Chapter 27
Whirrr.
The sound of the ACU embedded in Toph’s nape reverberated through the room.
At the same time, Toph disappeared.
No.
It only looked as though he had disappeared.
Kael’s eyes swiftly swept across his surroundings.
To the left?
Or the right?
No, straight ahead.
“…!”
He was already too late.
Toph had reached Kael in the blink of an eye.
A black-alloy fist flew toward his face.
Kael tightened his fingers around the Tier 1 ACU in his hand and crushed it.
Snap.
The ACU’s outer casing shattered.
The refined mana trapped inside scattered for a very brief moment.
Kael’s desiccated mana circuit began to absorb it.
Fortificatio Corporis
[Body Enhancement]
With an extremely brief incantation, mana seeped into his muscles and bones.
As Kael twisted his body, Toph’s fist passed directly in front of him.
However, he did not evade it completely.
Boom!
The fist clipped Kael’s shoulder, and the impact alone sent his body sliding sideways.
Kael dug his toes into the metal floor to keep from rolling across it.
With a screeching scrape, he barely regained his balance.
His shoulder was hot.
Pain throbbed as though the flesh beneath his skin had been torn.
‘Faster than Pale.’
He reached that conclusion immediately.
Pale had been a conventional mage, so Kael could interrupt him whenever he saw an opening.
But Toph was different.
This guy moved his body first instead of using magic.
The ACU’s role was closer to assisting and accelerating those movements, and amplifying their impact.
It was less like a mage casting spells and more like a mechanical beast charging in with magic layered over it.
Toph laughed at the sight of Kael.
“The way your eyes are darting around, I guess you’ve got something up your sleeve.”
When a line of blood ran down from Kael’s shoulder, Toph saw it and lifted the corner of his mouth.
“I’m not like some ordinary Tier 6 nobody.”
His ACU began to vibrate more violently.
Vrrrrr.
A red glow spread along the circuits.
Toph’s left eye burned red.
“I’ve always been a physical fighter at heart, you see.”
Before he had finished speaking, he moved again.
This time, he was faster.
All that remained in Kael’s vision was Toph’s afterimage.
Kael leaned backward and pushed the trajectory of the attack aside with his palm.
Rather than taking the impact head-on, he redirected it by changing its angle.
But even that made his wrist ring painfully.
Bang!
A metal pillar crumpled.
Bang!
The floor was smashed apart, leaving a large hole.
Crunch!
When his fist grazed Kael’s side, a dull pain rose from around his ribs.
Kael drew in a short breath.
Toph did not stop attacking.
“What’s wrong, hero? Tired already?”
Front, right, behind, left, then front again.
“You’re good at dodging.”
By now, the Black Ring members nearby had retreated.
This was not a fight they could interfere in.
All they could see was Toph’s red afterimage and the black mask barely holding on amid it.
Toph’s hearty laughter echoed through the room.
“Magic is just a side benefit.”
When he clenched and unclenched his right hand, tiny electrical arcs leaped between each metal knuckle.
“I prefer blowing things up with my body.”
Instead of answering, Kael steadied his breathing.
He had felt Toph’s fighting style firsthand—more than enough to find it exhausting.
‘I should consider him a warrior, not a mage.’
A warrior equipped with a high-tier ACU.
A monster who replaced his body with cyberware and used magic as an auxiliary device.
If so, his response had to change as well.
The moment the tips of his feet pushed against the floor.
The slight delay just before the cyberware unleashed its strength.
He had to see that opening.
Toph lowered his stance again, then slammed his right foot into the floor.
‘Here he comes.’
Toph’s body disappeared.
‘Straight ahead.’
His hand went into his pocket.
He gripped the second Tier 1 ACU, then.
Snap.
Fortificatio Corporis
[Body Enhancement]
Kael directed the enhanced strength into his toes before his arms and planted his feet.
He lowered his knees, rotated his waist, and clenched his fist.
As Toph’s black metal fist flew toward him, Kael’s fist flew out as well.
Snap.
Ictus
[Heavy Strike]
At that moment, the two fists collided.
Kwaaang!
The shockwave burst outward, shaking the entire logistics center.
The windows around them shattered simultaneously.
Craaack!
Fragments poured down like rain.
The Black Ring members screamed and ducked.
As dust rose, the metal floor sank inward.
Kael’s arm trembled.
His bones creaked, the skin on the back of his hand tore, and blood sprayed.
Toph’s fist also came to a halt, electricity leaping between his black-alloy fingers.
Then he began to laugh excitedly like a child.
“Oh. You took it? You’re the first person to take my punch head-on. But how did you do that? With that lump of meat?”
“….”
“Not going to talk, huh? It’s fun making guys like you open their mouths, too.”
