"Aryandor, you've been here all this time?"
"Did you know all along?"
Aryandor, touching the area where he had been hit, spoke.
I looked at Aryandor in front of me, then turned my gaze to the side.
A person with Beatrice's face.
I narrowed my eyes.
Looking at that person, I realized what they had done.
Research conducted by the leadership of the rebel forces.
The abilities they used.
Though Serina's case was a bit different, most were related to the human body.
That's when I thought.
His goal is Beatrice.
Could it be he aims to revive Beatrice?
Of course, it's uncertain how the term 'revive' will apply here.
Can bringing back just her mind truly be considered revival?
If the body lives but the mind is different, is that resurrection?
If he revives her in such a way, what would his purpose be?
Many thoughts crossed my mind, but the conclusion was the same.
The revival method he wants is to create a body and put Beatrice into it.
I may not know the purpose, but the desired outcome was clear.
And that outcome was right before my eyes.
Human cloning.
The Aryandor I had met and Beatrice in front of me.
This was the only explanation for the two of them.
"Still, it's not too late."
I smiled and looked at Luna next to me.
"Good job, Luna."
"Ehehe."
Luna scratched her head at my words.
"Now, cover our backs. I'll take care of him."
"Okay! I'm counting on you!"
I sent Luna behind me and clenched my fist.
I looked at Aryandor.
He had a completely different vibe from the Aryandor I had met earlier.
It felt distinctly like the Aryandor I originally knew.
Aryandor pushed himself up from the ground.
"Did Haruna tell you the future?"
"No, just my judgment."
"That's ridiculous. If that was really me there, you all would have been wiped out. You think coming here made a difference?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Maybe? Even if you were there, I doubt it would have been a wipeout. The people there are quite strong."
The battlefield included not just Astina and Professor Cromwell but many others.
Even if I had briefly stepped away, I doubted there would have been any major change without my presence.
If Aryandor hadn't been here, I could've just used spatial magic to return quickly.
In the end, my senses were correct.
Since he himself said that his counterpart was fake, there was no need to verify.
"But do you think anything will change because you came?"
"A lot has already changed. And your body isn't in normal condition either."
Aryandor couldn't get past Luna.
While Luna had become stronger, his physical condition was odd.
The mana flowing through his body was tangled in a complex, messy way.
This meant that, while his body could move, he wouldn't be able to properly wield his sword energy.
"Did creating clones tangle up your mana?"
Mana entanglement usually results from a penalty due to mana overload.
Having trained in dark magic myself and experienced its backlash, I was well aware of this.
"Sharp tongue."
Aryandor pointed his sword at me.
"Yeah, I've spoken too much. Sorry. Now, let's."
I dashed forward swiftly.
Aryandor filled his sword with mana.
I did the same with my fist.
He had the same idea.
Dominate the opponent from the first move.
"Come forth, Belphegor."
As I spoke, the figure of a demon appeared behind me.
Different from the demon Professor Robert used, but one capable of similar power.
I took a deep breath and raised my fist.
Aryandor did the same with his sword.
"Royal swordsmanship."
A golden light shone from Aryandor's eyes.
"Moonlight."
We both launched our attacks simultaneously.
A massive sword energy burst from Aryandor, and mana exploded from my fist.
──────!
After a bright flash.
Boom!!!
An explosion occurred.
Since it was inside a building, the building crumbled, sending debris flying.
I was unharmed because I countered the attack.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"Ugh!!"
Looking back, I saw Luna had protected Haruna and Yuni with a protective spell, so they were fine.
However, a large dust cloud obscured our view.
"Sigh…"
I took a deep breath.
And focused.
Feeling the flow of mana.
The next attack would come from.
"The right."
I widened my eyes and stretched my hand to the side.
Aryandor was precisely there.
I dodged Aryandor's sword aimed at me and grabbed it.
"Found you."
"Think it's over just because you found me?"
Aryandor, looking at his captured sword, spoke.
He quickly released the sword.
And kicked towards my stomach.
Thud!
"Ugh!"
A swordsman releasing his sword?
I took an unexpected hit directly to my stomach.
Aryandor clenched his fist and approached me quickly.
I gritted my teeth, ignoring the pain in my stomach.
"Alright, let's do this."
I threw Aryandor's sword to the side and clenched my fist.
I was confident in my punching skills.
I threw my fist straight at Aryandor.
At the same time, Aryandor also threw his fist, hitting my face.
Receive minimal hits, deliver maximum damage.
Aryandor and I exchanged punches, taking hits from each other's attacks continuously.
I didn't have time to fill my fist with a large amount of mana.
