Antares brought Spica because he believed in her strength. The Cheonban-gyeong is a qi gong acknowledged even within the Zodiac Twelve Palaces. It is strongest in the "Daeinjeon," and that is why Antares called her.
However, he likely did not know that her strength might become an obstacle for him.
"I brought you to work, and you just add to my troubles?! Are you kidding? Have you forgotten the mission?"
"...My disciple."
"Are you a parrot?!"
Antares, having seen her several times in the Zodiac Twelve Palaces, knows well the Sword Empress's personality. He suppressed his anger with effort and said.
"Fine! Just return to the Empire with your disciple! You can do your mission, and gain a disciple! How great is that! The Empire will welcome it too!"
It was a decent idea. The Sword Empress silently looked at Shei. But Shei shook her head.
"I cannot go to the Empire right now. I'll explain the circumstances later, when we're alone. I can't explain here."
"...She says so."
"You're letting it go with just that?! Hah...."
Antares groaned and scratched his head. With this, the Sword Empress was no longer his ally. Even if she wasn't an enemy, he could not expect active help.
"Only I am enthusiastic again. I'm the only one who works as much as I receive.... It's a world where sensible people lose. It's unreasonable."
"The situation is tilted, would you like to surrender?"
"Surrender? Are you serious? Me?"
Antares scoffed and scraped the floor with the tip of his spear. Then sparks flew from the spear tip and soon began to blaze like a torch.
"Don't be cheeky. Spica was insurance. She was merely a means to respond to unknown situations. What that means is."
Antares spoke, exuding fierce fighting spirit.
"It means I am more than capable of handling you all by myself."
From the blazing spear tip, a mental image is conveyed. It is a memory of a guard warrior holding a spear shaft on a dark night.
Antares had outstanding qi gong and exquisite spear techniques. Recognized for his skills, he was selected as a guard for the chancellor. It was a very important position guarding the three pillars of the empire, but unless one was mad, there was no one who would attack the chancellor.
Whether day or night, Antares was given no tasks. Simply holding his spear and letting time pass was all. He was faithful to his duty, but he was not a foolish man. Even while on standby, Antares swung his spear whenever he had a chance.
On a dark night when the spear tip was not even visible, the guard warrior swings his spear. Even the sound of cutting through the wind is swallowed by the darkness and disappears. Something is lacking. Is it because there is no opponent, or because even the spear tip is not visible?
Absentmindedly, Antares thrust the spear tip into a campfire, and the red-hot spear blade was smeared with oil and caught fire. He swings the spear with flames on it. The trajectory of the flames paints red on space. Watching the trajectory flash on his retina, Antares continued to swing his spear.
Even after being dismissed from the guard position for unnecessarily creating an unsettling atmosphere, he did not stop.
For days, months, years. Antares carved his spear into the darkness. At some point, he no longer even put his spear into the campfire. Flames spontaneously bloomed at the spear tip. Before he knew it, his spear technique had reached the level of art.
Realizing he had become a master, he headed to the Star Seat, and not long after, he became a member of the Zodiac Twelve Palaces.
His principle is the Matchstick Spear.
Because it lacked dignity, the Star Seat gave it the name Red Phosphorus Spear, but regardless of the name, that principle was a power that had reached the Zodiac Twelve Palaces.
"Your arrogance has reached its peak. Please freeze."
Elsia Celsius, who had subdued Shumahel, moved the river of ice. The ice giant brought down its massive fist just like that. Ice shards broke and a white mist spread instantly. Water droplets sparkled within the ice mist.
"Sorry. As long as I'm alive, there's no freezing."
And then flames pierce through the body of the ice giant. The spear wrapped in flames had grown several times in size. Retrieving the spear that had pierced the giant's chest, Antares muttered.
"My Li is the Matchstick Spear. A Li that merely makes flames rise from the spear tip, that's all. That alone is enough."
"Celsius's ice even freezes flames! Elsa!"
The shattered and melted ice reforms again. It is Cheongtapju's innate magic, Determinism. The moisture scattered in all directions freezes in an instant, crystallizing the entire space.
Antares rotated his spear to block the cold encroaching on the space.
"Spinning sparkler."
