What Maxwell witnessed next was incredible—the work of a true genius.
Even after a full 300 years, he still hadn’t caught up to his daughter in terms of sheer ability; he wasn’t stupid enough to pretend otherwise. Painful as it was, he had to admit it. After all...
“Nnngghh...! Damn it... Goddamn it!!!”
“Hahaha! Frustration is a look you wear well. C’est magnifique!”
She didn’t take even a single step—she just snapped her fingers.
“Blast it all... There’s so much blood...!”
“Yeah, it really hurts to lose an arm, huh? Happened to me alllll the time back in the day.”
Indeed, Maxwell’s arm was gone—literally erased from existence.
Laplace had cast Photon, a beginner-level Light Magic attack spell. Normally all it did was illuminate the area or blind the enemy—or if you were really lucky, inflict a tiny scrape.
“But that was hardly the worst thing you did to me. Think of all the other awful shit you did!”
“Nngh...!”
Drunk on revenge, her beautiful countenance was tinged with joy.
“Now for the other one!”
There was a light, airy pop as Maxwell’s other arm vanished without a trace.
“AAAAAAGGGHHH!”
Meanwhile, Tanya couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Laplace’s Photon spell had exceeded the realm of possibility. She was just that damn powerful.
Now that she’d returned the mana Laplace had previously lent her, Tanya’s was running on fumes. For someone who had trained as hard as Tanya had, however, this wasn’t a huge issue—she could still cast two or three more beginner-level spells. And if at any point it looked like Laplace needed backup, Tanya was prepared to pull out all the stops.
However...
“I don’t think we want Arianora to see this.”
Tanya darted forward, past the all-powerful Sorceress, past the armless and bloody Maxwell, and scooped up the princess’s limp body. For once, she was grateful that Arianora was unconscious.
“Wouldn’t want to set a bad example for her, y’know.”
Tanya and Laplace were both prepared to torture this man to death... but just then, his lips twisted in a stiff smile.
“Ohhh...! My ultimate spell has activated...!”
And the next thing they heard was a series of wet popping sounds that made their skin crawl.
“Ew! Gross!”
Maxwell’s flesh was wriggling and swelling—regrowing his lost limbs like he was some kind of lizard. Needless to say, it wasn’t pleasant to witness.
“Heh heh... HAH HAH HAH! It appears you’re too late. All the city’s mana is now mine! No matter how you may wound me, you will only be wasting your time. I shall regenerate as many times as it takes! No one will ever laugh at me again... With this, I am the ultimate life-form! Immortality is MINE!”
His body began to glow faintly, brimming with the mana from all the people of Ode. He was appropriating their life force, all to sate his own greed.
“If that isn’t wasteful consumption, I don’t know what is!”
Laplace struck him with another Photon—but this time, his body regenerated before she could even draw blood.
“Heh heh! I’m afraid that won’t work on me any longer!” His lips curled into a haughty smirk. “As my daughter, surely you know better than any—waaagh!”
Just then... Maxwell went flying.
“Wow.”
“Sorry for stealing your spotlight, Laplace.”
“Tanya!”
Sure enough, there stood Laplace’s one and only partner, her pink hair fluttering in the breeze. She had run up to the legendary newly-immortal Mage and punched him directly in the jaw.
“Très forte! Forget knowledge—strength is power!”
“Yeah... Over the past few months, I’ve come to learn that sometimes it’s way less hassle to just throw a few punches instead!”
Naturally, the damage done to Maxwell’s jaw was quickly nullified... but the damage to his fragile male ego remained. No one in the past 300 years had ever dared to punch the Court Grand Mage. A series of emotions flickered across his face before finally settling on anger.
“Why...? Why do you oppose me?” Maxwell growled at Tanya. “If you would just be a good girl and do as I say, you could stand to gain so much! Think about it: I already have the imperial family under my control. So why are you fighting me over that artificial child? Why are you taking my daughter’s side?!”
But Tanya merely giggled.
“Well now... What do you make of this, Laplace?”
“Hmmm... ‘Why,’ indeed? I’d say it’s a very philosophical question. I didn’t know this incompetent coward had it in him.”
Laplace floated down beside her partner and scooped up the unconscious form of Arianora where Tanya had laid her. Meanwhile, her smile was identical to that of the other woman’s... almost as if they were twins.
