Goddess Descent (8)

The flames and the mist clashed without pause. After seeing Veronica block the mist, Tirsi began pouring every ounce of it solely toward our dear servant. It meant Veronica had to clamp her mouth shut and go full hardcore mode, but it also meant the rest of us finally had room to join the attack.

─Thud thud thud! Slash!

The nobles’ bodyguards couldn’t get close, so they hurled whatever long-range attacks they could muster. Watching people attack someone I knew was hard enough to stomach, but the person in question wasn’t even getting scratched, so I didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t this basically like throwing water balloons at a guy charging in with a shotgun while completely losing his mind?

The kind, gentle girl who used to be here had picked up a shotgun and gone berserk. There was no doubt about it—Magical Girl Tirsi had finally snapped after one too many years of graduate school hell.

I felt bad, but there was nothing I could do. We had to fucking survive too, didn’t we?

─Grip!

Instead of joining the offensive, I took a deep breath and focused my gaze. Tirsi had just been thawed from an ice prison and was still soaked to the bone. Staring at her with these eyes might count as sexual harassment, but I wasn’t looking at her outer beauty. I was analyzing the mana flowing inside her.

‘Spatial magic, spatial magic, spatial magic!’

I muttered the words like a mantra while dissecting the spell’s structure. Sometimes it just happens. No matter how long you stare at a problem or equation that won’t budge, the moment someone who knows the answer gives you a hint or shows you the solution sheet, it suddenly clicks perfectly.

Odin’s Eye worked the same way. Once I understood the structure, the spell’s true nature began revealing itself as if all my previous clumsy interpretations had been lies.

Before the eyes of the God of Magic, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spell binding Tirsi was torn apart and analyzed piece by piece.

Veronica fired off the message without even bothering to choose her words properly. I simply nodded at the machine-gun-rap barrage of information and sharpened my gaze even further.

‘So Veronica’s flames are an application of spatial teleportation too?’

On the surface it looked like a battle between mist and fire, but at its core it was a contest of spatial magic. The dark mist really was like the grasp of the dead, just as I’d described. That mist was an invitation from hell itself—a portal that flung anything it touched into another dimension.

Goddamn. So our mage lady had been spamming spatial severance this whole time? Who the hell could’ve guessed?

That was probably why Tirsi had avoided spraying the dark mist like bug spray. No matter how widely she scattered it, anyone caught in it would simply be sent flying to Niflheim above the sky with all their limbs intact.

Tssssss…!

─Fwoooosh!

The dark mist lost its momentum and scattered the moment it touched the flames. It seemed Veronica had applied the principles of spatial teleportation to fire, creating a counter-magic that only worked against the mist.

─Crack!

I was enduring the headache and searching for a way through when a pitch-black iron fist suddenly burst from the ground and shattered my concentration.

“What the fuck is this now?!”

The moment my focus broke, Odin’s Eye deactivated as well. I couldn’t just take the hit, so I performed three consecutive aerial backflips to dodge. After landing the clean evasion, I spat on the ground in disgust at the sight of steel soldiers crawling out of the dirt.

“……Yeah, damn it. A black mage running a solo raid without any golems or zombies would’ve been even more ridiculous.”

As if my muttered complaint had pulled the trigger, the golem swarm began rampaging, swinging their iron fists ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wildly. The bodyguards abandoned their attacks and switched to defense.

“Uranus have mercy! Where did all these golems come from?!”

“Ah, fuck! Who cares about that right now?! The bastard who ran away must’ve triggered something else!”

“GoooooO……!!”

The golems all looked identical, like mass-produced goods from a first-class craftsman. Judging by the dark and negative mana I sensed, Diabolo must have made them. Or maybe he’d bought them in bulk from a business partner in the same organization. Either way, as the golems charged in, I gripped my spear—only for an extremely murderous-looking marionette and Dana to leap in front of me.

“Hey, you thick-headed idiot! Stop messing around and use that brain of yours!”

“That’s right!! Sunbae, if we take away your scheming brain and all your other minor talents, you’re basically a corpse!!”

The two who had stepped onto the front line began smashing golems or deploying shield magic. The fact that they managed to contradict themselves so thoroughly in those few short sentences was honestly impressive.

Anyway, it was wife assembly time. Franc and Veronica were also busy in the rear, throwing knives and intercepting mist, pulling off incredible feats. In that case, the husband couldn’t just stand around doing nothing. If my wives were shining while I spaced out, the name of the househusband archaeologist would weep!

The spirited shout I let out filled my body with vitality. Riding that momentum, I charged forward and unraveled the core of the magic created by the First Senate as easily as unfastening Larilura’s bra.

