The Old Magician Aozaki brought out his last resort for a desperate fight to the death. This technique of summoning the past self was his very last use of the Fifth Magic. The connection between him and the Fifth Magic had completely broken, leaving only a final, tenuous link.
The Old Magus appearing behind Touko and the others instantly caught everyone by surprise. Touko was forced to interrupt her unfinished Magic, and Alice could no longer maintain her unruffled calm. The Fifth Magus, standing on either side, shot a wind blade at Touko and Alice, who were shielding Aoko in the middle, and then vanished back into his original timeline. The casually released wind blades were not difficult to block; their purpose was merely to restrain Touko and Alice, forcing them to retreat.
As for the remaining one, a giant time axis piercing through the void appeared behind him. Without a doubt, this was his true body standing in the present timeline. At this moment, with a look of wild ecstasy, he reached out to Aoko, whose long hair had almost completely turned red. He could still use the last bit of connection to the Fifth Magic to instantly complete the imprint stripping!
"I win!"
The Old Magus's hand was less than a hair's breadth away from Aoko. With the time flow accelerated by the last connection to the Fifth Magic, the imprint that once belonged to him would soon be his again! By reclaiming the imprint, he could regain his most formidable power. That little girl, without the dragon source, was no match for him. As long as he seized the body that shared its origin with the Root… But this hair's breadth distance became the distance from heaven to hell for the Old Magus… A ball of Runewright Magic fire, flying from the left, passed over his unguarded hand, far exceeding all his expectations. The scorching flames instantly vaporized the flesh-and-blood arm. The Old Magus's last hope was extinguished… The Old Magus turned his head with a jerky motion, like a broken machine, looking at the red-haired beauty standing on his left, watching him with a cold smile. Her right hand was raised, with wisps of smoke from the burning flames still rising from her fingertip. Deep-seated hatred and unspeakable satisfaction were vividly displayed in her eyes.
The Old Magus's eyes were filled with the ashes of despair. The last glimmer of hope he had fought for had been snuffed out by the disciple and granddaughter he had once taught, nurtured, and personally raised.
"Touko…"
Aozaki Touko looked at her grandfather, who was now utterly disheartened, with a mocking, cold smile. Thinking of how he had manipulated half her life, forcing her and her sister into conflict, the excitement and pleasure of finally getting her revenge made her want to laugh up to the heavens.
"You… how did you know that the Fifth Magic could resurrect someone who had recently died?" The Old Magus looked at Touko in disbelief. The only thing he hadn't accounted for was Touko knowing this.
Touko responded with a cold smile and a hint of surprise, "The Fifth Magic can also resurrect people? Thank you for telling me this hope."
"You didn't know?!" The Old Magus stared at Touko in shock.
"Of course, I didn't know…" Touko replied in a low, almost murmuring voice. Before her faint words faded, a huge wound, spanning Touko's entire body from her left shoulder to her right waist, simultaneously gushed out a large amount of blood from both the front and back of her body! Touko collapsed, using her last bit of strength. As her body fell sideways, a gap appeared in the massive wound, revealing the white snow melted by blood and the stained, withered grass.
Touko had not defended against the wind blade released by the past Old Magus. Instead, she instinctively raised her hand to unleash a Magic attack toward the Old Magus's main body who was attacking Aoko. That huge wind blade had directly sliced through her body… Lying in the snow, Touko, whose consciousness had not yet faded, looked up at the endlessly deep night sky, a faint smile on her lips, and murmured, "Do I still have hope of resurrection? I really do have to thank you for telling me…" She slightly shifted her gaze to Aoko, whose dark hair had completely turned red!
"Too, good…" Touko, whose vision was about to completely blur, muttered in a voice no one could hear…
At this moment, Aoko, whose hair color had completely changed, opened her eyes. Her gaze held an unparalleled calm rationality and wisdom. She calmly looked at the utterly despairing Old Magus and said, "Grandfather, this is the last time I will call you that."
At this point, Aoko, who had been silent since Magus Aozaki revealed his identity, spoke, "I, Aozaki Aoko, have never been a qualified Magus. If you had just asked, I would never have coveted the position of Magus. However—"
At this moment, Aoko seemed to have transformed into another being, filled with a temperament that combined defiance and rationality. Astonishing light flickered in her red eyes.
Hearing Aoko's voice, Magus Aozaki seemed to sense something and was immediately terrified. "How is this possible? How could you reach that level? How could the imprint…"
"Of course it would, because I am the Dominator of the Fifth Magic of this era!"
