WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 679: The Final Victor

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Oh?

Ruel had disappeared. Still holding my skewer out, I slashed through empty air. After flailing around and falling over in an undignified heap, I looked around for Ruel.

Strange. Had Ruel run away?

Even with mind-reading, I couldn't catch the slightest trace. It looked like Ruel really had fled. But why? Why bother when Ruel possessed the authority to stop time?

Ruel's power to stop time was truly unreasonable. I couldn't move while Ruel alone could. In card-game terms, it was like taking two or three turns at once. That went beyond cheating. It was tyranny.

A game where my turn never came. The only way to win such an unfair game was to make the opponent step on a landmine of their own accord.

The method Ruel used to move through stopped time was "light." Ruel turned her whole body into light through dangerous magic, manifesting it with divine power and innate arcane.

I scattered invisible blades of ice, ensuring Ruel would be pierced if she materialized in those positions. It was an obvious and pointless ruse. Transparent blades couldn't cut "light," and Ruel would easily see through my intentions and avoid them.

Still, that was the point. It was meant to draw Ruel's guard down and limit where she could move.

The dagger meant to pierce Ruel was Ruel's innate arcane.

I was already using Ruel's innate arcane after stealing it. It must have remained active even while time was stopped. The card-shaped mirrors I had scattered earlier would have scattered and reflected the light Ruel fired, attacking Ruel in return.

It had been a trap to reflect Ruel's attack back at her...

I never imagined Ruel would simply leave.

It didn't fit the thought patterns I had read from Ruel. Had Ruel changed her mind during stopped time? Or had something prompted it?

"Did Ruel run away? After being so stubborn, it seems Ruel finally decided life was worth more."

Lankart snorted, but I didn't agree.

Life was worth more? It didn't seem like that. If Ruel had noticed my trap, all Ruel had to do was avoid it and attack.

Something must have happened...

"It's fortunate Ruel withdrew. I don't know what would have happened if Ruel had fought to the end."

Shei sighed as if the tension had finally left her and naturally joined the conversation. I was about to answer, but a sudden sense of wrongness made me close my mouth. I silently stared at Shei.

"Huh? Hughes, why, why are you staring at me like that?"

'Is it because I didn't tell you that I knew Ruel? But I didn't know Ruel was the White Tower Master either.'

No, that wasn't the problem. Ruel's identity didn't matter at all.

You were the problem. Why hadn't someone with instincts as sharp as yours felt anything strange?

You moved while time was stopped.

I understood the source of that wrongness. The lack of any wrongness was what felt wrong. Shei had approached me calmly, as though even the sense of dissonance that should have struck her first had been removed.

You must have been the one who sent Ruel away too. If Ruel stayed, I would have read her thoughts.

"Hm."

I really had no idea what had happened. Looking around, I spoke.

"I don't know what changed Ruel's mind, but it doesn't seem like Ruel will interfere with me any longer. Shall we go up now?"

Fighting a powerful being like the Holy Maiden of Light to the death would only hurt me. If I lost, I died. Even if I won, I would be harassed in all sorts of ways afterward. It was fortunate that Ruel had left like this.

Cardinal Elton and the holy knights silently withdrew, perhaps having heard a "revelation." The mages were overwhelmed by the mythical battle they had just witnessed. No one remained to block my path.

In the end, it was strength that settled this chaos.

* * *

If space were a sheet of paper, distorted space could be thought of as a fold in it. The boundary between distorted and normal space would be the crease. Following that crease led to a space heading toward the center.

I didn't really understand it either. Apparently, that was how it worked.

The stairs leading to the final floor stood at the edge of the Tower of Babel. I led my party toward the boundary.

The fold in space was closer to a road than a staircase. I simply walked forward, and my body floated upward on its own toward the artificial sun. The end of this long, long journey. The summit of the Tower of Babel, where human arrogance had reached its peak.

As the artificial sun drew closer and dazzling light was about to envelop me...

"You've arrived! The dragon who passed this Dragon Gate! I've liked every talented person to come through this gate, but I've never looked forward to one as much as you! Welcome!"

The Demon King greeted me from within a bizarre space.

