Chapter 80

【Black Lightning】

After finally returning to his original body, the being who had long been called 'Saint Mystra'—indeed, once simply known as 'Mystra'—cast one of the most powerful spells at his disposal. He felt a great sense of doubt.

——This is strange.

It shouldn't be like this.

Just now, he had unleashed the Black Lightning with the intent to destroy the being before him. He had done so with full force, fully aware of the strain it would put on his precious body. Yet, why was the human still alive after he had released it?

This was a supreme strike that had once reached even those called gods. Once activated, it accepted no counterattack or defense, almost invincible. It was a technique that the frail humans of today could never achieve, a magic that guaranteed destruction.

If he had released it, any opponent would have been destroyed instantly.

Yet.

Yet, why——

“Parii”

Why was it being deflected by that thin sword?

It was impossible.

The man before him had parried the lightning, which was released at the speed of light, with his sword—forcibly, and sent it flying. With that small thing's strength?

It couldn't be.

What was happening?

That strike had the power to create a massive hole in the ground, stretching to the horizon. How could it be so easily deflected?

This shouldn't happen—no, that's not right.

Admit it.

The man standing before him now is indeed strange. His knowledge, accumulated over tens of thousands of years, doesn't apply to this abnormal being. It's hard to believe, but the events so far speak for themselves.

There's no choice but to admit it.

This is an unknown threat.

Mystra suppressed the intense sense of wrongness in his mind and continued to observe the phenomena unfolding before him.

After casting the Black Lightning several more times, Mystra reached a realization.

He still didn't understand the principle, but it seemed that when the lightning hit that black sword, the trajectory of the magic was altered in a strange direction.

——Then, there is a corresponding method.

【Black Annihilation Flame】

Mystra then produced his highest-level destructive magic—black and crimson flames that could burn everything to ashes. The scorching heat could vaporize iron in an instant. Mystra, without hesitation, drained the magic he had intended to preserve for a few thousand more years, covering the entire space in sight.

The ultimate trump card among his many techniques.

The consumption was severe.

But in this situation, there was no room for hesitation.

Mystra had once used this to burn entire countries and continents in an instant.

The man was an abnormal being.

But if he were to be hit by this, a frail human would be nothing.

The power was so great that even the user would be in danger.

Therefore, it should have been a sure kill.

Just two people should be nothing more than dust.

They should have turned to ashes instantly, without needing to confirm.

That was how it should have been.

There should be no exceptions.

If not for the cowardly schemes of the small beings that sealed him in this stone, he could have destroyed everything on the ground with this. Mystra thought this as he had spent a long time here.

——If the conditions for using this were met, there was no way he could lose.

This was his ultimate technique, so reliable.

That was the 【Black Annihilation Flame】.

——Yet.

It shouldn't be like this.

“Parii”

——Why wasn't the man being burned to ashes?

Why wasn't he turning to ashes immediately?

And why was he calmly approaching?

Deflecting the flames with his sword?

Everything was wrong.

This was absolutely impossible.

The man was still advancing straight toward him, his body being scorched by the flames, his skin turning to ash and regenerating repeatedly.

——An inexhaustible, regenerative power.

How could this be possible?

What was happening?

Who was this man?

It was no longer just abnormal.

He was something else—such a monster shouldn't exist.

——No, calm down.

It wasn't just the man's power.

It was the woman.

——The half-elf woman, Astira.

She was weakening the flames and aiding the man's recovery. Even after being sealed for two hundred years, she still had such power.

He had always highly valued the woman's blood and body, but it seemed he had underestimated her.

Mystra, surprised, reassessed the situation. There was no longer any room for deception.

——His power was insufficient.

He was weakening.

He felt that this body wouldn't last much longer.

It had been twenty thousand years since he was sealed.

He had destroyed the mechanism that drained his power and returned him to the labyrinth, but by then, he had aged too much.

At most, he had another ten thousand years... or perhaps just a few thousand.

His body had deteriorated more than he imagined.

——But even so.

He shouldn't be falling behind these small beings.

Their existence was on a different level from his.

Compared to him, they were inferior in knowledge, technology, and physical structure.

It should have been easy to dispose of these two.

A little power, and he could easily subdue them.

That was how it should have been.

——Yet, why?

“Parii”

Mystra couldn't believe what he was seeing.

——It was impossible.

Not only was he casting flames, but he had also erected countless of the highest-level 'Defensive Barriers' he could form.

The stronger the force used to create a barrier, the more solid it became.

Even the half-elf body, which could produce barriers hundreds of times stronger than a normal individual, was incomparable to this body.

The path to the labyrinth's core was covered with defensive barriers created at the half-elf body's maximum output, but Mystra was now producing far superior 'Barriers' at a rate of dozens in the time it took for a single blink.

An excessive 'Absolute Defensive Barrier'.

He had never had to focus so much on defense. Now, a dazzling blue fortress of 'Barriers' surrounded Mystra.

Naturally, with such solid defenses, no attack should reach him. Even his highest-level attack magic, the Black Lightning, cast at maximum power, couldn't penetrate it.

——Yet, the man.

How could he shatter them as if they were nothing? How could he destroy them so easily?

The man continued to advance, his body scorched by the scorching flames, and had already destroyed thousands of barrier walls.

His momentum didn't stop.

——It was unbelievable.

Mystra couldn't remain calm as the 'Barriers', which should have been superior to anything in this era, were being shattered one after another by the small being before him.

Before he could generate the next layer, hundreds of barriers were struck and disappeared in an instant by the black sword in the man's hand.

What was this man? Who was he?

He was the one causing all this chaos.

Why did such a being exist?

