With my body right in front of Legris already, I proceeded to coat myself in dense Aether to withstand the sheer amount of Nether he emitted.
It was more than enough to serve as resistance, and with all the current amplifications I was receiving from the Arcanas, and Spellcraft… there was no way I could lose!
"[Dark Hori—]"
"[Dissonance]" The moment I uttered those words, the Spell Legris was about to make instantly dissipated, causing his eyes to widen in shock.
My hand instantly went for his throat, but he swiftly escaped my reach by leaping far away from me… or so he thought.
~WHUUUUSH!~
I arrived at his destination before even he did, and my fingers tightly strapped themselves on his throat before he could even react to my speed.
"Keuk!" He croaked, unable to comprehend what was about to follow.
My fingers crushed his throat as I tightly held them with my great strength, and the moment he offered some resistance in form of his hands moving, I used Spellcraft to control the environment around him, instantly crushing the both of them.
I twisted both his hands, causing them to whirr on his shoulder like spinning fans.
'While we're at it too…' My gaze shifted to his legs.
I applied the same pressure to his legs, causing every bone in them to turn into dust based on the pressure alone.
"Aaaar—!" I silenced his scream by removing my hand from his throat, placing my hand over his face instead.
Forcefully closing his jaw, I concentrated a phenomenal amount of energy on my fist.
"Sometimes… what monsters like you need…" The glow on my fist magnified a million times over as I narrowed my gaze on Legris.
"... Is unbridled violence."
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!~
My heavy blow sent a shockwave reverberating across the space around us, and the hit instantly sent Legris flying far beyond the planet's reach.
The blazing trail he left behind as he forcefully left the stratosphere was visible. I could only imagine the amount of pain that was coursing through him.
But I didn't care.
This was only the beginning.
"After all, Legris…"
I instantly appeared beside him, both of us now in the vast expanse of space. His eyes were bleeding heavily, and every bone in his body was broken, and all his parts were barely functioning due to the overwhelming pressure Spellcraft was generating on all ends.
"... This is all your fault."
"Y-you—!"
My bombardment of Aether, and the use of Spellcraft to constantly activate [Dissonance] prevented him from even leaking out the slightest bit of energy to form a Spell without instantly being attacked by my abundant Aether.
He could do nothing to stop me, while I could do everything to destroy him.
"[S Bomb: Level 999]"
Compressing the energies of so many S Bombs, I created an orb and flung Legris into it, using Spellcraft to create the perfect chamber to hold the blast.
"You're unable to die, right? You should handle this pretty well…"
~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!~
The eruption was contained, but even I could feel the pressure from beyond the glass-like barrier that Legris was trapped in.
The beauty about the S Bomb I just initiated wasn't that it generated an extremely powerful explosion, but the constant increase in temperature and destruction as the enemy acclimated to the explosion.
The result of that was Legris' screams piercing my ears as he suffered the agonizing pain of being burned alive over and over again.
"Do you see now? The suffering all those people went through because of you! They didn't deserve it!"
No matter one's goals, they weren't meant to achieve them if that meant hurting others.
Of course, I thought of some ways I could use Magic back in my past life, despite being inept. However, that meant I would have to sacrifice the lives of people to study the method and harness their Cores.
I had to draw the line at some point.
'No matter how much power you desire… you should never hurt anyone in the process!'
As I had this thought, I suddenly noticed something emanating from Legris.
It was the same blackish substance from earlier—the one that swallowed the incredibly condensed energy fragment.
'What is he trying to do? Does he want to use that power?' I thought to myself with caution.
However, what puzzled me most was the existence of the black substances that were leaking out of him as he burned.
Despite my [Dissonance], it didn't seem to be meeting any resistance.
No, it was the exact opposite.
The way I perceived it, the blast and my Spellcraft were only making the murky liquid stronger as it continued to fester, covering Legris' body.
'No… I can't allow that!'
Whether he would use the black energy to heal, or vanish, I couldn't allow it.
'It's not Aether. It's not Nether either. What is this… this disturbing mix?!' I couldn't comprehend it.
However, that didn't mean I wasn't going to stop it.
I swiftly undid the explosion, dissipating it and the containment chamber with Spellcraft, while rushing towards Legris with a deep scowl on my face.
"[Original Magic: Great Sage's Memoir]."
The moment my Original Magic was activated, the pages of my grand book flipped to the perfect page I required at this point.
"[Soul Hunt]!"
The black energy was almost done covering Legris, but before it could complete the process, I used my Spell to attack the propelling force and agent behind the darkness.
Legris' Soul.
Using Jane's Soul Magic, along with a few modifications on my end, I could attack the Soul and ultimately the Core of my targets.
"Keuk!" I encountered instant resistance from his Soul, but I wasn't going to give up now.
'The [Soul Hunt] Spell is too weak to take down the resistance, but any stronger and I might have to destroy it!'
I was stuck in a precarious situation.
Letting Legris escape my clutches, or using the most advanced Soul Spell to reach his inner self before it was too late.
Time was running out, and I had to make my choice.
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[A/N]
What choice should Jared make in the heat of this moment?
Let's hear your thoughts!