I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy-Chapter 246: The Witch (14)

The night sky had a shade of purple instead of black, making it less dark and frightening than one might think.

Under the purple sky, in the heart of Arcanium, which floated high above, Kaen looked at the massive shards of glass and spoke softly.

"It's a success."

Soon after, cracks like spiderwebs began to form in the illusion world, and it slowly started to fragment and dissipate.

“Wow! That’s really impressive. Right, Grace? As an illusion mage, you must appreciate how amazing that idea is.”

"... Don't talk to me. I'm exhausted."

Grace lay sprawled on the rooftop of a building, struggling to catch her breath. Next to her, Eisel lay almost unconscious, utterly drained of mana and barely able to open her eyes.

"But, well... It’s impressive. Those kids."

Eisel couldn't hear her due to exhaustion, and Edna had leaped into the illusion world so she couldn't hear either. But Grace expressed pure admiration.

“You need to overlay your illusion onto that shield.”

The girl named Edna had suggested a highly unique idea.

It was something that most people wouldn’t have considered, or even if they had, they would have dismissed it as nearly impossible to attempt.

Normally, you can't cast illusion magic on an object. Most people would think that and give up, but the girl chose to find a way around the impossible.

“Use the Atrax Core.”

“What? How do you know about that...?”

Manwol Tower possessed many artifacts, including legendary items believed to be completely lost to history. The Atrax Core was one of them.

In modern times, there were no mages capable of using it, and its very existence was shrouded in secrecy. The fact that a seventeen-year-old girl mentioned it so familiarly was quite shocking.

“We don't have time to explain. We're going to use the Atrax Core to overlay mana onto reality.”

“But doing that will…”

“Yes, it will contaminate all the mana in the air. But we don't worry about that because the space we’re overlaying mana on is the illusion shield, not Arcanium.”

At that moment, Grace instantly understood Edna’s intention.

Her illusion magic couldn't be cast on objects.

But the Atrax Core was a unique artifact that could imbue objects with a semblance of life, giving them a will. Normally, this was a completely useless function, but for Grace, it worked differently.

“You're planning to cast an illusion on the illusion shield itself to pull it into reality...?”

“Exactly.”

She broke into a cold sweat as she considered it. Casting an illusion on such a massive shield might not only make her faint but could also kill her.

But that wasn’t something she needed to worry about.

“I'll help you.”

This time, Eisel stepped in, starting to draw a magic circle on the ground.

There was no need to ask what she was doing. The moment Grace saw it, she understood.

It was a reconstruction of illusion magic for Grace. When a mage draws a magic circle, they bear the entire burden themselves.

Every line, dot, pattern, and rune in the magic circle.

However, Eisel chose a highly unique method and chose 'mana stones' as the medium.

Of course, anyone could use mana stones as a medium. It was the most basic method for setting up installation-type magic circles.

Everyday devices, from fluorescent lights to fans to air conditioners, all used mana stones.

But that was only for supplying consistent, low-output mana like a battery. It was not suitable for actual combat magic, which required power generation.

Such an auxiliary measure wouldn’t help in actual combat and could even cause the mana stones to shatter upon activation, posing a risk to the caster.

That was the typical thought process.

“All the buildings in Arcanium are planned and designed accordingly.”

That was until Grace heard Eisel’s calm statement.

'No way.'

Grace immediately looked up at the sky over Arcanium.

Buildings rose to the same height at regular intervals. Some were 50 stories tall, some 70, and others 79.

All different heights, but when expanded across the entire Arcanium, they adhered strictly to a uniform height pattern forming a perfect circle.

“We’re going to use the buildings of Arcanium to create a massive three-dimensional magic circle.”

And now, back to the present.

Crash~!!!

The illusion shield crumbled, proving that the collaboration between the two girls was a success.

“Amazing... Truly.”

Even Metra, who rarely gave compliments, was impressed, and Kaen couldn’t hide his surprise.

“Hnng...”

Grace struggled to stand and leaned against the building’s railing.

“The witch... The witch...”

All the suffering up to now had been to find the witch. Despite her pale complexion, she strained to look down at the ground, but Kaen shook his head.

“We’re too late.”

And then, she saw it.

Thud!!

Baek Yu-Seol’s sword pierced the witch’s heart.

“... Ah.”

Watching the witch collapse lifelessly, Grace sighed in frustration.

“Ah~ my fate... So this is how it ends...”

After all the suffering, she didn’t even get to meet the witch before she died.

“It can’t be helped.”

“Yeah. Kaen is right. If Baek Yu-Seol killed the witch, there must have been a good reason.”

A little later, Baek Yu-Seol also collapsed from exhaustion, and Edna ran over to catch him.

Soon, Arcanium’s magical warriors broke through the barrier and entered.

Watching them, Metra whistled.

“Whistle~ This is quite something again. Is that... The corpse of a witch hunter?”

“A witch hunter?”

“Ah! Kaen can’t see it. When a witch hunter dies, they leave traces of mana instead of a corpse.”

Another witch hunter’s corpse.

“Was it the witch who killed them?”

“Who knows. Anyway, witch hunters are dangerous to the world, so it’s better if they’re gone. Whether Baek Yu-Seol killed them or the witch did, it doesn’t matter.”

He wasn’t wrong. Witches were harmful to the world, but witch hunters were even more dangerous.

The story of a witch hunter who destroyed an entire kingdom’s capital to catch a single witch was still famous, and the hatred and anger towards them were as intense as the negative feelings towards witches.

“It’s a shame Grace didn’t get to meet the witch, but at least we confirmed both the witch and the witch hunter are dead. The world will be chaotic for a while. A witch, thought to be extinct, suddenly attacks Arcanium.”

Regardless of Metra’s chatter, Kaen watched the fallen Baek Yu-Seol and turned to look at the unconscious Eisel. free𝑤ebnovel.com

These two girls knew too much. They were dangerous. In normal circumstances, if Kaen were his usual self, and if the girls were ordinary people...

He might have chosen to kill them without hesitation.

But these girls were special.

Tower Lord and Metra specifically instructed not to interfere with them... Because they were 'destined.'

"We're leaving."

"Huh, already? I'm exhausted..."

Grace complained, but Kaen paid her no attention. He walked lightly and disappeared into the air.

"Sigh, my fate. Suffering like this because I chose the wrong partner..."

She glanced regretfully at the spot where Baek Yu-Seol had collapsed, then shook her head to clear her thoughts.

It was disappointing not to have met and talked to the witch directly... But discovering that witches still existed was a significant enough finding.

"Well, what's done is done."

Smiling brightly, Grace followed Kaen and disappeared into the air.

"Ugh..."

Left behind was only Eisel. She was utterly exhausted and alone.

———-

The space was dark, damp, yet somehow warm.

It was filled with green fireflies, and through the open sky, a full moon, larger than Earth's, greeted him.

The path of the Milky Way stretched to the ends of the world, beautifully illuminating the flower garden.

In this space filled with light and mystery, there was a sense of warmth and happiness, and in the midst of it all, stood a woman.

“Come to me…”

She beckoned to him.

More radiant than the moonlight, more sparkling than the Milky Way, her name was...

‘Celestia.'

What?

The moment Baek Yu-Seol recognized her, the colors of the world suddenly reversed.

No.

To be precise, the world... Turned black.

A withered flower garden.