His spatial magic ‘ruled’ the designated space itself rather than controlling it. It’s the pinnacle of magic… that slaughtered countless brave heroes.
“Are you ready?”
“I’m still preparing.”
Dmir Khan was gathering his strength in order to unleash the most powerful spatial magic on me.
‘His fighting style hasn’t changed at all.’
As expected, Dmir Khan’s attack pattern seemed to be the same as mentioned in the prophetic book and memories of the previous timeline.
Dmir Khan was usually serious and calm, but when he fought, he would change completely.
As testament to that fact, he decided to unleash his most lethal move, ❰Spatial Influx❱, which distorts the space in all directions at once and forcefully bends, then crushes the opponent.
– Crack! Crack!
Behind Dmir Khan, the surrounding area progressively twisted.
He would most likely focus all of his strength into the first attack.
That was because he despised long fights so much that he was willing to put all of his might into a single attack just to win swiftly.
However, I was the same as well.
That was because ❰Stellar Mana❱ specializes in generating instantaneous explosive power akin to a supernova.
As a result, I was disadvantaged in a long fight, but I felt confident in a short duel relying on explosive power…
“I’m ready. How long will it take you to get ready?”
With that thought in mind, I began gathering mana in my body as Dmir Khan asked a question with a smile.
“Why? Will you wait for me?”
“Of course. When you’re prepared, you can attack right away, and you don’t have to tell me when you’re ready.”
When I asked that question while smiling, just like him, he replied condescendingly.
‘…Well, if it’s that guy, he’s strong enough to spout arrogant words like that.’
If it was said by an ordinary person, I would have laughed it off as bluff, but the story was different in the case of Dmir Khan.
Dmir Khan has never lost a single battle.
The secret to this terrifying achievement lied in his magic, ❰Spatial Domination Magic❱.
Because the magic he used governs the ‘space’ itself, most attacks are blocked by his magic and disappear on contact.
In the previous timeline, the only individuals I knew who had broken through his magic even somewhat were Irina and the Master of the Magic Tower.
Of course, I would soon be added to that list.
“I’m ready.”
“You seem pretty confident.”
“Well, if you die before you can even react… it’s going to cause a lot of damage to the Demon King’s Army.”
When I replied with a smirk, his eyebrows twitched briefly. Even if he pretended to be polite, he couldn’t hide his evil nature.
“Then… let’s get started.”
“Alright.”
After taking a deep breath and glaring at each other for a while, we unleashed our attacks simultaneously.
“…Hah!”
Dmir Khan’s arms stretched forward vehemently.
– Crack!
The distorted space crumbled as fractures began to form everywhere.
– CRASH!!!
The space, which had been compressed until it was distorted and torn, suddenly expanded and exploded with a bang.
‘…He shot space itself.’
Using the same principle as a sword slash that pushes air in all directions at high speed, or a magic missile that pushes water or fire at high speed to generate a bullet. Dmir Khan’s special move was finally unleashed.
“Heup…!”
At the same time, I gripped my sword firmly and took a deep breath.
With that breath, I mustered up the stellar mana contained in every corner of my body at once and channelled all of it into my sword.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”
The space strike slammed into me as I was forcefully channelling stellar mana into my weapon. I then slashed with everything I had.
It was just one slash.
The terrifyingly fierce sword slash, imbued with stellar mana, collided with Dmir Khan’s space strike the following moment.
– CRACK!!!
An ear-shattering roar filled the engulfed conference hall.
“…Ha.”
And at that point, Dmir Khan let out a brief exclamation.
His space strike was devouring my sword slash.
“I apologize, Lord Frey. I don’t think there will be a winner.”
However, at the same time, my sword slash was also swallowing up his space strike.
In other words, our attacks were devouring and threatening to annihilate one another.
‘… He’s cunning.’
It was only then that I understood his intentions.
He seemed to want me to remain as the ‘Joint Second-in-Command’. In other words, he hated the idea of going down to third, but he didn’t like being the only Second-in-Command.
After all, he hid his power because he hated being bothered, and after a series of challenges, he rose to second place. However, his loyalty to the Demon King was superior to anyone else.
Perhaps his plan revolved around the fact that if our attacks cancelled each other out, he could declare a draw and use the rules to share the post of Second-in-Command between the both of us.
Then he could keep close contact with the Demon King he was loyal to, and could continue to maintain his position as the Second in Command without worrying about being disturbed by others. He could also use me to reduce his own responsibilities and take care of annoyances.
Truly, he was Dmir Khan, the Second-in-Command of the Demon King’s Army. The one who was called the ‘Cunning Evil Incarnate.’
‘But, I can’t let that happen.’
– Shine…!
“…What?!”
The moment I raised the corners of my mouth slightly with that thought in mind, a refreshing sound resounded from the place where our attacks collided against each other.
– Shine!!
“Good.”
After a while, the twinkling sound filled the conference hall with a radiant light, as I looked at Dmir Khan with a victorious smile.
“……..”
He just stared at the scene in front of him in astonishment. In fact, the scene unfolding right in front of his eyes is so strange he must be terrified.
– Pop!!!
At that moment, my sword slash and Dmir Khan’s space strike, which were devouring each other, completely vanished, and a dazzling flash of light rose from the dust and flew towards Dmir Khan.
“Ugh.”
Then, Dmir Khan hurriedly distorted the space around him and tried to block the stellar flash, but he was only able to stop a part of it.
He had already distorted so much of the surrounding space with his initial strike that even if he tried to influence the space around him now, he could only distort so much.
‘After all, I thought this would work.’
Of course, this was based on the flaws of Dmir Khan’s obsession with ending his battles in a single attack using his spatial magic.
I, who was aware of the loopholes in advance by looking back at the spatial magic setting mentioned in the prophetic book and through my memories of the previous regression, deliberately delayed my attack preparations and waited for the surrounding space to be sufficiently distorted.
And as a result, excessive the surrounding space was compressed and distorted.
“…Cough!”
