Stiyl VS Lævateinn

Richard Brave’s response was actually quite simple.

His enemy had stood up, so he swung Lævateinn.

With a roar, a sea of flames exploded out.

A raging crimson tsunami attacked Stiyl Magnus.

That destructive attack would crush the weak and the strong evenly. The flames instantly enveloped his entire body and the light enveloped him to the point that not even his silhouette could be seen.

Stiyl Magnus had not spoken a word.

Seeing that, Patricia uttered a terrible scream.

But...

With an idiotic sound, Stiyl Magnus blew away the sea of flames.

He was unharmed.

Those flames would swallow up anything in their path and evenly burn away everything they swallowed up.

That was the absolute attack produced by Lævateinn.

With nothing more than a swing of his flame sword, Stiyl had sliced that attack in two so it passed by him on either side.

A few stubborn bits of flames smoldered down at his feet, but Stiyl simply crushed them underfoot. Stiyl Magnus mercilessly destroyed that horrible weapon that would burn away anything that touched even a spark from it.

That should have been impossible.

It was like he had risen from the dead
.
What he had done was no coincidence. It was not a miracle that had no reason behind it.

The spells used by true magicians did not allow for such things. That meant there had to be a reason. There was a reason Stiyl had been able to stand up and eliminate Richard’s flames.

Richard Brave was utterly shocked.

He could not see Stiyl Magnus’s expression.

“What...?” Richard forced the words out of his dry throat. “How could you break through Lævateinn with a toy like that?”

Stiyl Magnus did not respond.

Only anger could be seen on his face.

That anger was not in response to having been injured himself. It was not due to something as trivial as that. His anger was enough to swallow up the crimson glow of Lævateinn and it was for the sake of the girl who had been forced to hopelessly stand alone as she was toyed with over the magic she did not understand and was forced to jump into what she knew was a trap. It was for the girl who there was no need to harm but had been almost injured for the purpose of some twisted bit of fun.

“...Richard Brave.”

Stiyl spoke that name of evil and tension ran through the one it belonged to.

He had Lævateinn in his hand and he had an overwhelming advantage, but that voice drove all that out of his mind.

Stiyl Magnus glared at him.

He glared at his enemy.

He glared at the face of the enemy he had to kill as quickly as possible.

“It seems you truly want to die here.”

A new whirl of flames appeared.

It was different from Lævateinn.

It simply glowed.

That overwhelming whirl of flames appeared in order to save the girl who had wandered into the world of magic.

[...]

An explosion rang out.

A shockwave roared through the nighttime park and the wall of flames wavered due to external forces.

Two figures danced within the orange-tinted landscape.

Stiyl Magnus.

Richard Brave.

The two flame magicians ran through the park, the walking path, and the forest. The battlefield changed from one moment to the next. They left Patricia Birdway behind and their battlefield moved across the land and continued through the darkness like a living being.

The all-consuming flames of Lævateinn no longer simply chased after Stiyl. Stiyl’s flame sword evenly matched Lævateinn. He received blows and even countered.

As he ran, Stiyl pulled out a few rune cards.

Stiyl’s runes activated after he arranged them.

His magic displayed its greatest power within an area he himself indicated, so he should not have been able to use his proper strength while constantly on the move.

However, the cards floated in midair.

Countless cards flew around like swallows and created magic circles, sticking to the trees, the ground, and the streetlights.

Richard’s expression twisted.

(So he set up other runes to send out his main runes. ...He just has little tricks all over the place.)

In order to create one piece of magic, Stiyl had two or three different spells prepared.

Normally, it would have been impossible in that situation, but Stiyl’s power continued to rise.

“!!”

“!?”

They spoke no words.

Only the sound of their breathing escaped their mouths.

They pressed in, trying to kill the other as they sliced through the darkness using their glowing magic swords. The two small pillars of flames clashed in midair and continually repelled each other as if there truly was a steel sword within. The great sounds of the impacts reverberated through the air.

Stiyl Magnus was not burned to death.

Up until then, Richard’s Lævateinn had burned through everything it had come into contact with. That included building walls, asphalt, Stiyl’s flame sword, and Theodosia’s explosive blast. However, that was no longer happening. Richard’s sword and Stiyl’s sword were evenly matched.

Richard felt a close-quarters battle would not be to his advantage, so he created masses of flames to swallow up Stiyl, but Stiyl Magnus would slice through them or evade them and then fill in the gap between them after that slight lag.

Richard’s victory was crumbling.

The battle had jumped its set rails and was now rushing toward some unknown place.

(What is going on...?)

Richard started panicking inwardly as he gripped his weapon.

Lævateinn was the ultimate spiritual item that could burn through anything with no exceptions. However, Stiyl was matching it evenly. Instead of fleeing or being swallowed up by the flames, he was truly fighting. A true battle to the death where neither party knew how it would end had begun.

(How can he eliminate my Lævateinn so easily?)

The term “misfire” entered Richard’s mind.

