Chapter 118 - Damn Reincarnation

Akasha

The mana surging around Eugene concentrated in Akasha. Previously invisible, it mingled with the light bursting from the dragon heart, becoming a radiance of many colors.

That beautiful, brilliant light enveloped him. Trempel and Mer stared at the sight before them, spellbound. They both knew what was about to happen.

Akasha.

The staff that had accepted no master since Senya the Wise was accepting a new one.

"... Impossible...!"

Trempel blurted the word out in disbelief.

Two hundred years had passed since Akasha was placed in Akron. Over those long years, the many mages who visited Akron had made countless attempts to become its new master.

Trempel had once tried as well. That was why he could not believe what he was seeing. Akasha accepted no mana whatsoever. And if it would not accept mana, it could not be used to cast magic.

A magic staff that could not cast magic. If someone insisted on using it, they could wield it as a blunt weapon, but what would be the point?

The light subsided. Ignoring the astonishment around him, Eugene focused his consciousness on Akasha.

"... Whoa."

First, he let out an honest exclamation of wonder. Tapping his throbbing head with his fingers, he thought.

'Is this one of Akasha's functions?'

He was not sure whether that was the right way to describe it, but he felt an enormous amount of information seeping into his consciousness. It joined what he already knew as though it had been there from the beginning.

'My understanding of magic is changing.'

Eugene could cast a variety of spells. His White Flame Formula had reached five stars, allowing him to instantly cast spells up to the Fifth Circle without an incantation.

That was a capability of the Ring Flame Formula he had created by incorporating Eternal Hole. Eternal Hole recorded spell formulas not on scrolls, but in one's consciousness.

The basic spells he had learned while staying at the Red Tower. The spells he had learned in Akron's various halls.

Of these, the spells he had learned in the Hall of Senya occupied the most space. After completing the Ring Flame Formula, he had also relearned conventional circle spells, adapting them to suit his formula with Lovellian's help.

'... How strange.'

Eugene narrowed his eyes at Akasha.

There was no way Akasha could know the Ring Flame Formula.

In principle, the Ring Flame Formula was similar to Eternal Hole. But they were not identical. Circles and cores were, after all, entirely different structures.

'Should I think of it as linking to my consciousness and assisting me...?'

Despite knowing nothing of the Ring Flame Formula, Akasha was adapting the various spells stored in Eugene's consciousness to suit it. The staff was using the spells Lovellian had modified as its foundation.

In other words, Akasha was independently analyzing the patterns in Eugene's magic and formulas, then transforming existing spell formulas into ones optimized for him.

"Hmm..."

Eugene scratched his temple, then abruptly walked over to a bookshelf. Mer followed him with a dazed expression, but Trempel could not move from where he stood.

He had no idea how to take this. Akasha was a treasure of Aroth. Now it had a new master. Which meant... Akasha could no longer be kept in Akron.

"... Sir Eugene...?"

"Yes?"

Eugene answered as he took a grimoire from the shelf.

"... What on earth happened? That staff, Akasha..."

"As you can see, I've become its new master."

"... How?"

"You're not the only person I'll have to satisfy with an explanation, Master Trempel."

Eugene approached a nearby desk. He pulled out a chair and was about to sit when Mer hurriedly blocked his way. Though she looked at a loss, she firmly shook her head, then kicked his shin with her tiny foot.

"All right, all right."

With a chuckle, Eugene pushed the chair back in. His usual seat in the Hall of Senya was by the window on the right. He had favored that spot for several reasons.

It was close to the elevator and Witch Craft. The view outside the window allowed him to feel the passage of time. It also offered an unobstructed view of Senya's portrait hanging behind Witch Craft.

... That last reason was not Eugene's. It was Mer's, who always sat opposite him. Whenever he was absorbed in a grimoire, she would gaze out the window or at Senya's portrait.

"... Hehe."

Mer beamed when Eugene sat in his usual seat.

"... Are you saying you don't need to explain yourself to me?"

Trempel approached Eugene with a twitch of his eyebrows. Depending on how it was taken, what Eugene had just said could be an enormous insult.

"I respect you as a mage, Master Trempel. Why would I mean anything of the sort?"

Eugene opened the grimoire as he spoke.

"Master Trempel, I know what I've done. I also know how much trouble I'll be in if I can't provide a satisfactory explanation."

"... Then you understand, Sir Eugene. I could take you into custody right now, whether you wish it or not."

