“......Can this truly be Miss Hulim Heyerar? Not some wandering A-Rank Pinnacle adept passing through?”
A teacher whispered in stunned disbelief, his voice trembling with awe.
“No......”
Holstin Ming Dawson shook his head slowly,
his deep gaze fixed unwavering on the heart of the battle.
“This is her. I recognize her mana aura—and I suspect Teacher Grisa does as well, does he not?”
“......You are right.”
Grisa nodded slowly,
his own features etched with the same profound shock, his voice thick with emotion:
“She is my student. I can say with absolute certainty—it is her.”
“Then there can be no doubt.”
Another teacher gasped, his words tumbling out in a rush of denial:
“But Hulim Heyerar is not yet fourteen! How could she possibly have reached A-rank? And not just A-rank... but this—”
He fell silent, unable to finish the thought.
For the truth laid bare before their eyes defied all reason, all sense of reality.
A child, not yet fourteen years old, an A-rank adept—and not a mere one at that.
Her power had long since transcended the ordinary A-rank. She had ascended to the very Pinnacle of the Rank.
“Unfathomable though it may be.”
Holstin’s gaze lingered on the distant clash, his voice steady and solemn as he spoke:
“It is the truth unfolding right before our eyes.
Miss Hulim... no—Hulim Heyerar—
has walked an unimaginable path in the shadows, far from our sight. She has scaled the mountain we stand upon, and what is more... I can feel it.”
“Her journey is far from over.”
...
Boom——!
A jet-black beam of light streaked toward Hulim from the side, a lethal Fifth Circle strike aimed for her unguarded flank.
Hulim flicked the Seven Luminaries casually, as if brushing away a fly.
Hum!
A barrier blazed to life at her side,
turning the devastating attack aside with effortless ease.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh......
Before the echo of the blocked beam had even faded, a hail of inky black orbs hurtled toward her from every direction, their trajectories twisted and unpredictable, impossible to anticipate.
Hum——!
Layer upon layer of magic circles unfurled before her, around her, at her back.
In the blink of an eye, a storm of searing light beams erupted from them,
slamming into the black orbs mid-flight and incinerating them utterly.
Boom! Boom! Boom......
Not a single orb made it past her defenses.
Thus far, every attack and defense exchanged between them had been of Fifth Circle caliber. Spells of lesser rank had become meaningless, trivial distractions in a battle of titans.
“You have indeed surpassed the limits you once knew.”
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Hulim spoke flatly, her voice cutting through the roar of their clash,
unchanged from the very first moment they had faced off.
The ferocity of their battle had escalated a hundredfold, far beyond what either could have mustered at the start—and yet her tone remained calm, detached, unyielding.
As if to her, there was no difference between then and now.
“Surpassed my limits?”
Cassim’s voice cracked, his emotions fraying as his body unraveled further, his flesh dissolving into shadow with every breath he took. Rage burned in his corrupted eyes, a stark contrast to his cold composure at the start.
“You insolent brat! Die for me——!!!”
Boom——!
His roar shattered the air, and his aura surged once more, swelling to new heights.
The shadow tentacles writhing from his back shot forward like obsidian blades, streaking toward Hulim with lethal precision.
Crack!
They were cleaved clean in two mid-flight by a gust of wind magic, shredded to nothing before they could reach her.
“Wind magic... of course.”
Cassim snarled, his rage boiling over, his aura spiking higher and higher—his body crumbling faster to match it.
“How much more power have you hidden? How long will you keep it all locked away from me?!”
Hum! Hum! Hum......
More magic circles blazed to life before him, a dozen at a time,
and the full force of his Fifth Circle spells erupted outward in a single, desperate wave.
It mattered not. Every last strike was turned aside, blocked, dissolved—all with the same effortless calm from Hulim.
“You may test it for yourself.”
Hulim replied, her voice as steady as still water.
Cassim stared at her, his face contorted with unbridled fury—
yet in an instant, the rage faded, melting away to reveal the cold, calculating indifference he had worn at their first meeting.
“......It does not matter. No matter how strong you are, it changes nothing.”