Witnessing such high-level magic felt like my brain had turned into mint bibimbap—refreshingly cool. Inspiration awakened as if rising from a light nap. My field of vision expanded, and the world grew wider.

The immutable truth that the more you know, the more you see applied to magic as well. The world of visible light and photoreceptors that humans could perceive was only a tiny fraction, like infrared and light scattering. Mana existed everywhere in this world.

From the bodyguards’ spells, the golems’ cores, and even Minerva’s prosthetic limbs and legs that were infused with magic, to things that seemed completely unrelated like the dirt on the ground or the flow of air—everything was visible.

The world seen by the God of Magic was like an ocean of starlight.

Tssssss….

In a world where sound had vanished, the dark mist spread once more. The grasp of the dead that Veronica had failed to block completely wriggled, trying to drag my flesh and organs off to Niflheim. I sensed it with a sense separate from my physical body, yet I didn’t even flinch.

I simply twisted my waist and tilted my head. That was all it took for the dark mist that had been sprayed exactly like before to miss even a single hair on my body. The mana that failed to blend with the air’s flow stood out as clearly as jjambbong broth splattered on white clothes.

Pasasas…!

Without even realizing it, I activated the Heswald sisters’ light footwork. Just like when I first awakened 【Gertyr】, every movement I made was completely free of wasted power. It was a technique that could only be used by abandoning one’s fighting spirit, but Tirsi had once been a friend I entrusted my back and my life to in battle. Harboring fighting spirit against her? That would be linguistic suicide.

What I saw right now wasn’t the Niflheim mist pouring toward me, but the ancient civilization’s magic formula tightly binding Tirsi’s body. It was a spell woven as densely as a sweater! And right in the middle, there was one gaping hole.

A flaw in the formula? No, that couldn’t be. It was, to put it simply, a keyhole. A blank space meant to be filled with the ‘authority’ to control the formula—the very authority used to manipulate one’s own bloodline that had been turned into weapons.

I spotted red mana flowing into that spot. There was no need to wonder which son of a bitch was doing this. It had to be Diabolo. That bastard was probably trying to claim the control rights over ‘Arma Shunas,’ which could only dominate the bloodline of the First Senate, by using the lord of Renapolis—who belonged to that bloodline—as a medium.

And against that filthy demonic hand reaching for Tirsi, I could come up with dozens of countermeasures in an instant. I could sever Diabolo’s mana, or hack the program and rewrite the condition ‘can only dominate members of the First Senate family.’ Transferring the control rights over Tirsi to myself wouldn’t have been impossible either. If I could maintain this extreme state of concentration, even more options would open up.

But I chose none of them.

Instead, I picked the most difficult yet most correct path.

Because no one in this world had the right to treat another person like a tool.

─Squish!

I dove into Tirsi’s embrace and placed my hand on her chest. Even then, she continued scattering darkness in every direction with an icy-cold expression. Still, since I had taken the initiative, I was faster.

As if gently guiding the hand of a girl lost in despair, I drew in Tirsi’s mana, which offered no resistance. And here was one of the laws of magic I kept mentioning: understanding a spell’s formula meant you could use that magic.

The First Senate had made one critical mistake when they created this magic. They had forgotten that even the bloodline they had turned into weapons of war still carried their own blood.

If there was someone like me—who could analyze the formula’s structure and guide the hand of the sealed ‘Arma Shunas’ in place of her lost ego—then the true master of the god-powered weapon would become Tirsi herself.

In other words, it meant she would regain her sealed ego.

「──────?!」

─Brrrrr!

Tirsi trembled as if struck by lightning. The ancient civilization’s god-powered war weapon, ‘Arma Shunas,’ had to obey the will of the one who held its control authority. And right now, that master was none other than Tirsi herself.

It was a circular logic as natural as plugging a power strip into its own outlet. It might be a philosophical rebellion against the First Senate’s soulless design, but this was the most natural outcome.

No matter how much this other world lacked the concept of human rights, a well-mannered 21st-century Earthling like me had no need to be educated by such barbarism.

“……Neither fate, nor the lab, nor the professors can turn us into slaves.”

I caught Tirsi as her legs gave out and she collapsed, whispering gravely.

Hypnosis apps and the like are humanity’s greatest sin. The right to control Tirsi’s body and heart belonged only to Tirsi herself.

Holding that conviction close, I whispered into her ear.

“──Tirsi, wake up. We have a paper to write.”

“…………Is that really what you say to someone who just passed out?”

Tirsi snapped her eyes open as if she’d heard something absurd. I gave her a small chuckle as she stared at me in utter disbelief.

“Why? It worked like a charm, didn’t it?”

“Stop. Don’t ever mention this again. I’ve got months of backlog waiting for me, and the first thing I’ll have to worry about when I get back is whether I should quit the Mage Guild.”

