Chapter 224: Applications
Chapter 224: Applications
“You are… a caster, correct?” Haze said hesitantly. “Then, I suppose-”
“Ah, that’s not quite right. We’re… mm… a battle mage?”
“...battle mage?” said Anta, albeit in a more subdued tone.
“We’re a caster and a fighter at the same time! So that makes us a battle mage!”
“...fine.”
The last four lines came from Prota’s mouth. All of them. It sounded like she was going crazy, but at the same time, the tones were so distinct that it was obvious what was going on.
If there were two consciousnesses in the same body…
Then both were trying to speak at once.
They turned to Haze.
“My- Anta, that is- my specialty is close combat. Prota is better at casting, although she can move pretty well, too. However, it seems you’ve already caught on to what’s going on. You know what’s coming next, right?”
Haze closed her eyes.
“I understand.”
“Great. Then let’s start.”
Haze immediately leapt forward, her blade flashing out in an instant. Anta leapt aside while Prota managed to cast an ice barrier, deflecting the blade so it was nowhere close to landing.
“...I see,” Haze muttered.
It would be a hard fight for her. After all, this wasn’t like fighting a traditional battle mage, however rare those might be. Even a battle mage could only have one line of consciousness at once.
But in this case, Prota and Anta were separate entities. They could make their own decisions simultaneously. It was essentially like fighting a caster and a fighter at the same time. However, contrary to fighting two people, there was no weaker caster to target; only a single body that could deal with close combat easily.
Additionally, the combination of them being the same person made it so their actions were incredibly in sync. Even without training, their level of harmony was top notch.
Even Haze was being pushed back. Her fire magic was incredible, yes. It surrounded her body, blocking most ice based attacks and absorbing any fire based ones, but even a barrier had its limits. Anta’s hand-to-hand combat wasn’t nearly as strong, but with a barrage of spells coming Haze’s way, there was no way to break through.
In that sense, it was a truly special combination. Prota alone would have a hard time dealing with someone at close range. She could dodge, but landing a hit would be infinitely more tiring. Anta alone could defend, but landing a decisive strike would be nearly impossible.
But the two of them together?
“Prota,” Anta thought. “This isn’t good training. We already know how to do this.”
“...then what?”
“Use magic you’re not familiar with. Magic you’ll have to focus to use. It’ll be good to prepare… when you have to use that.”
Prota understood. Forcing herself to use a magic she was unfamiliar with would, no doubt, break their synchronization. It wasn’t that they would fail to understand each other’s intent, but the timing on such things was so precise that they wouldn’t work had either girl been any less skilled.
Thus, the timing was absolutely necessary to get right. Prota was starting to see why Anta had planned things the way she had.
For them to fight like this properly, her skills would have to advance significantly.
“...I would call it here, but my pride stops me from doing so,” Haze said rather calmly.
Still, she was panting ever so slightly, and a bead of sweat was falling from her head. Her eyes were narrowed and focus, but they’d lose their concentration every so often.
“That’s fine. However… have we proven ourselves?”
“Yes,” Haze nodded. “With skills like those… I doubt there are many in the whole continent who could rival you.”
“Wait, but our power-”
“You seem to misunderstand how rare and valuable battle mages are. The core weakness of a caster is their vulnerability at close range, while their strength is their ability to strike from afar. The core weakness of a fighter, then, is their lack of safe options, while they are capable of greater levels of defense. You, however, have covered all those weaknesses. The only individuals capable of securing victory over you are those who can overpower you through sheer firepower.”
“...then you still don’t understand what kinds of opponents we’re going up against,” Anta muttered.
“I will resume, then.”
With that, Haze launched herself back into battle.
In her defense, she was still insanely strong. Her skills were nearly absolute. The heat surrounding her body would occasionally cause it to shimmer, creating afterimages and distorting her true location. If Prota hadn’t been able to see souls, she would have a hard time landing any attacks at all.
Her sword skills were nothing to laugh at, either. If Anta hadn’t cast so many stacks of mana reinforcement, she likely would have been hit by now. In fact, she was barely fighting at all, despite that being her strength. She was primarily focused on dodging, something Prota could have done as well. Her only role at the moment was to allow Prota to concentrate fully on casting.
But once that stopped…
Her task would become infinitely harder.
“Hm… are you trying to take me lightly because of my inability to defeat you?” Haze frowned, displaying her first emotions of the fight. “I would prefer it if you did not insult me.”
“Insult you? We just need to get stronger, too. Real combat is best, but this is pretty close, don’t you think?” Anta laughed.
