“Drop dead, old hag!”
“You damn bitch, still at it!”
Crunch.
Boom!!!
Hmm, how should I put it.
Just… incredible.
“Want some more popcorn?”
“Thank you, Master Olfin.”
“How’s the dirt chair?”
“Very comfortable, Master Bantain.”
Receiving popcorn from Olfin and a comfy chair from Bantain, I could now watch the battle between the two archmages more leisurely (?).
“I never liked you since you became an archmage! The Academy’s rude ice princess as an archmage?!”
Stars poured down from the patched-up night sky.
Of course, they weren’t real stars. If they were, this basin—no, the entire continent, the whole world—would be blown away.
Too small to be called stars, yet meteors the size of buildings rained down, covering the basin.
Craters and dust erupted everywhere, accompanied by deafening roars and tremors.
That’s why the magic of the Astron Magic Tower was somewhat unique.
“You could say it’s a different kind of illusion compared to our Arkhé.”
“If it’s an illusion…”
“Arkhé’s essence is light and darkness, and the byproduct and result of that is the illusion created by it. But Astron’s magic is fundamentally a kind of illusion.”
“To be precise, it deceives the world.”
“Deceives the… world?”
“Yes. It connects the sky and the universe, changes the positions of celestial bodies, and makes stars fall. All of it is achieved by deceiving a part of the world. Of course, at Archmage Stella’s level, she could deceive this entire area into becoming a sea of stars.”
Boom, crash, bang!!
So, is she holding back now?
The night sky that appeared when Stella arrived was already massive, yet she kept raining down meteors without pause.
If that scale of bombardment were to cover this entire area…
“It could probably cover the entire capital. No wonder Stella is the third most feared archmage by the royal court.”
It’s impressive, but being third feels a bit off.
Wait, being third means there are two archmages even more dangerous than Stella, who can rain down meteor showers over the entire capital?
Watching Stella Varnicion’s magic right in front of me, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
“Follow the path of that night sky…!!”
“Old hag! Have you finally gone senile? Are you planning to blow everything up?”
“Shut your trap, please!”
Clap.
With a single clap from Stella, the night sky expanded dramatically.
Like forcefully stretching paper, the night sky almost tore but stopped just short.
Now, the enlarged night sky no longer rained meteors. Instead, it was filled with even more stars and celestial bodies.
With a wave of her hand, the stars in the night sky aligned.
Dozens of celestial bodies formed a cross-like shape.
“They shall descend upon the world in intersecting forms.”
The first incantation spoken by the archmage who had been raining meteors with a flick of her finger.
The higher the level of magic, the more essential and powerful the incantation. As it flowed from Stella, the stars in the cross shape began to glow.
Kwaaaaaaa───!!
And then, a vertical beam of light shot down from the sky.
It felt like watching a satellite bombardment straight out of a blockbuster movie.
Compared to the night sky, the beam was as thin as a person, but its power was overwhelming, surpassing all the meteor showers Stella had unleashed so far.
Even an archmage would be obliterated if hit directly by that.
“Ugh, I’m so embarrassed… sigh.”
Shisha Glesia’s response was simple. She didn’t even bother to strike a pose or chant any incantation. She just waved her hand like she was shooing something away.
But the result was still mind-blowing.
*Crackle crackle!*
“I’ll make you an ice pack. I heard it’s great for dementia.”
…It’s such a cliché expression, but here we go again.
Literally, the world froze.
The ground, the sky, and even the air around Shisha turned to ice. The moisture in the air froze into tiny ice crystals, clattering down to the ground.
The rapidly spreading ice even reached the beam Stella had shot at Shisha.
*Crackle.*
It froze the light itself.
Whether it had a physical form or not, Shisha Glesia had reached the level of an Archmage with just that one ice spell.
The ice, climbing up the beam, eventually reached the night sky and began freezing it entirely.
No special magic, no fancy ice techniques.
She just froze everything around her equally.
Of course, that didn’t mean Stella Varnicion was cornered.
“No thanks. How about you take a meteor shower instead?”
