Yuuki felt a flicker of regret in his heart.
Originally, he had intended to use Fate Magic as bait—just enough to create an opening to come into contact with the Witch Queen's grimoire.
If he succeeded, the initiative would be firmly in his hands.
But the Witch Queen not only resisted the temptation—she was even more cautious than he had anticipated.
Trying to outmaneuver a being who had lived for several centuries was never going to be easy.
The thought passed through Yuuki's mind, yet his expression remained calm.
Simply revealing Fate Magic was already enough to make the Witch Queen abandon any reckless thoughts.
"…Very well."
Yuuki glanced at the witch who still looked somewhat dazed and smiled lightly.
"You—come here, Giselle."
The Witch Queen pointed expressionlessly at the witch, motioning for her to step in front of Yuuki.
"Yes, Witch Queen."
The witch named Giselle walked forward nervously. Her round face was pale with fear as she cautiously looked at Yuuki.
Even at the outskirts of the Witch's Forest, the shockwaves of that terrifying battle had been clearly felt.
The fact that this human man could fight the Witch Queen head-on was something utterly inconceivable to the witches.
"Don't be nervous. Take out your grimoire," Yuuki said gently.
Giselle shuddered. Knowing she had no choice but to cooperate, she quickly raised her emerald-green grimoire in front of Yuuki.
"Replication Magic — Reverse Replication."
A silver gleam flashed through Yuuki's eyes. His own grimoire floated before him, flipping rapidly to its final page.
Rip—
A single page was torn free, glowing faintly as it hovered in Yuuki's hand.
The Witch Queen, who had been watching intently, suddenly widened her black-marked eyes.
Such a spell actually exists…
A mage capable of wielding multiple attributes—or even copying others' magic—was rare, but over five centuries, the Witch Queen had seen her share.
Because of that, Yuuki's claim of replicating magic had only mildly surprised her.
But transferring replicated magic to someone else?
That was something she had never even heard of.
"Tearing out a page…"
Under her gaze, the page merged seamlessly into Giselle's emerald grimoire.
Fwoosh—
Giselle's grimoire flipped on its own as its light faded.
When it stabilized, a strange sight appeared before her eyes—
A grimoire with a green front cover and a pink back cover, floating quietly in the air.
"My mana… increased?"
Before Giselle could even process the change in her grimoire, she felt her mana surge violently. Shock spread across her face.
Boom!
An invisible shockwave burst from her body and rippled outward.
To Yuuki and the Witch Queen—both possessing overwhelming reserves of mana—this surge was negligible. Their attention lay elsewhere.
Reverse Replication complete.
Yuuki glanced once at Giselle—her face a chaotic mix of shock, confusion, and joy—then turned to the Witch Queen with a smile.
Normally, the magic a mage had mastered was recorded within their mana source.
After acquiring a second source, time and training were required to fully wield that power.
Of course, Yuuki could forcibly intervene, allowing Giselle to briefly control Fate Magic—but doing so would overdraw her mana source and damage her future potential.
But Yuuki didn't care.
Giselle was a witch of the forest, not his subordinate.
At that moment, the Witch Queen's once-unreadable expression had vanished, replaced by something far more complex.
Yuuki might not know exactly what she was thinking—but he could guess her emotions were anything but simple.
Whoosh!
The Witch Queen suddenly reached out and grabbed Giselle.
"Ah!"
Giselle's joy vanished as she cried out, her body lifting helplessly into the air and flying toward the Witch Queen.
Yuuki's gaze sharpened.
He had noticed the red vein-like markings that had surfaced on Giselle's skin just before she lost control.
Tch…
Yuuki understood at once.
Every witch in the Witch's Forest had likely been marked by the Witch Queen's Blood Magic.
That reminded him—
Dorothy Unsworth, captain of the Coral Peacocks, had also been born in the Witch's Forest and wielded terrifying Dream Magic.
Yet the Witch Queen had allowed her to leave.
Dreams. Fate. Blood.
Three forbidden-tier magics tied to the Witch's Forest.
And then there was Vanica Zogratis of the Spade Kingdom's Dark Triad—another Blood Magic user.
The Witch Queen pulled Giselle close, staring deeply at the threads manifesting around her.
"Use the magic you just gained," she commanded coldly.
"Ah?"
Giselle stared at her in confusion.
"Hmph."
The Witch Queen clearly had no intention of explaining. Her slender hand clenched suddenly.
"Ahhh!!"
Giselle screamed as crimson patterns surged across her body. Her pupils rolled white—she was on the verge of being controlled.
"Meow~"
Red threads burst forth, gathering above Giselle's head and forming a dark-red cat.
Thread Magic — Crimson Ribbon of Fate!
Giselle's body shuddered. The red markings exploded into motes of mana and vanished, her eyes clearing once more.
"W-Witch Queen…"
Shaking in terror, Giselle stood obediently at the Witch Queen's side.
Seeing the dark-red cat above Giselle's head—so easily dispelling her Blood Magic just as it had with Vanessa—the Witch Queen didn't grow angry.
Instead, she laughed.
"Hahaha… the power to manipulate fate!"
"To twist the caster's destiny toward favorable outcomes—how perfect."
Her voice grew hoarse with excitement as satisfaction filled her expression.
Vanessa had escaped, and capturing her again would have been troublesome with Fate Magic involved.
Yet now, Fate Magic had returned to her grasp almost immediately.
"Giselle!"
The Witch Queen's laughter faded.
"Yes, Witch Queen!"
