My body went flying. Wow. If it were my old body, I probably would have died from the impact. I lay in the dirt and dust, staring blankly at Luel.
Lankart shrugged and said.
"Huey. I tried my best. The light was just too fast. You can't blame me."
"...Right. Thanks. For at least pretending to try to stop it."
Unlike me who could praise a comrade even with empty words, Luel looked at the Blue Tower Lord with a troubled expression.
"You hesitated at the last moment, Elisha. If you hadn't let your guard down, he wouldn't have been able to reach you."
The Blue Tower Lord was staring blankly up at the empty sky as if her soul had left her. She still hadn't recovered from the shock of defeat.
"Ah..."
"Are you saying your resolve was insufficient? For him who survived by relying on your kindness to dare say such a thing. That's absurd. If he had any shame, he should be grateful that you didn't commit barbarism."
If the Blue Tower Lord had gone all out from the beginning, I wouldn't have even been able to get close. That's true.
However, the White Tower Lord didn't understand the race called mages well.
'She converted the ice crystal crystallized through her Intrinsic Sorcery into alchemy. If she had lost even a little balance, the ice crystal would have exploded as is. Could I have done that...?'
The Blue Tower Lord quickly found the answer. Impossible. Converting the ice crystal through alchemy, freezing her own body to break through ice magic, and enduring the hit from the ice crystal.
Of course. That's only possible because I have the Demon God and mind-reading. Someone ordinary like me can do it, but a genius like you absolutely cannot.
"Pfft. Looks like you finally realized it. Hey, Captain. You're way late. As long as you're a mage, you can never beat Huey."
Lankart, excited about something, went right up to the Blue Tower Lord and was blabbering.
"Intrinsic Sorcery is projecting your mental image into the world as a 'Rule.' It's the most arbitrary and personal rule in this world, but a rule is a rule. Anyone can use that rule. Huey just used it."
"Used... my Intrinsic Sorcery?"
"Yes. Although I define it and it applies centered on me. The application of the rule itself is fair! Under the same conditions, Huey has no choice but to win. Because Huey is a far superior human than me or you!"
I told you it's because of the Demon God and mind-reading. Why do you keep trying to explain things? Are you trying to be a third-rate villain?
"Finally realized it? How great a being Huey is. Where you should aspire to be! Puhaha. You're still far away! You've only now reached the same level I was at 13 years ago. No, you who stopped out of fear of even the knowledge of the Floating Star are below me! No need to call you Captain anymore! Haha!"
Completely dumbfounded, I called out to Lankart's back.
"Hey. You tried to kill me outright. Saying someone without talent like me couldn't be first."
"I was young then."
That's your excuse? If you were young, isn't the crime even worse? Your morals for sincerely planning murder at that age are questionable.
"And it was before you taught me the world of the right-handed."
Hey. That's information about your Intrinsic Sorcery. Is it okay to talk about it? That's supposed to be secret.
"Hughes...! I, I... I knew you were a great person! As much as the Blue Tower Lord, no, even more than that!"
Amidst all this, Avangarde popped out from behind the Blue Tower Lord and made her appeal. Having spent time with her from the Crystal Tower, she was sending pure faith. I patted Avangarde's head.
"It's really dangerous now, so please stay out of it. And, Blue Tower Lord."
"Hic, yes!"
The Blue Tower Lord was startled by my sudden call and started hiccuping. She covered her mouth to stop the hiccups, but her fully tensed body couldn't calm down easily.
I stared at the Blue Tower Lord, who had turned red from shame and embarrassment.
"It's as the White Tower Lord said. I'm safe thanks to you caring about my safety, Blue Tower Lord. If the ice crystal had been just a bit stronger, my limbs would have been torn off."
'...It was already an explosion sufficient to kill a person, and if it had produced any more destructive power, I wouldn't have been able to use it because I'd have been caught in it too.'
"Anyway, I defeated you, Blue Tower Lord, and if possible, I don't want to be enemies with you. Protect others from getting caught up. What you should protect isn't secrets, but people."
Even if she's not on my side, she couldn't help Luel anymore. Luel grumbled with dissatisfaction.
"Sigh. She was a great person."
"She's still a great person now."
"Those who doubt themselves inevitably find something to lean on. Faith was scheduled to bloom in her too. A faith of ice, colder and more transparent than anyone's. But because you broke that pillar, a setback occurred."
Reading Shea's thoughts, the Blue Tower Lord was probably a person internally designated for the Holy Sword Division. That's why even in the future when the Floating Star fell, she became Shea's collaborator.
I don't know what will happen now, though.
The Blue Tower Lord scattered magical power and created a barrier enclosing the people. Avangarde and the Blue Tower Lord herself were included within it. It was an indirect indication of her will not to interfere in this fight.
So what remained were Luel and the Holy Knights, and us. They outnumber us, but in asymmetric combat power, we had the advantage.
Shea made one last attempt at persuasion.
"Luel. What you're worried about won't happen. Clear the path for us to go up."
