Chapter 561: Introspection (3)
A fierce torrent of lightning, pouring from above Lennok’s head, engulfed his body.
The moment Lennok used [Flicker] to evade to the side, aimed his revolver, and pulled the trigger.
Then, the other Lennok, facing him, likewise drew a revolver from within his coat and fired, as if he had been waiting.
Tatata-thang!!!
Gunshots, erupting almost simultaneously, sparked violently in the air before fading.
His opponent had reacted by almost perfectly replicating Lennok’s rapid-fire, enhanced with shooting assistance magic.
“I see. So it’s a spell that reflects the opponent’s mirror image and manifests it in a conceptual sense…”
Lennok, observing the sight with interest, gently stroked his own face.
“This kind of magic wouldn’t be possible without overwriting the entire space with a Domain…”
Lennok possessed the Targeted Resistance Ability, which rendered him immune to spells directly targeting him, yet Olivera had still managed to summon his mirror image.
This was likely because, rather than directly casting a spell on Lennok to manifest the mirror image, she had materialized it by superimposing Lennok’s reflection in the mirror thousands of times over.
An entity that drew upon the very concept formed in the mirror image from within the Domain and materialized it through new laws.
A method that mirrored Lennok’s demonstrated skills and abilities on the spot.
Lennok chuckled, realizing her intent.
“So, she intends to drag this out. Was there something she was aiming for after all?”
When Lennok used magic or a skill, the mirror image would instantly mimic it, manifesting with similar power.
The more power he expended to break through his opponent, the more fiercely the mirror image would resist.
Olivera had anticipated this, creating Lennok’s mirror image using the entire Domain’s mirror maze.
‘Considering the Domain’s capacity, it can’t be exactly the same. But…’
No matter how vast Olivera’s mental image or how immense her Domain’s capacity, it was impossible to fully manifest a high-level wizard like Lennok.
Even if it could perfectly mimic simple lightning magic or shooting assistance magic as it did now, there would eventually come a point where, as the power increased, the mirror image’s capacity would fail to contain the magic’s true might.
The problem was that engaging this mirror image was exactly the trap Olivera had set.
After all, a wizard without mana was more helpless than most low-tier physical ability users.
Expending mana to defeat the mirror image and advance from here was, for Lennok, nothing short of a significant loss.
Yet, trying to bypass the mirror image by circling the maze’s perimeter to find a path, as he had already confirmed, was also pointless.
Having discerned Lennok’s compromised condition, Olivera was clearly focused on maximizing his expenditure.
‘Mana depletion, or time saving… a difficult choice, either way.’
Click, clack!!
Lennok reloaded his revolver and took a deep breath.
‘But there’s no need to think.’
Taat!!
As Lennok gripped his pure white revolver and stepped forward, the mirror image also began to move.
It continuously unleashed lightning magic at its feet while scattering bullets overhead.
Tatata-thang!!!
Lennok did not hesitate either.
He snatched several bolts of lightning unleashed by the mirror image mid-air, twisted them, and fearlessly plunged through the opening.
Simultaneously, thunder, a common magic, blossomed from his fingertips.
[Lightning Bound]
Fzzzzt!!!
He refrained from using his unique, powerful magic that the mirror image could follow.
He had no choice but to break through using only a few types of lightning magic and his revolver, which he had used to confirm the mirror maze’s principles.
But the mirror image’s reaction was far from ordinary.
Thwack!!
It grabbed the [Lightning Bound] thunderbolt erupting from beneath its jaw with both hands and tore it open.
Tear!
The gap opened as the lightning was pulled apart with bare hands.
In that fleeting moment, as control of the common magic was lost, the mirror image mercilessly kicked Lennok in the abdomen.
Thud!!
“…!!”
The mirror image’s kick, which perfectly mimicked Lennok’s meager physical abilities, wasn’t forceful, but it still left him breathless.
Lennok gritted his teeth, swallowed a scream, and rolled backward, pulling the trigger.
His revolver shots, enhanced with shooting assistance magic, aimed precisely at the opponent’s vital points even as his balance wavered.
However, the mirror image, as if waiting, countered with return fire, blocking Lennok’s bullets.
