C441. The Temple (4)
The Reverse Heaven deployed a frozen tundra driven by the infinite mana it granted him, and everything in the space began to freeze.
A world where everything seemed to stop, as if time had ceased.
However—
[It seems your learning capacity isn't very good.]
As had happened several times already, Alon's magic could not block the Law.
Kwaddeudeuk—
The frozen meteorites recovered a new gravitational point and, as soon as they did, they gathered at full speed.
At the same time, time moved again, and the frozen world shattered as if it were fragile glass.
Alon's magic, broken in the most absurd and ridiculously simple way.
Penia and Evan, who were watching from afar, let out an exclamation. And Basiliora, who was escaping the meteorites with desperation, let out a groan.
The situation was that desperate.
Alon's magic worked against nothing. He was only being tortured with divine mercy so as not to die under the Divine Blood.
Even so, despite the desperation of the moment, Alon's lips were filled with ecstasy.
Because he had found what he was looking for.
Among the twelve possibilities he had deduced from all the gathered information, he had finally arrived at a single correct answer.
“Hu—”
His mind spun even faster.
The information of The Night That Leads In was recorded in his head again as if he were reading a disk.
With that, he tried to find the best possible move.
Search.
Search.
Without stopping.
Without rest.
Within the meteorites, where the cold was now also mixed, he spent every ounce of strength to devise the optimal plan within his mind.
[I am at the limit—!]
And when he reached the final instant—
He heard Basiliora's voice, gasping as if she were about to die.
“This is enough.”
Alon calmly unsummoned Basiliora.
Floating in the air, he looked at The Night That Leads In, who was still enjoying the situation, and put his hand in his pocket.
Again, he formed a seal with his hands.
The Night That Leads In was very pleased.
For two reasons.
The first: just as He had foreseen, the Star Eater had come on his own, without the need to be sought out.
The second: the pure fun of playing with the Star Eater.
Of course, until recently, The Night That Leads In did not know who the Star Eater really was.
He didn't know if he was human, didn't know what he did; they had no prior relationship.
Even so, the act of crushing him like this gave him enormous satisfaction.
All because of Him, who showed a sickly interest in the Star Eater—an interest close to obsession.
Very different from himself.
He, who had no interest whatsoever, had only received with good will a fragment of that power that He had thrown to accelerate his own manifestation.
That is why he was happy.
Because the being He was so obsessed with was breaking so pathetically in his hands.
A rush of ecstasy ran through him.
This moment—where he could toy with him at will—
It was a grotesque and vile emotion.
[Hh—]
The Night That Leads In let out a burst of laughter, looking toward the ground. It was a disaster.
Hundreds of craters, dust rising, and nothing remained of the devastated meadow.
And in the center, the Star Eater.
His coat was torn, hanging like rags. His body was full of grave wounds.
The drops of blood dripping from his fingers stained the arid earth. The blood running down his hair ended up dyeing the coat that had rolled on the ground.
A completely satisfying sight. The Night That Leads In stopped his attack and spoke.
[You are in tatters.]
Alon looked up.
At that expressionless face, without a single ounce of emotion, The Night That Leads In narrowed his eyes.
“In a situation like this, you can still maintain your calm?”
It was literal.
None of Alon's magic had broken his Law.
Although the tundra that froze everything was slightly annoying, it hadn't broken anything either.
Even so, he remained expressionless.
…And he didn't like that.
[...Do you still think you can win?]
Alon did not answer. He only observed the Divine Blood with indifference.
The Night That Leads In suddenly felt the desire to capture the moment when that expressionlessness shattered.
He wanted him to wear an expression befitting the situation.
Collapsed, devastated—
[Hh—]
Then, an amusing idea came to his mind.
[I see. You think you can still win. Because if you dodge my attacks, maybe an opening will appear someday?]
Alon's expressionless face trembled.
He found it.
The Night That Leads In smiled, upon discovering the correct answer.
He waved his hand.
Immediately, half of the meteorites floating above Alon fell to the ground as if they had lost control.
And—
Kwaduk—!
A gravitational point appeared right in front of Alon.
Kwadudeudeuk—!
The gravitational point began to absorb everything. The peculiar thing was that its range was much smaller than before.
And—
Kwaduk—! Kwadudeudeuk—!
Everything trapped inside began to compress.
Compress.
Compress.
Compress.
Until—
It became a small sphere.
The sphere fell, turned to dust, and disappeared.
[It is a pity. I can not only make meteorites.]
The Night That Leads In's expectation grew even more. Soon the Star Eater would wear a suitable expression.