Even as she grumbled, Tirsi slipped out of my arms and stood on her own two feet. Minerva, who had been fighting the golems, muttered in a daze as if she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“……Did Signatio pull it off?”

Are you fucking kidding me? I’m the one who did it, you know? Is this auntie discriminating against yellow monkeys right now? I just won a goddamn dark shooting game after sweating my balls off, and some random person gets the credit. Unbelievable.

But I calmed my heart. Right now, escaping this place was more important than correcting her misunderstanding.

‘We rescued the hostage, so it’s time to bounce!’

I grabbed Tirsi’s hand—she still looked like she had no idea how she’d ended up here—and tried to get us out. I thought breaking through even if golems blocked the path wouldn’t be too hard, but less than a second after taking her hand, I had to revise that plan.

Why? Because a blade was falling toward the top of my head.

─Clang!!

I only realized the blade was there after Tirsi instantly cast 〈Ice Wall〉 without a chant and blocked the attack. If not for her, I would’ve become two halves of Norde and doubled the speed of my wives’ sexual rotation schedule.

“Holy shit I almost died!!!!”

Startled out of my mind, I grabbed Tirsi and leaped backward. Diabolo, who had suddenly appeared mid-air and tried to split my skull open like a master potter, glared at me with an expression even more inhuman than Tirsi had worn earlier.

“……What exactly did you do?”

He looked back and forth between the crack in the sky, me, and Tirsi who was now frowning, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“How?! Just how?! The ritual was more than half complete—how did that bitch regain consciousness?! Do you have any idea how much effort I poured into this ritual?!”

His previously expressionless face gradually twisted like a child realizing the cruelty of reality. Diabolo screamed as if vomiting blood.

“I adjusted that bitch’s constitution with the elixir, healed my own wounds! I obtained the noble title of this country, tracked down the Armacos branch family! I earned that bastard’s trust!! The plan I built step by step like a grand design—how could it—!!”

Whoosh─!

Diabolo’s blade pointed straight at my forehead.

“How can it be ruined by a savage, uncivilized warrior like you?!”

It was a scream filled with even more resentment than a perpetual grad student watching a project they’d spent years on completely collapse. Of course, when you considered that it was no different from a criminal who’d lost all his dirty money on Bitcoin and ruined his life, there wasn’t a single shred of sympathy to be had.

“Don’t know, dumbass. You probably fucked it up because you’re a moron.”

So I raised my hand with dignity and declared:

“Ten gold, eighty silver.”

“──You motherfucker!!!”

Diabolo flew into a rage and swung his sword down. But Tirsi, who still had plenty of mana left, read the sword’s speed with dynamic vision and deployed a shield once again.

“This is a bulletproof shield, you idiot!!”

I shouted energetically with a battle cry. Just a little while ago I would’ve been scared shitless facing this sword-wielding bastard head-on, but not anymore.

I’m putting all my faith in Lady Tirsi now!! Yahoo!!

“……Mr. Norde. Do you still have that seal you picked up back then?”

While I was busy taunting him, Tirsi suddenly spoke up. Diabolo seemed unsure whether he could still find a killing angle against her and kept his distance without running away. So I kept a close eye on the bastard and handed over the seal without thinking too much.

─Flash!!!!!

And just like that, my auxiliary mana battery reached full charge.

“……Huh?”

“Could you fight with me for a bit? I don’t really know what’s going on right now, but my mana is so full it’s making me nauseous.”

Are you fucking serious? It works like that?

I was genuinely taken aback. Well, if the ritual had been interrupted midway, I supposed it made sense. Even though I had analyzed the formula itself, I couldn’t predict the exact results ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with 100% accuracy.

Looking at the mana packed inside the Ogre’s Seal, I felt a sudden rush of reality hitting me. The scale difference was insane. This alone was probably worth about three of me. Triple Kaioken.

“……If I use this much mana, I’m definitely going to collapse after the fight.”

“That’s perfect. I feel like I’m about to pass out too. If we get hospitalized together, it won’t be so lonely.”

She was literally suggesting we share a hospital room. I let out a dry laugh and, with no other choice, drew out the mana from the seal.

She must have flown here using spatial teleportation while leaving Signatio behind. If I let Diabolo run wild, even my wives would be in danger.

The overflowing mana once again inflated my confidence pouch to the max. After all, a man’s combat power fluctuates depending on how thick his wallet is, right? For the fighters of this other world, a mana reservoir was the true source of confidence.

I swung my spear covered in Beast Regression once and said:

“Proxy rank ON.”

Bro, I’ve got cash now. You’re fucking dead, you son of a bitch.