Episode 147: The Decisive Battle #3
Near the Kramel Wasteland, at a forward base.
Currently, the Special Forces, the First Public Officer, and the special-class knights of the Imperial Guard were gathered here.
They were prepared to intervene immediately and eliminate the Tower Master if it seemed like Yohan might lose.
It might have been reckless to face the Tower Master head-on, but they believed it was possible since Yohan was certain to weaken him first. Reports also indicated that the Tower Master had sustained critical injuries.
“What’s the situation?”
The commander of the Special Forces asked. In front of him, detection-type mages were sweating and trembling all over.
“We can’t see anything… nothing at all. The mana has been severed.”
The mana has been severed?
At that moment, the expressions of everyone in the forward base twisted in shock. If the mana in the air had disappeared, it meant that this place had become a space where magic could no longer exist.
“Damn it, what’s happening…?”
The commander of the Special Forces pressed his temples, trying to ease his headache. He had also sensed the massive surge of magical energy just now. But beyond that, he had no idea how the situation was unfolding, and it was frustrating.
“I—I’ve detected something!”
A detection-type mage suddenly shouted. The commander’s eyes sharpened as he spoke.
“What about Minister Lahart?”
“He is facing the Tower Master!”
Only then did sighs of relief escape from all directions. The tension that had been weighing on their shoulders eased slightly. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Yohan—rather, the anxiety came from the fact that his opponent was the Tower Master.
The Special Forces commander hardened his expression.
“…Let’s keep watching.”
***
The clash of two transcendent spells had momentarily halted the flow of mana in the atmosphere, though it was now slowly recovering.
It was best to refrain from using magic at the moment. The mana consumption was too high, making it inefficient.
In the silence that followed,
Rein narrowed his eyes as he observed Yohan.
‘…He’s on a much higher level than I expected.’
Across from him, Yohan wore a leisurely smile. He seemed to find great satisfaction in completely erasing The Star in the Sky. But for Rein, it was anything but pleasant.
It was absurd.
The Star in the Sky was the most powerful magic he had ever created, the pinnacle of transcendent magic. And yet, it had been erased before his very eyes.
‘Did I just lose in a battle of firepower?’
Rein clenched his trembling hands into fists.
It felt as if his blood was boiling in reverse.
The magic he had honed for decades had vanished in a single clash. It was inconceivable.
But he had to remain calm.
This was still a battle.
He forced himself to maintain his composure.
“…Impressive, Duke Lahart.”
Step.
Rein Adriche forced a smile.
“From here on, we should fight like true transcendents.”
He slowly stepped forward, closing the distance. At this point, there was only one option left.
He opened his Mindscape Domain.
“You said you would cut off all conversation, but it seems like that last move rattled you a bit.”
Yohan watched the approaching figure closely.
A surge of wild mana flickered in his blue eyes.
He wasn’t oblivious to the emotions playing across Rein’s face. Rein Adriche was anxious. That smile—it was clearly forced.
Rein shrugged his shoulders.
“Who knows? Perhaps my opinion of you has simply risen.”
“I don’t like dressing things up to justify myself, so I won’t be returning the compliment.”
Step.
The distance between them continued to shrink.
“Can’t win with magic, so you’re switching tactics?”
Yohan smirked as he looked at the approaching Rein. It was an unmistakable sneer.
“…”
Rein narrowed his eyes. He didn’t appreciate Yohan’s mockery, but the man wasn’t wrong. If Yohan fired that colorless sphere again, the damage would be too severe.
Still, Rein wasn’t the type to let such taunts get under his skin mid-battle. He was still the superior mage, after all. That fact hadn’t changed.
Step.
At last, Yohan entered Rein’s range. A smirk appeared on Rein’s lips. His fingers twitched, gathering mana as he effortlessly formed a seal.
Yohan wasn’t idle either.
He crossed his hands and began forming seals of his own.