A hail of pebbles assaulted Haze, but with a single sweep of the blade, they were blown away.
“Do not underestimate me.”
Suddenly, the dynamic of the battle had shifted. Haze was on the attack, and they were on the defense. Unfortunately, Anta was now scrambling to survive, given that Prota’s barriers were nowhere near as fast as they’d been before.
Their minds began to work overtime. Every little action. Every little change. They all had to be analyzed, prepared for, and reacted to. They couldn’t just rely on instinct.
Every fiber of their being had to focus on this fight.
Slowly, they were taking damage. A nick here. A scratch there.
Had this been a fight to the death, they would’ve been long gone.
“Prota!” Anta yelled. “Hurry up!”
“...out of sync, are we?”
There was a glint in Haze’s eyes.
“Prota!”
Prota, however, was so intensely focused that she was only reacting to Anta’s intent and nothing else.
She’d just realized something.
Fighting and casting were typically separated due to the way spells worked. The method of chanting and visualization differed from person to person, and the difference wasn’t innate; it was simply a matter of preference. No one was predestined to be a caster or fighter, and everyone could use mana reinforcement.
So if the method didn’t matter… then casting and fighting spells were the same to Prota.
She’d never really used fighting magic, mainly because she hated fighting with her body. But she didn’t need to do that anymore. And Anta, for whatever reason, disliked casting magic, preferring to fight only with her body.
But if the two were fighting at once…
Then why deny an entire field of magic?
Suddenly, the intents began to shift once more. Anta could feel it, too.
“It took you long enough, idiot.”
Haze’s eyes widened. Something was different. The atmosphere—
“I won’t let you!” she cried out, raising her blade.
It was too late.
Two minds became one.
There was a sudden rumble as the stones beneath the ground flew up, rising to form arm guards, blocking Haze’s attack. There were sparks as metal met stone, the blade clashing off the armour.
“Fighting magic- I should have expected nothing less. Using me as a stepping stone, are you?” she muttered.
To Prota’s surprise, Haze laughed. It was a quiet laugh, but an incredibly pretty one.
“Very well. I’ll assist you in your enlightenment. Come. Show me what you’ve got.”
~~~
“Nn…”
Prota was sprawled out in the medic bay, wrapped in bandages.
The fight had ended somewhat poorly. Her injuries were due to her own negligence. Haze had done practically no damage to Prota at all aside from a few scratches that mana recovery had naturally healed.
No, her bruises and broken bones were due to rocks flying up and smashing into her body in order to form armour. Yes, the formation of magic was the same, but Prota didn’t quite understand how fighting magic worked. Thus, she could only do what she assumed was correct. She’d seen a few armours made, so she just copied what she’d seen.
Copying was not always correct.
“...I heard you beat my mom in a fight,” Destiny said with a light smile. “That’s… that’s not an easy feat, you know?”
“Destiny will do it too,” Prota muttered. “Eventually.”
“Yeah?” the hero laughed. “And how long will that take me? Fifty years? I’d bet I only won because she was too old to-”
“Seventeen.”
“Wha- that old?”
“Seventeen years old.”
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“That…”
Prota looked away, hiding her expression.
At that point in time, he’d been the strongest person in the entire continent. It could be argued that he was even stronger than her.
The only problem was that he wasn’t playing on the same playing field as the last opponent he’d needed to defeat.
“Destiny is the hero. So, not surprising,” Prota shrugged.
“I… I don’t really know how to react to that,” Destiny laughed. “Hearing that from you means a lot, but it’s still crazy…”
Suddenly, Prota understood.
Why Destiny had been able to reach Doctor, if just for an instant. Why he’d been able to cut through the Elder’s mind control.
Why his blade could reach John.
His blade could cut through “anything.”
But what did that mean?
Even Destiny didn’t know. But John did. John had had an inkling of what that sword had been capable of. Telling Destiny to cut through mana, time, and space…
Anything.
Wasn’t that, in a sense, a “concept?”
And even knowing that, he’d taught Destiny.
“He really hadn’t planned on turning against the world,” Anta said quietly. “He… I think he did see everyone as friends. [Zero] wouldn’t have been so weak if you guys had been mere [Characters].”
Destiny, unaware of their conversation, turned to leave.
“Well, I’ll be headed out. Oh, and mom said to pass a message along.”
Prota’s ears perked up.
“One favour. She said she’d grant you anything within reason for showing her such a good time. To be honest, I still don’t know what kind of monster you are. From what she said, it sounded like she was taking you seriously… I don’t know what you did, but I feel kinda silly for challenging you now.”
“No. I… still need to grow.”
