Chapter 238

TL: TangSanFan

ED/PR: Tanthus

***Bellbrook Subjugation Battle (6)***

Blood streamed down my arm as I briskly shook it off and dashed along the third-floor corridor of Triss Hall. The broken windows, now open to the whistling outside wind, allowed a view of the stars and numerous magic circles through the partially destroyed ceiling of the corridor.

I had no time to worry about the battle raging between Bellbrock and Lucy; my priority was to duck into terrain filled with obstacles to hinder Sylvania from pinpointing my location.

- Huff—

However, there was no chance that someone of Sylvania's stature would fail to see through my intentions. As I sensed the gathering of magic from the floor below, Ed clenched his teeth and braced for impact.

- Kwaaaaang!

The high-tier lightning magic, Divine Judgement, obliterated the remaining debris of Triss Hall in an instant. With yet another collapse, Trix Hall, scarcely intact to begin with, crumbled further, falling to a level barely distinguishable from ruble.

He tried to dodge through the intermittent outer wall remains, attempting to evade the magic onslaught, but...

- Hwaaak!

The high-tier spatial magic, 'Spatial Leap'.

Sylvania, expending astronomical amounts of magic without a second thought, utilized the high-tier spatial magic and landed right before me.

"Kahak, ahahak."

Coughing out a strange, bubbling laughter, Sylvania thrust her staff right before my nose.

"You may have blocked it once, but it looks like it'll be tough to do so a second time."

If I get hit by another 'Instant Kill', my own divine magic power won't be enough to block it. Knowing this, Ed twisted his body urgently, kicking Sylvania's staff away.

But unphased, Sylvania gathered magic anew and plunged a pair of magic bullets into my shoulder.

As I clenched my teeths and cradled my shoulder, stumbling into a corner of the corridor, I began to rally my divine magic power once again.

Ordinary magic, I could handle. But divine magic power, I could not.

The greatest characteristic of Divine Magic: it doesn't adhere to any affinity, it cannot be countered—absolutely unblockable.

Unless one shielded with the same divine power, these were spells that could never be defended against.

"Huff..."

Remain passive, and I would be struck.

Ed had to keep attacking, to prevent Sylvania from casting divine magic.

With that, he dredged up his magic power and swiftly summoned Muk.

The flames that rose took the shape of a bat, its huge wings unfurling with a shriek. Muk, screeching loudly, drew forth a fire spell, fixated on Sylvania.

This fire, unlike the basic elemental magic, billowed out with astounding volume, its inferno marching straight toward the gathering divine power of Sylvania.

Sylvania briefly narrowed her brows, then, unexpectedly, flashed a chilling smile.

With a mere whip of her staff, she scattered all the flames with the enchantment she wielded around her.

And the pointed destination of her ensuing divine magic was not Muk.

- Kaang!

In an instant, the divine spell 'Time Prison' struck.

The mug, poised mid-air with wings unfurled, was stalled in time, unable to move.

Caught by Time Prison, unless the caster's magic ran dry or was dispelled, the victim's entire sense of time halted, as if turned to stone, motionless.

It was unlikely for Sylvania's magic to run out, making it, in fact, the end for anyone caught in its grasp.

However, I had managed to neutralize the divine power Sylvania had mustered, albeit at Muk's expense.

Feeling somewhat sorry for using Muk as a shield, this did buy me time to draw on even greater magic. Before long, the giant wind wolf, Merilda, stepped into the world, standing firm.

- Hwaaaaaaaaak!

- Kaaaaaaaaang!

The surge of magic power covered the skies above Triss Hall, and Merilda, trampling over ruins, rearing high above the diminutive sorceress below.

『 Sylvania... 』

The one who had once sat next to her, overlooking the fields of Acken from the edges of Orun Mountain, now looked up at the grand wolf in the wind.

Leaning her staff, larger than her upper body, and donning a robe intricately embroidered, Sylvania mused.

"Oh my..."

There is no trace of life in those eyes.

"That's a big wolf."

