Chapter 29 - Zova le Ainsworth, The Grand Elder
Ten minutes before Hollow and Entia’s Objective Dialogue—
Deep beneath the Ainsworth estate, a grand ritual was about to be performed.
It was in the Chamber of Fusion. This dome-shaped cavern had been hollowed out through a rich vein of magic ore, and the faint glow emitted by the stones illuminated the vast space.
“...Nia, you cleansed yourself properly, didn’t you?”
At Zova’s question—
“...Yes, Grandfather.”
Nia, clad in a thin white negligee, gave a meek nod.
Zova narrowed his eyes and fixed his gaze upon her supple body. Within her chest, the Magic Factor of the <Primordial Flame> shone brilliantly.
“Hehehe... Splendid! You have grown so well! This makes me truly happy!”
Wearing a wicked smile, Zova spun on his heel and turned to face the colossal magic crystal, nearly ten meters tall.
It was a magic furnace he had spent centuries adjusting, its interior brimming with a vast ocean of mana.
All of this mana had been stolen—abused through the Power of Plunder of the <Primordial Flame>, siphoned away from children over the course of ten long years.
“The <Primordial Flame>. The <Primordial Ice>. And immeasurable mana... Tonight, everything we need has been gathered here.”
According to Zova’s research, fusing the <Primordial Flame> and <Primordial Ice> with an enormous reservoir of mana would recreate the “strongest Unique Magic.”
“More than three hundred years... To put it into words sounds fleeting, yet the years felt endless. Truly endless, until at last I have reached this moment...”
From his weathered throat spilled emotions that had been pent up for centuries.
“Now—let us perform the Primordial Grand Rite! Let us recreate the ‘strongest Unique Magic’!”
With a sweeping motion, Zova reached out his hand, intent on seizing the Magic Factor of the <Primordial Flame>.
But Nia’s hand shot up and firmly grasped his hand before it touched her chest.
“...What is the meaning of this?”
“Sorry, but your plan ends here—burn to ashes! <Prominence Nova>!”
“What?!”
A blazing inferno, easily surpassing a thousand degrees, engulfed Zova’s entire body.
Had an ordinary mage taken that blast, not even their bones would have remained.
However—
“I knew this would happen.”
The scorching flames froze solid, shattering to pieces with sharp cracks as a wave of bitter cold consumed them.
“I knew your spirit hadn’t broken, that you were sharpening your blade in silence, and that you would challenge me here and now—everything was foreseen.”
From Zova’s entire body erupted a storm of overwhelming mana.
“Eeek!”
In that instant, the world transformed.
The vast moss-ridden cavern was overwritten in the blink of an eye, transformed into a field of eternal permafrost.
Th-this power... it’s impossible...
It was nothing short of a natural disaster.
The strength of Grand Elder Zova had surpassed the bounds of humanity.
“Nia, you are a clever child. By now you must have understood the difference between our strengths. Within you lies a precious—an exceedingly precious Factor. Do not resist in vain. Surrender quietly.”
“Too bad. That’s impossible!”
With a thrust of her right hand, three firebolts shot forth in rapid succession.
“...Sigh. Did you really think such childish tricks could affect me?”
Zova sighed, swatting down one, then another, until—
“Burst!”
At Nia’s command, the third fireball exploded into a blinding flash of light.
“A flashbomb? How impudent...”
The moment Zova reflexively shut his eyes—
Now! That was Nia’s signal!
From the shadows, Allen, who had been holding his breath, sprang out at breakneck speed.
“Haaaaah!”
A full-powered kick, unleashed from his maximum velocity, came crashing down upon the blinded Zova.
But—
“Pointless... <Auto Wall>!”
With the activation of the Ice’s Automatic Defense, a thick wall of silver-white ice manifested, perfectly blocking the strike.
At that moment—
“Gah?!”
Allen’s face twisted in pain.
Of course it did—the ice wall conjured by Zova possessed hardness far beyond steel.
And worse—
“What?!”
The moment his foot touched the icy surface, it froze solid, instantly inflicted with severe frostbite.