“Hey, I get growing stronger, but-”
“Destiny. Have you ever fought a Mystic?”
“...you’re asking because you already know the answer, huh.”
“The opponent we’re going to fight… can kill every Mystic. Ever.”
Destiny’s eyes widened. Well, the reaction was to be expected. Such a power level was absurd. It sounded like some child making up an imaginary hero.
“He’s called the hero, and his power is to win every fight he comes across! He has infinite strength and infinite speed!”
Yeah, something like that could describe John…
John.
No, the realization could wait until later. For now, she had to reassure Destiny.
“It’s ok. Because killing isn’t the goal. We just have to stop him. Last time… Destiny did the most work. So this time too. Destiny. Lots of work. Ok?”
“I… ok. Yeah.”
He let out a small laugh, and although he was visibly holding it back, he was smiling.
“Sounds good.”
Prota nodded, and the hero left the room. As soon as he did so, Prota returned to the topic she’d just had a breakthrough in.
“I think you might be right.”
“Nn.”
John’s powers were absurd. They didn’t obey logic. But [Infinity] wasn’t a power.
It was a seal.
That implied that, like Soul Steal, his potential was just limited. What it was truly capable of, even without [Deus Ex Machina], was something impossible. Prota couldn’t even imagine how it was meant to be defeated.
An infinite amount of power.
While the caveat of no defense existed, such a weakness made no difference in the face of a literal infinite amount of power. Such a being was like the product of a child’s imagination. A perfect being with a fake flaw meant to dominate every fight he took part in.
But John hadn’t been like that. Yes, his actions always led to victory, but very rarely did he dominate the fight. His actions were typically underhanded, relying on catching others off guard or using trickery. While those were valid tactics in a fight, he had rarely dominated with power alone.
But if the base of his power was like that of imagination…
Imagination.
“What he said… he used to be real, right? So if he were to give himself powers, wouldn’t the power of bullshit be the easiest one?” Anta mused. “But that power is too strong. We’re too strong as well, but our power is situational and we can’t use it well, yet. It has a clear weakness, too. People can resist it.”
“Huh? People can-”
“Well, yeah. It’s not omnipotent. But [Infinity]... alone, without its restrictions, it doesn’t have a glaring weakness. But it also goes against the core of a [Story]. Then, the [Author] is actively limiting him… Prota.”
Prota closed her eyes in focus.
“I don’t know if this will help. But his powers… we should think about it a little more from time to time.”
“...why?”
“Think. In the past, when you took his powers, he either gave them to you willingly or I helped. But if he’s resisting, how will you take [Infinity]?”
“I…”
“The more we understand the concept, the easier this will be. So let’s focus on it a little more. Alright?”
~~~
Time flew by. The months leading to Scholaris passed in what felt like an instant.
Perhaps it was due to the fact that Prota had nothing to do other than to train.
She wanted to have some new skills for Scholaris’s start. After all, her goal there wasn’t to get good grades or anything. It was to deal with Sofya and get the [Deus Ex Machina] energy back. Other than that, she simply planned on having a good time, especially since Draco wouldn’t be there to make things worse.
However, strange events would definitely take place. The cultists would still be there, and John wouldn’t be present to help deal with them. Destiny would, and so would their friends once they got to know them, but that wasn’t everything.
There was a good chance those events had changed.
Normally, John was the one to compensate for unknown events. However, given that he wasn’t here…
It was now up to Prota.
She hadn’t really thought about it last time, but these really were just children. Her fight with Ryan and Lilith had only confirmed that. These weren’t people who should be fighting for their lives.
“It’s not your burden to bear,” Anta said quietly.
“But-”
“I know what you’re thinking. But John was definitely a lot more annoyed by it than you were, and he let it go. Do you know why?”
“...growth.”
“Right.”
Neither girl was entirely pleased with that word, but it was a necessity. In fact, it could almost be called one of the axioms of their existence. Trauma and growth. But to deny it would simply result in a worse ending.
If this were “reality,” that could be circumvented. While it was good for people to struggle and grow, it technically wasn’t necessary. But in this world, it would be enforced. If some form of pain was worked around, it would only find its way back with a vengeance.
So time flew by, and Prota trained.
Perhaps it was a lazy way of getting by. After all, unlike in her previous life, she was gaining skills not through conflict, but through repetition and skill. But what else was she supposed to do? She’d had her eureka moment once.
Any other time would be senseless.
Her primary goal was to see the world as a “concept.” Reality or fiction was irrelevant here. It was hard at first. For someone who relied on vision so constantly, suddenly turning blind and opening her mind to a new world wasn’t easy.