"Into custody? For flying over the capital?"

"Something like that hardly matters now. You took it upon yourself to take Akasha..."

"But Akasha doesn't belong to Aroth, does it?"

Eugene asked with a smile.

"It was being kept in Akron, but Akasha belongs to Lady Senya the Wise."

"..."

"Lady Senya the Wise transferred ownership of Akasha to me."

"What...?!"

Trempel's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to ask another question, but could not find the words and closed it again.

Eugene was right. Akasha belonged to Senya the Wise alone. No, not just Akasha. Everything kept in this hall belonged to Senya.

"To settle this matter... I imagine a hearing will have to be held. I'll be staying in Aroth for a while, so if there is one, I'll attend and explain the circumstances."

"... You're not saying that so you can run away, are you?"

Trempel glared at Eugene as he spoke. Eugene's shoulders shook with laughter.

"I'm a member of the Lionheart main family and a disciple of Lady Senya the Wise. What could frighten me into running away? Besides, I've committed no crime. Is it a crime for the rightful owner to reclaim something left in safekeeping for a long time?"

"... Urgh..."

Trempel could not refute that sound argument. He stepped back and heaved a sigh.

"... I have a mountain of questions... but daring to interrogate Akasha's master here would be an insult to Lady Senya as well..."

Shaking his head, Trempel turned away.

He had rushed here intending to do Eugene a favor and coax him into joining the court mage corps. Now he wished he had never come. How on earth was he supposed to handle this and report it?

'A hearing... a hearing... Surely we don't have to hold one? An object has simply been returned to its owner...'

But that was only wishful thinking. Trempel sighed again. Akasha could not be treated as a mere object...

Since her seclusion two hundred years ago, the name of Senya the Wise had become one of Aroth's symbols. Countless mages across the continent came to Aroth, captivated by her legend, and crowds of tourists flocked daily to Merdein Square, named after her, and to her mansion.

In some ways, Akasha symbolized Senya even more than Witch Craft did. Trempel simply could not imagine it leaving Akron and Aroth.

"... What on earth happened?"

After Trempel had gone down in the elevator, sighing heavily all the while, Mer hurried into the seat opposite Eugene.

"How could you become Akasha's master? It's sealed so that no one but Lady Senya can use it...!"

"That's right."

Eugene reopened the grimoire he had closed. Its sentences were difficult to comprehend, yet they did not feel that way at all. His mind understood them immediately as he read.

"Excuse me, Eugene. How about giving me a proper answer first?"

Mer thrust her face over the book.

"Did you find Lady Senya? You did, didn't you? No mage other than Lady Senya can break Akasha's seal. Lady Senya... was alive, wasn't she?"

"Don't rush."

"Don't rush? Does that sound reasonable to you? You can leave this place whenever you want, but I can't!"

"Ah."

With that brief sound, Eugene closed the book and stood.

"See! You're trying to run away because answering is awkward and bothersome! U-ugh! I can't even stop you! If you run away like that, who knows when you'll come back..."

"I'd forgotten."

"Forgotten what?!"

Mer followed Eugene, shrill with indignation. She did not merely follow him, either; she swung both arms, pounding his back. Her soft little punches did not hurt in the slightest.

"You're always like this! Doing whatever you please and getting under people's skin! Everything in the storybook is true. You're trash and a son of a bitch!"

"Sorry, but the person described that way in the storybook isn't Eugene Lionheart. It's Hamel the Stupid."

"Do you call that an answer? You're that Hamel!"

"True enough."

"You're making fun of me, aren't you? Y-you son of a bitch! Tell me where Lady Senya is and what's happened to her!"

"I keep telling you not to rush."

"Why do you keep saying that? I have to rush!"

"Just wait a moment."

Grumbling, Eugene spun around. He took Mer by the waist and lifted her high into the air.

"Eek!"

Mer flailed her feet in midair. Eugene bounced her up and down, then set her on a nearby desk.

"Y-you... you... you rotten...!"

Mer's vocabulary resembled Senya's, but there were differences. Senya had mastered every imaginable curse, starting with "son of a bitch," but Mer's insults were not nearly as vicious. After all, she was not Senya herself, but a familiar created in the image of her childhood self.

"Stay there for a moment. I need to concentrate, so don't interrupt."

Eugene smiled and stroked Mer's head.

