(Clyde Astley POV)

“Clyde, you ready?”

Damian conjured pitch black daggers in his hands and looked at me.

I infused mana into Redheart. My spell was already cooking and was only waiting to be thrown.

“Let’s do this.”

“Then–“

When Damian was about to reply, his face was smashed into the ground after being kicked in the back of his head.

“Keugh!!”

“Pay attention to your opponent, Damian!”

Aubrey swung down his two sword which Damian managed to block after rotation his body on the ground.

“Clyde! Throw the spell!”

I nodded and aimed Redheart at him.

“[Rock Bullet]!”

Tiny little rocks appeared in mid-air while rotating at insane speeds.

WHOOSH...!

Aubrey quickly dodged the barrage of bullets that tore through the tent. He did back flips to dodge the bullets.

When he got up, he literally swatted away all the bullets using one of his swords.

‘What the fuck?’

His eyes followed each and every one of the bullets that flew at him.

“Shit! [Bolt]!”

Magic circles appeared above my hand. Purple lightning manifested and flew towards Aubrey.

“I got him!”

The lightning struck his body causing him to convulse. But...

“Huh?”

His own mana dominated the lightning causing it to disperse.

This Aubrey guy is fucking strong!

How the hell was he still unscathed?

How much of a monster can you be!?

“Damian.”

The two of us took distance from his brother. I used about 15% so far of my total magic power.

“Yeah?”

“Is your brother a shaman who uses a doll to negate magical attacks? My attacks aren’t working!”

I might have to use [Supernova].

Damian shook his head and wiped the blood from his mouth.

“He always used to be disciplined by out mother with her magical attacks since childhood. I suspect it was actually to fulfil her sadistic tendencies but overall, he gained a strong magic resistance. No mage can defeat him if he uses his full power. No one has thus far.”

“Shit. Damn protagonist level bastard.”

‘Will spirit magic perhaps work? I have to try using high pressured water spirits and maybe then I’ll be able to deal enough damage to this guy.’

He switched to duel wield swords after a few exchanges with Damian and me. His speed and power far surpassed Damian. If I wasn’t with him, providing support from behind, he might’ve been stabbed a few times.

Damian had black mana while his brother had purple. Both colours were indications that the person could use dark magic.

‘This means that he’s the same as Brynhildr.’

Although not as strong or fast as that vampire who could be called a real monster, he was still troublesome to deal with.

SHIING

Damian deflected a throwing knife. I moved towards his back and began chanting.

The two of them both put their hands behind their backs, seemingly searching for something.

Both took out a lot of throwing knives strapped to ropes.

Where did they pull that out of?

“I guess I can take this slow and see how my little brother has grown. Those two won’t get far anyway. It’s only a matter of time before gramps and father arrives.”

SHIING

SHIING

Both threw their throwing knives at each other. The knives hit each other but were deflected by pinpoint accuracy.

“Hoh?”

CLANK

SHIING

CLANK

CLANG

Sparks flew as the two rapidly threw their knives at each other. It was like a dance of sparks. Damian and Aubrey’s hands were barely visible as they threw with monstrous speed. Their eyes glowed golden as they rapidly moved along with the knives’ trajectory.

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All the knives fell onto the ground as none hit their mark but were deflected instead.

Many of the knives ripped the curtains to shreds. A few almost hit me but I managed to protect myself with the barrier I casted.

My spell, [Supernova] was still busy charging up as the two engaged in throwing knives at each other.

Clank

The knives just kept coming. How many did they have?

I closed my eyes and searched for the space spirits.

–Time will stop!

–Kya~!

–Don’t push! Don’t push!

They were busy playing with each other as my senses were enhanced by spirits. They seemed to not be affected by the battle between two brothers.

I was slowly pulling them towards my body and absorbing them. There was no resistance from them whatsoever. I could barely remember the first time I managed to control time itself.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw a the world similar to that of a grey panel of a manga through my eyes. Only black, white and grey exist within my technique.

[Lightborn].

Everything seemed to have stopped but that wasn’t it at all. Time was only decreased to my will.

“Even though I casted this so much, the world is indeed strange without sound.”

Only my emotionless voice echoed. Even my breathing sounded loud.

I looked at my hand which was covered in a white glow.

The runes were even more complex than last time.

I walked towards Aubrey who was frozen in time as his eyes looked at his younger brother.

“High rank magic-[Supernova]...!”

I pointed my staff which had a blue orb of mana above it, at Aubrey. The mana started to wildly flutter as I released my grip on the magic.

“Turn to cinders.”

WOOONG

The spell enlarged as it was about to burst forward.

It shot towards Aubrey.

“!!”

But what I could never predict was that someone could actually move in my prison of time.

His body dodged the spell which was in point blank range.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

His golden eyes met mine even in my void of space-time.

I felt shivers up my spine.

“Fuck!!”

I instantly ran and stood next to Damian.

This guy was a monster. He could even dodge something in this dimension? Was it coincidence? Or...

BOOM–!

My spell destroyed a chunk of the entire camp as it furiously flew and blew everything away in its path. The ground itself was grovelled up and broken down as the spell penetrated the soil.

The world returned to normal again.

Aubrey dodged Damian’s knives.

His eyes turned to me once again.

His one eyebrow went up.

‘Fuck... fuck...’

