Chapter 896: The Eyes That See Fate (32)

“Watcher Evan Martinez. An external wizard who has long cooperated with the Eyes of Blue.”

Vulcan City Government Central Council. Emergency Planning Committee of the Disaster Management Agency, emergency meeting hall.

A centaur, half-man and half-beast, stood before a massive podium, conducting a briefing.

Seated before him were the elite mages of various magic towers, invited by the Central Council for this matter.

They were all powerful individuals who had mastered magical theory profound enough to establish their own schools, with ranks to match.

Some among them were even vying for succession within their towers despite having already perfected their ranks.

It was a testament to how seriously the magic towers across the continent were treating the current situation.

“The spellcraft he uses is heat-flame magic. It is presumed to be a modified version of the Blaiver Magic Tower’s secret arts, and its amplification rate appears to have already surpassed known limits.”

The upper body was that of a handsome youth, but the lower half was the intimidating form of a great horse’s torso and legs.

The voice that flowed out was exceedingly quiet and refined, yet it carried clearly to every corner of the tumultuous hall.

“His official activities began in the Pilenom Autonomous Region, where he was responsible for putting the drug lord Dominic Cabaro into a deep coma.”

The youth’s words continued, keeping pace with the clop of his hooves as he flipped through his papers.

“He was the final victor of the Labyrinth Race. In the process, he was also one of the very few witnesses to the death of the Ascendant Jindun.”

“Hmm…”

“His last confirmed sighting was during the rebellion at the Guido Cult’s Far East branch. There was a clash between the Eyes of Blue and the cult on an island that runs on the sea, and in the process, he actually—”

The youth paused for a moment, then spoke with a rare, intensely interested expression.

“He is presumed to have made the decisive contribution to the subjugation of the 10th Apostle of the cult, Amrita Fraubel.”

“……”

A quiet silence fell among the wizards.

The Guido Cult. A fanatical sect boasting the greatest scale and power on the continent.

The wizards of the towers were not ignorant of what it meant to kill one of their single-digit, elite Apostles.

“An Apostle-Slayer… is such a thing even possible?”

“Has there ever been an officially recorded instance of an Apostle being subjugated since the Holy War?”

“Strictly speaking, it is not an officially recorded feat. Both the Eyes of Blue and the Guido Cult officially deny the events of that day,” the centaur replied calmly.

“However, we are merely making an approximation based on a series of trends gathered by research institutes and magic towers in the Northern Continent, and the strangely intense hostility towards Evan Martinez that is occasionally mentioned within the cult… based on these two pieces of information.”

“……”

“The 10th Apostle, Amrita, was the master of an Apostle spellcraft that made an unrealistically large contribution to the cult’s war effort in the central region. It is unlikely that such a being’s disappearance overnight was a coincidence.”

At the youth’s calm words, one of the wizards who had been listening in silence asked, “Should we take that as the official opinion of Larabelly?”

“Is this a matter for which someone must take responsibility?”

The youth posed the question back, then closed his eyes and answered, “In that case, let it be in the name of Elderwood, not Larabelly. My identity is closer to that place than to the Plant City.”

“……”

Faced with a remark intended to pressure him, he had agreed with composure instead of pushing back.

As the wizard who asked the question frowned, the other spellcasters sitting beside him began to chide him.

“Hidep, that’s enough. What is the point of forcing our ways on them?”

“I agree. They are beings who operate on different standards from humans in many ways. It’s more surprising that they even responded to our call for this matter.”

The Plant City, Larabelly, and the sacred site of Elderwood at its heart. And the myriad of異-formed lifeforms that lived there.

It was no coincidence that they had long remained unmentioned in the continent’s chaotic secret history.

The inhabitants of the Plant City, who had cultivated the continent’s edge entirely as their own domain, were mostly beings with minds literally close to plants.

It wasn’t that they were merely reluctant or disliked change; they perceived the very concept of change in a completely different way.

Possessing minds like plants that spend their entire lives in one place from birth to death, their principles of action were not based on common sense.

