Chapter 129 – Element of Destruction (Two)

A flash of light engulfed the space.

One-thousandth of a second.

An extreme instant so brief one wouldn’t even perceive the flicker in their vision.

Yet, the scenery before and after the light was completely different, a 180-degree change.

Crackle!

A sinister Lightning spear was on the verge of piercing Allerger’s shoulder.

Zzzzziiiiik!

Once again, a Spatial Rift that had torn open by a hair’s breadth swallowed the spear.

And then, spat it out elsewhere.

It was the same composition as when Curiosa first appeared, but the resulting outcome was starkly different.

An attack of a speed hard to keep up with.

Because of that, Curiosa had failed to control the direction of the space spitting out the spear.

Crack! Kwaang!

The Lightning spear collided with the wall, leaving a black scorch mark the size of a human head.

Pssssss—

It began with a handful of ash falling from the scorch mark.

But the next moment.

Sssssssssss—!

The wall instantly turned to ash and began to vanish.

Centered on the scorch mark.

Spreading outward.

In the blink of an eye, a massive hole formed in the wall, and the building, already weakened by the battle, began to collapse as if crying out, “Just kill me now.”

Kuguguguguuu——!!

The derelict building roared like a beast whose breath was cut off.

Large, thick falling debris cascaded down like a landslide toward the humans inside the beast’s body.

A dire situation where one could be buried if they didn’t hurry to escape.

Yet, Ray merely looked up with a calm gaze.

‘I didn’t expect the power to be this level.’

Attacking Allerger was an intentional act.

The principle of negotiation was the proper mix of appeasement and threat.

In other words, carrot and stick.

—But Ray, if you whip like this, the other person might die…

The phantom of Philip, who had been mouthing off beside him, vanished as it was hit by falling debris.

“You…! What is this…!”

Curiosa, who had vanished with a flicker of space, reappeared beside Allerger.

The chunks and fragments falling from above were all swallowed and disappeared by Spatial Rifts that appeared moment by moment.

And as for the boy.

Crackle! Zzzap!

All the falling debris, upon touching the thick Lightning enveloping his entire body, turned into black ash and scattered.

It was the result of fully opening up, no longer needing to hide the gem’s power.

‘…The output definitely increased.’

Comparing before and after entering the building, the amount of Mana he could draw at once had increased.

Not by a huge amount.

But enough to be distinctly felt.

Thanks to the heightened emotions like excitement and thrill throughout the battle with Allerger, it seemed the limit of the Gem’s Mana he could handle had expanded.

“…….”

But even so.

‘It’s still only an extremely small part. Of the gem’s true power.’

He didn’t feel at all like he was utilizing the gem properly.

Conjectures and assumptions flashed through his mind.

If later, he could complete the emotion and achieve perfect communion with the gem’s Mana.

And.

If he could gather the remaining six gems, similarly complete the related emotions, achieve perfect communion.

And if he could merge them all into the original one called the Rainbow.

“…….”

Wouldn’t it be possible to realize something truly beyond imagination in reality?

A pure, thrilling sensation seized the boy’s body and mind.

Kuguguguguuu——!

How much time passed like that?

Finally, the collapse ended.

Under the faint sunlight streaming through the vanished ceiling, acrid dust danced chaotically.

Part of the dust mist surged greatly along with someone’s shout.

“You’re all trying to die right now—!”

“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”

Curiosa flinched momentarily.

Crackle! Zap!

Amidst the slowly clearing dust.

The boy’s pupils emitted a fierce Eye Light, and his entire body, still covered in sinister currents, revealed itself.

A voice so quiet it made her skin crawl.

“The initiative lies with me.”

It crushed all the surrounding silence.

“There’s no way I’d just let Allerger go without any measures.”

“…….”

Curiosa’s rapidly swelling anger froze for a moment.

“You must have sensed what kind of emotion Allerger holds and to what magnitude.”

“…….”

“If I just let him go, he’ll definitely come running to stab me again someday without fail.”