***
The boy had loved stories since he was little.
More precisely, he had lived by leaning on stories rather than simply liking them.
For a child born in Grave Rock Block, the world had been narrow from the very beginning.
The world Rio knew was different from that of children in other districts.
But while his parents were alive, night had not been quite so frightening.
His father told him stories every night before bed.
A hero who saved people in the darkness.
A hero who passed through a black forest on his way to the Demon King’s castle.
A knight who flew through the sky.
A hunter who defeated an evil mage.
His mother stroked Rio’s head as she listened to those stories.
“There will be people like that someday.”
His mother said with a smile.
“People who appear at the hardest moments and save someone.”
Rio believed those words.
He wanted to believe them.
But the world betrayed Rio’s faith.
It was the night the Black Ring took control of the district.
Rio could not remember everything from that day.
But a few things were still vivid.
The sound of the door breaking down and his father’s shout.
His mother’s arms pulling him and his sister into an embrace.
And the sound of something exploding.
His parents never came back after that day.
Rio’s legs stopped moving properly as well.
People said,
You were just unlucky enough to get caught up in the Black Ring’s business.
But Rio knew it had not happened simply because they were unlucky.
He knew it was something powerful people had done as they pleased.
People who installed ACUs and hurt others however they wanted simply because they could use magic.
That was why Rio hated mages.
The mages in books were all beings of light.
They saved people, flew through the sky, and defeated monsters.
But mages in real life were different.
That was why Rio could not let go of hero stories.
There had to be someone somewhere.
Someone who would appear at the hardest moment and save someone.
That was the strength that allowed Rio to endure.
Even when his legs would not move.
Even when his sister returned from work late at night and smiled with an exhausted face.
Rio believed.
That a hero would appear someday.
And he thought he had finally met one recently.
He had heard that someone wearing a black mask appeared every night to defeat villains.
Rio thought he was a real hero.
But.
Now he could do nothing.
The passage outside the logistics center.
Rio sat in his wheelchair, listening to the explosive booms coming from far away.
Bang!
The walls shook, and dust and ash cascaded from the ceiling.
From inside came a jumble of screams, curses, and the clanging of metal.
Rio gripped the wheelchair wheels with both hands.
He knew he had to run.
Because that was what the big brother he called a hero had told him.
“Get out.”
But he hated that his legs would not move.
It had been the same when his sister was surrounded by gangsters.
He had been unable to do anything except shout.
And even now….
The hero had come to save him, yet once again, he could do nothing.
Rio clenched his teeth.
“Damn it….”
It was then.
Kwaaang!
The wall collapsed, and metal panels and chunks of concrete burst outward like an explosion.
Rio instinctively raised his arms to shield his face.
As dust and debris poured down, a black shadow flew through them.
Thud!
The black-masked man rolled across the floor and stopped in front of Rio.
It was the hero.
His clothes were torn, blood flowed from his shoulder and the back of his hand, and dust covered his mask as well.
Rio’s face turned deathly pale at the sight of him.
“B-Big brother!”
The man braced himself on one knee and slowly stood.
“Hoo.”
Rio tried to move his wheelchair closer.
“Are you all right? Big brother, you’re really okay, right?”
The man looked at Rio but said nothing for a moment.
“….”
He muttered quietly.
“What the hell is all this.”
He reached into his clothes and gripped something.
Then he tightened his fingers.
Crack.
Something broke.
At that moment.
Vrrrrrrrrr!
Something blue and silver began flowing through the air and enveloping both him and Rio.
Like the universe in a book.
Then it began to be absorbed into the man’s body.
“A-Are you really all right?”
“….”
Toph was walking out from beyond the collapsed wall.
He was brushing off the dust with a smile.
“You’re holding out longer than I expected.”
The ACU in Toph’s nape glowed red.
“Have you shown me everything you’ve got now?”
The man raised his head.
A faint blue light began to bloom from within his eyes.
“No.”
He slowly stood up.
“We’re only getting started.”
At that moment, the air changed.
Rio felt it. Something had changed. Toph seemed to feel it too, because the smile disappeared from his face.
Then, like a scene he had only ever seen in books, light rose into the air.
The man raised his hand and curled his fingers as if grabbing Toph.
Vinculum Gravitatis
[Gravity Bind]
As soon as he said it, Toph’s body was slammed straight down.
Kwang!
The metal floor caved in, and both of Toph’s knees buckled.
His eyes widened.
“What…?”
It felt as though an enormous invisible hand were pressing down on his shoulders.
Toph tried to move, but his metal legs only scraped against the floor.
The ACU burned redder than ever.
Vrrrrrrrr!
Even so, he could not raise his body, and he gritted his teeth.
