The Witch (11)

Arcanium, Kanadan Academic District.

Rumble!!

Students roaming the streets after school screamed and fell to the ground as the sudden loud noise shook the earth.

"Kyaaah!!"

"Is it an earthquake?!"

"Aaah!"

It was natural for them to think of an earthquake when the ground shook, but this was the floating city of Arcanium. Natural earthquakes didn't occur here.

"How noisy~"

Watching the scene from the top of a building, Grace whistled.

At the same time, a question arose in her mind.

"Is it really a witch?"

Witches didn't fight in such noisy ways. Since they manipulated illusions, they rarely touched reality, so they usually fought very quietly without leaving traces.

"And besides, that..."

Grace frowned as she looked at the translucent shards of glass-like fragments rising in the center of Arcanium.

The fragmented space appeared to crack in midair. They formed a sort of shield, preventing the Arcanium's magic defense squad from entering.

"It doesn't seem like illusion magic."

But it was undoubtedly illusion magic.

Grace was more skilled in illusion magic than anyone so she could tell.

That's why it was even more suspicious and strange.

"An illusion that affects reality... Is this what it's like at the pinnacle of a witch's power? It must be incredibly strong."

"No. It's completely different."

"Huh?"

At that moment, a voice came from somewhere, and Grace and Kaen simultaneously turned their heads to look at the air.

There, a translucent red sparrow was flapping its wings.

"Metra...?"

"Yes, it's me."

Grace slightly furrowed her brows and looked at the red sparrow illusion.

Its official name was 'Psychometrist,' a special ability to read the memories of objects. He was a mage and operator from the Manwol Tower.

Receiving missions from the tower lord at the headquarters, he would transmit them to agents, plan operations, handle post-processing, and supply provisions. He usually sent illusions to receive situation reports like this.

"You're busy, so what brings you here?"

"The mission seemed to be taking a serious turn, so I came to check the situation myself."

"What's Oracle doing?"

"They've been working overtime the past few days, monitoring a target that needed close attention. The target has dimensional travel abilities, which has been quite troublesome."

"Oh, come on..."

Grace scratched her cheek and spoke.

"So what do you mean by different? Are you saying that's not illusion magic?"

"It's illusion magic. But, Grace, you know what happens when you reach the pinnacle of illusion magic, right?"

She nodded and looked at the brilliant glass shard pillar created by the mysterious witch.

"An illusion at the pinnacle of a witch's power is indistinguishable from reality."

Metra spoke quietly.

"So what do you think? Does it seem indistinguishable?"

"Well... It does seem like reality, but when you look closely, an illusion is still an illusion, right?"

"Yes."

"Right, illusions don't work like that."

Grace mainly used magic that applied illusions to the opponent's body, which was the most basic way witches used their magic.

Making the opponent's body heavy or summoning a giant dinosaur visible only to the target to make them faint.

This way, it didn't affect reality at all but could have an infinite impact on the target. That was illusion magic.

However... The magic of the witch causing the disturbance in Arcanium now had a very different nature.

"That... is illusion magic that affects reality."

"... No way. That can't be."

Grace shook her head in disbelief.

"That's the ultimate illusion magic. It should have completely disappeared after the Last Witch vanished..."

"That's why I'm astonished too. It's hard to believe something like that can actually exist."

With a bewildered expression, she recalled the magic she knew.

'An illusion indistinguishable from reality.'

'One step beyond that.'

'An illusion that affects reality.'

Goodness. She looked again at the scene unfolding before her with a look of incredulity.

"Is that legendary witch... Alive?"

Then Kaen shook his head. "That doesn't seem quite right. Look more closely. Does that level of magic seem like something that belongs to the last witch?"

"Huh? Oh?"

Grace squinted and examined the illusion shield closely.

While it was indeed impressive that the magic could interfere with reality, the level of skill wasn't exceptionally high.

At best, it was on par with or slightly above her own level. Laughable for the Last Witch.

"She might be a descendant of the Last Witch or a hidden disciple."

"Oh..."

Finally understanding the situation, Grace exhaled excitedly.

Meeting a witch for the first time, and even more, a descendant of the Last Witch.

"This makes me want to meet her even more..."

Unlike the excited Grace, Kaen had a more negative view.

'It's an abnormal ability.'

If an illusion could interfere with reality, how was it different from reality manipulation?

Wouldn't such a power come with a significant cost?

