Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 894

The Eye That Sees Fate (31)

Lapis, kneeling before the sanctuary and drawing the ritual circle, suddenly flinched.

“……!!”

Krrrrrrrumble…!!!!

Immediately after, thunder rumbled in the distance.

However, what truly startled Lapis wasn’t just the sound.

With a pale face, Lapis raised her head and muttered, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“How can a human’s will be like this….”

A sharp and eerie will of lightning, faster than thunder, brushed past her senses.

Even from this distance, the thunderous resonance seemed to shake her soul.

A will so ferocious it was hard to believe it was human, yet infinitely solid and sharp.

How many superhuman opponents had he faced to acquire such a honed will?

The moment she realized this, Lapis’s heart began to waver.

Were all the things Lapis had been thinking about even feasible?

Was she, in fact, suffering alone in a preposterous assumption?

“Lapis-nim.”

Watching Lapis, who couldn’t hide her agitation, Patisha gently stroked her shoulder with her wing.

“If it’s too painful, you can give up.”

“……Patisha.”

“I didn’t like this ritual from the start. What Lapis-nim was trying to do in this ritual is ultimately….”

Patisha, unable to continue her words, hesitated and looked at her with trembling eyes.

“Evan Martinez. He is a human with a stronger will than any magician I have ever seen.”

“…….”

“That man will surely help you no matter what choice you make. I’ll take care of things here, so please, preserve your body and safely-”

“No.”

However, Lapis, as if regaining her resolve at Patisha’s words, slowly shook her head.

“It’s impossible if not now. Evan-nim trusted me and left the finishing touches to me.”

“But….”

“What I’m worried about… is something a little different.”

The barrage of fire and lightning colliding outside the fortress echoed all the way here, making the aftermath palpable.

Yet, even amidst this, the magic and will of the two magicians shone clearly in different ways, without mixing.

If there was a secret beyond that, a secret that could not be understood even with the knowledge and experience inherited from the lighthouse keeper’s mission.

If they had to discuss a standard that had never existed in the entire history of the continent.

How should Lapis accept that fact?

The answer ultimately lies at the end of this ritual.

“I’ve already decided what to do. I won’t turn back anymore.”

In the middle of the vast meadow, which remained as still as if time had stopped.

The rift of the outer sea existed inside the old coffin at the end.

The rift, which had been just a tiny crack, had already widened to a size that Patisha could enter.

The battle raging outside the fortress. The clash of magic and will that exceeded the limits Evan had described.

As if responding to the aftermath, the rift of the outer sea was gradually expanding.

Perhaps, if a little more time passed, it would expand to a size where a person could pass through.

She had to time the ritual precisely to that moment, to launch Lapis’s own will beyond the boundary of the world.

“Let’s begin, Patisha.”

Lapis, wiping her eyes with the end of her sleeve, stood up with a determined face and gazed at the sanctuary.

“To not miss the moment Evan-nim promised, I need to complete the ritual now.”

* * *

The hexagonal fortress located between the 50th district and the undeveloped area, and the city area outside it.

Areas further from the city outskirts often suffer from poor development and management, but the area around the fortress was different.

A transit point that must be passed to periodically bring supplies into the isolation zone.

As such, the city area around the fortress was more active than other undeveloped areas.

However, that bustling cityscape had been tragically destroyed since the start of the two magicians’ battle.

Kwauuuuuuung!!

As the wave of flames swept through the streets, glass windows flowed down like water, and signs melted and fell.

Acrid lava gushed from the ground, erasing any place to set foot.

Lightning falling from the sky cut through the heat, scattering all sorts of debris.

Krrrrrrrumble!!

The empty city instantly turned into a hellscape.

An extreme environment where an ordinary human would turn to bones the moment they were swept away.

However, this vast battlefield where only two magicians existed had already become a stage watched by various interested parties.

Among them, a pitch-black void was observing the situation particularly secretly and quietly.

“It has begun.”

The mock ritual space of Pandemonium [a chaotic realm].

A mental intermediary created by artificially processing Agilon’s thoughts.

In the ritual space summoned by Highrea, several screens were displayed, each showing a different location.

Several people watched the ceaseless waves of fire and streaks of lightning with interest.

Highrea was busily moving between the empty chairs, quickly checking what needed to be done.

“Central network interception complete. Screen configuration is done, and the surveillance areas are organized to avoid overlapping paths, so all that’s left is….”

Highrea, turning her head sharply, asked something writhing in the distance.

“Agneta. How is the ritual space stabilization work going?”

“Almost done~”

Agneta, the spider hanging upside down in the darkness of the void, waved her hand leisurely.

The spider’s legs moved busily, creating magic threads, sewing the space as if overlapping it.

“As I said before, don’t completely close the space, but stabilize it by overlapping it with the material world, right?”

