Chapter 65: Ada’s Full Strength

「Henceforth, the duel between Lily and Adanulbus shall now begin! I, Kent Blanco Leo Iglesio, and-」 「Urania will take the role of the witness.」

The underground training grounds were considerably large, probably capable of fitting three basketball courts inside. The wall and ceiling are made of hard stone with magic circles and symbols engraved in it that’s likely to increase its durability and to absorb magic power.

The floor seems to be made of wood, but it’s probably not just any normal wood. It’s not like it would be a problem if it was but when I tried hammering a “Burn” into the floor, it absorbed its magic power, not leaving even scorch marks behind. As expected of a room boasting of being able to withstand a “Corona Burn”.

「The use of combat magic with high lethal potential are forbidden, attacking after either one of you has lost consciousness or voiced their surrender is forbidden, and if things turn dangerous, we will stop the match by force, so bear that in mind.」 「Oi, gramps!」 「What?」 「Ban body contact too! If she gets physical when she can’t win with magic, I’m not going to have any chances!1」

Ohh, she admitted it. In the first place, she turned it into a magic fight since her pranks were ineffective after all.

「I don’t mind it.」 「Very well then, physical contact is forbidden as well. As it is a duel, the victor will have the right to make a single demand against the defeated. You two, do you have any in mind?」

It’ll be simple to demand Ada to listen to her tutor’s lessons. However, if she’s not willing, it’ll just end up badly in some way. With that in mind, if I can taunt her just a bit more…..

「Nothing for now. I’ll think of it after I win.」 「Wha-…… Then I’ll order you one thing after I win too!」

Haha, to think that she’d get tricked that easily. Old man Kent is just shaking his head while letting out a deep sigh. The importance of having the victor’s demands established before the duel is to avoid being forced to do outrageous stuff after the duel, and yet she doesn’t understand this even though I do.

Well, let’s see…… to make it easy for her to understand how unconditional and unrestricted chips work, I guess I’ll demand her after-dinner dessert if I win or something. She’s still too young for demanding money, her body2, her household, authority, and such. It’s most optimal to have something that’s understandable, non-credit, and, although temporarily damaging, won’t have any consequences for her future. Well, I’m going to scare her a bit though.

「Haah… both parties have consented. Well then, are you ready?…… Begin!」

Hearing old man Kent’s signal, Ada immediately moved. The moment we’re given the signal, she had already prepared “Cut” and “Burn” on each hand respectively. While magic essentially doesn’t need chanting, I didn’t expect that she can cast two magics at the same time.

「Get blown away! “Blast Burn”!」

Ada joined the two magics together, and after yelling a magic that I don’t know, she activates it. Adding the wind attribute “Cut” to the fire attribute “Burn”. It’s simple but I guess by sending compressed wind into a combustion-type magic, she turned it into a more powerful exploding magic.

Being under the impression that magic can be only used by itself up until now, I was literally wide-eyed in surprise.3

「—! Whoops, that’s dangerous. “Create Water” 」

Since it really surprised me, I decided to show her a little trick as well. The wall of water I fabricated engulfed Ada’s “Blast Burn”, boiling instantly then exploding. If I do the same thing with water made by magic, the water would evaporate and cover our sights with steam. However, it only absorbed the force and heat of “Blast Burn” before vanishing.

Naturally, the water now wasn’t made with magic, but with my skill 【Dream Fabrication】. Things created by 【Dream Fabrication】 disappear like a dream if they’re even chipped a bit. In case of things with no permanent shape such as water, once it changes its state; in other words, when it turns into water vapor like what happened now, it returns to being a dream.4

While it might be a bit unfair that I used my Skill instead of magic, the only difference if I used magic would be having steam around us anyway, so I hope it’s still within the scope.

「Kuh! Then what about this! “Blizzard”!!」

This time Ada brought forth a blizzard sweeping over the whole training ground. I even went out of the way to make sure to secure our vision, it still happened anyway.

The cold wind rushed towards me like it had a will of its own, but I already finished casting my magic. This blizzard will never reach me now.