It was a room. A square room, yet it was shaped like a star. There were eleven rooms in total, and from where I stood, I could see all the way into every other room. Tables and chairs clung to the ceiling, books filled the bookshelves on the floor, and small windows in the walls showed broad views of the floating castle.

Hm. It was distorted space, more or less. I decided not to try to understand it.

"Where is everyone else?"

"I sent each of them somewhere suitable. They're receiving rewards suited to them in those rooms."

"Then does that mean Your Majesty will give me my reward?"

"Of course. But before that, wait a moment. There's something I need to see."

The Demon King grabbed one of the windows and pulled it. The light inside swelled, then immediately enveloped me. I shut my eyes against the glare, and when I opened them, I had already been moved to another space.

"Hwaran Fahrenheit! Eliot Pascal of the Defense Bureau commands you! Stop your attack on the Tower of Babel!"

"Ugh... That walking landmine blew up again...!"

It was the space where the Red Tower Master, Hwaran Fahrenheit, was fighting the Green Tower Master and the Black Tower Master.

What was this? Why were the Tower Masters fighting each other again? All five Tower Masters just kept brawling. The floating castle was a complete mess.

More importantly, wait. I couldn't read their thoughts?

The moment I questioned why mind-reading didn't work, a massive flame exploded before me. It was an enormous blast, as though it could sweep over the entire world. Flashing light enveloped my whole body, and a beat later, I felt the fear of death...

But it was only light. I was unharmed.

"Are you going to stand there? It looks like this will take a while, so sit back and watch."

Beside me, the Demon King sat calmly in a rocking chair, chewing on an ice pop. Awkwardly, I sat in the chair the Demon King offered me.

"So that was an image made of light. You startled me."

"More precisely, all light produced within a certain space is projected into this space. My disciples' battle is taking place in real time."

"Light magic?"

"As you know, it is space magic. Haven't you experienced how even light is affected by the concept of space?"

I had. The Right-Handed World had deflected the light. There was a reason the White Tower Master couldn't argue with the Demon King.

If I didn't have to worry about getting caught in it, there was nothing more entertaining than watching a fight. I sat in the offered chair, chewed on an ice pop, and watched the three Tower Masters battle.

"Eliot. Ryune. Aren't you curious? Don't you want to go further?"

It seemed space wasn't projecting only light. The Red Tower Master's voice reached me through the explosions.

The blast was powerful enough to have killed everyone in the area if there had been people there, but none of the three Tower Masters, each possessing innate arcane, died. The Green Tower Master protected herself with walls of One-Way, while the Black Tower Master used Vanishing Point to erase the blast's amplitude. Yet neither Tower Master looked pleased.

The Red Tower Master, Hwaran Fahrenheit, was surrounded by a red aura. She openly radiated madness and heat.

"Have you never thought of surpassing your master? Don't you have the will to take Master's power for yourself and become complete? How can you remain still after gaining such power? Don't you think your talent is wasted?"

"Is setting fires everywhere and driving people out what you call moving forward?! Stop it already! Do you think I can't do the same?"

The Green Tower Master aimed a jewel-studded umbrella at the Red Tower Master. At the same time, dozens of magic circles drawn in the air with wind appeared. The magic circles made of condensed air seemed ready to vanish at any moment.

That was what they were for in the first place. A catalyst followed its nature. Magic circles drawn with wind were fleeting, but there was nothing better for controlling wind. Wind passing through the magic circles had become something like bombs. Innate arcane restrained the wind that was about to explode for a moment.

Innate arcane, One-Way.

A storm that could barely be contained even in a solid steel vessel was easily compressed by innate arcane. There were over a hundred of them.

The Green Tower Master of the Defense Bureau was a master of wind magic. When it came to range and scale of power, no one could rival Eliot. Wind amplified by innate arcane covered the entire area.

"Aerial Cylinder!"

With the sharp incantation, innate arcane was unleashed.

The bullets fired from the cylinders of One-Way pierced straight through the Red Tower Master. A barrage of wind magic. Bullets carrying the mana of wind shots flew in. The instant they collided with the red aura surrounding the Red Tower Master, a massive explosion erupted and blew away everything nearby.

