Chapter 349 – Prometheus Plot (3)

‘Space magic!’

The space was broken without the enemy uttering one syllable. Space magic ignored normal defenses and could cause a fatal wound with just a light scratch, and this was at least at the level of an 8th circle killing magic! The tips of Theodore’s bangs were cut off the moment he warned his colleagues, causing his spine to turn cold. If he had delayed for even a few more seconds, his head would be gone.

However, Theodore regained his composure and shouted loudly, “Aquilo! Don’t transform! You will die as soon as you become a dragon!”

Common sense dictated that it was absurd, but his judgment was correct. Dragon bones were surrounded by scales even stronger than mithril, but they couldn’t overcome the magic that directly interfered with space. In particular, the enemy magician was a monster who had reached the 9th circle and could easily overcome a dragon’s magic resistance. If Aquilo took the form of a dragon, she would just be an easy target.

“I understand! I will trust you this time, Boy!”

It was unknown if the pride and arrogance of the dragons would allow them to follow Theodore’s instructions, but Aquilo was different. She had realized her limitations during the fight against Pride and that Theodore’s power surpassed her.  Several compressed water beads appeared around Aquilo as she prepared to fight in human form, firing compressed water at extremely high pressures.

Kakiing.

However, there were one person who switched to attack mode quicker than she did.

“Showing a gap in front of me, what an idiot!” Randolph accelerated so fast that his body was a blurry afterimage, while the light of aura from his two blades stretched out like a comet tail. Exceeding the speed of sound, Randolph’s swords swallowed up the enemy.

Clovis Two Swords Style.

Special Hidden Meaning Technique.

Thunder Claws.

It was Randolph’s perfect deadly blow. The whirlpool of blue aura maintained its momentum, not leaving a single piece of flesh behind. This was different from five years ago. Randolph had perfected his family’s swordsmanship since then, and his speed had more than doubled. If he concentrated his aura, he could even cut mithril.

‘…What?’

However, the sensation under his hand was strange. It felt lighter than a thin piece of wood, like air―

“Randolph!” Theodore’s voice awakened him.

Jeeeong!

A merciless shockwave blew Randolph body far away. If he hadn’t blocked reflexively, he might’ve died from just one blow. As blood ran down his throat, Randolph floated through the air and realized his mistake. Transcendence—he had forgotten what this name meant in reality.

‘Damn, it would be a disgrace to die like this.’

The magician was aiming his staff at Randolph, who had yet to land on the ground and whose aura was still shaky. It was impossible for him to defend against or avoid this blow. The reaper’s scythe was aiming at his neck. It was at this moment that…

Pipipipiping! The tip of the staff was shaken by arrows that came at it from every direction.  Titania had covered for Randolph from the rear. The transcendent stopped trying to kill Randolph and aimed at Titania instead.

“□□□□,” the transcendent muttered a word, and the arrows that could pierce through walls of steel turned toward their owner.

Complex magic that combined both distortion and refraction was completed in an instant! Titania started evasive maneuvers in response, while Theodore measured the capabilities of the enemy transcendent after seeing these spells. The spells drove Randolph into a corner and completely neutralized the projectiles. This wasn’t even the full extent of the enemy’s abilities. Monster was the only word that would emerge to describe their enemy.

‘He avoided Randolph’s aura by expanding the space. Shortly afterward, he shrank the space and created a shockwave. The magic that reflected the arrow is a higher application method that makes all physical forces flow in the reverse direction… I can’t beat him with space magic.’

Even if it was Orta with his magic eyes, there was no reason to fight a magician in the same field that they had already reached the peak. Theodore envisioned a few strategies in an instant and delivered a message to Aquilo. The two of them were connected by blood, so they were able to communicate at high speeds.

[Okay, I will attempt what you said,] Aquilo responded.

Unlike Randolph, who had just started to stand up, and Titania, who was avoiding the arrows she fired, Aquilo had room to move. The beads floating around her headed in one direction, and the transcendent looked back as he sensed them. However, Aquilo’s attack was quicker.

Piiiiiik.

