Chapter 36: Results

"..." Nio takes a deep breath as both spells reach their casting point. Despite everything, she’s a little afraid of losing the confrontation and getting hit.

’Typhon is sinister... her fighting style is one of the worst for me — someone who doesn’t care about getting hurt. Usually people who fight like that pick a Tank class for defense...’

’But Typhon prefers to just take the damage and regenerate to close distance and create constant pressure... as a mage, I’ll always struggle against that kind of fighting style...’ Nio knows she’s lucky, because Typhon is letting her play around, letting her have time. In a completely serious, to-the-death fight, she would never have the time she has now against a freak like Typhon.

’A rhinoceros... Typhon’s like a rhinoceros that charges without stopping...’ She finishes fully charging the attack. A magic circle forms around her staff as she prepares.

[True God-Rending Blade]

[True God-Rending Blade] Special Grade Holy Magic. It generates an immense Golden Blade capable of ignoring 50% of the enemy’s defense points, as well as bypassing any armor and shield, striking the target’s body directly — as if it were an intangible object that touches only the target and nothing else.

A massive golden blade forms behind Nio, who wants to make a specific gamble: that Typhon won’t know how to stop an attack that cuts through everything. Of course, this gamble means Nio would get hit by Typhon’s spell, but she still tries anyway.

"...!!" The blade is hurled at Typhon, who releases the spell from her magic circle. The giant golden blade carries so much magic that the air around it shifts completely, gaining permanent traces of Nio’s magic and altering the atmosphere’s composition, which takes on a sickly sweet smell.

From Typhon’s magic circle emerges a kind of giant tree root that grows against the sword. The branches and roots that form are black with deep purple tones, like a dense cosmic nebula.

And to Nio’s shock, the roots manage to hold the blade. Even though the blade keeps advancing and cutting through the roots, the mere fact that the sword can’t simply bypass them shows the level of Typhon’s magic.

’The energy...’ Nio feels the surrounding magic being contaminated by Typhon’s. The two are literally tied in terms of raw power, but Nio gains an advantage by being a natural mage, and her sword manages to push forward.

From the tip of the blade where it makes contact with the roots, an intense golden glow and a dark penumbra in the shape of mist burst forth. This turns the sky’s color dark purple, and the gray sand takes on a beautiful golden hue, like the purest gold.

’Go!! Go! Go!!’ Nio grows tense while also feeling somewhat disturbed that something can stop an attack that, in theory, shouldn’t be stoppable by anything.

In the end, the blade tears through the roots, hitting Typhon and splitting her in two vertically. But the roots also reach Nio, piercing her entire body with thousands of punctures as she feels them squeezing her organs and literally gripping her brain.

[00:00]

Time runs out before the result concludes, and Nio returns to the same alley she was in. She stumbles, hitting her head against the brick wall and sliding to the ground, coughing up blood that is completely black. The roots are still inside her body, but unable to move since they’re too far from their caster.

"D-Dammit..." She curses, spitting out more of that black substance that mixed with her blood. She was fooled by herself and her own knowledge, because that wasn’t just a spell — Typhon used her Botanist class to literally manipulate the roots’ growth.

Nio lost this one, all because she forgot a simple fact: this is no longer the game, and the form of magic is no longer bound by the dice-roll rules of a device. Magic can be shaped, changed in form and direction.

She’d realized magic could receive as much "MP" as she wanted, but she never considered the possibility of altering the spell’s shape to produce something "different" from what was predefined.

"Urgh..." Nio grabs the roots in her face and pulls them, ripping them out from inside her body. The sensation is horrible — it feels like something is gripping her brain and trying to squeeze it out of her head through the holes that were made.

The roots really had latched on deeply, and Nio grows even more unsettled because Typhon clearly didn’t want to kill her, and even so, she unleashed such an absurd attack against her.

’Did she know I’d survive...?’

"I-I guess it could have been worse... a-at least I found out you can change magic’s form using classes..." She looks down at her dress, at her chest and stomach, where several roots are still deeply embedded, clinging to her organs.

She can’t regenerate because the spaces are obstructed, and she needs to remove every piece of root — or at least break the larger pieces so her body can naturally expel the rest.

’Should I consider myself lucky? Even with so many wounds, I’m alive... and even with half my brain destroyed and full of holes, I’m conscious and can even think... even though everything hurts...’ Nio doesn’t know why she’s still conscious, but she immediately starts healing herself with magic, because her regeneration alone won’t be enough.

"...Haaa..." She lets out a painful, gasping sigh as she pulls out more of the larger roots. All she can feel is hatred for that damn woman who, on top of destroying her weapon, made her feel such hellish pain.

’You’ll regret this, Typhon. You’ll pay dearly for showing me your status and all your classes... I don’t need to know your spells if I already know what classes you have... you still have to obey the spells your class unlocks for you...’ A disturbing smile creeps onto Nio’s face despite all the corrupted blood oozing from her body. She also uses her nightmare flames to completely burn the roots, just to be sure she isn’t being tracked.

"Haa... I doubt that bitch died. If I survived with a regeneration ability far inferior to hers, then she — who literally lost her head — must have survived too... but at least Lore was right... we’re tied in overall power..." Nio stays on the ground, finishing pulling everything out and deciding to be more careful, to thoroughly analyze everything she learned.

"...We’ll have a rematch, Typhon... and next time... I’ll win. Next time, I’ll have everything I need, and the result will be different."