It was only known that they, whose clear standards for movement and communication did not exist, demonstrated exceptionally outstanding abilities in specific fields.

“I appreciate the consideration of the human species, but there is no need for it.”

However, the centaur replied without batting an eye at the wizards’ chiding.

“As I am tasked with external communication, I myself am well aware of the standards by which your kind operates.”

“That response itself doesn’t sound very persuasive…”

“To return to the topic,” the youth said, returning to the main point without blinking.

“The reason there have been no official Apostle-Slayers since the end of the Holy War is because the ends of the Apostles have mostly been recorded as self-destruction after being consumed by madness.”

“……”

“It is more accurate to judge that there was no adversary capable of killing an Apostle before their mind, sensing death, fell into madness, rather than there being no one who could match them. And—”

As he said that, the centaur immediately turned towards the image being projected beyond the giant prism.

Understanding the meaning of his silence, the other wizards also turned their gazes with peculiar expressions.

“Are you saying that heat-flame wizard is a monster who has attained such martial prowess…”

But was it even possible for a heat-flame wizard, who requires a warm-up period, to eliminate an Apostle in such a short amount of time?

Separate from his reputation, the fact was that Evan Martinez’s deeds contained many contradictions when compared to the common sense held by the mages of the towers.

However, the sliver of doubt the wizards had harbored was washed away the moment they witnessed the battle unfolding beyond the screen.

City Government Central Council Emergency Response Committee meeting hall.

Dududududu!!!

Dozens of images were projected into the air above the intricately carved, massive prism, capturing the battle unfolding on the city’s outskirts.

Though recording devices still failed to operate and only broke, it was sufficient for viewing the real-time broadcast.

A wizard cloaked in flames moved at tremendous speed as diverse mana and will-thoughts clashed and exploded.

Wielding a fire cloud that covered an area hundreds of meters wide as if it were his own limbs, he relentlessly hammered down on Adamant Thunder, who had descended to the ground.

“This can’t be…”

Kurururu!!!

He clenched his fists amidst the overflowing flames and surged forward, closing the distance.

With every stomp of his foot, flames erupted, spreading dozens of meters in all directions and incinerating the earth.

The overwhelming firepower and scale turned the faces of the watching wizards pale.

Each time their clashing mana grazed and ignited the space like clapping hands, the surrounding buildings collapsed and melted like a line of dominoes.

KWAGAGAGAGAGANG!!

The standby operators read out the combat information observed through the video feeds, their voices trembling.

“Four minutes and seventeen seconds since the start of combat. 36% of the designated urban battle zone is completely destroyed.”

“Mana volume immeasurable. Maximum casting deployment speed is 0.34 seconds. Mana efficiency 1335%!!”

“Over 30 types of incantations observable. Including overlapping instances, more than 200 types of spellcraft are being simultaneously manifested and maintained…!!”

“The Achilles Inc. spellcraft analysis system has reached its limit. Fourth warning message activation confirmed.”

“If current data is not completely formatted, we will enter an unobservable state within the next 14 seconds!!”

One of the wizards, who had been watching the screen without daring to breathe, murmured quietly.

“…Is this really happening in reality?”

To that dazed murmur, everyone agreed without a word.

The battle between two wizards who had transcended their ranks and reached the realm of archmages.

A battlefield where monsters who could encompass the entire city clashed with all their might.

The proof that the power wielded by the two wizards, who paid no mind to the collateral damage, had reached a mythical level was unfolding before their eyes.

Everyone gathered here would probably never forget the scene being etched into their eyes until the day they died.

But even that sentiment was quickly swept away and disappeared in the explosively shifting tide of battle.

KUUUNG!!

Evan focused on manipulating the surrounding flames, wielding them without any particular hand seals or incantations.

He accelerated to close the distance, and in every moment he ricocheted off the city’s structures to change direction, dozens of spells finished their chants and manifested.

Kiiiiiiing!!!

