49. Witch (11)
Arcanium, Kanadan Academic District.
Kugugung!!
At the sudden thunderous roar that shook the very ground, the students walking the streets after school screamed and dropped to the ground.
“Kyaaah!!”
“A-an earthquake?!”
“Uwaaah!”
With the ground trembling, it was only natural that their thoughts would turn to an earthquake—but this was Arcanium, a floating city.
Natural earthquakes did not occur here.
“How loud and flashy〜”
Looking down at the scene from the top of one of the buildings, Hyeijin let out a whistle.
And with that, a question surfaced in her mind.
“Is that really a witch?”
Witches did not fight in such noisy, showy ways.
To wield illusion meant, in a sense, to leave almost no impact on reality, and because of that, they usually fought very quietly, without leaving a trace.
“And besides, that…”
Looking at the translucent fragments jutting up from the middle of Arcanium like broken shards of glass, Hyeijin frowned.
Those fragmented pieces of space, shattered as though cracks had formed in midair, had formed a kind of barrier field, and because of that, Arcanium’s magic guardians, who had arrived late to the scene, could not even enter the inside.
“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t feel like illusion magic.”
And yet that was unquestionably illusion magic.
Hyeijin could tell because she knew illusion magic better than anyone.
Which only made it all the more suspicious—and all the more fascinating.
“An illusion that affects reality. Is that what it feels like when a witch reaches the pinnacle? It looks ridiculously strong.”
—No. It’s completely different.
“Huh?”
At that moment, a voice came from somewhere, and Kaen and Hyeijin both turned their heads at the same time to look into the air.
There, a small red translucent sparrow was flapping its wings.
“Metler…”
—Yeah. It’s me.
Hyeijin knit her brows slightly as she looked at the red sparrow apparition.
Its proper name was “Psychometer.” He possessed the special ability to read the memories of objects, and he was both a mage of the Crescent Moon Tower and an operator.
From headquarters, he received missions from the Tower Master, relayed them to agents, and handled operational planning, cleanup, supplies, and such. So under normal circumstances, he often sent out apparitions like this and received situation reports.
“You said you were busy. What brings you here?”
—The mission seems to be developing in a pretty unusual direction, so I came out to check the situation myself.
“What’s Clairvoyance doing?”
—I had a target I needed to monitor intensively these past few days, so I pulled overtime. The target had dimension-traveling abilities, which made things pretty annoying.
“Honestly…”
Scratching her cheek, Hyeijin spoke.
“So what do you mean by ‘different’? That it isn’t illusion magic?”
—It is illusion magic. But you know this too, Hyeijin. What happens when illusion magic reaches its ultimate height.
She nodded and stared at the brilliant fragments of the glass pillar created by the unidentified witch.
‘A witch’s illusion at the pinnacle cannot be distinguished from reality.’
Metler spoke softly.
—So what does it look like to you? Does it seem impossible to tell apart from reality?
“Uh… it does look real, but if you look closely, an illusion is still an illusion, right?”
—Right.
“Well, sure. Illusions don’t normally work like that.”
Hyeijin mostly used magic that applied illusions to the other person’s body, and that was also the most basic way witches used magic.
Making the opponent’s body feel heavy, or summoning a gigantic dinosaur that only the target could see and making them faint.
Like that.
It had absolutely no effect on reality, and yet for the target alone it could exert limitless influence—that was what illusion magic was.
But…
the witch causing this disturbance in Arcanium was using magic of a very different nature.
—That… is illusion magic that affects reality.
“…No way. That can’t be.”
Hyeijin shook her head as if she could not believe it.
“That’s ultimate illusion magic. It should have been completely lost after the Last Witch disappeared…”
—That’s why I’m surprised too. I can’t believe something like that could actually exist.
With a stunned expression, she thought of the magic she knew.
‘An illusion indistinguishable from reality.’
And one step above even that—
‘An illusion that affects reality.’
Good heavens.
Still unable to believe it, she looked again at the scene unfolding before her.
“The witch of legend… is really alive…?”
At that, Kaen shook his head.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily that. Look closely. Does that look to you like the Last Witch’s level of magic?”
“Huh? Ah, right?”
Hyeijin narrowed her eyes and examined the illusion barrier carefully.
There was no doubt that the magic interfering with reality was remarkable, but if one asked whether its level itself was truly high, that was another matter.
At best, it was around her own level, or slightly higher.
For the Last Witch, it was laughably lacking.
“Probably a descendant of the Last Witch. Or maybe a hidden disciple.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Hyeijin understand the situation, and she let out a sharp excited breath through her nose.
It would have been her first time encountering a witch at all—
and on top of that, one connected to the Last Witch.
“This is getting… more and more exciting. I really want to meet her now…”
Unlike the thoroughly excited Hyeijin, Kaen’s thoughts were rather pessimistic.
‘An abnormal ability.’
What, really, was the difference between an illusion capable of interfering with reality and reality manipulation itself?
Could such an ability truly exist without any price at all?
