Chapter 34 Sacrifice Magic

Her mana exploded. The very air cracked as the temperature spiked. The shattered steel shards around her transmuted, their molecular structure breaking and reforging under immense pressure and heat.

The Man paused, "Oh? A forced breakthrough? Not that's... impressive."

Mirai lunged with a single, focused spear of tungsten, moving at hypersonic speeds. It screeched against his invisible barrier, throwing off sparks hotter than Enji's flames, actually making the barrier visible for a split second as it strained.

But the gap was still too vast. He sidestepped the next lunge and delivered a final, open-handed blow to her chest. The sound was like a bomb going off. The tungsten battle dress constructs shattered. Mirai was thrown back, her body slamming into the wall, collapsing, unconscious.

The Man in the Raincoat looked at his hat. A tiny hole was punched through it.

"Tungsten. Tier-3 magic. A good effort, Miss R.R. I'll be sure to wear thicker hat next time."

Shota knelt, holding Mirai's broken hand, his whole world narrowed to her shattered form. A raw, guttural scream tore from his throat, aimed at the villain.

"You bastard! You'll pay for what you did to her!"

The shadows on his face curl into a smirk.

"And what did you expect, kid? I'm a villain. It's what I do. But don't you worry, you'll be joining her soon."

He took a step forward, darkness gathering in his palm, ready to extinguish the last flicker of Shota's life.

A shout echoed across the ruined field.

"HEY YOU! PARODY OF A SCARY HORROR MOVIE FASHION-STYLE KNOCK-OFF VILLAIN!"

The Man paused, turning slowly.

Enji was standing. He was a horrific sight, soaked in blood. His right arm was a mutilated, useless ruin, bones clearly visible through the torn flesh and fabric. But he was on his feet, his eyes burning with a light even brighter than his flames.

"HEATOBURSTO-SAMA IS STILL ON THE STAGE, GOD DAMN IT! THIS IS MY SPOTLIGHT, TRASH! IT'S TIME TO SHOW YOU A PERFORMANCE YOUR SORRY ASS WILL NEVER FORGET!"

With a final, agonized scream that was half rage, half torment, Enji grabbed his ruined arm. He took a deep breath, and with a sickening tear of muscle and a crack of bone, he ripped it clean off his shoulder.

The Man in the Raincoat watched, head tilted. He didn't look impressed or horrified. He let out a low, mocking whistle. 

"Whoa there, hothead. Losing your cool and an arm? You know you're gonna need that later, right? Talk about a catastrophic temper tantrum. You know, most people just count to ten. But hey, whatever works for you, I guess. Going for the 'disarmed and dangerous' look?"

Enji threw his head back, shouting at the sky, before looking back at the villain, his face twisted with pure, unadulterated fury.

"SACRIFICE MAGIC!"

The Man slowly moved up in the air as if getting a better view.

"Whoa, hold on there, champ. Let's not get hasty now. I know the sacrifice magic is powerful, but I'm pretty sure returns and exchanges on body parts have a strict no-refund policy."

 Enji ignored mockery and chanted, "All mighty flame! I offer you my flesh and blood! In return, grant me the power to burn the universe! ATOMIC FURNACE FLAME!"

He threw his own severed arm into the air. It didn't fall. It hung there for a moment, then burst into a brilliant, searing blue flame. The blue flame condensed, compressed, and then… it changed. The color shifted, deepening into a beautiful, terrifying, cosmic pink.

The Pink Flame. The same power Shota had once unleashed.

The ball of pink fire pulsed with unimaginable energy. Enji's remaining fist ignited with the same otherworldly pink fire. He pulled it back.

"PINK FLAME GALAXY BEAAAAAAM!"

He punched forward. A thick, continuous beam of pure pink energy, screamed across the space between them. It wasn't just heat; it was annihilation. The air itself vaporized in its path, leaving a temporary vacuum.

The Man's mocking posture vanished. For the first time, his voice held a note of genuine alarm.

"Whoa there, hot stuff! Now that's a surprise! You managed to unlock the Pink Flame? Looks like you're cooking with bacon now. Guess I should've brought marshmallows. But don't think I'm just going to stand still and take the hit. That's not really my style." 