“Mindscape Manifestation”
Kugugugugu—!
Ripples spread through the empty space. Like a droplet hitting the surface of water, the air trembled subtly.
“In a space formed by my mind’s image, my will shall be engraved.”
“Myriad Forms, One Will — Within the space shaped by my mind, my will reigns supreme.”
Mindscape Manifestation.
“Reflect all forms and unfold all possibilities.”
“The Thousand Transforming Radiant Mirrors.”
From the two figures, an ashen magic spread. A pitch-black shadow surged forward like a wave. The space twisted, and darkness undulated. The sky was slowly consumed, as if being devoured.
The world was swallowed by a chilling stillness. In the suffocating silence, countless radiant mirrors emerged from all directions. Each mirror stood like a statue, and the space shaped by the mind’s image engulfed reality itself.
Pazzzzzzt—!
The moment the two mindscapes clashed, crackling currents erupted, carrying the sensation that anything they touched would be reduced to ash. The compressed mana reacted in opposition, ionizing violently.
Yohan and Rein stared at each other, their expressions rigid.
Evenly Matched.
There was no clear victor. Neither could overpower the other’s mindscape. The density of mana forming the barrier was identical, signifying that both mages were of equal strength.
But there was no time for hesitation. Yohan acted immediately, stretching out his hand. The air distorted, and space crumbled.
Saaaah—!
“A surprise attack?”
Rein Adriche smirked, casually flicking his fingers. Elements emerged from the mirrors, instantly blocking Yohan’s advance.
Space twisted as if being sucked into a void, distorting violently. But the thing that vanished into nothingness was not Rein Adriche himself—it was the surging flames.
“Hahaha!”
As his laughter echoed, the countless mirrors floating in the air simultaneously emitted dazzling light.
Fire, wind, lightning, earth—
Magic, unrestricted by element, erupted in rapid succession. Like a torrential downpour, the spells rained down on Yohan from all directions.
Kwagwagwagwa—!
Yohan’s eyes widened. His fingers moved with delicate precision, expanding his field of vision and eliminating blind spots.
Uuuung—!
The air twisted into a perfect circle. Space warped, forming fractures.
Kwaaaaduduk!!!
Before the magic launched from the mirrors could reach Yohan, it was utterly erased. Drawn into nothingness, it vanished without a trace, as if its very existence had been undone.
In that brief moment, Rein Adriche had disappeared.
‘He knows that I manipulate phenomena through perception.’
Even as Yohan tracked his opponent’s mana, he furrowed his brows. There was no way any information had leaked—anyone who had witnessed this mindscape had met their end.
Which meant that Rein had deduced its nature the moment he saw it. As expected of the Tower Master, he had discerned the essence of this mindscape purely from its flow and form.
And then—
Wuuung—!
The mirrors flashed with an intense light, and in an instant, another elemental explosion erupted.
Kwoooom—!
Flames surged forth. Not just ordinary fire—but an inferno vast enough to incinerate entire mountains.
At the same time—
A storm of ice swept through, pressing down on the space with a frigid force capable of freezing everything. The ground crumbled, the earth splitting apart, and from those fissures, lightning crashed down.
This was not mere magic.
Mana itself was rampaging, shaking the very foundation of the mindscape.
Kwagwagwagwa—!!
Rein’s mindscape was nothing short of a natural disaster. Fire, ice, lightning, and earth—each element fused together, forming distinct manifestations. But they were no longer just spells.
Their very existence was a catastrophe. Everything happening within this space was not simply magic—it was law.
‘How irritating.’
Yohan’s eyes sharpened. He twisted the space within his perception. The air curled into a perfect circle, rending the dimension apart. The raging elemental surge was torn to shreds, swallowed into nothingness.
Kagagagak!!
Space contorted—not merely a distortion, but a fundamental transformation of the domain he perceived. The void twisted into a sphere, cutting through reality itself.
Kwooooom—!
