Indeed, if using the Fifth Magic required no cost, then Magus Aozaki would have no need to pass down the magic. He could simply manipulate the time-line to bring his past self to the present, thus achieving immortality and eternal youth.
Under the counter force's compression and rejection, Magus Aozaki's past return state could not last long, because this magic inherently required one's own life-time as a price. At this moment, Magus Aozaki, relying on his long-term research and mastery of the Fifth Magic, was forcibly using it despite losing his physical body, and the counter force's correction was multiplied.
Magus Aozaki was speechless. His only choice now was to defeat Rin before the counter force's correction took full effect. With a strange-sounding chant, a piercing whistle arose, gradually forming a wind vortex in front of Magus Aozaki, small at the front and larger at the back.
This was not all. Under the Magus's control, the wind vortex compressed again, quickly turning into a small ball of light, filled with terrifying power that made one's heart tremble.
This was already a technique belonging to the category of Grand Rituals requiring fixed ceremonies, yet Magus Aozaki deployed it in the time it would take for a small-scale spell like a magic bullet, forcing one to marvel at the Magus's power.
It was time-line manipulation again, this move was so incredibly useful!
To attack, one must stand on the same timeline as the opponent. So this time, Magus Aozaki used acceleration, shortening the time axis when casting the Grand Ritual. The two points between past and present were drawn closer, making the chanted incantation particularly awkward and strange.
"Projection: Blazing Heaven's Sevenfold Ring!"
At this moment, Magus Aozaki's magic fired the instant the shield appeared. A flash of light, and the small projectile at the front of the vortex vanished. Then, a series of cracking sounds emanated from the shield in front of Rin. Rose-red petals quickly withered and fell one after another. When the seventh and final petal fell, the entire shield shattered into pieces, on the verge of collapsing at any moment.
"...x7!"
An inexhaustible supply of Magic Power surged, instantly erecting seven more "Blazing Heaven's Sevenfold Ring" shields in front of Rin! Even with the powerful force of Magus Aozaki's Grand Ritual, it ran out of power when breaking through the fifth shield.
However, this gave Rin a bit of inspiration. The biggest problem with Projection Magecraft was undoubtedly the disproportionate Magic Power consumption compared to the actual benefit. But now that the biggest problem was no longer an issue, couldn't she do something she normally couldn't? Realizing this, Rin raised her right hand and pointed upwards, taking a deep breath to suppress her excited feelings. Then... Projection: Gate of Babylon!!!
Golden ripples spread out, connecting behind Rin and on the surrounding walls! Thousands upon thousands of ripples, like shimmering liquid gold, covered every corner of the entire misaki leyline hall's walls! It was magnificent and opulent, as if one were in a golden temple! This was the most extravagant, most alluring, simplest, most fashionable, most versatile, highest-class noble phantasm in the entire Fate series! The noble phantasm that everyone who has seen Fate can't help but fantasize about: the Gate of Babylon, belonging to the oldest king, Gilgamesh!
"W-what is this?!" Faced with such a magnificent and spectacular scene, even Magus Aozaki, who had lived for hundreds of years, couldn't help but turn pale with fright. A chilling sense of ominous crisis made the hair on his flesh body, which he had painstakingly retrieved from the past, stand on end.
The moment she projected, Rin instantly understood how to operate the Gate of Babylon. Then... Projection: Red Rose for Exorcising Demons... x10000!!!
The originally vast and boundless sea of Magic Power was almost instantly depleted by half! Identical red spears of protection-breaking emerged from thousands of golden ripples. As Rin's right hand dropped and pointed at Magus Aozaki... "Ah ha ha ha ha...!"
"Boom boom boom boom boom...!"
An endless torrent of spears of protection-breaking rained down like a tempest! The red long spears, the Red Rose for Exorcising Demons, which nullified and countered all mysteries, were inherently the bane of all mysteries. Perhaps their inherent rank was insufficient to break down overly high-level mysteries, but even if each one at this moment only possessed forty percent of its original effect, you couldn't argue with having ten thousand of them! And that insane pseudo-loli was still projecting!
I'm running on infinite Magic Power, so I can be willful. If you don't like it, bite me!
The scarlet spear rain, like a torrential downpour, occupied every inch of space in the misaki leyline area. Magus Aozaki was completely dumbfounded by Rin's insane outburst, utterly unable to effectively cast any magic. The red spears, targeting mysteries, would nullify any magic.
At this point, Magus Aozaki could only continuously perform time travel, shifting his timeline away from the falling red spears. However, this kind of rule-breaking magic, which was practically slapping the counter force in the face, was continuously used, and Magus Aozaki's already limited time was once again drastically reduced!
As for Rin, the moment the battle began, she had released all her own Magic Power to the outside, replicating her Magic Circuits throughout the entire spiritual pulse. At this moment, the Magic Power Rin was manipulating was entirely assimilated by End Magic directly from the great source of life force in the air outside Rin's body. Therefore, Rin was currently in a no-consumption state!
Damn it, I finally fulfilled my childhood dream!
Rin's mood at this moment was truly ecstatic beyond measure, because she was merely repeatedly projecting the same noble phantasm, so Rin did not need to bear any additional mental consumption. Perhaps the monotonous throwing of the Red Rose for Exorcising Demons didn't have the same unique flair as Gilgamesh's varied arsenal, but if she couldn't be first, second in flair was good enough.
"Ah ha ha ha...! Struggle, scream, wail, and then, die! Flee like a stray dog, and then, with this unsightly, broken appearance, turn to dust!"
Perhaps the Gate of Babylon came with a chuunibyou attribute; at this moment, Rin was as arrogant as Gilgamesh in the anime of her previous life.
Sixteen Red Rose for Exorcising Demons spears pierced Magus Aozaki's location every second. The omnidirectional, inescapable attack left Magus Aozaki with nowhere to hide. The excessive use of the Fifth Magic had already overwhelmed Magus Aozaki, and the Fifth Magic's engravingitself was no longer in his hands. Such reckless use had caused the connection between the Fifth Magic and him to gradually shatter and fall apart.
If the Fifth Magic were likened to a hundred-story tower, ninety-nine of those stories are currently controlled by the old Magus Aozaki; however, these ninety-nine stories do not include the first floor, which is connected to the foundation, because the root and seed of the Fifth Magic, along with the Aozaki Family's Magic Crest, have fallen into Aoko's hands.
Using magic is like pushing this tower; if it's connected to the foundation, it stands firm, but a sky palace without a foundation...
"No, I must retrieve the Magic Crest from Aoko! There's no way I can defeat this strange girl here; she's too bizarre, I need to leave now!" the Magus Aozaki thought to himself, then activated a new spell...
"Hm?" Rin suddenly felt that the old aozaki Magus, who was surrounded by a hail of spears, was gone! He just vanished all of a sudden.
He didn't die, he ran away.
Without the connection to the dragon source, he could not sustain his spirit body for long, so if he escaped... this is bad!
Rin instantly realized what the Magus Aozaki intended to do.
Aoko!
Rin quickly gathered her magic, turned, and rushed towards the exit without looking back.
After Rin ran out of the underground leyline space, she immediately picked up her phone while running and called Touko:
"Touko! Your grandfather, that old geezer, is out again!!!"
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