Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena POV.
Walkis Magic Academy. One of the top three magic schools, on par with Easton. I didn't have many plans for this particular place. The only thing that interested me was Domina Blowelive, one of Innocent Zero's quintuplets, who was attending as a freshman to infiltrate the Divine Visionary trials.
He was possibly the only one of the quintuplets who was truly redeemable, to some extent. Unfortunately for him, he remained my target. Did I have to kill him? Not really. But I didn't even know what he would do once I murdered his father and brothers. Domina loved his father deeply, especially since this Domina hadn't yet met Mashle and changed for the better.
But putting those thoughts aside, Domina was easy to find. He possessed the greatest magic power in the entire academy. He was easy to track.
"Domina Blowelive." I said, appearing beside him as I removed my invisibility. I moved my head to dodge a high-speed water blast.
"I don't know you... You're not from this academy," Domina said, almost bored. I just smiled at him sarcastically.
"I wanted to see... the competition for this year's Divine Visionary position... and... I'm not impressed at all." I said dismissively. "You don't have what it takes to be a visionary... It should be... a more refined event." I said mockingly. Domina stood still for a few seconds before his magical power exploded. I felt the hatred oozing from him, and I just smirked.
Those were the very words he would have used to eliminate his competition. Simply returning the words seemed to have struck a nerve. I jumped aside to dodge the enormous torrent of pressurized water, several times my size, that shot from his wand.
I waved my wand and froze the water with ease, then created icicles and launched them at Domina. He created a shield of highly pressurized water that easily destroyed the attack. Then Domina launched another jet of water.
I created a shield with the power of destruction that obliterated the attack coming from the front. Then several solar shots flew toward Domina. My solar shots pierced his shield, but Domina dodged the attacks and attacked me again with a massive wave.
I created a massive burst of flame that easily neutralized his attack. The steam explosion engulfed us both. But that didn't seem to bother Domina, and he attacked me again. I moved my wand and transfigured the ground beneath me. I created a huge wall that stopped Domina's water before it could transform into enormous snakes that lunged at him.
He controlled the situation with his wand and unleashed several high-pressure water blasts that shattered the stone serpents. Even so, I raised my wand and hurled stones and debris at him, forcing him to raise his shield once more.
"Hey, hey, who the hell do you think you are, you damn bitch, attacking our academy?" Levis growled furiously as he approached. Well, Levis Rosequartz. He hadn't really planned this, but it would do. He had two personal types of magic: Magnets and Lightning. Beside him was a massive electromagnetic cannon. Well, I guess he wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"Magnets Lightning Secondth: Invariable Railgun!" Levis shouted. I smiled broadly. The cannon lit up, and I created a metal sphere in front of me; then I moved my body, clapped my hands, and punched the cannonball.
The alchemy took effect at the same time as Levis' magic. Levis' magic allowed him to fire a railgun at Mach 7. My alchemy allowed me to do the same. So we both fired railguns at each other, except I enchanted the sphere to make it indestructible.
My colossal railgun smashed through his and kept going, entering the magically summoned cannon and destroying it. I appeared next to a very surprised Levis and fired a stun grenade that sent him flying and knocked him unconscious.
Then I easily dodged the torrent of water. I pulled back the cannonball I had just used, then repeated the attack. The enormous railgun shot toward Domina. It pierced his shield with ease and continued. The attack passed Domina and exploded behind him. I landed softly.
"Is that all you've got? You're truly weak. Your father should be ashamed of you. Perhaps he should replace you with Mash; even he would be stronger than you." I sneered dryly. Domina's eyes turned completely black.
"Silence!" Domina roared. "You know nothing about my father! He and I share a bond!" "Summon! Poseidon, god of water!" Domina shouted and activated his Summon. His wand transformed into a hybrid sword and trident made of water. "Water's Thirds: Poseidon's Angus Inclination!" Domina shouted again. The enormous water entity appeared behind him.
I smiled slightly. Perfect, I didn't need anything more.
I clapped my hands quickly, then touched the water beneath me. All the water instantly turned to sand. Then I launched a Sectumsempra in its direction. The first slash did nothing; it transformed into water and avoided the damage. But with no water source around, the following attacks struck Domina's body.
Long, cursed cuts appeared on his body, dozens of them, incapacitating him and causing him to fall. I saw Poseidon about to unleash a powerful, high-pressure water blast after he had attacked Domina more than three times.
I simply moved my hand, and hundreds of solar shots riddled Poseidon, destroying him completely. I approached Domina on the ground as he tried to rise. I hesitated for a few seconds before moving my wand and cutting off his head.
And I paused momentarily. Then I shrugged. Cia transformed into the Circle of Usurpation, and I stole his magical ability and added it to my own. I wasn't going to waste the enhancement. The transfer was quick and cost-free, unlike usurping a deity.
