Mogage VS Mage

Mogage—the strange magic-absorbing metal. Its existence was apparently shrouded in mystery even in this world, but it apparently could be mined in the mountains that bordered the kingdom.

It was brittle so I had to treat it carefully, but by placing a cut-off chunk on Tarisha’s tip I was able to fashion her into an anti-magic sword. Since she was indestructible in the first place, it made her the perfect weapon to be used against the master mage Three.

As yet another meteor approached us, I thrust Tarisha again to fully absorb both heat and flames, completely nullifying the attack.

A few more explosions resounded before the attack ended, leaving behind only silence.

“Hmph. I suppose it makes sense you got some to use against me,” mumbled Three, but did not sound worried at all. He even lowered himself again. “But… really, Saga? Do you really think I don’t have any—”

Now that he relaxed his guard a little, I leapt into action, immediately throwing Tarisha at him yet again.

“Using a sword like a spear really shouldn’t be allowed…”

Knowing there was a mogage chunk on the tip, Three obviously wasn’t going to just receive the attack, but he also made no rush for the skies or anything like that.

Instead, he just aimed a light cantrip at the side of the sword. It caused it to spin out of control and away, deflecting the attack.

But I didn’t give up so easily. Resummoning Tarisha into my hand, I threw her yet again.

This did seem to sour Three’s expression.

“Very well, then… let me show you the weakness of mogage, stupid girl!” he now raised both hands and shot a jet of flames right at us.

Having a bad feeling about this, I resummoned the sword to be held in front of me. Three subtly moved the flamethrower while shooting it, perhaps trying to catch me off guard, but I moved Tarisha accordingly and the flames ended up flowing into the metal.

More and more flowed inside… more and more, until…

Noticing Three’s smile that betrayed his purpose, I let the sword go and leapt back, also tackling Mana who was standing there for a while and doing nothing but goggle at our fight.

There was the sound of something crumbling and the small piece of mogage burst into pieces like glass. Three’s flamethrower kept going, uninterrupted, although he stopped it once we got away, then erupted in laughter.

“Were you not aware that even mogage has limits? The smaller the fragment, the less magic it can take in.”

We actually didn’t know this. Was this something Jarred had neglected to mention, or was he just as unaware?

If it was possible to overwhelm mogage by casting powerful enough magic, perhaps it was less effective as a counter against Three than I thought…

“Well?” asked Three, a sly smile spreading over his lips. “Got any other tricks?”

As a matter of fact, I did.

I pulled out another fragment of mogage from my pocket and installed it on top of Tarisha like before. That caused Three’s expression to form a frown again.

“Seriously? You have more? I hope you don’t think this is going to turn into a war of attrition. I assure you I have enough energy to spare.”

Unfortunately, this was probably not empty boasting.

According to Mana herself, drinking the potion of immortality gave them an almost infinite pool of energy to draw from. This combined with Three’s expertise would mean we couldn’t draw out this fight, especially if he became serious.

But this didn’t mean I was completely powerless.

And there was another secret about mogage we did figure out. I glanced at Mana and nodded. She bit her lips in response and nodded back.

I took a few steps back to give myself a running start, then dashed again.

“Have you ever heard about the definition of madness?” Three said, sounding bored. “Why would you keep…”

His words trailed off as a door materialized right in front of me and swung open, revealing a light-outlined portal that connected to another place. I leapt inside before Three could do anything.

“But the mogage?!” I heard him crying from below me.

Without him noticing, a second door opened up in the sky above him and I dropped from there, using my fall to thrust the sword down with all of my power.

He gasped and moved out of the way, but not quickly enough. Tarisha’s mogage-tipped blade tore through the defensive barrier and then slashed his chest. It also cancelled his levitation spell and made both of us fall down.

I intended to use this opportunity to soften my landing and stab his heart once and for all, but with a frantic wave of his hand Three shot a few spheres of light that hit my body just enough to push me away.

I landed on my legs like a cat while he crashed.

“You bitch… you BITCH!” he shouted, blood pouring from his mouth.

Not giving him a moment to rest, I leapt for another attack, but the ground between us suddenly burst and swelled, forming a wall that separated me from him.

Clicking my tongue, I stabbed the wall, but just absorbing the magic from it didn’t make it crumble or anything; apparently once he shaped the ground, it didn’t count as an active spell anymore.

Instead I rushed to the other side, but what I feared happened—Three rose into the air again and although his fancy clothes were now ruined by blood, his body also emitted a faint glow. He was clearly healing himself.

“You fucking bitch,” he hissed at me while rising. “How did you do that!”

He was probably referring to my teleportation trick.

It wasn’t that complex, really.

Just because something was made through magic didn’t mean that mogage would completely negate it. Just like he himself showed me just now.

Mana’s magic could open doors that connected time and space—creating a portal.

But the portal itself was no more than a shortcut. It would have been a different story if I stabbed the glowing outline or the door itself, but simply passing through the door with some mogage in hand wouldn’t stop the mechanism, although Mana thought it might cause a slight distortion.

It worked just like we wanted to, but unfortunately my surprise attack still struck short. Three remained alive.

In all likelihood, if I didn’t kill him in one or two hits, he would simply regenerate himself—and if he felt too cornered, he would unleash his full powers.

Even when he shot those meteors, he was still toying with us. That might no longer be the case.

There was now a nasty look in his eyes. It glinted with a dangerous light, making him look even eerier while covered in all that blood—so I might have pushed him too far.

“I’m growing sick of this fight,” he spat. “I think it’s time to kill Mana.”