Chaotic knowledge

Magic circles appeared above Ina and they shot flames. However, Baelz wasn't fazed.

"What is left is now right. Everything shall shatter under my chaotic might", she chanted.

And then something weird happened.

When the flames touched Baelz' body, water dripped down. Her clothes looked damp and she laughed.

"That's a refreshing bath!" Baelz said.

Ina stopped firing her flames and glanced at her book. After that, she conjured a small flame on her palm and touched it with her finger. Her face had a look of surprise when she saw that her finger was wet.

"It's a rule that whatever that is touched by fire will get burned. But as Chaos, I can twist the rules of reality itself. In this case, fire won't burn you but instead, it will drench you", Baelz explained.

"So flame attacks are now useless", Ina muttered.

She glanced at her book and smiled.

"Then I'll have to fire something else then!" she then faced her palm at her enemy and Baelz landed on the ground.

"Altering gravity huh? That's powerful magic…"

Baelz looked like she was struggling to stand up. Her eyes then glowed and she grinned.

"What is left is now right. Everything shall shatter under my chaotic might."

Ina and Baelz were floating.

"You changed the rules of gravity?!" Ina asked.

"Correct! Gravity used to attract things together but now, they are repelling each other!"

A magic circle appeared below Ina and she was sent upward at a rapid pace.

"So if I were to use a more powerful version of your Gravity Magic, you'll be flying all the way to the sky", Hakos grinned.

A flash of light appeared and Ina teleported a few meters away from Baelz. Magic circles appeared above her and lightning shot from it.

"What is left is now right. Everything shall shatter under my chaotic might", Baelz chanted once more and when the lightning touched her arm, ice formed.

She sighed and chanted again.

"What is left is now right. Everything shall shatter under my chaotic might."

The ice around her arm turned into a white mist and disappeared. Baelz then grinned as she pointed at Ina.

"You may know every single magic in this world but it's all useless when the rules are twisted like this", she said as a magic circle appeared in front of her.

A bolt of lightning came out from it but Ina put up a barrier in time. The barrier froze as electricity danced around it and after a second, the ice turned into mist.

Another magic circle appeared above Ina and a large torrent of water came out. Ina put up a barrier to protect herself again.

"What is left is now right. Everything shall shatter under my chaotic might", Baelz chanted.

Smoke was coming out of the barrier while it was touching the water.

"Just so you know, water now acts like fire. You'll get burned if you touch it", Baelz grinned and pointed at her.

Ina flew upwards to the sky as a large magic circle appeared below her and she crashed to the barrier she made.

"This is bad. She's pinned", Yagoo muttered.

"She's getting crushed by the force of repulsion below her and her barrier. If she releases her barrier, she would get burned by water", Anya said.

Ina's book floated and flipped its pages in front of her.

"Pietro's Shield!" she shouted and a blue barrier appeared above the barrier she was getting crushed into.

"Lishbaum's Gate!" Ina shouted once more and a portal appeared between the space of the two barriers.

The barrier that Ina was stuck on disappeared and she flew up to the portal. Another portal appeared a few meters away from Baelz and Ina got out of it.

I see. If her problem was that the water could burn her if she would dispel her barrier, she just had to make another one above it. And then she could escape by placing a portal between those two barriers. Thanks to the repulsive force below her, she would fly straight to the portal and teleport somewhere else.

"So you got out of it. Pretty impressive. But I believe the battle is as good as over. You can't hope to defeat me with what little mana you have left", Baelz smirked.

"Ina has mana problems already?" I asked.

"Lishbaum's Gate and Pietro's Shield cost a lot of mana. But I wonder… I heard that vessels of Primordial Beings have a large amount of mana thanks to their Life Force", Anya said.

"That is only applicable for vessels. Ina'nis is limited thanks to her being only a wielder", Yagoo told her.

"Unlike us who have our own bodies being vessels of the Primordial Beings, a wielder only has the body of a regular creature. Their Life Force is average", Suisei added.

"So Ina is going to lose this one?" I asked.

Baelz walked forward while cracking her knuckles. White light gathered at her fist and she began running.

"I'll knock you out with a punch!" she shouted.

Ina wasn't moving as she closed her eyes. Was she giving up?

"Arcanum Primera", she muttered and a strong gust of wind came out of her.

Baelz stopped in her tracks while her face had a look of confusion.

"The sound of the cannon roars.

The firing of the guns shall commence.

Come forth, Rapid Bombardment!" Ina chanted and several magic circles appeared above her.

Wait a minute… That magic…

Bolts of energy shot from those magic circles and Baelz grinned.

