Genius Wizard who sees Rainbows- Chapter 126

 

#126. Great Game (2)

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“…A bet?”

“I can play along with your game.”

Ray withdrew his hand from the king piece.

“But just playing isn’t enough for me. Games are meant to be fun, and if there’s no thrill in the process, then it’s meaningless. That’s why we do it.”

He leaned back in his chair, speaking in a flat tone.

“A wager—something that’ll tempt us both.”

As he spoke, he closely watched the man’s expression and the vessel.

The man’s lips twitched again in a smirk, and the arrogance within the vessel gave a slight tremble.

Ray once again reflected on the physical nature of the emotion called arrogance.

‘He won’t like this.’

The very idea that someone he considers weaker is making a proposal first.

But this alone isn’t enough.

To steer the situation in the direction he wants, Ray needed to stir the man’s emotions even further.

“A bet, huh? Interesting. But I wonder if you even have anything tempting enough to wager—”

“The wager is information.”

Ray cut him off intentionally.

Seeing the rippling arrogance, he pressed on before the man could react.

“The information I’m putting on the line is about the Rainbow Shard.”

Rainbow.

The man went quiet.

Like silt at the river bottom, several emotions dormant inside him began to stir.

“And what you’re betting is information about Murcred—more specifically, the Doctor.”

That remark caused a hazy bloom to rise.

Curiosity, anger, discomfort, surprise—colors of emotion swirled chaotically around the navy mana sitting at the vessel’s center.

Still, the man spoke in a tone not too different from before.

“I knew something was off. There’s no way the support faction had funds left to hire outside mercenaries.”

His breathing steadied.

“So this was your goal from the beginning.”

Ray didn’t respond.

He only continued to observe the man’s emotions.

“There’ve been times… when someone came demanding information like it was left in their custody. I don’t know where they got it from, but—”

“……”

“But those fools always asked about the Rainbow. Not a single one asked about the Doctor.”

The man stared directly into the boy’s eyes as he spoke.

“Do you know why?”

And then, he spat it out.

“Because the Doctor isn’t someone whose identity is known outside.”

At that moment—

Woooooooom───!!

A surge of navy mana exploded from the man’s entire body.

The dark, smog-like mana quickly consumed the space around the table.

Wooooooom───!

Domination. Restriction. Binding. Manipulation.

These were the core elements of the navy mana.

Ray’s eyes could see it clearly.

The weaker elements in the air were crushed under the weight of those heavy elements, unable to move.

“……”

The navy mana also settled on Ray like dust, clinging to his clothes and skin.

It was primed and ready to ignite into magic at any moment.

As Ray examined the navy mana, the man’s voice continued.

“Except for the Boss, almost no one knows that title: Doctor. So tell me—how do you know about him?”

The smile was gone.

The voice turned cold and harsh.

Ray lifted his head.

And, to further irritate the man, he deliberately remained silent.

He recalled what Veronica had said:

*“Domination, restriction, binding, manipulation—these elements are mostly used in a kind of transformed telekinetic magic that presses down on or limits a target’s movement with intangible force.”*

If the man wished, he could easily crush Ray’s body right now.

But Ray didn’t show a hint of tension.

The man’s emotions were telling him—there was no real intent to attack.

Still, caution was necessary.

Ray dispersed the mana of the circle throughout his body, ready to respond at any time.

Wooooom──!

A front line was drawn along Ray’s skin, as multicolored mana formed a boundary against the navy mana.

Once preparations were complete, Ray spoke in a low voice.

“If you’re so curious about how I know the Doctor, beat me in chess. If you win, I’ll tell you—not about the Rainbow, but about that.”

“……”

The man didn’t reply.

His expression remained blank.

But the emotions within the vessel responded vividly.

Surprise and disbelief were dominant, followed by anger, irritation, discomfort, curiosity, and interest.

The man thought:

Who is this guy?

Where did he come from?

Every enemy he’d faced so far had reacted in some way to the binding of his mana.

Crushing pressure, suffocating fear.

Some vomited.

Others convulsed.

Some even wet themselves and passed out.

‘The ones worth a little credit struggled desperately to shake it off.’

But in the end, all of them looked the same:

「P-please! Sp-spare me!」

「M-my life! Please, my life…!」

It was laughable.

How could those with nothing but inferiority be so shameless in pleading to live?

Even if they lived longer, the inferior only drained the world’s resources.

So he crushed and killed them.

