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The owner of the Magic Tower, one of only seven in the continent, Richard Ertuven, hails from a prestigious family of mages in the Empire and primarily specializes in boundary (경계) magic.

If elemental magic based on the five elements of nature is considered common, boundary magic, alongside Edelweiss’s stellar (성위) magic, holds a special position in the magical arts.

Unlike martial arts (무도), which anyone can attempt to practice at least once, the path of magic (마도) is accessible only to those with the requisite talent. Among the few who embark on this magical path, only a select few with exceptional qualities can wield boundary and stellar magic.

While basic elemental magic isn’t talent-less, it doesn’t discriminate as much as boundary and stellar magic do. Although anyone among the mages can handle elemental magic, these two types remain elusive.

It truly is magic designed for the protagonists of stories.

It’s no wonder that Richard and Elena focus on these specializations instead of elemental magic. The rarity of their talents, which allows them to master such magic, highlights their uniqueness as characters.

Orcus, a wizard primarily handling fire magic, is an exception due to his divine power.

Anyway, aside from underscoring the genius and uniqueness of the characters, it is undeniable that boundary magic is indeed ‘special.’ The power of the stellar magic handled by Elena and Joachim juxtaposed with the greatness of boundary magic, which has been regarded as a counterpart for a long time, indicates its significance.

The concept of boundaries is quite broad, making it hard to grasp precisely what kind of magic it entails. However, to put it simply, it involves spatial manipulation. One could even label it space magic, for the hallmark of boundary magic is its capacity to manipulate space, and it derives its name from the essence of managing the boundaries between dimensions.

Recalling the duel between Elena and Richard at the Department of Magic, Richard summoned spirits to aid his attacks. The art of spirit summoning itself is a derivative of boundary magic, as summoning beings from other dimensions is a form of boundary magic.

The limitless potential of spatial manipulation in boundary magic is on full display in how Richard Ertuven employs it; one might envision an image of a spirit mage from a game or comic.

Considering that Richard played the gentle and refined role of a noble compared to other characters in the original, his method is somewhat understandable. Usually, characters wielding techniques like spirit summoning or breeding are seen as kind-hearted.

However, at this moment, it’s hard to feel that familiar sense of ease from Richard. Despite a smile on his lips, his eyes were sharp and focused. His intense gaze was fixed on Reinhardt.

Seeing Richard’s serious demeanor suggests that unlike the other participants, this time he’s genuinely going to make an effort. Or perhaps he’s just nervous? Given that his opponent is Reinhardt, that’s entirely reasonable.

“Is it a barrier?”

With the declaration to begin, a peculiar wave of magical energy spread around Richard, causing his presence to appear faint. Scanning with my senses, I sensed a spherical barrier enveloping the venue. It seemed to function as a barrier, but with my lack of magical knowledge, I’m unsure of the exact effects. I could tell, however, that the barrier was deployed quite rapidly.

“Spatial distortion, I see. Richard’s figure appears unchanged in reality, but in fact, his true self has moved to the shadow realm. It’s a high-level spell with an incredibly fast casting speed.”

Thank you, Elena Wiki.

I looked at Richard with a sense of wonder, and Elena elaborately explained the magic to me. My understanding of magic is merely surface-level from books, so Elena’s clarification is essential for things I can’t judge intuitively.

Fortunately, Elena’s explanation wasn’t necessary for Richard’s next spell. It was evident just by watching.

With the barrier in place, five magic circles materialized in the air, each releasing the powers of fire (火), water (水), wood (木), metal (金), and wind (風). The powers soon took shape: from the fire came a giant wrapped in lava, from the water emerged a sea dragon’s head, from the wood appeared a deer, from metal a turtle, and finally, from the wind sprouted a massive winged bird.

Each one exuded an overwhelming presence, enough to fill the venue.

That massive presence conveys just how elevated these spirits really are.

‘Impressive.’

Even handling just one high-level spirit with skills is extraordinary, but Richard boasted the audacity to summon five simultaneously. I don’t think he overestimated his capabilities. The fact that those mighty beings were well-restrained under Richard’s command stood as proof.

‘Then Reinhardt is… calm and collected.’

Amidst it all, Reinhardt maintained a composed expression, observing the spectacle with poise.

While Richard demonstrated remarkable casting speed, having fought with Reinhardt numerous times, I know that he’s patiently waiting. He allowed Richard to unleash his full potential. Only after confirming Richard had finished summoning the spirits did Reinhardt place his hand on his sword.

“Here I go.”

