A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special

[-Current rate of assimilation is 80%.]

Priscilla internally celebrated. If her left arm had fully recovered, she would have clapped in joy as hard as she could.

The scene that appeared before her eyes was worthy of being recorded in legend. Desir’s magic reminded her of every natural disaster, and he could still manage to stand against her, who had reached the realm of God. Priscilla, as a human being, was in awe of him reaching such a level.

“This is beautiful.”

No trace of the old Priscilla who used to speak in a lovely fashion remained. Her beautiful voice that used to resonate like a song had disappeared entirely, and had been replaced by a mechanically unpleasant sound, as though iron could speak.

Her eyes that used to shine like black pearls had lost their color and now felt cold; hideous teeth now sprouted through her snowflake-like skin.

At first, only her left arm had been like that, but before he knew it, half of her body had been eaten and transformed by the machine.

“But is this the best you can do?”

*Spread*

The wings of light fluttered again, and their surroundings were illuminated by the incredibly bright light. Desir’s latest spell, which had been flooding towards her, evaporated in vain.

This situation was repeated over and over again. Desir was unable to touch even the tips of Priscilla’s hair.

She never lowered her guard. She was certain that this was not all Desir had to offer. Actually, she ‘looked’ at him to confirm this, instead of relying on her human knowledge.

‘These spells are nothing but tricks.’

Priscilla was astonished.

When her assimilation rate exceeded eighty percent, another feature of the Artemis system became available. The new function allowed her to analyze the situation and accurately predict the future. It was originally the function that guided users to reach a better future while reproducing historical events, but Priscilla used it in a unique way.

‘Left.’

*Crack*

She destroyed all of the incoming spells, anticipating exactly which direction Desir’s magic was headed. It was an ability equivalent to seeing visions of the future.

At first, she could only predict a few seconds ahead, but as the rate of assimilation increased, she could gradually see a clearer and farther future.

At this point in the battle, she was capable of predicting up to a week’s worth of time, approximately one-hundred and sixty-eight hours. With it, she was able to see that Desir was preparing something.

Against a power capable of interpreting all possibilities, petty tricks were a waste of time.

‘Now, let’s slowly savor the answers you’ve come up with.’

Priscilla closed her eyes, and golden light enveloped around her. Desir stepped forward, and placed his hands onto the cold street above the room where the Artemis system lied. At that moment, the air around both the main system and Priscilla began to distort.

Desir had invoked [Dream of a Contradictory World], summoning a spatial distortion, and protected himself with [Dream of a Contradictory World].

However, something was different about it. Additional spell arrays had been added and the spell itself had been subtly changed.

*Crack*

The area around him that had been distorted soon began to break apart and disappear.

He had added spatial movement to the spell.

[-Assimilation rate is falling!]

The Artemis main system was split into hundreds of branches and rapidly flung far and wide throughout space. This was a method of attack that would be impossible to cope with, even for Priscilla who wielded absolute power. Her ability removed anything it came into contact with, but the attack never physically existed; the space was just distorted.

In order to cope with that, she had to restore the space itself and restore the main body of the separated Artemis to resume assimilation.

It was a much more complex job in comparison to Desir’s, who simply had to keep destroying space and moving it elsewhere. It was only natural that the speed of her restoration would not be able to keep up with his speed of destruction.

She felt her strength declining at a rapid pace. The Artemis system, which had been firmly connected to her until now, began to leave Priscilla. If it continued at this rate, Priscilla would be helpless to losing her strength.

Her vision complete, Priscilla opened her eyes. She had gleaned the future, and it was time to change it.

*Whooong*

“I’m sorry, Desir.”

The sound of heavy machinery began to reverberate. The noise came as the Artemis main system whirred into full operation.

[-Confirming the order of the first-class executor. Activating emergency freeze mode.]

As soon as he began to distort the area around the main system, the space suddenly began to resist his spell. Desir tried gathering more mana to overcome this sudden resistance, but his efforts were useless. No matter how much force he applied, he was completely unable to affect the Artemis system.

“It’s meaningless. I’ve fixed causality.”

With cause and effect fixed, no matter what one did, they could not change the present state of things. No phenomenon could occur within this realm.

‘I can’t use it anymore, but… It’s the same as over.’

Though the function created a genuinely invincible defense, it had a fundamental problem. Not only was it impossible to assimilate with the system while using the freeze function, but it was incredibly intensive in terms of power. Right now, only the gem powering the Artemis system was free of its stasis. Once she turned the stasis off, she would not be able to turn it back on for a very long time.

