The world around Otto blurred and faded as rlin's counter-spell activated. Their minds were no longer present in reality, but they were facing each other in a place beyond the physical plane. In an instant, ti itself beca an abstraction, and their souls beca free, untethered from reality. The siege of Lothlia, the blood-soaked battlefield, or the crumbling walls were no longer within their perception. Instead, both of them stood in a vast expanse of pure magic—an endless, swirling purple nebula where reality bent and shifted randomly, where ti, distance, and form had no actual aning. They only existed to give a familiar sensation to the minds entering this place. It was the land where no space existed, yet the faint image of a Cosmic tapestry sotis peeked through the swirling gases, only for a mont.
Otto's form shimred in this weird, astral plane between their world and the Cosmos, his figure constantly shifting between his physical self and sothing more elental, charged with the sa lightning he wielded in the physical realm. Thunder crackled around him as he surveyed his suddenly manifesting enemy, his eyes narrowing at the intruding consciousness. He could still feel the formation, the complex web of magical circuits he had control over, but he could no longer will it to strike down on the city below them. Whoever it was... he began interfering with his will the mont he made contact. It was his creation, born from his power, and he wouldn't let anyone seize it...
But rlin was already here.
He stood before Otto, seemingly materializing from the very threads of magic that ford this place. He was calm, almost serene as if this environnt—this battlefield of the incorporeal—was as natural to him as breathing. Watching rlin's body, Otto couldn't help but shiver, noticing that his young face was overlayed atop another visage. One that had a matching form, just older. Sothing else within the boy made it feel like he was ard with profound knowledge. Behind his eyes, there was an existence whose soul glead with a frightening insight of magic itself. rlin's presence was a strong contrast to Otto's raw, tempestuous power. Where Otto was a storm, rlin was now a vast, deep ocean—still on the surface but with imasurable depths beneath his young appearance.
"You've tangled yourself in quite the knot, haven't you? Your thods are... crude. They lack the refinent and finesse that your level should indicate... I wonder how you were raised to be an Expert Mage. Taking shortcuts is not sothing I approve of." rlin's voice echoed, not as sound but as a presence within Otto's mind. He spoke without moving his lips, his thoughts resonating in the magical ether.
"You won't break my formation, no matter who you are! This is my power—my battleground. I am the master here. The only thing you accomplished is to open your soul up to to obliterate it!" Otto's eyes flared with defiance, angered by the sheer words of this lowly intruder.
With a thought, Otto discharged a wave of energy, a blinding arc of lightning that surged toward rlin, planning on obliterating him in this ethereal space before he could do anything. Watching it happen, rlin barely flinched, only snapping his fingers in response. The blue lightning fractured and diffused just before reaching him, the attack dissipating into harmless sparks, deviating from their course and disappearing in the distance. As a result, in the material plane, the clouds rumbled with thunder, but no lightning ca down this ti around, only running through the thick clouds in dozens of blinding flashes.
"Raw power will only take you so far, wizard." rlin chortled, his voice tinged with a playful provocation. "You built this formation, yes, but you don't fully understand what you have been taught. You didn't really create it... This is older than I am. Did you know that this spell once brought down a city belonging to a powerful bloodline...? That it killed hundreds of thousands in one night? Your control over it would make your ancestors ashad. You have been given a bow that you can't pull to a full draw..."
Otto growled in frustration, his hands—now glowing arcs of pure energy—summoning more out of his formation. The magical plane around them responded to his anger, and the clouds around the two began darkening, filled with violently churning waves as lightning flashed towards rlin in a jagged line, zig-zagging. Yet rlin stood untouched, not because he lacked the power to defend himself, but because he wielded sothing far more dangerous—knowledge.
Seeing Otto's will manifesting, rlin simply raised his hand, and threads of magic, finer than spider silk, began to weave through the air. They moved with such elegance and precision that it took Otto a mont to realize what was happening. rlin wasn't attacking him or defending himself; he was unraveling the very fabric of Otto's formation, delicately, strand by strand, interfering with it and turning it against him. His attack, once again, simply turned away at the last mont, disappearing into nothing.
Panic flickered in Otto's chest for the very first ti. He couldn't allow this. With a roar, he drew more magic forth, this ti aiming not at rlin but at the formation itself. He was trying to reinforce it, tightening the knots, drawing on the power of the Lawbringer and the life force of his subordinates. He was doing his best, strengthening his hold on the spell with everything he got. But every ti he added more energy, rlin would unweave it with an ease that infuriated him.