The moment he slashed the air with his fingertips, a complex magic circle materialized.

Dozens of massive fireballs rained down from the sky, and searing-hot blades of fire surged from the ground.

Purple flames split behind Adamant Thunder to form a barrier, and embers of monstrous flame, distorted like static, exploded above his head.

KUGWAGWAGWAGWAGWA!!!

“Ooh…!!”

“Ha, haah…!!”

And the wizards of the magic towers watched the series of exchanges unfolding beyond the screen, unable to even speak properly, looking on in awe.

Even these wizards, who had reached a level where they could establish their own schools, couldn’t properly react to the exchange of attacks that had just occurred.

He erupted with flames from his entire body like a living volcano, breathing out lava and fire as if it were air, crushing everything around him.

It was a fierce battle where they constantly changed locations with each exchange, as the ground and structures couldn’t withstand the impact of dozens of spells hammering down.

The broadcast, using satellite cameras and the latest tracking equipment, couldn’t even keep up with the speed, barely managing to follow their movements.

“How on earth…!!”

“No, this shouldn’t be…!!”

With bloodshot eyes fixed on the screen, they dazedly followed the shifting tide of battle.

Unable to even utter proper words of amazement, they stammered like broken machines, letting out incomprehensible groans.

“How is the fight progressing?!”

“We need an explanation!!”

The council members, sensing a decisive change in the wizards’ reactions, immediately threw out questions.

Unlike the mages who had just been briefed upon arrival, the council members who had already been brought up to speed had been focusing on the battle from the start.

But even after hearing the council members’ questions, most of the wizards were too captivated by the screen to even react properly.

Just as the council members were about to raise their hands at the situation where all the high-ranking wizards brought in for consultation had broken down.

“They are as astonished by the way the spellcraft is being used as they are by the state of the battle itself,” a middle-aged man in a suit, sitting in the very front row, answered with a bitter smile.

“The way it’s being used?”

“Those wizards, they have barely abbreviated any of their processes since they first clashed.”

As the man said this, he fiddled with his shirt collar with a look of frustration.

Aside from the lightning-shaped badge symbolizing the Thorben Magic Tower, he looked more like a businessman than a wizard.

“Magic circles, hand seals, incantations, and chants. Even in the midst of this urgent battle, they are executing most of the processes without any abbreviation.”

“Is… is that even possible?”

It was basic for a wizard who had reached a certain level to abbreviate the process when using magic.

Even if the power was slightly reduced, it was too important to be able to draw out magic quickly when needed.

“This is the first day I’ve learned that this is even possible, but…” the man said, turning his gaze slightly as if he couldn’t believe it.

“That wizard, Evan Martinez. He is making every single one of his movements function as both a hand seal and an incantation.”

“……”

“Every moment he closes the distance and engages in close combat is a part of the incantation. It’s beyond just being skilled in martial arts; he has processed his entire martial art to fit the spellcraft.”

“How can that be…”

The act of throwing a punch or running could replace a hand seal or an incantation?

Even among the council members, there were some who had studied magic or spellcraft, so they understood how unrealistic that statement was.

Magic and spellcraft were not powers whose specific processes could be so simply replaced.

The miracle of meticulously calculating laws and processes, and assembling mana according to one’s will-thought to manifest it in reality.

The reality that, for some, it was like a tool to be arbitrarily modified and wielded in the middle of a fight.

“To the eyes of other wizards, this part would be the most astonishing. In truth, an even higher-dimensional exchange is likely taking place, but…” the man said with a self-deprecating smile.

“Our insight doesn’t extend that far.”

“……”

“By implementing the full process, the casting efficiency doesn’t drop, and the remaining mana is used for new incantations. If the rampaging power in a battlefield that has undergone property transformation cannot escape and only accumulates—”

The man, who had stepped back slightly from the screen, nodded.

“Even large-scale magic that requires a warm-up can be drawn out instantly.”

[Full Crimson]

At that moment, a mass of flames too large to be contained by the screen crashed into the middle of the city.