Of course, even though this was an incredibly strong function, it would have been useless if it was invoked too late. It was only possible because she had predicted the future, and used the knowledge acquired to act accordingly.

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It was not long before the area had become eerily quiet. Only vain despair encroached on this bubble of silence.

“Pant… pant… ”

Desir barely supported himself, breathing hard and leaning on his cane. He thought he had caught her off guard, so he poured all of his mana into it, leaving him with barely enough strength to stay conscious.

[-Disabling the Emergency Freeze mode. Resuming the assimilation process with the first-class executor.]

The means remaining to Desir no longer existed. This was neither conceited nor careless.

She saw. She created a new future by blocking Desir’s spell… and in the process of doing so, effectively cut off the remaining resistance Desir could put forward. He had no other means at his disposal now, and she could see his demise.

Though he was alive, Desir was powerless. Only now could Priscilla release her tension. After taking a moment to appreciate what had transpired, she bounced her finger, as though pressing an invisible button.

*Rumble*

At that moment, the atmosphere fluctuated and a tidal wave of mana began to gather. Desir’s eyes glanced at the sight before him. It was because the magic spell array he knew all too well now hung in the air.

Soon after, the air condensed and a blue flame appeared. It heated up at a tremendous speed and began to burn white.

“Supernova… ?”

Desir’s face paled. Supernova was a magic that only he could develop. When it began to unfold out of Priscilla’s hand, he was at a loss for words.

“No way… ”

Desir finally figured out what Priscilla had done. A trace of mana he used remained in the atmosphere. She used her power to reconstruct it and use it against him.

Priscilla’s ability and its varied applications continued to exceed Desir’s expectations.

[Burn up, howl, yearn for, and bite off, Fenrir]

[Stream of Stardust]

The spells that Desir poured out towards Priscilla began to emerge one by one.

“Now, Desir. Struggle.”

Priscilla continued with a smile around her mouth.

“Isn’t inverting spells supposed to be your expertise?”

“Urgh… !”

*Boom*

The trajectories carved into the air were altered, some of them colliding with each other and others plunging into the ground or soaring vertically into the sky. Desir knew better than anyone else because it was his own magic. The fact that it was impossible to invert all of these spells in such a short time.

‘I struggled up until the last minute, but… ’

Desir, who had already reached his limit, eventually knelt down.

*Boom*

‘It’s all coming to an end.’

A huge explosion swept through the place Desir lay.

[-Confirmed execution of hostile presence. Disabling emergency self-defense function.]

The Artemis main system announced Desir’s death.

It was no exaggeration to say that the conclusion drawn by the Artemis system was an irrevocable truth, so there could not have been any reversal of this fact.

Priscilla finally reached the victory she had desired.

[-100% assimilation rate has been reached. First-class executor, Priscilla Haicilkite, has been transferred full authority over the system.]

Something appeared in her head. The entirety of the information the Artemis system had accumulated and analyzed over the course of its existence flooded into Priscilla’s mind. If a normal human being received this information, if she had not assimilated with the system, she would have died of insanity, her mind unable to maintain itself.

‘I will save… ’

Priscilla’s will survived the process, her aspirations guiding the machine’s actions.

‘Everyone who was not saved… ’

A firm goal. She used it as a prop to withstand the pain attacking her and straightened her resolve. Her brain endured the burning sensation and she internally muttered her command.

[-Save the world.]

A beautiful voice resounded like a song. It was the original voice of Priscilla, who had lost it in the process of assimilating with the Artemis system.

She could feel it. She finally had her hands on the entirety of the Artemis system. As Priscilla reached out to the sky, the ground began to tremble as if there was an earthquake.

*Kiiying*

Through the perforated ceiling, the clouds in the sky twirled at her will. It was a sign heralding the outbreak of a Shadow World.

‘The erosion range is the entire continent.’

*Rumble*

The sky of Dresden, which was almost dawn, was overshadowed by the shadowy dark clouds, followed by a static crackling. Soon the Shadow World would encroach the whole continent, and a new era would begin.

Just when Priscilla thought so… Noise began to distort the future she was envisioning. In her clear future, cracks occurred and the image faded.

The future was changing? Priscilla hurriedly looked up and glanced around. And she found the source.

Des1r Arman was alive and looking at her.

“It’s over, Priscilla.”

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