Chapter 232. Mado (2)
He opened his eyes.
His senses were hazy, a dazed gaze reflected nothing but pitch-black darkness.
Lowering his head, he saw a single pure-white body placed alone at the center of the abyss.
There was nothing else. Nothing could be heard.
In this space filled with darkness, only he existed.
His consciousness grew clearer.
A question arose in his fogged mind.
Who was he?
No name, no face came to mind. He could not tell what he had been doing until now either. His memory was wiped clean, as if erased.
What kind of place was this, that it brought about oblivion?
At that moment, a path stretched out before his eyes.
A wide and long, lightning-struck path.
Slowly moving his eyes, he checked where it was headed. The end of the narrow path connected to the peak of a colossal mountain range.
Thunderclouds gathered so thick that the summit could not be seen.
He unconsciously took a step forward.
Then he realized who he was.
Verden.
The moment he recognized himself, color returned to his once pure-white body.
And the second step.
As his left foot touched down, his life unfolded before him.
What he had wanted to do, what he had been doing—he gradually began to recall it all.
The more steps he took, the clearer his memories and emotions became.
Before long, Verden stood at the entrance to the path.
By this point, he naturally understood what the path was.
‘The Way of Magic of Lightning.’
If he walked this path paved with thunderbolts, Verden would break free of the framework of a Mage.
A Magus.
That immense power would be of great help in the trials ahead.
But he could not walk it yet.
For in his sideward gaze, there were other Ways of Magic spread out.
A path of flame.
Not only that, but countless paths, each formed of different branches of magic, surrounded him.
Not just the elemental branch, but also the enchantment branch, the mental branch.
Even what appeared to be black magic was present.
An innumerable multitude of Ways of Magic.
There were untrodden paths—surely never walked by anyone.
On the other hand, there were neatly arranged paths—paths that someone had definitely walked.
Among them were paths that would be walked someday by someone.
The timelines were entangled.
Amidst this chaotic confusion, Verden stood his ground.
Looking around, he beheld the countless choices laid before him.
The moment he chose one of these countless Ways of Magic, Verden would become the Magus he had so long desired to be.
Yet he did not choose. He had no reason to.
‘Because I am the center.’
He could become anything, achieve anything.
The framework that had once confined him had been broken long ago.
The body he now held in his own hands was itself the aggregate of infinite possibilities.
Carefully, he closed his eyes.
At the same time, the sky of the abyss split apart and the stillness was shattered.
Light streamed in through the cracks, pouring down, and everything around began to collapse.
All things lost balance.
Yet Verden felt no agitation. He remained calm.
He knew which path he had to walk.
There was no fear.
He did not think it was the wrong direction. For that path was also the one he had been walking all along.
As his consciousness ascended, he recalled the wish he had harbored when he reconstructed his body.
An infinite possibility, unbound by limits.
Way of Magic <Infinity 無限>.
***
Kugugugugugu!
The very foundation of the facility trembled.
A massive storm of magic power surged forth, suppressing the flow with sheer dominance.
It was a violent torrent.
Even the Administrator who had broken the sealing formation found it difficult to resist.
He was pushed back, unable to conceal his shock.
‘What in the world is this…….’
He knew something had happened.
It must have been one of the secret measures Verden had hidden.
But this, this was far beyond prediction.
Unprecedented power.
The situation before his eyes was utterly abrupt.
Above all, to think the sheer amount of magic power was enough to affect even a transcendent being.
The Administrator interpreted the phenomenon from the perspective of a Demon King.
‘Could it be that, in that instant, he pioneered a Way of Magic?’
No, surely not.
The scale was too different.
Even if the reactions differed for each individual becoming a Magus, this was an irregular change.
This was…… almost akin to the awakening of a Transcendent.
‘A Mage who had not even reached the 6th tier, becoming a Transcendent?
Such an absurd thing could never……!’
And then,
The rampaging magic power suddenly subsided.
The currents grew still.
At the center stood Verden.
Though his body remained in a pitiful state, his blue eyes carried a strength greater than before.
A commanding presence.
At this fact, the Administrator let out a small gasp.
“Transcendent……!”
It was imperfect.
Yet even so, it was transcendence.
Verden gripped his left shoulder with his right hand.
Kwa-d-d-d-duk!
He tore off the obstructive Robe of the Wanderer and Mage’s Regret.
They had long since been ruined, stripped of all function.
His bare torso was revealed.
Arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, legs—all engraved with the Magic Circle of Defying the Heavens.
The scars, clearly carved by a blade, glowed with flowing blue magic power.
The Administrator instinctively analyzed the magic circle.
