Fate Is on My Side

"This guy..."

Mage Seda thought again of how Gao De had been his apprentice for so many years, yet had only revealed everything today, never once showing any flaw before.

The depth of Gao De's schemes and the depth of his forbearance truly did not match his age. The more Mage Seda thought about it, the more lingering fear he felt.

"You truly had schemes upon schemes. Even I suffered at your hands."

Having sorted through it all, Mage Seda suddenly regained his calm.

Facing the depths of the black fog, where no figure could be seen clearly, he said, "But if you have no other tricks up your sleeve, then today's farce ends here."

"You still underestimated my knowledge, and overestimated your Mystic Item."

"A First Circle alchemical creation cannot bridge the enormous gap between us."

Forcing himself to endure the unceasing agony shooting through his foot, Mage Seda gave a cold laugh. "Veilmist may be a First Circle Spell, but it has no offensive power after all, and it has serious limitations."

"And as it happens, I know its limitations."

"It's time to end this!" Mage Seda shouted.

Had he not been driven into this dilemma because of this cloud of mist?

Then all he had to do was make the mist disappear, and everything would fall into place.

A Gao De whose mana had been exhausted, stripped of Veilmist's cover—would he not be putty in Mage Seda's hands?

And he knew two ways to counter Veilmist.

Strong wind and flames!

There were no strong wind spells among cantrips, but there were quite a few flame spells.

And he happened to know one.

Red light flickered to life in his hand, followed by a searing heat.

An arrow formed from flame took shape once more. With a sweep of his arm, it shot forth, turning into a fire arrow wreathed in roaring flames the instant it left his hand.

"Burn away your mist—"

Bang! Bang! Bang!!!

Before his words had fully fallen, a startling explosion erupted without warning, completely beyond Mage Seda's expectations.

Explosion! Explosion!

In the blink of an eye, flames inexplicably burst into violent combustion throughout the space centered on Mage Seda.

At the same time as the explosions occurred, they generated a shockwave of extreme heat and pressure.

The immense shockwave spread outward, smashing violently into the surrounding objects and structures, while Mage Seda was the closest "object" to the center of the blast.

The Shield Spell's remaining power was instantly shattered.

The tremendous impact swept across Mage Seda's flesh, tearing apart the robe on his body—a First Circle Mystic Item—before continuing to rip at his aged and frail body.

The burning flames, mixed with billowing smoke, did not relent. They continued to spread, devouring everything in the room, including the mist released by Veilmist.

In but an instant, Veilmist's fog was swallowed clean by the flames.

As the mist vanished, their obstructed vision finally cleared.

The room was now a complete wreck:

A layer of smoke filled the air. Light twisted through the murky atmosphere, forming hazy beams that carved the chaotic scene within the room into irregular patches of light and shadow.

The enormous pressure from the blast had left the walls covered in mottled scars, and an especially thick crack ran through an entire wall.

Every piece of furniture in the room had been overturned and damaged by the blast wave.

Chairs had snapped apart, tables had been blown to pieces, and the books on the shelves had been blasted into scraps of paper. Even the remnants were burning.

All manner of debris lay scattered across the floor.

Two figures lay sprawled amid the devastation, their clothing charred black and torn.

They lay there without moving, their fate unknown.

The silence was terrifying.

Other than the occasional crackle of dying embers, almost no other sound could be heard.

Huff... huff... huff!

After a moment, heavy breathing sounded in the room.

Of the two figures lying on the ground, one slowly began to stir.

Gao De!

He regained a sliver of consciousness and felt only scorching pain throughout his body, while his limbs were unbearably heavy.

Gao De used every ounce of his strength, struggling to rise. Every movement came with agonizing pain and ragged gasps.

Though Mage Seda had been at the center of the explosion, though Gao De had tried his best to keep his distance and had hurled himself toward the door the instant it erupted—

The room was only so large, and the blast wave spread so quickly that there was no way for him to escape harm.

Wound the enemy by a thousand, injure yourself by six hundred.

At this moment, Gao De seemed to need immense effort for every breath, barely dragging air into his exhausted lungs. When he exhaled, it was slow and heavy, like an old bellows releasing its final wisp of air, reluctant and sluggish.

He forced himself upright with his arms, then shakily rose to his feet.