When it comes to magic categories, space magic, which appeared almost impossible to calculate mentally, required multiple high-class mages or forced them to carry a grimoire to take notes directly. That was the downside.

Fire magic, though highly destructive, was difficult for the caster to control, and water magic was less effective in the absence of water. Every attribute had inherent weaknesses.

So what were the limitations of illusion magic?

"The priority is to break into that shield. Have you found a way, Metra?"

"Sorry, Kaen. Not yet. The mages at headquarters are analyzing the magic circle, but witch magic is tricky. Grace, what about you?"

"Oh? Well~?"

Grace tilted her head.

Honestly, although she used witch magic herself, it was her first time seeing another witch's magic, so she couldn't quite make sense of it.

'How do I break through that...?'

It was a higher-level magic circle than her own. With her current knowledge... She couldn't think of any way to break it.

"I can't see any way..."

She felt anxious.

A witch was right in front of her, yet she couldn't even get close.

"As you might know, there's a high chance that Baek Yu-Seok is inside engaged in a fierce battle."

"I'm not well-versed in illusion magic, but even for Baek Yu-Seol, enduring the Last Witch's magic would be difficult."

This meant they needed to enter and join the fight against the witch as soon as possible, but they couldn't, which was frustrating.

"So, what should we..."

"Who's there?"

Swoosh!

Just as Grace was about to sigh softly, Kaen suddenly pointed his staff somewhere and summoned a spike before shooting it.

Thunk!

Grace took a step back in surprise while holding her staff, and discovered uninvited guests behind them.

Two girls.

Even though Kaen's spike stopped just 0.1 mm away from their eyes, they looked at him with calm expressions without any sign of agitation. Grace recognized their faces.

"Oh, oh? It's them, isn't it?"

"Kaen, stop. Don't harm those two."

Edna and Eisel.

Special girls born with the fate of the constellation.

Kaen didn't withdraw the spike but asked.

"What brings you here?"

Kaen and Grace moved without leaving any traces. There was no way mere students could have discovered their location.

Moreover, the space and perception were distorted so that ordinary people couldn't see or enter this place, making the idea of a chance encounter impossible.

In other words, these two girls had some purpose and broke through their shield to get here.

"Nice to meet you. You know me, right?"

"... Yes, I've seen your face before."

"I know you too."

"What?"

Kaen frowned at Edna's words. He hadn't left any traces of his identity or name. He was recorded only as a dead man, yet a mere high school girl knew about him.

"You know me?"

"Yes. You're a mage from Manwol Tower."

At those words, Kaen's eyebrows twitched, and Grace's smiling expression stiffened. Meanwhile, Metra's red sparrow spoke with a tone full of amusement.

"Well, this is surprising. I thought they were unusual, but to think they know about Manwol Tower."

"You..."

"Kaen, you're not thinking of killing them for knowing too much, right? Don't."

"... I wasn't planning on it."

"Well, I understand the concern. I've heard they might be in a relationship with Baek Yu-Seol recently."

At Metra's words, Edna's expression became strange, and Eisel's face crumpled, but he didn't stop.

"Just like Baek Yu-Seol, or maybe even more so, these two girls are special. No need to be surprised by every little thing, right?"

Convinced by Metra's reasoning, Kaen nodded.

Metra's judgment had never been wrong, so sparing these girls would be the right choice.

When Kaen withdrew his staff, Metra moved the red sparrow closer to the girls and asked.

"Hello? I'm Metra. So, what brings you here?"

"We want to help."

Eisel stepped forward and said.

"Help? What kind of help?"

"I know how to break that illusion shield."

"... Really?"

"Yes, but we need help. We can't do it alone."

Edna certainly knew the method. However, it required a lot of equipment and highly advanced complex magic, so the help of Manwol Tower was essential.

"Help…"

Metra tilted the sparrow's head and thought for a moment.

Edna gulped nervously. She knew from the original novel that the agents of Manwol Tower would come here. However, there was no mention of directly facing them, so from here on, she was in completely uncharted territory.

In this situation, if something went wrong and they ended up getting killed by the agents of Manwol Tower, they wouldn't have any grounds to complain. Those agents were that dangerous.

"Alright."

Fortunately, Metra's hesitation wasn't about what to do with Edna and Eisel.

"I was a bit unsure whether we were giving help or receiving it. Let's just consider it mutual assistance. How about it?"

"... Was that the case?"

