Chapter 57: Null
The wind howled as Amaury charged forward with a speed that defied human capability. Her footsteps left deep imprints in the snow as she closed the distance between herself and Mikoto in mere moments.
He raised his remaining hand in a swift motion. Tendrils of mana danced around his outstretched palm, coalescing into a swirling vortex of flames as a large red glyph came into existence inches in front of his palm.
["From ember's birth to inferno's rage."]
As Amaury closed in, he unleashed his magic, sending forth an enormous wave of fire that roared towards her like a beast unleashed from its cage.
The flames erupted from Mikoto's hand with a deafening roar, engulfing the area in a searing inferno. The structures of the outpost trembled and groaned under the onslaught, their steel frames crackling and melting as they were consumed by the intense heat. The snow sizzled and evaporated upon contact with the scorching flames, leaving behind a charred and desolate landscape.
"Not enough," he heard her voice utter. Amaury was unaffected by the wall of fire before her. She charged headlong into the inferno, her sword still firmly gripped in her hand. The flames licked at her clothes, singeing the fabric and leaving trails of smoke in her wake, but she pressed on undaunted.
"The hell?" Mikoto could not help but blurt out. The heat washed over her like a baptism of fire, but she remained steadfast, her gaze fixed unwaveringly on him. The flames parted before her like a curtain drawn aside by a mere swing of her sword.
Their eyes met as she closed the distance, her blade slicing through the air looking to lop his head off. He narrowly dodged by leaning back, but she pressed on. She raised her blade and cut downwards, pivoting on his heel as he dodged, but she barely left any breathing room.
Her strike failed, but she just kept attacking. She thrust the blade forward to pierce his abdomen, but as he moved to dodge, it turned out to be a feint. She adjusted her sword and stance as she slashed at his chest. Though the blade only grazed him slightly, she unleashed an onslaught of attacks that might as well have been a blur.
Her blade nicked him more than a few times, and he was growing annoyed.
As Amaury pressed her assault, Mikoto distanced himself with a leap backwards. Dozens of circular white glyphs shimmered into existence around him, each one pulsating with his raw magical energy.
["Where darkness lies, I forge a blade of radiant light."]
With a flick of his wrist, he unleashed beams of light that streaked towards Amaury with blinding speed, their destructive power carving through the outpost like a scythe through wheat.
But Amaury was not idle in the least. Her movements were quick, perhaps quicker than even his own, and unpredictable. She practically danced between the beams of light with effortless grace. With each dodge, he left behind a trail of destruction in her wake, the beams carving deep gouges into the icy ground and shattering stone with explosive force.
("I see.")
Undeterred by Mikoto's assault, she surged forward once more, her sword carving through the air with deadly precision. But before her blade could find its mark, Mikoto's form blurred and appeared a few steps behind her, his hand preparing a new spell.
["In the stillness of frost, where cold winds blow, I summon the power of ice."]
He summoned forth an icy chill of the mountain itself, shaping it into a wave of crystalline spikes that surged towards Amaury with insane speed. But yet again, she was undaunted by the onslaught, her sword cleaving through the ice with a single, fluid motion. Her mere swing caused a shockwave that rumbled through the area.
As she closed in on Mikoto once more, he set his plan into motion as he leapt into the air with a graceful twist of his body, using her shoulders as leverage to propel himself higher. He twisted his body midair, his palm outstretched towards her face.
("He has to prepare an incantation first, I'll use that opening to strike the killing blow.") Though her eyes widened as a ball of fire condensed in his hand, a searing beam of energy streaked towards Amaury like a high-powered laser. But before it could find its mark, it exploded into a raging inferno that engulfed the outpost in a blaze of destruction, consuming everything in its path. More sections of the outpost were reduced to melting rubble as the fire raged on.
As Mikoto landed on the ground, he backed away with a frown.
"Still alive, huh?" He saw a shadow move through the inferno, and Amaury's form became all the more clear as she stepped out of the fire. Completely uninjured, even her clothes were barely burned. Normally, he would assume some manner of defensive magic was at play, but Amaury had no magic at all.
("Her physical abilities are absurd too.") It was hard to gauge, but he could practically feel the weight behind her strikes. She could probably cleave through his body with ease if he did not use any defensive magic when a strike landed. ("I've read somewhere that there were knights who gave up their ability to utilize magic in turn for superior physical attributes. However, I remember they still possessed mana; it was just that they could not make use of spells. That doesn't seem to be the case here; she has no mana after all.")
"Quite the decent strategy," she complimented, her voice relaxed as she brushed off some soot on her attire. "You used glyphs and incantations to throw me off. And then at the last second, you got a direct hit in. Were it anyone else, then that blast of fire would have burned them to naught but a crisp."