「Not done yet! “Tornado”!! How about! That!!」

Beyond the white landscape, I hear Ada’s triumphant voice. However, it was immediately drowned out by the sound of destructive winds that gradually approached and engulfed me.

◆◇◆◇◆5

「Haah, haah, haah…… Haha, there’s no way she’d block this! Gramps! End the duel! She’s going to die!」

I screamed towards gramps’ direction. Grandpa Kent. I respected him in the past, but after hearing that he ran away from his duty as a sorcerer, I couldn’t respect him anymore. The only one I can trust is father. I can’t trust mom when she just left me nor can I trust grandma, who’s only sticking up for gramps.

Since I can’t even trust my own family, like I’d believe those arrogant, condescending tutors or these random adventurers that came from who knows where!

「The battle hasn’t ended yet.」 「Oi!! What about you!? Are you fine with this!? She’s going to die, you know!?」 「Nh? If it’s just that, Lily’s fine.6」

What are they even talking about? She’s trapped in my “Tornado” and her stamina is continuously sapped by the “Blizzard”. In a few minutes, she’ll freeze to death. No, even before that, if she doesn’t get free now, it’ll probably leave some permanent side effects. I might not trust her, but I don’t hate her to the point of killing her.

When I was conflicted on dispelling my magic, an intense light suddenly flashed from inside the “Tornado”.

It was far too bright. It probably lasted about three seconds. The light illuminated the whole training ground and ripped both my “Blizzard” and “Tornado” to pieces.

Once, just once, I’ve seen that light. It was before I could use magic, a magic that father only showed me for one second.

「“Corona Burn”……」

It’s the real thing. It’s not like the fakes me and gramps use. It’s the real “Corona Burn”.

◆◇◆◇◆7

Phew, that was close. While I did have a “Barrier” around me, I didn’t think that a “Tornado” would cover the whole area. While the inside of the “Barrier” was calm like the eye of the storm, I would’ve suffocated to death at that rate.

From inside the “Barrier”, I practically had no magic in my repertoire strong enough to offset two weather manipulating magic. To be exact, several do come to mind, but most of them would risk blowing away the whole training ground at worst; so I ended up choosing one that I already used once and can control, “Corona Burn”.

「Why…」 「Hm?」 「Why… Why can someone like you use that!!!」

Ada was enraged. She’s so angry that she doesn’t even notice that her face is covered in her own tears. I have no idea of why Ada would show this much anger against me. Confused, I looked towards old man Kent and he also had a surprised look on his face. They didn’t know that I could use “Corona Burn”?8

「Well even if you ask me that, I just… can.9」

A god reincarnated me and made it so I can use a lot of magic. There’s no way I can say that. It was just on the list, so I just used it. I’m not saying anything wrong.

「Don’t f̲u̲c̲k̲ with me! You! If some random guy like you can use it! Then even I!!!!!!」

Saying that, Ada gathered magic power in her right hand. The large amount of magic power within her young body gathers into the same place and is being compressed.

This is the exact process to cast “Corona Burn”. However, I don’t know if it’s because Ada can’t control her magic power well but it’s awfully unstable. Even still, she forcefully compresses her magic power and braces herself to push it out of her body to bring forth an artificial sun.

「Stop!!」 「Crap!」

Old man Kent and my voice overlapped. At this rate, if she successfully brings forth an artificial sun, “Corona Burn” would be completed. However, Ada can only control it until that point. She still can’t last long enough to destroy it. Released from her control, “Corona Burn” probably wouldn’t stop even after everything is burned to ash.

While this room’s defenses can withstand its heatwaves, it can’t withstand the heat of the artificial sun itself. I’ve already confirmed the room’s durability that time I shot “Burn” earlier. And even if it does endure the “Corona Burn”, the four of us here would be practically dead. If we don’t stop it before it gets released outside Ada’s body, it’s going to be a disaster.

I ran towards Ada at full speed and reached out to her right arm.

But I was a second, no, an instant, just one blink too late.

A highly condensed clump of magic power came out of Ada’s right hand and our eyes were then dyed in pure white.10