“You son of a…!”
Rio watched the scene blankly.
Magic.
It was definitely magic.
With a single gesture from the man, Toph had been slammed into the ground.
At that moment, Rio’s heart went cold.
The black-masked hero—his big brother—had been a mage after all.
The person he had trusted. The person he had wanted to trust.
Was he, too, ultimately the same kind of person as those he hated?
Even knowing he shouldn’t, Rio was about to feel disappointed.
No, he was already disappointed.
Then the hero spoke.
“Look closely.”
Rio raised his head.
The man was looking at Toph, but he seemed to be speaking to Rio.
“That isn’t magic.”
Toph angrily snapped at his words.
“What?!”
As the man slowly opened his hand, blue mana lines rose around him.
Circles, letters, and fragments of light.
Light flowed like a living river.
“So he can’t be called a mage.”
The man’s voice was calm.
“Magic isn’t that.”
He lightly snapped his fingers.
Lumen
[Light]
Small orbs of light bloomed in midair.
Starlike lights rose inside the dark logistics center.
The light reflected off broken glass and metal walls, illuminating the sky.
Rio held his breath.
Because it was a scene he had only ever seen in illustrations in books.
The man moved his hand again.
Ventus
[Wind]
The dust scattered in every direction, and a refreshing breeze blew.
It brushed Rio’s face and was strangely warm.
Toph remained pinned down, still gritting his teeth.
“Are you kidding me…?”
The man looked at him and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. No.”
The blue mana lines gathered again at the man’s fingertips.
“I’m teaching you what true magic is.”
Toph’s face twisted.
“To whom?!”
Instead of answering, the man lightly tapped the floor with his toe.
Manus Terrae
[Hand of Earth]
Chunks of broken concrete and metal fragments shifted, gathering beneath his feet to form a giant hand.
The hand seized Toph’s arm and fixed it even more firmly to the floor.
Crack!
Toph’s metal arm creaked.
“Graaah…!”
Rio watched the scene with his eyes wide.
It was magic.
The hateful magic that had taken away the things most precious to him.
Was now creating scenes straight out of fairy tales.
At that moment, the man raised a finger.
Snap, snap.
He lightly snapped his fingers twice.
Then a small orb of light appeared in front of Toph.
The moment he saw it, Toph instinctively twisted his body.
“What is this…?!”
The man did not answer.
Before long, the orb of light clung to Toph’s chest.
In an instant, Toph’s body was pulled upward.
“Huh?”
There was no longer any trace of a smile on Toph’s face.
His metal legs scraped the floor as he struggled to resist the magic.
But it was useless.
An invisible force seized him whole and lifted him, and Toph’s body slowly rose into the air.
As though he might touch the clouds in the sky.
None of the Black Ring members could move.
Rio lifted his head and watched.
The monster of Grave Rock, the mage who had trampled people.
The Black Ring boss who had made his sister cry and kidnapped him.
That Toph was now dangling in midair, struggling.
As the man slowly raised his hand, lines of light shot out from his fingertips.
Small points of light like yellow flames curled in a circle around Toph.
Rio held his breath at the beautiful sight.
Toph ground his teeth and shouted.
“Put me down, you bastard!”
The man tilted his head slightly and merely said,
“The finale.”
Then he spoke a short incantation.
Ignis Florens
[Blooming Flame]
At that moment.
The lines of light wrapped around Toph surged upward.
Kwaaang!
At the sound of the explosion, Rio instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
But neither scorching heat nor sharp fragments came.
Instead.
Fwoooosh!
Light bloomed overhead, and blue and silver flames painted the night sky through the broken ceiling of the logistics center.
The flames blossomed like flowers.
Dozens of streams of light burst in the darkness, scattered, and fell again like tiny stars.
The shards of broken glass caught the light and glittered.
Toph’s scream was drowned out by the sound of fireworks.
His body was flung through the air and slammed into the metal framework inside the logistics center.
Kwang!
The enormous crash rang out belatedly, but Rio’s eyes remained fixed on the sky.
Magical fireworks blooming in the night sky.
The scene where, after the hero defeated the Demon King in the book, fireworks exploded above the castle.
It resembled that scene.
No.
It was more vivid than the illustration.
He could not speak.
The magic he had hated.
The power that had taken his parents away.
Was now decorating the night sky beautifully.
Just.
As though it had been shown just for Rio.
As if to show Rio that magic could do things like this, too.
As the man slowly lowered his hand, the blue mana lines floating around him faded away.
The flames beyond the shattered ceiling went out one by one as well.
Rio gripped the wheelchair handles tightly, looked at the man, and muttered softly.
“…Really.”
His voice trembled.
“Real magic….”