A Returner's Magic Should Be Special Chapter 296

Priscilla looked up.
There was a red line in the dark night sky, a trace left behind by the draconic magic Desir had invoked. The aftermath of two draconic spells in a row was enormous. The Glance of the Father, boasting absolute defense, had been completely crushed, and a fair amount of the Artemis Church's military force had also been wiped out by the attack.
It was not hard to predict that this would tear apart the balance of the war. The Artemis Church would struggle to continue fighting after losing the Glance of the Father and a significant number of their soldiers, while the Imperial military would be able to find decisive ends to their defensive battles and eventually converge towards Priscilla.
“Indeed. They never disappoint me.”
Although they were clearly at disadvantage, Priscilla had not stopped smiling. In fact, her grin seemed brighter than ever.
“But targeting that was a mistake.”
Priscilla, who had witnessed draconic magic being invoked with her own eyes, and subsequently attempted to reverse the damage it caused, knew better than anyone else what the cost of using it was.
Draconic magic was absolute in might, but it was a dangerous power that ate away at the body of the caster.
Desir had used it not just once, but twice in a row: the first to weaken the cross, and the second to destroy it. Without someone like Priscilla to maintain his body, Desir would have to be extremely wounded, or maybe even dead.
In exchange for his sacrifice, the Imperial military would arrive in short order, but that was not a problem; it was good news in fact.
'No matter when they arrive, it'll be too late. I'll have taken control of the system by then.'
Priscilla turned her gaze from the sky as she wrapped up her train of thought. Her eyes fixed on her final destination, the Hebrion Academy.
Taking the last few steps towards it would bring an end to this battle.
*Bam*
*Boom*
The students and professors continued to unleash magic spells, doing their utmost to prevent her advance.
But the force behind these attacks was significantly weakening. During their brief respite, the magicians had time to gather mana, but it was not much. Only the prodigies, like Ronde, were able to function well for a brief period of time. The majority of the magicians still looked thoroughly exhausted.
“Use your body to block them… !”
Swordsmen leaped forward to block them in any way that they could.
However, nothing stopped her stride. Not a single step wavered.
The battle was entirely one-sided. Despite the overall war being in their favor, nothing had changed to alleviate the overwhelming gap in power present at the Hebrion Academy. Forced to face their powerlessness, several of the students lost the will to continue fighting.
*BAAM*
Priscilla took steps without glancing at them once. Not one spell could break her cardinals' defenses, so why should she care?
There was only one variable that could stop her: Desir Arman. But now, his power had run out. He had proved to be extremely difficult, but the Church had ultimately won. There was nothing left to stop her.
[Fear of Wind]
*BOOOM*
The ground where Priscilla stood exploded and a massive dusty cloud formed. Bridgette scraped up her last mana and flung a Fifth-Circle magic spell that was powerful enough to split a building.
“… ”
Priscilla stood intact within the non-stop spell shelling. It was impossible to injure her even with a Fifth-Circle spell. But it was not all in vain. She had succeeded in stopping her movement for a brief moment.
Priscilla gave Bridgette a cold, subdued look. The professor was incapable of doing anything else after spending all of her mana, and had been pushed right up to her limit. She was barely standing.
Nevertheless, she managed to squeeze out one more spell.
It was a First-Circle spell, Fireball. Her calculation for this simple spell kept breaking off whenever her concentration faltered, unable to focus with the pain ebbing from her weathered mana circles. Still, she could not just give up, and continued attempting to invoke it.
Her resilient attitude was not unaccompanied. Every single member of Hebrion Academy's faculty, and a large majority of the student base, refused to give up. Even knowing they likely would not stop her for a moment, they threw away the idea of retreat, gladly laying down their lives for their friends, family, and world.
“… ”
Priscilla put on a sad smile but dismissed it with a sigh. She did not want needless slaughter, every action thus far had been mandatory or near to it. She wanted to make them understand, make them step aside for the greater good, but her efforts had been wasted.
'This too, is the burden I must carry.'
Priscilla opened a dimensional pocket and pulled out a dry twig before throwing it on the ground. A bright light began to coil around it, and her power began to revitalize the limb.
*Whistle*
The lone, dried up twig became a seedling that laid roots deep in the ground. It grew quickly and spread thousands of branches. Soon from the now massive, adult tree, thorns that looked like long spears sprung out in place of leaves.
A giant thorny tree wrapped around the mass of Hebrion students and staff, tightly constricting the thralled group. Countless thorns penetrated their skin and sucked their mana dry. The thorn tree, which grew by absorbing mana, was nothing but a natural enemy to the magicians present.
