A deafening flash of light was followed by a concussive explosion that threatened to shatter eardrums, accompanied by a blistering heatwave that shot out into the surrounding street. The decorative green plants lining the sidewalk were instantly scorched to ash, and thick black smoke billowed everywhere.
A three-story-high mushroom cloud of condensed flame rose up into the evening sky.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Index shielded her face with her arms, exclaiming in surprise at the scene. This Esper superpower was incredible; he could actually control and compress Runic flames with his bare hands!
"You bastard! You actually rolled my Rune magic into a ball?!"
The mushroom cloud of fire quickly burst, the flames scattering like a smashed watermelon and raining down in all directions. But instead of being extinguished upon landing, the magical flames seemed to gain momentum, burning even more fiercely on the asphalt.
Stiyl's face was contorted in pain and rage. Against the backdrop of the inferno, he looked like a demon crawling out of a fiery hell. A portion of his black monk's robe had been blown to shreds by the shockwave.
"Just now... in that instant of impact, I felt the flow of mana within you! You are a Magician! There's no mistake about it!" Stiyl roared, pointing an accusing, trembling finger at him. "Is Academy City lying to the world about you being an Esper, or have you science freaks actually managed to master the knowledge of Magic?!"
"What?" Yuuya frowned as he looked at Stiyl.
The Magician had only suffered minor physical injuries in the explosion. 'Using Stiyl's own flames against him isn't highly effective,' Yuuya analyzed. 'He specializes in Rune fire; attempting to burn a top-tier fire Magician with his own element is just asking for diminishing returns.'
"Don't play dumb with me! Even if I have to deeply offend Academy City and ensure I can never leave this place alive, you will be killed right here and now!"
Stiyl roared like a rabid dog, his blue eyes glaring at Yuuya as if he were staring at the most evil entity in existence.
'Magic! In the instant our attacks clashed, this guy exuded unmistakable mana. There's no doubt he's a Magician!' Stiyl thought furiously. 'And a Magician taking the Index Librorum Prohibitorum—does that even need an explanation? He simply wants to extract the 103,000 Grimoires to gain absolute power!'
To think this bastard had used sweet talk to deceive Index, pretending to be a kind Samaritan while openly harboring such dark ambitions. He deserved to die.
"A Magician?" Index blinked, peeking out from behind Yuuya's back, completely confused. What was this scary man talking about? Yuuya was an Esper!
"Heh. Although I have absolutely no idea what nonsense you're spouting about mana, Magician, you'd better kneel," Yuuya said jokingly.
He lifted his foot and lightly stomped on the ground.
CRACK.
The kinetic vector beneath his heel was violently stirred and exponentially amplified, spreading infinitely outward through the earth.
The solid asphalt vibrated violently, radiating massive fissures from Yuuya's feet. All the surrounding buildings rattled as if struck by a massive earthquake. The steel frames of the nearby convenience store and office buildings groaned and twisted, and hundreds of glass windows shattered simultaneously, raining down like a torrential, glittering downpour.
"What the—?!" Stiyl looked like he had just seen a ghost.
He looked up at the sky. The "rain" of shattered glass from the surrounding buildings wasn't just falling; it was being actively redirected, shooting toward him at supersonic speeds like thousands of invisible flying knives.
Furthermore, the asphalt road beneath his feet ruptured, and countless fist-sized chunks of concrete formed a suffocating curtain of debris that pressed down on him from all sides. If he took this attack directly, he would be ground into a bloody paste.
"One of the five elements that constitute the world! The Great Progenitor Flame!"
Stiyl broke out in a cold sweat and began chanting his aria at top speed, his voice echoing with desperation.
"Whose name is Flame, whose role is Sword! Reveal! Gnaw on my flesh and become my power! Innocentius!"
Stiyl's monk's robes expanded dramatically, and the surrounding space exploded with a blinding, raging inferno.
With a deafening roar, flames filled the air. Then, sounding like water sizzling on red-hot iron, a blinding humanoid construct of fire materialized in front of him, resembling thick, viscous black lava burning at over 3000 degrees Celsius.
Innocentius, The Witch King.
Despite his desperate summoning, Stiyl was still struck in the chest, legs, and wrists by several redirected stones that slipped past the giant's formation. The sickening sound of bones cracking rang out. Stiyl was thrown backward, sliding several meters across the ruined pavement.
At that very moment, the humanoid, viscous fire giant—brimming with absolute, programmed murderous intent—fully formed and blocked the storm of glass and concrete.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"Ahhh...!" Stiyl screamed, falling to the ground. Even with the protection of the Witch King, the blunt-force trauma of the rocks had taken its toll. Red liquid pooled beneath him, staining a patch of the scorched ground.
"Slay him, Witch King! Crush him to ash!" Stiyl roared, enduring the unbearable pain of his fractured ribs.
ROAR!
The fire giant let out a low, vibrating roar. A massive flaming cross materialized in its hands, and it swung the weapon down at Yuuya like a divine executioner's blade.
"Something designed to scare kids," Yuuya scoffed. He kept one hand in his pocket, using his free hand to lazily swat at the incoming flaming cross as if he were shooing away a fly.
A sound like shattering glass echoed through the street. The fiery cross broke apart instantly upon contact with Yuuya's reflection shield. Yuuya then casually stirred the vector of the surrounding airflow, violently manipulating the atmospheric pressure.
In a fraction of a second, he created a highly concentrated vacuum tornado. The swirling winds trapped the Witch King, twisting the fire giant's body into a spiraling vortex of trapped heat. No matter how wildly the magical construct struggled and roared, it could not break free from the absolute physical laws locking it in place.
"How is this possible?! This isn't Magic! There's no flow of mana in that wind! What the hell is going on?!" Stiyl stared in absolute horror. "He clearly possesses mana! But he isn't using Magic right now! He... he can use both Magic and Esper powers without his body breaking down?!"
Stiyl was covered in a mix of blood and cold sweat, making it impossible to tell where the bleeding stopped and the sweating began.
'Kanzaki! If you don't do something right now, I'm going to be meeting God ahead of schedule!' Stiyl shuddered as he watched the boy treat his absolute strongest killing move like a harmless desk toy. In Stiyl's eyes, this guy couldn't be called human at all; he was some kind of unknown, walking anomaly wearing a human face.
Yuuya smirked. He twirled a finger, actively condensing the fiery tornado trapping Innocentius, preparing to sweep the compressed thermal bomb directly back at Stiyl.
'I don't care who you are,' Yuuya thought coldly. 'If you intend to kill me, then you should be fully prepared to be killed yourself. This level of magic is nothing more than a toy in my hands as long as vectors exist.'
"Kanzaki!" Stiyl screamed in sheer panic.
WHOOSH!
A terrifyingly sharp sound tore through the air. A distorted wave of sheer kinetic force instantly passed right through the center of the fire tornado.
In a microsecond, the trapped fire tornado collapsed and exploded cleanly in half, sliced apart by an invisible blade. It released a scorching airwave and billowing black smoke that washed harmlessly over the street.
Stiyl was blown away by the residual heatwave, rolling several times until he crashed hard against a brick wall.
"Stop right there, boy. Or the next strike will sever your body."
A cold, feminine voice cut through the smoke, carrying an unmistakable, heavy aura of anger and divine authority.
Yuuya paused and looked up toward the source of the voice.
Sitting perched atop the spinning blades of a nearby wind turbine was a tall, striking figure. A massive Nodachi longsword, as tall as a grown man, was already drawn from its sheath, its polished blade gleaming coldly in the afternoon sunlight.
.....
.....
.....
Support me and read advance chapters on patreon.com/ImmortalDaoWriter