He tried to move, to blur out of the way as he had before.

He couldn't.

He looked down, shocked. His feet were encased in solid blue barrier blocks, locking him to the spot. He was trapped.

He looked over at Shota. The boy was on one knee, one hand still on Mirai, the other outstretched, trembling with the effort of holding the world's most powerful villain in place for just one second.

"Oh, you little shit. You just had to—" the Man snarled.

His words were cut off.

The Beam hit him dead center.

The world turned white. Then pink.

There was no sound. For a moment, there was only light. Then, the sound came. A dome of pink energy expanded outwards, swallowing everything. The ruined buildings nearby didn't just collapse; they turned to dust and then to nothing. The evening sky over Tokyo lit up as if the sun had been reborn, bleaching the darkness in an instant. The dark clouds evaporated. Every drop of moisture on the street vanished in a wave of impossible heat.

The pink light faded, leaving a terrifying silence. The air sizzled. A massive, smooth crater stretched out where the beam had hit. In the center, a column of superheated smoke and dust rose into the air.

Enji collapsed. His body hit the ground. All his strength, his fire, his very life, was spent. He had given everything. He didn't even have the energy to lift his head.

Then, a laugh.

It was a low, genuine chuckle that grew into a full, appreciative laugh. It came from the smoke.

A hand swiped from within the smoke cloud, and the gesture created a gust of wind that blew the smoke and dust away in an instant.

The Man in the Raincoat stood there.

He was unharmed.

His coat wasn't even burned. He had simply held up the back of his right hand. His glove was gone, burned off, his hand smoking faintly. A faint burned mark was on his skin. He had stopped Enji's sacrificial, universe-burning pink flame galaxy beam… with the back of his hand.

He looked at the tiny burn, then at the collapsed Enji, and laughed again.

"Truly impressed. Now that is a talent. Pink flame at such a young age… what a prodigy. I thought the girl was impressive, but you… you even managed to surprise me. Magnificent. You even managed to inflict damage on me. Minor as it is, you still managed it."

He looked at the three of them—Mirai broken, Enji unconscious, Shota desperate. A strange, almost wistful tone entered his voice.

"And here I thought this age, this generation, would not produce any real Pro Wizards. I thought that the greatness of the Pro Wizards ended with the Witch Queen. Yes, she was the best. The strongest I have ever faced. Now, no one even comes close to that greatness. But seeing you three… I can tell you could be formidable Pro Wizards, given time."

He sighed. It was a sound of genuine regret.

"It's such a shame... that you will not see the day when your full potential blossoms."

He raised his hand again, darkness beginning to swirl. 

To make the situation even worse, kaiju showed up. The ground shook with a monstrous STOMP. One of the S-tier Lava Golems, drawn by the immense energy of the pink flame, loomed over the ruins. It raised a colossal, molten foot, preparing to crush the entire area.

Dripping globs of lava, each the size of a car, rained down towards Shota and his fallen teammates.

There was no time to think. No time for fear. Shota threw his hands up, a wide, thin barrier snapped into existence above them against the raining fire. The lava splashed against it, sizzling and smoking.

The Man watched this final, desperate act of protection. He gave a final, slight nod.

"Farewell!"

Shota’s arms trembled, holding the barrier above them. He was at his limit. The grey static in his vision was closing in, and the only colors left were the terrifying orange of the lava and the deep red of Mirai’s blood.

Inside his mind, Lycoris spoke.

"Shota-chan… I… I am so sorry. This is my mistake. A fatal error in judgment. Trapped inside you, I have no true mana sense of the outside world. I could not feel the depth of his power. I thought he was strong, but not… this.

I should have taken control. I should have used your body, merged with you, and faced him myself the moment he appeared. And now… now you have spent almost everything. There is not enough mana left for me to even manifest for a single second. I cannot help you. I have failed you, I'm sorry."

“It’s… not your fault, Miss Lycoris, I was the one… who got ahead of myself. I got a little stronger… learned a few tricks… and thought I could actually do something. I was… careless. I should have… been more careful.”