*Boom*
*BOOOOM*
The few unrestrained students did their best to cut the thorns, invoking what few spells they could muster or employing their aura. However, nothing they tried worked.
“It doesn't break!”
“Why can't a mere tree be burned… !”
The thorns were as solid as steel, allowing no attack to harm it, and the tree grew bigger and bigger until it soon covered the sky.
The Hebrion Academy had two choices.
They could continue to struggle, and die from the thorns ripping their bodies to shreds, or they could relax and allow the increasing pressure to crush them to death.
“Take a break before salvation begins.”
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This was the end.
Professor Bridgette knew it intuitively. This was the end. They could not possibly stop such an outrageous thing after reaching the limit of their stamina and mana.
'I have… no regrets!'
*Crackling*
A beam of a flame rose in the darkness and brightened the area. The fireball she kept failing to invoke was finally completed. Bridgette felt the warmth of the blaze for a moment before flinging it away. It was a magic spell that should have been easier to perform than breathing for magicians.
'But there was a kid who couldn't even invoke something like this.'
It was not the case that he did not try enough, nor was it the case where he lacked the knowledge. Unfortunately, he was born without the talent to manipulate mana. The amount of mana he could handle in his body was small beyond compare, and even then the mana he gathered was so impure that he barely had more talent than any ordinary person.
He seemed to have a knack for spell calculation, but without mana to utilize it, it was a wasted talent. No matter how hard he tried, he was destined to be only a third-rate magician.
But the kid refused to give in. He kept trying in frustration without quitting. He worked tirelessly to overcome what seemed to be a cruel fate, his unrivaled efforts likely to prove meaningless.
Bridgette saw that boy work tirelessly, and was able to live long enough to see what he became, so she did not give up in the face of death.
“Even if I collapse now… You'll stop this… ”
The fireball shot towards the thorn that was suffocating her but the impact yielded no results; the thorn continued to tighten.
“Right, Desir?”
Bridgette closed her eyes.
“Of course, Professor.”
A very familiar voice caressed her ears. When she opened her eyes, a man with hair as black as obsidian stood in front of her, as if he had been there from the beginning.
“I will take care of it from now on.”
He tapped the ground lightly with the staff he carried. At that instant, all of the professors and students of the Hebrion Academy who were suffering due to the thorn tree vanished into thin air.
“No way… ”
Priscilla's face paled and stiffened after seeing this unexpected turn of events. So many people, caught by the thorn tree, had disappeared in the blink of an eye. There was only one means that could make something like this possible.
Teleportation.
Spatial manipulation magic was incredibly difficult to calculate, and extremely mana intensive, so there were only a handful of people who could use it, let alone employ it in battle. Outside of exceptions like Crow Mask, these people were often limited to simple actions, like teleporting themselves.
However, the teleportation she had just witnessed had moved hundreds of people at the same time. Even the Great Sage, Zod Exarion, was incapable of such a feat.
“Well, then… ”
After the many people had disappeared, the supposedly inferior student stood alone and stared at the thorn tree that writhed in front of him. To be exact, he was looking at Priscilla who stood atop its crown.
“Let's begin.”
*Snap*
The thorn tree branched out, covering the few remaining corners of the sky. The body of the gigantic tree began to turn greyish before halting and finally solidifying into a gigantic ice sculpture that was fully frozen.
“… !”
Priscilla had a confused look on her face, unable to comprehend what had just transpired. The thorn tree, which had been nourished by mana, had an enormous amount of magic resistance. It was nothing other than the natural enemy for magicians and was strong enough to resist and even consume the magical barrage of any magical corps.
*Thuud*
The surface of the frozen thorn tree began cracking before the entire plant broke into a million shards and scattered. The shattered shards rained like snowflakes, and amid them, a boy walked forward.
“It's over, Priscilla.”
Priscilla's pupils shook violently as she heard his voice.
“… How?”
The air in her lungs forcibly exited her body. The current situation had so many things that didn't make sense. Her defenses were useless, her attacks left Des1r unharmed, and he should have been left devastated after using two draconic spells.
But he looked fine, there was not even a trace of tiredness on his face. Rather, he exuded a powerful pressure, far beyond the last time she had seen him. His deep, calm eyes were impossible to read. There was not even a trace of anger or hatred present in them.
His eyes seemed far-sighted, as though he was not even looking at Priscilla, as though she were below him. The distance between them terrified Priscilla far more than any overt rage ever could.
—-

Chapter end