Root School Succession Duel
The Substitute God’s war-ravaged body rapidly regenerated, returning to its original state. Drawing upon the vitality of the Moon of the Origin, the arm swiftly restored itself until the original limb reappeared. Having completed the regeneration in an instant, he stored the core of the defeated Upper Main God of the Substitute Gods into his pocket dimension and continued restoring his body. Then he shouted to the former leaders of the Root School standing around him.
“The Root School leader determination battle begins now! Come at me!”
According to the doppelganger instinct of Unique Survival, the cloned bodies must continue slaughtering one another until only one remains. The survivor would be the single entity possessing the strongest soul and spirit. An even more vicious problem was that the clones would focus their attacks on the original first. “In the end, one must endure and triumph against dozens of entities possessing the same magical power and physique. This is the Root School’s leader examination.”
The final magic used when surrounded and facing death on the battlefield—there had never been a Root School leader who survived after casting it. No being could withstand the concentrated assault of dozens at the same level. “If I weren’t an 11th-circle mage, I would have died too. Their original level was 7th-circle or below; even if their level was forcibly equalized, their mana control and physical command were at an infant’s level. I was fortunate.”
What disgusted him most about the final magic was that any Root School leader who used it proved their own incompetence. It was the most vicious black magic, cast with the knowledge that one would die, simply to drag the enemy down together. “But I am different. I chose the means solely for victory, not to die together… Damn it!”
Honestly, he had not expected to win so easily. He had not anticipated that the Substitute God Main God would abandon resurrection after that level of divine power radiation. “No backbone. What a waste of an 11th-circle level or higher.”
He had won, yet his mana was completely depleted and he could no longer use divine power. “All that remains is this body.” He poured what little mana remained—barely a grain of sand—into his physique.
“We are Root School black mages. Physical training is merely a tool for survival on the battlefield and for smooth mana usage. To slaughter the enemy directly with one’s body is a disgrace that forgets a mage’s true duty. Kill and slaughter the enemy with magic alone. If you cannot, then flee. However, there is an exception clause.”
The previous leaders regenerated their severed hands and stared at him. Only killing intent remained in their eyes. A 7th-circle death knight could not long resist its instincts. “In a Root School leader battle there is no such luxury. Since escape is impossible against this opponent, once combat begins, use every means to annihilate. That is the sole reason for the Root School’s only attack technique, Break Circle. Are you prepared? Prepared to test the current leader of the Root School?”
“The examination begins.” The former leaders began to move.
“I have no mana left to cast magic. Only hand-to-hand combat remains.” To his eyes they were incompetent below 7th-circle, yet they were still former leaders who had fought fiercely, lived, died, and offered even their souls to the Root School. “I will show them the utmost respect—as long as my life does not vanish.”
He rotated all eleven mana circles inside his body. Vwoooom—!
The aura that strengthened a swordsman’s body was the purification of vitality. A mage’s mana was the essence of the soul. Magic was the reference point of the circle that gathered that soul. Having abandoned placing the circle at the heart in pursuit of a swift body, the Root School had turned its gaze even to aura. The reckless attempt to obtain both swift physical training and power through aura had achieved only half-success.
“The fusion of aura and mana is impossible for a human body. Yet if one sacrifices mana, aura usage becomes possible—while consuming the mana circles.” Sacrificing the circle, most vital to a mage, was a conclusion that would shock even the Root School, which stopped at nothing to survive on the battlefield, yet only the leader had survived with this technique. It was because no other technique existed to face Root School members whose circles resided in their heads and were therefore difficult to kill.
“Mana-Body Fusion.” Mana traced circles as his body moved. “By anchoring all eleven circles throughout the entire body, physical activity is reinforced elevenfold, like an aura.”
Mana vibrated along the muscles, tracing circles and realizing power and speed never before attained. “Unlike ordinary reinforcement magic, this is directly injected into the body like an aura, producing explosive enhancement.”
The most terrifying aspect was that, being soul power, the impact directly interfered with the opponent’s soul and mana. “If an ordinary mage is grazed, the minimum damage is the inability to use magic; a direct hit to the heart’s circle means instant death.” It was the most efficient method of destroying a mage’s circle, and even he would be in danger if struck in the head.
The robe of the mage fluttered with the amplified trembling of his muscles. Crack—! Crack—! Finding the robe cumbersome, he stripped it off and stored it in his pocket dimension, revealing his upper body covered in countless scars. Most were wounds from battles against High Elf Queens in his youth.
“Once I came of age, my opponents were the combined assault of five High Elf Queens possessing the greatest speed and sword mastery in the Middle World. Whether it is a leader determination battle or anything else, in hand-to-hand combat none of you can surpass me. Even if you possess my body and knowledge at the same level, you are still only 7th-circle.”
“We’ll see about that! Graaaah—!”
Conversation was over. “They have been completely consumed by the cloned body’s instincts.” Now they fought only by the instincts and knowledge etched into their bodies. Attacks rained down from every direction—front, back, left, right, and even from the air.
The speed and power of the attacks were clearly identical. “How simple.” Because they relied on instinct, their attacks inevitably targeted the center of the circle—his head. “If I read the trajectory, evasion is trivial. Even attacks launched almost simultaneously can be countered all at once and finished.”
The former leaders, now reduced to pure instinct, executed only the most efficient attacks—and that was their fatal mistake.
Thud! Ting—! Tingtingting! His right hand, capable of the fastest attacks, blocked the left and right strikes coming from all sides. Thud! Thud—! Prepared to sacrifice his hands, he concentrated mana into his attacks and shattered the hands reaching for him, then immediately drove his broken right hand into an opponent’s face. Thudthudthud! Crash! Craaash!