It was easier than squashing a bug with a finger.

“……”

But the boy in front of him was different.

Even under mana that was several levels stronger than usual, he showed no signs of unrest.

‘Definitely not like the others. That strange ability to nullify magic, deceiving with the magic circle type to catch me off guard…’

His train of thought suddenly reached the subject of ‘war.’

…War.

The moment he recalled losing to the boy in the war—

‘How dare you.’

Fierce killing intent and rage surged like boiling pitch.

An urge rang in his head.

Crush the insect now.

‘…No, not yet.’

He barely suppressed it.

First, he needed to find out how the boy knew about his father.

Crushing someone this interesting right away would be wasteful.

‘He even brought a mountain of offerings.’

That was surprisingly commendable.

At least he showed more sincerity than the ones who just demanded information out of the blue.

So the man decided to give him a chance.

“Mind your tone when speaking to me.”

“……”

“I’ll overlook it just once—for the sake of your offering.”

Offering?

Ray was briefly puzzled.

Then he noticed where the man’s gaze was aimed.

The neatly stacked items behind him.

‘Not a single one of those is for you.’

He had no intention of handing them over—none.

Thinking that, Ray reached for the chessboard.

*Clack.*

The game began as Ray’s white pawn advanced.

Soon, all conversation vanished.

*Clack. Clack.*

Only the sound of pieces stepping across the board remained.

Most mages would’ve struggled to focus on the game under the pressure of the navy mana.

*Clack.*

But not Ray.

On the contrary—

*Clack.*

He was steering the game to his advantage.

Even while maintaining some awareness toward the navy mana, prepared for a surprise attack—

‘It’s not hard.’

Objectively, the man wasn’t weak.

Even setting aside the worn-out luxury board and pieces clearly custom-made—

His move choices showed he was skilled.

But that was all.

*Clack.*

The man’s already shaken emotions betrayed his thoughts and intentions in subtle ways.

And Ray’s strange playstyle was enough to throw the man’s judgment into chaos.

*”The king is the strongest piece—able to move in any direction, straight or diagonal.”*

That’s what Ray had heard when he learned chess.

He was puzzled.

Despite being called the strongest, people rarely used the king aggressively.

Instead, they worked hard to hide it among other pieces.

*”If the king is captured, you lose—so it must always be kept safe.”*

「…….」

Ray didn’t get it.

Wouldn’t it be enough just not to get captured, and gain advantage in the process?

Even if advancing the king exposed it to danger, it was only a *possibility.*

Not using the best tool available was grossly inefficient.

So Ray treated the king like a frontline pawn.

Thanks to that, he had won many games with the king leading the charge.

Drawing attention with the king and turning it into an advantage became Ray’s signature move.

At higher skill tiers, it might be a different story, but—

*Clack.*

At least in Sector 50, there was no one who could beat him.

*Clack.*

And today was no different.

“Check.”

Ray pushed a white pawn forward.

Even if the black king tried to escape, it would inevitably fall to the white king standing in the center of the board.

“……”

The man, silent for a moment, tilted his head.

He glanced at the chessboard and the sector map beside it, then murmured in a dazed voice.

“That’s strange. I thought for sure I’d win.”

“……”

“I don’t know why I lost.”

Ray rose from his seat and replied.

“I moved my king.”

*Scrape—*

“And you didn’t move yours at all.”

He tucked in the chair and looked at the man.

“That’s the only difference.”

“Is that so. Maybe I get it.”

The man gave a small nod, his gaze vague.

Then suddenly—

“But you know…”

He lifted his head abruptly.

“You really need to die. You’re far too irritating.”

His voice, now firm and crisp.

His eyes, sharp and alert again.

Above the man’s head, in the air a few meters high—

A massive mana construct materialized and lunged toward the boy.

It resembled a giant palm made of navy sand.

Invisible to the ordinary eye, but Ray saw its full form clearly.

Its intent was obvious.

To crush him to death.

In the blink of an eye—

Ray moved like lightning.

*Bang!*

He sprang back, gaining distance.

Wooooooom───!

Ray violently released the circle’s mana he had positioned throughout his body.

The navy mana barrier that had been tightening around him shattered on the spot, scattering like dust into the air.

He immediately turned his head—

And locked eyes on the navy mana construct.

**[Crunch! Crack! Crack!]**

**[Crack!]**

**[Cra-crunch!]**

Each time the boy’s gaze swept over it, the fingers of the mana construct were torn off one by one.