I just kept launching attacks one after another.
Aryandor, being a magic swordsman, had a sturdy body, but mine was not.
However, by infusing my fists with mana, I could deliver stronger hits than my opponent.
It was essentially a clash between a spear and a shield.
And the outcome was...
"Ugh..."
My victory.
Aryandor staggered and stepped back.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})I looked at Aryandor and spat blood-mixed saliva onto the floor.
"Why would a swordsman discard his sword?"
I smirked at Aryandor.
But my situation wasn't entirely good either.
Even though I had reinforcement magic on me, reducing the impact to a minimum, my face and body still hurt.
Of course, Aryandor was in a worse state.
"Huff... Huff..."
Aryandor, wiping the blood off his face, looked visibly exhausted.
He was clearly in bad shape.
"Why don't you use time magic?"
I was fully prepared to block it.
Thanks to practicing with Ian, I had learned how to counter time magic to some extent.
The fact that it worked during my fight with Luna proved I had mastered it quite well.
Then, Aryandor's sword flew at me from the side.
"What...!"
Looking to the side, there was a woman with Beatrice's face.
She had picked up the sword I had thrown away.
"Huff..."
I sighed and looked at Aryandor.
He couldn't freely use time magic in his condition.
Aryandor quietly raised his hand.
The gesture was one he made every time he used time magic.
I frowned.
"Time Back."
"Priscilla."
─!
I immediately blocked the time magic.
Seeing that his time magic was blocked, Aryandor quickly raised his head.
"Time magic won't work."
With my words, Aryandor flashed a cold smile.
"Do you really think so?"
Then his mana surged.
"...?"
Using mana like that...
Aryandor's mana was tangled.
Forcing tangled mana to move like that would lead to immense pain.
Yet, Aryandor moved his mana.
"Time magic..."
I tried to block his magic, as if it were obvious.
Aryandor's bitter smile.
Seeing that smile, I felt uneasy.
With such a method of mana manipulation...
I had used that kind of mana manipulation before.
Just a moment ago, when I cut through Venderwood.
I used spatial magic multiple times to tear his body apart.
Then.
"Ugh!"
I immediately prepared my mana.
He planned to use time magic dozens of times.
There's only one reason for using mana in such a way.
If he can revert his physical state by turning back time, then he wouldn't receive any penalty.
Since he damaged my body, he plans to turn back time to return to his original state.
"Ha... You're not yet familiar with that technique. But, I am. It's a spell I've used dozens, hundreds of times."
Aryandor's surroundings began to ripple.
"Priscilla!"
"There's too many!"
Dozens of time magic spells were being activated at once.
If even one of them was executed, time would reverse.
I concentrated and started erasing the magic.
But... there were too many.
I couldn't erase them all.
Such unfair magic...
Using mana to reverse time.
Using physical energy to reverse time.
And there's no penalty for it.
How can such magic exist?
Is that why it's called divine magic?
I thought this as I tried to erase the time magic.
But then, a thought occurred to me.
The term "divine magic" is a name given by humans.
As Haruna said, it was a nickname created when religion, politics, and magic all combined their powers.
Then...
This is ordinary magic.
Magic that involves an equivalent exchange between mana and magic.
Then, there must be something he loses.
What exchange allows him to reverse time?
I pondered this, thinking that if time reverses, I would lose.
The contemplation was brief.
Then, Beatrice's face caught my eye.
Human cloning.
The human body.
The body's state is reversed.
It definitely returns to a past state.
That's when I questioned.
Why could he continue to remember?
If his body returned to the past, shouldn't the memories of this fight disappear too?
With this doubt, I looked at Aryandor.
The gesture Aryandor was making with his hand.
It looked like he was flicking his fingers to use it.
But, I thought the opposite.
Could that be a distraction?
I shifted my gaze from Aryandor's hand.
To Aryandor's other hand.
I looked at his hand.
It was in his pocket.
I took a breath.
That's it.
"Time..."
"Transfer."
I gave up on erasing the time magic and used spatial magic instead.
It wasn't moving my body.
But something on the opponent's body.
Moving that object.
"…!"
Then Aryandor's eyes widened.
"What's this?"
Then, a pocket watch landed in my hand.
This was the item that had been in Aryandor's pocket.
I had transferred the object into my hand.
I looked at Aryandor.
He had attempted to use time magic, but now all his magic was stopped.
I smirked.
"Ah, sorry. I have a habit of looking for the trick first whenever I see magic."
I grabbed the chain of the pocket watch and swung it side to side.
This was it.
"So, is this how it works? Time magic."
This was the trick behind the time magic.
