Chapter 118: Akasha (3)

The mana which had been fluctuating around Eugene, concentrated onto Akasha. The mana that hadn't yet been visualized blended with the light being emitted from the Dragonheart, giving the light multiple hues.

This beautiful and radiant light engulfed Eugene. Trempel and Mer stared at the scene in front of them with awe. They both knew what was about to happen.

Akasha, the staff that no one had been able to control ever since the Wise Sienna had left, was about to accept a new owner.

"...Utterly ridiculous...!" Trempel gasped, unable to believe it.

It had been two hundred years since Akasha was first stored in Akron. During that long period of time, the various wizards who had been granted entry into Akron had made many attempts to be recognized as Akasha's new master.

Even Trempel himself had made an attempt. That was why he couldn't believe what he was currently seeing. Akasha had never been seen to accept any type of mana. The fact that it wouldn't accept an infusion of mana meant that it couldn't be used to cast any magic.

It was a magic staff that couldn't be used for magic. If you really wanted to, you could still use it as a club, but what would be the point of that?

The light began to fade. Ignoring the surprised reactions coming from his surroundings, Eugene focussed all of his attention onto Akasha.

"...Whoa," Eugene first exclaimed in admiration, honestly revealing his true emotions. He then gently touched his own throbbing head with his fingers as he wondered, 'Is this one of Akasha's functions?'

Although Eugene himself didn't really know if this was an accurate impression of what had just happened to him, it felt like a huge amount of information had been implanted into his brain. The implanted information had then combined with his already existing knowledge, as if it had been there from the very beginning.

'My understanding of magic itself is completely transformed,' Eugene marveled.

There were several types of spells that Eugene could use. When his White Flame Formula had reached the level of the Fifth Star, Eugene had immediately become able to cast spells up to the Fifth Circle without using any incantations.

This was the ability of the Ring Flame Formula that Eugene had created by combining the White Flame Formula with the Eternal Hole. The parts from the Eternal Hole were what enabled him to record a spell formula in his 'subconscious,' without the use of a scroll.

While staying at the Red Tower of Magic, Eugene had learned the basics of magic. Then, he had continued to learn magic from each of Akron's Halls.

Among the things he had learned, most of the magic he had absorbed were the spells he had learned from Sienna's Hall. After Eugene had completed his Ring Flame Formula, with Lovellian's help, he had been able to adapt existing Circle magic spells to better suit his Ring Flame Formula and had relearned them.

'...How strange,' Eugene thought as he narrowed his eyes at Akasha.

There was no way that Akasha could have been aware that he had developed the Ring Flame Formula.

If one took into account their fundamental principles alone, the Ring Flame Formula did seem similar to the Eternal Hole. That being said, they weren't exactly the same. In the end, Circles and Cores were two completely different types of mana organs after all.

'It feels like it's somehow... combining with my own thoughts and providing its assistance?' Eugene tentatively observed.

Even though it couldn't have known about the Ring Flame Formula, Akasha was transforming the various spells that Eugene had tucked away inside his head, adapting them to be easier to use with the Ring Flame Formula. It seems to have based its adaptations on the spells that Lovellian had already adapted for Eugene.

In other words, Akasha automatically analyzed Eugene's magic and spell formulas, then transformed all existing spell formulas into the most optimal forms that were suitable for Eugene.

"Hmmm...," Eugene hummed thoughtfully as he scratched his temple, then took a step forward and approached a nearby bookshelf.

Mer followed after Eugene with a blank expression on her face, but Trempel found himself unable to move from the spot.

This was because Trempel was wondering what in the world he was supposed to do in response to this. Akasha was one of Aroth's treasures, but a new owner had appeared for that Akasha. So this meant that... Akasha could no longer be kept in Akron.

"...Lord Eugene...?" Trempel finally spoke up.

"Yes," Eugene replied to his call as he pulled out a magic book from a nearby bookshelf.

"...What in the world just happened? Did Akasha really...," Trempel trailed off in disbelief.

Eugene calmly declared, "As you can see, I have become its new owner."

Trempel could only respond with a stunned, "...How?"

"I'm afraid that the problem won't be solved just by convincing you, Sir Trempel, now will it?" Eugene pointed out as he walked over to a nearby desk.

Then he tried to pull out a chair and take a seat, but Mer quickly stepped in front of Eugene to block him. Even though Mer still had a lost look on her face, she shook her head resolutely. Then she kicked Eugene's shin with her own small foot.

