Chapter 137
Rank 8 – Part 6
『 Translator – Divinity 』
The battlefield darkened by the artificially created solar eclipse.
Colorful magic bursting forth, illuminating the darkness.
Was this truly a spectacle created by a single mage? Some soldiers even pinched their cheeks, wondering if they were dreaming, as it was so surreal.
And at the command center of the army,
Crown Prince Zeke, in the command post built on high ground to overlook the battlefield, was speechless.
“That’s… Beatrice?”
“As you can see.”
“This, this is…”
He had indeed planned to make his foolish sister a Rank 8. But it was something that would inevitably take time.
Even using the artifact containing necromancy magic, he didn’t know how long it would take for Beatrice to become Rank 8, or how many souls would have to be sacrificed. That’s why Crown Prince Zeke intended to lose the first battle.
If the Duke of Wei accepted the division of the kingdom into north and south, that would be good. But if he showed greed, he would use the soldiers as shields and drag out the civil war.
In the meantime, he would make Beatrice a Rank 8 as quickly as possible. He had even prepared an escape route for that, but…
Beatrice was already displaying magic comparable to a Rank 8.
“Just how… did she do it?”
“I don’t know either. Her Highness Beatrice is a genius, so she must have found a way.”
“Then there’s no way she could have overcome her chronic illness just half a year ago! Finance Director Adam Keynes, you must have told her a way.”
“Me? Your Highness Zeke, I apologize, but I’m a Rank 1.”
“I know the Headmistress is behind you.”
“If it was truly the Headmistress’s doing, wouldn’t she have become Rank 8 back at the academy? I truly haven’t done anything.”
“………”
And right next to Zeke,
Adam Keynes, who was allowed to stand before Crown Prince Zeke because he was a Rank 1 who couldn’t possibly assassinate or ambush him even during war, smirked.
As he said, he was just a Rank 1. And if the Headmistress had intervened, there would have been a better time to do so.
‘She could have awakened Beatrice after I was almost defeated in the civil war. She could have even squeezed more out of me then.’
But why did she awaken Beatrice now?
Was it true that the Finance Director didn’t do anything, and his foolish sister reached Rank 8 on her own?
‘It’s not entirely… impossible.’
If it were put like that, Beatrice’s talent, reaching the level of Rank 7 in just half a year, was also absurd. It was right to understand the extraordinary as extraordinary.
The owner of a talent rarely seen throughout the continent, only appearing occasionally in history books.
Beatrice was growing at an unprecedented rate, but…
“But…”
Her opponent was too strong.
She could easily defeat most Rank 7s now, and only Julius from the neighboring kingdom, who was said to be closest to Rank 8, and a few other strong individuals from the Empire could compare.
But her current opponent was…
“…The Duke of Wei.”
A transcendent who reached Rank 8 from his origins as a mercenary.
Why were the high-ranking magic spells, each powerful enough to obliterate the opponent, continuing? Because one wasn’t enough. Because she had to keep bombarding him.
Zeke, gritting his teeth…
…clenched the necromancy artifact in his hand until it almost crumbled.
***
Bang!! Bang!! Crash!!!
It was like… conducting an orchestra.
Mana surging endlessly. Magic perfectly under her control. Magic circles forming at incredible speed without a moment wasted.
Beatrice felt like she was dreaming. She wanted to feel this omnipotence, this exhilaration, forever.
‘…Finance Director.’
Beatrice, who had consulted him about her worries a few days ago, received a cliché answer. It was to change her mindset, advice that was incredibly trite, but it was alright because it came from the Finance Director.
She was just happy that he listened to her and answered seriously. She thought so, but…
—Your Highness Beatrice.
—If you’re thinking of physically confronting the Duke of Wei or Crown Prince Zeke…
—There’s something I need to tell you.
—…It’s a way to completely overcome your chronic illness.
What the Finance Director told her was beyond imagination. A complete solution, not the current method of reaching mana exhaustion and borrowing mana from artifacts.
Beatrice, who had even tried creating an artificial mana heart organ within her body, couldn’t help but be hesitant about the method the Finance Director suggested. It wasn’t that it was crazy or anything, but she wondered if it was even possible.
But the Finance Director was certain.
—You can do it, Your Highness.
As if he had witnessed Beatrice succeeding with his own eyes.
Thus, she believed in the Finance Director, and…
‘Close circuits 4 through 17, open circuits 34 and 74. And twist circuit 148 by 24 degrees and circuit 97—’
The method the Finance Director told her was extremely simple.
