WeTried Translations
Translator: Nemui
Editor: Nemui
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Reincarnated as the Villain's Heir
Chapter 31: Dark Magic Has No Bottom
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"Two Alphyses... No, a shadow?"
Lilisha looked doubtfully at us standing side by side.
The shadow had my form, and the weapon it held was the same too.
That said, it was not real.
"Shadow Servant. It is magic that creates a clone from a shadow. This one has the same strength as me, so simply put, my fighting power has doubled."
"Wh-what did I think you would do? So what? You have only increased the number of attacks a little."
"Then shall we try it?"
The shadow and I scattered, attacking from the left and right.
Lilisha turned into flame and tried to dodge, escaping the attack from my real sword.
However, right as the flame form was undone, the shadow landed a good strike.
"Kuh!"
"It worked because you were not turned into flame, right?"
"What an annoying shadow!"
Lilisha concentrated a barrage of fireballs on the shadow, but every one slipped through.
That was its other strength.
A shadow was only a shadow, and yet, just like dark magic, it could land only its attacks.
"My attacks are not working?!"
"As if something like that would pass through a shadow."
My shadow always acted with me, so reproducing me was easy.
Shadow and darkness were written differently, but I interpreted them as the same thing.
When something blocked light, a shadow darkened and created darkness.
Where light did not reach, that was darkness.
In this way, magic could expand endlessly depending on interpretation.
Shadow Servant was an extremely powerful spell that created one invincible ally.
However, with my current ability, two was the limit.
I was deliberately not bringing out the other one.
"Dark Needle... times two."
Fired with a time lag, even Lilisha did not seem able to dodge them.
They pierced her chest and stomach, steadily weakening her.
Lilisha's breathing grew rough, and her movements dulled.
"Hah... hah... It hurts... ugh..."
"You should surrender already."
"Shut... up...! Ah...! I-it hurts..."
"I will tell you this. I still have not shown all my cards. In other words, I am not fighting at full strength."
Hearing my words, Lilisha's eyes filled with tears, and she looked as if she had seen despair.
Right now, I had only shown one form of dark magic.
And without showing any new card, I intended to settle this with only Shadow Servant.
"Not yet, not yet...! I... I cannot lose!"
"Is that victory for you?"
"Huh...?"
"It is the victory House Parsifam... in other words, your father wants, right? Do not lose to a member of House Balfont. That made you rush. Even though you will still grow stronger."
Unable to talk back, Lilisha stood there frozen.
If anything, I hated her father Branmud.
He was a toxic parent rotting away an exceptional talent with the pointless ego of an adult.
Compared to that, Leorg's hands-off policy might be one correct answer.
If someone truly had talent, they would grow stronger on their own without unnecessary interference.
For a member of House Balfont, even a master was unnecessary.
Lilisha was certainly among the top strong people in this world.
What made House Parsifam second best was probably Branmud and the successive heads who came before him.
That was why I first wanted Lilisha to notice.
"I will... still grow stronger?"
"Yes. You are not limited to that. Besides, if someone struggling against the current me is the destination of magicians, that is strange, right?"
"But Father praised me! He said I was a mirror of magicians!"
"What a toxic parent. Then I will show you how much of a 'destination' that is. Shadow Servant."
Another shadow person appeared from Lilisha's shadow.
It was unmistakably Lilisha's shadow, and the fact that it was clad in flames was the same.
"What?! Me...!"
"I will use your power too."
"Hmph! It is only a fake!"
What Lilisha's shadow unleashed was black flame.
Against the red, black flames attacked, and they wrapped around Lilisha's body.
Lilisha had assumed they would not work, but after taking the attack, she immediately understood reality.
"Hot! H-how can fire work on me?!"
"That one is both fire attribute and dark attribute. Even if you have fire resistance, it will work normally without dark resistance. That is flame unleashed with your current mana."
"Kuh...! N-not yet, not yet...!"
"See? You still have a long way to go."
"Shut uuuuup!"
Driven by anger, Lilisha erupted flames from her whole body.
If she still wanted to continue, then it could not be helped.
"For now, lose to me one more time and cool your head."
My clone and I assaulted Lilisha.
In a panic, she tried to defend by releasing flames, but trying to respond to both of us at once backfired.
The flames became scattered, and the result was a wall of flame with poorly kneaded mana.
I showed no mercy and pierced Lilisha again with Dark Needle from point-blank range.
"Agh...! Ah, aaah, gah...!"
"Things you can usually do become impossible at the last moment. Happens all the time. The difference in experience showed."
A Dark Needle pierced Lilisha's throat.
Lilisha's body scattered into particles of light, and she was thrown outside the field and forced out.
That one had definitely been a fatal wound.
"As expected of Lord Alphys! Easy!"
"Wonderful!"
Leticia clasped her hands and rejoiced at my victory, while Luchel hopped.
Meanwhile, outside the field, Lilisha writhed in pain and could not get up, tears spilling as she sobbed.
"Ugh, ugh... hgh... auu..."
"Are you all right?"
"D-do not touch me..."
I rubbed her back, but Lilisha brushed my hand away.
Perhaps she did not want me to see her face, because she stubbornly kept her hands on the floor and would not show it.
"Someone like me is... hgh... uwaaaah!"
"Calm down. I am not doing this because I hate you. I feel potential in you."
"Po... tential...?"
Lilisha raised her face, which was a mess of tears and snot.
That was quite the awful face. I could not say part of me did not find it satisfying.
"When you took your own flame, what did you think? Something like that cannot even kill the current you."
"N-no... But I reached the Arcane Truth of Magic..."
"You wanted to become stronger so badly that you escaped into an easy method. But I do not think that is completely wrong."
"What do you mean...?"
Still sitting, Lilisha looked up at me.
The parts of her body that had become flame were slowly returning to normal.
At the same time as Lilisha's fighting spirit was fading, she was also in the stage of gaining a new realization and trying to grow.
"Apparently, it rarely happens during the process of a magician becoming stronger. They escape into an easy Arcane Truth of Magic, but only those who realize their mistake afterward can go even higher."
"Then... I can still become stronger?"
"Yes. To put it bluntly, there are plenty of magicians who stopped at your current level. They are decently strong thanks to the Arcane Truth of Magic, but they have no room left to grow."
"I do not want that..."
Lilisha muttered softly, tears gathering in her eyes.
"I do not want that! I want to become much, much stronger! Not something like this. Stronger than Father, stronger than anyone... stronger than you!"
Heat burst all at once from Lilisha's body.
Her red skin returned to normal, and as if nothing had happened, she regained her human body.
Her mana had completely returned to normal, but its flow was incomparably more stable than before.
Her mental growth was affecting her mana too.
"Yes. Let us become stronger together."
"Ugh, ugh... uwaaaaaah!"
Lilisha finally broke down crying.
"I am moved!"
"Lady Lilisha, you were strong! I need to work harder at training too!"
"I am fired up for training now too!"
The students who had become an audience burst into applause.
Among them was Leticia, who clapped her hands softly with elegance.
"Lord Alphys is the strongest! Strongest! Strongest!"
"Lord Alphys... As expected, he is wonderful..."
"Lord Alphys!"
"I am trembling!"
Besides Luchel, before I knew it, the people who seemed to be the fan club led by Esty were there.
Was this what people called shrill cheers?
Actually receiving them myself was a little embarrassing, or rather, I really wanted them to stop.
And wait, were there more people than I had heard? Were there over ten of them?
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