If one looked only at the category of magic itself, space magic appeared utterly broken, yet the mental calculations needed for pure magic casting were nearly impossible, meaning several high-class magicians had to gather together, or else one had to carry a spellbook and write directly into it each time.
Flame magic, which had the greatest destructive power, had the flaw that it was difficult for the caster to control its shape.
Water magic lost half its effectiveness in places with no water.
Every attribute always came with a weakness.
If so, then what was the restriction placed upon illusion magic?
“The priority is getting inside there. Have you found a way, Metler?”
—Sorry, Kaen. Not yet. The mages at headquarters are analyzing the magic formula as best they can, but witch magic isn’t exactly easy. What about you, Hyeijin?
“Huh? Well〜?”
Hyeijin tilted her head.
To be honest, though she herself also used witch magic, it was her first time seeing another witch’s magic, so she really could not tell what was what.
‘How are you even supposed to break through something like that…?’
It was a higher-dimensional formula, one level more advanced than her own magic.
With the knowledge she had right now…
no matter how much she thought about it, no way through came to mind.
“I can’t see an answer…”
Her insides burned.
A witch was right there in front of her, and yet she could not even approach.
—As you both know, there’s a high chance that inside there, the boy named Baek Yuseol is fighting a desperate battle right now.
“…Yeah.”
“…”
—I don’t know much about illusion magic, but no matter who Baek Yuseol is, I don’t think he’d be able to endure the Last Witch’s magic for long.
Then they had to break in and join the fight against the witch as quickly as possible—but they could not, and it made her insides feel scorched.
“Then what are we supposed to do—”
“Who’s there.”
Shweaak!
Just as Hyeijin let out a low sigh, Kaen suddenly aimed his staff somewhere and summoned a spike, firing it at once.
Thunk.
“W-what?!”
Belatedly stepping back, Hyeijin raised her own staff and spotted the uninvited guests who had arrived behind them.
Two girls.
Even though Kaen’s spike had stopped no more than 0.1111111 away from one girl’s eye, the two of them showed not the slightest agitation, calmly looking their way—and even Hyeijin recognized their faces.
“Uh, huh? Aren’t those those girls?”
—Kaen, stop. Don’t touch those two.
Flame, and Eizel.
Special girls born under the fate of the stars.
But Kaen did not withdraw the spike, and instead asked,
“What business brings you here?”
Kaen and Hyeijin were the sort who moved without leaving any trace to begin with. Their location was not something mere students could possibly discover.
On top of that, they had distorted both space and perception, so ordinary people could neither look at this place nor enter it.
Which meant the excuse that they had run into them by chance could not explain this.
In other words, those two girls had come here with a purpose and had broken through their barrier to do it.
“It’s our first time meeting. You know who I am, right?”
“…Yes. I’ve seen your face before.”
“I know who you are too.”
“What?”
At Flame’s words, Kaen frowned.
Neither his status nor his name nor any trace of him had ever been left behind—he should only exist as a dead man in the records. And yet some mere schoolgirl was claiming to know of his existence.
“You know me?”
“Yes. You’re a mage of the Crescent Moon Tower.”
At those words, Kaen’s brows twitched, and Hyeijin’s smiling face stiffened.
In the midst of that, only Metler, speaking through the red sparrow, sounded amused.
—Wow. That is a little surprising.
I figured they weren’t ordinary, but to think they’d even know of the Crescent Moon Tower.
“You are…”
—Kaen. You’re not about to kill them just because they know too much, are you? Don’t do that.
“…I had no intention of doing that.”
—Well, I can understand the thought. I looked into them recently, and apparently she’s in a relationship with Baek Yuseol.
At Metler’s words, Flame’s expression twisted into something bizarre, and Eizel’s face crumpled, but he paid that no mind.
—Besides, just like Baek Yuseol—or perhaps even more than him—those two girls are special too… so there’s no need to be startled by every little thing like this, right?
Persuaded to some extent by Metler’s words, Kaen nodded.
Metler’s judgment had never once been wrong.
So the choice to spare those girls would be the correct one as well.
Once Kaen withdrew the spike, Metler guided the red sparrow closer to the girls and asked,
—Hello? I’m Metler. So then, why did you come looking for us?
“We want to help.”
Eizel spoke first, taking a step forward.
—Help? What kind of help?
“We know how to break that illusion barrier.”
—…Really?
“Yes. But… our strength alone isn’t enough, so we came to ask for your help.”
Flame definitely knew a method.
But it required quite a lot of equipment and extremely high-level composite magic, so the assistance of the Crescent Moon Tower was essential.
—Help, huh…
Metler tilted the sparrow’s head and thought for a moment.
At that, Flame swallowed dryly.
She had known from the original romance fantasy story that agents of the Crescent Moon Tower had come here.
But nowhere had it ever said that she would meet them directly.
From this point on, even she had absolutely no idea what would happen.
If things went wrong here and they were killed by the Crescent Moon Tower’s agents, she would have no grounds to complain.
They were just that dangerous.
—All right.
Fortunately, what Metler had been thinking about had nothing to do with how to handle Flame and Eizel.