Those attacking from front and back were sent flying, heads kicked along with the hands that had been striking from the air. He offered his right shoulder to the one attacking from above and drove his forehead into that face. Thudthudthudthud—! Thud—!
All five former leaders lost their heads in an instant, sent flying backward before crashing to the ground. The Root School possessed the fastest mages; in linear movement they surpassed even assassins. When that astonishing speed was paired with a counterstrike stronger than the opponent’s, the result was this lethal retaliation.
“No matter how reinforced the body, it cannot withstand an ultra-high-speed counter. Break Circle shatters the internal mana circles. Unless recovery magic can be used, even the Root School is finished.”
Of course, his own hands were ruined from smashing heads, and his heels throbbed. “My hands are broken. The forehead I used to crush the one attacking from above seems cracked.” The wounds to his hands and the crack in his forehead were quickly healed by his mana-activated body. This was the Root School’s greatest terror. “As long as the head remains intact and mana remains, one is nearly immortal.”
When the 6th-circle leaders who had charged first, unable to restrain their instincts, died in a single moment, the rest began to hesitate. “They cannot defeat me now that I have resolved to fight hand-to-hand. Their engraved experience is different from the battlefields I have survived.”
For now, he felt grateful to the High Elf Queens who had freely carved him up in his youth. “Damn it. What kind of life—or rather, new life—requires thanking people for every little thing? Depressing.”
When the former leaders refused to attack, wary of his counters, he charged into their midst himself. “At the same level, with identical speed and power, what can they do? How pathetic.”
Outmatched by experience and limited by instinct to only efficient attacks, they were immediately countered and slain. Thudthudthudthudthud—! In an instant blood sprayed and brain matter burst into the air from shattered heads. No matter that they were former leaders, they were still only black mages of 7th-circle or below. Compared to him, who had lived as a mercenary god, they had far too little experience fighting hand-to-hand after mana depletion. None of them had ever battled the greatest swordsmen in the Great Forest’s magic-control zone as he had.
“As expected, when I summon these, I should only let them use magic. Like last time—magic battles are the only ones worth anything.”
Thud—! He seized the jaw of the final survivor, swung him around, and tore the head clean off. Then he collected every corpse and drop of blood scattered around. Shwahahahahaha—! Blood and vitae converted into mana and seeped into his body. The leader determination battle ended anticlimactically.
The defeated former leaders became death knights once more and merged into the Guide of the Origin. None refused or felt wronged. They merely accepted the overwhelming strength of the current leader. Of course, if summoned again at the same level, things might differ. Such was the spirit of black mages.
“I was lucky. If the former leaders had possessed enough mana to use magic, it would have been truly dangerous.” The cloned bodies’ mana reserves were nearly exhausted as well. In that state, even Root School black mages were extremely limited in what they could do. “If they had retained sufficient mana, tens of thousands of Main God-Slaying Spears would have been created at range and flown toward me. Or dozens of My Strike Opens a Path Beyond Past and Present into the Future would have struck directly. Just thinking about it is terrifying. I should avoid using that if possible.”
With his remaining divine power he barely managed to draw the Moon of the Origin and the sun into the Survival Magic Tower.
“Hm?” The moment they moved, he glimpsed a very small hand upon the Moon of the Origin and the sun. “I saw a hand! And the moon and sun seemed to tremble slightly—was that an illusion?”
A precise investigation of the Moon of the Origin and the sun revealed no abnormalities. He could, however, see the figures inside the Survival Magic Tower cheering as they watched his battle. The popes were on the verge of fainting from excessive divine power consumption, while the saints wept with joy. “Only now does the end of this war truly feel real.”
A voice rang out. “Divine Race Alliance victory. Substitute Gods defeated! The Substitute God Creator Gods shall finalize defeat procedures and submit a defeat report along with improvement measures. Report immediately to the Creator in a one-on-one audience. If the report is delayed, all Substitute God Creator Gods will be gathered for the hearing.”
“Aaaah—! Uuung!” “No—! I don’t want to!”
A voice echoed, followed by the Substitute God Creator Gods’ sorrowful wailing. Then came words that brought forth the Divine Race Creator Gods’ great laughter, resounding across the universe.
“The Divine Race Creator Gods have advanced one rank. From now on you are Intermediate Creator Gods. Prepare to inherit the galaxy and ready the Intermediate Creator God certification battle. Your achievements thus far and the feat of producing a Main God who achieved one-on-one victory against a Substitute God Main God are commended.”
“It is an honor! I will serve with all my heart and soul.”
“The Creator’s commendation will be given before all Divine Race Creator Gods. Congratulations.”
“Wahahahahaha—! Thank you! I am overwhelmingly grateful!”
The Divine Race Creator God laughed, completely forgetting decorum, while the Substitute God Creator God emitted only a gloomy resonance. With each sound, the highest-ranking Substitute God Main Gods visibly trembled with fear. “An unusual conclusion to war, yet things have more or less been settled.”
Rumble rumble rumble! The four Substitute God Main Gods who had been eroding other planets of the solar system vanished along with those planets. Then the Substitute God Creator God opened its mouth so wide that half a star could fit inside, and from within emerged one enormous star the size of a Main God Star and three ordinary planets, moving through space as though shifting orbits. They took the place of the vanished star in its trajectory.
“Right. The Substitute Gods were a race that created and modified life-bearing stars. That is why the Divine Race and Demon Race could never reach a complete conclusion.”
Watching the scene, he finally understood. “The battle is truly over. I am so exhausted I could collapse right now.”
Then his mind suddenly cleared. “Wait! Those stars are all mine—! This is an enormous jackpot—!”