

It was a simple spell.

No, perhaps it wasn’t a simple spell at all.

A slash that cuts through the world couldn’t possibly be a simple spell.

“Huh…”

Ignius instinctively realized.

He couldn’t win.

The being before him, far surpassing him… it was absolutely impossible to defeat this girl who stood in an unreachable position.

“…I surrender.”

For the first time, he was able to objectively assess himself clearly.

It was the Red Tower Master’s defeat.