"Guh...!"
A searing heat, like liquid fire, radiated from my left shoulder.
I’d managed to avoid any vital organs, but the spike of magic water had driven straight through my shoulder. The mana surrounding me instantly vanished. I bit my lip, forcing myself to endure the agonizing pain that made me want to scream, though my vision began to blur with tears.
Yet, in exchange for that white-hot agony, I had obtained the final piece of the puzzle.
Just as I suspected, her Mana-eater ability is incomplete.
"Got you!"
Due’s voice rang out cheerfully from behind me. I craned my neck to look back and saw several cracks spiderwebbing through the ground where she stood. She must have funneled the magic water through the floor, moved it along the wall, and then reformed it into a spike.
So her little tantrum earlier hadn't just been a display of frustration. If it weren't for the magic-nullifying nature of her Mana-eater ability, Titania would have sensed the movement even if I hadn't. She really was a handful.
Just as she had when I was first captured, Titania channeled a blade of wind through me toward the ceiling, but the viscous magic water clinging to the surface simply neutralized the attack.
"Ahaha! You think the same trick is going to work twice? Now die, silver-hair!"
Due transformed her left arm into a jagged blade once more and lunged, closing the distance in a blur.
"As if... I’d die in a place like this...!"
Since the spike remained fixed in place after piercing me, I threw my body backward and forcibly yanked myself off the barb. A fresh surge of even more intense pain shot through my shoulder, but I ignored it, spinning around to swing the staff in my right hand.
However, Due had already slipped inside my guard. The tip of her blade was inches from my chest. Her face was twisted into a mask of certain victory.
"You let your guard down! Too slow!"
Before her blade could reach me, I dropped the staff, drew a dagger in a blurred motion, and struck the side of her incoming weapon to parry it away.
"—Eh?"
In one fluid motion as we passed each other, I slashed my dagger across her abdomen and up toward her right shoulder. This was daggermanship taught to me by Teruche—a master of the craft. I wasn't a match for dedicated front-line combatants, but I could manage this much.
Immediately after escaping the immediate influence of Mana-eater, I activated Time Rewind. I reverted my left shoulder to the state it had been in before the spike pierced it. While the physical trauma vanished, the memory of the sensation remained—a phantom pain that lingered in my nerves. It was frustrating, but manageable compared to the alternative.
"Why... Why?! You were holding a staff just a second ago! How did you have a dagger?!"
Due didn't even flinch at the wound that should have been fatal for any human. Instead, she shrieked hysterically, unable to comprehend my counterattack.
"Well, I wonder why?"
I had no intention of explaining it to her. Not that there was a grand trick to it; my storage magic tool was a custom piece forged by a genius artificer. It was specifically designed to function even within the boss areas of the 100th floor in the Great Labyrinths. In short, I had simply stored the staff and pulled out the dagger in the same heartbeat.
"Don't... screw with me!"
"I’m not. I have all the information I need now. From here on, this isn't a fight—it’s an execution."
"Shut up! Don't get cocky just because you got lucky!"
Driven by rage, Due’s hair began to writhe. The massive bundles of hair liquefied into magic water and lunged at me like snakes.
'Titania, I have a favor to ask.'
I swapped the dagger back for my staff and contacted Titania telepathically while mentally constructing a spell formula.
'...I will help, provided it is within my power.'
'Thanks. I need you to gather as many ice Seirei as you can, along with any mana that has the potential to become them.'
'I would ask what you intend, but I assume time is of the essence. Where should I gather them?'
'On the surface, directly above us. Oh, and please make sure we’re ready to Shift to the 2nd floor or the surface at a moment's notice.'
By the time I finished the telepathic link, the magic water was nearly upon me. I triggered my magic before it could reach the Mana-eater’s dead zone.
"Space Leap."
With a flash of teleportation, I reappeared behind Due, near the entrance to the 3rd floor. The spot where I had stood moments ago was now submerged in magic water.
If she spreads it out that much, she should be able to consume the mana efficiently.
"All you do is run! And you dare say you'll kill me?!"
Due snapped her gaze toward me. The fingertips of both her hands liquefied and stretched toward me. This was actually perfect. I manipulated the ice Seirei in the surrounding air and unleashed the spell.
"Seirei Magic—Frost Storm Boreas!"
In an instant, frost coated the interior of the dome, and a silver gale erupted from the magic circle before me. Frost Storm Boreas—a wide-area annihilation spell that froze targets to their core while encasing their surface in ice. It carried heavy restrictions, requiring the infusion of ice Seirei, but its destructive power was on an entirely different level from standard magic.
"Ahaha! I told you, it’s useless!"
Naturally, the silver storm vanished into the void as it approached Due. But that was fine. The mana consumed by Mana-eater didn't simply cease to exist. It was diverted into the magic stone likely embedded in her body. And because it was being stored in a stone, there had to be a capacity limit.
If her devastating breath attack from earlier was the result of venting excess mana from a stone near its breaking point, then the logic was simple: saturate the magic stone, and she would lose the ability to erase mana. Magic would work normally again.