With those words, Reinhardt soared up like a bolt of lightning.

The first target struck was the wind bird. Perhaps being the wind made it the quickest. The first to react to Reinhardt’s strike wasn’t a specific target; his blade aimed at all, and the wind bird happened to be the fastest to face it.

The wind bird stirred up a gust to counter the incoming lightning, but it was shredded by Reinhardt’s sword.

In an instant, those colossal wings that seemed ready to envelop the entire venue came crashing down.

With a deafening scream, a tornado spiraled upwards to shield itself, yet Reinhardt rode that very wind and barreled forward. As the shrieks subsided, the wind ceased, and the bird disappeared.

From that point on, it turned into a melee.

As the bird vanished, the other spirits simultaneously launched their attacks toward Reinhardt. The ground shook, lava erupted, and tidal waves surged. It was like witnessing a scene of nature’s fury, one that no human could dare defy.

Suspended in the air, Reinhardt coolly observed nature’s wrath, parrying every attack with just his sword. No matter the element, everything was treated equally before his blade. The moment anything intruded upon his gravitational field, it was cut down.

He smoothly sliced through the giant’s outstretched arm, skimming down its shoulder before severing its head, then darting upwards to drive his sword into the sea dragon’s skull, twisting it savagely.

The electric fury coursed through the sword, obliterating the sea dragon as it burst, scattering water in all directions. After the dragon was defeated, Reinhardt swung his recovered sword downward, bisecting the turtle in a single stroke. As he descended towards the ground, he made quick work of the deer reaching for him with its antlers.

Words failed me.

Richard’s summoned spirits were indeed magnificent, but Reinhardt overshadowed them all.

While the spirits’ true power surely wasn’t exhausted yet, seeing the outcome leads me to think that whatever the results, they’d eventually be cut down by Reinhardt. And as it happened, that was exactly the case.

Once all the spirits were desummoned, blood splattered from Richard’s mouth, symbolic of the toll spirit magic demands.

Wiping his blood, Richard shrugged at Reinhardt before splitting his form into multiple copies. Just because his spirits fell didn’t mean Richard was done for. Each one of the dozens of forms exuded his essence. Even with the barrier diminishing his presence, invoking a duplication technique made it difficult to discern the real from the false.

As the Richard copies unleashed flames, Reinhardt effortlessly cut through them as before.

These weren’t mere illusions; they all seemed to possess physical strength akin to the real. Reinhardt retaliated with blade energy against the fiery Richards, slicing through them like cutting fog, yet Richard remained intact.

I deduced this to be one of the effects of the spatial distortion barrier Elena mentioned earlier.

Richard’s true self resided in the shadow realm, making him impervious to Reinhardt’s blade energy. His duplicates likely functioned like reflections in a kaleidoscope. They hadn’t truly multiplied but rather projected reflections of Richard’s form from another space onto this realm, just like the duplication method.

Being the spellcaster of the barrier, it seemed Richard could send his own attacks into this realm. Thus, unless Reinhardt broke the boundary, he’d struggle to land a successful hit on Richard.

While I could hypothesize this due to Elena’s explanation, it’s tough to think intuitively about it without a solid knowledge of magic. However, as a knight and a martial artist, I could predict Reinhardt’s next moves.

Seeing that his attacks weren’t effective, Reinhardt rotated his sword arm behind him, coiling his body. Awakening the dormant thunderous energy within, he began to expand the surrounding space into his domain, and as the venue’s barrier encompassed all within it, he lunged forward.

“Thunderous Roar!”

With that, the sound of thunder cracked, and the venue’s barrier shattered.

In the chaotic space, Richard’s figure appeared like a broken mirror. As if to signify the battle wasn’t over, Richard gathered magic in his hand again, but Reinhardt reached him first. Richard’s hand, charged with magic, was defensively swatted away before Reinhardt’s blade was pointed at his throat.

“Hahaha… I surrender.”

As Reinhardt’s sword touched Richard’s neck, he raised his hand, conceding defeat.

It was an intensely thrilling duel, but as expected, it ended with Reinhardt’s victory, just as I had initially predicted.

When Richard summoned his spirits, I thought the fight might extend longer, but that was just my imagination. Nevertheless, observing Reinhardt’s different movements from before, I couldn’t say I left empty-handed.

As I intended to reflect on the duel between them, I felt a gaze from the venue. Sure enough, it was Reinhardt. He was staring directly at the spot where I stood, and his gaze seemed to urge me to come down quickly.

I raised my hand to him in response.

 

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