I recognized reality.
The phenomena and beings before me, even the flow of the air, I took it all in.
I confirmed everything.
Then, I looked deeper.
The flow of mana and phenomena invisible to the naked eye.
I felt them not with my eyes, but with my entire body.
I began to sense the entire space around me.
From the slightest movement of mana to the movement of a single ant.
I became aware of the entire space.
And then, I divided the space within that image.
Space into planes, planes into lines, lines into points.
As if marking coordinates in the space I occupied, I divided the entire space.
In this way, I saw the most basic framework of the world's space.
The basis of spatial magic is spatial perception.
This is how I perceived space, looking intently at Aryandor.
"Time Back."
Boom...!
At that moment, space twisted.
Like space bending, all the coordinates twisted.
There was also a loud resonance.
Feeling that resonance, I stared intently at Aryandor.
"...Gone?"
Aryandor's form had simply vanished.
Not that he moved quickly or underwent any other change.
His form just disappeared.
As I was startled by this, a voice came from beside me.
"Rudy Astria, what is this..."
The voice belonged to Priscilla.
"What kind of feeling is this? Exactly..."
Sensory sharing.
Priscilla and I shared senses, so she too could see the space I was observing.
I hadn't even considered that aspect.
But theoretically, there was no reason it couldn't happen.
Priscilla had seen the flow of mana I could perceive, so there was no reason she couldn't perceive the space as well.
"I'll explain later. For now, where is Aryandor..."
"Aryandor is..."
As I tried to find Aryandor, Priscilla pointed behind me.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Aryandor was looking at me with a rotten expression.
"We need to finish this quickly."
He uttered, lifting his sword.
His body appeared perfectly normal.
The time magic had already been used.
Confused, I looked at the coordinates.
Then, the coordinates returned to their original positions.
What in the world had happened?
The space shook, and Aryandor's form disappeared.
Is this spatial magic?
The most incomprehensible part was the disappearance of Aryandor's form.
No matter how one moved, a form can't just disappear.
Even if someone dies or moves extremely fast, their form doesn't vanish from space.
That was something completely against the principles of the world.
Aryandor, sword in hand, rushed towards me.
It felt like he intended to end this quickly, having shown me the time magic.
I stepped back and twisted my body.
Aryandor's swinging sword barely missed the front of my head.
"Rudy!"
Astina tried to use Gravity to press down on Aryandor.
However, Aryandor swiftly escaped from that spot.
The greatest drawback of Gravity.
Quick attacks were difficult to execute directly, limited to moving objects rather than delivering direct hits.
"Annoying ones first."
Aryandor, who had retreated, suddenly dashed toward Astina, kicking off the ground.
"Priscilla."
Just as Aryandor charged, Priscilla stepped in front of Astina.
Despite Priscilla's imposing figure intervening, Aryandor seemed unfazed.
"If you block the way, I'll just cut through both."
Aryandor, his sword wrapped in golden waves, swung it fiercely.
The golden light enveloping the sword engulfed both Astina and Priscilla.
Priscilla, seeing the golden light, pulled Astina into her embrace.
"You'll get hurt if you come out."
Dozens of waves crashed down upon Priscilla.
Although sword strikes hit Priscilla's body, her robust form meant she only sustained minor injuries, avoiding major damage.
As I launched an attack on Priscilla, I immediately kicked off the ground.
"Aryandor...!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})I charged at Aryandor, mana surging in my fist.
Aryandor lightly dodged my punch and counterattacked with his sword.
His blade sliced through my leg.
"Gah..."
Yet, I did not relent, throwing another punch.
My fist, charged with mana, hit Aryandor's abdomen directly.
"Ugh..."
Even though my punch hit Aryandor's abdomen, he only stumbled slightly.
The physique of a magic swordsman.
Having achieved physical enhancement as a swordsman, he could stand even after taking my punch.
Aryandor changed his gaze and looked at me intently.
"Are we really doing this?"
Without retreating, Aryandor swung his sword again.
His blade struck my body, and I threw another punch in return.
A fierce brawl.
Aryandor didn't back down, swinging his sword, as I continued to launch punches.
With minimal movement, I dodged his attacks while striking back.
Abdomen, arm, leg.
In just a moment, dozens of sword wounds appeared.
As I threw punches, I thought to myself.
Aiming for one hit.
The motion of throwing a punch is smaller than swinging a sword.
So, there's a chance to exploit an opening.
Then, Aryandor swung his sword diagonally from the right, using its length to create distance between us.
But I pressed forward.
"Guh..."
As I pushed forward, blood burst from my shoulder, and intense pain surged through me.
An opportunity created amidst injuries.
I couldn't miss it.
I reached out with my right hand towards Aryandor's face, pulling back my left hand.
I gathered mana in my retracted left hand.
Sacrifice flesh to seize the bone.
Aryandor tried to lower his sword to block my punch, but mine was faster.
"Ugh...!"
