Beatrice swung her sword towards us, aiming at Luna who was holding a spellbook.
"Your opponent is me."
I burst my mana to block Beatrice's sword.
Aryandor said nothing, just watched the situation.
"Full Moon."
Beatrice used her sword technique, releasing a burst of golden sword energy, and simultaneously used time magic.
Sword energies came at Luna from multiple directions.
"Behemoth."
A giant elephant, Behemoth, emerged from the ground, taking the brunt of Beatrice's sword energy with its massive body.
"Puuuh...!"
Behemoth staggered under the impact of Beatrice's sword energy but wasn't seriously injured and quickly regained its footing.
Beatrice continued her assault.
"Northern Swordsmanship."
Watching this, I manipulated my mana.
"Lich."
At my command, a skeletal reaper appeared behind Beatrice.
Clank─
Its chains wrapped around Beatrice, entangling her before she could use her sword technique.
"Luna, how much longer?"
"10 minutes... no, 15 minutes should do!"
I nodded at her response and looked forward.
Beatrice struggled to escape the Lich's grasp.
Then, I clenched my fist and directed it towards Beatrice's back.
"Huff!"
Mana exploded.
Kwaang!
Jars behind us shattered.
The number of jars decreased.
─!
As the jars shattered, the space echoed, and cracks began to form in the ceiling.
The more jars broke, the more the space itself started to collapse.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Aryandor looked from the cracking ceiling to me.
"Rudy Astria. What the hell are you doing?"
I replied,
"What does it look like? I'm making sure you're completely eradicated."
"Even if it means your death?"
"…Huh?"
Luna reacted to Aryandor's words, her eyes widening as she looked at him.
"What are you talking about?"
Aryandor, looking at Luna behind him, continued,
"When Beatrice's time magic and Rudy Astria's spatial magic disappear, and all these jars are gone, this dimension will collapse. Yes, then we will obviously die. But what about you? How do you plan to escape?"
The key to moving through this sacred place is space, time, and dimensional magic.
With that magic, one can come and go from this place.
"Are you saying you're willing to die with us? Is that it, Rudy Astria?"
Aryandor chuckled.
He wasn't wrong.
If space and time magic were to disappear together, I would have no way to leave this place with my own power.
Of course, with Haruna outside, she could get me out of here if she entered, but that would defeat the purpose.
The whole reason for luring them to this place was to separate Haruna and the others.
If Haruna entered, they wouldn't just let her go because they could prevent us from leaving if they wanted to.
This was also why they couldn't leave right now; if they tried to stop me from leaving, they'd be stuck here too.
But I had no intention of dying here.
I turned to look at Luna, who was looking back at me with an anxious expression.
"Luna, it's okay. I won't die."
"Rudy..."
"Have you ever seen me lie?"
"No..."
I smiled and patted Luna on the back.
"Trust me."
Seeing my smile, Luna pressed her lips together and nodded.
"If you're lying, you're really going to get it from me..."
"Of course. Oh, let me know when the magic is about to end. I have something to do."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Hearing my answer, Luna nodded and focused again.
I could feel the spatial magic inside me slowly fading away.
Beatrice must have felt it too, as she furrowed her brow.
Tied up by the Lich, Beatrice used her time magic.
Her body moved, escaping the chains.
I wanted to block her using Priscilla, but I couldn't.
The spatial magic was almost gone, and Priscilla was focused on connecting with Luna.
But there was no need to worry.
Beatrice broke free from the chains and ran towards Aryandor.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I gathered mana in my fist and charged.
Beatrice grabbed Aryandor and moved her mana.
The surroundings flickered.
It looked like they were trying to leave.
"Belphegor."
At the same time, I summoned a demon.
Behind me, the form of a demon appeared, and I raised my fist.
"Huff!"
Belphegor's power is to amplify mana.
I filled my fist with far stronger mana than usual and thrust it forward.
─────!
Mana exploded, hitting both Beatrice and Aryandor.
"......!"
Aryandor was in no shape to withstand the attack, and Beatrice took it all by herself.
Their plan to escape was immediately thwarted, and Luna's magic was nearing its end.
I looked towards Aryandor, swept up in the explosion, then turned back.
"Rudy! It's almost done...!"
At Luna's shout, I smiled and reached out my hand.
"Yeah, thanks."
"…Huh?"
