Black Market (6)
Whoosh!
In an instant, my figure melted into the background and vanished without a trace.
Illusion
Whereas Illusion magic distorts vision to create illusions and deceive enemies by conjuring things that don't exist...
Invisibility
...the next level up, Invisibility, deploys a stealth field made of illusions for complete concealment.
It calculates the flow of space-time, the curvature of residual mana in the air, the streaming photons—everything—and weaves an imperceptible illusion that naturally blends into the landscape itself.
But the computational load required to manifest that illusion is immense; normally, even I wouldn't dream of attempting it.
This miracle was only possible thanks to the special prerequisite of Limit Break, which amplified my abilities by burning myself from within.
In this state, even Miya would struggle to pinpoint me under Invisibility.
Miya reacted with bored indifference.
"...Hmph. What the hell."
"I thought you'd pull off some flashy attack, but you're just running away?"
"Hide-and-seek is no fun..."
She glanced around and let out a sigh.
"Ah— this is such a pain."
"Should I just shred the whole space? Hiding won't mean shit if you don't know that."
Her tone was soft and gentle, but the intent was chilling.
Tracking my invisible form one by one was too much hassle, so she was threatening to smash the entire Black Market instead.
And it wasn't even bravado. At Miya's level, obliterating the pocket dimension of the Black Market itself was entirely feasible.
Swoosh—
She casually raised her hand and clenched it at the empty air.
Then.
Crack!
Centered on Miya's hand, the dimension warped, fissures spiderwebbing out endlessly.
Rumble rumble rumble...
The Black Market's space shuddered violently.
Everyone else in the Black Market besides me had long since been swallowed by darkness and wiped out, but even that didn't satisfy Miya. She was trying to erase the place as if it had never existed.
Rumble rumble rumble—
Ripples surged along the space.
"Crumble."
The moment she balled her fist.
Kr-shatter——!!!!
The entire dimension shattered into oblivion.
Like a sandcastle swept away by waves, or paper scraps shredded in a grinder.
The dimension splintered into tens of thousands, hundreds of millions of razor-sharp fragments, scattering everywhere.
A pocket dimension destroyed in a single blow. Contrasting that annihilation, the fragments rained down like the first snow of the season—grotesquely beautiful.
In that bizarre spectacle—
Swoosh.
Miya turned her head slightly.
"You're still alive, huh?"
Her blazing golden eyes looked down at me.
"..."
The Black Market had been annihilated, flung beyond the dimensional veil. Miya's spell to destroy the entire dimension was undeniably powerful.
But here's what Miya overlooked.
For an attack of that scale, there had to be a blind spot—a safety zone—to protect the caster herself.
Guessing that, I'd slipped into the most likely safe zone: right behind Miya. That let me evade the dimension's destruction.
"I didn't feel like getting my head ripped off."
And then.
I chanted calmly.
Shield
The plan was reaching its final stage.
Vmmm—
A translucent shield enveloped my hand.
I hadn't been idle while the dimension was getting wrecked.
Space magic.
Since the Black Market was an artificial pocket dimension created by space magic, when Miya tore it apart, I'd pried open my eyes and reverse-engineered the underlying ritual hidden beneath it.
Like dismantling a broken computer to study its design. With my brain awakened by golden alchemy, bolstered by the Grimoire's computational power, and drawing on my recent analysis of black magic, it wasn't all that hard.
Just like that, I'd mastered Shield on the spot.
A space-element defensive spell favored by squishy mages.
"You know, shields can double as weapons too."
I took it a step further, flipping the concept on its head.
The Grimoire flipped open, manifesting an ominous ritual.
Outer Sea Rampage
Form 2
Guihe (Return to the Abyss)
A sinister vortex whipped up like a storm.
I used its pull to suck in every last splintered fragment of the dimension, layering them onto the shield and shaping them into a razor-edged weapon.
Shields fundamentally have a repulsive property. But what if you multi-stack countless dimensional shards onto it?
The Shield, now augmented with thousands upon thousands of fragments, transformed into an endlessly sharp spear.
Without hesitation, I chanted.
Dimensional Slash
"...!"
Kaaaaang—!!!
The blade, hyper-accelerated by repulsion, cleaved through the dimension, etching a brilliant scar along its path.
"...Grk—!"
A remarkable feat. I'd actually inflicted a visible wound on a Management Bureau Executor.
Of course, the bizarre force field cloaking her body kept it from cutting deep...
But an attack that sliced dimensions couldn't be perfectly blocked; for the first time, Miya bled.
While she reeled in shock.
Tat!
I bolted past Miya's incredulous face and dove into the 'exit'.
The dimensional scar linking to another space.
With that, I'd escaped.
Whoosh!
The place I'd slashed into was the gap between dimensions.
Countless otherworldly vistas kaleidoscoped around me, but I locked onto one single coordinate and pushed forward.
The letter the shaman spider had given me before dying.
Thanks to that letter, I'd pinpointed the coordinates back to reality.
To explain the full escape plan:
Originally, I'd intended to slip out the Black Market entrance under Illusion cover. But the more I thought about it, the more it felt insufficient.
Facing a monster like an Executor, such shallow tricks wouldn't cut it.
So I'd devised an addendum: use space magic to rip open the pocket dimension and break out from inside.
One hitch, though—I, the caster, was a total novice at space magic.
To fix that, I'd activated golden alchemy's ritual to awaken my brain, used Invisibility and such to bait Miya into deliberately collapsing the space, and learned on the fly.
If you don't know something, learn it, right?
It was a bit of a gamble, but it worked.
As I returned to reality, I made a firm vow.
I had to get stronger.
Until now, it had been a vague notion. But clashing with a Management Bureau Executor made it crystal clear.
This world was no joke.
And Miya was just one of the pack chasing me. Who could say stronger foes wouldn't show up?
To grow stronger, I needed to delve deeper into the mysteries of magic.
I'd never truly immersed myself in the discipline of magic before.
No time, and my surface-level knowledge had crushed most opponents anyway.
No more. No matter how much talent I had, skipping the grind would leave me as weak prey.
But if I honed my magic to the stars' heights. If I reached the sublime realm of the archmage. If I became the hunter, not the hunted—no one could threaten me again.
That was my only path.
Somewhere in the 17th District.
Sudden chaos erupted in a slum teeming with vagrants.
Boom! Boom!
Kaboom!
Kr-rumble——!!
Lightning seemed to crash wildly from nowhere, followed by a massive electrical explosion as someone descended.
A twin-tailed girl in a bizarre fusion of suit and gosori fashion.
Management Bureau Executor, Miya.
The descent's backlash vaporized dozens of vagrants, but to the exhilarated Miya, such trivia barely registered.
"Purely in terms of realm, she's barely finished Awakening at 0th Rank. Hasn't even climbed to 1st Rank, that little bug—one-upped me? You think that makes sense?"
"H-heh... N-no, it doesn't. Of course not."
"The ritual's precision is on another plane. 'Genius' doesn't even cover it. Talent straight from the heavens. That unique artifact of hers? Where'd she get it?"
"Exactly. You're spot on."
"She's too perfect! I wanna meet her again so bad. She'll be insanely famous soon, 100%. Scared the Mage Towers'll snatch her first. Ha, seriously... this is ridiculous."
Having unearthed real talent for the first time in ages, Miya was lost in rapture.
Even if she'd stood there taking hits to gauge the girl's talent, the results far exceeded expectations.
"Y-yes! I agree completely!"
"Hey, you're boring. All you say is the same crap? Parrot?"
Splat!
Miya popped the vagrant she'd been venting to, then hurried on her way.