He spoke slowly, his voice ragged, his body on the verge of collapse:
“You were right. I once had limits, and I now know that even at my peak, I never stood a chance against you. But—”
His aura exploded in a cataclysmic surge, a supernova of corrupted mana,
his life force burning away to fuel it, his body dissolving into shadow as his power peaked.
“I have no limits now——!”
“If death is inevitable, then we shall burn together! I will take you down with me!”
Boom——!
His body was swallowed whole by a vortex of pitch-black Dark Mana, so dense it solidified into a realm of pure shadow, a dreadfully powerful spell brewing within its depths.
“This final strike will claim your life!”
“PERISH——!!!”
BOOM——!!!
A tidal wave of darkness surged forth, a tsunami of corrupted magic that engulfed Hulim completely,
its momentum unbroken as it tore across the sky, splitting the clouds in two, a black gash carved into the heavens themselves.
For a heartbeat, the battlefield fell silent.
The dark tide receded, fading into nothingness.
“Hah...... Hahaha......”
Cassim sagged, his body wracked with exhaustion, the solid shadows clinging to his flesh crumbling and peeling away like ash.
Yet a triumphant smile stretched across his face, his eyes blazing with mad victory.
“I won! I finally won!”
He laughed, his voice hoarse and delirious:
“The price was everything, but I have triumphed! This world will belong to us in the end!”
“......Won? What exactly have you won?”
The cold, calm voice cut through his laughter like a blade, freezing him in place.
Cassim’s eyes snapped wide, his smile vanishing in an instant. He stared forward, his face drained of all color, his mouth agape in unutterable disbelief.
“How...... how is this possible......?”
There she stood. Hulim Heyerar, unscathed, unharmed, untouched by the cataclysmic strike that should have reduced her to dust.
No words were needed. A single horrifying truth dawned on him at last.
“You seem to have misunderstood something.”
Hulim spoke softly, a faint, alien aura stirring around her—one that sent a bone-deep chill down Cassim’s spine, even as his body dissolved away.
“You wished to see my true power, did you not?”
Her hands tightened around the Seven Luminaries, lifting it high above her head, her gaze calm and unwavering.
“Then witness it.”
Hum! Hum! Hum......
Nine colossal magic circles unfurled in a perfect ring around her, encircling her completely.
Unlike all her prior spells, these circles did not aim for Cassim.
Yet he felt a threat unlike any he had ever known, a dread so profound it stole the breath from his lungs.
“Ninefold Magic Domain——!!!”
Her voice rang out, clear and unyielding, as the sky itself convulsed and shattered.
Boom!
A storm of fire raged first, incinerating the heavens and turning the clouds to ash.
It was only the beginning.
A tempest of wind followed, green and razor-sharp, tearing through the fire and rending the air asunder.
Then a sandstorm, a blizzard of ice, a surge of water, a crackle of lightning, a pulse of light, a veil of shadow, a wave of pure neutral mana......
Nine elemental magics, all woven together, all unleashed as one. Their power intertwined, clashing and merging to form a realm of absolute destruction—a domain where every force in existence was countered, crushed, annihilated.
“......”
Cassim forgot to resist. He stared, his eyes hollow and empty, at the impossible power unfolding before him.
He understood now.
If he was an A-Rank Pinnacle, standing at the very top of his rank—
then she was A-Rank Invincible.
Untouchable. Unbeatable. Unmatched.
“Against power like this......”
A bitter, hollow laugh escaped his lips, a whisper of defeat and self-mockery.
“I never stood a chance.”
Boom......
The storm of destruction swallowed him whole, and his fading form vanished into the void, his mana aura snuffed out forever.
“......”
Far away, the four onlookers stood in utter, silent awe.
No words were spoken. No breaths were drawn. Their hearts and minds were filled with a shock so profound it left them speechless, their understanding of magic and power shattered completely.
To witness an Omni-Elemental Mage—one who commanded all nine elements—ascend before their eyes... it was beyond comprehension.
“Gentlemen.”
Holstin Ming Dawson spoke at last, his gaze fixed on the lone figure suspended high in the sky, her silhouette framed by the shattered heavens and the nine elemental storms swirling around her. His voice was soft, solemn, and filled with reverence.
“We may very well be witnessing the birth of a legend.”
...