There is no time to lament the realization that she could not recognize the wolf.

Before Sylvania could act, Merilda gathered magic power, destabilizing the surrounding air with the accumulated energy.

Just as Merilda's magic was about to strike Sylvania—suddenly, a huge ice spear had already pierced through Merilda's abdomen.

『 ... 』

Merilda's wide-eyed gaze was one of disbelief, having failed to detect the flow of magic.

Though a mid-tier magic, the ice spear was so immense, one could question whether it was appropriate to label it as such, its red-tipped surface stained with blood, appearing from the ground and transfixing Merilda's midsection.

『 You... 』

"How sad, a spirit... cannot even die. If you were human, you would have met a peaceful end with this strike."

The prestige held by high-tier spirits is immense. To be capable of handling such spirits is sufficient to be acclaimed among named spirit masters of any region.

Yet, such a high-tier spirit was disposed of by Sylvania in a single blow.

Nonetheless, having expended magic power remains a fact, indicating an opening for action.

- Kwaang!

Unleashing 'Focused Explosion', shattering the ground, Ed leaped toward the surface.

Sylvania followed with a disgusted expression through the hole he had pierced, landing on the ground.

As Sylvania landed, Ed leaped from her blind spot, drawing a reverse-grip dagger attempting a strike at her back.

Despite the surprise from behind, as if eyes lay on the back of her head, Sylvania wrought a defensive spell, deflecting the dagger.

- Kaang!

The shock from the defensive spell sprung from her hand, and seizing the moment, Sylvania swiftly spun around, grabbing her by the collar.

Magic swirled around her, pushing with immense force, and she fell to the ground, driven by the aftermath.

Sylvania, pressing a knee into her abdomen and twisting her collar, brought her bloodshot eyes close, as more blood spilled from already wounded flesh.

"Did you think you'd win hand-to-hand combat? Because I'm a sorceress? Ahaha, impressive. Really impressive, impressive. To think, you've been devising this in such a situation. Out of fear, frightened of death, when it wouldn't be strange for you to flee in terror... Yet, you're pondering a way to win. Astonishing, truly remarkable. It's a pity to kill you. In a different world, one not shrouded in darkness... you could have been someone great."

"..."

"Uuh... uek... ueeeek... so sad... too sad... to think someone like you has to die. There are many amazing and remarkable people in the world, and they all have to die. The thought of eventually flailing in that endless darkness is so vain and sad..."

With grinning teeth, then streaming tears, amidst a dizzying whirlwind of emotion, Sylvania spoke, looking into her eyes.

The tears shed had not yet dried, but with a slight, menacing curve of her lips, she uttered,

"So I'll kill you."

"Declined."

- Kwaang!!

The massive shock generated from within her burst out, covering the area.

The 'Shock-wave Amplification Sphere'. The crystal orb stored within her had shattered, suddenly unleashing a shock that flustered Sylvania, who, despite the layered protective magic that prevented her from being knocked away, had her vision obscured.

Taking advantage of her obscured vision, Ed grabbed handfuls of the scattered dust below, flinging them directly into Sylvania's eyes.

Sylvania stumbled back screaming and shielding her eyes; having spent a lifetime as a dignified sorceress, she was inexperienced in such filthy street brawls.

Ed drew his dagger, gathering magic to perform a spirit ritual, but the engraving didn't respond.

"Huff.."

He frowned, simply thrusting the dagger forward.

Muk had been caught in a Time Prison; consequently, the associated spirit ritual wasn't functioning correctly. The urgency demanded that she exploit even the slightest opening.

Sylvania, however, in the midst of lost sight, evaded with a twitch, sensing movement through her magic.

By now, you'd think a strike would be tolerable, but impressively, her intuition was sharp.

However, having twisted greatly to evade, the inertia caused Sylvania to falter, colliding her back against a broken column.

- Bang!

Leaning on the column, Sylvania took a deep breath, her eyes reddening further as she glared back.

"The ceremonial dagger of the Rothtaylor family. That reminds me... you are..."