The eight beads shot forward as water jets. It was an attack method that exceeded Randolph’s swords and Titania’s arrows when it came only to speed. Several years ago, Theodore had almost been killed by this water jet when he first met Aquilo.

32 jets of water shot out almost simultaneously, aiming for the space where the arrows had been shot.

“□□□.”

At that moment…

Wuuuong…!

Even so, Aquilo’s attack was blocked. There was no time to reflect them, but the water jets coming from all directions were blocked. It was a simple response to an attack that was several times faster than the speed of sound, as well as proof that a surprise attack wasn’t enough to put him in the wrong spot.

“No, you thought you blocked it.” However, Aquilo ridiculed him as if she had foreseen this situation.

The ‘real attack’ wasn’t the water jets. A blue dragon’s true power was their absolute dominance over the ‘moisture’ that existed in this material world. The water jet was Aquilo’s favourite technique, but she had other ways to attack when it came to just killing.

After all, no creature could survive without water.

Dehydration—the water stream that stopped at the transcendent’s body faded, and the water dried up without leaving a drop. It was the method Blundell had used to kill Theodore a few times during Abe no Seimei’s test a few years ago. Dehydration dried up all the water in the body, making creatures die instantly.

Wuuong!

One or two seconds passed by. The transcendent’s flesh outside his robes split like rice paddies. It was then that he realized the seriousness of the situation and jumped through space. His soul wasn’t present, so his body moved instinctively. Theodore used precise timing to grasp the fatal weakness of the magician. He read the destination of the space movement and cast a special magic at the coordinates before the enemy arrived.

「Rise, imaginary fingers! 」

‘Order!’ It was the trick Theodore had learned from the warlock, Jerem. The Order, based on the power of Dragon Words, inflated Theodore’s magic power by several times. The original Eternal Prison (Aeternum Carcerem), a high-level shadow spell, required five seconds to cast.

Once the transcendent finished his space movement…

「 Lock on for eternity, swallow it in your stomach! 」

Theodore’s hands came in contact with each other, and the shadows under his feet crossed like steel bars. It was dimension magic that space magic couldn’t interfere with.

Like ordinary shadows, they had no physical force, and once the target was completely confined, there was no way for them to get out of it. Although it might be possible with ultimate magic, Gluttony didn’t think that was possible in this situation.

-Once the soul is worn, the ultimate magic can’t be used. Using the soul as the key, that is the ultimate magic that dominates the world. An empty shell without an ego can’t challenge that area.

A transcendent who couldn’t use ultimate magic had their power halved. Thus, Theodore decided to fight. Based on the average magic power, Theodore was above an average 8th circle magician, and he still had three colleagues with him.

‘Of course, it would be best if he spent the 10 minutes in this prison…’ Theodore stared at the gradually diminishing ‘Eternal Prison.’

The attribute of light was one which could never coexist with shadows. However, there was a dim light on the wall of shadows. It was around 1 centimeter in diameter. It was a hole was that difficult to fit a finger through. The hole was only narrow enough for breathing, but Theodore smiled bitterly. ‘…Well, I thought it would be like this.’

The enemy might not be sane, but a transcendent was a magician who had crossed the limits of existence, touching the 9th circle. Perhaps he used instincts to find a way out of this shadow prison. He wasn’t an opponent that would be blocked by something like this.

Theodore felt Randolph return behind him as he concentrated his senses.

“Be prepared. He is coming out soon.”

“Yes.”

Speaking was too slow in a real fight between masters. Their lives would be cut off several times before they could even speak the signal words. Therefore, Theodore and Randolph remained silent and concentrated hard enough that the powers of the two masters could serve as senses.

‘Ah.’

Shortly afterward, the strike came.

Paijijik.

Theodore’s supersensitivity cried out as his body flashed with a blue light. Using lightning, he momentarily pushed past Randolph’s acceleration. The moment that a shadow popped out of the one-centimeter hole that was too narrow for an adult male body to pass through…

Fairy Dance’s Direct Transmission.

Four Major Hidden Techniques.

Rain like an Axle.