Not even Lightborn worked? Was I arrogant to think it could?

Fuck. I had no choice but to use spirit magic to escape.

“Err, Clyde... What was that just now?”

Unlike Aubrey, Damian looked at the destruction my spell caused in confusion.

What sort of hellish training did his brother go through to dodge a spell that came flying at near light speed?

“Your brother is a monster ,Damian.”

Even though his eyes were just as calm as before, all I saw was the eyes of a demon. A tamed monster.

How could a human like this exist? Could any of the White Order members be this strong? Or is it just people like him that actually achieved all that power through hard work and training? I say that but I hadn’t actually seen any of the White Order members in action before.

I gulped audibly and gathered the spirits inside my body.

Only then did Aubrey show a hint of surprise.

This is the only way I can think of to beat him. Overpower him using a million spirits.

Damian began releasing more mana and burst forward with his daggers.

Clank–!

Aubrey received the attack head-on with his swords.

The two seemed equally matched in power at first glance.

Both of them engaged in close combat. The sheer power of their blows sent strong shockwaves that shook the ground as their hits were blocked by each other. Damian was slowly being pushed back as I continued to watch their fight.

‘Is that guy so confident about being able to resist my spells that he doesn’t even do anything about me–‘

“AAARGH!?”

Just as I was about to summon Undine to aid Damian, a searing hot pain came from my abdomen after I heard a piercing sound.

Why did I feel like I was slowly losing my strength?

“...Ah...”

I looked down and saw a thin white hand that was covered in blood. A woman’s hand. Her beautiful fingers were dyed crimson in a familiar purple aura.

I looked over my shoulder and saw her.

The same golden eyes as Damian and Aubrey.

“You should’ve been paying attention to your surroundings.”

With that said, she pulled out her arm causing the pain to intensify.

‘N-No way...!’

I fell down on my knees and clutched my stomach. It felt like something was leaking out of my body. Not bodily fluids but something else. I hurriedly tried healing myself before I lost any more blood.

“A-Ah... a-ah...!”

“Clyde!?”

Damian seems to have noticed my state as he looked towards me with widened eyes. Aubrey kicked Damian again causing the latter to crash into the ground.

“You were taking longer than expected, Zelda.”

“It’s not my fault. I couldn’t find that princess. The person helping her escape has excellent mana interference and stealth.”

The two chatted even though they were out to kill us.

The woman, Zelda looked down at me.

She put her boot on my head and whistled.

“You’re still alive? If you were to stick around any longer, you would’ve been an obstacle for us as well in the future.”

She put strength into her foot, crushing my head.

The pain from having my head crushed and the heat from my chest from the damage to my cores, was causing my consciousness to fade ever so slightly. Due to the damage to my mana core, even my spirit core was effected and slowly breaking down. I assumed that since I was living with two cores from the start, my body was rejecting the fact that the spirit core alone was keeping my mana veins intact. It was the same as having two kidneys but the worst thing was that both were dependent on each other.

“Well, that worry is gone now. Since I destroyed your core in a not so gentle way, your life as a mage is over. You’d want to be dead just knowing that. As they say, few survive. Some kill themselves due to despair and others just die due to trying magic again without a core.”

The woman snickered before kicking my face.

It felt the same as being hit by a truck. Due to my core being pulverised by her aura, my spirits couldn’t be kept inside my body. My body was slowly losing strength.

‘Ugh!!! I can’t die now!’

I covered my face as the woman repeatedly kicked me.

“Come on! Why are you resisting? At least let me have fun before you die!”

Her kicking didn’t stop once.

“Sister, you sure are ruthless. The boy will already die. Can you not let him go in peace? If father and grandfather arrives after destroying the Republican camp and sees you like this...”

“Nah. I prefer letting him taste my pent up frustration from not killing anyone recently.”

Aubrey pierced his sword through Damian’s shoulder but didn’t finish him off immediately. It seemed he still had a soft spot for his little brother.

“Clyde...”

Damian’s hand reached out to me. His left eye was destroyed from the earlier impact on the ground.

It seemed he too, was at his limit.

‘Ah. I wanted to live a little longer.’

Just to see Chloe and Jessica get married. I wanted to be there for their age of coming ceremony too.

Arielle. I wanted to see her again. I’ll miss her silvery white hair and her slanted blue eyes.

Mother and father. I wanted to tell them that I came from another world.

Even if I was dying, I’d want to write it to them in a letter. I didn’t have the courage to tell them that I killed their real child and twisted fate when I saved that girl.

And lastly. Future Clyde. What would that old bastard say if he saw me amongst the sea of souls?

Disappointment for believing in himself? Thinking I could become a better him? Or anger that I didn’t do things the right way?

I should’ve run away with Edna. Even if it meant leaving Charlotte behind and valuing my life more.

When I was about to lose consciousness, a loud boom echoed, followed by a large rumble.

ROOOOAR–!

A giant black dragon, almost the size of the red dragon which I fought all that time ago was there. Although it was smaller in size, the aura it was releasing was far more powerful than the red dragon.

“A-A dragon!?”

I heard Zelda’s startled voice.

–How dare you hurt my human? My human!? I’ll tear your flesh apart after baking it with flames!

The last thing I saw before sinking deep into unconsciousness was Edna gathering mana in her mouth to attack with [Dragon’s Breath].