For some reason, Lævateinn was not displaying its proper power. That was why someone as supposedly weak as Stiyl was catching up to him.

But...

(No, this is...)

Stiyl was not one to overestimate his abilities.

He did not randomly charge in to a fight. If he detected the slightest bit of danger, he would unhesitatingly fall back and he would not force his way in even if he saw an opportunity. Richard gritted his teeth. Stiyl knew where the line between safety and danger was. After everything Richard had seen, he could not account for Stiyl’s survival as being based on “coincidence” or “good luck”.

“Don’t tell me...”

Richard spoke as he swung Lævateinn which produced a sea of flames that spread out like a tsunami. It was a meaningless question for a magician in mid-battle. In fact, it had a chance of providing his opponent with a means of victory in some situations.

“Don’t tell me you’ve figured it out!”

Even so, he said it.

He said it despite what his reason told him.

In response, Stiyl swung his flame sword with his right hand and used his left hand to pull his cigarette from his mouth. He did not need to light it. It had already been lit with an orange light due to the attacks they had been exchanging.

He swung his flame sword and sliced the all-engulfing tsunami of flames right down the middle. Lævateinn’s flames did not burn away everything as before. Stiyl Magnus had truly destroyed the tsunami of flames.

And he spoke.

“Lævateinn is not the primary part of your attack.”

A cold sweat poured from Richard’s body.

It was not due to the heat of his flames or from all the running around. It was the
uncomfortable cold sweat of someone in serious trouble.

The flow of the battle had changed.

Stiyl Magnus would be on the attack.

“You can’t create that kind of effect just by carving runes into a metal sword. That makes it simple. You must have carved runes somewhere other than the sword. It’s probably something along the lines of a combination of eihwaz, berkana, and wunjo. You were not
creating the firepower needed to burn your target regardless of what it was made of. You used runes to change your target into a material that would burn away even with the smallest flame.”

Stiyl Magnus and Richard Brave were both rune magicians.

Runes created various phenomena when they were carved into various objects.

Whether you were creating a sea of flames that would swallow up everything or a lightning attack that would rain down from the heavens and blow everything away, you always had to start by carving the runes somewhere.

So where were they carved?

Stiyl could not see how the runes carved into the sword would be able to create the effects he had seen.

In that case, where else could they be?

“Seeing that you were able to carve them into my flame sword and Theodosia’s explosion of flames, the runes must be in some kind of premade ‘stamp’ that you can fire like a bullet. Lævateinn itself shows no sign of using any other runes, so that makes the most sense.”

(I see. So he isn’t a complete fool!!)

Stiyl was dead on.

But Richard still smiled.

“Sorry, but I can’t say that’s right. Lævateinn burns away everything. It uses no clichéd tricks like that.”

Information was a weapon.

Disturbance was a type of strategy.

“If I was spreading around runes that turned my target into a highly flammable material, I’m sure someone like you would have noticed them. Of course, if you were so stupid you wouldn’t even notice a rune carved into your own body, it might work, but not even you are that stupid.”

Once your trick was discovered, you were dead.

On the other hand, if you misread the situation, you would create an opening leading to your death.

But...

Stiyl laughed scornfully.

That sent a bad feeling throughout Richard’s body and then he heard the last thing he wanted to hear.

“You would just need to carve the runes using some kind of invisible ink.”

At that, the battle stopped.

Stiyl and Richard literally stopped moving.

Richard held Lævateinn which supposedly held the ultimate destructive power and he stared at his enemy while the sword’s tip shook like a record needle.

He could no longer easily approach.

Even the slightest mistake could now cause his defeat.

“I noticed a smell like fermenting beer.”

Stiyl had stopped moving and now simply carefully observed the situation without acting triumphant or attacking.

“At first, I thought you were using the flammability of alcohol in some way, but I was wrong. If all of the magical phenomena you are creating are done by carving runes into objects, then everything you have must be there for that purpose. That made this simple. It had to be the ink you were using.”

Their shadows wavered.

This was not due to the magicians’ movements. It was due to the irregular movements of the flames providing the light.

Richard Brave was frozen solid like he was a statue.

“My guess is it’s vitamin B2. A lot of it is found in malt and I believe it reflects a yellow light when it receives strong UV rays in the darkness. Basically, you just have to hide a water gun or spray bottle in your sleeve to carve the runes long distance in the same motion as swinging your arm.”

(Not good.)

Richard had gone from taking a short break to read the situation to having his muscles lock up.

“The runes on Lævateinn read sgkalu. It means ‘the torch that acquired the sun using magic’. That does not refer to a powerful flame. It is a conductor’s baton used to produce the same UV rays as in sunlight in order to make the invisible runes you have spread about visible at the proper time.”

Richard’s Lævateinn had two modes.

The first simply produced flames and was used to set fire to his surroundings.

The second amplified UV rays to make only the needed runes visible, turning the objects they were on into a highly flammable substance.

“...”

Stiyl had seen through it all.

Index SP, Chapter 1, Parts 4-5