Chapter 199
Chapter 199
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 199
Chapter Title: A Special Meeting at the Association HQ (5)
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There are no absolutes in a fight.
Even the most skilled swordsman can lose to a common thug if their arms are bound.
And even an insect the size of a fingernail can kill a person with its poison.
Therefore, a difference in power only significantly increases the probability of a desired outcome.
Like not knowing if the cat is dead before opening the box, it holds no intrinsic value on its own.
...Or so the saying goes in the world of Fixers.
After all, those words came from Tempest himself, one of the biggest names around. The source is solid.
‘What incredible pressure... It's like standing before the sun. Is this the presence of the 3rd ranked Fixer?’
However, in the face of an overwhelming difference in class, absolutes did exist.
No matter how much a single ant struggled, could it ever defeat an elephant, a tank, or an aircraft carrier?
It was the same for me. The 3rd ranked Single-Number Fixer, Luxerion of the Flash.
He, who was always clad in the protective magic known as Absolute Defense, was a powerhouse on par with Tempest.
The skill gap between someone like Lux and me was so obvious it needed no analogy.
This is going to be tough... I wonder if he naturally sensed my tension.
Lux, who stood silently facing me from a distance, spoke as if to tell me not to worry.
“Are you nervous? I have no intention of hurting you. I'd appreciate it if you didn't hold back too much.”
“…”
As if I want to be nervous.
I stared at him in disbelief, my lips sealed, then closed my eyes and took a short, deep breath.
He wasn't wrong, though.
This confrontation was purely to properly assess my skills.
He must be willing to control his power enough to avoid injuring me.
In that case, what I needed to do here was go all out without holding anything back.
Steeling my resolve, I unhesitatingly drew upon the formless power from within my body.
‘First, let's not use the Tesseract and rely only on my own raw power. It has limited uses, and it would be a waste to use one here. I'll start off light...’
My sharp gaze scanned the surroundings.
First off, the environment wasn't too bad for a fight.
Beneath a vast, blue sky was a hill of grass and earth.
It was such a wide space that I couldn't believe this was indoors.
An artifact must have been used to create not just the sky but the ground beneath it as well.
Then again, a mage of Lux's caliber couldn't possibly train carelessly inside a building.
In that case, these were excellent conditions for me.
I was surrounded by plenty of things I could freely throw at him!
“Hmph!”
“Oh? So this is... psychic power.”
At my will, dozens, hundreds of stones floated into the air simultaneously.
They ranged from the size of an adult's fist to large enough for a person to stand on.
It was a staggering scale, enough to startle even a decent mage.
But it would be disappointing if all I did was lift some stones.
I used my psychokinesis to rapidly spin some of the captured stones.
‘I call it the Spinning Rock Bullet! It's the perfected version of just flinging debris with psychokinesis!’
Spinning on the axis of their trajectory, and spinning furiously!
I was applying the same principle that allows a spinning bullet to fly farther and hit harder.
Then, I launched the rock bullets, spinning so fast they became blurs, straight at Lux.
The rock bullets, reaching the speed of sound in an instant, shot forward with a *boom*, creating a sonic boom.
Dozens of spinning rock bullets rained down on the stationary Lux, tracing graceful arcs through the air!
“No trace of magic... Interesting. I'll give you extra points for that.”
But I guess an attack with considerable power was nothing special to Lux.
Watching the incoming rock bullets, he simply flicked his fingers.
Suddenly, countless magic circles materialized around him, simultaneously taking on color.
Silent and multiple casting. It was a sight that would make any mage gasp in astonishment.
But the shock didn't end there.
Beams of light as thick as a forearm shot out from the magic circles, completely obliterating the rock bullets in their path!
The power was so dizzying that if those beams had been aimed at me instead of the rocks, I would have been turned into a collection of Yuria-pieces.
‘Silent casting to create not just one, but ten of those beams simultaneously...? I-I'm starting to feel the gap in our power...’
As expected from the man called the Grand Mage of Light.
Just seeing one spell was enough to feel the difference in our levels.
But there was no need to hesitate here.
No matter how skilled he was with magic... the power I used, psychic power, operated on entirely different principles.
If I were using magic too, I'd have no chance, but with psychic power, I could exploit an opening!
I stared hard at Lux and fired off all the rock bullets I had created, holding nothing back.
‘Hoo, with my current power, it'll be difficult to even injure Lux. In that case, there's no need to conserve my strength!’
The rock bullets were just a diversion anyway.
There was no reason to feel discouraged or sad that they were ineffective.
After unleashing a torrent of rock bullets that completely wrecked the ground around Lux,
I extended my psychokinesis deep beneath the ground, quickly taking control of the area around him.
Then, I seized his legs and yanked them down with all my might!
I was determined to bury him deep within the earth.
