"Don't screw with me!!"
She would never accept such injustice.
Ortesia raised her magic power and killing intent, cycling through her magic more intensely than ever before.
The result was the largest black lightning bolt she had ever produced.
Eight bolts in total — lethal strikes capable of dealing a fatal wound to Rose with just one — hurtled toward her.
And all of them—
Were shot down before Rose so much as touched them.
Ah, so it was as she had suspected after all.
Everything she had said earlier contained not a single exaggeration. The current Rose had completely brought the "Invisible Giant" under her control.
If that was the case, then this outcome was only natural. The Invisible Giant — the force that acts upon all things in this world, the power that binds them to the earth... yes.
Even lightning—
Was pulled downward.
This wasn't about some contest of magical pushing and shoving — she was already losing at the level of natural phenomena themselves, at the very principle of nature.
"Even so—!"
She couldn't afford to stop.
With that singular resolve, she hastily began generating the next bolt... but naturally, Rose was not the kind of witch who would simply stand by and wait.
Before the lightning could materialize, Rose employed General-purpose Magic.
However, her General-purpose Magic was not mere General-purpose Magic. "
Primal Inscription
Significantly empowered by the power of the Primal Inscription, it produced a massive chunk of ice comparable in size to her own body... and that—
"Here goes."
It was launched at a speed nearly impossible to track.
"...!"
Even the impact came late.
In an instant her vision spun, and searing pain engulfed her entire body. She caught sight of the sky—and only then did she finally understand.
That she had taken a direct hit and been blown away with such overwhelming force that even thinking about it felt absurd.
An impact sufficient to render her combat-incapacitated on its own. She had been subjected to pure physical violence—the kind that would effortlessly kill anyone lacking the supernatural durability afforded to the very strongest Bloodline Magic users.
...What Rose had just done.
That was no mere General-purpose Magic—and it wasn't "just" General-purpose Magic either.
Creating the massive ice chunk in the first place was the Enhanced universal magic, and furthermore, Rose took that and...
Seamless Great Eagle
—using its effect to hurl it at a speed impossible for universal magic. In other words,
she had
an invisible
giant
throw
that
magic—
!
Massive mass, and acceleration beyond all bounds. The incomprehensible impact force it generates pierces through even a magic user's physical resilience with ease.
Ortesia, battered to ruins by a single strike, was no ordinary mage either. Her extraordinary magic power granted her extraordinary durability, and she managed to avoid being rendered completely helpless, struggling to pull herself back to her feet—
—Only to be crushed.
Pinned to the ground by an inhuman force, her weakened body could no longer manage to stand.
...No way.
The current Rose wasn't merely controlling the invisible giant's power, or even just directing its trajectory—
...She could even amplify it.
This was the true strength of the "Sky Witch."
It wasn't just about standing in the sky herself. When she was serious,
she would not permit
anyone
besides herself
to rise
into the sky.
.
Arrogant beyond all reason, yet feared in a way that could never be helped — this was Rose in her true form as a witch.
With her body still pinned to the ground, Ortesia somehow managed to lift her head and looked up at Rose.
Rose stood in midair, gazing down at Ortesia with cold contempt.
That figure was exactly as Ortesia had once seen it — endlessly free, reaching for something impossibly far away — the very figure she had once admired.
Nothing had changed at all.
Rose had always been Rose. The important parts — the parts Ortesia had wished would never change — had never wavered. She was still exactly the person Ortesia had wanted her to be.
Ah, then — then why.
"Why did you just vanish from my side?!!"
In that moment, her feelings burst forth. At the same time, magic power overflowed from within her.
And so the restraints of the 'Invisible Giant' loosened. Rising to her feet and surging her magic power once more, Ortesia screamed.
"If only you'd stayed by my side… where I could see you… that would have been enough! I—"
Yes. That was exactly why.
That was why she could never accept it. RoseLia — the one who had vanished from right in front of her without saying a single word. She could never forgive that RoseLia Kirsh von Yustia.
So there was nothing left. She had to fight.
