“Two laws will be established,” a hoarse voice said. The silver-haired man had ignored my question. “First: Forfeit the life of Count Baltzarond, Private Institution of Hunting, and leave the woodlands.”
Private Institution of Hunting? That sounded like a school name.
“Second: Sacrifice yourself to Pablohetra’s Academy Treaty, and fight the Two-Law Usurper to the end,” he continued.
I had no idea what he was saying. If I had to guess, it seemed he had deemed me an ally of Baltzarond’s after I had protected him.
“Choose,” he said quietly, not bothering to shake my hand off. As though there was no other choice to be made.
“Hmm. Let’s do it this way. I’ll overlook your earlier greeting and how you ignored my question. In return, you’ll set these guys free and have a casual chat with me.”
“I see.” From the body of the Two-Law Usurper a light arose, soft and yellow like fireflies. It was the glow of his magic. “You choose to sacrifice yourself to the Academy Treaty.”
The man’s long silver hair continued to sway. I couldn’t see into his abyss even when I strained my Eyes.
“Are all of you people here incapable of listening?” I asked, releasing my source’s magic to suppress his power. Black particles rose from my entire body.
The Two-Law Usurper added a tremendous amount of power to his right arm to push me aside. When I pushed back, our magic collided in a fierce crash. Arm against arm, gold firefly light and black particles fought for domination.
“What...is this?” Baltzarond muttered, watching with wide Eyes as he cast healing magic on his severed arm. Just then, a fierce wind blew by.
“Gwaaah!”
Baltzarond’s subordinates were blown back by the wind, crashing into the trees.
“Guh... Ride on the wind! We’re getting out of here!” he ordered.
“R-Roger that! Waaaaaah!”
Another blast of wind sent half of Baltzarond’s subordinates flying, but they all managed to retreat successfully. With a little luck, they should all survive.
But that aside, this man was interesting. He didn’t budge at all.
“The Two-Law Usurper, was it?” I asked. He looked at me without responding. “That’s quite the impressive power you have there. But it almost feels like you’re not taking this seriously.”
Every time he added more strength to his arm, I pushed back with more of my own. The ground rumbled, the entire woodlands shaking from our standoff.
“More. Show me your depths,” I said.
“Strange man. What are you thinking?” his hoarse voice echoed.
“I’ve just arrived in this world and don’t know how much I should restrain myself. This place looks sturdier than where I’m from so far, but I’m worried it will perish if I lose control.”
The man sent even more strength into his arm, with enough firefly-like light pouring out of him to light up the whole area. I released my magic in response, additional black particles surrounding me in a swirling spiral.
“I’ve never met anyone who wanted to use me as a measuring instrument,” he said without any hint of emotion. “Very well. Measure to your heart’s content.”
Vivid firefly lights rose from him in countless numbers.
The next moment, the man released a wave of extraordinary strength. I peered into the abyss of that power and retaliated with even more strength of my own. The nearby trees were ripped from their roots and blown away from the collision. The ground, too, was gouged apart, and in the blink of an eye, the surrounding woodlands were transformed into a wasteland. Our arms had yet to budge—as though we were evenly matched.
“Oh? I was trying to crush you against the ground just now,” I said.
“That was worthy of surprise. It has been a long time since I’ve seen someone as strong as you,” he said, his colorless eyes glinting dangerously. “I’ll acknowledge this: You are worthy of seeing the Two-Law Usurper’s true power.”
He slowly raised a foot and stepped on my shadow. Immediately, an impact reverberated within my body. Blood welled in my mouth, but I gritted my teeth and endured the blow.
“Dagdra.”
A magic circle appeared in my shadow. When the Two-Law Usurper stomped through my shadow, his power stabbed straight into my source. Another impact, heavier than the one before, stirred the very core of my body. Blood of the Demon King welled outwards.
“Vebzud.”
I immediately pierced his chest with jet-black fingers—and was met by a strange resistance. No blood from the wound I had just made, and on top of that, I could not grasp the source that had been right where I had aimed my strike. He didn’t appear to feel any pain either; after my attack, he merely lifted his foot to stomp down once again. I flew to the side at the last moment to evade it.
As soon as I landed, the large boulder behind me shattered noisily. I hadn’t touched it. He had merely stepped on its shadow.
“Looks like that spell needs to hit the right shadow to work.”
I drew a hundred Jio Graze circles and fired them. The Two-Law Usurper drew the same number in return.
“Dogda Azbedra.”
His circles released blue shooting stars that collided into my Jio Grazes and easily swallowed them up. I glared with the Magic Eyes of Destruction and created a Beno Ievun wall, but the Dogda Azbedra pierced through both to rain on my body.
Blue flames swirled, shooting upwards as though to pierce the heavens. My source burned and the blood of the Demon King poured out, rotting the flames until they died out.
“Hmm.”
While physical combat was still okay, the spells of Militia’s world were weaker here. A spell’s might was normally decided by the amount of magic power used in casting it, but each spell still had an upper limit to its power. No matter how much magic power was used in casting Grega, for example, it would never surpass Gusgam—and Gusgam would never surpass Jio Graze. In Militia’s world, Jio Graze was considered the highest grade of fire magic because a higher-grade fire spell would have wiped out entire nations, if not the entire world.
But that wasn’t the case here. Even if I called upon a hundred times more magic power than what the Two-Law Usurper was using, Jio Graze would never be a match for Dogda Azbedra. Out of the spells I had, only Ravia Gieg Gaverizd or Egil Grone Angdroa could surpass it.
However, there was no telling how much force the latter would release. I couldn’t just cast it recklessly.
“Zola e Dypt.”
Jet-black flames swirled around the Two-Law Usurper and turned into chains.