The moment a small sun, the size of a dozen buildings, fell into the city center, the endlessly melting ground caved in.

Simultaneously, with the intersection where the sun had manifested as the epicenter, everything in all directions began to turn into a handful of ash and scatter into the sky.

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

The manifestation of a sun so powerful that it brought the relentlessly storming battlefield to a momentary lull.

In its aftermath, dozens of broadcast screens were simultaneously damaged, displaying black static.

“Change the cameras, quickly! What are you doing!”

“We can’t miss a single moment. Have all the backup feeds on standby!!”

At the council members’ outcry, the operators and wizards belatedly came to their senses and quickly cooperated to bring up new feeds.

It was an observation system configured not only with the latest magitech equipment but also with artifacts and spellcraft borrowed from the magic towers.

Paat!!

The bustling downtown area of the city, where dozens of buildings should have stood in rows.

But now, due to the residual heat of the sun that had fallen in its center, it was a field of debris, with buildings melted and broken like taffy.

In the center of this forest of bizarre structures, where skyscrapers had bent and collapsed helplessly, the two wizards stood facing each other.

“I-It stopped?!”

“Did they stop? Why?”

Just as the wizards of the towers and the council members belatedly grasped the situation and began to murmur one by one.

Someone behind the Thorben wizard muttered quietly.

“There’s no process.”

“What?”

A mysterious woman with braided platinum-blonde hair leaned back in her chair and lifted her head.

From the Sinclair Magic Tower, Claris Richellen spoke, unfazed by the gazes pouring onto her.

“They’re both fighting without abbreviating the process, but on Adamant Thunder’s side, there is no process.”

“……”

“The harmony of martial arts and spellcraft that Cheonbeon is using is more perfect than any alternative process I’ve ever seen. It could perhaps become a new concept in spell combat…”

As Claris’s gaze turned to the other wizards, they avoided her eyes as if by prior agreement.

They too must have been thinking the exact same thing as Claris while watching this battle.

But what Claris was trying to point out was not such an insignificant fact.

“But there’s no cause for the magic Adamant Thunder uses. I can’t see the principle, the law, the origin. I can’t feel anything.”

What the wizards gathered here had been marveling at was the hundreds of incantations the two wizards were deliberately outputting.

The explosive firepower that surpassed the limits of their kind, and the idea of manifesting all that magic without abbreviating the process.

Among them, the alternative process shown by Evan Martinez had come as a tremendous shock even to the elite mages of the magic towers.

It was nothing short of a massive revolution just to witness the result that it could be used to fight on equal terms with a Rank 8 archmage, going beyond the level of it being merely possible.

It was a historic scene that could rewrite the concept of combat between wizards and high-speed incantation-based spell combat that had been studied until now.

But unlike Evan, no one could figure out how Adamant Thunder was chanting during combat without abbreviating the process.

It was an unrealistic feat where the result itself was clearly a full reproduction of the process, yet its speed was close to chantless casting.

“Compared to the martial arts Cheonbeon is showing, Adamant Thunder is only repeating minimal movements. The fact that his body is not in good condition is likely a certainty. But…”

Claris’s eyes, which were silently watching the screen, momentarily grew calm and settled.

“It seems it’s already been decided which one has to play their card first.”

“…Wait a moment.”

The wizards who understood the meaning of her words all whipped their heads around.

“If he pulls out a new card at this point, that would be—”

At that moment, beyond the screen, Evan flung his right hand out to the side.

A light motion, as if casually drawing a line sideways in the air, without any hand seal.

With that alone, the six Heat Cores that had pierced the heavens and the earth gathered at Evan’s fingertips.

A secret art for a finishing blow, compressing the augmented mana he had obtained by burning the city into a single point in space-time.

“Don’t tell me…!!!”

“Is he going to use it?!”

The moment everyone realized its meaning and shot up from their seats.

Evan was the first to utter the words.

“Domain Deployment.”

Full Bloom.

Celestial Flower’s Myriad-League Fragrance.