Chapter 297: Completion (18)
I took Luna's hand and moved mana.
The surroundings flickered, and the space shifted.
Luna, observing the changing space, asked me,
"How can I help?"
"Spellbook. We need to use the spellbook."
"Spellbook?"
Luna looked at the spellbook in her hand.
"That's the key to our current situation."
This spellbook perfectly adhered to the laws of magic.
The First Law of Magic: Equivalent Exchange.
The fact that this book could activate a magic circle by simply inputting mana advanced that law further.
A book that makes anything possible with mana alone.
That was Levian's spellbook.
"I'm going to use this book to eliminate time magic."
"...Time magic?"
Before answering Luna's question, we arrived at the sacred place.
A giant temple.
Dozens of jars were placed around it.
"...Have we arrived?"
And in front of it, Aryandor was sitting, bleeding from a stomach wound.
I looked down at Aryandor, who was in no condition to fight.
Yet, he used his sword like a cane to stand up as we approached.
"Rudy Astria. You understand the situation now, don't you?"
Aryandor looked at me with a smile.
"Yes. Now the whole picture is starting to come together."
"Ha... Then you know what the situation is."
I glanced sideways.
Beatrice was there, absorbing the energy around her.
His plan.
It was to bestow dimensional magic upon Beatrice.
A being with both time and dimensional magic.
Add my spatial magic to that.
Then Beatrice, or rather, this vessel, would become a perfect being capable of interfering with dimensions.
Dimensional magic, spatial magic, time magic.
All three have flaws.
Spatial magic can't move to dimensions where one didn't exist.
Time magic can't see or interfere with dimensions where one didn't exist.
Dimensional magic can see all dimensions but can't interfere directly.
Interference requires a corresponding price.
However, all these downsides disappear when the abilities are combined.
If one possesses all these abilities.
If one can use spatial, time, and dimensional magic altogether.
All downsides vanish, and everything becomes possible.
Even changing the world world itself.
"It's over, the vessel is already accepting the power."
The vessel.
Beatrice is the vessel.
She has intelligence but lacks a mind of her own.
This was done to make it easier for her to accept abilities.
Necromancy.
Magic that resurrects the dead.
More precisely, it's not about bringing them back to life but using the corpses to harness their power.
The body of Beatrice is engraved with magic, serving as the source of necromancy.
She was meant to absorb the power of dead bodies here to learn dimensional magic.
I laughed at Aryandor's overconfidence.
"What over? This is just the beginning."
"The moment it started, it ended. You've seen the pocket watch's information, haven't you?"
The information from the pocket watch.
I definitely obtained it.
I saw the current future there.
In tens of thousands of futures drawn, Aryandor was winning in all of them.
"So what?"
Regardless of who's here or what situation unfolds, even if Aryandor wins, that's their problem.
I don't need to care about the affairs of other dimensions.
The 'me' in this world is a completely different person from the 'me' in other dimensions.
The way I've lived and everything I've experienced are all different.
That means the outcome will also be different.
I dashed forward quickly.
"Agh!"
Aryandor tried to block my attack, but in his severely wounded state, he couldn't.
He was sent flying far away by my punch.
Then Beatrice moved.
"Royal swordsmanship."
Beatrice attempted to use swordsmanship with a dagger, and at the same time, she used time magic.
"Full Moon."
Scattering golden sword energy.
At the same time, time magic activated.
The era of scattering the sword energy repeats.
It was as if the sword had been swung dozens of times, sending tens of sword energies flying at me.
"Spatial Severance."
Seeing this, I activated spatial magic.
Splitting space to erase the sword energies.
And the attacks I couldn't erase, I dodged by twisting my body.
"Fire Sphere!"
While I was dodging attacks, Luna behind me used magic.
A small flame appeared from Luna's hand, flying towards Beatrice and causing a large explosion.
Boom!
The explosion engulfed Beatrice.
Not only that, but it also reached the jars behind her.
The jars containing the relics of the Saints shattered under the explosion's influence.
"Gasp..."
Luna's eyes widened at the sight.
"Sorry...! What do we do now?"
I shook my head.
"No, it's fine. We had to destroy them anyway."
"...What?"
