Chapter 8 Part 7
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“Well done.”
Lara and Marise had grown up compared to when they first joined the party.
I never thought the two could communicate with their hearts and magic power to create such powerful magic together.
Seeing them grow up, I was filled with emotions.
“What’s wrong? Are you worried about your friends?”
“Nah, I was thinking that the fight with you will be a little boring. So I decided to take a quick look around.”
“Hahaha! What nonsense!”
Arnold laughed and readied his right hand.
“Don’t get carried away just because you were able to stop the magic earlier. I will show you true magic.”
As Arnold said this, his body began to be enveloped in light.
Eventually, the light was shaped into armor.
“Oh…? Gigant Deformation, huh…?”
It is of low quality, but it is a spell I thought I would never see in this era.
“Good. To have finally met a mage with some talent. Let’s have some fun then.”
I will have to get the truth out of him.
“W-W-Whoa! What’s that!? Kurt’s in trouble!?”
“What are you talking about, Lara? Kurt will be fine.”
Lara and Marise, who had finished their fight, also came to watch my fight
“Stay close to me.”
They nodded at my instruction.
Arnold used the spell to create thick armor with his magic power. It is a spell that prevents all kinds of attacks and also greatly increases one’s physical abilities.
“Hahaha! With this, I could even fight against dragons!”
With his face hidden by the armor, Arnold smiles pleasantly.
“Dragons?”
What is he talking about?
“You can’t even defeat a dragon like that.”
In such a case, Arnold would have been blown away and killed with a single swipe of a dragon’s tail.
“What’s going on!? We heard what sounded like an ongoing battle, and… T-This is…!”
“Kurt? And… are those the representatives of the imperial capital lying over there? What’s going on here!?”
Meanwhile, Erika-sensei and Desmond also appeared.
They probably rushed over here after hearing the sound of us fighting and sensed an emergency.
“Sensei… We’ll talk later. Please step back a little.”
The opponent is a bit too strong, even for Desmond.
“Kukuku… Are you the teachers of the Royal Capital? In that case, for the sake of the Empire’s victory, let’s take care of all of you together!”
Arnold slowly moved his arms. He grabbed a nearby tree and pulled it straight out of the ground.
“Hmph!”
A large tree was then thrown at us.
I immediately used body strengthening magic to catch the tree that was thrown at us with one hand.
“This transformation is really good. Maybe I can even throw a dragon with this.”
After the throwing of the steel balls, now it is the throwing of a big tree…
“Desmond-sensei.”
“Hm?”
“I am going to try what you taught in the class.”
As it is, I threw the tree at Arnold.
“Tsk…!”
Arnold clicked his tongue and dodged in the nick of time. The large tree was impaled into the ground nearby.
“You are good. But thou shalt not defeat me! Even if you were to hit me just now, you would not be able to break my armor!”
I was not even thinking of destroying his armor just now.
He threw it at me, so I just threw it back.
“Hey, you!”
I drew my sword from its sheath and intercepted Arnold.
“You’ve been using chantless magic for a while now, haven’t you? What do you know about it?”
Considering this era’s average level, his power is clearly the only one out of the norm.
“I’ll teach thee a lesson for your journey to the underworld, that all the magic we know today is rubbish.”
“Rubbish?”
As he spoke, Arnold threw his right fist at me.
I parried it with my sword and continued listening to Arnold’s story.
“I don’t know the entire truth, but it is said that various dreadful magic were used about a thousand years ago.”
One thousand years ago… That was exactly the time I lived in.
“It is said that it was due to one man who was called a heretic and later called the ‘Demon King’. Our ancestors had sealed the abominable magic created by the Demon King. And we called it the <<Demon King’s Magic>>.”
“Heretic… <<Demon King’s Magic>>…”
People called me a heretic for bringing about the magic revolution, but I do not remember being called the Demon King.
After my reincarnation, the name gradually became more and more exaggerated, and I finally became the Demon King.
“All of the magic created by the Demon King is powerful enough to destroy the world. And so, the Empire secretly evoked the sealed magic and continued researching it. The magic and theories were then taught to us, the <<Four Great Sages>>, who were originally just normal mages, to experiment on it. And this is the result.”
Arnold slowly turns his palm toward me.
Suddenly, an explosion occurred.
It was the Ifrit Flare which is considered lost magic in this world.
““Kurt!””
I heard Lara and Marise’s voices.
Are they worried about me?
But to me, such a thing…
“Can’t hurt me, you know?”
Before the explosion of the Ifrit Flare occurred, I modified my body to be able to withstand high temperatures. Even magma would not affect me now.
Because of that, I did not get a single burn, even though I was at the epicenter of the explosion just now.
“In that case, does that mean the magic civilization has declined because the magic of the Demon King has been sealed?”
“That’s right. According to our Empire’s research, it seems that the Demon King has suddenly disappeared from this world.”
If that Demon King is ‘me’, then it is because I have been reincarnated ── a thousand years later in this world.
“I see.”
I understand the reasons for the decline of this world.
However… There are still mysteries to be solved.
Why did they seal the magic and theories that I created?
Was it because it’s dangerous?
No-no, it was supposed to bring convenience to everyone.
In fact, everyone enjoyed the convenience of the magic civilization in the world a thousand years ago.
In that case, the Empire probably contributed to the decline of this world as well.
“Is that all the truth you know of?”
“As I thought, it seems that thou knew as well based on thy reaction.”
Arnold’s face was covered with armor, but the corners of his mouth must have turned up like a half-moon.
It seems like I would not get anything more out of this guy.
“Take this! Ifrit Flare!”
Arnold tried to cast Ifrit Flare again.
However,
“What’s going on!? Why isn’t my magic working!?”
Arnold is startled, and his voice grows louder.
I have seen through all of his magic.
“It’s the dispel magic. It can negate the opponent’s magic. Don’t you know?”
“I-Impossible! A magic that negates other magic? That couldn’t have been done without a considerable skill gap…! What else do thou know…!”
It was a good way to pass the time.
I have learned some of the reasons for the decline of this world, and I finally get to see some better magic being used.
And so, it’s time to end this.
“Let me show you what true magic is.”
I raised my hand to the sky and deployed a magic formula… I also adjusted its power so that it would not break Lara and Marise’s barrier.
“W-What the hell is going on!”
Arnold looks horrified.
“This is what you call the true <<Demon King’s Magic>> that was sealed a thousand years ago.”
── Gate of Judgment.
It is the name of the magic that opens the gate of judgment and destroys the opponent with holy light.
“Ahh… so that holy thing is the power of a Demon King, huh…?”
Arnold’s armor gradually melted, and soon his figure was obscured by the light.
The divine light gradually engulfed everything and made a pure white world.
I learned a lot from this fight.
The reasons, though not all, for the decline of this world.
And… It seems that there is still no one stronger than me.
“You are a thousand years too early to challenge me.”
By the time the gate of judgment was closed, nothing was left of Arnold, not even his body.
“By the time the gate of judgment was closed, nothing was left of Arnold, not even his body.”
That’s… quite redundant…