Chapter 12: Special Training: New Magic

To be honest, I had the idea of combining Fairy Magic with “Thread Arts (Shijutsu)” magic.

However, I hadn’t started working on it because I couldn’t come up with the right combination or a clever way to do it.

But, it seemed like a waste to keep thinking about it in my head forever.

I thought it might be better to think about the right combination while actually doing it, instead of just thinking about it in my head.

So, sorry, but today’s magic practice with Nina-chan was canceled. I wanted some alone time for practice.

It was after school, with the sun setting halfway below the horizon. The evening sun illuminated me in the garden and Nina-chan sitting on the veranda.

Nina-chan, still wearing a dissatisfied expression, stared at me intently. Her golden hair was shining in the evening sun, making her look very beautiful.

As I thought about such things, I was in the midst of pulling a humanoid model placed at the edge of the garden toward me using “Guide thread silvate.”

Today, just like any other day, I was practicing magic against this model.

As I prepared, Nina-chan, with her dissatisfied expression intact, spoke up.

“Itsuki wants to combine Eastern and Western magic, right? I wonder if there is an exorcist who has ever done that.”

“I wonder… I don’t know anyone else besides me who can use both.”

“Yeah, I don’t know anyone either. So, I’m curious if it will work.”

“I’ll find out when I try.”

I hadn’t done it either. It was my first attempt.

To loosen up my slightly tense body, I clapped my hands together.

I created a refined core of magic power with “Condensation Recollect” and surrounded it with magic power.

Then, I dropped the seed of a fairy into the ground.

With a slight ripple, as if waves were hitting the ground, a new shadow emerged directly beneath the humanoid model.

But it wasn’t just an ordinary shadow. It was a silhouette about a meter tall.

I called this fairy “Shadow.”

Shadow extended its hand from the shadow and began to pull the model into the ground using “Guide Thread Silvate.”

With a splash, the shadow created waves like those in the sea, and it stopped moving after swallowing about half of the model.

“Yeah, that’s fine there.”

It didn’t stop on its own. I stopped it.

“What are you going to do next?”

“It’s a surprise.”

In “Thread Arts (Shijutsu)” magic, there was a magic called “Composite Attribute Transformation” where you combined different attributes by using “Attribute Transformation” (Guide thread silvate) to evolve them into completely different, higher-level attributes.

For every additional “Guide thread silvate” used in the combination, the magic power consumption increased thirtyfold, but the power also increased accordingly.

Among these composite attribute transformations, the most powerful one I possessed was “Composite Attribute Transformation: Night.”

It’s no exaggeration to say that magic is my trump card, but even that magic has its drawbacks.

First, it consumed an excessive amount of magic power.

Although it couldn’t be helped since it combined all five attributes, saying it consumed 810,000 times the magic power of a regular spell was no exaggeration.

But I was a “Seventh Rank” mage. I didn’t lack magic power, and I could use it repeatedly.

So, there was no problem with this aspect.

The real problem was the second one.

It was too powerful.

For some reason, I didn’t know the logic behind it, but “Composite Attribute Transformation: Night” boasted the power to completely seal the opponent’s magic, turn it into fine dust, and consume it while inside the magic.

It didn’t matter if the opponent was of the sixth rank or any rank at all; it consumed everything. However, there was a problem with this kind of overwhelming power.

It’s because it’s too strong that I’m afraid to use the “Composite Attribute Transformation: Night” magic. I can’t use it casually because I don’t know how far the damage will spread, but at the same time, if I suppress its power too much, it becomes counterproductive.

So, I needed a method to contain the damage while maintaining the power.

One of those methods was “Fallen Sun (Rakuyou).”

This was a “Night” magic that surrounded the opponent with magic and completely erased only the inside of it.

This was good in its own way, but once I exposed my hand, it could easily be detected.

In the sense of catching opponents off guard, it was good, but when fighting monsters, there was no guarantee that there would be only one opponent. There could be multiple opponents, as in the recent factory incident.

Having only one surprise technique for such situations was too worrying.

So, I wanted a second magic.

And this was it.

“‘Oborozuki (Hazy Moon).'”

While the model was still halfway swallowed by the shadow, I cast “Oborozuki.”

It was a “Night” magic that swallowed the opponent into the shadow and restrained them. I thought that while they were restrained within the shadow, I could use “Night” magic without worrying about the power.

However, as I was thinking about that,

Boom!!!

“Eh!?”

Contrary to my expectations, the model shot out of the shadow with tremendous force, soaring high into the sky like a rocket!

The shadow on the ground extended its hand to continue “Shadow Send,” but the model was already far away. It was too far to reach.

The model had already become so small that it was hard to see with the naked eye.

Looking up at the sky, which was starting to show the color of the first stars, Nina-chan said a few words.

“W-What did you do!?”

“…It looks like it failed.”

I caught the model with “Guide thread silvate” and brought it down to the ground before it could impale the house.

As I lowered it, I decided to share the joke with Nina-chan.

“Actually, I was planning to crush the model inside the shadow.”

“Magic inside the shadow? Ah, I see.”

Nina-chan nodded as if she understood.

While nodding, she continued, 

“But, Itsuki, inside the shadow, everything is completely reversed, so just using magic normally won’t work.”

“Everything is reversed…?”

Hearing this concept for the first time, I instinctively turned to look at Nina-chan.

“See, like this.”

Nina-chan stood up from the veranda and raised her right hand.

The long, stretched-out shadow of Nina-chan during the twilight also raised its hand in the same way.

“You see how the shadow raises its left hand like this?”

As if it were obvious, Nina-chan smiled.

“So, everything is reversed inside the shadow. Just using magic normally won’t work.”

As Nina-chan explained this, I tried to speculate on why the model had been launched from the ground.

Oborozuki (Hazy Moon) exerts a maximum gravitational pull that engulfs everything. The model was essentially expelled, which was the opposite.

I vaguely recalled the term “repulsion.” I couldn’t remember the details, but maybe it was this repulsive force that caused the model to be launched. I wasn’t sure, though.

“That’s why I told you, Itsuki, you still have a long way to go.”

“Yeah… you’re right.”

As I gazed at Nina-chan in the setting sun, I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, realizing that I still had a lot to learn.

“What Nina-chan said is true.”

It seemed like I was still far from mastering this technique.

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