Chapter 81 – This Insufferable One

This Insufferable One

“I thought if I became the god of magic, I could revive my parents… No. I don’t need it anymore. Look, Erdas-nim. I fulfilled your wish. I became a god! I fulfilled your wish that killed my parents!”
Tears flowed down Milene’s cheeks, wetting the ground.
Her mouth corners were turned up, but no one would think she was smiling.

“I, fulfilled it.”
Eventually, Milene roughly rubbed her face with both hands as if she couldn’t stand herself.
Even as flesh was torn by her nails and blood burst forth, Milene was still making laughing sounds.

After her laughter stopped, in the quiet atmosphere, I casually said,
“You know. Do we need to fight? Erdas is dead now. You can return to a normal life too.”

Of course, I can’t send her back to a normal life right away. After all, Milene still has to pay for her crimes.
‘But there’s room for leniency.’
In the end, both Milene and I are victims of that crazy old man Erdas.

“That’s right. Erdas-nim is dead. By my hand. Kyahat. Successful product. Do you know how funny it was when Erdas-nim died? He was crying and making a fuss, saying he had to see the birth of the god of magic. With an expression that said he never dreamed he’d die by my hand.”
“…I see.”

“But, I didn’t feel very good. I wonder why. I avenged my parents. No, that’s not right. I killed my parents.”
“Calm down. It’s all that Erdas guy’s fault.”

“…Thank you. Successful product. You know, do you know what I thought when I saw you happily spending time with those children?”
Milene no longer turned up the corners of her mouth. Instead, she just spoke softly while staring at me with eyes full of deep darkness.

“I was a little envious. If I had said no when our parents took me to Erdas back then. I might have been living such a life too—I thought.”
…With those final words, Milene’s atmosphere changed dramatically.

She pointed at her head with her finger and said in an exasperated voice,
“It keeps, from earlier. Here. It keeps saying, over and over and over and over and over and over,”

“…to kill the humans who made me suffer. So, I decided to do it. Successful product. I’m sorry.”
Milene was resolute. As if the option of not doing so never existed in the first place.

‘Negotiation failed.’
And so, the battle between Milene and me began.

It’s fortunate that there’s no one around.
If there were, they would all have turned to ash and disappeared.

Dazzling magic spells collide with each other, creating intense sonic booms.
The ashes of magic spells that neutralize each other in mid-air settling on the ground look like the debris of stars falling like rain.

Dozens, no, hundreds of magic circles covering the sky.
Considering that ordinary magicians can use one or two spells, this was already a battle beyond comprehension.

As soon as the battle started, Milene spread her two pairs of wings wide and rose into the air, shouting as if she couldn’t contain her joy.
“Kyahat!!! You know, Successful product! I feel alive!”

‘So were you dead until now?’
All the magic spells created in sync with my and Milene’s hand gestures are aimed at each other.

When the speed of casting spells reaches its extreme, even such hand gestures become incantations for casting a spell.
This is because hand gestures filled with mana act as a kind of incantation.

The sight of two beings at the pinnacle of magic pouring out spells with just hand gestures was like an orchestra conductor, beautiful enough to make viewers inadvertently exclaim in admiration.
Of course, the magic being displayed was not something to be leisurely appreciated.

“Kyahat. Are you deliberately imitating me?”
“You must be imitating me…!”

Whether it’s because we’re both from the same experimental background or not, the types of magic Milene and I use are similar. It feels a bit like fighting another version of myself, to exaggerate.
I had a slight advantage in spell casting speed and precision, but the problem was that enormous amount of magic power.

Even when using the same spell, her power was greater, so I had no choice but to counter with more spells or just block by layering barriers.
Of course, neither was as easy as it sounds, and I was feeling a headache as if my eyeballs might pop out at any moment.

‘…Since becoming this body, I’ve never felt lacking in magic power.’
Today was the first time I felt that lack.

“Kyahat! What are you doing?! Are you just going to keep defending?! Successful product!!!”
Milene gestured in the air again with a triumphant expression. Matching her movements, threads of magic power spread out like a sunset.

Eventually, the threads formed magical letters, and the magical letters formed a magic circle.
These magic circles continued to multiply. From one to two, from two to four, from four to eight.

The fierce flames that began to condense started to grow in size as if to melt everything they touched.
The time it took to reach that point was just one second.

The heat from the flames spewing from the magic circles that suddenly filled my vision made it a bit difficult to breathe.
‘I don’t like hot things.’

Unfortunately, I was in a position where I had to withstand that spell.
While water-attribute magic would have an advantage over fire magic in terms of compatibility, it’s meaningless against that level of firepower.

