He placed his hands over his eyes and guffawed while facing the sky. “Ah ha ha ha ha! But I’m telling you that it’s impossible! As long as you don’t stand a chance against the primordial monster, your rapier will never reach me!”
“Oz, just because you can use powerful spells—”
“Spells? Unfortunately, it seems like you’re mistaken.”
“Don’t give me that! If that wasn’t magic, then what is it?”
“There’s only one answer, isn’t there?” He lovingly stroked his dorsum stones. “It’s my skill,” he whispered, his voice carried by the wind.
Chris could hardly process her situation as a gust of powder rained over her. She felt her body grow numb, and she stared at the powder on her palms, aghast.
“This powder is from the Crow Butterflies... But why?” she murmured.
“I’m proving to you that I’m not using magic, but my skills,” Oz replied.
Tree roots emerged from the massive hole, trying to restrain Chris. She managed to dodge them and climbed up the roots while slicing them with her rapier.
“No... I don’t believe it,” Chris said.
Oz used both hands to create a gun barrel, gathering fire at his fingertips. Unlike fire magic, his flames were slightly purple—reminiscent of the Breath used by powerful wyverns to attack. Chris had fought these monsters before, and she could hardly believe her eyes. It was foolish to face his attacks head-on. She used her wind magic to propel her body, just barely managing to dodge Oz’s Breath. However, the flames had managed to graze her skin.
“You’ll need a little ice to cool off those burns,” Oz said.
The same chilly air that Chris had felt earlier enveloped her. It’s similar to Sir Ein’s Ice Dragon. As blades of ice attacked her, she swung her rapier around to defend herself, but she couldn’t handle them all. A blade pierced her thigh as she leaped to evade the rest. As she landed on the ground, Oz’s mention of skills echoed in her mind.
“It looks like you finally understand me,” Oz said.
While Chris was still left confused, she was now certain that Oz wasn’t using magic—they were monster and nonhuman skills. She hadn’t recovered from her previous injuries, and yet she had been thrust into the heat of battle. While catching her breath, Chris wiped the sweat that dripped down her neck and tried her best to wrap her mind around her situation.
“The stones have two abilities,” Oz explained. “The first one enhances and increases your body’s power. And the second one is...absorption. You store and obtain magical energy just by consuming it, just like a delicious meal. I’m terribly interested to know where these stones originate from, but I haven’t the time to find out. My research took priority.”
“Oz, you...” Chris said.
“Heh heh. I doubt you’d understand even if I explained the technology behind it, but I’ll leave you with just this tidbit: my research culminated in my ascension to this domain.”
“That’s impossible!”
“How can you be so sure? Your beloved crown prince could do the same, I’ll have you know. Although, the results of my research don’t require magic stones. Bones, hair, anything will do. As long as I can understand the monster’s characteristics, I can make the necessary adjustments to utilize their skills.”
Oz claimed to be an upgraded Ein. If his words were to be believed, this was likely true, for he had no need for magic stones to utilize another’s skills. Oz gloated upon realizing that Chris had been left unable to refute his claims.
“I’ve gathered data on monsters for centuries and I could easily use over a thousand skills,” the professor said. “What do you think? Do you still believe that I shouldn’t be feared?”
“Over a thousand?”
“Ah, that’s the face! Oh, how delightful! Heh heh. I was about to lose my mind when you tried to maintain your composure in the face of the fruits of my wonderful research!”
Though Chris was shocked, she hadn’t lost her will to fight. “A mere researcher like you, given power, is akin to a child given a proper sword. That’s all there is to it.”
“Ha ha! That, I cannot deny. But you will bow to the sheer difference in power. I even have Upaskamuy’s skills at my disposal. I told you before: if you cannot win against a primordial monster, you have no chance of defeating me.”
The only shame was that Chris’s wounds hadn’t fully healed. At the very least, Oz couldn’t hold a candle to Edward in close combat. Chris’s speed could trump even Lloyd’s, and under normal circumstances, she was confident that she wouldn’t lose to the professor.
“I’ve actually given an apt name to my research,” Oz said.
His shoes clacked against the ground and reverberated in the air as he walked forward, finally revealing the name.
“Omnipotence.”
The name wasn’t a lie or an exaggeration. If all one needed was Oz’s compiled data and a monster’s genetic material to use their skills, this name was rather fitting.
“The only issue is the depletion of magical energy,” Oz confessed. “It uses quite a bit, and so, I must be at the Tower of Wisdom to use it.”
The man was certain that he’d won. He was acutely aware of Chris’s exhaustion and knew that she was standing on willpower alone.
“I will go and take the power of the rampaging crown prince as well,” Oz said.
Oz froze Chris’s limbs once again, but he also used his roots to firmly lock her into place. She wasn’t going anywhere.
“I’m doing it all, just to catch a glimpse of evolution’s apex,” Oz replied.
“I won’t...let you!” Chris shouted.