Once he had swayed upright, Gao De used sheer willpower to temporarily cast aside his injuries and pain.

He moved his weak, powerless feet, inching step by step toward the other figure lying in the room, then crouched down beside him.

"Why... why..."

Mage Seda still had breath in him and had even regained a trace of consciousness.

Sensing Gao De's approach, he tried to lift a finger. But after several failed attempts, he could only move his lips and make a weak sound.

Compared with Gao De, Mage Seda's injuries were far more severe.

His body was covered in shreds of clothing mixed with flour and blood. Large areas of his skin had been burned, displaying patches of charred black and swollen red in varying shades.

Some sections of skin had even been stripped away by the heat, exposing the pink wounds beneath.

Pain and incomprehension mingled in Mage Seda's eyes.

"This was my backup plan." Gao De grinned, laughing heartily—the most unrestrained laugh he had given since arriving in this world. "You underestimated my knowledge too."

That night, the thing he had woken Emil to buy in the city was the flour he had thrown out together with the acid bottles.

A dust explosion.

Flour dust in the air must not exceed 9.7 grams per cubic meter.

As long as the concentration of flour dust in a localized pocket of air reached that threshold, encountering a sufficiently powerful source of flame could cause an explosion!

In his former world, that was common safety knowledge.

But in this world, few knew of it.

The moment Gao De learned Veilmist's effects, he knew that the spell alone, even combined with the synergy of Veilmist Fang's enchantment, would never be enough to defeat Mage Seda.

He was younger than Mage Seda, and his physical condition was better.

But the problem was that neither in his past life nor this one had he ever learned how to fight.

Against an Old Mage who had mastered close-range spells, that slight advantage in physical ability could never erase the advantage brought by magic.

Only when he noticed that Veilmist could be dispersed by strong winds and burned away by flames did his plan finally take complete shape.

Gao De had gambled that Mage Seda was very likely to know how to break Veilmist, and he was certain that Mage Seda possessed a flame spell.

Knowing the countermeasure and possessing a flame spell, Mage Seda had no reason not to use flame magic to break Gao De's Veilmist.

And what Gao De had to do was scatter flour in advance throughout the enclosed space of the room before Mage Seda cast his flame spell, increasing the concentration of dust in the air.

This was the final link in Gao De's scheme!

Do all that man could, then heed Heaven's decree.

That so-called decree was whether Mage Seda truly knew how to break Veilmist.

If fate was not on his side, Gao De would have only one last move left:

Rely on the enchanted Veilmist Fang and "cross blades" with Mage Seda.

Even in that worst-case scenario, the flour would not have been useless.

The flour scattered over Mage Seda would allow Gao De, whose vision was hindered by the mist, to pinpoint Mage Seda's position more easily.

But none of that needed consideration anymore.

Because fate was on his side!

While laughing wildly, Gao De had already raised Veilmist Fang high in his hand.

Squelch!

Blood sprayed out, splattering across Gao De and mixing with the blood flowing from his own wounds.

Just like when he had assassinated Ilan that night, Gao De drove Veilmist Fang into Mage Seda's chest, then pulled it out again, looking exceptionally practiced.

One stab was not enough.

He pulled out Veilmist Fang and stabbed him again.

Then he pulled it out, and stabbed him again.

Again and again.

"Why..."

Mage Seda's breath grew weaker and weaker. His eyes stared wide at Gao De as his lips moved, forcing out an incomplete sentence in broken fragments.

Before he could finish, his head tilted to one side, and not a trace of life remained.

Though incomplete, Gao De knew what Mage Seda had wanted to ask.

Using his last bit of strength, he focused his attention on Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.

Origin:

0 Circle—Human (2/7), Ash-Eyed Rat (used), Dark Mire Lurker (used), Wolf Rat (1/7).

Seeing the (2/7) after Human, Gao De grinned and answered Mage Seda's question with relief.

He answered the corpse on the ground, which barely resembled a human anymore:

"Why?"

"Because my life was picked up for free, while yours was your own. When it comes to risking your life, how could you ever outplay me?"

In the end, the one who walked out of this room alive was him.

The breath he had been holding in his heart finally loosened. Gao De could no longer hold onto consciousness, and with a thud, his body collapsed to the ground once more, insensible.