"Alright, alright," Eugene coaxed her with a smile as he pushed the chair back in.

He then walked over to a window on the right hand side of the Hall. This was where the seat that Eugene had always used when visiting Sienna's Hall stood. There were several reasons why he had habitually used this same seat.

It was close to both the elevators and Witch Craft. He could check the passage of time by looking at the view from the window. And Sienna's portrait, which was hanging on the wall behind Witch Craft, was also visible from here.

...That last one wasn't Eugene's motivation for choosing this seat. It was actually the reason why Mer had decided, at some point, to start sitting across from Eugene. While Eugene was focussed on studying magical texts, Mer would either look outside the window or stare at Sienna's portrait.

"...Hmph," Mer sniffed with a triumphant smile as Eugene sat in his usual seat.

"...Does that mean you don't feel that there's any need to convince me?" Trempel asked, his brows furrowing as he finally walked over to Eugene.

There was a tone to this question that warned that the words Eugene had just said could be taken as a huge insult depending on how Trempel chose to accept them.

"I greatly respect Sir Trempel as a wizard, so how could I have meant such an insult by those words?" Eugene asked as he opened up the magic text. "Sir Trempel, I'm also well aware of the consequences of what I just did. I know how difficult things will get for me if I"m unable to convince everyone of my right to do so."

"...It seems that you're well aware of your situation, Lord Eugene. I'd be well within my rights to take you in for questioning, even if you're unwilling to cooperate," Trempel threatened.

"Take me in for questioning? Are you really going to arrest me for the crime of flying over the capital?" Eugene asked with feigned surprise.

Trempel scoffed, "At this point, something like that can't even be considered to be an issue. But doing whatever you want with Akasha is—"

"But Akasha doesn't really belong to Aroth, now does it?" Eugene interrupted him with a smile. "Although it is currently being stored in Akron, Akasha's true owner is the Wise Sienna."

"...," Trempel could only silently acknowledge this.

"I have inherited the ownership of Akasha from the Wise Sienna," Eugene revealed.

"What—?!" Trempel burst out, his eyes shooting wide open. Trempel opened his mouth to ask further questions, but unable to find the words, he could only close his mouth once more.

It was just as Eugene had said. The true owner of Akasha was the Wise Sienna. No, it wasn't just Akasha. Everything that was stored in this Hall ultimately belonged to Sienna.

"If I need to convince everyone of this issue... then perhaps a hearing should be held for it. I will be staying in Aroth for a while, so if a hearing is organized I'll be sure to attend it in order to give a full explanation.

"...You aren't going to run away after saying that, are you?" Trempel spat out as he glared at Eugene.

At these words, Eugene just shrugged and said with a smile, "I am a member of the Lionheart clan's direct line and a disciple of the Wise Sienna. What is there for me to be afraid of and why should I run away? After all, I haven't committed any crime. Is it really a sin for a rightful owner to retrieve an item that has been left in storage for a long time?"

"...Hmph...," Trempel just grunted, unable to refute this claim. Taking a few steps back, he gave a deep sigh and said, "...There are a mountain of things that I would like to ask you, but... it would be an insult to Lady Sienna for me to dare to question the owner of Akasha in a place such as this...."

Trempel shook his head as he turned and left.

He had come here in a hurry, thinking that he would do a favor for Eugene and entice him into joining the Court Wizards. Now, Trempel couldn't help but feel that it had been a complete waste of time. How the hell was he supposed to settle a matter like this? How was he even supposed to report it?!

'A hearing he says.... What a mess.... But do we really have grounds to hold a hearing? All that happened is that an item has been returned to its owner...."

Although he thought this, Trempel didn't really believe it. Trempel let out another sigh. Akasha couldn't just be treated as a simple object....

After the Wise Sienna had gone into seclusion two hundred years ago, her name had become one of Aroth's most important symbols. Countless wizards from all over the continent had come to Aroth, fascinated by Sienna's legend, and many tourists flocked to Merdein Square, which was merely named after her, and Sienna's mansion every day.

Akasha was, in a sense, even more of a symbol of Sienna than even Witch Craft itself. Trempel couldn't possibly imagine how Akasha would be permitted to leave Akron, let alone Aroth.