"You're resistant to magic, aren't you?" He deduced, but he immediately saw something wrong with his own statement. "No, that's not accurate." Mikoto frowned. "You're completely immune, or more accurately, your body is nullifying the magic as soon as it comes into contact."
"You're quite smart, boy," she gave a smile that made her features stand out all the more. "And yes, you are correct. So do you now see you've no chance in beating me?"
("Nullifying magic? Not even spells like that exist yet this girl without any mana can do that seemingly subconsciously?") That was absurd, and it was the ultimate late throw in. ("We could be a match in physical abilities, but I'm missing an arm, but c'mon let's see there should be a way through nullification.") He could not think of one now, but nullification was hardly invincible. ("But I ain't running away, I need to buy time to recreate my arm.")
"Are all of your men evacuated?" Mikoto asked.
"They are."
"Good, animals or not killing still leaves a bad taste in my mouth." Mikoto's feet lifted from the ground as he started levitating. "Sorry but giving up ain't my style."
He summoned forth two enormous circular glyphs of purest white, their edges shimmering with magical energy.
The glyphs expanded rapidly, engulfing everything in their path—the outpost, the surrounding mountains, even the very air itself seemed to quiver in anticipation of the cataclysmic event about to unfold.
"Technique Development: Aetheric Oblivion."
With a grin, Mikoto unleashed his spell—a torrent of radiant energy that surged forth like an unstoppable force of nature. It swept across the landscape with terrifying speed, illuminating the sky further with its blinding brilliance.
The outpost trembled and groaned beneath the onslaught, its foundations crumbling as if made of sand. The mountains surrounding it quaked with the force of the impact, their ancient peaks shattering like glass before the might of Mikoto's magic.
Amaury stood her ground, her form bathed in the searing light of the spell. The beacon of light consumed everything in its path, leaving naught but scorched earth and smoldering rubble in its wake. The outpost along with the surrounding mountaintops vanished in a blinding flash of brilliance, swallowed whole by the destruction of Mikoto's magic.
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"Whoa," Mirabella could not help but blurt out as a pillar of pure destructive light engulfed numerous snowy mountains in the distance. "That spell...."
"It seems everyone is content with throwing around large spells," beside her Agatha mused, though she could detect some measure of shock from the blonde. Despite what Lucinda had said, the girl had immediately sent them back to Briarwick when that spawn of Sylvestra became hostile. Begrudgingly they had listened, though they had busied themselves with sparring outside of town.
Though as they returned to town, an even larger explosion of light engulfed the area in the distance, eviscerating entire mountains swiftly. Along with them, townsfolk looked at the explosion of magical energy with shock and fear.
They could not be blamed; that level of destruction was absurd.
"I cannot sense the mana of the person who unleashed that spell," Agatha spoke with a frown. "However, I recall there being talk of a pillar of light tearing down the forest close to the Academy."
"That's my Familial Art," Agatha looked at the girl confused as Mirabella narrowed her eyes at the pillar of light that illuminated all. "Aetheric Oblivion, it's a spell designed to destroy. It disintegrates anything and everything by tearing through it at a subatomic level."
"Subatomic?" Agatha questioned, her voice laced with confusion. "I don't follow."
"Neither do I; it was that hag Guinevere who mentioned and explained what it did," Mirabella informed as the intense light of the destructive energy died down. "Come to think of it, that masked bastard also mentioned the same thing when he asked me to show one of my Familial Arts back at the ship."
"I see, another spawn of Aragorn must be in Verdantis," Agatha surmised as Mirabella nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, whatever, now let's get back to sparring," the princess ordered.
"We just finished a bout," Agatha merely deadpanned at the girl. "I still need to replenish my mana."
"Pshh, imagine having a meager amount of mana," the princess shrugged with a haughty expression on her face.
"Imagine not being able to use intricate magic," Agatha mirrored the girl with a shrug.
"Tch! Who needs fancy spells when I can obliterate my enemies," she argued.
"That did not work so well with that Chaosmaw," Agatha mumbled, but Mirabella still heard her.
"Hey! You got your ass kicked too!" Her outburst just drew the attention of the still shocked townsfolk, but she did not seem to care.
"I recall you being beaten first," Agatha said as she glanced away, hiding a small smirk.
"Why you....tch, forget it, I'll train by myself," the princess huffed like a child as she turned away. "I'll get that Arcane Ascendance crap before you, and you'll be left in the dust." Agatha watched as she walked away before sighing to herself. And then she followed the girl.