Edit: I appreciate the concern a lot and I apologise for not wording it properly. I'm mostly fine. I was at the hospital cause my aunt was in the final days of her pregnancy and I somehow ended up as the designated attendant.
I spent quite a bit pondering if this is how the fight should go, but honestly, at this point, anything other than this would have to be forced, especially after his encounter with Gilgamesh.
He's already suffered through analyzing GoB. Nothing Medea has at her disposal comes even close. In a battle of magecraft, the better his opponent is, the better he instantly, not gradually, instantly, gets.
-
Much to Medea's horror, the very next thing I did was not an attack on her. No, I merely raised my hand and snapped my fingers. The spell binding Nobunaga came undone. Of course, there came immense pain for analyzing and dismantling the spell, but I welcomed it. The pain was a testament to the superiority of Medea's craft, her skill, and the ancient mysteries she wielded.
The Caster's lips quivered. She took another step back, visibly startled. None could fault her for that, not with what Nobunaga was casually capable of. But, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven didn't attack either. She plopped down right where she stood, crossing her legs.
"My master, could you make accommodations for the rain?"
I offered my umbrella.
"I was thinking of a bounded field."
After a moment of silence, she begrudgingly accepted her. Her body grew heated, steam rose from her clothes. Then, she reached inside of her coat and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, setting it down with her cheek resting against her palm.
"Caster. I shall not interfere so long as I am entertained." Her lips split into a grin. "Do your best now. I cheer for you from the depths of my heart."
She intended to keep her word. That was reassuring, even if I never expected less. A magus from the Age of Gods was mine to face. Medea herself was the glory my peers dedicated their very existence to chasing. I desperately wanted to see just what 'the good old days' had been.
Again, Medea giggled. Her earlier hesitation disappeared entirely. The Bounded Field erected over the secluded mountain temple shifted. Where once was a simple curtain built in my fashion, there was now a Bounded Field to re-define my understanding of Bounded Fields entirely.
It was as though I had really stepped into another world. One spatially severed from the outside. Pain assaulted my senses. My eyes burnt. I felt warm blood trickle from my nose. My magecraft was no longer going to be as effective. Yes, the natural correction of reality weakened all magecraft as something non-native to the world… but here, that effect was amplified to an inhumane degree.
As a test, I drew a line through the air.
The world shifted. An invisible force carved through the air.
Medea held up her open hand. My spell froze in the air. It was torn apart. The mana I poured into its activation was sucked into her. Then, she smiled at me.
"Do you understand the difference between us?"
I brought my hands together, "So what?"
"Best retreat, boy."
"What does this change?" I tilted my head slightly. "All this does is add an extra step. I need to dismantle the effects of your field while casting. That's no trouble. Instead, thank you."
Every mystery she employed. Every spell she used thus far. I analyzed. I understood. Sure, she might win for a time. But, against a magus, my victory was entirely unquestionable.
I opened my hands, within them Blue snapped and cawed. The little orb sucked in the space around it.
Medea stared at me as though I'd said the most absurd thing in the world.
"And, Witch, do you think I haven't noticed? You have limited mana."
"I'm connected to the Great Circuit under us, what? Do you think you can outdo it with your own reserves?"
Her spells didn't need 'magic circuits'. They simply worked by mystery bending to her 'visible' words. By connecting to the leyline, she became an impossible foe. But, with no master of her own to feed her mana, she was dependent on external magical energy.
Here, within this temple, she had an incredible amount. But, it was only within the temple.
"No, but I can do this."
Blue expanded, the space between us disappeared. Where we'd been standing a good few metres apart, now my hand was right on her face. Reinforcing myself to the utmost in the blink of an eye, I threw her into the sky with such force it broke the sound barrier. A strong gust of wind blew away the rain as the Witch of Colchis was thrown into the sky.
She quickly slowed her trajectory, having taken no damage whatsoever from my blow. Her cloak opened into bat-like wings, and her smile widened. I clenched and unclenched my fist. I had not felt contact with her skin. There was a spell covering her skin. A thin film.
Suddenly, a number of formulae formed in the sky. The gathered power was nothing to scoff at. But, I watched them form. I watched them become complete. My ears bled, but I grinned wider than her. The rain drenched my clothes, and washed away the blood.
When her spell completed. Mine did too.
Those same formulae all around her formed behind me as well.
My breath hitched.
The words left our mouths at the same time.
""Machia Hecatic Graea.""
Beams of resplendent light tore through the air towards me. Mine shot out to meet them. They collided just in the air and exploded in a terribly grand show of power that made the very world shake and tremble.
"You… matched my cast? How is this possib-"
I held up a finger. "You're wrong. I was faster."
"Absurd!"
The formulae formed in the blink of an eye. Again, I met them, no longer on equal terms. Mine were stronger, faster, they cost less to cast. She needed only a single word to bring divine mysteries into the world.
…I didn't even need that single word.