Fixing her gaze upon me, Sylvania shook her lips and continued,

"Ed Rothtaylor. Yes, you're Ed Rothtaylor."

"... You'd know that. You're the person who has seen all futures that branch and diverge."

"Yes... Yes... It's coming back to me... certainly, in my memory... Ed Rothtaylor... wasn't supposed to feel... like this..."

With a strangely twisting voice, Sylvania muttered as if in revelation, again slipping into a chilling smile.

"Ah, haha... hahaha..."

Once more, gnashing her teeth until blood ran out, the trickle of blood from her lips intensely reflected her drastically damaged mental state.

"I get it now... I roughly understand... You're the byproduct of an old mistake I made."

"What?"

"That futile period when I thought I could resist this meaningless world, that period of foolishness when I was convinced that praising life would somehow find a way... those desperate times when I, the stupid past me, was struggling like I was clutching at straws... A guiltless victim..."

Sylvania slowly lifted herself off the column and raised her head, the density of her magic far larger than before and certainly not diminished.

"I'm sorry... truly sorry... you've suffered a lot because of me... brought here unknowingly, fighting, struggling, trying all you could to live a pointless life... It must have been very painful... sorry... It's my fault... all my fault..."

Tears flowed as Sylvania cried with untraceable emotion.

"So, I'll take responsibility and kill you. Rest peacefully. You don't have to endure anymore for a purposeless life."

In that moment, the expansive magic filling the remains of Triss Hall's lobby tightened around the teetering columns.

- Boom! Thud!

Ed dodged the falling debris and, about to ready himself for combat, felt two ice spears fly into his left shoulder.

Coughing before fully exhaling, another magic bullet struck his left hip area. He tumbled, heavily crashing into the wall.

As he laid slumped against the outer wall, the settling cloud of dust revealed Sylvania before him, at the ready.

Already a significant amount of divine magic had accumulated, the gathering far quicker than at the initial encounter.

Whatever fluctuation of emotions, great amounts of divine magic surged through her tears.

Once more, she prepared to cast 'Instant Kill'. Regrettably, he lacked sufficient divine power to resist.

Once cast, death was certain. Sylvania knew this well.

"I'm sorry, sorry, too sorry, so sorry. It was painful, wasn't it? So painful. Difficult, right? It's okay. It's really okay now. You've endured a lot. Really... you've been through so much..."

Trying desperately to muster strength to evade, her body no longer responded.

And thus, the divine magic extending from Sylvania's hand coalesced—

With a squeeze of her fist, the high-level Divine Magic 'Instant Kill' manifested and struck me directly.

* * *

- Kwak!

- Hwaahhh!

Ed Rothtaylor, bathed in his blood, slumped forward... and finally breathed his last.

Leaning against the outer wall, his head bowed as if asleep...flater, watching Ed Rothtaylor... Sylvania held her breath for a moment.

He who had summoned the fire bat, who hung spiked on the ice spear—

The Wind Wolf was also silently dispelled, returning to its ethereal state. And thus, another soul departed into eternal rest.

- Whiiiiiiing.

- Kawaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Bellbrook roared as if to end the world. And there, desperately trying to hold him back, was the indistinct figure of a young sorceress. Sylvania sharply turned her head to take in the scene. Somehow, she had managed to deal with Ed Rothtaylor, but the world was still full of 'variables' trying to stop Bellbrook. There were far too many she needed to deal with, leaving no time for respite. However, at that moment, her body refused to move.

Ed Rothtaylor's blood-drenched corpse lay before her, eyes closed in seemingly peaceful slumber, but the wounds and the bloodstains on his body bore witness to the agony he must have endured in life.

"I'm sorry," Sylvania murmured.

"If life is nothing but suffering... maybe it's better to end this way."

Sylvania closed her eyes and paid silent tribute to Ed Rothtaylor. As all the magic faded from her, tears once again began to flow from Sylvania's eyes. Memories flooded back; the time she first met her disciple, Glast. That young student had asked her the very same questions that now troubled Sylvania.

