༺ Redcliffe (4) ༻
1.
Della felt genuinely irritated.
Her strong desire had abruptly vanished like a campfire doused with cold water.
She had planned to take Sharon to her room and have fun with her, but an annoying fly interrupted her.
Thankfully, her autonomous defense kicked in before she could realize the danger of the ribbon, preventing any actual harm.
No matter what the perpetrator’s intentions behind their action were, the act of tossing her noble body into the air was still a heavy sin.
And so, she was hell-bent on holding them responsible for it.
“…”
“…”
A brief standoff between them occurred, as they silently examined each other.
She noticed that the intruder didn’t fit the typical image of a witch.
Maybe it was because of the armor, but the intruder was towering over 180 centimeters tall.
Apart from that, their whole body was completely covered with seemingly non-magical armor, from their head to toe.
A black knight, that was the impression they gave out.
‘A witch wouldn’t choose such a plain and unattractive look while wandering around.’
Given their eye-catching and unique presence, rumors about them were bound to spread around, but for some reason, she never heard anything about this witch, which meant there was something fishy going on beneath the surface.
That judgment boosted Della’s confidence.
“I am Della Redcliffe, there’s a justifiable reason behind this duel and based on the result, I have the authority to decide Sharon Evergreen’s fate. So, if anyone dares to interfere, I will consider it as an act of hostility and I won’t hesitate to utilize force against them.”
-Whooosh!
As soon as she finished talking, a tiny flame ignited in her left hand.
It was so faint and subtle that one could easily miss it.
However, the heat it generated far exceeded its weak glow.
If Della were to aim it at something, it wouldn’t die out until its target was reduced to ashes.
“…”
Siwoo chose not to respond to her and kept his mouth shut.
After all, if he were to respond, she’d easily be able to identify his gender through his voice.
Though he might be able to outwit her and escape, the matter of his true gender coming to light might lead to future troubles.
“Shouldn’t you at least introduce yourself? And…”
But, that didn’t last long.
Della swung her arm sharply through the air.
Something ominous was coming at him.
-Clang!
Just as he was about to defend himself, a wave of heat and a delayed burst of pain struck his forehead.
His neck bent backward as his helmet flew off, revealing his scorched bangs.
“Ugh!”
That was when he realized that there was something wrong with his assumption.
This witch was incredibly powerful. She was capable of defeating Sharon without sustaining any injuries.
Against her, there was no way that he could easily decide between whether he should fight or flee.
“It’s only polite to show your face to someone you’re meeting for the first time, isn’t it…?”
Her fiery hair, eyes, and the contrasting cold demeanor sent shivers down his spine.
He attempted to conjure another helmet made of shadow as a desperate effort, but judging by his opponent’s reaction, he realized that it was way too late.
“A man…?”
“Fuck… She saw me…”
“A man is using magic…?”
Based on the intensity of their mana, Della had initially thought that this intruder was a 14th or maybe 15th ranked witch, but never did she expect that they were actually a man.
She was baffled, her eyes were wide open as she tilted her head in confusion.
“Since I showed you something amazing, can’t you let this slide?”
Hearing those words, Della’s demeanor turned serious.
Siwoo’s presence challenged the common sense she was familiar with.
But, the reason why her expression changed wasn’t because of that, it stemmed from another matter entirely.
The fact that a man suddenly appeared to rescue Sharon.
It wasn’t hard for her to guess what this implied.
Someone had seized what she intended to acquire.
“I can’t believe this. While you’re fussing about settling your debts, you somehow picked up a boy toy… Your crotch is quite loose, it seems…”
Her sarcasm wasn’t directed at Siwoo, but at Sharon, who lay defeated on the ground, completely drained of energy.
The latter was too tired to let out anything more than a deep sigh.
Not knowing the full situation, Siwoo opted to take over the conversation.
“I don’t know what exactly happened, but I’d appreciate it if you let us go without causing any further trouble.”
He said, raising his hand to show off the Gemini Household’s ring.
Unlike with Ea, he felt like it was possible for him to have a civilized conversation with this particular witch. That was why he figured that he should avoid a direct confrontation if possible.
Della’s gem-like eyes briefly glanced at Siwoo’s hand.
