The Book Eating Magician

――――――――――!!

Theodore’s fire fist hit the ground, blowing out the surrounding air. Simultaneously… the wind moved faster than sound and clashed with the vacuum. It wasn’t something that a human’s physical abilities could cope with, and Theodore was knocked down by the clash of magic. Who would be able to tell that this fearful confrontation was just an ‘exploration?’

‘The power and speed are greater than those of a sword master, while the durability is dragon level.’

It was an absurd force that made Theodore take one step back. The wind demon’s pattern of movement itself was similar to Veronica’s, but the movement and force of the wind were unpredictable. It was hard to grasp the rhythm, so a frontal confrontation was stupid.

Kkuok.

However, Theodore raised his fists and faced it head-on.

Fairy Dance’s Direct Transmission.

Hand Counterattack Technique.

Left Palm Lone Peak.

He read the timing precisely and stretched out his left hand toward the wind demon. Then the direction of the shockwave shifted. Originally, this attack should’ve hit Theodore directly and thrown him back. However, despite hitting an empty space, the shockwave still ended up shattering rocks dozens of meters away. It was a fearsome power that couldn’t be ignored.

‘Gotcha.’ Theodore didn’t shrink back. It was impossible to escape from the range of the wind demon.

Instead, he aimed for the monster’s body with his burning red left hand. Theodore wasn’t trying to beat it with his hands. Martial arts might be a part of him, but Theodore Miller was a magician in the end.

‘Blaze Chain.’ Flames in the form of chains emerged, and the thickness of the chains made of Muspelheim’s flames was thicker than the large line of a mast. This was the true ability of the second phase of Forced Harmonization. Beyond integrating magic with the body, it was the power to manipulate completed magic like it was his own body.

『 What, a human can control flames...? 』

There was a vacuum, but the flames didn’t collapse. Muspelheim’s flames were unrelated to the combustion process. The wind demon saw through the essence of it and retreated in panic. Normal flames could be turned off by a vacuum, and it would be enough to blow them away with wind. However, the wind demon had to avoid this fire as much as possible. Instincts awoke inside the wind demon.

Kuooooh!

It used the wind to push its body in the opposite direction in order to escape the chains coming from every direction. In the midst of its escape, some of the wind demon’s flesh was peeled off by the flames, but that was a cheap price. Of course, Theodore had no intention of ending it with this much.

“Do you think I will let you leave so easily?”

These were flames that blazed well without combustion. However, if they came into contact with the atmosphere, they would be no different from ordinary flames. Theodore used the red flames to aim at the wind demon’s back at a terrifying speed. It was an accelerated flight which used a method that was even more ignorant than the one Veronica had used.

Reading the path of the wind demon’s escape, Theodore reached out with his right hand.

Firefly.

Chain Bomber.

Something similar to small bugs emerged from his burning fingertips. Of course, the movements weren’t slow. They moved ahead on the path of the wind demon that Theodore had predicted. Then the ‘fireflies’ played their role.

Ku kwa kwa kwang! There was a big explosion.

The contrast between their cute appearance and the power of the explosion was like the difference between the sky and the earth. The clouds split from the rising pressure, and some of the surfaces on the ground melted, turning into lava. The trail of Muspelheim fire, which was several times hotter than ordinary flames, was intense.

『 Y-You! You, youuuuuu―! 』 The wind demon soon emerged from the fiery hell.

Its scaly and leather body had been distorted to an extent that it was difficult to recognize. However, it hadn’t lost its strength. Theodore increased his evaluation of the wind demon by two stages.

“I’ll admit that you are quite tough.” Theodore looked at the wind demon and laughed coldly. It had survived an attack that Theodore thought was a kill shot. However, that was all.

『 H-Human! A lowly human is looking down on me! 』 The wind demon became furious at Theodore, who couldn’t hide his derision.

Although the wind demon might not be able to win, it couldn’t endure this derision. There wasn’t a single piece of its human self left, but the upper species simply couldn’t bear this humiliation. The descendant of the extinct wind demon clan was ready to run wild. If it used up all its vitality to control the wind, it would be able to crush this cheeky human.

『 Look! Feel awe! This is the last of the great wind god! 』

If all the winds were gathered together, wouldn’t this area be devastated...?

『...What? 』

The wind demon’s call didn’t work. Then the wind demon looked down at the enemy with a puzzled expression. There wasn’t a problem with itself, so it felt the problem must be due to the enemy. The wind demon guessed right.

Theodore opened his mouth with a smile, “Do you think you are the only one with the privilege to control the wind?”

That’s right. It wasn’t possible to use it well in everyday life, but Theodore’s body contained the divinity of the wind god, Aiolos. Now that Theodore had become transcendent, it was simple to awaken the divinity and take away the dominance of the wind. The reason he hadn’t used this method right from the beginning was to test stage two of Forced Harmonization.

“Well, thanks for letting me play. I was able to loosen up my body.”