Lennok smiled bitterly through the rising smoke.
“I see. Common magic is…”
It wasn’t that Lennok’s unique mana manipulation control had been transferred to the mirror image.
Rather, the lightning Lennok had just unleashed had simply transformed into a concept that the mirror image could interact with, reflected across the surrounding mirrors within the Domain.
Unlike Lennok, who had no environmental advantages, the mirror image was receiving full support from within Olivera’s Domain.
Since the mirror image itself was receiving a correction based on the concept of Lennok’s own being, simple spells like common magic couldn’t distinguish the true owner of its control.
Powerful and complex unique magic would likely be free from this problem, but doing so would be like handing another weapon to the mirror image.
Under these circumstances, a gun was meaningless.
Lennok put away his revolver, drew out a few strands of lightning, and stood up.
The mirror image likewise stepped forward, holding strands of lightning flowing between its fingers.
Zzzzzzt…!!!
The two wizards emerged before the mirror maze, scattering dazzling lightning brilliance in all directions.
Mirror fragments, shattered and scattered from the sky, elegantly reflected the two opposing wizards from multiple angles before disappearing.
The instant both Lennoks gestured, lightning bolts extended from close range, intersecting.
Crackling!!!
Thunderous bursts of lightning continuously overlapped, exploding towards each other’s vital points.
Lightning, whose origin was indiscernible, was grabbed from all directions, twisted, rotated, and wielded.
Dozens of lightning strands, losing control and altering direction and power, revolved around the two wizards.
Reflected lightning, colliding amidst the shattered and scattered mirror fragments, glided uselessly between the mirrors and exploded.
Dudududu!!!
Sweating profusely, he gripped and detonated the lightning swimming in the air.
He seized the lightning that ricocheted off the scattering mirrors, swung it, and reflected it onto another mirror.
With each gesture and swing, the lightning reflected and ricocheted dozens of times, overlapping hundreds of times in a dance of light, as mana and will-thought intertwined.
Kagagagak!!!
It was a localized skirmish, not just with the magic they wielded, but also calculating the scattering mirror fragments and their reflection angles to direct killing intent.
But as time passed, the expressions of the two figures, who had looked identical as reflections, slowly began to change.
“I can see it now, even without the Mystic Eye.”
“…!!”
At Lennok’s whisper, the mirror image gritted its teeth.
It was behaving as if it possessed its own intellect, not merely reflecting Lennok.
Lennok continued, unfazed.
“The eye is a mirror that reflects possibilities… even without using a Mystic Eye, I can glimpse fragments of a mental image.”
Fzzzzzzzt!!!
Almost simultaneously, he snatched and seized the lightning flowing through the mirror image’s hands, turning all directions against it.
The mirror image’s momentum was irrevocably driven into a corner.
Conversely, Lennok’s gestures slowly became deliberate, and his footsteps completely ceased.
The mirror image swayed as if dancing to the lightning raging in the air.
“No matter how perfectly it reflects my form, it cannot reflect my mind.”
“Ugh…!!”
The mirror image’s eyes gleamed as it gritted its teeth, and its body vanished from the spot in an instant.
But Lennok, far from being flustered by the sight, snapped his fingers as if he had been waiting.
[Alpha Lightning]
The lightning that flashed above Lennok’s head instantly reflected several times off the surrounding mirror fragments, transforming into the shape of a massive lightning strike.
It then struck right in front of Lennok, as if predetermined from the start.
A hollow bombardment, exploding belatedly as it chased the mirror image’s form that had already vanished from that spot.
But in that fleeting moment, as the lightning fell, Lennok’s will precisely struck the top of the mirror image’s head, which had reappeared there.
Fzzzzzt!!
“Kuaaak!!!”
The mirror image twitched, its eyes wide open, an expression of disbelief on its face.
Lennok watched the mirror image slowly kneel and collapse, then drew the revolver from his waist and smiled.
“Flicker spell. You were saving it for last, weren’t you? It’s obvious.”
Bang!!
Lennok, having embedded a bullet in the mirror image’s forehead, shook the barrel and muttered.