I reached for Luna, taking the spellbook in her hand.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"Ru...dy?"
"I'll be there soon. Go ahead."
Luna's surroundings shimmered, and she opened her eyes wide.
"What is that..."
Then, Beatrice burst out of the explosion.
I opened my mouth.
"Lich."
A skeleton that appeared in front of us blocked Beatrice's path.
"Rudy! Rudy! You idiot!!!"
Luna shouted, but her body disappeared right after.
I had sent her outside before the spatial magic disappeared.
As soon as Luna was out, I felt the spatial magic vanish.
"Ha... So, you really plan to end it like this?"
Aryandor pushed himself up from the floor.
Blood was flowing from his abdomen, and his legs trembled as if standing was a struggle, yet he was smiling.
"Yeah, die with me. If only you weren't here, if only you hadn't come. You have to take responsibility for the mess you made, by dying with me..."
I narrowed my eyes at Aryandor.
"What nonsense have you been spouting?"
"What?"
"Do I look crazy to you? Dying with someone like you?"
I've said it from the start.
I have no intention of dying.
Why does everyone make such a fuss...
I laughed.
"You're just a coward who gets scared and runs away before anything even happens. Do you think I'd die with a coward?"
I've seen what you're going through, but I don't pity you.
The only ones I pity are the people who stood by you.
Those who are being sacrificed even at this moment.
Those who fought for such a worthless cause.
I pity them all.
But not you.
You're just pathetic.
Aryandor looked at me as if I was absurd.
"So, how do you plan to get out of here?"
As he spoke, Beatrice turned around.
The few jars that were left.
Beatrice raised her sword towards those jars.
Bang!!!!
She shattered the jars, and the space began to warp.
I looked at Aryandor in front of me and frowned.
"Yeah, make that face. Were you waiting for Ian Astria or Haruna to save you? Thinking one of them would come to your rescue?"
Aryandor scoffed at me.
I looked down on him with pity.
"That look... that damn look... don't look at me with those eyes!!! Why does everyone look at me with those eyes..."
Ignoring Aryandor, I opened the spellbook Luna left behind.
Flipping through the pages, I spoke.
"Aryandor, do you know? Spatial magic, time magic, dimensional magic, all of it was made by humans. It wasn't anything divine."
"What?"
"Magic created by humans and the future shown by humans. You gave up on that. The future isn't something crafted by a God. That's why I think you're pathetic. Even if it was made by a God, you shouldn't have given up. Especially if they were truly precious to you."
I opened a page in the spellbook and infused it with mana.
"No, time magic... the future... it's something humans can change..."
"You still don't get it."
I looked behind Aryandor.
Beatrice had shattered the last jar.
The dimension trembled.
Boom─
Cracks formed in the ceiling, and the entire space wavered.
I focused on Luna's spellbook, noticing the massive mana leaking out.
Then, a strong gravitational force emerged around me.
It was a concentrated gravitational force, gravity magic.
But it was a bit different.
Its power was much stronger.
I channeled my mana into the spellbook.
"Then, let me show you."
The strong gravitational force occurred around my body.
"…Huff."
I endured it with my body.
"What are you doing?"
I saw it.
Ordinary magic could affect space.
Astina's gravity magic.
Strong gravity can twist space.
Astina showed me this during our duel.
She couldn't handle it as spatial magic, but I'm different.
I have experience using spatial magic.
If there's a tremor in space, I can feel it precisely with my body.
I focused all my senses.
On the twist in space caused by gravity.
Focused on it.
"Ah..."
Aryandor just stared blankly.
"To leave this place, you just need to handle one of the three: space, time, or dimensional magic, right?"
I reached out my hand into the twisting space.
My surroundings wavered.
"That kind of thing... That can't possibly work... Such nonsense..."
"Didn't I tell you? It's all magic made by humans."
Being able to handle space or time magic isn't because of some divine selection.
Because it wasn't magic created by a God.
And everything made by humans has its flaws.
If I could create a similar twist to the one used to enter this place, couldn't I also leave?
I increased the gravity with my mana, creating a twist similar to the one when we entered.
"Ah..."
My surroundings wavered.
I looked forward.
At the crumbling dimension and Aryandor, who was in despair.
He didn't try to stop my magic, nor did he think of escaping the crumbling dimension; he just stared blankly at me.