—Don’t use your mana.
—I heard that a mage’s mana acts as a refinery. It accumulates mana from the air within the body and converts it for use in magic.
—But because of your unique constitution, Your Highness Beatrice, you can’t control the magic you cast with the mana absorbed into your body.
—You’ve been using a workaround until now, using mana from artifacts instead of absorbing it as much as possible, but…
—Now we’re going a step further.
—Use the mana in the air directly as magic.
It sounded simple. But for a mage, it was impossible within the realm of common sense.
Could you breathe and only take in oxygen? Could you drink sugar water and only consume the sugar without the water?
It would require sophisticated mana devices, and even then, it would only be an experiment. To do that with your bare body, and constantly at that, with enough mana to cast magic…
Even Beatrice, who realized her monstrous talent, said it was impossible, but…
—You can do it, Your Highness.
…the Finance Director only said that. So Beatrice did what she always did. Believed in the Finance Director.
In the end, she succeeded in using the mana in the air directly by controlling the mana circuits and magic circles within her body in real-time. It was so easy once she succeeded that she wondered why she hadn’t tried it before.
Being able to use the mana in the air directly meant that the entire surrounding area was practically Beatrice’s mana.
The result was this current magical bombardment.
[Flesh-Ripping Blade Wind]
[Gravity Concentration]
[Earth-Swallowing Whale]
[Flower of Death]
Back when she was young and didn’t fully grasp her chronic illness,
She believed the stories about her talent acknowledged by the Archmage and innocently explored books on high-ranking magic. Of course, she couldn’t understand anything as a child, but she was happy just with that.
What she saw in those books were the highest-ranking magic spells used by Rank 8 mages of the past.
All of them were now manifesting through Beatrice’s fingertips, guided by her overwhelming talent.
‘As expected, I need the Finance Director.’
What more could she say? The Finance Director was now someone she had to bring with her, no matter what.
Therefore,
“Is the fireworks show over?”
“…This is why they call martial artists uncultured. Calling the essence of magic a fireworks show.”
“Well, it is a fireworks show, isn’t it? Those so-called essences of magic—”
BOOM!!!
From within the crater created by the numerous magic bombardments,
The Duke of Wei, blowing away the dust cloud with one hand, smirked.
He had several minor injuries, but he was unbelievably unharmed considering he was directly hit by high-ranking magic.
“It couldn’t even pierce my trained body. Isn’t magic the uncultured one?”
The Duke of Wei. One of the two Rank 8 martial artists currently on the continent.
He feared comparing himself to the other martial artist, the Headmistress, but…
Even so, he was a Rank 8.
“That damn princess showed off her noisy fireworks.”
“…!!”
“Now it’s my turn, isn’t it?”
The next voice was heard from above her.
She had been watching him, activating various surveillance and tracking magic around her body, but she hadn’t noticed his leap.
But even so, she had layered multiple defensive spells…
“What’s this?”
“!?”
Crack!
[Immutable Barrier], which had a record of withstanding even a dragon’s breath, shattered from just a few fingers.
The Duke of Wei then pushed his left hand through the defensive magic, overcoming the intense resistance with his physical body alone,
And struck with his right fist.
BOOOOOM!!!
‘Impossible…!!’
She managed to endure it somehow, but most of the defensive magic she had cast beforehand was shattered with a single punch. And it wasn’t even a full-powered blow; it was a strike from the air with an awkward posture.
Magic, weapons, special abilities, and so on.
On this continent filled with various transcendental powers, the meaning of reaching Rank 8 with just his physical body…
The moment Beatrice clutched her head from the brain-shaking impact,
“You lack combat experience.”
“Ugh!”
The Duke of Wei, now with one hand in his pocket, leisurely launched a kick. With that unexpected blow, even the last remaining defensive magic shattered.
But for Beatrice, who could now handle the mana in the air, that wasn’t a big loss. Even while flying, she layered new defensive spells with a wave of her hand.
The Duke of Wei clicked his tongue, seemingly annoyed.
“To think you solved your chronic illness with such a barbaric method.”
“Huff… huff… It’s unpleasant to hear that from a martial artist.”
“If you’re not careful, not only will your magic fail, but your body will be torn apart from the inside by the natural mana. Aren’t you afraid?”
“Not really. I’m quite relaxed, considering my opponent.”
“…Is that so.”