“The schedule was set in a hurry, so there might be members who are late.”

Highrea nodded and gestured to Agneta.

“Tell me immediately if there’s a problem with the work. The cursed divine words from outside the continent, not all of them have been undone yet.”

“Oh, are you worried about me?”

Agneta let out a dazed laugh and shook her head.

“It’s not like I can’t do my job, so don’t worry. The leader might be watching, so I have to work hard~”

Highrea, leaving behind Agneta, who was somehow full of motivation, shook her head and turned her gaze.

The members who had arrived first were already sitting apart, staring intently at the screens in different postures.

Highrea, looking back at the faces of the participating members, muttered as if dumbfounded.

“Amazing. People who wouldn’t even show their faces when called to a meeting….”

As the doctor had mentioned before, the fact that Kyunroe and Evan were clashing was quite a big topic.

Despite the hastily arranged schedule, many members who were usually hard to reach had attended.

Considering that most of the members gathered here were eccentric individuals who were hard to even see unless an appointment was made two quarters in advance, it was truly ironic.

However, the other members didn’t even pay attention to Highrea’s monologue.

The battle between Kyunroe and the Thousand had just begun.

Because the aspect was flowing in a more bizarre direction than expected.

“There’s no direct combat after the first clash.”

Daimus, the commander of Dead Rise, opened his mouth while staring intently at the screen.

“They’re keeping their distance and focusing only on magic emission. It’s a deliberate measure.”

“Oh, now that I think about it, it’s true. Are they forcing the opponent to come in first?”

“Eek, no way. It’s not like a fighting game, I don’t think they’d be doing a psychological battle like that….”

As Freya and Ermong tilted their heads, Maiya scoffed as if it were absurd.

“They’re working on creating an environment that is advantageous to themselves.”

“Creating an environment?”

“No matter how much preparation you do before a fight, there’s a big difference in efficiency compared to handling it during the battle.”

Maiya, sitting with her legs crossed, gestured towards the waves of fire and lightning surging on the screen.

“You know the stage has been set, and there won’t be any interlopers until the fight is over. They’re both deliberately setting the stage.”

“That means….”

“It’s a temporary zoning operation according to the hierarchy they’re using. Is it temporarily giving the space a change in properties?”

Maiya nodded at the doctor’s summary.

“It won’t take long. They’ll move as soon as the property change is complete.”

The reason they collided with large-scale techniques at the start, spreading the aftermath, was to arbitrarily give properties to the entire city area that had been recognized as a battlefield.

It was a process of setting the stage to increase chanting efficiency and magic recovery speed, and to supply the attributes and will needed for the fight in real time.

Soryu frowned as he realized that the two magicians were repeating the same thing on the battlefield without any prior discussion.

“It’s a disturbingly monstrous way of thinking… Is combat between mages who have reached that level always like that?”

“Why are you getting upset about something like that?”

Ermong, who was sitting next to him, chuckled.

“It’s natural for a prince who was born with bloodline abilities to not understand the lowly.”

“…….”

“What, are you trying to start a fight here?”

As Soryu turned his head with a cold expression at Ermong’s reaction, which seemed to be subtly defending Evan, Freya burst into laughter.

“If you’re going to fight, then let’s all go there and watch together, you idiots!!”

“Save me, you lowly black magician~”

“Have the other members not replied yet?”

Ignoring Ermong’s boisterous voice, the doctor turned his gaze towards Highrea.

“I didn’t expect Crocken or Myung, but the Clown should have shown his face.”

“He declined.”

Highrea shrugged with a sullen expression.

“He said that if he came, the ritual space would collapse.”

“Hmm, that’s….”

It wasn’t entirely wrong, so the doctor was silent for a moment.

The Clown was an extreme ability user who had reached the pinnacle of illusionary techniques. He was a madman who existed by intentionally keeping his sanity unstable.

If they met in reality, it would be one thing, but if the Clown intervened at the relay point where consciousness was being sent, there was a possibility that the space itself would be distorted.

Moreover, if the Clown himself had directly declared that fact, it was practically a certainty.

“That’s a shame. I think Kizard’s insight is on par with Maiya’s….”

“You’re the only one who calls that crazy bastard by his name like that.”

Highrea muttered, as if disgusted, but glanced back.

“More than that, I’m worried that there’s no reply from Victor. Something might have happened.”

“……Victor?”

“For his personality, he usually replies appropriately. And he wasn’t uninterested in Vulcan either.”

“…….”

At those words, the doctor was silent as if thinking about something.

Chwaak!!

The back of the void unfolded like a dark curtain, and a magician wearing an obsidian mask walked out.

As always, he was wearing a black hood, completely covering his face and skin.

However, there wasn’t a single member in this place who didn’t recognize him.