Aoko naturally understood what the other party meant. The imprint containing Magic possessed spirituality, and as the former Dominator of the Fifth Magic, the old man was confident that the imprint would choose him.
However, just as Aoko said, the Dominator of the Fifth Magic of this era was her—Aozaki Aoko. This was already favored by destiny, the trend of the times. The old man was too confident, yet he did not understand the principle that divine powers cannot overcome heavenly fate, so he was naturally destined to fail.
"No, no, no! Aoko, you can't do this to me!"
The old man cried out in alarm, his aged voice filled with fear. He had already realized what Aoko was about to do. She was going to make his soul scatter!
However, Aoko ignored her once-respected grandfather, acting with unexpected decisiveness. Almost instantly, she fully unleashed her Magic Circuits.
In an instant, the magical power generated within Aoko's body was so dense it was visible to the naked eye, and even audible to the ears. It was like the sound of a turbine rotating, but far clearer and more pleasant, as if even the magical power was joyfully frolicking.
"Listen! Primates of all creation!"
The girl's clear voice echoed in the winter sky. The space around her began to self-destruct, and the surrounding scenery twisted, as if the world of Garam was collapsing.
At this moment, Aoko activated the legendary Fifth Magic!
Regardless of the power of the Magic, this sheer aura alone was enough to make one realize its extraordinary nature.
Magic is the end of the world reached by human wisdom, but the Fifth Magic cannot be encompassed by all things. It is a lonely existence beyond the firmament, an atrocity capable of changing the world.
"Ah!!!"
The moment Aoko activated the Magic, Magus Aozaki immediately let out a howl and fell to the ground. The old man's youthful body began to collapse, blood spilling everywhere, a truly gruesome sight.
"Aoko, stop! You've already won! You are already the new Fifth Magus, I'm going to die soon, stop!"
"But the world tells me you are still here, and my sister's hatred hasn't faded." Aoko's voice became so cold for the first time.
What appeared to be merely the collapse of his body was only the surface. In the endless void, the old man's last connection to the Fifth Magic was abruptly torn and severed by a sudden, nascent power.
The pain in his soul was truly indescribable, making this old monster, who had long sought immortality, feel as if death would be a release!
"Got you!"
At this moment, Aoko's soul seemed to have journeyed through the void for a long time, finally grasping some ineffable 'thing' in her hand.
"Declaration—"
With the Word of Power, Aoko unleashed what she had just acquired.
Drastic changes appeared; beneath the rapidly spinning Magic Circle at Aoko's feet, what was revealed was not ankle-deep white snow, but verdant grass.
It wasn't the melting of ice and snow, but the landscape being rewritten, as in the dead of winter, removing the snow would only reveal barren, yellowed earth.
"Crack... crack..."
A grating sound emerged; this was the World's Corrective Force appearing.
Magic is a miracle, an act of violence that changes the world. For self-preservation, the world began to erase Aoko's existence.
Correspondingly, Aoko's entire body was in pain everywhere, the cells making up her body all cried out, her consciousness gradually blurred, as if she was beginning to fade from the present world—
This was the price one must pay to reach the origin in human form.
"In my name, manifest the clarity of order!"
Under these circumstances, the rebellious girl's eyes shone even brighter, her surging will was so strong it didn't resemble that of a Magus, and in an instant, yet seemingly a thousand years, Aoko touched the very essence of Magic.
"All return to rectitude!"
A turquoise whirlwind soared upwards, clearing away countless amounts of white snow.
At this moment, Aoko, as a Magus, began her game of opposing the world.
Time began to flow backward, and the scenery around the school building underwent drastic changes, with the four seasons rapidly alternating in a short period.
Spring with its revival of all things, summer with its scorching sun, autumn with its withered grass and trees, and winter with its howling winds—the scenery of the four seasons rotated rapidly around Aoko.
Finally, the scenery froze, and as far as the eye could see, there was a pure white sea of flowers.
Those were flowers whiter than snow; they encroached upon the world before her like spreading ripples, akin to an Reality Marble.
"The timeline, into my grasp!"
This was the end of the incantation; as stated in the Word of Power, the Fifth Magic was revealed to the world at this moment. The World's Corrective Force temporarily retreated; Magic had already appeared, and it failed to prevent Magic's manifestation.
Now, it was quietly waiting for a new opportunity.
"Ah!..."
There was no need to fight anymore; the Magus Aozaki let out an "Ah" and his entire body completely collapsed, his spiritual body also on its last breath, seemingly unable to even make a sound. At this point, his body had completely disintegrated, and his inner spiritual body was shattered. His existence had begun to crumble from the fundamental origin, and now, even Magic could not save him.
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