"...Guh... Uugh... Wait... Already...?"
After I maintained the storm for a few moments, Due began to double over, clutching her chest just as she had before. My own head was beginning to feel heavy—the familiar dull ache that preceded a mana-overuse headache. I hadn't felt it in a long time, but it was inevitable after maintaining a spell of this scale.
"...I’m sorry. I wanted to end this without making you suffer, but I suppose that’s not an option."
Apologizing to the agonizing girl, I began constructing a new formula.
"No way... that's what you're after?! Even if I vent it, it won't matter... Damn it!"
Even if she released the stored mana as a breath attack, that mana would only linger within the dome. As long as the total mana density in this room exceeded the capacity of her Mana-eater ability, she was effectively neutralized. Destroying the Dungeon Core had been the right call.
Due realized it too. Even in her pain, she was searching for a way out.
"I can't... I can't fail Papa. He finally gave me a chance to be useful. No... No! I won't be treated as incompetent! What do I do...?!"
Due became half-crazed as the silver storm battered her. I felt a flicker of sympathy, but I couldn't let someone who threatened the Kingdom go free.
"The magic stone... That's it! If I have more magic stones...!"
She seemed to find a desperate loophole, and a twisted smile crossed her face.
"If it’s not enough, I’ll just make more!"
With those words, Due’s body began to swell like a balloon. Finally, she burst, and magic water surged outward in massive tidal waves.
"Titania, to the 2nd floor! Directly above!"
At my command, the scenery shifted instantly. We were back on the floor above.
'Shion, why did we retreat? I can provide the mana. Even if her capacity grew, we could have killed her easily by saturating her. We should have ended it.'
"I know, but a golden opportunity like this isn't going to come again. I want to use this fight as a catalyst for my own growth."
'What are you planning?'
"I’m going to touch what lies 'Outside the Principles of Magic.'"
'............Are you serious?'
"I wouldn't joke about this. I told you, didn't I? I’m going to catch up to Orun. He’s already beyond that point, so it’s time I stepped across the threshold as well."
'I see. Because I and an incomplete Mana-eater are in the same place at the same time... this is your ideal moment.'
"Exactly."
'...I won't stop you. But if you fail, I will take your life as payment. Is that understood?'
"Yes. I’ve eliminated as many variables as I can."
'Then show me. I will assist you as best I can.'
As our conversation ended, the floor began to quake. Cracks appeared beneath us. Due was likely trying to breach the ceiling from below.
"Titania, the floor above us is the lava area, right?"
'Yes. The 1st floor is a literal hellscape now that it has lost its core.'
"Then let’s finish the setup! ——Explode Chain!"
I triggered my ability, causing a sequence of explosions to rip through the ceiling. By destroying the barrier between us and the 1st floor, the molten lava and the dying magic beasts consumed by it began to rain down, pulled by gravity.
"Titania, to the surface!"
Just as we teleported, the 2nd floor collapsed entirely, creating a vertical shaft from the 1st floor straight down to the 3rd. Lava and monsters cascaded down onto the mass of magic water that was Due. I didn't stick around to see the result. Logically, magic water should evaporate upon contact with non-magical, ultra-high-temperature lava, but I had my own work to do.
Returning to the surface brought a profound sense of relief. After being trapped in the "Farm," the outside world felt precious.
"The air really does taste better out here..." I muttered, stretching my arms.
'You're surprisingly calm.'
"Well, once you've committed this much, there’s nothing left to do but see it through. ——Now, let’s begin."
I offered Titania a final lighthearted remark before closing my eyes to focus. I could feel the ice Seirei she had gathered swirling around me. Among them was ordinary mana—mana that possessed the potential to become ice Seirei.
My ability, Time Rewind, allows me to rewind an object's time—to overwrite its "present" with its "past." But abilities are flexible. If I interpreted it as the "power to move an object through time," couldn't I move it toward the "future" as well? After all, abilities like Future Sight already exist.
The conclusion I’d reached was that my interpretation was half-right. I could only rewind time for physical matter, but for mana, I could force it into its future form. Mana that had a high probability of becoming ice Seirei could be sublimated into that form instantly. I still didn't know why mana was the exception, but that didn't matter right now. The fact that I could do it was enough.
I opened my eyes and used my ability to sublimate all the gathered mana into ice Seirei. The temperature plummeted. Frost spread across the grass and trees. Once the air was thick with them, I manipulated the Seirei through my eyes, converging them into a single point.
As they grew denser, they shifted from colorless to a brilliant silver-white, becoming visible to the naked eye. I converged them further. A sharp pain throbbed behind my right eye.
I pushed harder. The space around the Seirei began to warp.
Harder. The right edge of my vision began to bleed into a hazy red.
I pushed through the agony.
A rift opened in the world itself.
And then, the ice Seirei touched the "Outside."
"————"
My thoughts stalled. It was as if a tidal wave of incomprehensible information had been hammered into my skull all at once.
'Stay focused! Don't let it swallow you!'
"—!? That was close..."