"...Shea. In the future you saw, you and I might have been acquaintances. But that's not my future. Above all, the future you bring is not promised."
Luel firmly shook her head.
"I've never sought to be understood, but reaching this point, I feel lonely and desolate. It can't be helped. Light shines brightly on its own, but it doesn't receive illumination itself."
"If you're lonely, how about going out and making some friends?"
"Hehe. I wish I could. But unfortunately, those who see the future cannot share the present."
-----
Blink.
-----
A very brief gap occurred. The moment I realized it was a sign of time stop. As 'a few seconds' of memory flowed in from Luel, I simultaneously discovered a beam of light extending from above her head.
The light that extended at the speed of light left bright traces in the air. Materialized light itself became lines, embroidering infinite figures against the sky. Light traveling straight until it hits something was refracted and reflected by transparent crystals. Light was trapped and swirling within a kaleidoscope.
Light reflected off countless mirrors soon created infinite images. Beyond one side of the mirrors, the magic circles drawn so far were reflected. Light, mirrors, images, and infinite magic circles.
The ingredients are mirrors and light, just two. With those, one reaches infinity.
"Huey. Something's wrong with that woman. I didn't feel any magical power, but magic circles suddenly appeared."
"It's a time stop! Break the magic circles!"
"I'll try. Not sure if it'll work though."
Lankart lightly flicked his fingers. From 5 meters outside him, a force like his hand motion magnified tenfold swirled. Dirt and grass shot up like shells, blocking the light embroidering the air.
It was a sufficiently quick response. However, the magic circle completed in stopped time simply activated first.
"Let there be light. When the Parent Heavenly God so commanded. Genesis began with light."
A small voice that sounded like a prayer. Simultaneously, another magical light flashed from the magic circle. The infinite magic circle made of mirrors amplified the light emitting from the artificial sun.
"Eons of time have passed and light has reached this place. O lowly creatures, praise the light."
Light extending beyond infinity is a lie. Because there is nothing behind the mirrors. But simultaneously it is truth. Light has undergone a journey as infinite as its reflections in the mirrors. And it is still extending now.
Infinity does not mean quantity. The state of heading toward infinity is itself infinity.
Beyond strategic-grade magic, war-grade magic. A grand magic that amplifies all light within a certain domain. Luminous Irradiance.
It's a powerful magic, but it hasn't even begun yet. The true power of this magic.
"And light shall become power."
The Intrinsic Sorcery converted light into power. Luel, with the sun at her back, marked the climax with her Intrinsic Sorcery.
"Let the new genesis come."
It felt like gravity had increased tenfold. A pressure on a completely different dimension from before. The earth dried up tightly, and the ground crushed by light spat out fluids. The warm light that made grass grow was gone. There was only the light of power that silently oppressed.
Lankart, shielding his eyes with his hand, grumbled.
"Oof, heavy. Huey, this is ridiculously strong, what do we do?"
"...I feel like I'm really going to die, so don't ask."
That guy's Right-Handed World has good performance. Even light is being deflected. What the hell? Am I the only one struggling this hard?
"Heavenly Sword Qi, Heaven-Cleaving!"
Shea was no different. Enduring with qi, and using Cheon-ak like a prism to deflect the light above. Creating a momentary shadow in the downpour of light, Shea shouted toward Luel.
"Luel...! This power is dangerous!"
"The price to pay for trusting you and handing over 'Arrogance' is too great. Nothing can compare to the danger of the end. Nothing justifies accepting that."
The pouring light was so bright that a gloomy shadow fell on Luel's face. Shea received the light with his body to stop Luel and swung Cheon-ak.
However, Gaebyeok is not a combat magic. It only amplified the light in this domain. The magic hadn't even begun yet.
"Halo System."
Combining the Intrinsic Sorcery that grants physical force to light with the magic that controls light. Materialization of light. Achieved the ultimate aspiration of the White Tower through Intrinsic Sorcery. Enclosing materialized light within light, creating an infinitely rotating ring. It became a halo with no form, only power.
Five such halos were created.
"Five-Wheel Orbit."
Five halos flew toward Shea. They weren't as fast as light, but to human eyes it was about the same. Shea reacted even amid it all and swung Cheon-ak aiming at the halos, but the moment the halos touched Cheon-ak, they emitted blinding light.
"Ugh!"
From the intense impact, Shea almost dropped Cheon-ak. Cheon-ak's true form is compressed space, but the light vibrating with physical force within the halos contained power stronger than even a fiercely rotating gear.
And since he sliced through it, the liberated light ran wild. The materialized light vibrated the atmosphere and exploded.
"Gaebyeok Thunder."
"Kyaaah!"
The exploding light mercilessly blew Shea away. A boom echoed right after. Light that gained substance was no different from lightning. Shea was struck by the lightning and sent flying far away.
Shea's life was still attached. He simply exited the battlefield. But that wasn't particularly good news.
"You should have left Elisha Celsius here. Then... you might have at least saved your lives."
Because Luel's face, deep in shadow, had transformed into that of a judge.