“Damn it!”
He hacked through the ice with a short blade imbued with mana and pushed off the ground with his left foot, leaping back to gain distance.
“Allen, are you alright?!”
“Sorry... I missed the kill...”
At once, Nia summoned the Flame of Creation, melting the frost from his leg and healing the damage.
Neither my surprise attack nor our combination strike left so much as a scratch... This is the power of Zova le Ainsworth, the Grand Elder—the very mage even Hollow himself had treated with such caution...!
As Nia once again realized the sheer terror of her foe, Zova, having regained his sight, stroked his long white beard.
“Hm... That little rabbit must be Redrick’s preparatory student—Allen Fortis, if I recall. You possess strength above the average man, I’ll grant you that... but no more. You stir not the slightest interest in me.”
While he spoke, Nia and Allen whispered quickly between themselves.
“A prolonged fight puts us at a crushing disadvantage. Just like we planned—let’s finish this with the ‘next one.’”
“Got it. This is where it really counts.”
Allen exhaled shallowly, focusing his will to the utmost.
“...If by some chance our next strike fails, then at least you must escape, Allen. With your speed, you might just make it out alive on your own.”
“Sorry, but no. That’s the one thing I’ll never do.”
He shook his head without hesitation.
“...I’ve thought so for a while, but you really are stubborn, aren’t you?”
“Am I? Well, either way—let’s just focus on winning this.”
That unyielding optimism, that forward drive even in the bleakest moment—it was nothing less than what one would call the spirit of a “protagonist.”
“I’m not as skilled as Hollow when it comes to controlling mana. If I’m going to cast a large spell, I need time to charge. Please—hold him off.”
“Yeah. Leave it to me.”
No sooner had he spoken than Allen dashed forward like the wind.
“Haaah!”
“...Scurrying about again? What an irksome little rabbit.”
He engaged Zova in close combat, keeping the Grand Elder’s focus upon him.
Meanwhile, Nia steadied her breathing, gathering vast mana within herself—and recalled her teacher—Hollow’s words.
[Well, what do you think? Do you think I can beat Zova now that I’m stronger?]
[Hardly realistic. A mere ‘few weeks’ of training cannot overcome the Grand Elder’s ‘three centuries.’ The difference in time alone is far too great.]
[Th-then what am I supposed to do?!]
[As I’ve told you before—the strength of the <Primordial Flame> lies in its ‘overwhelming firepower.’ Therefore, strike with a single blow.]
[A single... blow?]
[That’s right. In a long battle, the difference in raw ability will only show all the more. Aim for a lightning-fast decision. Pour every drop of mana you have into one spell, without regard for what comes after. Do that, and for an instant your firepower will surpass Zova’s... You might even kill him.]
Zova le Ainsworth was a monster who had lived since ages immemorial.
In overall magical ability, defeating him was impossible.
So—she had to play to her strength.
A single gamble. Firepower, and nothing else.
With one all-out strike, she would burn the Ainsworth specter to ashes.
(My entire life... fifteen years of endless effort—I’ll pour it all into this one strike!
Nia held her breath—and unleashed every ounce of her mana.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
At that instant, the Origin Flame roared forth.
Violent crimson fire seared through creation itself, and white-luminescent blaze reduced all things to their beginning.
Clad in both the Flame of Destruction and the Flame of Creation, Nia radiated a divinity that could easily be mistaken for the incarnation of the Goddess of Fire.
“...What in the world—”
“I-incredible...!”
Even Zova and Allen, still locked in combat, could not help but gaze in awe at her form.
As the frozen tundra melted around them, Nia swung her right arm high.
“This is my everything—my all! Take it! <Origin Flare>!”
In the blink of an eye, a blazing mass like a miniature sun shot forth at blinding speed.
If that hits me head-on, even I will be annihilated...
Nia’s ultimate spell carried more than enough power to slaughter the Grand Elder.
(But... she’s too young. In focusing only on raw firepower, she’s neglected its structure.)
