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The beam Hein released no longer belonged to the realm of natural phenomena.
It was the physical shape of pure destructive will. The sunlight gathered by a five-kilometer lens surpassed the terawatt range and reached the petawatt level in an instant.
The torrent shot forth at the speed of light, turning the air molecules in its path into plasma in a heartbeat and forming a pillar of scorching fire that linked the heavens and the earth. Had this beam been aimed at a city, tens of thousands of lives would have vanished in a single moment and history itself would have been erased from the map.
Its target was the strange being hovering motionless above the Kingdom of Norn──Prometeor.
Prometeor sensed it.
He did not perceive it through sight or eyes. Each scale covering his body acted as a highly refined sensor and detected the approach of the immense energy aimed at him.
It was an unexpected event for him.
Since descending upon this blue star, every lifeform he encountered had been fragile and could not qualify as his enemy. The frost wyvern, the small creatures writhing beneath him until moments ago, all were insignificant.
But this was different. It was an attack, filled with clear hostility and enough power to threaten his existence.
──Hou.
If Prometeor possessed human expressions, he might have spoken that single word and smiled. That this primitive planet held a being capable of wielding energy comparable to his own kind.
Facing the oncoming comet of ruin, Prometeor slowly moved his massive body. Then he unleashed the power within him.
It was not magic.
It was something far more fundamental, a power entirely separate from the laws of this world.
It was Willpower.
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There are many kinds of ‘power’ in the world, and each has a clear hierarchy.
The most basic and primitive powers are physical strength and intelligence. Lifting heavy objects and solving complex problems. These are powers that follow physical laws and allow living creatures to survive.
But once a creature takes one step beyond that level, it becomes aware of a new kind of power. That is magic power.
Magic power is the earliest form of what could be called the ability to grant wishes. Countless tiny energy particles exist throughout the planet. By gathering them and altering them through processes like conditions, oaths, or incantations, a limited wish can be fulfilled. Creating fire, creating water, flying through the air. By borrowing an external power, people can achieve things that physical strength or intelligence alone can never accomplish. This is what people call magic.
However, magic power has a critical limitation.
Magic power ultimately depends on energy that comes from the planet. Creatures are only drawing on the benefits of the enormous planetary system that surrounds them. It is a power that is extremely local.
And beyond that lies another stage for living beings.
Those who surpass the hierarchy of magic power and travel the vast starry realms wield a different power. That power is willpower.
Willpower differs from magic power, which relies on external energy. It draws upon the user’s own will and the essence of their soul to grant wishes.
It does not pull energy in from outside. Instead, the user reaches into a nearly infinite source that exists within themselves and projects that power into the real world.
Magic commands fire to appear. Willpower defines fire as something that already exists.
It interferes with the laws of physics and reshapes the world into the form the user desires. It is an arrogant and fundamental power. In the boundless stage of the universe, it could be called the only universal form of power.
For Prometeor, a race of interstellar beings, the use of willpower was no different from breathing.
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And now, he used that power for defense.
What Prometeor wished for was isolation. An absolute barrier to shield himself from the incoming energy.
In an instant, the space around Prometeor warped.
A powerful magnetic field formed in response to his will.
The Omega Ray that Hain had unleashed was, at its core, light. In other words, electromagnetic waves. The air that turned into plasma as the beam passed through it was also a mass of charged particles.
The magnetic field Prometeor created was not normal. Its magnetic flux density reached a level hundreds of millions of times stronger than this planet’s geomagnetic field, and it rivaled that of a neutron star. Willpower did not operate on energy exchange. It defined events. That was why such a feat was possible.
This ultra strong magnetic field functioned as a multilayered defense.
The first layer acted on the charged particles at the front of the beam. Charged particles moving through a magnetic field are affected by the Lorentz force. The plasma that had been rushing forward at incredible speed had its path forcibly bent. A magnetic mirror effect also occurred as a result of the field’s gradient, pushing the particles back.
The second layer acted on light itself.
Normally, a magnetic field does not directly influence light. But in an environment with such a strong field, even the vacuum undergoes a change.
According to quantum electrodynamics, an ultra strong magnetic field alters the nature of the vacuum and changes the way light propagates. This is called vacuum birefringence. The magnetic field acts like a lens and even bends the path of light.
Then the two powers collided.
A blinding flash covered the sky. There was no sound. The air that should have carried it had already been blown away.
Petawatt-class energy crashed into the absolute magnetic barrier.
