118 Absolute Demise/Incinerate Anthem (3)

Jason returned to his original form when he left the area where Tobio and the rest were. There was no longer any point in acting like Argos. He had already achieved his goal by establishing a relationship with Satanael, and now he was going to see how Lavinia was doing.

Jason didn't take long to find where the two magicians were fighting. There was alternating, or possibly simultaneous, blasts of cold air and mild heat waves.

The further he advanced, the stronger it became. It seemed like neither of them was keeping anything from each other.

Of course, Jason knew that Lavinia had not yet reached the Balance Breaker and was not sure whether Augusta could activate it or not. If Augusta could, then Lavinia would have no chance of victory against the witch of the east.

Lavinia's ice and Augusta's flames were disrupting the atmospheric temperature on this part of the mountain.

As he ran, he could see traces of magic and supernatural power amidst the many trees, the ground, the boulders, and the like.

The trees had been felled or gouged out, completely changing the appearance of the forest.

The trees had been either burned to a crisp, or else had been encased in ice. There were places where the ground had been frozen over and places where it had been gouged out, and there was also smoking vegetation where the fires could not be completely extinguished.

Even from in front of them, the clamorous sounds of battle could be heard. It seemed that Lavinia was close.

Jason finally came out of the woods and found himself in a river of bare rocks.

Lavinia and Augusta were standing confronting one another by the river. Both of them had several magic circles deployed in front of them and were glaring at the other.

Next to each of them respectively, there stood a child of nobility crafted from ice and a giant cultivated from flames. They were their Longinus.

Lavinia manifested countless spears of ice from the numerous magic circles and fired them at Augusta. Augusta also fired enormous flames from her magic circles, which served to offset Lavinia's ice magic.

The pair's powerful magics collided with one another, the ice being melted by the flames, the fire being extinguished by the ice, all leading to a powerful wind that blew violently.

Beside them, the flame giant which was carrying a cross swung it with great vigor. From the cross that was swung, purple flames on a fierce scale sprung forth, which rushed towards Lavinia's ice princess.

The ice princess crossed its four arms, and multiple layers of ice pillars grew from out of the surface of the bare rocks and orientated on the giant.

The purple flames and ice pillars collided, creating a grand explosion.

A flashy magic battle was unfolding right before the eyes of Jason.

Jason felt a numerous group of presence approaching. Jason deduced that they were Tobio and the rest, they had a journey before arriving. Vali and Koga could have arrived already, but they couldn't leave Tobio and the rest behind.

Lavinia and Augusta were continuing their magical battle with one another.

From the magic circles, the pair of them manifested came, not just fire and ice, but also squalls, lightning strikes, countless arrows of light, deep black balls of darkness, etc.…

Each one of these blows raised columns of water countless times from the river, destroying the rocky shore.

The boldly smiling Augusta, and Lavinia whose expression never loosened.

Jason turned his head and saw that the rest had already arrived. Although Vali and Koga did not react much, the rest were shocked to see the power that the two magicians were demonstrating.

Even when they fought Jason the first time, it looked like Lavinia was holding back. It was the first time that Tobio, Natsume, Kouki, and Sae facing Lavinia with her power at 100%:

And then, the pair took notice of them, Tobio's group, at roughly the same time.

Augusta spoke.

"Oh my, it seems that Satanael has finished with his business, huh. Moreover, it looks as though his proteges were defeated."

Natsume yelled.

"Lavinia! We've come now, so don't worry!"

With her companions' arrival, Lavinia finally loosened her cheeks.

Seeing that, Augusta sneered.

"Hey, Ojou-chan from just now, if you intrude into a battle between fellow Longinus, it'll end with you dying in the aftermath of my and the Ice Princess's magic."

At that statement from the elderly witch, Natsume resentfully said, "What was that!"

"She's right. You've got to step back, Natsume."

Augusta then turned his attention to Jason. She lifted her guard when she saw him. The witch had not noticed when Jason had approached them.

There were only two possibilities, either he was very weak, or he was very strong. Augusta was no fool and prepared for the second.

"Ah, Jason!" Natsume greeted him.

"Have you ever had a problem with magicians?"

"Wizards? Now there are only ashes left."

"Who are you?" Augusta asked.

Jason calmly answered as he sat at the base of a tree.

"Does it matter? You can say I'm a spectator, for the moment."

Augusta frowned.

"For the moment?"

Jason shrugged.

"Yes, I can't let anyone die after all."

Augusta had a chilling laugh.

"You seem to have a lot of confidence in yourself."

Jason gave the witch a look of disdain and didn't respond.

Augusta wasn't angry at Jason's disdainful look. As long as he didn't interfere in the battle, for her was fine.

Augusta then directed her gaze at Tobio and at Shigune who was holding "Poh-kun".

"Well, it would appear that I shouldn't show that dog or Toutetsu any openings though."

Augusta then asked Vali.

"What are you going to do, Lucifer's son?"

"Though this Vanishing Dragon wants to fight you, this is a battle Lavinia has to fight."

"Though I won't stand still if she's in danger."

Vali made his position clear. It wasn't much different than Jason's.

And then, Augusta turned her eyes upon Sae next.

"The black lion test subject, huh. It seems that she was safe then. Oh? Can't you bring it out? That is certainly unexpected. That fallen angel governor-general, could he have possibly done something?"

Lavinia asked of Augusta.

"By black lion test subject, you mean that thing from Oz? Governor-general Azazel is currently in the middle of analyzing it. I would like it if you didn't say a thing that will cause Toby and Shaae anxiety."

Augusta displayed an obscene smile.

"That's the one, though that was something that we provided to Satanael and the 'Utsusemi Agency'. Glenda's research was incredibly useful, huh. See, it's all because Glenda was looking after the ice princess ojou-chan."

"So you forcibly snatched information on my Sacred Gear from Oshishou-sama."

Hearing this statement, Augusta let out a meaningful laugh.

"Kukukuh"

Smiling an extremely ugly smile, Augusta made a statement.

"That's wrong. That's completely wrong. It was offered to us by Glenda. All about the power of your independent avatar type that is."

Jason frowned when he heard Augusta. She didn't seem to be lying.

"This is going to get ugly. I wonder how Lavinia will take this blow."

Lavinia returned a question with a perplexed expression.

"What are you saying?"

Augusta, her smile becoming even more detestable, joyfully explained.

This was her devastating confession.

"Oh, dear. Unexpectedly, you're a child who struggles to comprehend. Well then, allow me to explain it clearly. Glenda is a witch on our side. She has been from the start. Good witch? Bad witch? That is a self-centered scale from information transmitted by people on our side. At the time, it was because there was a terrible factional dispute in the world of Oz between north, south, east, and west. Well, the magicians of 'The Country of Oz', from the beginning, weren't interested in anything beyond boosting their own magic."

For an instant, Lavinia stiffened as though time had come to a stop.

A brief silence fell over the area but…

Lavinia squeezed out a shaky voice.

"A lie. THAT'S A LIE!!!"

In response to her empathic tone, Augusta continued while smiling scornfully.

"It's not a lie. In that case, how about this?"

The old witch raised her palm, forming a small magic circle.

Augusta addressed what seemed likely to be a communication type magic circle.

"Can you hear me, Glenda?"

Jason felt like it was getting worse and worse. He mentally communicated with one of his Servants.

"Semiramis"

"I hear you, Master."

"How long would it take you to send Medea here?"

Semiramis took a moment to respond.

"With a command spell, immediately. Without a spell, I will take at least 3 minutes."

Jason didn't hesitate.

"Prepare to send her."