"Light Magic huh? What is left is now right. Everything shall shatter under my chaotic might", Baelz used her powers again.

And the bolt of energy hit her and her expression became a mix of surprise and pain. More bolts of energy hit her as she howled in pain.

When Ina's magic was over, Baelz was kneeling on the ground. Blood was coming out of several parts of her body and the ground near her had craters.

"W..Why? I changed the rules such that compressed light wouldn't harm me. H.. How?" she panted.

Baelz stood up and dusted her clothes. However, she no longer had that confident aura. She was looking at Ina warily as she took a formal battle stance.

"Wait a minute. Something's odd. Your mana production is too fast and yet your Life Force is still the same! What's going on?!" she asked.

"Information will become "knowledge" once a person will believe it without any shred of doubt. Maybe there's a logical explanation that would erase any question about a concept. Or if a person experienced the phenomenon with their senses while having a clear mind", Ina answered.

She walked forward while holding her open book.

"Say… You are aware of the existence of parallel worlds, right?" she asked.

"Yeah. There are lots of cases where people from another world got sent here. There's even a country in the east that was founded thanks to a large number of otherworlders", Baelz answered.

"All this time, it was believed that there is no magic in that other world. All knowledge recorded by the Primordial Knowledge says that magic isn't proven to exist since no one from that world saw magic."

"Oh? You're saying magic does exist in that world?"

"Some time ago, there's a certain administrative officer who returned to his original world. And then he brought wonderful knowledge. Magic does exist in his old world and it's far more sophisticated than I thought."

"What do you mean?"

"In this world, we rely on the interference of concepts that follow the rules of reality. For example, if we're casting Fire Magic, we're just using fire. No matter what our scale could be, in the end, we're following the rule that fire would burn."

"And that's why your magic is screwed up thanks to my Chaotic Authority."

"Correct. Every single magic in this world follows the rules of reality. We use our mana to manipulate the concepts around us. For example, to create illusions, we tamper with the senses of our enemies. To use Mind Magic, we assert control over other minds. To use teleportation, we link one space to another."

"And you're saying the magic from the other world is different?"

"Legends tied behind words. Curses hidden between meanings. The magic from the other world is far more intricate than commanding the concepts of reality. It uses the mage's consciousness to interfere with the laws of the world to make magic that suits their needs. Fire Magic here will only burn things no matter how grand the scale is. But Fire Magic there can do more miraculous things than burning. They could burn underwater, burn memories, and even burn the soul."

"Huh? What are you saying? That's impossible! Fire will only burn physical things. That's the rules of reality! You're saying that a mere human can twist reality like I do?"

"If others can do it, then why can't we? That's the very foundation of seeking knowledge. You've seen that I was able to ignore reality's laws and yet I'm just a mere wielder of the Primordial Knowledge. You made reality's law such that compressed light won't do much damage and yet my bolts of light put you in that state. If you are going to deny the events that happened in front of your eyes, then you are lower than a mindless creature."

Baelz then laughed. She sounded like an old man getting impressed with a new trick made by the next generation.

"Wielder of the Primordial Knowledge, what's your name?" she asked.

"Ina'nis Ninomae."

"Very well, Ina'nis Ninomae! I, Baelz Hakos, declare you to be an interesting person able to surprise Chaos herself!"

And then everything got distorted.

The clouds were becoming spirals and other shapes. Rocks floated and duplicated while forming complex patterns. The wind was swirling around and curving up and down. Cracks appeared in the space around them.

"And as a reward, I'll take you on seriously like an equal."

I gulped down as I saw reality getting twisted like that.

"The Council is really scary", I muttered.

Now I know why the Primordial Dark warned me about them.

"And the last one just appeared", Suisei pointed at Amelia's screen.

Moona and Amelia were pointing their weapons at a black-haired woman.

One noticeable thing about her was the weird contraption on her head that had three rods rotating like a clock. She was wielding two swords that looked like a clock's hands but the one on her left was shorter than the one on her right.

Amelia fired her gun and the black-haired woman deflected it with her sword. Her swing was too fast and yet she looked like she didn't place much effort in it.

"Is this how you'll treat people after not seeing them for a long time, Watson?" the black-haired woman asked.

Amelia's face was serious. It wasn't like her usual serious face when she was thinking about cases and mysteries. Her face somehow had a hint of anxiety in it which worried me since this was the first time I saw the confident Amelia like that.

She then took a deep breath and pointed her dagger at her.

"Long TIME no see, Kronii", Amelia grinned.