Smoke, flames, and dust darkened my vision.

"Too light. Too lukewarm. Eliot, is this all you have?"

The Red Tower Master's disappointed voice echoed out.

"It's not enough to protect yourself. You cannot grow larger without breaking your frame. Shed your skin. Burn away the shell around you and become greater. You should try to surpass your master! That is how you repay Master!"

Even as explosions swallowed the Tower Masters, the Demon King remained composed. His disciples were in a battle to the death, yet instead of stopping them, the Demon King simply chewed on an ice pop. After swallowing a mouthful, the Demon King spoke to me.

"Reactive Armor. What do you think? Is the Red Tower Master's magic interesting?"

Was that question for me? I had no idea what answer the Demon King wanted. I replied uneasily.

"Interesting is not the word. It's astonishing. She's practically walking around with bombs strapped to her body. How is she not terrified?"

Approaching impacts, energy, and force caused the aura around her body to explode and block them. It didn't matter how powerful the attack was. The stronger it was, the more violently the aura reacted. The recoil was offset by explosions on the opposite side.

It wasn't absolute like One-Way, mystical like Vanishing Point, or unreasonable like time stop. It resembled Crystal Theory in a sense, but its direction was the complete opposite. An extremely aggressive defensive technique.

"It is the power of innate arcane."

"Even with innate arcane, one mistake in calculation or deployment and she would blow herself apart. No matter how confident I was, I couldn't do something like that."

"Didn't you reach the White Tower Master's throat in much the same way?"

...Since the Demon King had watched the Red Tower Master's fight here, he must have watched my battle the same way.

"I only did it because I had to, but I suppose the Red Tower Master is the same. A mage's greatest priority is finding a way to protect themself."

"Since you brought it up, do you know what that power around the Red Tower Master's body is?"

Know it? I couldn't even read her thoughts, so how could I know something like...

No. Trying to make the Demon King lower his guard was pointless. That sort of chatter only had meaning when I could read the other person's thoughts.

...I had already read them. Hm.

Hwaran Fahrenheit's innate arcane was Ignition Garden. Whether mana or matter, it could adjust its ignition point. The problem was that ignition required air. Even if she lowered an ignition point to cause an explosion, it meant nothing without air.

That was why she needed air. I answered.

"The power around her body is an explosive gaseous mixture. She lowered its reactivity with innate arcane and wrapped it around herself. Like the Cyan Tower Master, she can apply innate arcane to both gas and mana."

"Very good. I especially like that you do not need petty explanations or metaphors. There is no waste."

The Demon King smiled in satisfaction and lifted a glass.

The battle was growing fiercer. The Red Tower Master and the Green Tower Master both possessed explosive, expansive natures. Their spectacular fight became a contest for control over space. Walls of One-Way contained the explosions and drove the wind forward, while the Red Tower Master canceled the wind with explosions and burned everything around her.

"Ugh... Self-erasure."

The Black Tower Master, sick of this loud and destructive battle, fled into Vanishing Point.

The earth exploded. The Red Tower Master's power, Ignition Garden, turned everything into explosives, whether it could burn or not. The ground exploded, rapidly drawing in oxygen.

That force was contained within walls of One-Way and fired back. Perfectly controlled wind was stronger than any blade. Just before the sharp blades of wind reached the Red Tower Master, the wind escaped the control of innate arcane and fed the Red Tower Master's flames instead.

The Green Tower Master worked the bellows, and the Red Tower Master added heat. One-Way controlled the storm and fed the flames, while those flames created a tremendous updraft that shook the space. It looked like a dragon of flame coiling and raging through the air.

The power between them only continued to amplify. A storm of flame and heat circulated between the Red Tower Master and the Green Tower Master, growing ever larger.

"When inner visions clash, it ultimately becomes a collision of domains. Who do you think will win?"

"They're already past the point of discussing victory or defeat. The first one to withdraw their power loses. That unbelievably compressed power will explode. This is a game of chicken that ends with one of them dead."

"I am asking with that in mind."

This was far too easy. Without the slightest hesitation, I answered.

"Of course."

Footnotes:

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