Chapter 441 : Temple (4)
The frozen land, unfolded through the endless mana brought by Reverse Heaven, froze everything within the space.
A world where everything stood still, as if time itself had stopped.
However.
[It seems your learning ability isn’t very good.]
Just as it had happened several times already, Alon’s magic failed to block the law.
Kwaddeudeudeuk~!
The frozen meteors instantly gathered the moment they reestablished their gravitational point.
At the same time, time began to move again, and the frozen world shattered far too easily.
Alon’s magic was broken through absurdly effortlessly.
At that, Penia and Evan, who had been watching from afar, let out exclamations.
Basiliora, who had been desperately avoiding the meteors, let out a groan.
The situation was that hopeless.
Alon’s magic worked on nothing.
He was merely being tormented just enough not to die under the mercy of the divine-blood.
Yet despite how hopeless the situation was, Alon’s lips were filled with elation.
Because he had found it.
From the twelve possibilities he had derived based on all the information he had gathered so far, he had finally arrived at a single correct answer.
"Hu-"
His mind spun even faster.
The information of ‘Drawing-In Night’ engraved itself into his mind once more, like a disk being read.
Along with it, he attempted to find the optimal move.
He searched.
He searched.
Continuously,
Endlessly.
Amid the meteors now mixed even with cold, he used all his strength to devise the best possible plan in his head.
[This is the limit—!]
And at the final moment.
Hearing Basiliora’s voice as he gasped out that this was truly the end,
“This is enough.”
Alon calmly reverse-summoned Basiliora.
In an instant, Alon floated in midair, still looking amused as he gazed at ‘Drawing-In Night’ and slipped his hand into his pocket.
"Hu-"
Once again, he formed a hand seal.
‘Drawing-In Night’ found this situation rather enjoyable.
There were two reasons.
One was that, just as that person had expected, the ‘Star Eater’ had come directly to them, sparing them the effort of searching.
The other was simply the joy of toying with Star Eater.
Of course, until now, ‘Drawing-In Night’ had not known the identity of Star Eater.
They didn’t know whether he was human, what he did, nor did they have any particular grudge.
Even so, they felt great satisfaction in overwhelming him like this.
It was because of that person who paid attention to Star Eater.
Strangely, that person was very concerned about that being.
No, beyond concern, they were obsessing over him to a bizarre degree.
It was different from themselves.
Unlike them, who had merely been handed one fragment among the countless pieces of power that person had discarded to manifest more quickly, almost as a gesture of generosity.
That was why they were delighted.
The sight of Star Eater, whom that person was so obsessed with, crumbling so futilely in their hands.
It brought an overwhelming sense of exhilaration.
This very moment, where they could toy with him to their heart’s content.
It was a grotesque and base emotion.
[Heh-]
‘Drawing-In Night’ let out a clear sneer as they looked down at the ground.
It was a complete mess.
Dozens, hundreds of craters, and only dust rising from their power filled the area.
Nothing remained of the once lush plain.
And at the center of it all stood Star Eater.
The coat he had been wearing was already torn to shreds, fluttering miserably.
Likewise, his body was covered in severe wounds.
Drops of blood fell from his fingertips, soaking the desolate ground.
Blood flowing from the ends of his hair stained the coat that had rolled across the ground countless times.
At such a satisfying sight, ‘Drawing-In Night’ stopped their attack and spoke.
[You’re a wreck.]
Alon raised his gaze.
Seeing his usual expressionless face, devoid of any emotion, ‘Drawing-In Night’ narrowed their eyes.
‘The situation should be the worst, yet he can still remain calm?’
That was exactly the case.
Not a single one of his spells had broken their law.
Of course, among them, the frozen land that froze everything had been bothersome, but it too had failed to break the law.
Yet even so, his opponent remained expressionless.
…That displeased them.
[...............Do you still believe you can win?]
At the cold question, Alon did not answer.
He merely stared indifferently at the divine-blood.
At some point, ‘Drawing-In Night’ began to want to see that expressionless face distort.
More precisely, they wanted him to wear an expression fitting for this situation.
Distorted, collapsing, breaking—
[Heh-]
Then, they soon let out a laugh.
A pleasant thought came to mind.
[Is that it? You think you can still win? If you keep dodging my attacks, you think someday I might leave an opening?]
Alon’s expressionless face twitched.
Found it.
‘Drawing-In Night’ grinned at the joy of discovering the answer.
They immediately waved their hand.
At that, half of the meteors that had been floating above Alon’s head lost control and fell to the ground.
And.
Kwaduk!
A gravitational point formed right in front of Alon.
Kwaddeudeudeudeuk~!
That gravitational point instantly sucked in everything around it.
However, the peculiarity was that its range was significantly smaller than before.
And.
Kwaduk! Kwaddeudeudeudeuk~!
Everything within that range not only took the form of meteors but was compressed endlessly.
Compressed.
Compressed.
Compressed,
Until in the end,
It became nothing more than a small sphere.
With a soft thud, the small sphere fell and turned into dust, disappearing.
[Regrettable. It’s not like I can only make meteors.]
Expectation filled ‘Drawing-In Night’s mind.
Now, surely, Star Eater’s expression would change to match the situation.
A strong conviction drove their excitement.
However.
Even after seeing that, Alon’s expression did not change.
