CH 180.1

Translator: Jiro Editor: Ryunakama

I lifted my prosthetic arm and pointed it at Bertram.

I launched a barrage of attacks at him, but he managed to avoid the majority of them. So I simply upped the attack speed.

Just as I thought, close-range combat isn’t his forte.

「WHAT A TURN OF EVENTS ZEPH IS HITTING AND HITTING AND HITTING HIM! Bertram has been pushed back to the point where he can no longer cast spells and must defend!!!」

「It’s not ethical to harass your frail elders like this, young man.」

「Frail my ass, don’t make me laugh… Though, now that I think about it, it wouldn’t hurt you to train your body a bit.」

「I really can’t wing against you youngsters.」 Bertram said, swinging his arm.

Behind it a line of flames appeared, closely following the movements of his arm.

The line grew ticker, covering Bertram’s body and beginning to circle around him.

Is that a familiar…? No, it’s something else.

Bertram didn’t miss my slight moment of confusion.

The flame circling around him immediately separated from his body and launched itself at me.

「Wh…?!」

I immediately put up my prosthetic arm to absorb it, however, as soon as my arm was touched by the flames, it grew bright red.

Hot, hot! What frightening heat!

To reduce the heat, I cast Blue Ball, and steam began to emerge from my arm as I did so.

The Isolated Spaces were surrounded by a peculiar barrier that prevented the people inside from taking damage and instead diminished their magical power.

However, there were instances where spells were able to breach the barrier’s tolerance thresholds, causing physical harm rather than reducing the opponent’s magic power.

One type of spells that could do that, were spells specialized in dealing damage.

It appears to be relatively simple, yet its power is terrifying… He most likely increased the spell’s damage to this degree by pouring a great deal of magic power into it.

「It’s your first time seeing it I presume? This is my Unique Spell… Its name is Flame of Flame.」 Bertram said, as the Flame of Flame flickered in the area.

The flames constantly changed their shape and speed as they launched themselves at me.

Tsch… I won’t be able to dodge this. Still, if I created some distance between us Bertram will be able to put up his spell barrier, leaving me without any options. Offense if the defense I guess.

Just as I thought that, shivers went down my spine.

The saying between the devil and the deep blue sea perfectly describes my current situation.

However, despite being faced with a hopeless situation a smile still formed on my lips. How exciting.

「To think that you’d smile in this situation. You really are a strange one.」

「Thank you…!」

I once again dashed at the calm-looking Bertram.

◆ ◆ ◆

The Unique Spell: Flame of Flame.

Bertram had obtained that spell after sending Zeph off to the Other World.

He had thought that by sending him far away, his daughter, Elise, would eventually forget about him.

However, Elise had begun to talk about Zeph even more as a result of his actions.

She’d always say things along the lines of 「I wonder what Zeph’s doing right now.」 「I’m so worried.」 「Father, how could you send him there.」 

Everything had completely backfired on him

Which in turn had sent Bertram into a panic.

It had been the first time in his life that he had felt these kinds of feelings.

Up until now he had been able to achieve anything he desired without exerting too much effort, be it money, honor, or power.

Everything he’d wanted, he’d achieve. That went for his daughter as well. That was until Zeph showed up.

If this goes on Elise and that man will end up… What can I do to stop this?!

He had spent countless nights pondering on what to do, when suddenly a single line of flames had appeared beside him.

Despite its placid demeanor, it had been a ferocious and powerful flame. Its strength was so immense that it was able to defy the rules of the Isolated Space.

Unique Spells are a reflection of the heart. They are often born due to strong feelings, such as despair…

Bertram had been a bit apprehensive towards his Unique Spell.

That was because it was a depiction of his desire to kill Zeph.

His friend and another one of the Heavenly Mages, Rhox, had commented on it, saying that it had been just like him 「Ferocious, yet calm」

Bertram had denied it for a long time, however Unique Spells didn’t lie.

Fufu, so be it then. I’ll follow my heart.

This had been the first time in his life that Bertram had shown such a creepy smile.

Right now, the flames circling him were the sheer representation of his emotions.