Titania’s voice snapped me back to reality. I immediately released the convergence, and the spatial distortion smoothed out. The ice Seirei returned to their invisible state, drifting around me as they had before.
But they were fundamentally different now. By touching the "Outside," the information they carried had become incomparably vast.
"So this is mana from beyond the principles of magic..."
I still couldn't decipher the information, but I instinctively knew it would follow my will.
'A success, then. But be warned—that mana will eventually return to its natural state. Until it does, it possesses the power to unravel this world. Handle it with extreme caution.'
"I know. ——Now then."
I wiped the blood from my eye and nose and shifted my focus, ignoring the pounding headache. A split second later, a geyser of magic water erupted from the ground nearby. I leaped back to stay clear of the Mana-eater’s range.
From the crater emerged a nightmare—a creature over five meters tall. It was a chimera of magic water and various beasts, a grotesque monster with no trace of the girl Due once was. She had likely consumed the falling 1st-floor beasts to absorb their magic stones.
"KiLL. kiLL. KILL!"
Her mind was gone; only her master’s orders remained. The monster’s multiple jaws unhinged, and high-density mana gathered within them, firing toward me as a barrage of breath attacks. Against a force that could level the forest, I wrapped myself in a mana barrier and used my ability.
(So this is a true mana barrier. I guess I can finally say I’ve reached the peak of mana manipulation. Even if it feels like cheating since I'm using Seirei.)
The breaths detonated against my barrier with a deafening roar. Everything outside the barrier’s protection was vaporized instantly, leaving a massive crater. But a moment later, the crater vanished, and the landscape reverted to its state before the explosion as I rewound the area's time.
"...I’m sorry. But no matter how much you want it, I can't die for you."
I channeled ordinary mana into a spell and fired ice spears. As expected, they vanished into the void before they could touch her.
"The nullification range hasn't changed. Good."
'So what's the plan? Mana-eater consumes magic, too. Even your barrier is useless if she touches it.'
"It’ll be fine. My magic won't be interfered with anymore!"
The monster swung a massive, neck-like limb toward me. I didn't dodge. Instead, I manipulated the mana from the "Outside" and interfered with time itself.
"——Fimbulvetr."
In this world, mana is passive; it only produces phenomena when channeled through a spell formula. That is sorcery. But mana that has touched the "Outside" temporarily leaves the world’s principles behind. It produces phenomena following a higher logic.
That phenomenon is called Magic.
With the Magic I unleashed, the world’s time froze.
'This is... Shion, did you just interfere with the entire world to prevent a paradox!?'
"............This is... exhausting... I feel like I’ll pass out if I blink."
I had brought the passage of time as close to zero as possible. A complete stop was beyond me, but in this world of near-stasis, I was the only one who could move. No one could match me here. Interestingly, Titania remained unaffected by the temporal freeze. As I thought, fairies are... No, I don't have time for that.
The monster’s limb hung in the air, moving toward me by only a fraction of a millimeter. I couldn't hold this forever. I raised my staff. Countless shards of ice, each the size of a marble, materialized in the air around the beast.
"——Strafe."
The ice shards accelerated to subsonic speeds, hammering into the monster. I didn't stop, generating and firing wave after wave. Even in the slowed time, the Mana-eater ability was active, swallowing the shards. But I knew its limit.
I didn't even need Magic to win this, but with it, the possibility of defeat had been erased. Eventually, the saturation point was reached. The shards began to pierce the monster’s hide. Using my Seirei Eyes, I located the cluster of magic stones within its body and shattered every single one.
Once the stones were gone, I released my grip on time. The world began to move again.
"...Haah... haah... haah... I won...!"
My heart was thundering. I watched as the monster’s body lost its cohesion, melting away into nothingness.
'Honestly, you are far too reckless. You could have won without such a gamble.'
"Ahaha... I can't argue with that. But... I gained so much from this. To me, it was worth it. ——As long as I make it back in one piece, anyway."
'What do you mean?'
"Exactly what I said. I pushed too hard. I’m at my limit..."
'............I see. If you die here, I shall make sure to tell your story as a warning and a joke for centuries to come.'
"I’d... rather you didn't..."
'Then don't die. Leave the rest to me.'
"Yeah... okay..."
With that, my consciousness plunged into the dark.
I caught Shion with my mana as she collapsed and laid her gently on the grass.
She had touched the "Outside" and become a Transcendent. To be honest, it was unbelievable. Among the humans currently living, only Orun Doura, Fuuka Shinonome, and Beria Sans have reached that logic. I thought the only others with even a remote chance were Oliver Cardiff and perhaps Philly Carpenter.
In my mind, Shion Nasturtium was talented, but she was still a being who belonged within the principles of magic. Yet, she had risked death by assimilating the Seirei Eyes, gained a power akin to Seirei Command, and forcibly stepped beyond the threshold. Humans truly are beyond my understanding.
Nevertheless, Shion has become a powerful ally.
'...But even so, does this "ending" remain unchanged? Shion, your existence is supposed to be the key. So please, wake up soon. If you don't——your most beloved will drown the world in his lamentations and bring it all to ruin.'