A Returner's Magic Should Be Special Chapter 170

*Thud-d-d-d-d*
The shockwaves radiating out ceased and the ground soon stopped shaking. The after-effect of Desir and Dracul's arranged spells demolished the surrounding area and replaced it with a dense cloud of dust. From all the debris in the air, the two struggled to locate each other, and the battle fell into a momentary lull.
The moment the dust settled down, Desir was found standing on top of a large mound of rubble from a collapsed building. His body was scarred here and there by the shrapnel.
“I see, you were over there.”
Desir looked up towards the source of the voice. Dracul was seated with her legs crossed, looking down upon him from the rooftop of a building that looked about ready to crumble. It was the only building in the surrounding area that still looked vaguely like a building should.
'It's a good thing that we evacuated all the citizens.'
Desir looked around.
As far as his eye could see, there was only ash and rubble. The city had been largely destroyed in less than ten minutes.
This terrible scene of naked destruction had been caused by just two people.
“Kwarghhh!”
A faint, horrible shriek was heard from afar.
The march of the madmen continued despite the explosions caused by the two. This amalgamated army, consisting of soldiers from both the Imperial Army and the Outsiders, continued to grow in size.
Despite the intense destruction, the army of madmen continued to grow. Both Desir and Dracul had fought while deliberately avoiding damaging the growing mob, though both of them with a different reason.
Dracul wanted the madmen to destroy the harbor. This goal would be fulfilled as long as she maintained the spell, and was not forced to retreat.
The defense of the harbor was the most important objective for the Imperial Army. Having one of their two supply routes destroyed would be a devastating blow. In order to defend the harbor, they had to block the madmen, but Desir did not do so.
'They can return to normal if I break the spell.'
Desir bore in mind that there remained a possibility that they could be returned to normal.
The Imperial Army's fate was resting on Desir's ability to defeat Dracul and stop the mad men peacefully before they could destroy the harbor.
Though the reasons differed, their purposes were the same and so they both avoided harming the madmen, gradually moving the battlefield further away. Eventually, they reached an area where they could no longer affect the madmen.
Dracul stepped forward and criticized Desir's aspiration.
“You still haven't given up hope, have you? Even in this desperate situation?”
“You never know.”
Desir's voice was icy. He was like this whenever he was facing those whom he judged as evil.
'Her mana is not infinite.'
Desir judged that the secret of Dracul's endless amount of mana was the accumulation of blood.
If her Imagery Magic allowed her to control blood, it wasn't strange to assume that she was accumulating blood and utilizing it when needed.
However, this did not mean she had an absolute or infinite amount of mana.
“Ah, right. I have an idea! Why don't you try using your most powerful spell? The spell which defeated Dadenewt in one blow. Maybe you could overcome this situation with that?”
Dracul spoke with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Of course, that's only if you have the time to cast a spell.”
Blood started to gather in front of Dracul.
[Blood Astarue]
The gathered blood circled around and tens of thousands of blood circles were created. Those circles then spread out in all directions.
This enormous power had formed so rapidly. A spell, reaching the Fifth-Circle, had an overwhelming might that threatened to sweep away everything.
Desir invoked a spell without delay in order to respond to it.
“You are not even worthy of using a spell of that level.”
“Let's see how long you can keep up with that nonsense.”
Both of their spells were invoked almost simultaneously.
The level of their power was equal.
Both spells canceled each other out and disappeared.
Dracul had heard about Desir from Crow Mask, but was astonished at the fact that a Third-Circle magician could exhibit this kind of ability.
After facing him head-on, she couldn't help admitting that there was probably no one else that could handle mana as effectively as him.
But that was it.
Dracul thought to herself.
'There's no changing the fact that I will win.'
The difference in amount of mana between magicians in a duel was considered to be the absolute deciding factor that dictates who wins. It was not an easy factor that can be overcome. It was the absolute difference between a normal magician and one with a natural gift.
She thought that in the end, Desir's mana would be exhausted first, even if he eked out all of the efficiency that he could.
As she grew more and more confident in her victory, she started to press Desir by arranging a variety of offensive spells. It was almost as if she was boasting.
Blood swirled and exploded around her.
