**#129. Element of Destruction (2)**
—
A flash engulfed the space.
One-thousandth of a second.
An instant so extreme that one couldn’t even register the blink of their vision.
Yet the scenery before and after the light was 180 degrees different.
*Crackle!*
A chilling spear of electricity was about to pierce through Allager’s shoulder.
*Zzzzzzt!*
Again, just barely in time, a spatial fissure tore open and devoured the spear.
And then spat it out elsewhere.
The scene mirrored the one from when Curiosa had first appeared, but the result was starkly different.
An attack of nearly impossible speed.
Because of that, Curiosa had failed to properly aim the direction the spear would reemerge.
*Crack! Boom!*
The electric spear slammed into the wall, leaving behind a black scorch mark the size of a human head.
*Fssss──*
It began with a small pinch of ash dropping from the scorched mark.
But in the very next moment—
*Shhhhhh—!*
The wall instantly began to disintegrate into ash.
Spreading outward from the scorch mark.
In the blink of an eye, a massive hole had formed in the wall, and the already weakened structure
—worn thin from battle
—seemed to cry out *Please, just let me die*, as it began to collapse.
*Rumble rumble rumble—!!*
The ruined building howled like a dying beast.
Massive and heavy debris rained down like a landslide toward the humans trapped inside the beast’s body.
It was a critical moment
—if they didn’t escape quickly, they would be buried alive.
But Ray simply looked up, calm and unshaken.
*I didn’t expect it to be this powerful.*
Attacking Allager had been a deliberate act.
Negotiation, after all, relied on a balance of persuasion and intimidation.
In other words, the carrot and the stick.
—*But Ray, if you use the stick like that, they might just die…*
Philip’s illusion, which had been muttering beside him, vanished under falling debris.
“You…! What the hell is this…!”
Curiosa, who had vanished with a ripple in space, reappeared next to Allager.
Chunks and fragments falling from above were all swallowed by fleeting rifts in space as they appeared.
And as for the boy—
*Crackle!*
Any falling debris that touched the thick veil of electricity enveloping his entire body instantly turned to black ash and scattered.
The power of the jewel had now been fully released, no longer hidden.
*…The output definitely increased.*
Compared to before entering the building, the amount of mana he could draw at once had grown.
Not by much.
But enough to feel the difference clearly.
Likely, the surge of excitement and thrill during the battle with Allager had pushed the boundaries of what the gem’s mana could handle.
“…….”
Even so—
*It’s still only a fraction. Of the gem’s true power.*
Ray felt no sense of having truly mastered the gem.
Hypotheses and assumptions flared through his mind.
If someday, he could complete his emotions and form a perfect resonance with the gem’s mana—
And then.
If he gathered the remaining six gemstones, completed the related emotions in the same way, and formed full resonance—
If he could merge them all back into the one original form called the Rainbow—
“…….”
Wouldn’t it be possible to manifest something beyond imagination into reality?
A sharp thrill gripped the boy’s body and heart.
*Rumble rumble rumble—!!*
How much time passed like that?
At last, the collapse came to an end.
Under the faint sunlight streaming through the vanished ceiling, acrid dust danced chaotically in the air.
At someone’s shout, part of the swirling dust surged outward.
“Are you all trying to die right now—!”
“Seems like you’re the one misunderstanding something.”
Curiosa flinched.
*Crackle! Snap!*
Through the thinning dust.
The boy’s eyes shone with a fierce light, his entire body still wrapped in sinister electricity as he emerged.
A low voice that sent chills down one’s spine—
“I’m the one in control here.”
Crushed all tension in the air.
“There’s no way I’d just let Allager go without taking any precautions.”
“…….”
Curiosa’s rapidly rising fury suddenly froze.
“You can sense it too, can’t you? What kind of emotion Allager holds and how deeply?”
“…….”
“If I simply let him go, he’d definitely come charging at me with a blade again someday.”
Curiosa’s rage no longer swelled—instead, it began to recede, slowly shrinking.
Part of it was because the boy’s logic made sense.
But more than that, it was the shift in Ray’s presence that overwhelmed him.
*This is…*
From Ray’s entire body, not just the electricity of magic—but a suffocatingly thick rage surged out.
A feeling of being choked.
The ability to perceive others’ emotions with extreme sensitivity was now choking its own wielder.
*Again, this way… and the emotional intensity is far stronger than before…*
Ray had always been like this.
His emotions would suddenly erupt.
Emotions of a depth and density never felt from anyone else.
That was why Curiosa had always maintained a certain distance when watching the boy.
Pure, undiluted emotion
—ready to explode at any moment
—was no different from poison to someone like her.
*Can’t… breathe…*
Her breath grew ragged.
And she wondered—
Even if freed from the leash of curiosity,
Could she actually win against the boy standing before him?
She didn’t know.
She had no confidence.
Even knowing the insurmountable gap between a 2nd and 4th Circle mage.
Still, she was curious.
Was this situation also part of the boy’s intended design?
…That too, she couldn’t tell.
For the monster of curiosity, the boy remained an unknown.
And the curiosity of Curiosa held toward him only grew.
*Thud!*
Unable to withstand it any longer, Curiosa fell to one knee, gasping for breath.
A sudden thought crossed his mind.
That maybe—
The boy might actually succeed in capturing the Doctor.
Curiosa’s vessel.
A single point of violet mana brushed past—and vanished.
At a speed no one could have perceived.
*
Ray used white mana on the unconscious Allager.
A radiant glow spread through his body, healing internal injuries.
