The Genius Magician
I sensed the impending agony and shut my eyes. Yet when I opened them, the scene before me was different. A massive white figure. An otherworldly sight of its entire body blazing with something white. A pair of enormous horns sprouting from its head. Human in shape, yet unmistakably not human. That being had caught the spear hurtling toward me.
I was stunned, but so was Rick.
"What in the world is that?!"
"This is how you use it, indeed."
"What the hell are you talking about!!!!"
At that moment, Jung Ayeon rose unsteadily, dragging her injured leg toward me. She still wore the wedding dress from earlier, but something had changed. Wings. A pair of large bat-like wings had sprouted from her waist. They resembled the wings of succubi, yet were far larger than those of any other succubus.
Seeing her like that, I spoke.
"What's with the wing avatar? Is this from -Dungeon-? The mobile version came out too, you know."
"I am not entirely certain how it happened. However, one thing is clear."
Jung Ayeon turned her gaze to me.
"I believe we can win, indeed."
"Then there's no problem."
At my words, Jung Ayeon smiled faintly. She immediately hardened her expression and addressed Rick.
"Begone."
In response, the entity that had seized the mana spear Rick manifested hurled it back at him. The speed was incomparable to when I had flung my sword earlier. As a result, Rick's left arm was torn off with ease.
"Aaaaargh!!!!!"
Rick screamed, clutching the stump where his arm had been. But the severed limb did not return. His eyes bloodshot with hatred, he glared at Jung Ayeon.
"So now you've decided to become a succubus?!"
"I have no interest in such things."
Jung Ayeon regarded him with a frigid stare.
"What matters is that I now possess the power to crush you. That is enough."
"Don't think you've won just because of this!"
Whether from that hatred or not, blood continued to pour from his left shoulder, yet Rick paid it no mind. Instead, he aimed his wand at us and cried out in a sinister voice.
"Freeze!"
Shards of ice flew at us from every direction. The razor-sharp fragments looked lethal on impact, and as they traveled, they froze the very air, leaving trails of tiny ice crystals in their wake.
However—
"Was that truly all? The same power you used to torment me?"
The being before me stomped the ground and swept its hand in a grand arc at Jung Ayeon's words. With that single motion, every shard of ice vanished.
Jung Ayeon's expression was cold enough to kill with a glance. Rick seemed to realize something and shouted.
"I see! You summoned an Ifrit!"
"Indeed."
Jung Ayeon answered Rick calmly. Meanwhile, hearing the word Ifrit, I reflexively replied.
"Ah, so that's the Water Spirit King Ifrit!"
"No! It is the Fire Spirit King, indeed!"
Jung Ayeon hurriedly corrected me while Rick burst into mad laughter.
"Hahaha! That pathetic thing can be crushed with even stronger flames!"
"Try it, then."
Rick immediately began chanting. This spell was different from before.
"O flames of the underworld. Devour everything."
A sequence of three-word phrases. Each was not an independent spell, but layers stacked to form one greater magic. In response, a fireball larger than the entity before us began to form in front of Rick.
We could not afford to lose either. I gave the entity an order.
"Go, Ifrit! Hydro Pump!"
"Stop spouting nonsense!"
— Ifrit! Ifrit! For some reason, it felt as though Ifrit had answered me.
The entity extended its hand forward and unleashed a Hydro Pump. Rick and Jung Ayeon each reacted with shock and fury.
"Why is water coming out?!"
"Damn it! Why the hell did it become a water attribute?!"
Even Piece, who had been watching, could no longer hold back and lashed out at me.
[You fucking bastard, I'll kill every last one of you!]
'For the record, the Fire Spirit King is Elquines.'
[You crazy bitch!]
The Hydro Pump Ifrit released struck Rick's fireball and instantly began erasing it. The effect was devastating. Jung Ayeon wore a hollow expression before summoning yet another spirit. This one was smaller than the previous entity—a woman veiled in water.
The moment I saw it, I shouted.
"That's the Volcano Spirit Undine!"
