The second encounter (3)

When Marsha fired Sound Cannon again, Shirone pressed both hands against his ears. At this moment, no magic was more effective than covering his ears.

"Uaaargh!"

However, Shirone's expectations were not met.

A Sound Cannon of a different power level than he had seen before pierced the back of his hand. If he hadn't covered his ears, it would have burst his eardrums.

"Ha, you're underestimating me too much. Even if I couldn't attend the academy, I know how to do sequential equations."

Marsha might not be a graduate of the Mage Society's magic academy, but she's also a veteran who has defeated numerous mages. It's not an exaggeration to say she acquired important theories through experience.

"Banshee's scream."

When Marsha vibrated her Spiritual Zone, a strange, elongated sound filled the room.

Shirone jumped to his feet, afraid of the sudden phenomenon. He couldn't see. It was as if the world had darkened, as if ink had spilled over his retina.

'What is this? What kind of magic is this?'

Sound mages travel the world collecting various sounds. Among them, the Banshee is a humanoid monster that lives in mountainous areas and has a female upper body.

It emits a unique high-frequency sound to blind its prey and devour it, and Marsha uses sound magic to mimic that frequency.

Shirone became anxious. He couldn't determine the opponent's location through the spiritual zone.

The narrow space was dizzy with the reverberation of sound waves, and Marsha was felt only through sound, being the origin of the sound waves.

While Shirone's senses were paralyzed, Marsha had already approached him. Then she extended her palm toward Shirone's ear. At this distance, a direct impact from Sound Cannon would cause his brain functions to cease.

'Goodbye, Shirone.'

At that moment, Shirone's spiritual zone vibrated violently. Sensing the crisis through her Sonar, Marsha immediately retreated. At the same time, a light ignited and pushed the furniture in the room.

With tightly closed eyes, Shirone surrounded himself with lasers.

Although firing lasers quickly might not produce a significant impact, Marsha, who had checked his power at the first door, crouched under the desk.

Marsha took cover behind the desk and couldn't visually confirm what was in front of her. However, using her Sonar, she could clearly feel what Shirone was doing.

'Eh?'

Marsha's heart skipped a beat. Shirone was aiming precisely with Photon Cannon right in front of her.

How was this possible? The resounding cry of the Banshee usually doesn't easily disappear in a confined space.

Marsha remembered that the lasers had surrounded the room before.

'Could it be? Did he cut off the sound?

Interrupting the vibration of sound waves is not easily achieved through normal magic. However, with high-efficiency energy amplification like lasers, it was possible to cut off the sound waves.

Marsha might not have known the principles behind lasers, but Shirone understood the principles of sound. The difference in responsiveness that occurs there. This was the reason why the magic academy taught numerous disciplines in addition to their specialties.

"This...!

With wide-open eyes, Shirone fired Photon Cannon at Marsha's location. At the same time, Marsha leaped like a flying squirrel and rolled to the side.

Kwaaaaang!

A heavy sphere of light pierced through the building's wall and extended outward.

***

The battle within the forest resembled a war.

It was evident that Freeman's subordinates didn't grasp the value of Magic Projectiles. They had been recklessly firing their weapons, resulting in the complete destruction of the surrounding area.

However, they were the ones cornered. Their numbers, once 20, had now dwindled to 7. Despite this, they couldn't even determine Amy's location.

"Damn it! Where is she?"

"There! She just passed by there!"

A fiery stone flew from the depths of the forest, striking the nape of a gunman who hadn't had time to turn around, rendering him unconscious even with his scheme activated.

"Damn it! She's deliberately using fire-element magic."

"What a ghost. She moves very fast, but her accuracy is tremendous."

For a gunman, mobility and accuracy are crucial. Amy was overwhelming them in both aspects.

The reason she could use stable flight magic and have nearly perfect target accuracy was that she owned Red Eye.

"Hmm, now there are 6. No, seven, including Freeman."

Amy once again levitated rocks around her. Then the rocks turned red-hot and suddenly burst into flames.

If there's photon theory in the Photon System, there's ignition theory in the Fire System. Known as 'Ignite', it formed the basis of Fire System magic.

There were five main characteristics of the flames that Ignite could create.

These were Heat, generating heat; Flare, igniting fire; Burn, setting objects on fire; Blaze, burning a wide area; and Buster, causing explosions.

Heating rocks with the Burn of Fire System was a spell called 'Fire Call,' a magic that made rocks burn like molten lava.

For a fire mage, Burn was important. It compensated for its lightweight, the inconvenience of fire. Thus, it was the perfect counterattack against gunmen using Schemes.

"Shall we go again?"

Amy soared into the sky and ruthlessly launched 'Fire Call'.

Compared to the Meteor bombardment, it might be child's play, but it was terrifying for those on the receiving end.

"She's up there! Shoot at her!"

The gunmen raised their weapons to the sky and fired Magic Projectiles. But Amy, adjusting for the error through the memory of her own image, was toying with the enemies in terms of evasion and precision.

Anyone could easily learn flight magic, but maintaining balance in a constantly changing atmosphere wasn't easy.

However, Amy floated in the sky as if frozen. Her pupils, which were rapidly fluctuating through self-image states, shone red quickly.

With every projectile exchange, the number of enemies decreased one by one.

When only two of Freeman's subordinates remained, Amy unleashed her last Fire Calls.