—To be honest, I wasn’t sure whether we’d be helping you or receiving help from you. So let’s just say we’re helping each other. Sounds good, right?
“…Was that what you were thinking about?”
—Hm? Is something wrong? I think this part is rather important.
At Metler’s comment, whose priorities were clearly rather different from those of ordinary people, Eizel let out a sigh and shook her head.
What did it matter?
At last, they had found a way to help Baek Yuseol.
—Good. Then shall we get started right away?
Crash!!
A wall shattered and fell, then oxidized like a flower and spread lightly through the air.
But in truth, it was made of hundreds of blade-like fragments.
If even one brushed against him, the least he would suffer was a serious injury.
‘This is kind of dangerous…’
[Blink]
Baek Yuseol leaped swiftly into the air and swung his sword.
The intangible waves gathering in the atmosphere split apart, exposing a gap—but Melisher fired translucent wedge-like spikes of space through it like glass.
Pachang!
They shattered as they collided with Baek Yuseol’s blade, but even so, the impact left his wrist throbbing and numb.
Boom! Kugugugung!!
The ceiling came crashing down.
Dodging pillars, rubble, and fragments of glasslike space one by one, Baek Yuseol tried to secure the high ground as much as possible.
“Hahaha… I get it now. Your Blink has limits, doesn’t it?”
Melisher lifted her trembling lips into a smile.
Her mana had long since run dry.
Even her concentration had faltered to the point that using proper magic had become difficult.
But even so, there was no way she could lose to some student who had not even lived twenty years.
‘Blink, huh. It’s definitely unusual.’
That ability, which pierced space in an instant to move from place to place, was an incomplete magic no mage in the world had ever managed to master.
So at first it had flustered her greatly—but apparently even Blink’s control had its limits.
“Otherwise, there’d be no reason for you to dodge or struggle so hard to block my attacks. Right?”
If he had been able to use Blink without limit, all he would have needed to do was nullify every attack by teleporting, close the distance, and stab with his blade.
At the very least, he could have used some other kind of magic.
But the limits of that strange constitution could not be helped, and he did not use any magic at all.
No—he could not.
‘His only means of attack is that sword. As long as I watch that, I’m fine.’
All she had to do was not let him close the distance.
Baek Yuseol’s Blink range was only about ten meters at most.
Keeping at least fifteen meters between them, she collapsed the space around him.
No, more precisely…
she was collapsing the illusion that formed this entire space.
‘An illusion that affects reality.’
Now she knew for certain.
Illusion magic did not work on Baek Yuseol at all.
Not a single mental-type spell she cast had any effect on him.
But what about this magic left behind by the Last Witch?
Would he be able to escape even from the Last Witch’s great magic, which affected reality itself?
‘Last Witch. You were wrong.’
She could hardly believe that there had existed anything worth fearing even with a perfect power like this in one’s hands.
Perhaps the Last Witch had only been great as a pioneer who discovered new magic—but not necessarily that remarkable as a person.
‘Or… perhaps I may be even greater than the Last Witch!’
When she slammed her staff against the ground, a tree burst upward from the floor.
Baek Yuseol dodged it with a light backstep, but suddenly human palms bloomed from the branches and spread into dozens of limbs, closing around him.
Slash!
The illusion was easily cut apart by his swordsmanship, but from the cut surface, the head of an anaconda sprouted out and bit into Baek Yuseol’s shoulder.
Crunch!
Even though the pain should have been enough to make him black out, he showed not the slightest change in expression. He simply cut off the anaconda’s neck with one swing and charged forward.
“Hah. How long can you keep using such a brainless method, even with the damage piling up?”
He was a complete idiot, with no strategy to speak of.
Click! Boom!!
“Ugh!”
Every so often he threw some strange magic tool that erased illusions, or scattered them like a fan blowing dust away.
Those witch-hunter-like tools had almost put her in danger a few times, but there was no problem.
Because she had already accounted for even variables like that!
“Now just die already!”
The water of the sewer surged upward, becoming a gigantic dragon that rushed at Baek Yuseol, while trains burst out from both walls and slammed toward his body.
He dodged them or cut them down with his sword each time, but he could not block every bit of damage.
“Cough…!”
Her mana was finally starting to hit its limit.
But it was fine.
Before her mana reached its breaking point, Baek Yuseol would collapse from exhaustion first.
Baek Yuseol had already taken heavy damage and looked exhausted to the bone, while she had merely lost mana.
There was no need to even compare who had the advantage—
‘…Huh?’
And yet something felt strange.
‘What happened to his wounds?’
He should certainly have had his shoulder crushed by the anaconda earlier.
But the wound was gone.
‘N-no. That can’t be.’
Direct illusions did not work on that boy.
That was why she had changed her combat style and begun using illusions that affected reality.
And had he not, in fact, been dodging those attacks and blocking them?
If the illusions had not worked, there would have been no reason for him to bother doing any of that.
And yet—
Baek Yuseol did not look tired at all.
‘…What is going on?’
The witch’s mind burned white.
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