After feeling like it had played in the palm of Theodore’s hand, the wind demon muttered, 『...You, are you really human? 』

“Yes, just like you were once.” Then Theodore didn’t say anything more. There was no need, and he didn’t want to talk to a monster that wasn’t human. A huge fire fist appeared.

『――――――――――――!!! 』

The wind demon was in despair, but Theodore’s fist didn’t stop until it was dead. It was burned by Muspelheim’s flames and crushed by the high pressure. This was a destruction technique that even a youkai couldn’t avoid. It was a formidable attack that Theodore devised on the spot—a destructive magic which blocked the possibility of the wind demon running away using the wind.

Soon after, the moving fist became quiet.

“Is it dead?”

As the fire fist opened up to its palm, a handful of grey ash powder fell to the ground. It was the futile end of the idiot who had tried to fight Theodore. Theodore let go of Forced Harmonization and went over the battle again.

‘It was nothing for me. Veronica would struggle for a while before catching the pattern. It is also the case with Aquilo.’

Theodore had been experimenting, but the wind demon had been quite strong. Its physical ability had been like that of a sword master, and it had magic power equivalent to a 7th Circle magician. However, it had lacked practical experience and hadn’t known how to complement its weaknesses.

Orta, Sylvia, Randolph, and Titania might have a hard time if they hadn’t known its identity.

“Tsk, things are becoming more troublesome. These guys might come out to interfere if I use space movement, and I can’t kill them all...”

The wind demon was easy to take down, but the other upper species were still unknown. What if there was a monster whose strength was comparable to a transcendent? It was more efficient to fly with lightning than to risk space movement.

“It is a bit less than 800 kilometers in the southeast... I’ve moved quite far. Perhaps those who can interfere with space movement are rare.”

Theodore checked the position of Tsuchimikado Castle and moved through the air. After becoming a transcendent, the duration of becoming lightning wasn’t as burdensome as it had been before. If it wasn’t in a combat situation, then he could probably last one day like this?

It was difficult to think of a means better than Lightning when it came to merely moving at high speed.

Pajijik. Shortly after that, Theodore turned to lightning and crossed the sky.

* * *

The most secretive place in Tsuchimikado Castle, Japan, was a shrine which contained intact records from ancient times.

A woman stood quietly in front of Seimei’s tablet. “...It is an unusual day.”

The white and red cloth, which was different from the uniform of the onmyōji, this woman wore proved that she was a miko (shrine maiden). Born as a human, living as a vessel of the gods… For the sake of their mission, the mikos were people whose lives were like dandelions. The 13th Seimei’s miko, Suzuka, was such a person.

She rose slowly from her seat without disturbing her skirt and looked at the divine artifacts next to her: a great tachi which seemed to be around 1.6 meters in length; a stone mirror which didn’t shine even though it was smoothly wiped; and eight jewels which were sewn on a string like a necklace.

They were the great artifacts which had never found a master after Seimei’s death.

The three sacred artifacts from old traditions—those who weren’t qualified couldn’t own the artifacts and those who had an evil mentality were burned when touching them. She didn’t know how many swordsmen and shamans had turned to ashes because of the artifacts.

“Why?” Suzuka tucked the hair like a night sky behind her ear and looked at the three artifacts with strange eyes.

She couldn’t tell from the outset, but she quickly realized something. Even Suzuka, who had inherited the role of the miko, couldn’t touch the artifacts except for when wiping off the dust, but she had just noticed that the surfaces of the artifacts were currently shaking slightly.

“May the great Seimei reveal the way,” she prayed with palms raised in a sense of reverence. It was a prayer that never had any meaning.

Yet this time, a voice came back after her prayer, [Oh, you are the present miko?]

“――――.”

[I don’t know whose descendant you are. Still, it is nice that you haven’t forgotten your origins. You pass,] the voice that Suzuka thought was a hallucination continued speaking. [Young miko, the man who will be the owner of the three artifacts will soon come to you. Give him my legacy and guide him to the great youkai sealed in Mount Inunaki.]

“...S-Seimei?”

[Are you still surprised? You are a bit dull.]

The voice was different from what Suzuka had imagined, but there was an undeniable weight to it.

Abe no Seimei was a great hero who had established the framework of Japan and calmed the continent where monsters were flocking, making a place where people could live. There were no records of him in other kingdoms, but in Japan, his name was equivalent to a god’s.

Was this truly the voice of Abe no Seimei? The confused Suzuka couldn’t answer.

[If you are uncertain, call me in front of him. You should know what to do as a miko?]

“Ah, yes! I know, Founder!”

[Yes. I will see you soon, kid.]

As Seimei spoke for the last time, Suzuka seemed to lose her soul. She heard the voice of Founder Seimei, and the owner of the three artifacts would soon appear... Suzuka was a miko, but anyone would think she was crazy if she said these to them. However, she didn’t have much time to settle down.

“M-Miko! It is serious! Miko Suzu―!” The urgent voices coming from outside the shrine were getting closer.