But, her response fell short of his expectations.
He thought that she’d at least show some level of restraint, even if it wasn’t to the extent of what Sharon did back when she first saw the ring, but it wasn’t the case at all.
“Your point? Did you think I’d just back down because you showed me a ring?”
“No, I just thought that you might show the Gemini Household some face—”
“What about my face, then?”
Della cut off his words, dismissing them as if they weren’t even worth hearing.
“It was Evergreen who arbitrarily crossed into my hunting ground. Not only that, I was even trying to help with her treatment because she got seriously hurt. Then, you suddenly came in, demanding me to hand her over for the sake of Countess Gemini’s face or whatnot. Seriously, don’t you think that you’re too arrogant?”
At first glance, her argument made sense, but it wasn’t hard to see how flawed it was when Siwoo put more thought to it.
‘You want to take her away for treatment? Bitch, you were the one who made her like this in the first place.’
Besides, Sharon was determined to regain her citizenship, there was no way that she’d initiate the fight.
Aside from that, there was also the fact that he had spent nearly a month together with Sharon, so there was no way that he’d trust Della over her.
“After I grasp the whole picture, I’ll prepare a fair compensation for you. But for now, I’d be grateful if you allow us to leave.”
“You are free to leave. Just leave her behind.”
Her answer threw Siwoo into a state of unease.
He had mentioned his intention to provide an appropriate compensation, but Della dismissed it and insisted on making him leave Sharon behind. A suspicious response, to say the least.
This left him with only one viable option.
“There’s no other choice then.”
To confront her and buy some time so that Sharon could escape to safety.
As for the aftermath, he could always deal with it later.
Sensing his determination, Della let a crimson aura enveloped her whole body, exuding a powerful presence.
“I won’t dissuade you from doing that. I’ll spare your life to save Countess Gemini’s face, but I’ll still show you something that you won’t ever forget.”
-Boom!
As Della stomped her foot, the entire area began to glow with a radiant light.
Mana flowed out from the brand on her body, forming a huge magic circle in the air.
With that circle as the focal point, the surrounding mana came under her control in an instant.
This unimaginable control over mana extended even to space manipulation.
The clusters of mana intertwined in the air, sometimes dense, sometimes faint, resembling wisps of smoke twisting and turning. Gradually, they formed another magic circle in the air.
Said magic circle hadn’t fully manifested yet, but…
It already generated so much heat that made Siwoo feel that he was being burned alive.
‘She said she won’t be taking my life?’
‘What a load of bullshit.’
Since he didn’t even have an autonomous defense, he had no means to withstand such an intense heat.
If the magic was unleashed, it’d spell his certain death.
“…”
Despite that, he showed no signs of faltering or fear.
He casted his emotions aside, focusing on the urgent matter right in front of him.
Compared to his past self, he had undergone plenty of changes.
Back during his encounter with Ea at Amelia’s mansion or that cat Homunculi in the Latifundium, he had to analyze the workings of a spell by observing its effects.
But now, he needed no such thing. With his left eye, he could already analyze Della’s magical formula.
The ability to see the flow of mana was a significant asset in magic battles.
He found out her magic formula resembled that of a hearth.
From how straightforward its pattern was; A set of three lines forming a wide V-shape, she wasn’t lying when she said that she’d be going all out.
Judging by its form, angles and everything surrounding it, the pattern resembled a shotgun firing mana-fueled flames in three separate bursts.
While each flame might not hold much power by itself, the sheer number made up for it.
Even at first glance, he could see more than a dozen magic circles branching out around her.
“Ignite.”
-Whoosh!
With Della’s chant as a cue, the magic circle absorbed the nearby mana, creating a noise akin to an engine running on overdrive.
Even with Siwoo pouring his everything on defense, there was no way that he’d be able to leave unscathed .
And so, he opted to dispel the magic circle before it could fully activate.
“Bloom!”
“…What?”
The black ribbon on his back started to maneuver through the magic circle.
In general, the exact moment before its activation was the moment when a magic circle was the most vulnerable.
Using his left eye, Siwoo spotted the ‘core’ of each magic circle visible to him and promptly dismantled them using his ribbons.