Whirr. The flame-laden spear spins quickly like a sparkler toy. A round flame remains on the retina like the wheel of a sun god's chariot. However, the cold could not encroach on that afterimage.
It's not an afterimage. The trajectory of the flame remains in the air, blocking the invasion of the cold! Something came to my mind and I reflexively shouted.
"Yeontan Sword?!"
"Yeontan Sword? Ah, that Marquis Rafaeno guy? An incredible old man. Leaving behind slashes, isn't that a Li that interferes with spacetime? An amazing Li. It's on a different level from someone like me who just leaves behind flames."
Certainly, that might be true. Marquis Rafaeno left the slashes themselves in the air and layered them. It is a power that can only be reached if it is a Li, momentarily blocking the advance of the Mountain Lord.
But is that truly the strongest? What does it mean to be 'strong' in the first place?
Muttering, Antares instantly lowered his body.
"If only you hadn't been drunk on your Li and had trained just a little harder."
Antares disappeared from sight. The ground splitting is seen belatedly. A movement faster than a mage's eyes. Both Cheongtapju and Elsia lost sight of Antares. In that brief gap, Antares was already standing behind Elsia.
"Ah!"
"One down."
Antares, appearing behind Elsia, struck the back of her neck with the spear shaft. Clearly, shields of ice had been created around, but the Zodiac Twelve Palace member easily shattered the ice and neutralized Elsia. Her body collapses powerlessly.
"Sister!"
The enraged Cheongtapju no longer controlled her strength. Simultaneously creating dozens of ice crystals, she grants them directionality and detonates them. The solidified gas stirred up a storm and attacked Antares.
Antares glanced at the momentum and scraped the floor with the spear tip. Scritch. Sparks flew from the friction, and along that trace, a huge flame rose.
"Striking a match."
The wall of fire created by the principle called Matchstick Spear. The flickering flames swallowed the fierce wind and blazed even larger.
That's not a flame. It's a phenomenon forcibly caused by Li! Even if you pour water, or wind blows, or it's covered in ice, it won't go out. Rather, because it burns 'in any situation,' water and wind are even more meaningless!
"Elsa! Putting out the fire is meaningless! You have to attack the person!"
"Right. You have to aim for the person. Me too."
A chilling murmur is heard. Antares, who had already taken his stance, grasped the spear and rotated it half a turn. The flames coil around the end of the spear shaft and are sucked in.
Ran, Na, Chal. The basics of spear technique: rotate, push, and thrust. He controls the flames with that. He spews out extremely compressed flames with rotation.
"Throwing darts."
Boom. A flaming arrow shoots out. It's not a simple flame. Molten metal is hidden within!
It is too fast and powerful for Cheongtapju to respond. I immediately reached out my hand and snatched the searing dart. The impact felt like my hand would fly off, and the hot heat seared my hand. Cheongtapju cried out in surprise.
"Hughes? Are you okay?"
"This is no time to worry about me! Focus on the opponent!"
Realizing my mistake,
"Firecracker play."
A flashing light. In an instant, flames are etched on the retina and a thunderous roar stimulates the eardrums. Antares had wrapped flames around his body, suppressed them briefly, and then detonated them all at once. While everyone lost sight and hesitated, Antares's figure split into two.
One was a clone created by temporarily separating the flames engulfing his whole body. The other was his real body. Although it wasn't a true clone, to think he could cause confusion even briefly with the flames he raised.
His power is not just 'Li.' Antares's true strength is honing that trivial and playful Li to the extreme, responding to all kinds of situations.
The clone moved exactly symmetrically left and right to ambush Cheongtapju, and I chose one of them and blocked it. My skewer bent greatly as it blocked his spear.
The flames scattered and Antares's real body was revealed. He muttered.
"You distinguished it accurately. As expected, we have bad compatibility. You're probably in the same category as me."
"What category is that?"
"Trickster. The type that compensates for lacking skill with petty tricks."
"A person who has touched the principle saying such things lacks credibility."
"It's relative."
Antares grumbled and scattered flames. Obstructing my vision, he switched his grip on the spear shaft and thrusted short.
But even if my vision is blocked, my mind-reading technique is still active. I twisted my body, ducked to avoid, and then grasped his spear shaft. There's no need to fight an opponent with a long weapon at a distance...