Zova’s mind worked coldly as he constructed the highest-tier defensive magic, aiming directly at the structural weakness in <Origin Flare>.
It was, ironically, the exact same <Wall> defense that Hollow had once used against Nia herself.
And then—
“HAAAAAAAAH!”
In the corner of his vision, Zova caught sight of Allen charging straight toward him.
But he ignored it.
A mere rabbit with speed alone poses no threat. What I must focus on now is Nia’s grand spell!
Allen’s strike could be dealt with by his autonomous ice defenses.
He never realized that this arrogance—this fatal negligence—was precisely the protagonist’s aim
.
“—<Zero Counter>!”
A shrill crack rang out, and the autonomous ice defense was shattered to nothing.
“What?!”
In an instant, he mimicked the incoming spell A and released its perfectly inverted counterpart, spell A’, causing them to annihilate each other.
The Champion’s Unique Magic—<Zero Counter>—had struck at the most flawless timing imaginable.
My <Auto Wall>... broken? No—neutralized?! That phenomenon just now... Could it be the Unique Magic of the ‘Champion’—
“Now!”
Allen’s short blade flashed, and a deep gash tore across Zova’s chest.
“Guuh...! By the likes of a rabbit...?!”
He immediately cast healing magic while reconstructing his <Auto Wall>, reestablishing his ice defense.
But that was a grave mistake.
“Grandfather... where are you looking?”
“What—?!”
The <Origin Flare> locked squarely onto Zova’s body.
“Guh—Ooooohhhhhhh?!”
In the next moment, the world turned pure white.
A cataclysmic explosion thundered, erasing sound itself. A tempest of roaring flames surged outward, a shockwave pounding straight into the gut.
“...W-we did it. We defeated Zova...! With this, the children can be saved—”
Tears of joy welled at the corners of Nia’s eyes when—
“—<Icicle Barrage>!”
Countless razor-sharp icicles blasted forth like buckshot from a shotgun.
“...Huh—?”
Her vision was filled with a wall of ice spears.
Drained of every ounce of mana, Nia no longer had the strength to evade.
“Look out!”
With superhuman reflexes, Allen flung himself forward, shoving Nia with all his might.
A heartbeat later—
“Ghh...!”
The storm of jagged ice tore mercilessly through the protagonist’s body.
“A-Allen, are you alright?!”
“Hah... hah... somehow, yeah... But more importantly—Zova...”
Allen’s eyes fixed ahead. From within the raging inferno emerged—
“Bwahahaha! For a moment, I thought I was finished!”
The specter of Ainsworth, burned and battered.
His body was charred, his wounds sealed with frost, his bleeding staunched by crystal, his severed left arm crudely bound together with ice.
“No... way...”
“Damn it...”
While despair consumed Nia and Allen, Zova, assured of victory, spoke with relish.
“Little rabbit... Had your blade pierced but a few centimeters deeper, reaching my heart, then your strike and the girl’s magic together would have killed me.”
Life and death had been decided by the smallest of margins.
When Allen’s blade carved into his chest and the <Origin Flare> bore down, Zova had acted swiftly.
Defending unscathed is impossible...! No matter the wounds I suffer, survival takes priority!
The chest wound was deep, but his heart remained untouched.
What he needed to guard against was not the cut—but the blazing mass before his eyes.
Maximum reinforcement—<Frost Armor> × <Frost Air>!
Encasing himself in thick ice armor to withstand the inferno while smothering its might with freezing gales—he barely survived, at the cost of mortal wounds.
Had Allen’s strike dug even slightly deeper…
Had his <Zero Counter> evolved just a step further…
Zova would have been slain exactly as he said.
The cause of their failure was plain—the protagonist’s lack of leveling.
Damn it... If only I’d finished the job properly...!
Allen grit his teeth hard, when Zova’s voice rang out.
“Tell me, little rabbit... That Unique Magic you just used... You are a descendant of the Champion, aren’t you?”
“...And what if I am?”
His grandfather had already explained—he bore the bloodline of the Six Legendary Heroes, descended from the Champion himself.