And then she realizes it — about Rose, who had seemed invincible until now. Her
Magic Inscription Liberation
— and its trap.
Just now, she had raised her magic power and released it outward. As a result, the pressure of the 'Invisible Giant' had eased. From that, she wrung out a hypothesis that bordered on certainty.
(That's right. No matter how extraordinary the power, no matter how unbeatable the ability —
—
the one
driving
it
is, ultimately,
RoseLia
's
magic power.
That doesn't change!")
If that's the case, then my own magic.
My own magic and magic power are Rose's natural enemy. When magic power clashes head-on, I win almost overwhelmingly — so then...
(More densely. With higher compression. I pour my magic power into it and fire. If I do that — then I can ignore even the Invisible Giant's interference!)
I had already seen through her magic.
Magic Inscription Liberation
— even that is by no means invincible, something Ortesia knows from having watched Laplace.
She and her own magic can reject the other party's interference if loaded with enough magic power. She had seen through the timing of that ice block strike, too — if she knows it's coming, she can fire her own magic and deflect it.
That's the weakness of that magic. Perhaps because of the wish embedded in the original magic, its direct offensive power is weak.
If that's the case, then they're even. It comes down to a contest of whose magic has more grit.
"That's exactly why — even if it means throwing everything away — I decided to stand beside you and drag you down with me!!"
Having roared that, she surged to her feet.
She raised her magic power, staking everything she had, and loaded the black lightning.
"...Yeah. That's how it is."
In the face of that, Rose —
Likewise raised her magic power.
"I knew you'd do exactly that... That's why I decided — you were the one person I had to settle this with, by my own hand."
She drew a breath —
.
She sang.
.
"[
Heavens and earth,
all-encompassing — eyes like a spring,
the skull
shall be the offering — know that my rank is the supreme summit]"
"………………, what?"
Wait. There's no way...
Ortensia could barely string those thoughts together, yet Rose showed no hesitation.
"Bloodline Magic —'
Meteor Throne
'"
With that declaration, countless rays of light rained down from the sky —
— directly above Ortensia's head,
they twisted,
they bent,
and lunged at her from every direction, converging to encircle her.
"————ah"
In the instant before impact, she understood the logic.
'Seamless
Great Eagle'
's
Magic Inscription Liberation
was, for a Magic Inscription Liberation, lacking in direct offensive power.
So she filled in that deficiency with another of her ordinary Bloodline Magic, '
Meteor Throne
'. More than that, she combined the two, applying the power of the invisible giant to what was originally nothing more than a straight beam of light, achieving a direct offensive force like the very embodiment of absurdity — a maximum-power beam that struck along an irregular trajectory.
In terms of logic, she could understand it.
But — no one would normally think of that. After all,
Magic Inscription Liberation
was the innermost secret of secrets for a Bloodline Magic user, the pinnacle of technique so rare that merely being able to use it would earn one recognition as an extraordinary figure in the annals of the kingdom.
—
Magic Inscription Liberation
combined with another Bloodline Magic — who could ever imagine that?
(......Ah)
Having recognized this, and understanding that defeat was inevitable —
what surfaced in Ortesia's mind was... a kind of acceptance.
(That's right... As I thought, I can never reach you.)
Yes.
More than anyone free, bound by no one — that was the Rose she had wished for, longed for.
And precisely because of that. For her to—
someone like me—
my stride—
to be halted—
the very notion—
is simply impossible.
It was a contradiction from the start. She never stood a chance.
(Then... what should I have done?)
With a strange sense of acceptance, and relief — while being tormented by just a touch of loneliness.
In her warped perception of time, she reached out toward Rose in one final, desperate grasp — but there was no hope of reaching her, nor would the other extend a hand in return.
"Yes... You wouldn't be you otherwise."
Immediately after. The kingdom's strongest witch unleashed her most powerful spell.
A cage of light, swallowing the Witch of Calamity whole.
And so, the battle against Ortesia reached its conclusion.
Next time — the aftermath. Scheduled to update next week, so look forward to it!