Then he approached Witch Craft. Mer watched him with a disgruntled pout. She had a mountain of questions, and she had no idea what he was about to do.

Holding Akasha in his left hand, Eugene extended his right toward Witch Craft. Witch Craft began to move. He had done this dozens, hundreds of times. Closing his eyes, he connected to Witch Craft.

Eternal Hole.

Even after seeing it hundreds of times, that ultimate pinnacle of circle magic remained wondrous. Eugene gazed at Eternal Hole for a while. The movement of infinite circles. He already understood it. That understanding was what had allowed him to create the Ring Flame Formula.

Akasha was assisting his consciousness. Even so, his understanding of Eternal Hole did not change significantly. He could now understand in numerical terms how the infinitely multiplying circles linked together and amplified mana.

That understanding was of little use.

'... It must mean my understanding was correct.'

That was why Akasha's assistance did not change it. Pleased by that fact, Eugene chuckled.

But he had not connected to Witch Craft to confirm this. He had another purpose. After taking a few deep breaths, he opened his eyes. Eternal Hole was no longer visible.

Instead, he saw a sphere encircled by several rings. Witch Craft. Still smiling, Eugene approached Eternal Hole.

In the elves' domain, at the World Tree.

Senya had given him the formula to unseal Akasha.

And one more thing.

Concentrating, Eugene extended Akasha. Its dragon heart emitted a soft light, and Witch Craft responded to it.

"... Huh...?"

Mer's eyes widened as she sat sulking on the desk. Witch Craft's rings, which had never stopped moving, were coming to a halt one by one. Each time a ring stopped, the light surrounding the sphere diminished.

CREAK, CRE-EAK...

The rings stopped completely, and the sphere split open. An enormous crystal of mana. Witch Craft's formula, which no one had ever understood or analyzed. Eugene pushed Akasha into it.

"Aaaah!"

Mer, who had been watching in a daze, screamed. She scrambled off the desk and immediately tried to rush toward Eugene.

She could not. The moment she landed, her legs gave out. Mer collapsed where she stood. She tried to scream again, but this time, even that was impossible.

The composition of her body was changing. Mages had dissected her several times before. It had not been painful. No matter how extensively her body was dissected, Mer's source remained inside Witch Craft. As long as that was intact, her body could not be destroyed.

In the centuries since Witch Craft was placed in Akron, numerous mages had tried to unravel it, but none had managed to open its outer shell and reach the formula within.

Yet Eugene had just opened Witch Craft's shell with incredible ease. Mer stared at his back in terror. She wanted to say something, anything, but her body would not obey. That frightened her even more.

She was going to die. No, cease functioning. Disappear like that. Why? Was this what Lady Senya wanted? Why on earth? There should be no reason for it... Thoughts she did not even want to consider raced through her head.

"... Waaaah!"

Mer burst into sobs, tears streaming down her face.

"Waaah! Aaah! Huh... huuuh!"

"..."

"Sniff... h-hic...! Waaah! Hiii... hic... aaaah!"

As she cried, she belatedly realized something.

The sound of her crying was coming out of her mouth. Just a moment ago, she had been unable to make a sound, even when she tried to scream! Startled, Mer raised her head.

"Why are you crying?"

Eugene looked at her, nonplussed. Her lips trembled, and she sniffled.

"Crybaby, crybaby~"

After watching Mer for a moment, Eugene began teasing her as though he had been waiting for the chance.

"Crybaby, crybaby~"

"..."

"Cryba..."

"Sh-shut up."

Sniffling, Mer stood.

"What... what on earth did you do? How did you open Witch Craft... Wh-what did you do to me?"

"I transferred the formula that makes you up from Witch Craft to me."

"... What?"

"I thought it might be better to transfer you to Akasha, but Senya said transferring you to me would be better. She said adding your formula to Akasha would be incredibly difficult, and that I had enough mana to sustain you."

Mer could not say a word. Eugene chuckled and tucked Akasha inside his cloak.

"Senya asked me to tell you she's sorry."

"... Hic..."

"She also asked me to take care of you. You've been cooped up here for centuries, so she wants me to take you outside, show you nice things, feed you delicious food..."

"H-hic..."

"First, we should get you a change of clothes... No... hmm... We don't have to do that right away, do we? We should go to the Red Tower first. I need to explain things to my teacher..."

"Waaaah!"

Mer burst into tears and threw herself into Eugene's arms.

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