"NO!" Otto barked, sweat beading on his astral form, a representation of his life energies slipping away as he concentrated harder, reaching deep into his reserves. "I won't let you take it from ! FUCK OFF!"
rlin didn't respond; he just smirked, licking his lips before closing his eyes. The magical plane around them began to shift. What was once a chaotic, storm-ridden landscape began to calm down. It was as if an anxious, angry animal realized that its faithful caretaker had arrived. The violent arcs of energy Otto had summoned began to slow as if ti itself were being bent by rlin's will. The magic that Otto had infused into the formation, including his disciple's life, began to feel like it was slipping from his grasp, not through brute force, but by rlin's precise manipulations. Then... there was a soft snap. He didn't feel it anymore... His mages were dead. He knew it because suddenly, his soul began hurting from the backlash of their minds perishing.
It was then that Otto finally realized that the one who stood before him was not just a young mage. He was not above him in strength or raw power but in understanding. He had built the formation with sheer force, pulling from his imnse magical reserves of the Lawbringer, following the plans he had learned. He knew how runes ca one after the other but didn't know the genuine reasons behind the formation's structure. Yet his opponent... rlin knew how to take it apart and rebuild it with a finesse that made Otto feel like an apprentice fumbling with spells for the first ti.
"I think you realized you are done for." rlin said quietly, almost kindly. "You attacked the wrong people, wizard. This place is my Sovereign's territory. I am his wizard; I am his Pri Minister... I am his friend. Rember my na!" His fingers moved in the air, and with a gesture, several of the formation's key nodes unraveled like loose threads. "I am rlin. rlin Ishillia, Emperor of Magic, follower of the one and only Sovereign of our world. Bow before him when you et him in your next life, and then I will forgive you! Otherwise... I will obliterate your soul, even if you don't rember why."
"What?" He gawked, unable to even understand what he was saying.
Otto's mind surged with power, a last effort to retake control of the formation. The magical landscape around the two rippled under the strain he was putting on it, sacrificing his life in the process. Lightning bolts as wide as rivers struck from the sky, crashing toward rlin with a force that could have annihilated any city. However, rlin remained still, his fingers weaving intricate patterns in the air, like conducting an orchestra. With a single motion, he redirected the lightning into the Cosmos, where it dispersed harmlessly.
"This isn't a contest of strength, wizard..." rlin murmured, and his words rang through the magical plane, echoing with a wisdom that seed to co from the distant past. "Magic is not just power. It's understanding. And in that, you are leagues behind ."
Otto's confidence began to crack, hearing a voice that left no doubt about its validity. He had thrown everything he had at rlin, but nothing worked. That bastard had countered every attack with effortless precision, not overpowering Otto but redirecting his strikes, unraveling his spells before they could even fully manifest, canceling them out before he even thought of the first rune!
For the first ti in his life, Otto felt powerless.
How could this be possible? How could a random kid and his knowledge of magic be imasurably vast? Every spell Otto cast, it was as if rlin had seen before. It felt as if rlin had mastered every strategy Otto employed centuries ago. It was like trying to outmaneuver soone who had lived a thousand lifetis and learned every secret magic had to offer.
Finally, rlin's previous words marinated long enough in Otto's panicking mind to make him comprehend what he refused to do so a mont before. He was facing soone who was rumored to be the strongest wizard that ever lived. Not just in Ishillian history... but in all history. He... he wasn't dead?!
"You… can't… be..." Otto whined, desperation creeping into his voice, watching rlin while he looked back at him with sothing almost like pity.
"It's over, wizard. You've done well to co this far, but there's no sha in losing to soone who has walked this path far longer than you can imagine."
With a final gesture, rlin unraveled the last of the formation. Otto's web of magic, the spell that had been his greatest weapon, disintegrated into nothingness. The magical plane flickered in reaction to its cancellation and began to dissolve at once, the two wizards' minds returning to the physical world.
Otto's mind reeled like a stone launched from a trebuchet. He had been bested—not by strength but by rlin's sheer depth of knowledge. As the real world ca back into focus, he realized he was lying on the Lawbringer's deck, bleeding from all orifices, twitching, and in agonizing pain that blocked him from moving. He wanted to speak the words, 'Emperor of Magic,' yet he was unable to say anything as his lungs were filled with mucus and blood. He knew... he was going to die.
Reviews
All reviews (0)