Theodore’s lightning fist scattered dozens of after-effects as they landed on the transcendent, who showed no signs of blocking them.

Kwarururung!

The second hidden technique used one’s fists. The power of one punch exceeded the level of 6th circle attack magic, and it was equal to Aquilo’s water jet in terms of speed. A shockwave spread through the surroundings with a loud thunderous sound. It was a perfect surprise attack.

‘What?’ However, Theodore was the only one who felt surprised. ‘Not one of them hit…?’

It was a different situation from when the transcendent avoided Randolph’s sword. Rather than expanding the space, he bent it sideways and twisted it in all directions. Some of Theodore’s blows lost strength by bumping against each other, and a few shot out in random directions.

The more surprising thing was that the origin of the space distortion was the staff in the transcendent’s hand!

“Randolph! This bastard… close combat match is possible for him…” Theodore understood the situation at once and moved one step closer to the nameless transcendent.

Puhak!

No, it just seemed like a step. A common ‘gap’ was meaningless for a guy who could stretch and shrink space like a rubber band. The outstretched staff struck Theodore before swinging back and hitting Randolph’s wrist. Despite two attacks, the sound only came out once.

“Kuk!”

“T-This!”

It was an experience similar to when he fought Zest Speitem, 2nd Sword of the empire. After the space was cut down, the two masters felt a terrible feeling go down their spines. The transcendent continued to hold his staff expressionlessly. Nothing could be felt from him. His martial art was just efficient movements of the body.

However, space magic was added, and any gaps disappeared. What type of magician trained to the level of a master in melee combat?

-You are spitting in your own face, User.

‘Shut up,’ Theodore snapped at Gluttony who couldn’t read the mood and used his lightning again.

A high-speed attack wasn’t the answer. The duration had increased considerably over the years, but the consumption of magic power wasn’t negligible. It was best to buy time with the recovered Randolph. In addition, both Aquilo and Titania were still alive.

-Let me ask you something. As I have said before, in the old days, humanity had much better spiritualities and physical abilities. It was an era when a monster would destroy a hill with a single fist. There will be magicians who are used to close combat.

‘Indeed, there would be those type of magicians.’

It might not be explored properly, but if a magician who dealt with space magic, as well as his own hands and feet, was this powerful… What was the use of martial arts against a person who could change the distance or pull the enemy in front of them?

Grandmasters at the apex would laugh at this. However, Theodore and Randolph were still a long way from confronting it. But…

“Well, isn’t it just ultimate self-defense?”

Any attempt to move through space was blocked by Theodore. However, if the transcendent ran away on both feet, he wouldn’t be able to beat Randolph’s and Theodore’s movements. It was perfect as long as they didn’t put their bodies in the range of the space shredding.

They would use the tactic of range to defeat the magician. As a great being once said, transcendents who allowed enemies to approach were rare. Once the pattern of melee combat style with space magic was detected, it wasn’t unbeatable.

“□□□□.” The problem came from the transcendent who recognized this crisis. “□□□, □□□□□.”

The transcendent’s expressionless face distorted slightly, and light of an unknown color emerged from the staff in his hand. Then…

Kiiiiing!

The world turned black and white, while Randolph’s and Theodore’s bodies and spirits froze. Due to being at the 8th circle, Theodore wasn’t completely stopped and struggled to break through this crisis.

‘Time magic? Moreover, this phenomenon is… Don’t tell me—!’

It was possible, although he wanted to deny the reality. Time magic had the top compatibility with space magic, and it was possible for a transcendent who trained in space magic to use time magic. However, time magic was usually in the ultimate magic realm, so Theodore had been sure the opponent wouldn’t be able to use it.

“□□□□□, □□…” In the black and white world where everything was stopped, the free transcendent muttered strange words alone. It was a considerable burden to use this ultimate magic, and the transcendent couldn’t keep his balance.

Theodore couldn’t understand the meaning of the words, but he sensed it.

‘I have to break this Time Stop somehow!’

Within the stopped world of black and white, Theodore’s blue eyes flashed once. In a way, this was his first challenge against ultimate magic.