“Hehehe... I knew it. That was indeed the Champion’s Unique Magic!”
Zova’s twisted smile widened, while Nia spoke her final plea.
“...Allen, thank you—for staying with me until now. It’s frustrating, but this is our loss. At the very least... you should survive.”
“No. A man who abandons a girl and runs away... no one would ever call that man a Champion.”
Allen Fortis was the unhatched egg of a hero, inheritor of the Champion’s bloodline.
That blood bound him like a curse, chaining his every choice, demanding: A Champion must act thus.
It hurts like hell... but my body can still move...!
He tightened his grip on the short blade.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Whipping his broken body into action, Allen charged straight ahead, unwavering.
I’m battered and broken... but Zova too had suffered mortal wounds!
With every step he drove into the ground, fresh blood seeped slowly from his wounds.
And yet, his legs never stopped.
“Take this!”
“How crude...”
In response to Allen’s kick, an ice barrier materialized automatically.
“Not... yet...!”
Twisting his body midair, he aborted the kick by force and immediately unleashed his Unique Magic.
“<Zero Counter>!”
The ice wall was erased—and he pushed forward another step.
This time, to finish it for certain.
But—
“—<Origin Ice Blade>. <Permafrost Strike>. <Blizzard Tempest>!”
Zova traced his fingers through the air, firing three rapid spells in succession.
“<Zero Counter>... Gah?!”
<Zero Counter> could only nullify a single spell before him.
When overwhelmed by sheer numbers like this, its true value could not be shown.
“<Zero Counter> was, at best, a parlor trick. If you know it will be negated, then simply attack with that in mind.”
As Zova swept his right arm, seven massive blocks of ice manifested, encircling Allen on all sides.
“What—?! (That scale of magic, in an instant...?!)”
The silver-white monoliths plummeted at terrifying speed—
“Ghh—!”
—and pummeled Allen’s body into ruin.
“Allen?!”
Nia’s scream rang out as the protagonist staggered back to his feet.
“Hah... hah...”
Blood poured in torrents. His right arm dangled uselessly, one leg dragged behind him—yet he still gripped his left-hand short blade tight.
“I’m... not done yet...!”
His body was a husk, but his will had not broken.
“Those eyes... Hehe... I see now. You still think, ‘just a little more and I can defeat him,’ don’t you?”
Zova bared a wicked grin, raising his hand high as if to show off.
“Hope is but an illusion. Behold true despair—witness my Power of Plunder!”
Activating the power stolen from Nia, he drew vast amounts of mana from the children imprisoned in the great hospital.
As the energy flooded into his body—
“Fuuuuuhhh...”
—the wounds he had suffered through so much struggle completely vanished.
By drawing on an external mana source, he had grown stronger than he had been even at the start of the battle.
“No... way...”
“This can’t... be happening...”
At last, despair painted the faces of Allen and Nia.
The fragile sliver of hope they had clung to was crushed beyond repair.
“Hehehe... now that’s the expression I wanted.”
Zova smiled in satisfaction and snapped his fingers.
“The Champion’s descendant is a rare specimen. I would prefer to preserve you in as pristine a state as possible.”
A dense chill wrapped gently around Allen’s limbs, slowly and methodically freezing him in place.
“Damn... it...!”
His arms and legs were bound in ice—he could not move an inch.
“Not... like this...”
The heroine too had no mana left, unable even to move a finger.
The battle had reached its end.
And when the curtain rose, it was revealed as the complete victory of Grand Elder Zova le Ainsworth.
“He...Hehehe... Bwahahahahaha! To seize not only the <Primordial Flame>, but also the Champion’s very Factor... What a glorious night! The world itself now rests in my hands!”
Zova laughed madly into the night—when suddenly, he felt it. A strange disquiet.
...What is this?
Allen and Nia were no longer looking at him.
Their eyes were fixed on something—behind him.
What... are they staring at?
Suspicion stirred, Zova slowly turned. There stood a figure cloaked in black, a mask concealing its face.
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