“Manipulator. You’re late.”

“Hey, what took you so long!”

“Victor~”

Soryu and Freya immediately scolded Victor, and Agneta excitedly shook her spider legs.

Victor, passing between the sneering Maiya and the grinning Ermong, sat in an empty seat.

Freya tilted her head at his cold reaction, ignoring everyone else’s words.

“What’s wrong with you today? Did you eat something bad?”

“Yeah, unless he has a stomach ache from the elixir he gobbled up alone in Kaius….”

At that moment, a cold voice flowed from inside the hood.

“Don’t talk to me. You insignificant….”

“You?”

“……I’m not in the mood to talk to primates.”

“…….”

“I don’t even want to breathe the same air, so get out of my way.”

At Victor’s cold reply, the other members exchanged glances with bewildered expressions.

“Did he develop a hatred for humans while we weren’t looking?”

“Well, come to think of it, most of the special ability users were like that.”

“It’s actually kind of refreshing to see him act like this now.”

“…….”

Victor, ignoring the members chattering around him, crossed his arms and buried himself in the chair.

It seemed that he had no intention of doing anything other than watching the unfolding fight.

Highrea, watching him from afar, shrugged, and while the doctor was quietly stroking his chin.

The collision of fire and lightning that had been ceaselessly raging beyond the screen began to change slightly.

Kugugugugu!!

Daimus, who had been staring at the screen without saying a word until now, spoke.

“They’re moving.”

At the same time, a whitish figure flashed and collided at tremendous speed in the center of the city.

Kwaaaang!!

The members who confirmed Evan’s figure soaring from the sea of fire stopped chatting and turned to the screen at once.

“Are they starting?”

“That side is moving first…!”

Tatatatang!!

Evan’s figure, bouncing and colliding rapidly between the surrounding buildings, ran vertically up the outer wall of a high-rise building.

The four jets of flame wrapped around his back became wings tens of meters long, adding to his acceleration.

He collided with Kyunroe, who had just landed on the rooftop of the building, as if they were touching each other from above and below.

Jjeoooooong!!!

A shockwave tens of meters in size erupted from under the dark clouds, and the figures of the two magicians pierced through the buildings and fell.

Drrrrrrrk!!!

The outer walls of high-rise buildings tens of meters in size were torn apart as if scraped by a giant’s hand.

Thousands of glass windows exploded and shattered at the same time, burning and tearing through empty offices and workspaces.

The others were left speechless at the fierce clash, as if they didn’t consider the collapse of the battlefield from the start.

“Wow, holy shit!! What is that amount of magic power…!!”

“That’s incredible acceleration. Did the flame heat magician have a technique like that?”

“He captured and pulled him down with a single attempt. He intends to eliminate the altitude difference and start.”

“They’re falling…!!”

Kwaaaaang!!!

Immediately after the magician’s figure fell into the middle of the sea of fire that Evan had filled.

The sea of fire pushed out in a circle, revealing the landing point as it was.

Evan, standing up with a fist clenched, burning with red eyes, and Kyunroe, walking out while dusting off his clothes with a blank face.

In the screen showing the storm of fire and lightning, the surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Because everyone was thinking the same thing as they watched the two magicians finally captured in one screen.

As if representing that feeling, Highrea quietly muttered.

“Who will win?”

“Well, that’s….”

“Wait. There’s someone I want to hear an opinion about that first.”

At that moment, the doctor, interrupting Daimus’s words, spoke.

The doctor, moving his gaze by moving the consciousness of a white fur ball, asked someone sitting far away.

“Victor. If you were to bet money, which side would you bet on?”

“…….”

The doctor shrugged, leaving Victor, who didn’t answer.

“It’s a personal curiosity. Any answer is fine.”

“What’s wrong, Doctor? Why all of a sudden?”

While Freya was grumbling with a sulky expression, Victor slowly raised his gaze.

A faint sigh, as if mocking, leaked out from beyond the obsidian mask where his expression could not be read.

“There’s no need to hesitate.”

Victor, lightly scoffing, said.

“Of course, I’d choose the side that would allow me to receive the most attention.”

“……Huh?”

“Because the outcome of the fight is already decided anyway.”

Victor answered without hesitation to the doctor’s belated question.

“It’s right to give the primates watching this moment the opportunity to praise and uphold my insight and judgment.”

“Uh….”

“Praise me.”

Everyone was silent.

A quiet silence flowed among the members who didn’t understand those words, and the doctor tilted his head.

“Hmm, this is a completely unexpected answer….”

“Enough with the useless talk and focus.”

Maiya muttered, staring at the screen with a blank face.

“Which side will win, it seems they’re going to show us directly from now on.”

And, no one in the Pandemonium could open their mouths first at the beginning of the battle beyond the screen.