"Ha..."
Jung Ayeon sighed, then—perhaps having lost all will to continue—began shouting with dead eyes, half-resigned.
"Receive the baptism of fire!"
"Why are you like this too?!"
"Fire Capital Letter!"
While Rick shouted in confusion at Jung Ayeon, a Fire Capital Letter flew from Undine and set him ablaze. Amid Rick's agonized screams, I began gathering starlight in my right palm. Blood sprayed from my wounded right arm due to the mana circulation and condensation, but I paid it no heed.
Once the starlight had gathered, I looked at Jung Ayeon and spoke.
"Hey, pretty succubus noona. Mind doing me a favor?"
"Speak."
Jung Ayeon replied with a slight smile. I gestured toward my right arm with my chin.
"Could you lift my hand for me?"
Jung Ayeon silently walked to my right side. Blood seeped slowly from her injured left leg, yet she pressed forward without stopping. The sight was both heartbreaking and achingly beautiful.
I gave her an apologetic smile as she approached.
"Is it all right to ask?"
"Of course it is."
Jung Ayeon carefully supported my arm. Thanks to her, I could aim my palm at Rick.
"You should have said so sooner."
She smiled more brightly as she looked at my face. Then a thought struck me—the words she had spoken long ago about wanting to become the Cheonma.
"So you've finally become the Cheonma?"
"Me?"
Jung Ayeon asked, eyes wide with surprise. I grinned at her.
"Yeah. A genius magician."
Her eyes shifted from surprise to mild dismay. For a moment, silence hung between us. Then Jung Ayeon began to chuckle.
"Hehe. Perhaps so. With you, anything is fine, indeed."
Meanwhile, Rick had extinguished the flames with magic. Now in a medium-welded state, he shouted at us.
"Fall, damn you! Why won't you just give up?!"
We exchanged glances. Without needing to say a word, we answered in unison.
""Because we made a promise.""
Rick offered no further reply. With trembling hands, he raised his wand and aimed it at us. Then, in a voice more chilling than any before, he chanted.
"Die!!!!!!"
The moment his chant ended, Rick coughed up blood. The backlash from such powerful magic, no doubt. At the same time, an incomparably terrifying black mana blast erupted from his wand—far more dreadful than anything prior. An attack that seemed capable of stealing the life from all living things.
Yet we did not retreat an inch. Instead, we braced our legs to keep from collapsing and fixed our blurring vision. While Jung Ayeon supported my arm, white mana flowed from her into my starlight. The translucent glow became a brilliantly shining white starlight.
One whose arm would not move. One whose leg was injured. Two imperfect people had become one perfect star. The starlight shone brighter than before. And against the oncoming death, the star flew from my palm as a meteor.
Rick's face twisted in despair. Even as he vomited blood, he desperately chanted to protect himself.
"Block it, block it!"
A thick wall of blue mana formed before him. Then, unable to endure any longer, he collapsed on the spot.
Meanwhile, the white meteor pierced through everything in its path. The entity. Undine. Rick's manifested magic. Even the final barrier he had erected. Though its power was diminished by the barrier, the instant it struck Rick, a massive explosion erupted. We saw his body hurled far into the distance.
At the same time, the barrier protecting the spectators began to fade.
Yes. We had won. A victory won by the narrowest of margins.
Jung Ayeon stepped slightly away from me and asked carefully, her voice trembling.
"Could you look at me for a moment?"
"What is it?"
She lifted the hem of her wedding dress slightly and showed it to me. Her face was flushed with embarrassment, her tone slightly tense.
"H-How does it look?"
"Hmm."
"...Does it suit me?"
Though torn and dirtied, the wedding dress remained beautiful. Combined with the succubus wings sprouting from Jung Ayeon's waist, the sight was both stunning and faintly seductive. Watching her, I snapped my fingers and spoke with complete honesty.
"You know, you've got real talent as a great demon."
"Please die for me."
Jung Ayeon recited a line she must have heard somewhere before.