Now… should I go straight to Innocent Zero? As far as I remember, none of the other quintuplets were actually at the castle. They must be committing genocide against the other magical races in the world to forcibly recruit them for their war with the magical kingdom.
Perhaps it's best to go against Cell Wars. He'll know where the others are. And that's what I did. With Mors still active, I could track him anywhere. I took Domina's head and then moved my wand before the rest of the body and all the damage around me disappeared.
I finally created a portal near Cell War and stepped through it. We were far from the castle. Cell War should have finished his journey to Easton to meet Abel and Mash. I didn't even hesitate to approach him. He saw me first, before he saw Domina's head in my hand.
"Domina-sama!" Cell War shouted before becoming furious. A massive spatial rift appeared behind him, and hundreds of carbon blades launched toward me. I flicked my wand.
"Summon, Poseidon, God of Water," I said easily. The sensation of a Summon was... truly curious. I could see Cia change slightly before adapting. To my surprise, it didn't transform into the same trident sword, but into a water staff.
"Poseidon?!" Cell War exclaimed in shock. Before his expression turned furious, he said, "Summon, Hephaestus, God of Iron! " Cell War's wand changed shape as my Reality Marble registered him, just like the others. As before, once I got what I wanted, I didn't hold back.
Thanks to the Summon, all the huge improvements to water magic that Cia had assimilated and my own improvements, like Ainz Oal Gown's Staff and the Sitri trait, my water control had improved immensely. Therefore, my ability far surpassed Domina's. In fact, I could sense and control all the water for miles around; if I exerted myself, I was sure I could reach the nearest ocean—truly impressive. I touched the ground with my staff and transformed all the land around us into a vast lake. Cell War's eyes widened.
Then I manipulated the water to relentlessly attack Cell War. I quickly saw through Cell War's defensive spell; his skin was coated in a thin, incredibly hard layer of diamond. The water simply trapped Cell War in a massive sphere and let him drown.
He tried to break free, launching his diamond chakrams at me or creating diamonds to attack me. But they were easy to dodge or block. After several minutes, Cell War finally lost consciousness.
Before he died, I dispelled the water prison and slowly approached. Then I undid the summon, placed my wand against his forehead, and cast Legilimency to read his mind. I quickly located the other children of Innocent Zero.
After that, I simply decapitated him and stole his magic once more. I created a portal and headed towards the other quintuplets.
They were… disappointing.
First, I followed Delisaster. His magic was Ascalon, which allowed him to create and control polearms. I was almost insulted by it. Even after he used Athena, his Summon, it posed no problem. All he could do was unleash hundreds of invisible slashes with each attack, which weren't invisible to my eyes at all—nothing truly dangerous.
So, my mind just started to wander. Ascalon and Partisan were similar. The former created polearms, and the latter, swords. And my mind just went to Yuuto Kiba's Sword Birth. I had scanned his Sacred Gear, but like the others, I still couldn't replicate it. But… if I replaced the creation process with Ascalon and Partisan, and swapped in the right parts of the magic sword creation process, I suppose it might work.
After killing Delisaster, without even realizing it while I was thinking about magic, I went after Epidem. It was… well, it was better. His orichalcum magic made him more versatile and resilient. But still, not enough. I had dozens of spells that could easily shatter his orichalcum: my solar shots, power of destruction, Meltdowner, and many more, even my alchemy.
Once Epidem's magic was registered, knowing the exact composition of orichalcum was easy; after that, alchemy came just as quickly—a simple clap and a touch, and all his orichalcum turned to dust.
Next was Famin. Famin… was the easiest, despite being the second strongest in the group. His magic, Transparamency, allowed objects to become invisible. Even after using his Summon, Decius used his Inclination to make himself invisible; it was useless. My Six Eyes could see right through his invisibility as if he didn't exist. It was… disappointing.
Almost listlessly, I teleported to the last member of the quintuplets. Doom. The strongest of the group. Doom was an imposing figure. Especially because of his weapon, Caladbolg. An incredibly large sword, almost as big as his body. My Reality Marble registered it immediately: the sword and the wand.
My eyes widened slightly. The sword was incredibly sturdy, but nothing more. More importantly, Doom's wand was inside the sword. One of the so-called Master Canes.
The Master Canes are a group of thirteen extremely powerful wands, each granting special abilities to its wielder. I only knew of two of them: the Carpaccio Luo-Yang Healing Staff, which grants the user the inability to feel pain and transfers all that pain to a statue he can summon.
And then there was this Master Cane, the one from Doom. It allows him to convert all his magical power into physical strength. It's... curious. I could feel Cia assimilating it quickly, so I channeled a fraction of my magical power and felt my strength increase tremendously.
That… was cheating. I could see how damn strong Doom was. I blinked in surprise. Then I chuckled and walked over to Doom. He paused slightly and stared at me, despite being blind.