Giselle answered instantly, standing alert beside her and facing Yuuki with wary eyes.
The Witch Queen was pleased with her attitude.
Because Fate Magic prevented Blood Magic control, Giselle couldn't be dominated—but she was among the Witch Queen's most loyal followers.
That was precisely why she had been chosen.
Whether controlled or not, Fate Magic in Giselle's hands was effectively the same as Fate Magic in the Witch Queen's own.
"You're called Yuuki, aren't you?" the Witch Queen said coolly.
"For returning such perfect magic, I, the Witch Queen, will pardon your previous offenses."
"You may leave the Witch's Forest."
Her posture made it clear—this was an expulsion.
The so-called "transaction" was never mentioned again.
If Yuuki himself hadn't possessed Fate Magic, she would never have allowed him to leave alive.
Yuuki's expression chilled.
"…What is the meaning of this?"
"If you didn't hear clearly," the Witch Queen replied indifferently,
"I can repeat myself."
In response—
"Hahaha!"
Yuuki's icy expression vanished, replaced by laughter—loud, unrestrained laughter.
"What are you laughing at?"
The Witch Queen's face darkened.
Yuuki clutched his stomach as if the situation were too amusing, laughing for a long while before finally calming down.
"I just find it funny," he said lightly,
"that the great Witch Queen hasn't grasped something so basic."
His smile faded, replaced by calm indifference.
"I told you already—there's no such thing as perfect magic in this world."
As the word magic left his lips—
Yuuki drew the Demon-Destroyer Sword from his waist and stepped toward Giselle.
The Witch Queen frowned and immediately launched an attack.
But as the spell approached, it veered aside with a cat's cry from Yuuki's shoulder, striking the ground instead.
The Witch Queen froze.
Under Fate Magic's influence, she couldn't hit Yuuki.
"What are you doing?!" she demanded.
"You tell me."
Yuuki chuckled softly.
In just a few steps, he reached Giselle, casually raising the Demon-Destroyer Sword and aiming it at her chest.
The Witch Queen's pupils shrank.
"You dare!"
Yuuki ignored her fury.
Giselle panicked as the blade drew closer.
"C-Cat!" she cried out.
"Meow~"
The cat atop Giselle's head cried out.
The instant it did, Yuuki felt an indescribable force tug at him, shifting the sword's tip away—
Then—
"Meow~"
The cat on Yuuki's shoulder responded.
In the briefest blur of perception, the sword was once again pointed straight at Giselle's heart.
Nothing seemed to have happened.
Yet Giselle's face turned deathly pale, and the mana flooding her body drained away in an instant.
"A mage's battle," Yuuki said calmly,
"is a battle of mana and magic."
His sword continued forward as if unhurried. Giselle stood frozen, unable to move.
When the blade touched her chest—
Her cat cried out again.
Yuuki's cat followed.
Boom—
Giselle's mana was completely exhausted. The dark-red cat shattered into motes of light.
Thrust.
The sword pierced her chest. Blood flowed down the blade as Giselle's eyes rolled back and she collapsed.
"…But in the end," Yuuki continued, turning to the Witch Queen,
"it's still a battle of mana."
The temperature plummeted.
A colossal blood beast rose behind the Witch Queen and lunged at Yuuki—
Yet in the next instant, Yuuki walked unharmed through the gap between its legs.
"No matter how powerful Fate Magic is, it still requires mana," he said calmly.
"Once the mana is depleted, even the greatest magic becomes nothing more than an empty illusion."
He stopped before the Witch Queen, meeting her dark gaze.
"Only in the hands of someone with overwhelming mana can such magic display its true power.
In weaker hands, it's merely an excellent defensive spell."
In truth, Yuuki could have used Replication Magic to prevent Giselle from activating Fate Magic at all.
But he hadn't.
He needed the Witch Queen to realize something:
Fate Magic only has meaning in the hands of someone like her.
Otherwise, it would collapse just as quickly as it had with Giselle.
From the very beginning, this had been an open scheme.
"Honestly, I don't understand this obsession with perfect magic," Yuuki said, spreading his hands.
"If magic were perfect, this world would be unbearably dull."
"Only imperfection allows mages to draw new strength from emotion and from nature itself."
"Magic is a miracle."
"And only through imperfection does pressure exist—pressure that drives people to climb ever higher."
The image of the Wizard King flashed through Yuuki's mind.
"…Hmph."
The Witch Queen paused, then snorted coldly.
She raised a hand toward Giselle.
"Blood Recovery Magic — Curse-Breaking Blood Cocoon."
The dying witch was instantly encased in a crimson sphere, her wounds rapidly healing.
"Enough," the Witch Queen said at last, turning back to Yuuki.
"Tell me—what do you want in this transaction?"
Yuuki finally smiled.
Making the Witch Queen compromise was truly no easy feat.
At the border of the Clover Kingdom—
As Yuuki and the Witch Queen finally reached an agreement, Vanessa and the others slowly regained consciousness.
"Where… are we?" Noelle murmured, rubbing her aching head.
"We finally got out of that cursed forest!" Finral exclaimed, scrambling up excitedly.
"Wait—Yuuki saved us! Where is he?!"
Noelle's lavender eyes widened as the memory returned.
"Tch… knocked out again?"
"Finral, let's head back to the squad base," Vanessa said anxiously, clutching the back of her neck.
With some mana recovered, Finral wasted no time. He opened a spatial gate, carrying the still-unconscious Asta back to the Black Bulls.
(End of Chapter)
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