Judging that enduring was the best option, I immediately thrust the staff I was holding into the ground and layered as many protection spells as possible.
This level of defense could withstand even if all the magicians in the empire simultaneously unleashed their magic, at least for a short while.

Whoosh!
The flames rushed towards me as if they had a will of their own, and soon violently collided with the magical barrier I had spread.

Like the shell of an egg with multiple layers cracking, the magical barriers surrounding me melted away one by one, unable to withstand the heat.
Because the heat wasn’t completely blocked, my whole body felt as hot as if I were in a sauna. I wondered if I might turn into a boiled egg at this rate.

‘It’s disgustingly hot…!’
Fortunately, Milene’s flames dissipated into the air, leaving one layer of barrier remaining.

“How long are you going to keep defending? Successful product? Kyahat.”
She didn’t seem to tire at all, continuously pouring out various spells towards me even after that. All with a bright smile on her face.

She looks so happy that it’s hard to believe she’s the same person who was crying just moments ago.
…Regaining the will to live like this wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

All objects around us lose their shape and scatter freely in all directions under the barrage of her spells.
The only thing maintaining its form there is me alone.

As I endured those formidable spells with just a single barrier between us, I couldn’t help but want to give up and go home.
‘But I can’t do that.’

Because there’s a difference in magic power between Milene and me, I can’t waste magic. In other words, I need to counterattack as efficiently and precisely as possible.

That’s why I’m silently blocking her attacks for now.
If this one-sided development continues, she will surely show an opening.

As I was calmly blocking her spells and looking for a chance to counterattack,
“Lady Ariel!? What in the world…! Who is that?”

A group of knights in the same attire appeared, stepping on the debris of the ruined buildings.
‘What are you doing here…!’

I remembered the face of the person who spoke to me from the front. Probably the captain of the Imperial Knights.
While their military strength is strong, it’s not at a level to interfere in this battle. And seeing them, the corners of Milene’s mouth turned up greatly.

“Nice to meet you. Sir Knights.”
“Is it a demon?! All members, release your sword energy! The magic power emanating from that one is unusual!”

The members moved in perfect unison, releasing their sword energy towards Milene at the captain’s command.
Whoosh!

The sword energy advanced fiercely, tearing through the air.
Its power was so strong that the ground they were standing on instantly caved in.

But,
“Oh? Is this all? How boring. Kyahat.”

There’s no way their sword energy could even scratch Milene’s barrier, which even withstands my magic.
“Im-Impossible…! We, we couldn’t break even one barrier?!”

“Captain! The demon is moving!”
While everyone except me was in shock, Milene gracefully gestured towards them.

With just that motion, a vortex was created centered on the extremely unstable, condensed mana.
This was a storm of magic power that swallowed everything around it.

…No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t seem like they could survive if they were hit by that.
“Really…!”

I quickly teleported in front of them and immediately spread a barrier with all my might.
I tasted the tang of blood in my mouth. Even for me, instantly spreading a protective spell that could withstand that level of magic, covering dozens of people, was straining.

Boom!
Eventually, the intense storm of magic power engulfed them, and fortunately, the barrier I spread, though tattered, performed its role admirably.

But it wasn’t time to breathe a sigh of relief.
‘Here it comes again…!’

“How about this? Yap.”
At the tip of her fingers, after reciting a short incantation, massive energy began to condense. It looks like she’s going to fire some kind of destruction beam.

“Ca-Captain! The members’ feet are bound by an ice magic spell. We can’t move!”
“Captain!”
“Everyone stay calm! Strengthen your bodies with mana and prepare for the magic!”

But this time, I didn’t just watch.
Not missing the moment when she took her eyes off me and looked at the knight members, I immediately deployed a binding spell on her.

Then, chains of light filled with magic power rose from the ground and wrapped around her. That’s not all.
“Kyahat. You’re doing something interesting. Successful product.”

Adding a gravity spell that momentarily distorted space, even she was just barely holding on.
But just binding her wasn’t enough.

“You guys, when I give the signal, shoot your sword energy or something! At that one!”
“Sw-Sword energy, you say? Understood! Men, prepare!”

Mobilizing my brain’s computational ability to its maximum, I deployed as much magic power as I could.
Eventually, dozens of magic circles appeared around Milene, who was bound in mid-air.

…Each one contained magic power surpassing what ordinary magicians could deploy at full power.
The magic indicated by the magic circles was fire magic.

It was a spell that compressed the range affected by the flames while maximizing the firepower.
“Please just fall already.”

You insufferable one.
…Shortly after, dozens of magic circles simultaneously emitted light at my signal.