But it wasn’t all that bad, either.
It’d taken her a similar amount of time to get Soul Steal under control, and ultimately, this wasn’t all that different. It just took the right level of understanding, the right type of comprehension, and it was manageable.
There were, of course, some drawbacks. To begin with, her idea of Soul Steal was still quite limited. It took time to draw mana from spells, meaning any spell past the second circle wasn’t erasable unless it was a spell that didn’t move. To fix this, she’d have to rearrange her subconscious understanding of her own powers, and that was something that wouldn’t be doable any time soon. For the moment, that was only possible with [Infinity] or [Deus Ex Machina].
However, the ability to do this in itself was incredible. As far as Prota knew, erasing magic directly was only possible by Jinae, who had risen to the leader of her group through this ability.
In a way, the three or so months Prota trained weren’t enough. She could have sat with Kit and practiced for ages, and she wouldn’t have gotten bored of it. The power was such a fascinating thing. It wasn’t quite beautiful the way magic was, but it harbored its own sense of wonder. To strip the world down and see things not as physical items, but as the concepts they were made of.
Well, Scholaris was a place for learning. So she would learn.
She simply wouldn’t stick to the curriculum given to her.
“We’re here!” Celestia exclaimed as they stepped through the portal once more.
The exams had been nice, but there was a romantic feeling about being a student once more. Even if there were cultists present, the incidents involving them were so few and far between that she could take things easy.
For the first time since she’d reincarnated, she felt as though she could take a deep breath.
They met up with Danjo and moved to the auditorium, where the same speech as the previous year was delivered. Prota applauded politely alongside the rest of the students, but she couldn’t help but feel as though she’d made eye contact with Sofya a few times—
Oh. Right.
“Would you spare me a moment of your time?”
“We were going to have to talk to her at some point,” Anta pointed out. “It’s just… you know. A little earlier than usual.”
“Nn…”
“Put it this way. Remember how John kept doing a bunch of crazy stuff that attracted Lupin’s attention? Just put it this way: it was necessary, and you’re just filling that role now.”
“Really?”
“No. But it helps to think of it that way, doesn’t it?”
Prota thought for a moment. If the world needed some kind of insane individual, and it was just forcing that role onto her… well, yeah. It did make things a little more manageable.
Soon, the students began flooding out, ready to explore the island or visit their rooms. Destiny invited Prota to come with, but she shook her head. There was no point in running away from this confrontation. If she was going to do it, she may as well do it now.
As the crowd thinned out, Prota moved toward the center of the stadium instead, leaping down onto the dirt floor, where the professors were also leaving.
It was just Sofya who remained.
“Hello, child. It seems you remembered,” Sofya said kindly as Prota landed softly on the ground.
Prota could only nod in return.
She stared at the dragon, trying to repress the sudden wave of emotions she felt. This was a person who was supposed to be dead. This was someone she’d watched die, someone she’d held in her arms as the breath left her body. A dragon who couldn’t be revived reasonably, even with [Deus Ex Machina]. A being so powerful the [Author] wouldn’t let them come back for fear of shifting the dynamic of the [Story].
But most of all…
Her mentor.
“Come with me. I would like to discuss something with you.”
Prota nodded again.
“You are not in trouble. Worry not. I would simply like to ask you about your skill with magic. If that is all right with you?”
Prota nodded one more time, then followed the dragon as they went back to her office. As she watched Sofya’s back, she couldn’t help but realize how similar the two of them looked. The hair, the eyes, the face… Prota could definitely see her original body belonging to Sofya’s daughter. She’d tell her someday.
But not today.
They arrived at the familiar office rather quickly. The last time Prota had been here, it had been to try and find John, without Sofya’s permission. Now that her life had looped, she was once again here with the headmaster’s permission.
Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to break in this life.
“Hm… Prota Char,” Sofya said, picking up some papers. “Born in Solaris, where you lived as an orphan until moving to the Town of Beginnings in the last year to do some adventuring work. Starting off with an unprecedented A-rank, you were involved in the subjugation of a threat regarding souls, saving the village. Endorsed by both the guild’s master and the royal Elvish family… quite the resume you’ve built up in the past year, haven’t you?”
Prota froze, feeling quite afraid.
“I… I am sorry. I did not mean to threaten you. You are most welcome here. The only piece of information that would force my hand would be for you to be a cultist, but an evil individual could not possibly be a saviour endorsed by a royal family. Child, I am simply here to ask you something else.”
Prota relaxed just a little.
“Who… Please, tell me: who taught you magic?”