"You... you have the blood of my brothers on your hands," Doom said calmly. I raised an eyebrow. I was sure not a drop of blood had fallen on my clothes.
"I was looking for a worthy fight... I was disappointed." I said easily. Doom stopped and nodded.
"That's what they do," Doom said with the same nonchalance. I just looked at him, amused, not even waiting. I created Kanshou and Bakuya, one of them hollow to put Cia inside, just like Doom had done.
With my newfound strength, I clashed forcefully with Doom. Then we exchanged dozens of blows.
"You're strong," Doom said as we exchanged blows. "I guess I can stop holding back, at least... partially," Doom said with the same nonchalance. His muscles bulged as his magical power grew. "50%," Doom said easily. I snorted.
"It's almost offensive," I said dryly. Doom attacked me once more, and this time I stopped holding back. I channeled more magic to boost my strength along with my metals. I deflected Doom's enormous sword with a single strike of Kanshou and then attacked with Bakuya, leaving a gaping wound in his chest. Doom tried to attack again, but the result was the same.
His muscles grew larger once more as his strength increased to 70%. I pushed my strength back in the same way and did the same. Then I repeated it when he reached 90% of his maximum strength. His muscles had grown big enough to be twice my size.
He even tried to use his Mirage magic to try and catch me off guard, but I defended easily and hit him once more.
"100%!" Doom was enveloped by his own power before emerging completely free. His body shrank again, but the power emanating from it was definitely different from before. "Thank you," Doom said simply. "This is the second time I've taken this form."
"I doubted I'd find someone against whom I could unleash my full power. I feel... revitalized. You must feel it too... the desire to fight stronger opponents... that's why you went against my brothers, against me," Doom said passionately. Or rather, as passionately as he could manage, which was about as neutral as ever.
"Maybe. But so far it's been nothing but... disappointing." I said mockingly. Doom just stared at me.
"Mirage: Illusion." Doom said as four mirrors formed behind him, and several copies of him emerged from them. I just raised an eyebrow. I easily fired a solar shot at the real one, and he blocked with his sword.
"Don't insult me with that kind of magic; I can see right through it," I said boredly. Doom paused before nodding.
"Mirage Secondth: Collideoscopes!" Doom created a massive kaleidoscope behind him, all the mirror fragments reflecting Caladbolg before bursting out and hurtling towards me at high speed. I simply moved Banshou and Kaguya at high speed and destroyed every replica of the sword as my mind wandered once more.
That Callideoscope work for magic? Hmm, being able to replicate magic hundreds of times would be useful. It would be really interesting.
Returning to the fight, I turned at the last second and stopped Doom's punch as it appeared behind me, then turned and drove my heel into his stomach, sending him flying away.
"You're... truly impressive. Then... perhaps you can withstand my best moment," Doom said, walking slowly. "Summon, Freyja, God of Bounty! Mirage Thirds: Hundred Avatar Mirage! " Doom shouted. Two enormous mirrors appeared behind Doom with extra cosmic creatures in the mirror frames.
Then the mirrors seemed to melt before 100 copies of Doom appeared around him. Oh wow, I was really curious now. So I just did the same thing.
"Summon, Freyja, God of Bounty! Mirage Thirds: Hundred Avatar Mirage!" I exclaimed with a huge, deranged grin. The same mirror that Doom had appeared behind me before dissolved and began creating clones of me.
I braced myself tensely, expecting feedback. The Doom clones didn't seem capable of mental communication or sensing each other; they were mostly independent. But I had the mental link that came with being part of the Pack. And my clones should have it too, so I expected them to join the bond, but… it didn't happen.
I almost pouted when I realized it. The clones could only replicate my exact physical strength at the moment of their creation. But they didn't possess magic of their own, so if necessary, I couldn't increase their power beyond what they had when they appeared, and they couldn't use magic themselves.
It was… a real shame.
"You…" Doom said menacingly. I didn't need to listen, so one of my clones shot off toward the others, and then it turned into a free-for-all between the 100 clones.
And I threw myself into the fray. Although the clones were still limited, they were still stronger than any individual Doom clone. The Doom clones quickly began racking up kills, then faster and faster as my clones teamed up to attack other opponents.
Finally, only Doom remained on the ground, his arms severed. To my surprise, Doom simply smiled slightly.
"Good fight," Doom said, sounding completely satisfied. I stopped and nodded.
"Good fight," I said simply. Doom just shook his head.
"Liar," Doom said simply. I stopped and chuckled.
"That was a good fight," I told him honestly. Doom still didn't believe me. So I just sighed and finished him off by decapitating him. Then I looked him over carefully before stealing his magic, too. Then I destroyed his sword before giving the Master Cane to Cia to eat.
Only Innocent Zero remains.
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