The moment the torrent of light touched the magnetic shield, vacuum birefringence and the Lorentz force altered its trajectory and flung it aside. The diverted beam swept across the distant ice plains and triggered a massive steam explosion.
Energy clashed with energy, and the shock scorched the surrounding space. High energy gamma rays and X-rays burst from the collision point. If any life had existed on the ground, it would have been destroyed at the cellular level in that instant.
The struggle continued for several seconds.
At last the light began to fade. The massive lens Hain had created could no longer hold its structure and started to collapse.
The blazing light that had filled the heavens vanished, leaving behind only a heavy silence.
And at the center of it all stood Prometeor.
Unharmed.
Not a single mark showed on the black scales that covered him. The magnetic shield had completely stopped the Omega Ray.
Prometeor slowly shifted his gaze and fixed his eyes on a small figure floating far away.
The one who had unleashed that overwhelming energy. A tiny lifeform of this planet.
──Interesting.
A clear emotion formed within Prometeor. Surprise and a trace of curiosity.
He no longer saw that being, Hain, as mere food.
He recognized him as an equal or perhaps an even greater enemy.
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「Whatt!?」
I realized the mistake the moment the words left my mouth. It sounded like something a worthless underling would shout when getting taken down. I could not believe I had said it.
But maybe it was unavoidable.
My Omega Ray was one of my proudest creations, a childish game of fire taken to a strategic level. Even if every inferior being on this planet joined powers, none of them could withstand it. I had believed that without doubt.
Yet that damned dragon imitation floated unharmed in the air. Not a single speck of soot marked its black scales.
──Not hurt at all.
The thought slipped out before I could stop it. I had poured more than half of my magic power into that attack. I was not so enlightened that I could stay calm after watching it get blocked so easily.
But I understood a little. In short, this kind of magic will not work.
Then I only needed to change my approach.
Even so, what was it doing?
I frowned. There was no counterattack from it. It only watched me, as if trying to gauge my next move.
「You are observing my moves? Inferior being as expected!」
The words slipped out.
In the height of battle, waiting and watching was the most disgraceful act. You push and push and overwhelm. That was how the strong fought.
It was fear. Not knowing what the opponent would do. Being afraid, so you watch and wait. A cowardly and inferior way of thinking.
I never did that. I crushed my enemies without mercy and then examined their pathetic corpses.
Then I would give it what it wanted. My next move.
I focused my mind and rearranged the particles that made up my body.
──Avatarah Shift.
In an instant, my body lost its structure and transformed into a massless form.
I became wind and shot through the air, taking the position above its head in a single moment. Then I rebuilt my body. Wind turned to flesh with no time for even a blink.
Below me stretched its massive black head. I pulled back my right hand and shaped it into a blade. I focused all of my nerves on a single point and condensed my strength there.
「Sha!」
With a sharp cry I brought my hand down in a blade strike. It was not a simple hand strike. I had added tens of thousands of vibrations in less than the blink of an eye. My target was his skull. This blow would split that grotesque head wide open.
But at the last moment he moved and my hand strike missed the top of his head, its path thrown off. He did not avoid it completely.
My strike cut deep into his left eye.
There was impact, yet it was shallow. His scales were far harder than I had imagined. Steel could not compare.
The dragon-mockery let out a low growl and slowly turned its massive body. With its remaining right eye it glared at me.
──Good spirit.
I gathered my magic power again to move into a follow-up attack. That was when it happened.
He moved. This time not toward me. He moved in the opposite direction.
His speed was astonishing.
In an instant he accelerated and vanished into the distant sky. He moved so fast that he broke free from the chain of the earth, the power that holds all things to this planet.
──He escaped.
I clicked my tongue. Even for me, chasing that thing would be troublesome.
『Avatarara Shift』was a magic that used the principles of particle theory to reconstruct my body into different forms. If this magic allowed me to turn into something far faster than the wind, chasing him would be simple. Unfortunately, I had not yet reached that level.
I was still inexperienced. I could not face Mother like this.
Though this magic had never been created for combat in the first place.
It was a secret art devised so I could become one with Mother. It fused her body and mine at the level of particles so we could become one in the truest sense. I wanted to feel Mother’s warmth, her very existence, down to each cell. That desperate wish had shaped this magic.
Yet once created it proved useful for many things, so it had become quite convenient.
At any rate.
He ran. He feared my strike.
That meant this battle was my victory. With that conclusion, I began to descend. Below, the inferior beings were still running around in confusion. It was a laughable sight.
Now then, I should return to Mother at once. There was no reason to remain here.
……Ah, right, I forgot about Feri.
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