The Night of the Witch (Part 2)

This happened in an instant.

Toko immediately understood that what her own sister was using was a disaster absolutely forbidden to be displayed in modern society—

Touko Aozaki unhesitatingly revealed her trump card, which was the many "mysteries" she had collected during her travels in Europe.

Countless Rune Texts cycled endlessly, arranging themselves behind Toko. They bloomed like golden flowers, resembling angel's wings, as if they were the finest works of art.

These were Magecraft Crests that should have been engraved onto a magus's skin, ones that Touko Aozaki could not have inherited, passed down through generations of prominent Western European mage families.

In the torrent of light that obscured the sky, Toko's final trump card swayed precariously like a small boat.

These myriad essences of magic, refined over hundreds, even thousands of years of history, were now fully activated and used as consumables to protect Touko Aozaki amidst destruction of this scale.

However, even this level of magical principle proved insufficient against the wielder of a law from beyond the heavens.

The clusters of Magecraft Crests behind Toko, resembling golden wings, were melting away—literally.

Among the various ways to use Magecraft Crests, using these precious crystals of civilization as a shield to block attacks was undoubtedly the most wasteful.

But Touko Aozaki had no choice; she had to do it. As long as she still wanted to live, sacrificing these Crests to withstand this attack had become the only option.

As for what she would do after exhausting these Crests, she didn't dwell on it. Toko no longer had the capacity to consider such distant matters.

Toko's magic was being rapidly consumed. Her Magic Circuits, which originally possessed extremely high conversion accuracy, were now overloaded. The pain throughout her body warned her that her life force was about to be depleted.

Yet, Toko stubbornly continued to drain her own life, because if she didn't, no matter how much life force remained, she would instantly turn to dust.

After an unknown duration, the torrent of light vanished.

Touko Aozaki's once delicate, fair skin was severely burned over more than half of its surface. Her once beautiful face now looked ruined, like charcoal.

Her beautiful attire had all turned to ash, with only the most protected parts by the external Crests remaining in small fragments.

She collapsed onto the ground, mustering her last strength to look around.

The building that was once known as the Old School Building had now completely turned into ruins, with the wooden wreckage, still emitting smoke, quietly burning.

The small mountain behind the school building had vanished entirely, leaving only a smooth, molten gap of lava to prove it had ever existed.

"Can you still hold on, Toko?"

Aoko's cheerful voice echoed in Toko's ears. Toko struggled to identify the owner of the voice with her blurry vision, now that her glasses were gone.

"I didn't want to go this far, Toko," Aoko muttered to herself in a tone that sounded like a lament. "But you know I've hated dogs since I was little, and you still went and found something like that to deal with me and Alice. It's just so classless."

"So I threw it into a prison of nothingness," Aoko said gleefully. "Let that lowly mongrel enjoy the torment of the void for the rest of its life—I'll never let it out."

"As for you, my sister," Aoko admired Toko's current disheveled state lying on the ground with a rather flippant gaze.

"Are you going to kill... me?" Toko stammered, "What a failed life... In the end... I still lost to you..."

She painfully tried to sit up but couldn't, so she resigned herself to finding a more comfortable position to lie in.

"Can I... ask one question...?" Toko asked, "Just as... our... final request as sisters."

"Ask away," Aoko said magnanimously, "I've always been a generous person."

"Aoko... is your Magic a means or a result? Which is it?" Toko laboriously asked her question, eagerly awaiting Aoko's answer.

"It's the result, of course," Aoko replied curtly. "I've entered where that old man couldn't. I almost had my personality and self dissolved. The Crests you see now are all trophies I brought back from there."

"Ah, and by the way," Aoko added in a tone like a 'free giveaway,' "I also ran into a white dog on the shortcut, and it almost killed me. Maybe that's why I hate dogs even more now than before?"

"...The Fifth and the First share the same longitude and latitude, the sins are growing deeper... I heard that both the Second and the Fourth are means to reach that place... Like must repel like, perhaps one day, you and the First (Alice) will devour each other? And... the inheritance of Magic is the inheritance of the path, the entrance to the spring is indeed here, isn't it?"

"You're overthinking it, Toko," Aoko said, looking up at the starry sky before continuing, "The so-called Fifth Magic, in essence, carries the principle of annihilation/consumption, while the First represents creation and negation. In that case, how can we be anything but inseparable, well-matched partners? Why would we be enemies?"

"To you, who are immersed in Northern European culture, it's the spring of wisdom. But to me, it's merely a gold mine waiting to be plundered. It's a boring place, Toko."

"It's a path that disappears immediately upon completion," Aoko said. "After I succeeded, it vanished along with Grandfather."

"...Is that so?" Toko said, her voice growing weaker. "How perplexing..."

With that, Toko fell silent, her breathing becoming increasingly faint.

Due to the immense amount of light and heat she had endured, not only was the area of her skin burns vast, but even her respiratory passages had become somewhat constricted.

It was remarkable that Toko could still maintain consciousness. Her powerful Magic Circuits were draining her last vestiges of life force, barely converting it into magic to keep her alive, but this couldn't last long.

"Don't think I'll let you die like this, Toko," Aoko crouched down and said to Toko in a tone of triumphant mischief. "You still owe me so many debts to repay, and you must be punished."

What nonsense was this bratty sister spouting?

Unable to speak, Toko reluctantly maintained her fading consciousness, looking at Aoko with all the contempt she could muster.

Then, Aoko wiped her hand behind her back... and produced an elegantly decorated, slender-necked glass bottle. She then brought it close to Toko's eyes and shook it, letting her see the faintly glowing blue liquid inside.

Toko then watched, wide-eyed, as Aoko unscrewed the stopper with a "pop" and unceremoniously poured the liquid from the bottle into her.

Toko: "!"