The turbulent blaze, lightning, ice, and earth—all were erased into pure void. Everything that once existed disappeared as though it had never been.
Several more exchanges followed. Elemental magic burst from the mirrors, only for Yohan to twist space and erase it. A meaningless war of attrition.
‘I need to destroy the mirrors.’
But because they were constructs of a mindscape, spatial distortion alone couldn’t erase them. As long as their mindscapes clashed evenly, the battle would remain at a stalemate.
Then──
Wooooong!!
His arm slowly stretched upward. Though the movement was slow, the flow was unmistakable.
Kugugugu——!!
As magic burst from his fingertips, space trembled faintly. At the same time, the sky shook. A blue sphere and a red sphere rose one after another.
One, two… dozens, hundreds.
The magic of emission and absorption filled the sky. The sheer number was beyond estimation, yet not a single one was incomplete. Each contained perfect magic.
“Huff——!”
The moment he took a breath—
Kwooooooosh——!!!
The release and absorption of magic split the sky. Raging currents and shockwaves crushed the surrounding imagery. A vibration like nails scraping against the ears. Magic surged wildly in the rift of the quivering space.
And then, it converged into one.
What floated in the air were distortions and rupture points.
And this was──
Spatial Distortion.
“No way…”
Hiding within the mirror’s rift, Rein Adriche widened his eyes in shock. Could it be… he intended to shatter this domain itself? That was impossible. From within, no phenomenon could alter the Mindscape domain—
Kwooooooosh-!!
In the instant Rein Adriche swallowed his breath, the three converging forces lost their color.
Colorless.
A force that devoured and crushed all existence, returning it to nothingness—Heaven’s Ruin (天破滅).
Space trembled. No, to be more precise, existence itself quivered.
Wooooong-!!
For a moment, it felt as if the sky and earth had been turned upside down. A light like a supernova flickered.
It was not an explosion, but a collapse.
All that existed was returning to nothingness.
In that fleeting instant, Rein Adriche gritted his teeth and poured out all his magic. He had to stop it. A premonition struck his mind—if that force exploded, existence itself would be erased.
All elements fired from the mirror converged into one.
“Dissolution Omniversal…!”
Dissolution of All Things.
Each element fused into one. It had no shape. Not even its properties were fixed—an infinite transformation. A magic designed to obliterate everything it touched upon contact.
And then, the colorless sphere exploded.
Kwooooooosh——!!!
A grayish flash swallowed Rein’s form.
***
Kramel Wasteland, where nothing remained.
“Gah…!”
Yohan coughed up thick blood as he rose to his feet. His fingertips trembled violently. Burns covered his entire body. His magic was depleted, his circuits in shambles.
Even though it was his own magic, blocking that explosion completely had been nearly impossible. The mana barrier had been utterly shattered—he had no choice but to withstand it with his own internal power.
Even after expending everything, this was the result. It was a stark reminder of just how powerful the Heaven’s Ruin explosion had been.
“Khak…!”
Across from him—
Rein Adriche lay collapsed. The ground was cold. His vision blurred. The air wavered before his hazy eyes.
He was breaking apart. His fingertips crumbled like dust. He reached out to grasp the empty space, but even his fingers scattered the moment they moved.
Slowly. Yet mercilessly.
Rein Adriche had poured out all the magic he had accumulated. And yet, he couldn’t resist. No matter how much he reached out or stepped forward, he simply crumbled in vain.
Barely, he rolled his eyes.
His body was disintegrating.
But his rage remained.
The self from a now-erased timeline.
The humiliation of that time.
The one who had carved all of it into his being was now forcing him to relive the same disgrace before his very eyes.
Yet, he couldn’t unleash his fury. He no longer had the strength. He couldn’t even fight against disappearing, let alone hold onto something as simple as breathing.
He had no choice but to admit it.
He had failed to become a god.
And then──
“You… have won…”
Rein Adriche closed his eyes.