Like a serpent rising through the air, the ribbon obliterated half of the magic circle before Della could respond.
The way he did it was by mixing his ‘Shadow Particles’ into the magic formula, rendering it ineffective. This was miles better than using ‘Dispel Pin’, which could only disrupt magical flow by using an interference the size of a needle.
-Wooong!
Even so, he still couldn’t destroy all of the magic circles.
There were still too many of them for him to deal with.
As such, after he was done dispelling half of them, he covered his heart and head with his shadow shield.
-Clang! Bang! Booom!
Just before the shield blocked his vision entirely, Siwoo saw a breathtaking scene of vivid bursts of colors and lights, like dazzling fireworks combined with the rapid bursts of shotguns.
The intense flames made of mana clashed with his shadow armor and shield, scattering brilliant sparks with every collision.
-Clang!
“Ugh!”
However, even the shield couldn’t deflect every impact it received.
The blazing sparks, searing at a temperature surpassing hundreds of degrees, burned through his skin, penetrating his armor.
‘Fuck, it’s hot!’
He became concerned as he became fearful of his armor heating up. It reminded him of the brazen bull torture of old.
“You’re quite something.”
After the ten seconds that felt more like an hour had passed, Della’s voice echoed in his ears.
In it mixed in a rare mixture of genuine admiration and surprise.
“Figuring out and getting rid of my repeaters so quickly… Who are you? Are you perhaps a secret weapon created by the Gemini Household?”
Della possessed a unique skill in her manipulation of elemental magic; A method known as ‘Spatial Manipulation.’
Unlike most witches who relied on their internal mana to cast their spells, she used a different approach; Using magic circles as ‘repeaters1Imagine Minecraft’s Redstone Repeater, yeah that’s the repeaters the author is referring to.’ to channel mana from the air and unleash her magic.
While channeling through these repeaters hampered her accuracy to some extent, it provided her with an impressive enough advantage that made up for it; A significant increase in her mana efficiency. This was why she was able to cast a series of powerful spells multiple times after she gained control of the space around her.
“But still, how did you do that? I thought I hid them all well.”
But because she was using that method, she had to conceal the transmission process at all cost, especially since the foundation of her magic relied on it.
And so, when she installed those repeaters, she used her surroundings to mask their presence.
The heat haze surrounding her was one of her ways to disguise them; It was a way to disrupt her opponent’s attempt to identify those repeaters and eliminate any clues to their whereabouts.
However, Siwoo managed to see through that and somehow managed to dispel the repeaters.
It made her wonder if he just had really sharp senses or if he possessed a self-essence magic that allowed him to detect things easily.
Nevertheless, the answer wasn’t of any importance to her. She could live with losing a few repeaters.
After all, she could easily create several hundreds of them without any difficulty.
Without wasting a moment, she proceeded to do just that.
“Phew…”
Siwoo took a deep breath.
His armor had cooled off, but it didn’t do much to relieve the dampness from his sweat-soaked body.
And his whole body still felt unbearably hot, making it difficult for him to breathe.
However, he believed that victory was still within his reach.
From the recent clash, Siwoo managed to find out the sequence in which Della’s magic was activated.
Firstly, she preinstalled her magic circles in the air. Then, she channeled the mana from her brand into those magic circles. After that, the installed magic circles would draw mana from their surroundings and utilize it. Lastly, they would unleash the magic, all at once.
Indeed, the sequence was clear to him.
So, how could he gain the upper hand against her?
Usually, in battles, his instinct always showed him nearly correct solutions.
But, that same instinct was giving him a clear solution, a sureway for him to win.
There was something Siwoo possessed that Della lacked.
And so, he needed to leverage that advantage to the fullest.
He raised his reinforced armor’s strength without holding anything back, opting for a close combat.
At the same time, he used to use his ribbons to dispel all the floating magic circles.
“Haah!”
He took a deep breath.
Putting all his strength to his legs, he propelled his body forward, crushing the asphalt below him as if it were tofu.
Raising his shield high, he charged directly at Della.
Footnotes:
1Imagine Minecraft’s Redstone Repeater, yeah that’s the repeaters the author is referring to.