“Ultimately, if you can only use the cards I’ve shown, your usage patterns are fixed.”
Despite Lennok having used Flicker once when he first dodged the mirror image’s attack, the mirror image hadn’t mimicked it.
Lennok realized that this wasn’t because the mirror image couldn’t copy Flicker, but because it was intentionally concealing it.
Even the Flicker used by the mirror image in the final moment was ultimately a deception.
Lennok had anticipated its reaction, even its feigned move behind him before reappearing in the same spot.
Crack, crackle, crackle!!!
As Lennok watched the mirror image collapse, scattering not blood and brains but glass fragments, he raised his head.
The enormous hemispherical glass dome that had surrounded them shattered completely, showering the ground with a majestic rain of glass.
Shimmering!!!
[You have waited long enough.]
A magnificent robe fluttered amidst the beautiful rain of glass fragments.
Waves of light, erupting and reflecting through thousands of shattered mirror pieces, converged and surged as if supporting and worshipping a single person.
Olivera Ron Maize, having shed her veil like a butterfly, descended upon the Domain, radiating immense mana in all directions.
Her eyes, now completely unveiled, emitted a distinct seven-colored radiance, unlike before.
[For these eyes, I have spent such a long time.]
Her gaze, with its majestic rainbow-colored Mystic Eye, briefly softened as she stared at Lennok, curving into a small smile.
[Indeed… this is The Seven Debts Jewels Mystic Eye.]
“…!!!”
Not only had she awakened the Mystic Eye, but her chilling tone clearly acknowledged its name.
Only then did Lennok realize why Olivera had dragged out the time within this Domain, even setting up his mirror image, and his face hardened.
She hadn’t merely been trying to delay and hinder Lennok from reaching Kaiser.
A faint sense of unease from the previous battle, where her mental image had been breached.
She hadn’t missed even that small clue, realizing that the Mystic Eye Lennok had displayed was fundamentally connected to her own power.
Was she waiting for the omen of the Mystic Eye’s awakening, having trapped Lennok within the Domain through him?
The “untrodden step” Olivera mentioned immediately after Lennok entered the Domain, that one step short.
That referred to herself, who had realized the existence of The Seven Debts Jewels Mystic Eye but couldn’t yet reach it.
Lennok flicked his fingertips, watching Olivera, who was scattering brilliant seven-colored radiance.
‘This is the worst. No room to conserve power.’
The Seven Debts Jewels Mystic Eye was not merely a powerful Mystic Eye; it was a force capable of distorting space-time by intervening in causality itself.
What did it mean that Olivera, in her prime, had acquired this power—a power she was originally destined to obtain decades later—through her skill?
Before marveling at such unbelievable talent and intuition, worrying about Olivera’s amplified power through The Seven Debts Jewels Mystic Eye isn’t enough.
This is no time to play it safe and conserve strength.
If he doesn’t immediately deploy his Domain and confront her with full power—
Despite Lennok’s sharp gaze tracking her movements, Olivera stood motionless, as if time had stopped, amidst the falling rain of mirror fragments.
She gazed at Lennok with her dazzling rainbow-colored Mystic Eye, then quietly smiled and opened her mouth.
[Don’t rush. What you think will happen, won’t.]
“…What?”
The moment Lennok, caught off guard by her words, paused his mana and questioned her.
Olivera raised one hand and then plunged a finger into her own temple.
Thwack!!
A simple mental image amplification technique, triggered by a ritual.
[For I have something to show you through these eyes.]
The moment Olivera’s two Mystic Eyes locked onto Lennok’s and flashed.
Lennok’s vision was enveloped in pure white light, which then began to reflect an entirely different scene.
Whoosh!!!
The moment he realized it, Lennok stood in the middle of a complex research laboratory.
Hundreds of people bustled about ceaselessly, creating and discarding things.
Among them was Kaiser, looking slightly older than Lennok had seen him in this district.
He ceaselessly exchanged opinions with others, wrote things down, and gave instructions as he moved.
People existing in the same space as Lennok, yet completely unaware of his presence.
The flow of time, somewhat faster than what he perceived in reality.
Only then did Lennok realize that this moment was reflecting Olivera’s memories.