This time, I shot through the bright explosions with a fist already reeled back. Stone formed around it as it flew for her face. When my fist met her cheek, the spell on her form shattered. My stone exploded into bits. The Witch of Colchis was flung back once more, until her back struck the edge of the world she constructed.
I stood in the air and waved my hand. Invisible Air struck her chest. The Rain of Light she used against me shot out. Medea clutched her staff, holding it out with both hands to cast that same spell covering her to much greater effect.
A wall of glass formed between her and the beams of light. They hammered against it, again and again and again, until it shattered the same and blew through her arm. The flesh re-constructed itself before the light even truly dissipated.
"Do you understand? No magecraft can overcome me." I grinned, holding a thumb against my chest. "That's just the way the world works. You must be thinking that that's absurd. That it's illogical."
She let out a sharp hiss. "This shouldn't be possible! A magus of this age-"
"It's not illogical at all, you see!" I laughed. "I am the Honoured One."
Her cloak flapped harshly, the air sizzled. A thunderstorm rained down upon me. But, lightning manipulation was the oldest trick in my arsenal, hence, the most refined. It didn't matter if her mystery was far greater. So long as that mystery produced lightning, the advantage was mine.
The lightning froze in place, gripped by an unimaginable force. Then, it was sucked into a tiny ball hovering atop my fingerprint.
"You're not even using magic circuits, or anything conventional magecraft employs." I noted. She grit her teeth in unmasked frustration. "No you're weaponising Mystery itself. It's just doing what you want… like you're… ah. You're exercising a 'right' upon the world."
A Greek witch. There was no question of just what 'right' she was enforcing to command the very essence of magecraft. She was manifesting the authority of a being infinitely greater than any single magus, no, magician. I didn't need my eyes to guess whose 'authority' that was. Rather, my professor had beaten the knowledge into me.
"No wonder the magi all chase your realm even now."
With her 'casting' in hand, there was no need to rely upon any other magecraft.
"And why True Magic meant nothing in the Age of the Gods."
I finally understood.
Magecraft deceived the world to manifest what was naturally possible through supernatural means.
Then, in an age of true fantasy and myth,
"To your ilk, magic and magecraft may as well be the same. Because, when gods and monsters are 'natural', nothing is really impossible anymore."
In that moment, I couldn't help but feel like my Professor, the Lord El-Melloi II. And, I couldn't help but re-think just how incredible that third-rate magus was. Where I could verily see the process and its innermost workings, he only had normal human sight to work with… Yet, he was able to dismantle the 'logic' of a mystery with arguably the same ease as myself when he had none of my advantages but instead, sheer knowledge.
"You…"
I cut her off again, "The Goddess of Magic, Hecate. A negligible part of her authority, but her authority all the same. That's why your magecraft is so incomprehensible, so alien."
The magecraft I knew, and the one she wielded were entirely different in nature. The difference between men and aliens. But, even if the means were wholly incompatible, both used mystery.
"How is this… possible?" She murmured in disbelief. "A magus of the modern age should be fundamentally incapable of even understanding magecraft from the Age of Gods."
I held a finger against the side of my head. "No matter what mystery it is, so long as it is mystery, it's mine to use. And, precisely because modern mystery stands no chance against yours, you stand no chance against the other servants."
She held out her hand. Something like my own dismantle shot out, but much weaker. I unleashed my own, manifesting it through Medea's own thaumaturgy instead of what I'd relied upon thus far. Hers was devoured, swept away with ease. Then, the world beyond was cleaved in half. Medea teleported away just in time to avoid the strike.
I stood a while, simply admiring my handiwork.
In the dark of the night, half the mountain beside us slid down, crumbling upon itself as it tumbled into the dense forest below, crushing trees beneath great chunks of earth and stone.
Nodding, I teleported right after the fleeing witch to appear at the foot of the stairs into the main temple she was desperately climbing.
"You can't win because the difference between the mystery they wield, and yours, is the same as the difference between you and any modern magus."
The ancient mystery always won, despite any other 'logical' factors even if it was the same effect, unleashed at the same level. No matter how strong a spell she cast was, the noble phantasms of servants whose legends predated hers would come out on top.
Gilgamesh was capable of curbstomping her harder than even myself, solely because he was man's oldest hero.
Hercules and her were of the same time period, but his legend superseded hers, so she would lose.
"You'll lose to me, simply because I'm the Honoured One. No matter the age, I will always win."
"You self-assured bastard. I hate you." She showed real annoyance for the first time, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. My words had struck some soft spot, it seemed. "I hate your kind so much. I wish you'd suffer even half of what you leave behind. Why do men like you always ruin everything?!"
With reckless abandon, she swung her hand.
Thunder rained down. Beams of light shot forth. Winds tore through the earth.
…That was an issue.
So long as she was connected to the leyline underneath us, she'd keep going.
The issue was an easily fixed one.
Pursing my lips, I brought my fingers together once more.
-
I really like this one too, but I had to write it in two segments cause something came up. If the quality has diminished, don't hesitated to point it out, please.
You can find 7 chonky chapters ahead at patre0n.com/Bleap