My fist connected squarely with Aryandor's abdomen.
This time, the sensation was different from when I hit him there before.
The sensation of not only the abdomen but also the ribs breaking was distinctly felt in my hand.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Aryandor was sent flying far away by my punch.
"Haah... Haah..."
I watched Aryandor rolling on the ground, gasping for breath.
The wound on my right shoulder was deep.
Yet, Aryandor's injuries appeared even more severe.
"Cough, hack..."
Aryandor coughed painfully.
I looked at him and smirked.
"So much for the leader of the rebels... I thought you'd be unbelievably strong, but you're weaker than I expected."
When we fought without using magic, just physically, he was an opponent I could handle.
This realization hit me as I took several of his sword strikes.
Aryandor's defense was clumsy.
Focused solely on offense.
He swung his sword, taking hits with his body.
There were many reasons for this.
Having time magic, he might not have developed the habit of defending, thinking he could just reverse any impact.
Or, with the robust body of a magic swordsman, he might have believed he could withstand any hits.
Yet, this worked to my advantage.
Just now, if Aryandor had switched to a defensive stance while swinging his sword, he could have minimized his own damage while only injuring me.
But Aryandor couldn't do that.
Even his attempt at minimal defense was inadequate to stop me.
Aryandor propped himself up with his sword on the ground.
"Haah... Haah..."
He leaned on his sword to stand up.
Aryandor stared intently at me and also glanced at Priscilla.
Then he laughed.
"You, spatial magic... You can't use it, can you?"
Spatial magic?
"Time Back."
As I pondered, Aryandor used his time magic.
The space twisted just like before.
And Aryandor's form vanished.
"I've been thinking a bit about how you got here. Clearly, you used spatial magic back then."
Aryandor's voice echoed from afar.
Then he walked towards us.
Completely recovered.
"But something was off. Even if you were conserving mana to counter my time magic, it was strange."
Aryandor let out a cold laugh.
"Using spatial magic to travel short distances doesn't consume much mana. Plus, you've been using other techniques without worrying about mana efficiency."
He pointed his sword at me.
"I thought you quickly mastered spatial magic after learning it in the future, but it seems not. Even now. If you had mastered spatial magic after seeing my time magic once, you would've blocked it, right?"
I stared at Aryandor.
What exactly is happening?
There's too little information.
What was Aryandor afraid of, and what has he realized now?
"I've been overthinking and acted foolishly. No. I overestimated you. Rudy Astria. You're not the kind of person who can handle seeing time magic just once."
As Aryandor spoke, Astina opened her mouth.
"Rudy, stay calm."
Astina approached me.
"Think about it. If he's talking like that, it means the solution to his time magic is already in your hands."
Aryandor burst into laughter at Astina's words.
"Right. Since I reacted that way, it's only natural. But then, what now? He can't use those weapons in his current state, can he?"
Aryandor raised his hand.
"Time Back."
"Ah..."
Then Aryandor's figure disappeared.
"Rudy! Above!"
Priscilla shouted at that moment.
Above mine and Astina's heads.
There was Aryandor.
He fell towards us, sword pointed downward.
He was targeting Astina.
"Ah..."
"Senior...!"
I pulled Astina towards me.
Then, channeling mana into my hand, I struck at Aryandor's sword.
Clang─
Aryandor's sword energy clashed with my mana, creating a splitting sound.
Aryandor grinned.
"Time Back."
Again, Aryandor's figure vanished.
"Rrrgh!!!"
Priscilla rushed behind me.
This time, Aryandor appeared behind us, ready to swing his sword.
"Anti Gravity...!"
Priscilla blocked Aryandor's sword, and Astina cast her magic.
Astina's magic lifted Aryandor's body, but he shouted once more.
"Time Back."
"Ah..."
He used his time magic several times in quick succession.
This time he appeared far away.
"Why don't you try blocking it even once if you can use spatial magic?"
Aryandor walked towards us with a sneering smile.
I grasped my painful shoulder and furrowed my brow.
What's going on?
The space is warping, and there's a big resonance that ordinary people can't feel.
And then there's Priscilla.
What exactly is Priscilla's role in all this...
"Rudy Astria."
As I pondered, Astina spoke.
"You can do it."
Astina looked at me with firm eyes.
Then she approached me.
"My brain, my calculations say you can do it."
Astina pulled my head towards hers, our foreheads touching.
"It's not because I like you that I show this trust. It's because you can do these things that I like you."
I opened my eyes wide at Astina's words.
It was the first time Astina had said she liked me.
I had suspected it, but such a sudden declaration left me disoriented.
"You can do it, right, Rudy?"
Astina smiled.
Aryandor looked at us with a baffled expression.
"Ha... Then give it a try."
Aryandor raised his hand.
"Time..."
The warping of space.
The shaking space.
And Priscilla.
I looked at Priscilla.
"Priscilla."
"Back."
"Stop him."