"Hm? What's wrong? I think this part is pretty important."

Metra's words, which seemed quite strange, made Eisel sigh and shake her head.

But what did it matter? They had finally found a way to help Baek Yu-Seol.

"Good. Shall we start right away?"

——-

Crash!

The wall crumbled down. It disintegrated like a flower and scattered into the air.

But they were actually blade fragments split into hundreds of pieces. Even a slight touch could cause serious injury.

'This is dangerous...'

[Flash]

Baek Yu-Seol swiftly leapt into the air and swung his sword. The dense invisible wave in the air split, revealing a gap, but Mellie Sher shot a translucent spike of space through it.

Crash!

"Ugh!"

It collided with Baek Yu-Seol's blade and shattered, but his wrist throbbed painfully from the impact.

Thud! Rumble!!

The ceiling collapsed.

Avoiding the pillars, rubble, and glass fragments, Baek Yu-Seok tried to gain the high ground.

"Hahaha... I get it. Even your teleportation has limits, doesn't it?"

Mellie Sher's lips curled into a eerie smile.

Her mana had long been exhausted.

Even her concentration had waned, making it difficult to cast proper spells. But she couldn't lose to a student who hadn't even lived for twenty years.

'Flash, huh? It's certainly unusual.'

Moving through space instantaneously, this was an imperfect magic that no mage had ever fully mastered.

Though she was initially flustered by it, she realized there were limits to controlling flash.

"If you could use it indefinitely, you wouldn't need to dodge or barely block. Right?"

If he could use flash without limits, he could nullify every attack by teleporting and then close in to stab with his blade.

He could have even used other spells.

But perhaps due to the limitations of his unique constitution, he didn't use any magic at all.

Or rather, he couldn't.

'His only means of attack is that sword. I just need to be wary of that.'

As long as she didn't let him get close.

Baek Yu-Seol's flash range was at most about 10 meters,

She kept a distance of at least 15 meters while collapsing the space.

Or more precisely... She was collapsing the illusion that made up the entire space.

'An illusion that affects reality.'

Now she was certain.

Illusions had no effect on Baek Yu-Seol. None of her mental-type spells worked on him at all.

But what about the magic left behind by the Last Witch?

Could he escape from the great Last Witch's magic, which even affected reality?

'Last Witch, you were wrong.'

It was hard to believe that someone with such perfect abilities could fear anyone. Perhaps the Last Witch was just a pioneering genius who discovered new magic, but she wasn't particularly exceptional as a person.

'Or maybe... I'm even better than the Last Witch!'

As she struck the ground with her staff, a tree sprouted from the floor.

Baek Yu-Seol dodged it with a light backstep, but suddenly, human hands grew from the tree branches, spreading in dozens of directions to entangle him.

Slash!

The illusion was easily cut down by his swordsmanship, but from the severed branches, an anaconda's head emerged and bit into Baek Yu-Seol's shoulder.

Crunch!

Despite the excruciating pain that would make anyone lose consciousness, he showed no change in expression and swung his sword to behead the anaconda, then charged forward.

"Hah. Even if you keep accumulating damage, can you continue with such a brute force method?"

What a fool. He had no strategy at all.

Click! Bang!!

"Ugh!"

Occasionally, he threw strange magical items that erased or scattered the illusions, much like a witch hunter would, causing some danger.

But it wasn't a problem.

She had accounted for all such variables!

"Now die!"

The water in the sewer surged up to form a giant dragon that rushed at Baek Yu-Seol, and trains burst from the walls to crash into him. He dodged or slashed them down with his sword, but he couldn't block all the damage.

"Cough...!"

Her mana was running low.

But it was fine.

Before she reached her mana limit, Baek Yu-Seol would exhaust himself first.

Baek Yu-Seol was injured and exhausted while she had only lost mana.

It was obvious who had the upper hand... wasn't it?

… Wait, what?

Something was strange.

'Where are his wounds?'

Baek Yu-Seol should have had his shoulder crushed by the anaconda's bite earlier.

But there were no wounds.

'No. That can't be.'

Illusions had no direct effect on that boy. So, she changed her combay style and used illusions that affected reality.

And hadn't he been dodging or blocking the attacks.

If illusions didn't affect him, there would have been no need for him to bother with such troublesome actions. Why would he do that?

Yet…

Baek Yu-Seol didn't seem tired at all.

'What's going on?'

The witch's mind was going blank.