Even with the Demon King’s knowledge, there were parts impossible to decipher—a structure unknown.
But roughly, he understood what it was.
He could not even laugh.
“A magic circle that forcibly alters the body…… you have committed the taboo of the magic world.That power will only hasten your ruin as a Mage.Young Mage, does victory hold meaning to you if it is gained so?When the magic circle’s duration ends, your mana circuits will be utterly destroyed.”
“I am different.”
“How can you be certain?”
“Because I am standing here now.”
Destruction of mana circuits, permanent bodily damage including lifespan loss.
Such side effects of Defying the Heavens, of Body Unseal, no longer applied to Verden.For the body he had reconstructed in the past had, at last, transcended all limitations.
‘But there is still a time limit.’
The duration of Defying the Heavens was ten minutes.
After ten minutes, he would lose the mantle of an imperfect Transcendent.
The heart, newly unsealed, would be sealed again, his magic power utterly depleted.
He had to end it within that time.
He retrieved Orient.
Activating his mana circuits at full force, he invoked the Way of Magic.
Infinity.An indescribable omnipotence surged through him.
It was the same overwhelming force as when he had once connected to the power source of the Magic Tower.
“……I once called you bold.”
“You did.”
“I correct myself. You are, like my true body, a madman.”
For the first time, the Administrator assumed a stance.
He judged the challenger before him as an equal.
A tense silence.
No signal was needed.
Magic collided, light bursting outward.
At the center, the two Transcendents moved.
Toward the end of their magical battle.
***
Element clashed with element.
Shockwaves, enough to collapse a great city, resonated through the air.
And in that clash, the one holding the advantage was none other than Verden.
The Administrator, raising a wall of ice to block an attack, retreated backward.
‘What a truly perilous Way of Magic…….’
Verden swung his staff.
Crimson flames transformed into hundreds of arrows, pouring down.From above, four bolts of lightning rained.From behind, blades of gravity came flying.
These were not spells of a specific tier.
Magic power, altered by sheer imagination, manifested directly into magic.
In other words, Verden himself had become the very will of magic.
And he was even wielding the Mystic Eye to its utmost.
A magic system that shattered the very framework of tiers—
Infinity.
That was the true identity of the Way of Magic Verden had pioneered.
Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
The Administrator’s barrier screamed.
Power and speed that allowed no response.Verden gave him no time to calculate high-tier spells.
‘In that case…….’
He unleashed his mana.
Piercing cold pierced through to his lungs.
“Kuuhk……!”
For an instant, his magic faltered, but he endured and bought time.
Countless bolts of lightning rampaged indiscriminately.
Seizing that gap, the Administrator’s form shot forward.Acknowledging his disadvantage at range, he sought to shift the stage to close combat.
Their staves crossed.
Neither yielded an inch as they displayed their techniques.Then, intertwining Orient, the Administrator extended his right hand.
<Arcane: Impact>
At that moment, Verden also met his hand.
Kwaaaaaaaang!
A massive shockwave erupted.
The Administrator slammed his staff into the ground to kill the momentum. Lifting his head, his azure-golden eyes shook violently.
“How can you wield <Arcane>……!”
Though lacking in level, it was undoubtedly the technique of the Demon King.
Imitation? Had he pierced through even fragments of such a complex manipulation of magic power?
‘Was the Way of Magic not confined to elemental magic alone.’
He had no choice but to acknowledge it.
The Way of Magic pioneered by the young Mage before his eyes rivaled that of the Demon King.
From afar, Verden coughed up blood.
He staggered briefly, but Defying the Heavens still held. Enduring the pain that felt as though his very crystal would shatter, he activated the Mystic Eye.
Quadra Casting.
A prerogative of Magi above the 6th tier.A supreme technique that consumed dozens of times more mana than standard spells.
Its power was nothing short of lethal.
Four spells combined.
The Center of the Three Primary Colors fused with the Way of Magic of Infinity, creating a single spell.
<Chaos>
A sphere of dusky violet surged forward.
Instantly, the Administrator kicked off the ground, soaring backward. In that very moment, the swelling sphere detonated, unleashing multitudes of elemental spells toward him.
“……!”
That number, dangerous.
It could not be blocked with a barrier.
<Distortion>
7th-tier spatial magic.
Disregarding the consumption of mana, he immediately twisted space.
The spells, stripped of direction, scattered and collided in all directions.
Having barely escaped the crisis, the Administrator lowered his altitude.
Before the Gray Throne.
Back to where it all began, the Administrator showed signs of exhaustion.
His presence weakened to the extreme. His mana nearly depleted.
“Haaah, haaah…….”