However, Desir remained composed. It was indeed questionable how he could maintain that kind of tranquility.
Her confidence began to falter, leaving her slightly anxious.
[Out Blood Break]
“How's this?”
She arranged a spell, almost as if compensating for her anxiety by channelling it all into an overwhelming show of strength.
*Baaang*
Desir neutralized it once again. The situation repeated itself, even though Dracul arranged a stronger spell.
The same went for the following spells.
Dracul felt strange about this repetitive, bizarre situation.
'Wait… How could he match her level of power and arrangement speed like this?'
However, she realized it too late.
“… !?”
The spells that she was currently arranging shattered and scattered in the air in front of her eyes. The encoded spell techniques that she specially designed to use against Desir were inverted.
At that same moment, Desir's spell materialized and flew towards Dracul.
She attempted to invoke her own offensive spell in order to neutralize it, but the spell failed to form.
It was blocked.
It was now impossible for her to arrange any offensive spells. No matter what spell she began to invoke, it just ended up inverted.
[Flame Storm]
A storm of flame split the sky. The flame, which threatened to swallow up everything, bore down on Dracul.
This was different from all the spells he had used to neutralize Dracul's attacks until now. It was a spell at the maximum power that Desir was capable of. It was not an overstatement to say he had put his heart and soul into it.
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*Crashhhhh*
There was a massive collision.
The building Dracul had been sitting on disappeared without a trace. Molten rocks pooled around the crater, forming a strange sight.
At the center of this scene, she was panting.
Wings had sprouted out of Dracul's back. It was a defense spell that she barely managed to invoke before taking on the attack.
However, she was not able to totally block Desir's attack with just that defensive spell.
Her wings, made from blood, were left tattered and half destroyed.
“Cough, cough.”
Dracul threw up blood intensely with an extremely distorted face. It seemed like she was suffering from severe internal injuries. Though it wasn't clear what kind of internal damage she had sustained, she was also terribly burned along her arms and legs due to the sweeping flame.
Her aloof beauty had been replaced by a sight and smell reminiscent of burnt toast.
“How long did you think you would be able to rely on those types of spell techniques?”
Dracul's encoded spell techniques were worthless in comparison to draconic language or the tesseract style of forming spells, like Crow Mask's artifact.
It was not a difficult task for Desir to invert them.
After the battle started, Desir succeeded in inverting one or two, but he chose not to reveal that. He waited and waited for Dracul to reveal all of her offensive spells, meanwhile biding his time and managing to fend off her attacks. He waited until he was confident that he could invert all of her spells.
All this effort for that one, crucial blow.
Dracul, being overly confident, revealed her hand without any care. All due to her pride in her Blood Magic; her belief that Desir would be unable to invert any of her spells.
It was at that moment that the winner was decided.
“You neglected the basics of a magical duel.”
Dracul had been oblivious to the basics of basics: that one should not indulge in pride and reveal everything from the outset.
She was no longer smiling. She seemed to be in a state of shock. Her singed lips were trembling.
“… ”
Dracul cradled her right arm, which now looked hideous due to the burn, and glared at Desir in silence.
*Vroooom*
Blood began moving again.
“I'll give up on the thought of sculpting him.”
She felt her blood igniting. She was filled with an impulse to rip apart the man in front of her and kill him right away.
“I'm going to kill you, right now!”
Her attitude completely changed.
A ghastly, red aura started emanating from Dracul's entire body.
But Desir still had a composed attitude in this situation. It seemed like he didn't feel anything.
All of the blood in the surrounding area started to gather around her.
However, she fell into a momentary state of confusion not too long after.
“There's not much blood left, is there?”
“… !”
Dracul's Imagery Magic, based on the concept of blood, was worthy of being referred to as the strongest of all magic on any typical battlefield, where blood would usually flood the ground. If two soldiers clash against each other, one of them is bound to bleed. And that would become Dracul's source of power.
However, Desir did not think that this power was invincible. Tactics were definitely required in order to beat it. Thankfully, thinking was an area Des1r excelled in.
The place they had found themselves in was remote from the ferocious battlefield.
In this place, where the landscape was untouched by battle other than their own, the strongest Blood Magic had become a paper tiger.
—-
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Chapter end