This time, she didn't even need precise aiming. The burning rocks impaled the heads and backs of the enemies trying to turn and run with a dull thud.

Only then did Amy lift her flight magic and landed in an open field.

Twenty gunmen were annihilated in an instant. Now, only Freeman remained.

"Your expression hasn't changed in the slightest despite your subordinates being defeated. Are you too ruthless? Or are you a coward?"

"If the fact that I don't like to fight makes me a coward, then perhaps I am."

Amy frowned at Freeman's words. If it was a psychological war, it was very sophisticated.

But Freeman didn't care about what people thought.

["Freeman's coming. Here comes the coward Freeman."]

["If you make Freeman cry, Marsha will come. A pathetic guy who needs a woman's help."]

Freeman, reminiscing about old memories, said something unexpected.

"Let's stop."

"What? What did you just say?"

Amy was stunned. She had victory within reach, but suddenly he suggested stopping. Moreover, this showed no respect for his subordinates who had risked their lives fighting.

"I'm worried about the commander. I think I should go see how she is. I don't want to see her fall."

"Hmph, nobody wants to lose. Then you should have lived a good life from the start."

"That's not what I mean. She shouldn't lose, even if it means dying."

"What are you talking about?"

Freeman didn't answer Amy's question. He was just muttering his own story as if talking to himself.

"The commander is strong. Your friends might die."

"Hmph, Shirone is stronger. He would never lose against a woman like that."

"You're so pure and kind. It's good to trust in your man, but you'll regret it."

Amy, seeming annoyed at being misunderstood as a lover, clenched her fist and shouted.

"That's funny. And I'm stronger than Shirone, you bastard. I'll never let you go, so you'll have to come down right here."

"Is that so?"

Realizing negotiations had broken down, Freeman took two guns in both hands and activated Schema.

His figure, which had been facing Amy, became blurry like a secondary image and vanished from sight.

Amy couldn't even react. But when she felt his presence behind her through the spiritual zone, she quickly turned her body.

Freeman's kick barely grazed her chin. Amy gritted her teeth, finding herself in a tough spot.

"Darn it… I made a mistake!"

As an artilleryman, she thought he'd attack from a distance, but he closed in and attempted close combat. His thought process was clearly different from his subordinates who relied solely on Magic Projectiles.

"Hmph! I'll take you seriously now!"

While Amy corrected her sloppy posture, Freeman jumped into the air and fired a barrage of Magic Projectiles. Explosive fireballs rained down toward Amy like discontinuous lines.

However, Amy countered with a swift barrage of Flame Strikes, neutralizing them all.

In an infinitely vast coordinate space, aligning a point with a line is extremely difficult. One could say that the precision of both individuals is on a knife's edge.

Back on the ground, the two clashed once more, engaging in a close-range shootout. But, as expected, the gunman had the advantage at close quarters.

"In that case…!"

Amy unleashed Fire Mist, a defensive magic. As the hot wind blew, a reddish smoke enveloped the surroundings like a piece of gas.

When Freeman moved out of range, Amy unleashed a rapid fire of Flame Strikes to finish him off. About ten fire spears were launched forward, scorching the air.

Popopopopopopong!

But this wasn't the end. Using Teleportation, she surrounded Freeman, unremittingly unleashing her magic.

Just as dozens of Flame Strikes converged on a single point, Freeman's eyes widened as he activated Schema.

One of the ocular techniques: Compound Eye.

The landscape Freeman beheld was fragmented, as seen through an insect's eyes.

Receiving individually analyzed information, Freeman's waist swayed back and forth like a willow branch.

Continuous Flame Strikes unfolded, yet they couldn't even graze his clothing and passed in an intersecting pattern following the order of time.

Amy sensed this wasn't an ordinary technique. Though it was nothing compared to Red Eye, it was clearly a specialized ocular technique for gunners.

She changed her strategy and hid in the forest. As long as the opponent was a high-level gunner, she had no chance in close combat.

However, Amy had another specialty: sniping. She distanced herself by 300 meters and observed Freeman. She calmly watched him opening the cylinder to reload his Magic Projectiles.

'Hmph, let's see how long you can stay calm.'

Amy transformed her target-type spiritual zone into sniper mode. The zone extended in a conical form, aiming directly at Freeman's face.

Due to the nature of Flame Strike, power amplifies as the distance increases. This is because there's an air tunnel, which can be considered a feature of wind magic.

Utilizing air pressure, the speed of an object can be accelerated while it flies. A Flame Strike fired from 300 meters away would have nearly four times the power at close range.

As Amy cast her magic, the fire spear was absorbed by the air tunnel and headed towards Freeman.

At the 200-meter mark, Amy thought it was all over. Given the current acceleration, the speed to cover the remaining 100 meters would be more than four times greater than the first 200 meters.

Ultimately, Freeman could never react in time.

As expected, Freeman didn't move. However, Amy was surprised. The Flame Strike had landed far from Freeman.

'Did I make a mistake?'

It was then that Amy realized. She felt an unusual sensation infiltrating her mind.

'Antimagic…'

It was clear that Freeman's weapon was enchanted with antimagic.

By her estimates, while it might be just a 3% difference, at 300 meters, even that small error would be magnified immensely.

Antimagic was dangerous for her. It directly affected her spiritual zone and was a magic she couldn't counter even with her red eyes.