Azellia (4)
Ascaros's intent and Astra's declaration harmonized perfectly, etching themselves into the world.
In that instant—
GRRRRRRR—!!!
The world screamed.
No, it wasn't mere metaphor. To everyone witnessing the scene, it truly looked as if the world itself was writhing in agony.
In Astra's palm, a tiny dot appeared.
Calling it black was far too inadequate.
It wasn't a color. It wasn't existence.
It was nothingness itself.
An absolute singularity of darkness that devoured all light.
An endless abyss of a hole that seemed to suck in the soul just by looking at it.
HUMMMM...
The hole, initially the size of a pea, began to vibrate faintly and pulse.
Then, as it slowly grew to the size of a bean, a marble, and finally a fist, the true catastrophe began.
WHOOOOSH—!!!
The flame storm encircling Azellia screamed as it bent.
The flames spiraled toward the black hole against their will, drawn inexorably in.
"What...?!"
Azellia's shocked voice rang out.
Her flame armor unraveled like thread and was sucked in. Her wings of wind shattered to pieces.
The black hole selectively devoured only her powers.
"This... insane!"
Kaiser muttered, cold sweat beading on his brow.
"Space is... collapsing..."
Sirka's voice trembled.
"Block it."
Balderic's voice was ice-cold. But beneath that chill lurked a faint tension.
"Astra really intends to kill Azellia."
The captains' expressions hardened in an instant.
It was the first time they'd seen Balderic this tense. Instinctively, they realized.
That thing was a calamity beyond their imagination.
BOOOOM—!
But the moment they moved, an invisible wall repelled them.
The event horizon created by the black hole.
The boundary between existence and nothingness.
Nothing could cross that line.
"Damn it, what the hell is this!"
Sirka gnashed her teeth.
Her fist collided with the invisible barrier and bounced off powerlessly.
"Sis! Get away!"
Ellis's scream echoed.
But—
It was already too late.
SHIIIIIII—
The elements enveloping Azellia stretched like threads and were sucked into the darkness.
"Ngh...!"
A frail groan escaped her lips, one she hadn't uttered since childhood.
She, who had pursued strength her entire life. Her red eyes shook with pure terror for the first time.
I'm going to die.
Those three simple words overwhelmed her entirely.
She had felled countless foes and brushed death's door before. But this was different. This was real.
"Aaaargh!"
Desperate thrashing.
But it was as futile as a butterfly's wings against a waterfall.
Her toes lifted from the ground.
Slowly, as if time itself stretched. Yet with an absolute force that brooked no refusal, her body floated into the air.
"Ah..."
A small sigh slipped from her lips.
What was it?
Resignation? Despair?
Or regret for what she hadn't achieved?
She couldn't tell.
But one thing was certain.
Once again, just like back then, her life hung not in her own hands, but in another's.
If I unleash all my power here...
A fleeting possibility flashed through her mind.
She might rampage all the spirits she'd devoured and break free.
But Azellia slowly shook her head.
No. That hole devours everything... and annihilates it.
She had felt the fate of the elements sucked into the black hole just moments ago, down to her bones.
It wasn't mere disappearance. Their very existence had been denied. Eternally, irrevocably.
Even if she resisted with full power here, that strength too would be devoured by the endless darkness.
Once sucked in, those elements would never return.
And even if she miraculously survived...
A powerless me would no longer be Azellia.
In Haven, the fate of the powerless was sealed. A life crueler than death. To fall into the frailty she so despised.
Better...
To end like this...
Tension slowly drained from her body. Further resistance was meaningless.
In the end, to entrust everything to Astra's hand.
That was her only choice now.
The moment her fingertips neared the black hole—
Suddenly.
Everything stopped.
The space-tearing scream cut off abruptly, and the gravity pulling her vanished in an instant. As if awakening from a nightmare.
"Ugh...!"
Released so suddenly, Azellia's body plummeted limply.
Her knees slammed into the hard ground with a dull thud.
"Hah... hah..."
Gasping raggedly, she braced her trembling hands against the floor. The sensation of being alive hadn't sunk in.
She slowly raised her head.
There stood Astra, pale-faced and slick with cold sweat, yet wearing that inscrutable expression of his.
"..."
Azellia stared up at him blankly.
Her red eyes, which had braced for death moments ago, swirled with incomprehensible confusion and questions.
"You... not going to kill me?"
Her voice came out hoarse and cracked.
Astra tilted his head slowly, as if hearing an obvious question.
"Didn't I say so earlier?"
His voice was so serene it was hard to believe he'd just cast that destructive spell.
"That I wouldn't kill you."
As if it had been decided from the start, he continued calmly.
Azellia's eyes twitched like a spasm.
The shock and confusion of returning from death's door, the inexplicable situation—it overwhelmed her.