In less than a second—

**[Crunch!]**

All its fingers were gone, and it could no longer be called a hand.

“You dare use cheap tricks.”

The grotesque mass of mana was nearly upon him.

At that moment, the boy realized—

The base of the hand.

The elemental binding there was solid and wouldn’t come off easily.

With swift judgment, he gathered all the mana he had just unleashed.

**Wooooooooooooong──!!**

He fired it.

Red, white, soft pink.

Yellow. Violet. Gray.

And countless other colors of mana formed a brilliant, multicolored beam—

**[KWAANG──!!]**

And it struck its target.

The charging navy mana construct came to a halt.

Quaking violently, it could advance no further, stopping just short of reaching the boy.

The construct’s elemental cohesion had already weakened under the boy’s interference.

And along the hundreds of tiny fractures that had formed with the weakening—

**[Crack! Crackle! Crackle!]**

Colored mana advanced along them.

The fractures in the navy mana construct gleamed with radiant, prismatic light.

**[──────.]**

**[────────.]**

Elements collided.

Split. Tore. Smashed.

Shattered. Fractured. Ripped.

Cracks formed and vanished endlessly, depending on how much mana each side—man and boy—poured into it.

It was a symphony of elements only the boy could hear.

**[──────.]**

**[────────.]**

And a magnificent spectacle only the boy could see.

Before it—

The boy smiled.

His lips curled upward.

He couldn’t help it.

This—

His heart pounding, his blood boiling,

His whole being surging with excitement—

How could he possibly suppress it?

**Wooooooong───!!**

Around the calm gray aura seated in the boy’s vessel, yellow mana surged in like a tidal wave.

Excitement. Elation. A thrill.

The gemstone mana resonating with his emotions coursed through his entire body.

It traveled up his outstretched arm,

Reached the palm of his hand—

**Bzzzzzzzzt!**

And fired with a flash of light.

The beam of yellow mana collided with the navy construct, trailing eerie sparks.

**[KWAANG───!]**

A firework launched by elemental force.

The curve of the boy’s smile deepened further.

To him, the yellow beam stretched toward the navy mana construct like a roaring current of lightning without end.

**Wooooooooong────!!**

Dazzling yellow light surged along the lines of the navy construct’s hand.

It dug into the fractures and carried on where the fading multicolored mana had left off.

**[Crackle! Crack-crack!]**

Suddenly, the fractures spread faster.

“You dare! Not a chance!”

The man reached out and fired a beam of mana toward the construct.

**Wooooooong──!**

As navy mana joined the fray, the fractures began to mend, and the situation escalated into a fierce, back-and-forth power struggle.

**Wooooooooooong───!!**

The sound of elemental friction was louder than ever before.

A single lapse in focus could mean instant death.

And so—

“You dare! How dare you wear that smile before me!”

The boy smiled.

Excitement and elation surged through every inch of his body.

Even though the prismatic picture painted by the atmospheric mana had been marred by navy stains,

This moment itself was exactly the outcome he had planned for.

*In the war, the enemy had constantly tried to draw it into a battle of attrition.*

The man had dragged the war on deliberately.

「It was incredibly frustrating… but it felt like he was toying with us, tormenting us for fun.」

「There’s no proof, but I believe he enjoyed watching us struggle—giving us hope only to snatch it away again and again.」

Philip had said that.

「It’s a bit like how someone plays with a bug before crushing it.」

「He believes he’s completely superior—able to control both the emotions and the bodies of his opponents.」

Veronica had added her thoughts.

「If that’s his personality… he’ll never be able to accept losing to someone he sees as beneath him.」

「He’ll try to restore his pride no matter what—by recreating a similar setup and forcing a win out of it.」

“I’ll wipe that smile off your face right now! You filthy insect! How dare you, before me—!”

The man’s frenzied roar rang out.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Ray turned his gaze toward the man’s vessel.

The navy mana swelled like a monster, expanding endlessly and thrashing violently—

…And scattered all around it were clumps of multicolored mana being expelled by its rampage.

‘Doubt. Shock. Wariness. Disorientation…’

Emotions typically tied to rational judgment.

“Erase that smile now! The only thing you should be doing is trembling in fear—begging for your life! I’ll make sure you do just that!”

Now, the only thing left in the man’s vessel—

**Was pure arrogance.**

The boy raised his mana output to meet the battle of attrition.

It was time to hunt the last remaining beast.

 

 

 

 

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