“…….”
Ray’s white eyes turned toward Allager’s chest.
The ring he’d once seen there was no longer visible.
Just minutes ago, Ray had destroyed all of Allager’s Circles using the method Curiosa had taught him.
*So Circle destruction really does exist.*
Back during his studies at the bookstore—
Ray had bombarded Graham with countless questions about magic, including one about Circle destruction.
> “Circle destruction, huh… From what I know, it’s an impossible act. Once formed, Circles have such high durability that normal mana activity doesn’t affect them.”
> “But you never know. The world of magic is vast and deep. It might just be that my knowledge hasn’t reached that far yet.”
Circle destruction could exist.
The old man had merely referred to it as a faint possibility, but Ray had been certain.
If creating Circles was possible, then destroying them should be as well.
Driven by that curiosity, Ray later experimented within safe bounds using his own Circles.
*Vvvvvmmm!*
He tried every elemental combination.
Applied pressure, inflicted shocks, even did handstands—trying everything he could think of.
> “These Circles are too durable.”
He got no results.
But the lack of results only deepened his conviction.
> “…I feel like if I could just push a little further, I could damage a Circle.”
He felt he was at the very brink of success—just one more wall to break through.
So he hadn’t given up on the possibility of Circle destruction.
And then he met Curiosa.
“How did you know I had knowledge of Circle destruction, kid?”
He didn’t.
He’d only thought it was possible.
Curiosa’s room was filled with books and tools related to magic.
Also, whenever Curiosa appeared while watching from afar, the surrounding mana fluctuations sometimes disappeared and then returned later.
Sometimes hours passed. Sometimes days.
Ray guessed she had used space magic to go somewhere else.
*She must’ve visited many places.*
Which meant she likely had more knowledge and experience than the average mage.
She might very well know about Circle destruction.
“…Did you peek into my head or something? Hmph…”
Her guess had hit the mark.
From Curiosa’s reaction, it seemed Circle destruction truly was a closely guarded secret.
Ray opened his mouth.
“I should be the one asking. How do *you* know the theory and method of Circle destruction?”
“…….”
Silence.
Then a hazy voice came from behind Curiosa’s mask.
“Ruins… It was written on a stone tablet I saw there. The theory was perfect. Almost beautiful. But I thought it was purely hypothetical—impractical for real use. Because…”
She trailed off before continuing.
“…Because it required the ability to control all existing elements.”
The principle Curiosa taught for Circle destruction was simple.
Unite all existing elements.
Inject the resulting fusion into the opponent’s Circle.
…Easier said than done
—it was practically impossible.
There were nearly a hundred known elements, but most mages could only handle up to 20, depending on their Circle’s properties.
No exceptions.
No matter how talented the mage.
And elements had a concept of “elemental dynamics.”
If you tried to combine incompatible elements—
*Vvvvvmmm—!!*
“…….”
A powerful repulsion force would cause them to violently reject each other.
Curiosa watched in confusion as the elements of Change and Stability flew off into the air.
*That’s how it’s supposed to be…*
She turned her gaze toward the boy.
*Vvmm—*
Atop Ray’s open palm—
Elements from the air were gathering.
In tiny amounts, yes.
But *all* existing elements.
They didn’t explode. They didn’t repel.
They simply merged together… forming the same mass that had corroded Allager’s Circles.
Curiosa murmured, feeling a queasy sensation in her gut.
“This is… truly absurd.”
“…….”
“Kid… what are you?”
Ray silently stared at his palm.
To others, it was an empty space—but to Ray’s white eyes, a certain substance was clearly visible.
A black orb.
So dark it seemed to absorb all light.
No shadows, no texture—like a hole torn into the air itself.
“…….”
It wasn’t the first time he’d created black mana.
When he was younger, he had spent entire days experimenting with atmospheric mana.
But he’d never made black this pure.
*Back then, I wasn’t as skilled with elements.*
He had limited “color mixing” ability.
Mix enough colors, and the result is always black—but the impurities always remained. It wasn’t true, neutral black.
> “…If I mix even more, maybe I can get a perfect black.”
He had tried.
But incompatible elements fiercely rejected each other.
“…….”
But now, things were different.
Ray had reached enlightenment after witnessing the emotional vortexes in the vessels of Colin and the other loyalists.
Love and hatred.
The whirlpool of mixed feelings.
Even opposing emotions could, in some cases, bind together.
Ray applied that principle directly to elemental fusion.
And the result was—
*Vmm—*
Just like now.
Red and blue mana flowing before Ray’s eyes blended to form a new color.
Red and blue mana—the main components were:
*Fire* and *Water* elements.
Normally, even trace amounts could never combine
—but under Ray’s guidance, they melded smoothly.
It required extreme focus.
And took a mental toll.
But since it wasn’t during battle, he had no issues.
Even other polar opposite elements, though varying in time and quantity, could also be fused the same way.
And in the end—
*Vvvvvmm—*
Ray mixed every color of mana in the atmosphere to create a pure black.
“…….”
Ray recalled what had happened minutes earlier.
When he moved the first black orb created this way through Allager’s arm and into his Circle—
The moment it reached its destination, it unleashed an overwhelming effect.
> [──────]
Allager’s Circles turned black starting from the point of contact, crumbling into ash.
And vanished.
All four of them.
As if they had never existed.
The black orb, having fulfilled its role, gradually shrank until it too disappeared.
Lost in thought, Ray heard Curiosa speak:
“It was written on the stone tablet. That it was the Element of Destruction.”
