The Chair is Magic.

The fight raged on between the beast and Stu, decimating their immediate surroundings. The ground sank even further down; only the floor within the barrier remained at the same height. It looked like we were on a raised pedestal – a trophy for the winner of the fight. If this was some kind of fairytale, it would be a battle between the legendary hero and the evil beast aiming to destroy the world.

Each of the beast’s attacks increased in complexity: adjusting the beams’ trajectories mid-flight, splitting a beam into multiple, and many other ridiculous techniques. However, the battle was so blatantly one-sided that it made one feel bad for the beast. Every single attack was rebounded. Not to mention, listening to their conversation…

“What did I just tell you? Redirect the mana from the incoming spell and use it for your next attack! It’s not usually possible for a normal person, but you should be able to do it!” It sounded like a teacher scolding a troublesome student. The beast was becoming more injured and exhausted by the second. Blood slowly oozed out of its cuts while its shell was completely destroyed. Stu, on the other hand, was perfectly fine: not a scratch nor a scuff mark anywhere.

Whenever Stu berated the beast for its lack of achievement, the beast seemed to snort in frustration. When Stu complimented it, regardless of how ridiculous the task was (and there were definitely plenty of ridiculous things), the beast’s eyes glowed, wanting to keep pushing further.

“T-that is Stu…right?” Emma shakily asked. She had finally snapped out of her reverie.

“Yep, he seems to be quite powerful. Probably the most powerful person alive.” It felt like watching two gods fight, except one of the gods was omnipotent. Their strength was so ridiculous that the party was actually admiring the spectacle.

Ai looked over at the rest of the party. Rufus was still muttering in a daze about the chair. Aster, unusually, was shaking profusely. An expression of shock plastered her face as she tried to vomit, but nothing came out. Ai might have ended up like that if she hadn’t fought him previously.

“Aster?” She didn’t respond. Ai slapped her with one of my vines, which only made her insanity worse.

“His…mana…” Aster choked the words out. “There’s no way anyone could control that much mana! It’s impossible!! Not to mention that level of control!!! He’s even more powerful than the gods!!!!!”

“Oh? You noticed it too? I honestly have no idea how he’s doing it.”

“W-why are you not more scared about this?! I said he’s stronger than a god! A god! Not just the regular ones, but also the uncontested ones too!”

“Why should I be scared? He’s still a person right? Strength varies from person to person. He just happened to be born as the strongest person in the world. Well, one of them at least. However, I am sort of curious how he can manipulate the mana so freely. It’s difficult to sense mana in this barrier, so…” Ai made another vine, tying it around her body before holding the other end out towards Rufus.

She gave him a quick smack. “Rufus, hold this vine.”

“Huh? Wait. Why?”

“I’m going to take a look at Stu’s mana. Aster would be better suited for this, but she’s currently in a bit of a panic.”

“Wait a minute…you can’t be serious! Stepping outside is a death sentence! Do you not see the ground? We can’t interfere with his heroic duties!!!”

“Heroic duties? Why does it matter? I’m only going to take a look for a second. Then, you can just pull me back in. It’ll be easy-peasy!”

Rufus looked at her like she was insane, but he let out a frustrated sigh. “One second, no more. Actually, less than a second. We would be dead in a moment, and we can’t do anything to disrupt his battle.” Has our ‘leader’ turned into a fanatic? she thought. Whatever. I have no reason to disagree. He’s doing better than Aster at least.

“Fair enough.” Ai walked towards the edge of where she thought the barrier was. It wasn’t hard to tell since the floor outside the barrier was already gone. Stu seemed to be hovering in the same spot, which was rather convenient. Wrapping herself in mana, Ai took a deep breath before sticking her head outside the barrier, keeping her eyes trained on Stu.

In that instant, she died.

Or at least, it felt like that.

The pressure coming from Stu and the beast was enough to make Ai lose consciousness. If she had stuck her body outside the barrier, she would’ve actually died. Her mana drained so fast that she couldn’t hold her head out for more than a few seconds. Actually, is it a few seconds? The beast and Stu were moving extremely slowly; Ai’s body moved as though it was stuck in molasses. Had time slowed down? Or was it an illusion? Regardless, Ai knew she should wrap this up quickly.

Ai quickly tried to sense the mana around Stu. It was definitely enough to induce insanity in Aster. He was essentially a pitch black void, impossible to see. She could barely make out the beast’s mana; it was an almost black silhouette against a pitch-black backdrop. It looked like he was the source. Still, something felt off to her.

As if reading her thoughts, Stu stretched out his arm a bit further, moving fluidly within this realm of frozen time. His arm extended just far enough that Ai could make out the edges of his back, something she shouldn’t be able to see his back if the mana emanated from him. That means…

Suddenly, Ai was jerked backwards into the barrier. Time started moving at a normal pace, making her gasp for air. But there was already air within her lungs, so she ended up coughing immediately after. Only a quarter of her mana remained.

Ai looked up and saw an unexpected face. “Are you okay?” Aster had recovered from her bout of insanity…maybe. It was as if her mind had broken completely. Her face was actually expressing emotion now, a bit off-putting to say the least.

“Shut up, Aster,” Ai coughed. “As you can see, I’m fine.”

“Says the woman gasping for air.” That was an unnecessary comment, so Ai glared, which Aster easily brushed off.

“Whatever. I’m pretty sure I know exactly what’s going on with his mana now.” Ai wanted to meet the person who could create something like that and imbue it with so much mana. Who would ever need to use that much mana in their life? Also, why in the world would someone make it look like a chair? Were they an old person or something?

“What’s going on then?” Aster looked to be jumping out of her seat; maybe she was always this expressive.

Ai could only think of four words which perfectly described what she saw:

“The chair is magic.”