"[Attend upon me. Listen well. What I speak henceforth are the twelve mysteries.]"
Along with the incantation, he remembered.
The journey up to now, ever since leaving the royal capital.
"[This is true and without falsehood, certain and genuine, in the name of the Tabula Smaragdina.]"
At the start, he had had no idea what was happening.
He had only been vaguely thinking that, having grown close with the Third Princess Liliana, he would go on teaching her while the succession dispute played out---and then, all at once, the capital burned, the throne was usurped, and without understanding a thing he ended up having to leave the capital behind.
---That was because he had known nothing.
"[The sun is father, the moon is mother, the wind
bears it in its belly
the earth is
its nurse
.]"
From there, the northern rebellion. And through the battle at the church.
He came to know many things. The terror of foes who stood in his way not like the people he had opposed until then, but bearing a firm conviction of their own.
...And the things he had, unawares, been averting his eyes from. The dread of negative feelings, and the fact that such magic existed as well. The muddied darkness at the very bottom of the kingdom, which until then he had been spared from seeing.
"[Here
I
gain the glory of all creation; there I sweep away all darkness. Let us give praise to flux and to the circle
, may it be
blessed.]"
Because he had come to know, because the values he had held until then had been utterly shattered.
The boy wavered, and agonized. Aided by many feelings and by the people around him.
And so he arrived at a single conclusion.
"[What is born is a power surpassing all things, that which prevails over every subtlety, that which pierces all that is firm.]"
---In feelings, there is no noble or base.
Not even good or evil lies there. Humans have simply, of their own accord, slapped the label of good upon what contributes to development and the label of evil upon what contributes to ruin.
Surely, in truth, there is no difference between them.
"[Contemplation. Separation. Union. Adaptation. At the end of the dream,
dis-
cern
completion; and thus,
what remains are the countless wishes.]"
A feeling is merely a feeling. A wish is merely a wish.
They are, equally, proof that a person seeks something. And that alone is enough to make magic of.
A single sigil
of the one thing he had wished to grant, even in defiance of something in the world.
.
That, surely, is one truth of this world.
(...Ah, I see.)
There, Ermes came to a realization.
That was why this magic---this Creation Magic that held the effect of 'creating magic'---
closed its final incantation this way.
Together with the understanding he had finally reached, more carefully than ever before, he spoke the closing incantation aloud.
"[Thus
was
the world created; here I inscribe the
infallible
truth.
Above the heavens and below, without distinction, it is all for the sake of a single miracle.]"
There is no above or below in feelings, no distinction in wishes.
It exists solely to grant the one single thing one wishes to grant.
And thus this world is made.
Ermes, having poured the feelings held within the incantation into it with the greatest understanding.
unleashed that magic in the finest state he had ever been in.
"'
Primordial Inscription
'---
Spell-Name Release
."
The jade dial burst apart. Becoming minute fragments, it whirled about around Ermes.
...In the true sense, the last time he had released it to build magic up from scratch from the very start was---back when he fought that Cerberus, wasn't it?
Just as in that time, which now felt far in the past, yet armed with an understanding of magic deepened on an entirely different level from then, Ermes reached out toward the countless fragments of magic to carry out his second creation.
He had already decided what to use as the base. So all that remained was to shape it into the form he desired.
Searching for what would serve as the greatest reference... at the thing he found, he could not help a wry smile.
That magic was the '
Wicked God's Bonfire Veil
'. To the very, very last, it seemed that man stood before him in one form or another.
Yet it was not the least bit unpleasant. With a single bow and an "I'll borrow this," he took that magic's elements in hand.
In addition, Katia's '
Netherworld of Salvation
'. Referring mainly to the form of release he had heard about from her, he drew it closer to the shape he desired.
Then, as support, Sara's '
Veil of Spirits
' and '
Crown of Starflowers
'. Gathering these, and several others besides---magic possessing a certain trait---he built up magic in accord with the wish Ermes now held in mind.
Unlike that time before, there was no anguish. There was only a calm, settled state of heart.
One by one, carefully, yet without a moment's hesitation, he combined the shards of magic---
And then.
"...It's done."
Quietly, he said so.
And he canceled the
Spell-Name Release
. The jade dial returned to its original form, yet several fragments that had not fully returned converged, becoming an orb of light that came to rest upon Ermes's palm.
That magic's name.
"Formula, create---"
He spoke it, as calmly as could be.
"---'
Newborn Star Field
'."
In that instant, softly.
The orb of light in Ermes's palm split finely and scattered into the surroundings.
Visibly, that was all that happened.
Yet Ermes was certain. The magic had properly activated.
"That is...?"
At the far too subtle visual phenomenon, even Chrono tilted his head slightly.
"Ermes. Just what kind of magic did you... no, were you even able to create one in the first place?"
"Yes. I created it, and
its effect is
already in play
."
To Chrono, who widened his eyes at the reply that followed, Ermes smiled as he spoke.
"The effect is nothing difficult at all; you'll understand right away. Then, let's see... as a test, would you cast magic at me? Anything at all is fine."
At the unexpected proposal---yet judging it worthy of trust, no doubt---as told, he complied.
"...'