Decades ago, a simple question from her naive disciple had come back to haunt her. How ironic that past could be. She could hardly remember her answer from so long ago, buried beyond recollection. But now, a vague memory, blurry like an old black and white photograph, suggested that she had responded with a smile.

Caught in a sense of emptiness, sylvenia opened her eyes.

"Just live before you talk, you fool."

──In that moment, the blood-covered Ed Rothtaylor lunged at her, plunging a reverse-gripped dagger into her shoulder.

- Splat!

Thinking all had ended and her guard was down, she was taken by surprise. But as her eyes opened, what filled her vision was Ed's blood-covered face.

"Keugh... Huk... Huk...!"

Despite her tremendous magical power, sylvenia's frame was slight. Even a sharp dagger could prove lethal if it struck true. Luckily, the dagger lodged in her shoulder hadn't hit a vital spot, for Ed himself had reached his limit and had no leisure to aim precisely.

A loud crash was heard as something fell to the ground. It was... a half-fist-sized hourglass.

"Del... Heim..."

The device relic Delheim, charged with the energy of the divine jailer, crafted to overcome a moment of death precisely once. Among the students at the old Sylvania Academy, who hadn't yet achieved a school-like atmosphere—Teslyn McLaure, Glast Eldervain, Philona Bloomriver—Philona stood out with her enthusiasm for alchemy. Sylvania was familiar with the records of that magical device, which Philona had zealously researched. Although she hadn't paid much attention to the seemingly impractical studies, Philona's records had passed down through the years, and modern magical engineering had finally succeeded in reproducing its blueprint. It was said to be so complicated and the materials so rare that it was practically meaningless... yet Philona's diligence had nonetheless left its mark.

Suffering and gasping, Philona Bloomriver, always smiling amidst her research notes... Sylvania remembered the hourglass-shaped relic sketched in her blueprint.

"You..."

Strangely, sylvenia, the great sage who had read all the future flows of this world, had never predicted the Delheim Hourglass's existence as a completed artifact.

- Boom!

Sylvania hurriedly repelled Ed's body with her magic and frowned at the dagger stuck in her shoulder. She endured the rising agony, gritting her teeth to pull out the dagger.

"Argh... Aaahh! Haah... Haah..."

The wound disappeared, but the aftereffects of the pain remained. Rolling back time on her body didn't erase the memory of pain that lingered like phantom limb pain, making Sylvania sweat cold.

Meanwhile, Ed was slowly getting up, blood dripping continuously. Until the very end, he was hiding a desperate measure, his cool-headedness during an all-out effort stunning. It was beyond human capacity. But if his last desperate strike didn't succeed, it was nothing more than futile struggle.

Still, Ed Rothtaylor, through sheer willpower, managed to raise his torso and stand up. He might have looked more like a zombie than Sylvania at that moment, but his eyes still burned with the will to survive.

"I hate guys like you," Ed spat out wearily.

"You think the future you've observed is everything, that you know it all, right? I used to think the same."

He knew every scenario in [Sylvania's Discarded Sword Saint]. However, nothing went as predicted. The history he thought would flow according to his ideas had betrayed his expectations every single time, moving in its own unpredictable way. Life does not follow a planned course.

And so, he had lost much. But that is why he had also gained. Death was always looming near. In that natural world, even in the hellish battlegrounds where bullets tore flesh and spells flew about, there were times he could only look up at the murky sky with dead eyes. Haunted by those nightmares, he lived out his days as a shut-in, barely clinging to life.

Fearful of loss, he refused to hold onto anything, resigned to drift through a colorless world he didn't want to live in. But unexpectedly...

Just aiming for a diploma, wanting to breathe quietly without entangling with anyone, sympathizing with a simple-minded spirit sorceress, surviving by taking care of himself, carrying a burden for a wounded merchant, comforting a more powerful sorceress, getting caught in idle reverie under the night sky, bustling about the hunting grounds, taking pride in growing skills, humming while expanding camps, looking back on his footsteps with unwarranted pride, life stretched out in unexpected ways and directions.