She was intoxicated by the feeling of omnipotence she felt for the first time, but her opponent was a Rank 8. And a veteran who had reached Rank 8 long ago and honed his strength.
As a former mercenary, he couldn’t possibly lack combat experience. At Beatrice’s provocation, the Duke of Wei pulled his hand out of his pocket.
And then,
“Then I’ll have to make it a bit more threatening.”
Crack!
He simply gathered his Aura in one hand and made a fist, but…
The space around his fist was shattering, unable to withstand the force. If she was hit by that fist again, she would be crushed along with her defensive magic.
Naturally, she wasn’t given any time to prepare.
‘Left… no!’
Left, right, up, down, front, and back.
Fists poured down from every direction. He was moving so fast that afterimages remained, making it seem like there were multiple Duke of Weis.
But Beatrice had a plan this time.
[Spatial Control]
She instantly dominated the surrounding space and moved her body into the air. The Duke of Wei also reacted and changed the direction of his fist upwards, but…
What Beatrice was aiming for was the Duke of Wei’s fist itself.
‘Now!’
[Spatial Control]
The true value of [Spatial Control] didn’t come from freely moving herself. As a magic that dominated the surrounding space, its main purpose was to move other things around her.
Naturally, she couldn’t interfere with things that were heavier or of a higher rank than her own power, but…
The current Beatrice could, by focusing all her mana on the Duke of Wei’s fist…
“…!!”
…for a brief, very brief moment…
Beatrice, forcibly twisting the trajectory of his fist, bought herself a little more time.
And this time, the Duke of Wei paid dearly for giving the mage time to prepare.
[Spatial Control] [Spatial Control] [Spatial Control]
She quickly cast [Spatial Control] multiple times, teleporting herself and widening the distance between them.
And then, she chanted high-ranking magic.
[Binding Roots]
[Freezing Gale]
Along with magic that would hinder the Duke of Wei’s movements, even for a moment, she bombarded him with countless offensive spells.
All of this happened in less than two seconds after he dodged her attack.
It had only been ten seconds since the fight began. This exchange, which could have easily killed thousands of Rank 1s or 2s, happened in just a few seconds.
“Tsk.”
“M-Magic is coming! Dodge!”
“Help me!!!”
But the Duke of Wei, with an annoyed expression, swatted away or countered the magic flying towards him with his bare hands. Some of Beatrice’s magic struck the Duke of Wei’s forces, who were relatively close by, but the Duke didn’t care.
Beatrice, unleashing spells that most mages wouldn’t be able to use in their entire lives in just a few seconds, and the Duke of Wei, deflecting those spells with just his Aura-clad hand.
Battles between Rank 8s were rarely recorded in detail. In the first place, you needed to be at least Rank 7, or even a Rank 8, to properly witness the battle.
Others would simply be caught in the crossfire and die from the aftereffects.
The Duke of Wei glared at Beatrice, who was relentlessly bombarding him with magic.
“Is that because you’re using the mana in the air? The methods that work on ordinary mages aren’t working at all.”
The Duke of Wei, a former mercenary, had faced countless mages. The biggest threat to him, a martial artist, wasn’t the swords and spears in front of him, but the magic flying from afar or from unseen places.
That’s why he used techniques to disrupt or shake the mana within his body, but it didn’t seem to affect Beatrice much.
The fact that she was using the mana in the air directly meant that she was a completely different being from the mages the Duke of Wei knew.
It was practically like facing an opponent whose combat experience was useless. But the Duke of Wei soon smiled.
“Then…”
“…!?”
Thump.
The air around him was pushed back as the Duke of Wei stomped his foot. It seemed like a meaningless move, but Beatrice’s expression changed as she realized its purpose.
What was pushed back wasn’t just the air,
But also the mana.
“As a martial artist, I’ll have to do it the uncultured way.”
BOOM!!!!
Another stomp, infused with Aura and unleashed with full force, struck the ground.
Large cracks appeared on the earth, and the surrounding air and mana were instantly pushed back, creating a vacuum. Its range even reached Beatrice, who had distanced herself.
Of course, it only lasted for a moment, and the air and mana returned, but Beatrice, who had become as powerless as a Rank 1 for that brief moment, broke out in a cold sweat.
A solution that worked because Beatrice didn’t store mana within her body.
If she used the mana in the air, he just had to eliminate all the surrounding air and mana.
“Well, I can practice this a few more times. I’m also a genius, just like you.”
“………”
“Now… then…”
Grin.
“Shall we begin round two?”