Verden was just as exhausted.
His breaths came thin, as if they might stop at any moment. Even with his indomitable will, he could scarcely hold onto consciousness.
And only two minutes remained until Defying the Heavens ended.
Both knew instinctively.
The next exchange would be the last.
“……To think it would come to this. I am ashamed that I once deemed your challenge mere arrogance. You have already proven yourself worthy.”
“……”
“Therefore, young Mage, fight to your very last. So that you may survive.”
The Administrator’s mana tangled.
Blue and gold intertwined, giving birth to green mana. His eyes were dyed the same hue.
The Demon King’s Way of Magic, <Origin>.
Beyond the extreme lay the root, the beginning of the elements.
The Administrator’s mana converged to a single point.
A white flame, rising like a candle, manifested into the world.
He had read of it in books.
Recognizing its identity, Verden’s thoughts accelerated, faster and faster.
Flame, water, ice, wind, gravity, lightning, earth.
The spells Verden could currently use lined up in his mind.
But none held the answer.
‘Before that flame, my spells will be rendered meaningless.’
To oppose it, supreme magic was needed, but he could not wield it.
For Verden had yet to reach true transcendence.In other words, mana alone was the sole answer.
<Arcane: Magic Fusion>
He concentrated all the mana remaining in Orient.
Into it, he integrated fragments of the mana manipulation methods he had gleaned from imitating <Arcane>.
Preparation complete.
At last, the decisive move was cast.
Supreme magic.
<El Rebio>
The primordial flame advanced.
At the same time, Verden thrust out his staff.A torrent of pure mana surged, carving a stroke through space.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!
Magic and mana collided.
The space, touched by a force beyond comprehension, warped. The aftermath split apart the Administrator’s chamber that had endured until now.
Though it seemed evenly matched, the balance soon tilted.
“……!……!!”
Verden was being pushed back.
He tried desperately to endure, but it was futile. Under an immeasurable weight, the very ground beneath his feet cracked open.
From his strained wounds, agony intensified.His consciousness flickered, breaking and rejoining again and again.
The Administrator gazed at him with regret.
‘I do not wish to kill him.’
If he survived, someday he might rival, no, even surpass the Demon King as a Magus. To cut down such a being before he could fully bloom—it was a bitter thought.
But he could not resist.
His duty outweighed his wish. Even if he appealed to the Demon King’s persona, there was no path where an intruder would be spared.
The world burned white.
Even the beam of mana that opposed it was no exception.The primordial flame slowly drew closer to the challenger.
Verden’s eyes had already lost their focus.
Though unconscious, he still maintained his mana.A will and tenacity that even the Demon King’s persona found shocking.
What could he be seeing, to endure still?
But it was meaningless.
At this rate, death was inevitable.
And then, it happened.
Fwaaaaaaah!
A mysterious change surged within Verden.
Mana that shone pure blue began to stain black, and a crimson border made his figure manifest vividly.
That pressure.
“What in the world is that…….”
It was not within the knowledge of the Demon King.
The Administrator’s eyes turned to Verden, yet he remained unconscious.This was the manifestation of his unconscious will.
Mana of black and crimson, evoking the very word Destruction.
It touched the primordial flame.The alien power and the white fire formed a perfect symmetry, then finally merged completely, forming a colossal force field.
────!
A blinding gray flash.
The wave of destruction swallowed the entire Administrator’s chamber.
***
……Silence fell.
The light that had illuminated the chamber was almost entirely gone, swept away by the aftershock. Faint darkness settled over the ruins.
The shattered Gray Throne.
From the cracks of the half-collapsed stairs, the Administrator emerged. Slowly, he took steps forward, but lost balance and dropped to one knee.
A white staff was his support.
“……Ha, not just incredible, but bordering on greatness.”
The primordial flame was gone.
Even if he was merely an avatar of the Demon King standing on the boundary of the 7th tier, it was still supreme magic of the Demon King.Yet Verden had withstood it—an achievement beyond reproach.
He looked at the debris beneath his feet.
Though protected by the Demon King’s magic, the Administrator’s chamber had not endured and collapsed.It was proof of how immense the force of the preceding battle had been.
What was that mana?
With difficulty, the Administrator rose to his feet.
He lifted his gaze, searching for Verden.On the opposite side stood a massive door, now in view.
And before it, a pile of rubble lay. Likely fallen from the cracked ceiling.
“……”
A staff lay there, abandoned on the floor.
The presence of the young Mage could not be felt.
The Administrator’s expression hardened.
Surely not.
“Is he dead?”
Thud-thud-thud!
From within the rubble, Verden rose.
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