Divine Mandate of the White Night
'."
Chrono activated the Bloodline Magic he was most intimate with.
To assail Ermes, an invisible force field was generated---
---or
rather, was not
.
"! This is..."
At the phenomenon that occurred, even Chrono was bewildered.
What was that just now? He had not made a mistake; the magic had activated correctly.
It was just that, somehow. It was as though the magic were being 'dispersed' from the very side that had cast it.
What had occurred was close to the runaway magic caused by the 'angel' a short while ago, yet it was no runaway. Not forced, not brute-forced, nothing of the sort---simply, and far too gently, as though the magic itself were dissolving into the surrounding space and vanishing.
Ermes, in kind, activated an enhanced general-purpose spell... and yet that too dissolved into the space and vanished.
"That is all of it. The effect of this magic is just that, and nothing more."
Declaring that to be the whole of the demonstration, Ermes.
quietly and plainly, told him the effect of the magic he had built.
"
Within a fixed space centered on me
,
myself included,
everyone becomes
unable to use magic
. Just that, and nothing more. That is the effect of this magic---'
Newborn Star Field
'."
In other words---a generation-type magic that creates a magic-sealing domain.
Ermes, who had produced it... could not help a wry smile at how it had truly turned out too perfectly.
This journey of his, at the very, very beginning, had started from meeting a girl who even now slept quietly over yonder---Liliana.
And what that Liliana had first used on Ermes was
Activation Interference
---a singular technique that, through magic power, collapses an opponent's magic and keeps it from activating properly.
This technique, born of her dark passion, had aided Ermes and the others at crucial junctures all the way here.
This was its ultimate form.
Based on the principle of
Activation Interference
---combined with the 'bringing a specific effect to an entire space within a fixed range' drawn from the releases of Laplace and Katia, and reinforced besides by several other kinds of magic, this created magic.
One might call it---
the utmost limit of the technique
of making magic unusable
.
Precisely for that reason, it was fitting as the final magic of this journey, which had begun with his meeting her.
Even if half of it was intentional, what a beautifully clean flow it made---too clean, really. That was the thought behind his wry smile.
"...Haha. I see."
Chrono had surely arrived at the same conclusion. He wore the very same expression as Ermes.
"That is, how shall I put it, a very convincing magic. ...Still, it was unexpected."
He posed this question.
"To produce a space that makes magic unusable, and to give such magic the name '
Utopia
'.
...Unexpectedly, quite the ironist, aren't you? You."
In turn, Ermes, still wearing the very same expression as Chrono, answered without hesitation.
"You'd want to voice a bit of irony too, wouldn't you? After seeing this country."
"Haha, no mistaking that."
Just so, the two of them laughed together. Like friends of many years, like comrades who shared the same values.
He understood the magic's effect. It was something he could accept, too.
If so, then next was what to do with that magic. That is, how to settle things---but.
That, by now, went without saying. Toward Chrono, who had grasped it, Ermes.
"Well then, shall we begin?"
He took a stance.
It was a stance for hand-to-hand combat. A technique taught to him by Rose, to erase a mage's weakness.
Yet now, in this place. Keeping that very stance, his one and only weapon.
"...Until now, I too. And likely you as well."
Quietly, he spoke his reason for choosing this settlement.
"No. Surely, everyone in this country. Has been far too jerked around by 'magic.'"
"That's right. And that is precisely why this country is as it is, and why the capital lies in ruin as it does now."
"Yes, and so---"
For that very reason, he said with a smile.
"---at least for the last of it. Shall we settle this without magic?"
"---I like it. Splendid."
Justia, the great nation of magic.
True to its name, magic founded upon Bloodline Magic had contributed to its development ever since the kingdom's founding period. In every era of the kingdom, magic had stood at the country's center.
Put another way... it was the country most jerked around by magic in all the world, and precisely because of that.
A battle staking that country's future. Between two who sought to remake the country into a different form---though by different shapes, transformation and scorched earth. If it was such a battle, then a settlement without magic was fitting.
And if, as an aside, one were permitted to bring in baser sentiments.
---We're both a little sick of magic by now, aren't we? Then at least for the last of it, let's decide it with a plain, honest brawl.
Such a feeling. Such a wordless message.
Ermes cast it, and Chrono, calling it splendid, took it up eagerly.
In kind, he too took a stance. Different from Ermes's, yet thoroughly assured.
...Ah, just as I thought. He had known it from the man's bearing---this man, too, had a grounding in hand-to-hand combat of a different sort from Ermes's.
If so, the conditions were equal.
"Then, let us begin."
"Yes, whenever you're ready."
At the last, they exchanged only the words of ceremony.
After that, words were no longer needed. Not even magic was needed.
Matching their breathing, at the very same instant, they stepped forward.
And so, in the royal capital that until mere moments ago had turned into a hell, in this place where its scars still remained in abundance.
Within the gentlest space in all the world, born for but a brief moment.
A small final battle raised its curtain.
The vision of chapter three's ending, shown at the start of chapter three, and the feelings held within the incantation of the 'Primordial Inscription,' which had been there from the very beginning.
I've managed to reach the point of writing that out.
I do hope you'll see this gentle final settlement through to the very end!