Just struggling to survive seemed like the natural thing to do. That was the life Ed Rothtaylor lived in Acken Island.

"That high and mighty talk..."

Ed Rothtaylor, still dripping blood, was a miracle of survival. But still very much alive, walking itself demanded all his strength, and yet, he was definitely breathing, living the moment.

"It's something only those who have lived it all can say."

He doesn't speak of blind optimism, that all current sorrows will eventually fade into past pains, that one's life must reach a happy ending. Ed simply despises those who stack undealt lottery tickets while whining about not having money. Regardless of what others might say, that's how Ed Rothtaylor lived his life.

"You... what right do you have..."

Visibly pained and still affected by her shoulder's agony, Sylvania drew up her magic power again. She prioritized ending the persisting threat of Ed Rothtaylor, who had no means left to resist.

The Delheim Hourglass had saved his life for a brief moment, but even his final desperate blow had failed to claim Sylvania's life.

Now all he could do was wait for the final blow that would bring death, a walking corpse.

To deal the final blow, sylvenia wrapped her rising magic power in her hand. Dozens of ice spears bloomed—all it would take was one hit, and Ed Rothtaylor would be dead.

The ice spears flew towards Ed...

- Crack! Whooosh! Rumble!

Instead, what erupted was a massive flame that engulfed the entire area.

Elemental Signature - Fire Bloom

The blossoming flames filled the Triss Hall's lobby, instantly melting all the ice spears. Ed Rothtaylor knew exactly what this elemental signature was.

Summoning the power of the high fire elemental Tarkan, the elemental master Yenika Faelover had embroidered cosmos patterns on her cloak, a high-level elemental spell.

The moment its nature was guessed, a girl landed with her shawl fluttering right in front of Ed. It was Yenika Faelover, the pink-haired sorceress who had flown in with the aid of a mid-class wind elemental.

Waving her arms down, she summoned countless elementals to fill the skies above Triss Hall.

Amidst the rain of magical bullets, the great sage Sylvania quickly cast protective magic, deflecting them with little difficulty. Yenika seized the moment to rush over and wrap her arms around Ed, cradling him as if he were fragile.

As she firmly embraced Ed, now weak and battered in her arms, she tightly closed her eyes with a pained expression. Clenching her teeth, she summoned the mid-class wind elemental, calax.

Seeing the giant mythical bird-form elemental quickly carrying the two away, Sylvania realized that Yenika was set on retreating with the critically injured Ed Rothtaylor.

At that point, Yenika already knew that she couldn't win a one-on-one battle against the great sage Sylvania.

"Where do you think you're going...!"

But Tarkan, the giant fire lizard, unleashed a tremendous explosion. She didn't think her attack would hit. It was a diversion to block the line of sight.

While it was impossible to beat Sylvania, a strategic retreat was feasible. The sheer number of Yenika's elemental forces was breathtaking.

By the time Sylvania cleared the smoke with her magic, she saw Yenika Faelover already far away, carrying Ed to safety.

In the skies of Acken Island, Yenika Faelover, still embracing Ed within the fluttering folds of her cloak, looked back sharply at Sylvania from the distance.

Sylvania, feeling that gaze, stood still for a moment with her staff slightly raised.

Once Yenika had completed her retreat, the army of elementals disappeared. Silence once again descended upon the ruined Triss Hall.

Sylvania briefly bowed her head alone.

She had observed Yenika Faelover a few times, yet the figure and behavior she'd predicted were somehow different.

Was it a delusion, or the result of some inevitable action?

Her mind, gradually settling in the prison of time through the long years, was now engulfed by even greater pain.

Sylvania, embracing her shoulder and making grotesque sounds, gasped for air. It seemed as if the pain from the dagger wound inflicted by Ed Rothtaylor still filled her shoulder.

But... bit by bit... the bone-chilling pain abated.

"Yes... there are still... many variables to remove... There's still... much to do..."

The waves of madness surged once more, steadily consuming her mind.