Kalma and Helck stand facing each other.
Kalma from the mortal wound he had just received, Helck from the depletion caused by the ancient magical tools throughout the battle up to this point — both bore injuries so grievous that "battered and broken" would be an understatement.
And so, the fight would not drag on. Or rather, it could not be allowed to.
If the conclusion was delayed, it would become a coin toss over who collapsed first — and neither of them wanted to settle things that way.
And so, each would have exactly one spell at full power. Everything — its nature, its timing, the tactical feints revolving around that single spell — would be wagered on a single exchange.
"Bloodline Magic —'Serpent of the White Lull'."
Kalma read Helck's intent to activate his magic and agreed.
Since both would unleash their magic, Kalma held the advantage in number of options.
Therefore, first, Kalma would have to make his choice in response to Helck's spell.
What spell to fire.
The options were countless, but given his current state, the ones he could properly cast were severely limited. And if Helck's spell could prove his natural enemy, anything half-hearted would be repelled — and this time, a truly fatal wound would be unavoidable.
His options were limited.
With limited options came a guessing game; if his move was read, his opponent would adjust the timing of his spell ahead of him, and he would lose. A miscalculation in the mind games meant defeat.
Put simply —
Choose wrong, and he dies.
(— What to do?)
Amid faint impatience and mounting tension, his mind sharper than it had ever been, Kalma's thoughts spun at their highest level in his entire life. He knew that the choice of spell here was already a mind game. Fail at it, and he would lose.
But... the fundamental question. In that domain, did he think he could beat a human?
Weighing his strengths and weaknesses, what he could and could not do, he carefully examined his options. Having gained awareness of his own existence, Kalma had already reached that level of understanding in a mere instant.
And precisely because of that — his optimal move could not be an ordinary choice.
"— [Awaken]."
At the end of a moment's deliberation, what he chose was a simple incantation.
It was not a spell. Kalma's body itself was magic — to cast the spells he had been using up to now, no incantation was necessary.
And so, the target of that incantation was his own body.
His body, born to become the king of magic, still retained many functions. Many powers had been sealed away because, until his emotions and growth stabilized, their sheer magnitude could swallow him whole and cost him his life.
— As if he cared.
Hand it over. Now. If he kept hedging, he would never win this fight — he had to learn from Helck's resolve, the resolve that drove him to whittle away his own body just to keep clawing at him.
In answer to that determination, a torrent of power surged in. The deterioration of his body, already corroded by stagnant magic, accelerated as the price — but that was a problem he could simply endure.
What he needed to focus on now was how to use the power he had gained.
With a single burst of immense magic power and spell output, Kalma activated one spell.
That spell was —'Magic Bullet Archer'.
The spell most mastered by Ermes — the strongest mage Kalma had ever witnessed. Not the strongest spell he knew — but the fastest.
He amplified and modified its speed further with the power he had obtained.
Yes. Kalma's strategy was exceedingly simple.
He would not let it become a guessing game of spells. He would not bring it into a human's area of expertise.
Fire the spell faster than his opponent.
Focus on that alone. Cram his natural advantage — being more beloved by magic — down his enemy's throat without mercy.
That was the most certain path to victory.
Faster than anyone. Quicker than anything.
Not even a chance to react. No time to mount a defense. He pictured a spell that would pierce the enemy clean through without a shred of hesitation, without letting him do a thing. He could do that — this was what he excelled at most — with a deep analysis and understanding of himself, and a conviction born not of blind faith.
The magic obeyed Kalma's will.
It shaped itself according to his image, and in an instant, a single massive white magic bullet materialized. A lethal magic bullet, designed to pierce Helck before any of his spells could fire, was complete.
He was certain it would be too late for Helck. Without question, it would reach Helck before'Serpent of the White Lull'could be launched — and even if it were a different spell, nothing could be faster than this one.
As a being of magic itself, he held absolute confidence in that.
No more hesitation — he poured everything he had into the spell and released it.
Magic power surged, the bullet launched. The fastest killing blow on the field hurtled toward Helck at a speed that left sound in the dust —
— and missed.
"...What?"
He could not believe his eyes.
To Kalma, magic was something that answered to his will as a matter of course. His body itself was magic; paradoxically, every spell was an extension of his very being. Firing a spell at a target was more natural to him than moving his own limbs.
And if that was so...
the phenomenon before him was not a miss — it had been made to miss. That was the only logical conclusion.
And there was only one being on this battlefield capable of pulling that off.
"— It's called Activation Disruption, apparently."
Just as he had surmised.
The human who had produced the phenomenon — First Prince Helck — spoke.
"It was originally my sister's technique. She was born unable to cast any powerful magic, so instead she poured years of obsessive passion into developing the foundation of this technique — not one for using your own magic, but for disrupting your opponent's."
Kalma's eyes widened.
At the same time, he saw it with his own eyes — the jade-glowing dial resting on Helck's left hand, identical to the one Ermes used.
"...I knew you'd go for that. Avoid the mind games and use a spell guaranteed to kill me. And given your personality, you'd rely on 'speed' above all else to make it work."
"— Ah."
"After that, it's easy. Blocking a spell outright is impossible, of course, but the trade-off for that speed is an extremely narrow area of effect. So all I had to do was 'nudge' the spell just enough to miss me."
He had been read.
From the decision to avoid the mind game all the way to firing a spell he thought couldn't be countered even if anticipated — he had been read every step of the way.
No — he had been led into that outcome from the very first move.
And the greatest factor in pulling it off...
With emotions beyond measure, Helck declared:
"Do you have any idea who has fought you more than anyone else, who has analyzed you more than anyone else, all this time? — With analysis and sheer tenacity. Don't think you can beat a human."
Having spent all his power on'Magic Bullet Archer', Kalma had no means of counterattack left.
Understanding that, Helck delivered his closing words. And with that done, there was nothing left to say — only magic. Only'Serpent of the White Lull'. The spell meant to kill Kalma, launched as both a reply and a signal of resolution.
"...Ha. Hah."
Facing the oncoming white magic, Kalma laughed. He had no means of retaliation or evasion; the smile was pure self-mockery in the face of an inevitable defeat.
— What was that? It didn't make sense.
His actions had been manipulated? Did that mean Helck had controlled his opponent's behavior without magic? He had never even imagined such a thing. He had believed there was no means to accomplish what he alone could not, other than magic.
And the technique behind it — Activation Disruption, or whatever it was called — lay entirely beyond his comprehension and imagination. The very concept of "a technique that prevents the use of magic" was beyond anything a monster could conceive. Ridiculous. Revolting. The technique even evoked in him a primal loathing that transcended mere physical disgust.
...Ah, but.
That was precisely what humans could do.
Because they were beings who could not use magic in the first place, they did not treat it as absolute. They saw magic as merely one of countless tools, and would unhesitatingly employ any means necessary to achieve their goals.
Perhaps the nobles he had dealt with until now lacked that tendency, which had led him to misread the situation... but surely this was the true nature of humans.
If that — something only humans possessed — was what decided the outcome, then there was undeniably nothing he could do but accept it.
And so, in his final moment, Kalma —
Facing the white magic spreading across his vision, murmured:
"— I chose the wrong direction to evolve."
Acknowledging his mistake.
"If only I'd met humans sooner..."
Then he could have learned before things became so fatal, he thought.
Leaving behind immense understanding and a trace of regret, Kalma's body was swallowed entirely by the stagnant white.
Resolution.