Curiosa’s anger could no longer grow; instead, it began to shrink slowly.

It was partly because the boy’s words were logically sound.

But more than that, it was largely due to the boy’s suddenly changed aura.

‘This is….’

From the boy’s entire body, besides the Magic-induced currents, an intensely thick anger was emanating.

A feeling of suffocation, as if she couldn’t breathe.

The ability to sense others’ emotions with extreme sensitivity was instead strangling its owner.

‘Again, in this way… The intensity of the emotion is much stronger than last time….’

The boy was always like this.

His emotions always surged up suddenly.

And emotions of a density she had never felt from anyone before.

That was why Curiosa had always maintained a certain distance when watching the boy.

Pure emotions that could erupt at any moment were no different from poison to her.

‘I can’t… breathe….’

Her breathing grew ragged.

A doubt arose.

Truly.

Even if freed from the leash named curiosity.

Could I fight and win against the boy before my eyes?

She didn’t know.

She wasn’t sure.

Even though she knew there was an insurmountable gap between a 2nd Circle and a 4th Circle.

She was also curious.

Whether even this situation was within the boy’s intended picture.

…This too, she couldn’t know.

To the monster of curiosity, the boy was an unknown.

Curiosa’s curiosity about the boy swelled.

Thud!

Curiosa, who had endured and endured, fell to her knees, panting.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

Perhaps the boy might really succeed in capturing the Doctor.

Curiosa’s Vessel.

A speck of purple Mana brushed past and vanished.

At a speed no one could perceive, in an instant.

Ray used White Mana on the unconscious Allerger.

A bright Light Cluster seeped into his entire body, healing his internal injuries.

“…….”

Ray’s white pupils directed at the area near Allerger’s heart.

The other’s Ring was no longer visible there.

Because just a few minutes ago, Ray had destroyed all of Allerger’s Circles following the method Curiosa told him.

‘As expected, Circle Destruction did exist.’

Back during lessons at the Bookstore.

Ray had showered Graham with all sorts of questions about Magic, and among them were ones about Circle Destruction.

「Circle Destruction… As far as I know, it’s an impossible act. Once formed, a Circle possesses high durability to withstand most Mana activities, you see.」

「But who knows. The world of Magic as a discipline is endlessly vast and deep. It’s entirely possible my knowledge simply doesn’t reach that far.」

Circle Destruction could exist.

The old man had only mentioned a small possibility, but the boy held a conviction.

If creating a Circle was possible, then destroying one in reverse should also be possible.

The boy, burning with inquisitiveness, later conducted experiments within safe limits using his own Circles.

Huuuuuum!

He used every possible Element.

He applied pressure and impact to the inner walls of the Circle, tried standing on his head, and attempted all sorts of methods.

「The Circle is too solid.」

There was no harvest.

But the more that happened, the deeper his conviction grew.

「…If I could just do a little more here, I might be able to damage the Circle.」

It was because of that feeling of being on the verge of success.

The feeling that if he could just break down one more wall after arriving before success, he could advance there.

That’s why he hadn’t abandoned the possibility of Circle Destruction.

Then he encountered Curiosa.

“Kid. How did you know I possessed knowledge about Circle Destruction?”

He didn’t know.

He just thought it was possible.

Because Curiosa’s room was filled with what appeared to be books and tools related to Magic.

Also, the flicker of Atmospheric Mana that appeared when Curiosa was peeping on him would sometimes disappear and reappear.

The return sometimes took hours.

Other times, it took days, longer.

He guessed she probably used Spatial Magic to go somewhere.

‘She must have been to many different places.’

She likely possessed more experience and knowledge than an ordinary Wizard.

He thought she might know about Circle Destruction.

“Did you peek into my mind or something? Hmm…”

His expectation hit the mark.

Judging by the reaction, it seemed Circle Destruction was indeed a very secretive technique.

Ray parted his lips.

“I’m the one who’s curious. How do you know the principle and method of Circle Destruction?”