"Ah, hot!"
Oh no. I forgot! Of course it would be hot!
Unable to hold onto the heated spear shaft, I retreated, and Antares quickly closed in and thrust the spear deeper.
"The only thing these flames don't burn is me...."
He stopped mid-sentence. A judgment close to a sixth sense, with no basis, made him stop. Jumping back, he scoffed and muttered.
"...No, it's not. You have ice on your hands. Cheongtapju, did you support even in the midst of that? Impressive."
Cheongtapju silently raised her magic power. Innate magic, Determinism, creates all weapons of the world. Gunpowder is ice crystals. Cannonballs are ice. Cannons and ice blades, ice spears overwhelm Antares with sheer volume.
While leaping left and right to avoid the continuous attacks, Antares could not recklessly charge. Because I was also blocking him from a position of containment.
"When fighting against a mage with a front and rear guard, the odds are against you. Ugh. If only you weren't here, it would have been fine.... Conversely, you were the biggest problem."
"If it were one-on-one, I would have been in much more trouble."
If it's simply physical specs, I who possess human logic would be higher. However, Antares is not far behind, and he is strategically using the flames of the Matchstick Spear.
Moreover, he still hasn't gone all out. If it becomes a fight to the death, the Scorpio will definitely take at least one person with him.
Antares spoke without stopping his movement.
"I felt that from the moment I first saw you. It seemed like I would be at a disadvantage if I gave you more time. So I tried to end it quickly. Haa. Then shall we slowly get up now? Shumahel!"
Shumahel, trapped in the ice, did not answer. Instead, the ice of the Celsius family began to tremble.
The vibration gradually increased and decreased repeatedly. As if tuning a frequency, it grew larger for a while then suddenly smaller, and the cycle began to shorten. Then at some point, the tremors interlocked with 'something'.
Then the ice shakes bizarrely. It started from Shumahel but soon spread towards the entire ice. The walls, the floor, the ceiling began to shake madly as if hit by an earthquake.
Surging Sword.
Resonance Slash.
The ice breaks. The destruction did not start from somewhere. The entire massive ice, equal to the volume of a river, shatters and collapses simultaneously from every part.
The Celsius family buildings are all ice, and connected through Elsia's innate magic. That is, the entire building is crumbling down!
Like someone smashed glass with a hammer, the building falls in pieces all at once. A massive destruction that is difficult to say was caused by a qi gong master.
Cheongtapju urgently cast Aqua magic. She sifted out moisture from the air and condensed it. She hastily crystallized it with innate magic to stop the collapse of the building.
Blocking the collapse was an amazing ability, but Cheongtapju was horrified by the completely unexpected destruction and looked into the ice.
From within, Shumahel, with his lips blue, walked out nonchalantly.
"Huuu.... I'm sorry. It's my first time cutting ice of this size, so I was late."
"Alright. Seems you caused enough confusion."
Shumahel of the Surging Sword. His ability is to control the elasticity of the sword, storing and releasing energy. It's an ability used during strength contests, and Shumahel had indeed been using it that way.
But in the Empire, there is the Star Seat.
The Star Position is not just a simple status. The Star Position is a system where the masters of the Empire face each other, train, and promote their growth. Professional nutritionists manage their health, and resident doctors and clergy treat their injuries day and night. Mages and alchemists customize and provide tools and exercise equipment suited to them.
And, scholars carefully selected from around the world assist in the development of 'Li'. How to use that Li. By what principles it can be applied. They research how to expand or contract the mental image further, to transform it into some mighty power.
Shumahel's ability is the Surging Sword. Voluntary control of elasticity. But one scholar focused not on that simple yet destructive power, but on its 'cycle'.
If the elasticity of the Surging Sword could be expanded and contracted in a regular cycle, then its vibration could also be controlled, and
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by resonating with the natural frequency of a substance, just touching the sword to it would grant the power to destroy.
Facing the wall in meditation? Enlightenment? Those are relics of an old era. The Empire has reached the stage of even dividing the labor of training! I immediately shouted.
"You grasped the natural frequency of ice using the Surging Sword and shattered it through resonance! Use a method where you leave liquid between layers of solid shells stacked multiple times—then even if it breaks, only one layer will shatter!"