I filled my fist with mana.
And then I punched.
Boom!!!
Dozens of jars behind shattered.
The relics contained within fell to the ground and dispersed in white light.
Aryandor's eyes widened.
"...What are you trying to do?"
"Why? Is there a problem? Ah~ You haven't seen this future, have you?"
I smiled.
This was our way to victory.
I had many questions when Haruna first introduced me to this place.
Why not destroy it?
This place makes dimensional magic possible.
But do we need to protect it?
Initially, I thought maybe it could be useful to stop Aryandor.
However, after learning about Aryandor's goal and that vessel, Beatrice, through the pocket watch, I realized we couldn't stop them.
I looked ahead.
Beatrice, who had been caught in Luna's explosion, walked towards us, unharmed.
Not a single injury remained.
The ability to heal all wounds belonged to Venderwood.
'There's no ordinary way to stop someone like that.'
Beatrice can't be stopped by ordinary means.
She uses time magic, her body heals instantly, and she can't feel pain.
Even if we did our best to stop her, it was really easy for her to reach her goal, the sanctuary, and absorb power.
Just by arriving here and getting attacked, she could absorb power.
Then, a bigger question arises.
Why didn't Haruna destroy this place?
If Beatrice could inevitably reach this place, wouldn't it have been right to destroy the sanctuary?
They say we wouldn't be able to see the future if this place were gone, but isn't that better than Aryandor achieving his goal and turning back the world's time?
Then, a thought occurred to me.
What would they have done if we had destroyed this place from the start?
There's only one possibility.
They would have targeted Haruna.
If they had focused on Haruna, could we have protected her?
Ultimately, would she have died by their hands, and obtained power from Haruna's corpse.
But by leaving the sanctuary, Haruna gave them a choice.
To fight past me and others and target Haruna herself, or to enter this sanctuary.
They would naturally choose the latter.
If they fought to kill Haruna, they couldn't be sure of their victory.
There's no guarantee they would win against us, nor that they could obtain Haruna's corpse intact.
Then, an unavoidable thought comes to mind.
Did Haruna lure them here?
What Haruna said before coming here was a lie, but it wasn't.
A 100 percent chance of winning.
If Haruna knew the correct future, she wouldn't have said such a thing.
But saying this gave me one hint.
Head towards an unknown future.
To a future unseen.
To a future unfound.
"Stop him...!"
Aryandor pointed at me and shouted.
Beatrice rushed towards me as I was smashing the jars.
"Aryandor, now you understand why you couldn't see the future where we win, right?"
This sanctuary connects different dimensions, the future, and the past.
The Saints' relics contain dimensional magic, linking the future and the past with the present.
It allows people from the past to see the present and those in the present to see the future.
It acts as a medium allowing users of dimensional and time magic to see into the past and future.
So, what if all these relics are destroyed?
If this sanctuary disappears?
"It's a future you haven't seen."
A future unseen.
If all these relics are destroyed, our timeline becomes a future no one can see.
Boom!
I destroyed the jars.
Beatrice tried her best to protect them, but she couldn't stop it.
Nor could she reverse it with time magic.
Time magic can't interfere with other dimensions.
These Saints' relics distinctly influence other dimensions.
They allow other dimensions to see our world's future.
So, they couldn't be reversed with time magic.
"Luna."
I called Luna and summoned Priscilla at the same time.
"Uh...?"
"Priscilla, make a contract with Luna."
"...What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
Luna asked me with wide eyes.
"I said earlier, I'm going to eliminate time magic."
"But, how?"
"If you make a contract with Priscilla, you'll be able to feel the connection between you and me."
"Is that even possible?"
"We'll know once we try. And if you feel the connection, use my spatial magic as a sacrifice to eliminate that guy's time magic. I'll be holding the front in the meantime."
"Spatial magic?"
Aryandor, having heard me, widened his eyes.
"You..."
"What do you think of my plan? Not bad, right?"
I smiled at Aryandor and then turned around.
"Can you do it?"
"I'll try!"
"Good."
I nodded.
Now, we must stop her.
Prevent Beatrice from escaping.
We had to block her from leaving this space.
She needed to disappear along with this space.
I moved immediately.