“I am but a single soul, nameless and childlike!” I concentrated all my magic power into both hands. I planted my feet firmly, channeling magic into the ground. And then, I ran. Ran down this chosen path, arms stretched out. “The world guided the lost child! And the child ran on until the end of the backlight!”
Watch this, Kanami. I will burn you, drop you, shatter you, and destroy you—just like my homeland!
“Lost Viaysia!” With this true spell, I would end everything!
“Is that the magic you’ve poured everything into?! But it’s too late! Don’t think such an incomplete, hole-ridden trump card will work on me!”
Naturally, that magic with its overly large preparatory movements resulted in both my arms being sliced off. With a simple snap, Lost Viaysia failed and dissipated into mist. In other words, my foolish life had failed to impress Kanami the Founder. But I’d known that would be the case from the start. Without even glancing back at my arms floating through the air, I charged forward.
“What?!” Kanami was stunned, seeing me continue charging forward despite losing my arms, creating his biggest opening of the day. In contrast, I had expected to be blocked, so I moved without hesitation. After all, there was nothing more unbelievable than me. In other words, everything up to this point had been a decoy.
The power of the Thief of Wood’s Essence. A body honed through relentless training and martial arts. The weapons engraved with the spell patterns of the Thief of Light’s Essence. A fighting spirit that transcended limits. The true magic staked on my very life.
Knowing all this would be shattered, I entrusted my final trump card not to myself, but to an external force. That force was the grand magic circle engraved using the entirety of Viaysia Castle. The very plants writhing within the castle became characters and lines, drawing the Anti-Founder Magic Seal that rivaled even the legendary World Restoration Array. This magic circle had been prepared for this very moment, for a thousand years!
“What?! I can’t possibly defeat Kanami the Founder! Even so, I will make this magic circle work! I have a duty to complete this spell! You have a duty to receive this magic! Take it, traitor! The wrath of all my Northern people!”
The magic power surging through the ground glowed emerald green. All surrounding plants began to glow, lines of light weaving a three-dimensional magic circle. Kanami stiffened, staring at the glowing ceiling and walls. He must have realized there was no escape from this magic circle.
The glow wasn’t confined to the throne room alone. Every single one of the billions of plants living within Viaysia Castle was pooling its power to unleash the final spell.
This was the sealing ritual that had overpowered Apostle Deiplachra a thousand years ago. It was the Anti-Founder Magic Seal. For the sole purpose of succeeding at this sealing ritual, I’d challenged him to a duel today.
“Everything was set up for this moment! Everyone lived to make this magic happen here! I’ll bring down the entire castle—no, the entire Kingdom of Viaysia I created! Aikawa Kanami!!!”
The Anti-Founder Magic Seal activated, causing the castle to shift from its temporary form as a giant back to its true form. This transformation was strikingly evident even within the throne room. First, the thick trees that had served as pillars supporting the throne room began to move. Roots clinging to the walls, vines, strings, leaves—all the plants now flowed toward Kanami the Founder.
Unlike the De Liffide trees, they were not moving for the sake of magic power. Right now, this magic circle was moving solely toward the soul known as Aikawa Kanami. Therefore, no matter what he tried to do, escape was impossible. Seeing all the plants closing in like a moving wall, Kanami immediately tried to flee. But I threw myself at him, colliding with my entire body to hold him back.
Though my arm from the elbow down was severed, I forced the roots growing inside my body to crawl out from the wound’s surface and wrap themselves around Kanami’s body. I focused especially on clinging to the arm holding the sword.
“You! Do you intend to seal me along with yourself?!”
“No! I’m not aiming for a draw, I’m going for the win! This seal is both physical restraint by the trees and magical soul binding! Plus perpetual absorption of magic power and stamina! Escape is impossible for any being! Except for me, the Thief of Wood’s Essence!”
“You—!”
Everything had gone according to plan. The entire sequence, the situation—everything had been perfect. The true magic of an Essence Thief was such that even Kanami the Founder would have no choice but to crush it before it could be activated. And Kanami’s complacency after crushing that trump card was the only opening I could exploit. I’d seized that opportunity perfectly, and the magic circle succeeded.
“Ha ha ha! To the magic power sealing ritual of the Thief of Light’s Essence! To the binding trees of the Thief of Wood’s Essence! To the ice barrier of the Thief of Water’s Essence—all layered upon you! With this triple seal, even you—!!!”
This sealed the fate of Kanami the Founder. Countless times, my enemy’s strength had nearly broken my spirit. But I’d known from the start that my enemy was powerful. This was my way of fighting, as weak as I was. True to my role as chancellor, I’d prepared layer upon layer beforehand, deciding the outcome before the battle even began. If one wanted to call it a despicable way to fight, then that was fine.
The surrounding luminous plants began to entangle the body of the groaning Kanami. They coiled around him in countless chains, layer upon layer, intending to seal him away forever. The plants from throughout the castle surged into the throne room, gradually making the space narrower and darker.
“At last, I’ve judged this traitor! At last, my dearest wish is—”
Enveloped, enveloped, enveloped by the trees, I was certain of victory. Yet, in this greatest moment of my life, I stumbled over my own careless words.
Dearest wish? Something suddenly flashed through my mind. It was a scene from the past. A thousand years ago, in Viaysia Castle, I had laughed together with Kanami the Founder. Like wicked friends, we’d traded jokes while swearing to fight together for the nation. But that friend had betrayed me, taking the Sovereign Queen Lorde away and leaving me alone. I could only hate him.
That lying bastard... Cursing him was the only path left. Because there was no other way... Now, something...? Why? My mind was a mess. Above all, what was this feeling...? Even though my long-held wish was about to be granted... Why did it feel so suffocating?
I didn’t understand. At the very moment my dearest wish was about to be granted, all that flooded out were questions. I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything anymore. The visible world flickered before my eyes. The world shook, time passed, reality and fiction overlapped, and just as I was about to lose sight of myself—
“Professor!!!” A voice reached me. It was exactly the same as the one I’d heard in this place just days ago. And then, a hole appeared in the plant cocoon that had been about to envelop both me and Kanami.
As someone who was the Thief of Wood’s Essence yet possessed no talent whatsoever, I understood the details of that phenomenon perfectly well. By the hand of a talented mage, unlike myself, the trees had been manipulated to pierce a hole in the seal.
“Wood...magic?”
Even Kanami couldn’t wield Wood magic this masterfully.
Then who...?
The answer to my question emerged from the depths of the gaping hole. There before my eyes was a girl in red attire with red hair. It was a Jewelculus—someone I had scarcely seen since becoming chancellor.
Yet she was the very first Jewelculus I had saved. The one I had grown closest to. The one I had cherished most. Yes. Her appearance was deeply nostalgic to me.