Shumahel, whose secret technique was exposed, cried out in surprise.
"Uh, how do you know that? Are you a fan of me too?"
"Idiot! Would a mere fan know a technique developed in utmost secrecy at the Star Position?! That's the human king. It seems he can counter almost any technique used by humans!"
Tch. Did I give too much information? But the Blue Tower Lord was shrinking back more than necessary, so I had no choice. Fear comes from the unknown. If you don't know exactly what the opponent's abilities are, you waste energy being on guard.
It's probably the same for Antares.
"Grafis!"
Now that I looked, he had a small resonance crystal in his ear. It was a small processed version of the resonance crystal directly imported from the Floating City, an invention of the Empire that allowed conversation with distant people without any particular manipulation.
When someone called a name, the resonance crystal rang by Antares' ear.
[Palace Lord. This situation was not in the plan. We who were not informed of the situation also had difficulty responding appropriately, so we ask for your understanding.]
"It's the judgment of the field officer. This was something I had to do. The moment we first met was the only opportunity."
[We respect that. We always trust your judgment, Palace Lord. Then, what shall we do now? Shall we subdue them?]
"No. We scram."
[Pardon?]
Antares shouted loudly.
"You said you respect it? Then just prepare to scram!"
[Understood. Scorpio Squad. Commence suppressive fire.]
Immediately after the communication ended, sharp harpoons pierced through the ice wall from afar and flew in.
Due to the existence of anti-ballistic energy techniques, projectile weapons like arrows or guns are less effective. But when facing mages, the story is different. Defensive magic is also magic, and you can waste the mana and concentration they would devote to that magic.
Especially, those harpoons were fired by attaching small anti-beast harpoons to a thick ballista. They easily shattered the ice wall that had already broken once and tore through the inside of the building.
"Danger! Earth Base Flow, Ground Leveling!"
Shei turned the ground over to block the attack. The harpoons were wasted in vain, but we couldn't avoid having our vision obscured.
Meanwhile, Antares, who had fled far away with Shumahel, shouted toward us.
"I'm leaving! The unfinished match will be postponed to next time!"
Beside him, eight assistant alchemists were holding ten alchemy flowers in their hands and conjuring something.
Alchemy. And it was combat field alchemy. They take out alchemy flowers with excellent alchemical properties, conjure components, and quickly assemble them. It is possible because of outstanding alchemy, mechanical knowledge, and an enormous amount of alchemy flowers.
The eight alchemists combined their strength and conjured up a large armored vehicle in just 12 seconds. Efficiency went to the dogs, so 320 alchemy flowers were consumed like trash, but who cares. The mana drive trail flared and blazed, and the Scorpio Squad finished their withdrawal preparations in an instant.
"Palace Lord! Lady Spica is not boarding!"
"Who cares about that worthless woman who isn't even worth her pay! Go!"
"...As you command!"
And Antares disappeared much faster and more abruptly than when he had appeared.
Since we didn't know they would suddenly retreat after the volley of fire, our response was delayed. The Blue Tower Lord checked the condition of fallen Elysia.
"Sister is unharmed. They just knocked her out."
They could have killed her. They deliberately didn't. I spoke.
"From what they said, this attack must have been Antares' arbitrary action. It seems they didn't want to create a bigger problem."
"...It's already enough of a problem. They used force on the territory of the Magic Federation and tried to take you by force."
"If we raise an issue, it will be a problem."
"Then?"
It's still an area that can be covered up, and worth covering up. Even though it's infuriating and humiliating, sweeping it under the rug is the most rational choice.
Antares left having left such room. Whether we accept it or not is not important. The fact that there is room to choose peace—that in itself would be important.
"If the Magic Federation makes an issue of it, they will deny it or call it a minor skirmish. They might excuse it by saying a clash occurred while preventing the Blue Tower Lord from threatening the Gauss territory."
"There's no need for excuses. The Magic Federation knows the truth."
"No. There's still much we don't know. It would be better to grasp the situation a little more. After all, there's still someone left to ask."
My eyes and the Blue Tower Lord's turned toward Shei. More precisely, toward the Sword Empress standing still, protecting Shei.
At her feet, the harpoons that had almost flown at Shei lay scattered, broken from the middle.