"...What in the world just happened?" After Trempel had taken the elevator down, still heaving out sighs, Mer had quickly sat down next to Eugene and started questioning him. "How could you have become Akasha's new master? Akasha should have been sealed so that no one apart from Lady Sienna could even use it...!"

"That's right, it was," Eugene said with a nod as he once again turned to his magic book.

In the past, it had been full of sentences that were difficult for him to understand. However, now it didn't feel like that at all. Just by reading it, his head was immediately able to understand what the author meant.

"Hey, Sir Eugene. Can't you please answer my question properly first?" Mer demanded as she leaned her face over the book to meet Eugene's eyes. "Did you manage to find Lady Sienna? You did, didn't you? Apart from Lady Sienna, no other wizard would have been able to break Akasha's seal. Lady Sienna... she's still alive, right?"

"There's no need to be so hasty," Eugene chided.

"You're really asking me to not be hasty! How does that make any sense? Sir Eugene might be able to leave this place at any time, but I can't do that!" Mer argued.

"Ah," Eugene let out a short noise of surprise, closed the book, and stood up.

"See! You're just going to run away now that it's too bothersome and tiring to answer my questions!" Mer accused with a screech. "U-uwah! I can't even hold on to you! Once you've run away like this, who knows when you might return—"

"I just realized that I forgot something."

"Forgot something! What would you forget?!"

Mer stuck close to Eugene as she followed behind him. She wasn't just quietly following him either, instead swinging both hands like windmills as she pounded on Eugene's back. But her soft cottonball-like fists didn't hurt him in the slightest.

"Sir Eugene, you're always like that! Acting as you please, causing everyone else to feel frustrated! The contents of the fairy tale are completely correct. You're a piece of trash, a son of a bitch!" Mer cursed.

"Sorry, but the one being described like that in the fairy tale isn't Eugene Lionheart, it's the Stupid Hamel," Eugene corrected her.

"Are you really saying something like that at this point?" Mer asked in disbelief. "I know that you are Hamel!"

"Well, that may be," Eugene agreed.

"Are you making fun of me? You-you son of a bitch! I'm ordering you to tell me where Lady Sienna is, and whether she's alright!"

"Geez, I told you not to be so hasty."

"Why do you keep telling me to not be hasty! When I need to hurry up and get the answers from you before you leave!"

"Just hold on for a bit longer," Eugene grumbled as he quickly turned around. Eugene grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up into the air.

"Kyaaah!" Mer screeched as she kicked her heels in mid-air.

Eugene shook Mer up and down, then placed her on top of a nearby desk.

"You... yoooou... you bad guy...!"

Mer's vocabulary was similar to Sienna's, but also different. Sienna was someone who had mastered all kinds of curses, from 'son of a bitch' to much worse ones, but Mer's curses weren't as harsh as Sienna's. After all, Mer wasn't Sienna herself, but instead a familiar created based on Sienna's childhood.

"Just wait here for a moment. I have to concentrate, so don't disturb me," Eugene instructed with a grin as he patted Mer on the head.

Then he walked over to Witch Craft. Mer watched Eugene, her expression filled with displeasure as she pouted her lips. There were a lot of things that she still wanted to ask him, one of them addressing the fact that she didn't know what Eugene was planning to do now.

Holding Akasha in his left hand, Eugene reached out to Witch Craft with his right hand. As he did, Witch Craft began to activate. He had done this dozens, even hundreds of times now. Eugene closed his eyes and connected to Witch Craft.

The first thing he saw was the Eternal Hole, the ultimate goal of the Circle Magic Formula. It still amazed him, even though he had already seen it hundreds of times. Eugene stared at the Eternal Hole for a few moments. It was an infinite cycle of Circles. He had already managed to attain some understanding of it, and through this understanding, he had been able to create the Ring Flame Formula.

Akasha was assisting his ability to understand magic. But even with that, his understanding of the Eternal Hole didn't undergo any great changes. He knew that it was an infinitely multiplying amount of Circles that were chained together, and the mana amplified through this process could be considered numerically infinite.

So there seemed to have been no point in trying to get a second look at it.

'...This must mean that my understanding of it is correct,' Eugene thought with some relief.

Since this was the case, even with Akasha's assistance, his understanding of the Eternal Hole hadn't undergone any changes. Eugene grinned with satisfaction at this realization.

But he hadn't connected to Witch Craft just to confirm this. Eugene had a different goal in mind. He took a few deep breaths and then opened his eyes. As he returned to reality, the Eternal Hole was no longer visible. Instead, a sphere could be seen that was covered in layers or rings. This was the physical appearance of Witch Craft. Without erasing his smile, Eugene approached Witch Craft.