◆ ◆ ◆

Flame of Flame…! Bertram’s Unique Spell named after his title as a Heavenly Mage, huh. It surely lives up to that name. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m completely out of options. No matter how strong it may be, a flame is still a flame. Its nature is still the same. In order for it to keep burning and maintain its heat it needs air. So how about this?

I once again called on Divine Greatsword Ainbelle, and while dodging Bertram’s attacks I cast Blue Crash four times.

After imbuing them into the sword I proceeded to cast Time Square. While time was stopped I cast Blue Crash four more times.

Octa Fusion: Blue Crash Octa.

The mass of water completely engulfed Divine Greatsword Ainbelle, forming a massive water blade.

This thick density of water, with this just maybe…

I blocked the incoming flames with the water blade and upon doing so a booming sound and steam covered the area.

Albeit only little, Bertram’s flame shrank in size.

「If it isn’t your Unique Spell. I haven’t seen it since that day.」

「That’s right. There’s more than one way to use it…!」

「I can imagine most of them.」 Bertram said in a bored manner.

His face was filled with disappointment.

However, I didn’t care about it and just swung down Divine Greatsword Ainbelle.

The leftover water blade was roughly the size of three Blue Crashes.

So in order to power it up a bit more, I cast Black Crash three times.

Hexa Fusion: Spiral Crash Triple.

The magic power one again surrounded the blade and I thrust it straight at Bertram’s chest.

However, the blade covered in Spiral Crash Triple, didn’t even reach him.

Bertram had cast a Red Sphere, which engulfed me and halted my actions before I recognized it.

「ARGHHHHH!!!」

The flames exploded sending me flying back.

I was careless… I was too focused on his Flame of Flame.

Bertram didn’t appear to be controlling the flames; instead, the flames seemed to attack their foe on their own.

And while I had been way too focused on dealing with the Flame of Flame, he had been able to set up a Red Sphere.

「Each time you activate that spell you create a huge opening; you know? The reason you didn’t notice up until now is probably because you’ve only fought against weaklings…」 Bertram said with a disappointed look.

Of course I know about it. However, the opening doesn’t even last a second, so it’s impossible to abuse it during a fight. But I guess that doesn’t include him… It seems like the Flame of Flame title isn’t just for show.

I attempted to get up with a crooked smile on my face, but it appeared that I had received more damage than I had anticipated.

I placed my hands on my wavering knees and somehow managed to push myself back up.

「Tsch… Just as I finally managed to get close. What should I do now?」

Just as I was thinking that, Bertram took a step back.

The shimmering remnants of magic power were enough to let me know the sheer size of the spell he was preparing.

A magic sphere appeared and with each passing moment it grew bigger and bigger.

If he launched that I won’t be able to stop it!

I immediately began to run so as to try and dodge it, however, I didn’t know that I was running on top of Bertram’s palm.

On the path I was running, a slew of spells awaited me.

This is bad…! 

Countless explosions rang out and I could feel my body being enveloped in heat.

I desperately tried to clutch onto my consciousness as it tried to fly away.

The damage is way too big… It looks like I’ve lost quite a bit of magic power.

On the side, Bertram was looking down at me with a cold gaze.

「Well you could say you did well. Zeph Einstein. So just give up and let it end.」

As he said that, numerous bullets made out of magic power appeared before me.

Following that, I was engulfed in a blinding light.

Urgh… My eyes. D-Did I lose? …No. My body can still move and I can still feel my magic power. It seems like I managed to get out unscathed.

「Gramps, why are you acting like such a scaredy cat!」

Standing above me was Ain in her human form.

Just now, she had used her body to block all of the incoming attacks.

「A-Ain…?」

「Sheesh. How pathetic of you, gramps.」 Ain said in a nonchalant manner.

However, I could clearly see that her body had been wounded by Bertram’s attack.

Since Ain’s body was made of magic power, the damage she suffered in the Isolated Spaces was greater than usual.

Which is why she was currently on the verge of disappearing.

I promptly stood up and began to scold her.

「Y-YOU IDIOT! Do you know what you just did?!」

「Sheesh, yea, yea, I know. It hurts like hell after all…」

「Then why…」

「Because I don’t want to see you lose, gramps. Come on now, wipe that sad face and use that on me. The thing you used to make you older.」

「…Are you talking about Time Manipulate?」

「Yea, that!」