“Hmm? This is... I see, so this is what it feels like to be caught by psychokinesis. Quite a strong pressure. This alone could subdue a decent Double-Number Fixer. A very tricky power.”
“...Nngh!”
“But it's far from enough for a battle at the top. More! Show me something far more impressive than this!”
But perhaps because Lux was always protecting his entire body with Absolute Defense magic,
he easily withstood my psychokinesis and broke free from its influence.
I knew this would happen in my head, but seeing it become reality was a little frustrating.
I was once again reminded of the vast gap between me and a Single-Number Fixer.
‘Then, the strongest blow I can deliver right now...!’
While suppressing Luxerion with one hand, I placed my other hand on the ground.
The ground began to tremble, and the earth I stood on started to rise.
In my mind, I pictured a giant arm made of earth, dozens of meters long.
The hand of a giant, capable of punching a hole through a mountain with a single swing!
“What is this...!”
“This is quite surprising. It may be crude, but its power is comparable to a large-scale spell! Impressive!”
The intrigued reactions of Raven and Lux, who were watching from a distance, reached my ears.
Large-scale magic must be rare on Earth, where mana doesn't recover easily.
Lux's reaction, at least, seemed to suggest I was close to a passing grade.
However, I couldn't afford to pay attention to such outside commentary.
I was pouring all my concentration into my psychokinesis and had no spare attention for anything else.
‘If I lose focus, it'll all crumble...! Ugh! Just a little more!’
Without precise control of my psychokinesis, this wouldn't be a giant's hand but just a pile of dirt scattering in the air.
So I maintained my concentration until my head felt hot, and then I brought the giant's hand crashing down on Lux.
Well, given its size, it was incredibly slow, so he could probably dodge it easily.
But perhaps Lux wanted to experience its power firsthand. As expected, he stood his ground and extended a hand.
“Radius.”
What followed was an incredibly simple incantation.
It seemed utterly plain at first glance, but the result was spectacular.
A brilliant radiance, bright enough to blind, erupted from his palm!
The dazzling light, like a miniature sun, caused the giant's hand I was holding together with all my concentration to crumble away from the fingertips.
It was a type of light magic that simply nullified everything it touched.
As I thought, a big, slow attack like this won't work. Yep, not that I expected it to.
I smirked at the entirely expected outcome, leaped out from within the giant's hand where I had been hiding, and charged straight at Lux.
“Oh? Don't tell me it was for a feint...”
“...!”
As he watched me roll across the ground and land right in front of him, he seemed to realize my intention at once.
That was right. The giant's hand was just a feint to hide myself and create an opening.
My real goal was to close the distance on Lux, who was constantly sensing threats.
Well, the best-case scenario would have been for him not to notice my approach at all, but I couldn't help being discovered.
I glanced around awkwardly for a moment before collecting my thoughts, closing the remaining distance, and thrusting out my palm.
‘The most powerful technique I have... is this!’
Something like a shimmering mirage faintly materialized in my palm.
A true ultimate move, one that sacrificed all the advantages of psychokinesis for pure power.
With the backlash that put a slight strain on my body mostly filtered out... Psychokinetic Flick Max Mk. II!
“Hyaaaaaah!”
*Krrrrrck!*
The destructive force, containing all my power and then some, converged on a single point and stopped a few centimeters from Lux's abdomen.
No, to be precise, it was forcibly stopped by something that blocked its advance.
It was Luxerion's Absolute Defense, constructed from a prism of light.
A spell called the strongest shield, capable of blocking even a dragon's breath at least once.
Therefore, an attack from a mere novice like me could never break through.
He himself probably thought so too.
“Nyanananyak!”
“Khk...?!”
But have I ever mentioned this before?
That my Psychokinetic Flick, by principle, can bypass defenses and deal damage.
The Psychokinetic Flick Max wasn't just similar in name; it had inherited that aspect as well.
In other words, if I could focus my entire mind solely on the attack, like now...
Even if not all of it, a portion of the force could briefly leap through space!
Thus, in that moment, my fangs definitely reached Lux.
It was the moment I realized this and broke into a wide, triumphant grin.
‘Ah. Wait, I messed up...’
Was it because I used up too much concentration at once?
In the brief instant my consciousness wavered, my tight control over the power slipped.
To use an analogy, it was like opening a can of soda that had been vigorously shaken.
Naturally, an immense force capable of carving out bedrock was unleashed indiscriminately from my palm...
Well, what followed was the obvious result.
“Gebuh...!”
*CRASH!*
The moment I thought, *oops*, my head snapped back, and my body was sent flying backward with a clatter.
The world spun around and around, to the point where I couldn't tell which way was up.
To be hit by my own technique...
It was, without a doubt, a facepalm-worthy disaster.