“Ugh…”
She could just erase the frozen night sky and open a new one.
Shisha frowned at Stella’s relentless enthusiasm to keep fighting.
After glancing at Stella and Olfin for a moment, she sighed.
“Ah, I surrender.”
“…What?”
“I said I surrender. I came here to avoid old geezers, not to fight. Besides, if we’re gonna do this, we should go all out. This half-hearted stuff is boring.”
“It’s unavoidable, Shisha. I can only use magic as long as my illusion barrier holds.”
“If I can’t go all out and freeze everything, why even fight? I’m just gonna surrender. This is boring.”
So, this fight feels like the Archmages are just lazily swinging their arms around, huh?
Thinking about it, it makes sense. Stella alone could open a night sky over an entire capital if she wanted, and Shisha wouldn’t be any less capable.
But Stella seemed a bit dissatisfied, like she wanted to do more before it ended.
“Alright. Then Bantain takes 4th place, Shisha takes 3rd… Stella, how about we have a little fun?”
“…Sure, that sounds good. Come on in, Olfin.”
“Wait, is it Olfin’s turn now?”
“Shisha, how about a 1v2 this time? You can go all out with the freezing.”
“Hmm…”
And finally, Olfin stepped forward with a hearty laugh.
Unlike the other Archmages who maintained their youthful appearances, Olfin looked like an old man.
Despite his appearance, his bold declaration to take on both Stella and Shisha at once made me jump up from my dirt chair.
I tried to stop him, asking what he was thinking.
“Kyle Byron, are you worried about Archmage Olfin?”
“Of course I am! Why would Master Olfin be so reckless—”
“It seems you haven’t seen his true power, even though you’ve been by his side. Well, it’s a peaceful era, so it’s understandable.”
“…Huh?”
“Here, the reckless one is actually Archmage Stella. She’s already lost to him over 10 times unofficially.”
“But with Shisha too…”
“Ah, you’ll see. It’s no coincidence that he’s the Dragon Slayer.”
With Bantain’s smug, carefree grin, I sat back down on the dirt chair, half-doubting but curious.
I can’t jump into the battle of the Archmages, but I was thinking of asking Bantain to step in if Master Olfin gets too overwhelmed.
Unlike Olfin, who was walking leisurely as if to prove Bantain’s point, Stella and Shisha had somewhat stiff expressions.
“Shisha, you’ll do it, right?”
“…………It’s been a while. I can really go all out, right?”
“Of course. Well then, let’s begin.”
The moment Olfin pulled out a staff adorned with a radiant gem from thin air.
Stella was the first to move.
“The night sky shall fold!”
*Crash!*
She folded the night sky she had spread above her head.
Folding, folding, and folding again, she shaped the now-shrunken night sky into the form of a spear.
The bizarrely rotating spear of the night sky aimed straight for Olfin.
“As fast as possible……!!”
Shisha, seemingly in a hurry, focused all her ice not in all directions but solely on Olfin.
Creating sharp ice shards like waves, an icy surge rushed to engulf Olfin.
On the left, the spear of the night sky; on the right, the icy wave.
Olfin, caught in between.
“Hehe, it’s been a while since I’ve seen this.”
*Tap.*
He reached out a hand and touched the tip of the incoming spear of the night sky.
It seemed like Olfin’s wrinkled hand would be torn apart by the massive spear, but.
It was the spear of the night sky that disappeared.
“…………Huh?”
“Didn’t I tell you, Kyle Byron?”
──It’s the other side that’s reckless.
The spear of the night sky turned into light and vanished upon touching Olfin.
The icy wave was no exception.
“A bit chilly, isn’t it?”
This time, it turned into darkness and scattered as soon as his fingertips touched it.
The essence of Arkhé Magic Tower, the skill to turn the opponent’s magic into light and darkness.
If he could do that to people too.
‘……Scary.’
Arkhé’s illusions are ultimately byproducts. They’re useful, sure, but they have a clear limitation in that they can’t exert physical force.
