"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence. No one spoke.
The leaders of the Clock Tower, the ones who shaped the direction of the magical world, were all processing, all thinking.
They were digesting the fact that the Third Magician had been born and could open the Swirl of the Root, along with the potential ramifications of this event.
No one doubted Lorelei's words, not even her political enemies. The Lord of the Department of Policies would never lie about something like this.
After what felt like an eternity, an elderly man, appearing even older than Lord Valualeta, coughed, breaking the silence in the meeting room.
"I have a question. What exactly is the 'satellite' that Lord Barthomeloi mentioned?"
Well, this was the typical reaction of mainstream magi.
They only cared about magecraft, completely ignorant of the outside world. They knew nothing about technological progress or societal development. If it weren't for the efforts of modernists like Lorelei and Waver, who had a clear understanding of technology, the Clock Tower probably wouldn't even have telephones, let alone mobile phones.
These stubborn old men, so detached from the times!
Kayneth, who was also part of the modernist faction, sighed helplessly as he walked out of the room, speaking to Marisbury on his way out.
"I'll contact the space agency. I'll leave the explanations to you."
The Astromancy Department had always been more focused on space exploration than any other department. If they couldn't explain it, no one else could.
The Clock Tower's influence in the UK far surpassed even that of Queen Elizabeth. Kayneth was known for his efficiency, and it took him less than ten minutes to arrange for satellite surveillance, with the images being streamed directly to the meeting room.
This was part of the modernization Lorelei had been advocating. As society advanced, the need for more precise, timely intelligence to respond to events was vital, and thus, keeping up with the times was necessary.
Thanks to Shinji's earlier use of Magic Perseus Fist: Third Wave, the cloud cover above Fuyuki City had already been cleared. Although the resolution of the satellite images wasn't perfect, it still revealed plenty of information.
For example, the basic characteristics of the three Magicians.
The black figure was the Second Magician, the red and blue figure was Aoko Aozaki, and the one constantly shifting between blue, white, and gold was the still-unnamed Third Magician.
First, the red figure charged toward the black figure, but after being knocked back, the blue figure charged in, only to be repelled as well. The red and blue figures then clashed with each other.
From the sky to the ground, and then from the ground to the sky again.
At this point, the black figure suddenly intervened, turning the duel into a three-way battle, with the two colors mixing into three.
As the altitude increased, the satellite was finally able to capture a few relatively clear images.
A red-haired woman was kicking a man in white.
The man in white was punching an old man dressed in black.
The black-clad old man was hitting the red-haired woman with a staff.
Then the man in white turned and started hitting the red-haired woman again.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The Lords, upon seeing this scene, fell into another round of speechless silence.
Had it not been for their dignified positions as Lords, they would have already started cursing.
Are you kidding us? Is this a fight between magicians? Is your magic just... physics?!
Meanwhile, the spectators on the ground had long since become numb to the spectacle.
Although this was supposedly a battle between Magicians, after the initial grand declarations, they had all, without exception, started brawling.
Punches, kicks, elbow strikes, knee strikes, hand chops, staff strikes, and the occasional burst of magical energy. They were having the time of their lives.
Magic was, of course, still being used. Otherwise, the grand declarations that had even shaken the Clock Tower would have been a complete joke. But most of the magic being used was auxiliary: spatial transfers, time acceleration, materialization, and the like. The only direct attacks were blasts of raw magical energy.
Aoko's various magic bullets, Kischur's light beams, and Shinji's spiritual bombs.
BIU, BIU, BIU!
BANG, BANG, BANG!
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
In a way, the Magicians had a lot in common, and there was plenty to mock about their methods.
However, this form of combat was only temporary. As time passed and the battle escalated, the magicians began to use magic more frequently.
The first to change was Aoko Aozaki, as she was the weakest in close combat among the three. She didn't have Zelretch's accumulation of over a thousand years of experience, nor had she received training from renowned teachers like Scathach or Chiron. She was entirely self-taught. While she had no problem beating ordinary enemies, fighting magicians of the same level was a struggle.
Late in the close-quarters battle, to keep up with the increasingly fast pace of attacks and defenses from Zelretch and Shinji, Aoko was the first to use her trump card—Exchanging time, constantly shifting along the timeline in intervals of seconds.
When she wasn't at the present moment, any attack would be rendered ineffective. It was an incredibly underhanded skill. Shinji, being caught off guard, missed his attacks and found himself kicked multiple times by Aoko during the openings.
Fortunately, he reacted in time, activating Thousand-Arms Ashura Avatar. As Aoko attempted to attack again, Shinji countered with a barrage of punches—no matter how broken Aoko's skill seemed, she had to return to the present to attack, and that was when he struck back.
On the other hand, Zelretch remained calm. Time and space were already included within the concept of parallel worlds, and not only could he use time jumps, but he also knew how to counter them.
A classic Multi-Dimensional Distortion left Aoko in a tough spot.
This "multi" wasn't just the three-fold distortion of a "secret sword" technique like Swallow Reversal. This was true multi-dimensional distortion—ten layers, twenty layers, or even hundreds or thousands of layers if necessary, all at the whim of the old man.
No matter where or when Aoko attempted to attack or jump, Zelretch's distortions would always appear at the most inconvenient locations for her. Aoko's time-jumping was merely a byproduct of the Fifth Magic, whereas Kischur was a true master of space-time manipulation.
Watching all this, Shinji, who had to take hits to retaliate, couldn't help but feel envious: "Now that is real layering, actual multi-layering!"
Having been thoroughly schooled by the other, Aoko finally got angry. The flow of magical energy through her circuits sped up dramatically. If it was akin to a jet engine at first, it was now undoubtedly a rocket engine.
Just the sound of her magical energy flowing was enough to make anyone feel dizzy.
"Magic Bullet: Lunar Eclipse!"
With Aoko's declaration, hundreds of blue magical bullets filled the sky, even blotting out the moonlight.
Shinji and Zelretch, bathed in the moonlight, didn't even have time to blink before they were engulfed by the downpour of magic bullets.
The night was lit up by the continuous explosions of magical energy, turning it into day.
The deafening explosions that followed one after another were reminiscent of a large-scale modern battlefield.
One person wielding the firepower of an entire artillery brigade—that was Aoko Aozaki, the Fifth Magic.
With her actions, she demonstrated what true destruction looked like and what it meant to be a human rocket launcher!