"Then... why...?"
Why cast such a dangerous spell? Why push her to the brink? Countless questions welled up, but no coherent sentence formed.
Before he could answer, hurried footsteps approached.
"Astra."
Balderic's voice rang out coldly.
"Explain."
The gentle expression from council meetings was gone.
Killing intent clung to her face.
"Depending on your answer..."
She paused, revealing her power.
"I might kill you. Bear that in mind."
CRACK!
The surrounding air grew taut. All eyes focused on Astra.
Azellia too held her breath, watching Balderic voice the question she couldn't, awaiting his response.
Finally, his mouth opened.
"I said I wouldn't kill you. I never said I wouldn't use high magic."
His voice remained calm.
"The domain?"
Balderic asked sharply.
"That wasn't my domain."
"...What?"
That single word froze everyone.
If that perfect dome of darkness, that overwhelming space, wasn't a domain...
How powerful was his true domain?
"I admit it was intense."
Astra continued slowly.
"But I wanted to show you."
Strangely, his gaze wasn't on Azellia or Balderic, but on Valléfor.
"My strength."
Everyone instantly grasped the implication.
A heavy silence fell.
"So... this was all just a demonstration?"
Balderic's voice was glacial.
Astra tilted his head again.
"Not a demonstration... more like an introduction."
"Mad bastard..."
Sirka's low mutter drew silent agreement from all.
To push a Haven captain to death's door over mere suspicion. It defied normal reason.
"So I must ask."
Astra slowly swept his gaze over them all.
"Has your question been answered? That I'm not a Lunaria Empire spy, but merely Haven's Jin Gang captain?"
"I didn't like this one, Astra."
Balderic turned, speaking coldly.
"We're leaving."
The other captains followed with complicated expressions.
* * *
As Balderic and the captains' figures vanished into the forest, I could no longer hold out and collapsed right there.
"Hah... hah... I almost died."
Strength drained from my entire body. The cold earth pressed against my back, cold sweat pouring endlessly.
'I'm sorry, Astra. That was too much.'
Ascaros's worried intent reached me.
"No. I had to show it once."
I wiped my face with trembling hands, sorting my thoughts.
First Balderic. Then Azellia.
'And next...'
I didn't know who.
I had to show it first, before more suspicious eyes turned my way.
How could someone like me be a Lunaria Empire spy? Why would someone with this overwhelming power bother being a spy?
If only I could tell the real reason I was in Lunaria Empire Prison 3...
'Can't say it. "I got isekai'd into the game and there I was."'
A bitter smile tugged at my lips. Who'd believe that absurd truth?
Besides, this fight had resolved more than just suspicions.
A clear message had surely reached Valléfor too.
What awaited if he made me an enemy, if he touched me carelessly.
That's why, at the last moment, I'd deliberately looked at him as I spoke.
I slowly tried to rise and head back to the Lord's Castle, but my legs had no strength.
"Hah... this is insane."
My whole body felt like lead.
Ascaros's black hole demanded unimaginable black magic with every moment of maintenance.
The Frost Flower Gloves had supplemented some, but if Azellia had unleashed more elements beyond fire and wind, or intensified her assault...
'The black hole would've collapsed.'
I'd lose control, and everything would slowly crumble.
Thinking back now, there was something else odd.
I hadn't noticed in the heat of the moment...
The limits of Prestige Mark were clear.
No matter how strong it seemed, my actual physical abilities didn't change. It only showed illusions to the opponent; as the caster, I should see with normal vision.
At least, that's how it should be.
But...
'That black hole looked like a real catastrophe to me too.'
That overwhelming gravity, the space-rending destructive power, the absolute darkness swallowing everything.
What should have been an illusion felt far too vivid to me.
Suddenly, a record from something I'd read before came to mind.
[A prisoner was hypnotized into believing he'd be bitten by a venomous snake and killed, but was only pricked with a normal needle—yet he died for real. Autopsy showed symptoms identical to actual snake venom.]
The brain's perception had altered reality.
'No way...'
One possibility emerged.
If Prestige Mark reaches advanced magic levels, could its illusory power grow so immense that even the caster is affected?
As if fooling oneself with a massive lie.
As I pondered that—
"Guh!"
Hot liquid suddenly spilled from my mouth.
Wiping it with my hand, it was vivid red.
'Blood...?'
A chill ran down my spine.
'Internal injury?'
Sensations across my body dulled rapidly. Vision blurred, tinnitus rang in my ears.
'Astra! Stabilize your black magic now! At this rate—'
Ascaros's urgent intent filled my mind, but consciousness was already drifting far away.
'No... not here...'
But my body no longer obeyed my will.
Heavy eyelids slowly closed, and cold darkness swallowed me.