“Well, the best answer I can think of...”
“Oui, oui. The best answer would be...”
Atop the clock tower, its roof long-destroyed from a climactic magical battle, a gust of wind rushed past, ruffling two heads of hair—one pale pink, one inky black and glowing with mana.
They could each think of dozens of reasons to fight him. For all the little girls out there dreaming of adventure. For all the women he’d personally victimized. But at the end of the day, it all came down to one thing:
“Because I’m a woman! And given your crimes, that’s reason enough!”
“C’est exact. Because we’re women!”
Together, their war cries pierced the night sky.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I swear, you only care about saving your own skin.”
Laplace clucked her tongue. No matter how hard she attacked Maxwell, his body’s infinite proliferation healed him right back up again. And although Tanya had returned her mana to her, her current condition was still a far cry from top form.
Worse still—
“Every time you make me regenerate, I absorb more life force from the city. Your rebellion is hurting the citizens, Laplace! Haha! Hahahaha!”
“Oh dear! We can’t have that, now can we? That mana’s not yours to play with.”
Indeed, all the mana he used was taken directly from the people of Ode. The more he used to heal his injuries, the more they lost... and one’s mana was directly tied to their health. What if he siphoned all that mana from a sick person? Or a child? Their very lives could be in danger.
“Heh heh! See? You cannot attack me!” Maxwell boasted smugly.
At this, Laplace snorted.
“Oh really? Sorry to say, Maxwell, I think you’re operating under a dire misconception.”
What an idiot, Laplace thought to herself.
Maxwell hadn’t gained this power with his own two hands; he’d stolen it the same way he’d stolen everything else. And yet somehow he was still fully convinced that he was going to win.
“You may think I’m artificial, but you don’t even know what you are.”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t know what it is you’re stealing. You don’t understand what it means to be immortal. You’re utterly ignorant. Honestly, the extent of your delusion...”
Laplace had only gained her power through his human experimentation. She understood that, but it didn’t matter right now. Her anger was still her own; Tanya had taught her that.
“I’m immortal too, you know. Trust me, I already know exactly how to kill you.”
“What?”
“You want to know why I can’t die? Because these magical formulas you embedded in my blood continually generate nearly limitless mana. This experiment only succeeded because I happened to inherit the blood of the Dragon God, but still, you went on to spend the next three centuries trying to make lightning strike twice. You gave me this curse, and then you decided you wanted it for yourself.”
Her blood contained a myriad of overlapping magical formulas, including several for automatic regeneration that protected the rest of the formulas from being dismantled. Hence, barring any catastrophic events—such as a magic circle designed to drain all her mana at once—she would never run low, and thus, never die.
“But I know the solution. All you have to do to kill an immortal is drain their mana. Isn’t that right, Maxwell?”
“A-And so what if it is?! As it stands, the entire city is keeping me alive. In my current state, I am Ode!”
“Heehee. I feel like I’ve heard that one somewhere before.”
His groundless confidence refused to waver, and at this point, Laplace was starting to feel sorry for him. Maybe at one point he’d had a real vision for the future, but he’d long since abandoned every last ounce of self-respect... and it was time to put him out of his misery.
“Okay, Daddy Dumbo, listen up. Your beautiful, talented, adorable, gifted, gorgeous daughter is going to clue you in.”
No... This was no time for sympathy.
“You’ve lost this battle, and now you’re going to die.”
“What?”
“Tanya!”
“At your service!”
“Get little Ari somewhere safe! Also, did you do that one thing?”
“You betcha! It’s in place and ready to go. They don’t call me a Magi-Knight for nothing!”
“Haha! Sounds like something I would say.”
What were they talking about? Maxwell quirked a brow.
Then he noticed that Laplace was staring... at his pocket.
“You didn’t think that punch was just for funsies, did you?” Tanya grinned smugly.
Of course. Thinking back, he’d been too distracted by the impact to notice anything else.
Timidly, he reached into his pocket... and felt something hard, thin, and round. A coin.
“Is this—?!”
“How does it feel to be hoisted by your own petard, you villainous scumbag?” Laplace chuckled. “Now then... It’s time you gave me back my mana!”