* * *

Though all the fog in London had vanished, a thick mist still blanketed the world inside the mirror. There, Yu Na-gyeong, who had been peering into a crystal ball with Cir, was currently experiencing the utmost bewilderment.

["Why on earth has that old Monarch of Magic come here when London is in total chaos?! And why is he firing attack skills at us without so much as a word?!"]

It was strange, admittedly. Karl had initially swept away hundreds of shadow monsters in a single stroke with a powerful skill, only to disappear without a trace immediately afterward. She had wondered where he had gone and what he was doing. Seeing him suddenly appear here, hovering in the sky with a face full of fury, left her utterly dumbfounded.

Cir, however, took the situation entirely in stride.

"Well, judging by what he’s saying, he probably suspects we witches caused this mess."

["Does that make any sense?"]

"It isn’t entirely unreasonable, is it? We have indeed been making various preparations behind the scenes."

["This is where you’re supposed to deny it first! Why are you saying things that will only make him suspicious?"]

Cir chuckled at the incredulous Yu Na-gyeong.

"Because it’s amusing, isn’t it? Look at this lout making such a ridiculous clown of himself, when he’s usually so busy acting clever and superior about everything."

["You really have one hell of a personality, my dear witch!!!"]

"They don’t call me a witch for nothing."

Perhaps Cir’s leisurely chitchat with Yu Na-gyeong only fueled his anger. His beard trembling, Karl roared.

"Don’t play innocent, witch! Do you think I haven’t realized that you sent monsters to attack London while you prepared an evil ritual here under cover of the chaos?!"

["Wait a minute, that’s not what happened! Yes, we were preparing magic, but those monsters..."]

"A witch’s wicked familiar should keep its mouth shut!"

["What?! How can you call an adorable little bluebird like me a wicked familiar?!"]

Regardless of Yu Na-gyeong’s indignant protests, Karl’s anger did not abate.

"I don’t need your excuses! Stop the attack and halt your ritual immediately! Otherwise, I will not spare you!"

"My, how frightening."

Cir spoke as though troubled. But that was only in her words. Her eyes held cold mockery and contempt as she looked at Karl.

Having lived even longer than Limon, she knew that nothing she said here would reach Karl, who was convinced witches were responsible for this entire disaster. For his eyes now burned with conviction and resentment—the very same look the champions of justice had worn long ago as they burned witches at the stake and rejoiced at having vanquished evil.

Above all, there was one other reason Cir could reach her conclusion without much deliberation.

"But whatever shall I do? A Child far scarier than a lout like you asked me to do this, so I’m afraid I can’t obey you."

"... Very well. If that’s how you insist on behaving, I’ll stop you by force! 『Fireball: Sphere of Flame』!"

BOOOOM!

Karl immediately swung his staff, as though he had expected nothing else. Just when the enormous fireball he launched seemed to have blown away the entire house on whose roof Cir sat, his face twisted. The instant a crack appeared in the crystal ball she had been looking into, the shattered, incinerated house broke apart like a mirror, revealing Cir sitting on an intact roof beyond it.

"Attacking a lady without warning? You really are an ill-mannered lout."

"I owe no courtesy to a witch!"

Her brazen criticism of his manners, as though nothing had happened, enraged Karl further. He swung his staff again and again. A barrage of assorted skills materialized around him: 『Lightning Bolt』, 『Freezing Killer』, 『Rock Down』, 『Blade Storm』, and more.

Under the barrage of devastating skills, Cir’s image repeatedly shattered like glass, only to appear whole again. With each attack, another crack spread across the crystal ball, until it finally broke into pieces. As a gigantic rock fell toward Cir, whose true form was at last exposed, she took out a pure-silver sculpture shaped like a crab, dropped it lightly, and spoke in a low voice.

"Toaka auM."

THUD!

The sculpture she dropped sank into the roof with her brief incantation. Immediately afterward, legs sprouted from the house, and it scuttled sideways like a crab to dodge the rock.

The house’s transformation did not end there. The two chimneys jutting up from its roof turned into pincers and thrust toward Karl. As the pincers gaped open, they fired giant clams. Though ridiculous to look at, these clam projectiles weighed roughly two hundred kilograms apiece and were encased in shells as sturdy as rock. They hurtled toward Karl with their mouths wide open.

Unfortunately, the first giant clam struck Karl’s 『Flame Shield』 and fell, roasted whole. Even so, the crab-house did not give up. It simply fired giant clams one after another, as though it had an inexhaustible supply.

It was a truly futile struggle. It could not stop Karl, who conjured fire, ice, and lightning in succession, attacking and defending at the same time. As the giant clams were burned, frozen, and seared into clam dishes, his counterattacks rapidly tore the crab-house apart.

Yet Cir, perched on its roof, remained utterly unperturbed. She merely took a porcelain bottle from inside her clothes, scattered the powdered gemstones it contained into the air, and recited a brief spell.

"Suriya Vir ZKazak."

POOOF!