“…….”

Silence and stillness.

Soon, a dazed voice flowed from behind Curiosa’s mask.

“The Ruins… It was written on a Stone Tablet I saw there. It was a perfect theory. Beautifully so. But I thought it was a theory close to fantasy, impossible to put into practical use. Because…”

Her words trailed off for a moment, then continued.

“…It was a technique only usable if one could handle all existing Elements.”

The principle of Circle Destruction Curiosa told Ray was simple.

Combine all currently existing Elements.

Inject the unified amalgam into the opponent’s Circle.

…Easier said than done; it was practically close to impossible.

The known existing Elements numbered close to a hundred, but an individual could handle at most about 20 types depending on their Circle’s traits.

There were no exceptions.

No matter which Wizard.

Also, there existed something called elemental dynamics between Elements.

If Elements with poor compatibility were brought together.

Huuuum——!!

“…….”

They repelled each other with such strong repulsive force.

Curiosa, sensing the Elements of Change and Sustain flying far into the void, felt confusion.

‘This is normal.’

She turned her gaze to the boy.

Huum——

Currently, above the boy’s palm.

Elements from the atmosphere were gathering there.

Although in small amounts each.

All existing Elements.

They didn’t explode, nor repel each other.

They just tangled and clumped together… becoming that very mass that had corroded Allerger’s Circle.

Curiosa, feeling a nauseating sensation, muttered.

“As expected, it makes no sense.”

“…….”

“Kid, just what are you?”

Ray silently looked at the space above his own palm.

To others’ eyes, it was an empty, vacant space, but in the boy’s white pupils, one substance was reflected.

It was a black orb.

It bore an endlessly black color, as if absorbing all light.

No sense of shading or texture could be felt, making it look like a small hole punctured in the void.

“…….”

It wasn’t that he had never tried creating black Mana before.

When he was younger than now, experimenting all day using Atmospheric Mana was his daily routine.

But he couldn’t create black this pure.

‘Back then, my ability to handle Elements was much lower than now.’

Simply put, there were limitations in color mixing.

If colors were mixed haphazardly, the end result was always black, but traces of other colors remained, so it couldn’t be called pure achromatic.

「…If I mix more colors, I might be able to make perfect black.」

He tried, but it was impossible.

Elements that didn’t get along fiercely refused to mix with each other.

“…….”

But now it was different.

Ray gained insight after seeing the whirlpool of emotions that appeared in the Vessels of the Loyalist Faction Operatives, including Colin.

Affection and hatred.

The whirlpool of love-hate.

That even emotions possessing opposite attributes could, depending on the circumstances, bond together.

Ray applied that principle exactly to the combination of Elements.

And the result was.

Huum—

As it was now.

The Red Mana and Blue Mana flowing before Ray’s eyes began to tangle together, creating a new color.

The main components of Red and Blue Mana were.

‘Fire-attribute and Water-attribute Elements.’

Elements that originally couldn’t combine even in minuscule amounts softly adhered together under the boy’s guidance.

It required a high degree of concentration.

The mental fatigue was also not insignificant.

But since it wasn’t a combat situation, there was no hitch in the work.

Other Elements at opposite poles also differed in quantity and required time, but could all be bonded in the same way.

As a result.

Huuuum——*

The boy mixed all colors of Mana existing in the atmosphere to create pure black.

“…….”

The boy recalled the events of a few minutes ago.

The moment he moved the first black orb created in this way through Allerger’s arm and injected it into the Ring.

The orb, upon arriving at its destination, caused an incredible effect.

「──────」

Allerger’s Ring, starting from the area closest to the orb, turned black as if stained, crumbled like ash.

And vanished in an instant.

All four Rings.

As if they were never there from the beginning.

Also, the black orb gradually decreased in size while performing its role, eventually vanishing completely.

While lost in thought, Curiosa’s voice reached him.

“That’s what was written on the Stone Tablet. That it was the Element of Destruction.”