Even for an Archmage like Olfin, that was unavoidable.
“This way.”
“No, this way.”
“Shouldn’t it be this way?”
“Damn you, Olfin……!!”
“We should’ve finished this quickly.”
In an instant, Olfin multiplied. Dozens, hundreds of Olfins appeared in front, beside, behind, and even far away from Shisha and Stella.
Of course, they were illusions, but which one was the real Olfin?
Moreover, the multiplied Olfins weren’t just standing still.
“”””What seems real to you?”””””
Fireballs fell from the sky. A giant knight with a sword appeared. Thorny spikes grew. A storm blew. The surroundings exploded.
Hundreds of different illusions occurred differently from each Olfin.
Since they were just illusions, Shisha and Stella wouldn’t get hurt even if they stood still.
*Whoosh!*
“Damn it……!!”
Among those illusions, the real one occasionally slipped in.
While Arkhé’s magic makes it hard to injure the opponent, Olfin, being an Archmage, has mastered other types of magic.
Hidden within the illusions, daggers aimed at Shisha and Stella.
“If I just freeze everything…….”
“That won’t do.”
“Ugh, old man!!”
Whenever Shisha spewed ice or Stella unfolded the night sky to shatter the illusions, a new Olfin appeared somewhere and turned it into light or darkness.
Blocking their attacks and not giving them a moment’s rest, Olfin pushed them relentlessly with his illusions.
Even at this very moment, one Olfin swelled up and exploded in front of Stella, while another beside her was thrusting with a sword, and right behind her, a minotaur was targeting her. Meanwhile, from beneath the ground, another Olfin emerged, flailing his arms.
All these illusions steal her attention. She stays wary of the real one hiding among them. The scene before her keeps changing, not even giving her a moment to breathe.
As soon as one Olfin disappears, another appears. Even if she quickly uses magic to sweep them away, new Olfins are immediately created.
Even…
“Tsk, this is why you gotta finish things fast when fighting old men.”
Now, the illusions are starting to take the form of other people, not just Olfin.
Another Shisha, Stella, Bantain, the high magician who contacted Stella, and even people who seem to be personal acquaintances based on their reactions.
It’s downright nasty. Illusions aren’t Olfin’s main weapon, but he’s thoroughly using them to overwhelm the two archmages.
How much time has passed like this?
Eventually, Shisha was the first to raise her hand.
“I surrender, I surrender! It’s been a while since I went all out with magic, so it felt refreshing. I’m done.”
“Understood. Go back and rest now.”
“…Old man, are you the real one talking right now?”
“What do you think?”
“AAAAAH!!! Olfin Glassburn!!!”
After Shisha surrendered, it didn’t take long for Stella, who was struggling, to raise the white flag.
With Shisha gone, the illusions Stella had to deal with doubled.
And so, Shisha, looking exhausted, lay down on a dirt chair and fell asleep, while Stella, covered in dirt, face-planted into the ground.
Olfin, who had returned unscathed, smiled.
“Looks like I’m in first place. Creator, I’m looking forward to a good character ability.”
“Ah… yes.”
Come to think of it, all of this was because of Bang’s character ability.
I might get punched by Stella when she wakes up later.
Seriously pondering this, I handed some popcorn to Olfin sitting next to me.
After all, we had to wait until Shisha and Stella woke up.
*
“Honestly, no matter how many times I think about it, it’s the same.”
“Stella…?”
“You, come to the Astron Magic Tower. I’ll not only give you an honorary elder position like Olfin but also provide all the support you want.”
“I’ll decline.”
“Good, you thought it through… huh?”
“Any other time, maybe, but right now, I’m making a board game. Please don’t disturb me.”
“………”
“Bantain, you’re not making it right.”
“Ah, sorry.”
“Olfin? If possible, could you draw the magic a bit more expressively…?”
“I’ll try.”
“Shisha.”
“I’ll do it, I said I would.”
“By the way, Stella, if you’ve got nothing to do, why not help out? The sooner we finish, the sooner we can go to Astron and all that.”
“………”