Back at the World Tree, in the elven domain, Sienna had taught him the method used to unlock Akasha's seal.

She had also taught him something else.

While readying his focus, Eugene held Akasha forward. Akasha's Dragonheart began to glow softly and Witch Craft began to respond to this light.

"...Huh...?" Mer made a puzzled noise, an analytic expression crossing her face as she sat on the desk, only for her eyes to widen in surprise.

The Rings surrounding Witch Craft, which had never stopped moving, were coming to a halt one by one. With each ring that stopped moving, the light that surrounded Witch Craft's sphere dimmed.

Creak, creeeeak....

Once all the rings had completely stopped, the sphere split into two, revealing a huge mana crystal. This was where the core formulas of Witch Craft, which no one had ever been able to discover or analyze, were stored. Eugene waved Akasha at the crystal.

"—Kyaaaah!" Mer, who had been staring blankly, suddenly screamed.

She panicked and jumped off the desk. Then she immediately rushed over to Eugene.

Or at least that's what she intended to do, but she wasn't able to go through with it. The moment that Mer leapt off the desk, she lost all strength in her legs. Mer limply plopped down on the spot. She tried to scream once more, but this time, she couldn't even let out a cry.

Mer could sense that her body's structure was changing. She had been dissected by wizards several times before, but that hadn't been painful for her. No matter how this body of hers was dissected, the core of Mer was inside of Witch Craft. As long as that remained intact, Mer's body would never be permanently broken.

It had been hundreds of years since Witch Craft was stored in Akron. Several wizards had attempted to crack into Witch Craft, but none had been able to open up the exterior of Witch Craft and reach the techniques inside.

However, Eugene had just managed to open up the exterior of Witch Craft without any apparent difficulty. Mer stared at Eugene's back with terrified eyes. She wanted to say something to him, but she couldn't move her body according to her will. This caused Mer to feel even greater fear.

She was dying. No, she was malfunctioning. Was she really going to be erased like this? Why? Was this something that Lady Sienna had requested? But why in the world would she do so? There shouldn't be any reason for doing that..... A number of thoughts that Mer didn't even want to contemplate began appearing inside of Mer's head.

"...Uwaaaah!" Mer started sobbing as thick streams of tears ran from her eyes. "Uwaaah! Aaah! Waaaah!"

Eugene remained silently focused on his task.

"Sob... hic...! Sooob! Uwaaa... hic.... Waaaaah!" As Mer continued to cry, she belatedly realized something.

The sound of her crying was audible. Even though, just a moment ago, she hadn't been able to make any noise when she had tried to scream!

Mer jerked her head up in surprise.

"Why are you crying? Eugene asked as he looked over at Mer with a confused expression.

Her lips trembling, Mer sniffed, some snot drawn back up her nose.

"Knock knock~"

After watching Mer for a few moments, waiting for her to say something, Eugene tried to cheer her up with a joke.

"Knock knock~"

Despite his repeated attempts, Mer remained silent.

"Knock—"

"Sh-shut up," Mer said with a slight sniffle as she got to her feet. "What in the world... just what in the world did you just do? How did you... to Witch Craft... you, just what did you do?"

"I moved the formula controlling your structure from Witch Craft over to me," Eugene revealed.

"...Huh?" Mer grunted in shock.

Eugene continued, "I thought it would be better to move it to Akasha, but Sienna said that it would be better to move it to me instead. She said that adding your control formula to Akasha would be incredibly difficult, while with all the mana that I have, I should have more than enough to sustain you."

Mer couldn't find anything to say to this. Eugene just grinned and tucked Akasha into his cloak.

"Sienna asked me to tell you that she's sorry," Eugene began conveying the message.

"...Hic...," Mer broke her silence with a sob.

Eugene kept talking, "She also asked me to take good care of you. Since you've been stuck in this place for hundreds of years, she wanted me to take you out of here, so you can see some better sights, and even have some good food to eat...."

Mer kept crying.

Sob....

"First of all let's get you a change of clothes...," Eugene hesitated. "No... hm... we don't need to do that immediately, right? So let's go to the Red Tower first. I still have to explain the situation to my master—"

"Uwaaah!" Mer burst into tears once more as she threw herself into Eugene's arms.