At that moment, a sweet storm exploded in midair. Flames became chocolate, cold became ice cream, rocks became bread, and lightning became sugar candy. A shield of countless bubbles transformed everything it touched into sweets, tangible or intangible alike.

At the sight, Karl bellowed.

"What kind of prank is this?!"

"Hmm, does it look like a prank to you?"

"If it isn’t a prank, is it some trick to mock me?"

Karl shouted indignantly.

And understandably so. A walking crab-house, bubbles that made sweets—however he looked at it, Cir’s magic was utterly devoid of anything that could be called earnest or serious. Perhaps it would have been different at another time, but Karl had come to fight a desperate battle to protect London. To him, it was infuriating.

After regarding him steadily, Cir gave a small, incredulous laugh.

"That’s what I’d like to ask you."

"What do you mean?!"

"Tell me, you lout. Why can you only use those impressive skills in such a manner?"

"... Such a manner?"

"That dull approach of yours, focused entirely on efficiency in killing and destroying things."

"You’re calling my skills dull?"

"Of course."

Looking at Karl with pitying eyes, as though he were a truly disgraceful sight, Cir continued languidly.

"Magic was originally a way of cheating that the gods permitted humans to use. A means of deceiving the order of the world, and a secret art that allows people to surpass even the gods."

In the distant past, at the beginning of the Silver Age, when the gods had only just descended into the world, humanity had been so foolish and weak that even surviving was difficult without the aid of gods or spirits.

Thus, to help humanity prosper, the gods spread all manner of knowledge, including agriculture and medicine, and taught people how to deceive the world’s order. That was magic: a mystery that imitated divine power, permitted to pitiful humans by the gods who acted as agents of that order. As such, magic was theoretically a power capable of anything.

"And yet, for someone supposedly called the Monarch of Magic, why do you use that power only to fight like a caveman?"

If something needed fighting, one could seek out an expert of the Seven Dragons Society. If a god needed killing, one could ask a Sword Master. After all, the Seventy-Two Martial Schools and swordsmanship they had learned were meant for protecting themselves and fighting their enemies.

Witches and priests, however, had no particular reason to do so. With magic that made every impossibility possible, they could resolve any problem without fighting. That was why, until the religious wars of the Silver Age intensified, most witches and priests had primarily worked as scholars and researchers, or as pharmacists and artists.

And as one of those ancient witches, Cir expressed her opinion of Karl’s skills.

"Where’s the fun in watching this?"

Turning a country girl into a princess, transforming naughty children into frogs, making a king parade naked through the streets—there were any number of more “amusing” uses for that power. Using it only for mere fighting was an atrocity akin to using books or toys to beat people to death, Cir said calmly.

"Fun..., did you say fun?"

Something in her words seemed to strike a nerve. His beard trembled briefly before he let out a hearty laugh.

"Ha ha ha. Yes, to witches like you, with your thousands of years of history, my skills may seem dull."

Only some thirty years had passed since the dawn of the Iron Age. For Karl, who had established the theory and system of magic-type skills during that time and devised countless spells from the first through the ninth class, it was an outrageous insult.

But he did not grow angry. Instead, he continued, looking at Cir with eyes as cold as ice.

"But that does not change the fact that your paltry tricks cannot defeat me."

As though to prove that fact, Karl gripped his staff in both hands and held it horizontally. Unlike before, when he had fired off skills in a rage, he now radiated icy killing intent as he spoke softly.

"『Spell Rank Up: Spell Hierarchy Enhancement』, 『Magic Power Storage: Magic Accumulation』, 『Fire of Inferno: Hellfire』."

BOOOOM!

At that instant, pitch-black flames erupted from Karl’s staff. Burning through the fog, the enormous pillar of fire engulfed the entire crab-house on which Cir sat.

Its heat was so terrifying that the crab-house firing giant clams was half-destroyed in an instant by the fallout alone. The bubble shield surrounding Cir also began bursting at a dreadful rate. Of course, the flames touching the bubbles still turned into chocolate, but only a small portion of them. The fire made even that chocolate run like lava as it rapidly closed in on Cir.

"Hmm... Yes, in a head-on fight, I certainly couldn’t defeat you with my power alone."

Watching the approaching flames, which threatened to burn her away without leaving even a trace of bone ash, Cir readily admitted that she was outmatched.

Monarchs were the absolute beings of this age. Though she had harshly criticized Karl’s skills as useless outside combat, that very focus made them immensely powerful. Even Cir, a witch who had lived for well over a thousand years, could do no more than hold out against him one-on-one. Above all, because magic invariably required a price, she was bound to lose to Karl if the battle dragged on.

Yet Cir was not anxious. She merely smiled meaningfully and spoke casually.

"But what if I’m not alone?"

As Karl’s brow twitched at her cryptic words—

『Seventy-Two Martial Schools, Three Supreme Techniques

Heavenly Water Sunders the World’s Order』

SHAAASH!

A razor-sharp wave sliced through the air. The enormous pillar of fire closing in around Cir split in two in an instant.

At the same time, a uniformed woman landed lightly between him and Cir. Seeing her, Karl’s face twisted involuntarily.

"... Countess Rose!"