He continued to stare at ‘Drawing-In Night’ expressionlessly.
Soon.
"Regrettable."
The moment their eyes widened.
“That’s something I already know.”
Alon,
“That you’re going easy on me.”
“That you’re treating me like a toy.”
“That you’re not using all your power. I knew all of it.”
Spoke the truth.
At that moment.
‘Drawing-In Night’ realized.
That he had used the time they had wasted indulging in their base pleasure to finish his ‘preparations.’
Of course, they did not know what those preparations were.
However, that calm attitude signaled danger, and ‘Drawing-In Night’ spread their hand to kill him at once—
“!”
Unfortunately, their hand did not move.
It could not move.
Alon, who had already taken his hand out of his coat,
“Phantasmal Panorama.”
Muttered.
And the next thing they saw was—
Dozens, hundreds of Alons floating in both the sky and on the ground.
Though they were momentarily surprised by Alon’s form splitting into hundreds in an instant, ‘Drawing-In Night’ quickly grasped the principle.
‘All illusions. The magic used is ice and light.’
Before becoming divine-blood, they had also been an excellent mage, and their mind began to break down the principle of Alon’s magic.
‘But it’s not simply made by refraction of ice and light. There’s something else.’
The moment they realized there was something more to his magic, hundreds of Alons simultaneously formed hand seals.
Along with it, hundreds of crackling spheres of mana were created.
Each shot carried overwhelming power.
Filling the entire field of vision,
[!?]
The moment they were all fired at once.
‘Drawing-In Night’ instinctively abandoned control over some meteors and deployed gravitational points.
They had no choice.
‘They’re not illusions!?’
Because the magic fired from the hundreds of Star Eaters was not an illusion.
They could not afford to panic.
Having deployed gravitational points to block the hundreds of attacks, they had no room left to attack.
More precisely, Star Eater was not giving them any opening to attack.
He was firing spells continuously with slight time gaps, ensuring the gravitational points could not be interrupted.
However, the panic lasted only a moment.
After blocking the attacks for quite some time, ‘Drawing-In Night’ finally found the real body.
‘That one~!’
Among the hundreds of spells, there was one that contained just slightly more mana.
Looking at the Alon positioned at the center, who was firing that spell, they made a cold judgment.
‘I must kill the real body.’
The spells themselves were not particularly strong.
However, they were lethal enough that taking them directly would be dangerous, requiring defense.
But the hundreds of spells, striking sequentially, gave no opportunity to attack.
No, in fact, ‘Drawing-In Night’ had already been counterattacking with their remaining strength.
Star Eater’s attacks were not so overwhelming that they required absolute focus on defense alone.
The problem, however, was—
That every time they identified the real body and attacked, he avoided the falling meteors far too well, and the clones caught in the aftermath were endlessly regenerated.
In other words, to end this situation, they had to kill Star Eater in a single strike.
And if they compressed a gravitational point, they could achieve that goal.
The problem was that they no longer had enough power left for that.
If they used compression, they would have to remove one of the gravitational points spread out in all directions for defense.
As their deliberation lengthened—
"!"
Suddenly, they realized something.
There were no clones of Alon on the ground.
‘Drawing-In Night’ immediately looked at Alon and made a decision.
They released the gravitational point that existed below, and without hesitation, ‘compressed’ Alon’s real body.
Tuk—!
Along with that, the attacks ceased.
‘Drawing-In Night’ grinned.
But at the same time, they felt a strange sense of unease.
The hundreds of Star Eaters did not disappear.
Alon, who should have been compressed and erased without a trace, also did not disappear.
And at that moment.
“As expected, standing on the ground was the answer.”
The voice of Star Eater was heard.
What did you say?”
‘Drawing-In Night’s eyes widened.
“At first, I thought it was a coincidence.”
“But when I froze the space itself for the third time, I found it strange that the meteors momentarily lost control.”
“On the fourth time, when I alternated magic, I found the answer when I saw that you only moved your body when I froze the entire space.”
“At first, I froze the entire space including you. But that wasn’t it.”
“Next, I froze the ground where you were.”
But that wasn’t it either.
“Then I realized. Both in the temple and now, you were floating in the air even though there was no need to.”
“The moment I recognized that, when I froze the space once more and created ground beneath your feet, you moved as if you had been waiting.”
Alon’s quiet muttering continued, as if he stood above all things.
‘Drawing-In Night’ was shocked, but—
[-]
Soon, they smiled with a chilling grin and spoke.
[So what? Even if you’ve figured out my penalty—that I can’t use my power if I step on the ground—do you think you can make me touch the ground? No! Absolutely impossible—]
As they were speaking—
They suddenly felt a strange sense of incongruity.
The hundreds of Alons were still staring at them.
The Alon who should have been compressed was still speaking calmly to them.
“Drawing-In Night.”
That was clearly strange.
If their ability hadn’t disappeared, then that meant—
“”
—The penalty was in effect.
“Since when did you think you weren’t standing on the ground?”
‘Drawing-In Night’ lowered their gaze.
Beneath their feet, where there had been nothing just moments ago,
A small piece of land had formed.
Concealed by illusion magic.
A small piece of land pulled up using gravity magic.
And—
The spells already formed by the hundreds of Alons were fired toward ‘Drawing-In Night’ as if they had been waiting—
—The world was dyed in light.