——No, that's not all.

He had overlooked something.

Why hadn't he noticed it before?

The man was abnormal, but——the sword.

The sword was the problem.

Why hadn't he noticed it before?

——That 'black sword'.

It must have been the one the Foolish King excavated from the depths of the 'No Return Labyrinth' and possessed.

He had recognized it as probably the pinnacle of relics.

The 'No Return Labyrinth' should have a powerful being sealed within.

Naturally, the burial goods should be of the highest class of the time, which he had been eyeing.

He had completely misjudged it.

It wasn't just a top-tier relic.

——Far from it.

It was something entirely different.

A unique existence, so far removed from anything else in this world that comparing it to anything else was absurd.

——Why hadn't he noticed it until now?

It was a completely different level of existence. Too different.

He had heard stories of such things existing.

He knew that the small beings of the past had created something unusual in their final struggle.

But this was the first time he had seen the real thing.

The more he saw, the more he felt threatened.

He could see it.

It was an abnormal composition, something that shouldn't exist, far beyond any other relic.

——'Conceptual Matter'.

——In that era, twenty thousand years ago.

In what is now called the mythological age, the pinnacle of the small beings' civilization, gathered to create the ultimate and unique achievement. A substance that could "interfere with everything and not be interfered with by anything," a contradiction that should never exist in reality.

A unique, supreme weapon, capable of opposing even conceptual gods, formed using this substance.

Why was it there?

It was——it alone was far beyond the term 'pinnacle'.

It was a singularity in the era of that flourishing civilization, something that any being seeking power would give everything to obtain, one of the greatest existences in the world.

And in this era, where there were no longer any worthy opponents, possessing it——meant controlling everything.

To think it had already been excavated.

But, from the looks of it, the sword had lost all its power.

It was severely damaged, and its functions should have stopped.

The properties of that contradictory substance seemed to remain, but due to its intricate structure, it shouldn't be usable in that state.

It shouldn't even be possible to hold and use it.

Yet.

Even so——

“Parii”

Why was the man wielding that sword?

It shouldn't be wieldable like that.

It was an ultimate substance that shouldn't even be touched.

Yet, why——

Why was the man.

Wielding it so casually.

Everything was wrong.

The man——the sword the man held.

“Parii”

The man's sword pierced through all of Mystra's barriers.

Simultaneously, the extreme flames he had created enveloped and scorched Mystra's body.

——

Pain after twenty thousand years.

Frustration after twenty thousand years.

Confusion after twenty thousand years.

Mystra let out a silent scream, his throat unable to produce sound.

——This is wrong. This shouldn't happen.

This is impossible.

If this continues, he would be killed by this small being.

He, Mystra, the supreme being, once called the one closest to a god in that era.

By such a being.

By such a sudden and unexpected existence.

——There should be no such ending for him.

He had thought so.

Why——

“Parii”

Why did the man's sword reach him?

What was this man?

This man was wrong.

Everything was a contradiction.

The man wielded a sword that shouldn't be wielded, deflected lightning that shouldn't have been deflected, and pierced through barriers that shouldn't have been broken——and now, shattered his jaw, which should have been untouchable.

——

At that moment, Mystra recalled an old emotion he had forgotten long ago, and let out a voiceless cry from his scorched, fleshless throat.

——It was a cry of fear, a fear of the unknown.

Simultaneously, Mystra abandoned all his plans.

——Ah. It's over.

The changes to his plans were unavoidable.

He couldn't leisurely stage his revival anymore.

It couldn't be helped.

The being standing before him was that powerful.

But, it was a pity to lose those.

——Tirens.

He had truly expected and cared for him as a new body.

He was an excellent, well-made body.

They had finally grown to a reproductive age, and the exchange with the old body was almost complete.

It was a real pity that it was interrupted at the last moment.

And——Linnelburg.

He was almost within reach.

As a backup for the next body and a new mother.

A rare individual with excellent 'blood'.

If he could obtain that 'blood', the country would flourish even more.

He could reliably and steadily increase the number of superior beings.

They would become good flesh for this body.

He had thought so. But now, he would lose that opportunity.

Most of all——the 'Mystra Theocracy'.

The beloved country he had built from scratch, a country that revered him.

He had gathered numbers from across the continent, created doctrines to smooth his revival, and established the authority to support the faith.

The population in the capital had gradually increased, and the foundation for his revival was steadily in place.

But even with the increase, it was still insufficient to satisfy his hunger.

The numbers were still too few to satisfy his hunger.

He would feast when the country grew more.

He had waited patiently, enjoying the preparations.

It was a real pity that everything would be ruined.

Losing everything he had built over time was truly regrettable.

But——it was fine.

He had to give up.

He had to use all the power he possessed to defeat the man before him.

He had already realized this.

There was no other choice.

——Yes.

Fortunately, he had time.

An almost eternal amount of time.

There was no need to rush.

It was a pity to lose what he had built over the past two hundred years, but he could start over.

As long as he survived, there would be another chance.

——

Mystra, his body scorched by the flames, quietly accepted this.

Indeed, now was——the time to harvest.

It was just a little earlier than he had thought.

He could consider this a rehearsal for the next time he would build his nest.

This was inevitable.

Something that had to happen.

The destruction of the country he had built was an unavoidable means and its result.

It was a path he couldn't avoid.

——Then, let's raise a grand toast.

——

Mystra opened his jawless mouth and laughed silently, feeling the deep hunger and thirst he had endured for twenty thousand years in his scorched throat.

And so, Mystra, having made the decision to abandon everything he had built, burst out of the 'cage' where he had been long confined, now nothing more than a convenient hiding place.