An absolute certainty fed his amusement.
But—
[…]
Even after seeing that, Alon's expression did not change.
He continued staring at The Night That Leads In. Then:
“It is a pity.”
The other's eyes opened wide.
“I knew that too.”
Alon continued:
“I also knew you were holding back.”
“That you were using me as a toy.”
“That you weren't using your full strength. I knew it all.”
A truth exposed without any tremor.
The next instant—
The Night That Leads In understood.
He had used the time he had wasted having fun in such a vulgar way… to prepare.
He didn't know what preparation that was.
But Alon's calm announced danger.
He tried to kill him, raising his hand—
“!”
But he couldn't move it.
He couldn't move it.
Alon had taken his hand out of his coat and said:
“Phantoms of Encompassing.”
And the next thing he saw was—
Hundreds of Alons floating in the sky and on the ground.
Surprised for an instant by the multiplication, The Night That Leads In quickly understood the principle.
“…They are illusions. You used ice and light.”
His mind, that of a great Mage before being Divine Blood, began to decipher the magic.
“But it isn't based only on light refraction and ice. There is something else.”
And as soon as he grasped that there was “something else”—
Hundreds of Alons formed a seal.
And hundreds of spheres of crackling mana appeared.
Each of them had overwhelming power.
When they filled his field of vision—
[!?]
They were fired simultaneously.
The Night That Leads In reflexively abandoned control of some meteorites and deployed a gravitational point.
He had no other choice.
“Are they not illusions!?”
Because the attacks fired by the hundreds of Star Eaters… were not illusions.
He couldn't afford to panic.
Since he had used the gravitational points to defend himself, he had no margin to attack.
Alon gave him no space.
He fired with a perfect interval to prevent him from cutting off the gravitational point.
But soon—
While he blocked the barrage of attacks, The Night That Leads In found the real body.
“That one…!”
Among the hundreds of spells, one had a tiny bit more mana.
The Alon who had fired it was in the center. He decided coldly:
“Kill the original.”
The spells were not extremely strong in themselves.
But receiving them directly would be fatal. He had to defend himself.
And since there were hundreds, fired sequentially, they gave him no opportunity to attack.
It's not that he wasn't counterattacking—but his blows couldn't surpass the rhythm.
The problem was another:
When he tried to hit the real one, Alon perfectly dodged the compressed meteorites.
And every destroyed clone regenerated ceaselessly.
To end this he had to kill the Star Eater with a single blow.
If he compressed, he could achieve it.
But he didn't have enough energy.
To compress, he would have to withdraw one of the gravitational points covering the area. In that dilemma—
“!”
He had an epiphany.
There were no clones of Alon on the ground.
The Night That Leads In looked at Alon and made a decision.
He released the gravitational point from the ground. And without hesitating, he compressed the original Alon.
Crack—!
A direct hit.
The Night That Leads In smiled broadly.
But at the same time he felt something strange.
The hundreds of Star Eaters did not disappear.
And Alon, who should have been erased without a trace, did not disappear either.
And then—
“So… being on the ground was the answer?”
The voice of the Star Eater resonated.
“…What?”
The other's eyes opened wide.
“At first I thought it was a coincidence.”
“But when I froze the space for the third time and the meteorites lost control for an instant, it seemed strange to me.”
“In the fourth, when I alternated spells and you only moved your body as I froze the entire space, I found a clue.”
“At first I froze the space including your position. But that wasn't it.”
“Then I froze only the ground beneath your feet.”
But that wasn't it either.
“Then I thought about this: inside the temple and right now, despite having no need to float, you were in the air the whole time.”
“When I noticed it, I froze the space again forming ground beneath your feet. And you reacted as soon as I did it.”
Alon's words flowed as if they were suspended in time.
The Night That Leads In was shocked, but—
[Ha]
He sketched an icy smile and replied:
[So what? Even if you have discovered my penalty—that if I touch the ground I cannot use my power—can you force me to step on it? Impossible, absolutely—]
But he stopped.
A strange sensation invaded him.
The hundreds of Alons kept looking at him.
The Alon who should have been compressed kept speaking calmly.
“The Night That Leads In.”
Something didn't add up.
It's not that he had lost his power.
But rather—
“When did you believe that you weren't touching the ground?”
He looked down.
Beneath his feet—where there was nothing an instant ago—
There was earth.
A portion of ground, hidden by illusion magic.
Raised by means of gravity magic.
And then—
The spells already manifested by hundreds of Alons fired, as if they had waited for that moment.
And the world—
Filled with light.
