Genius 36

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Chapter 36. Your Magic

"What!?"

Enchant: Aques.

Chris widened his eyes as Hermes chanted so. He doubted it was possible, but Hermes' magical bullet behind him, contrary to Chris', was dyed in blue.

Simultaneously fired. A frontal clash between magical bullets, whose count in this battle was uncountable, occurred.

For the first time in this battle, Hermes had the upper hand.

"Huh!?"

Chris hastily rolled to dodge Hermes' magical bullet. Momentarily bewildered, he quickly turned his furious gaze toward him.

"This—Don't mess around!!"

He fired another flame magical bullet. However, the result was the same as before; it was overwhelmed by the aqua ice magical bullet, becoming increasingly disadvantaged with each shot.

"The attribute enhancement of [Mistle Teinn] certainly significantly increases the power of the magical bullet itself."

While dealing with Chris's troubles, Hermes' calm voice echoed.

"However, as a trade-off for imbuing attributes into the previously stable colorless power of magical bullets, it becomes disadvantaged against attributes with poor compatibility. Like this."

"Don't lecture me as if you know everything!!"

With a tone reminiscent of scolding an underperforming student, Chris enraged, increased the momentum of his magic, but the outcome remained unchanged.

To further corner him, Hermes remarked,

"So it's standard to change your attributes by mine, right—still,"

"Huh!!"

"You can't enhance attributes other than flames, can you?"

Chris glared hatefully at Hermes, unable to retort anything in the heat of the moment.

He hit the nail on the head.

If we add, Chris couldn't handle even attribute enhancements properly.

By borrowing the Artifact's power, Caduceus, Chris could barely imbue his preferred flame attribute.

Therefore, he couldn't afford to acknowledge Hermes, who managed to do it without any aid.

"You—you're just the same! Only with that attribute—"

But even his desperate retort, or any word that could pass for a counterargument, was negated, his words echoing heartlessly.

"Enchant: Eleka"

"Guah!!"

This time, a golden magical bullet was unleashed.

"Enchant: Flamea... If it's not the weakness attribute, it may be inferior in output, but as expected from an artifact."

Even his sole ability to enhance flames was effortlessly performed.

In an exchange outside of the weak attribute, Chris was still winning. But it was simple to revert to the aqua ice attribute. Hermes began to overwhelm Chris again with azure magical bullets.

"Th-this!!"

He couldn't win with just the flame attribute. That instant judgment to cancel the attribute enhancement itself was commendable.

Attribute-enhanced magical bullets were more powerful than regular ones. However, Chris's magical output was currently higher than Hermes'. He closed the gap and barely kept up with Hermes using colorless magical bullets.

"Not yet, if I can draw out the power of Caduceus more—!"

Even then, Chris sought victory from within himself and from the Artifact.

Whether in response to him or due to some other factor, Caduceus shone even brighter, increasing the power of his magic.

Though intense headaches assaulted Chris as compensation, he suppressed them with hatred towards Hermes and faced forward. With this, he could win.

"—And one more thing,"

But.

In contrast, Hermes, in a calm tone, continued.

"[Enchantment] is the essence of [Mistle Teinn]. If you understand that, then why—do you only enhance attributes?"

"—Eh"

It was too unexpected.

To Chris, who seemed to show a face that said he hadn't even considered such a thing, Hermes demonstrated as an example.

First, inexplicably, he deployed a wall of light, a generic strengthening magic, in front of him—and took a breath.

"[Mistle Teinn]—Enchant: Thruster"

In an instant.

The wall in front of Hermes flew towards Chris with tremendous force.

"What!?"

The fear of a massive wall approaching at super speed. Although he didn't take a direct hit, Chris was completely thrown off balance by the approaching barrier, which even engulfed the blast from the magical bullet that hit it.

[Enchantment] is the essence of this magic. It doesn't just stop at 'granting attributes to magical bullets.'

Naturally, if one desires, it's possible to incorporate special effects other than attributes, and above all—'granting something else to the magical bullets' is also achievable.

That's what Hermes did. He endowed the magical bullet to the barrier and launched a staggering surprise attack, creating the 'flying great wall.'

This infinite applicability is indeed the true value of [Mistral Tina]. Attribute enhancement is just one aspect of its essence, not the entirety.

Having analyzed this magic in detail with [Emerald Tablet] while in the capital, he understood this better than anyone.

And with Hermes's surprise attack, Chris was exposed. This was Hermes's chance.

"This—child's play!!"

Chris, despite being thrown off balance, fired off the remaining magical bullets.

The bullet barrage he used in the previous attack was now thinning. It was difficult to overpower it at this moment.

But he calmly regulated his breathing—

"Enchant: Sprint"

Endowment of the magical bullet to the body.

As a result, Hermes broke the ground with force resembling an explosion, swiftly evading the opponent's attack trajectory.

The magical bullet rushed towards Chris at an incredible speed.

"What a foolish move—!?"

With a face of astonishment, Chris twisted his body to avoid the assault. Hermes, carried by his momentum, moved in the opposite direction, putting some distance between them.

"...It seems controlling it is still a bit difficult."

But Hermes re-enchanted and resumed the assault with extraordinary agility.

Whether due to slightly lax control, he couldn't decisively capture Chris. Taking advantage of the opening, Chris somehow launched an attack—

"It won't hit—!"

Indeed, there was no way it would hit. For him now, Chris's magical bullet was akin to being stationary.

Chris, subjected to a fierce onslaught, was blatantly displayed.

Hermes, the once-scorned younger brother, overwhelmed him, using the same magic that Chris thought he was chosen, and even mastering it better than him.

The moment he thought about it, Chris realized.

"Don't mess around, don't mess around!! Even I can do what you can—"

Yes, since they could use the same magic, he just needed to do the same.

Drunken with the genius idea, Chris mimicked Hermes and endowed one of his magical bullets towards his own leg.

And that became his decisive defeat.

"Aaaghhh!!"

He thought his right leg had exploded.

His leg got torn to shreds, covered in a mess of blood.

"Why... Why..."

"I was going to tell you to stop, you know."

Hermes's voice echoed as Chris writhed in pain.

"Endowing to the body requires a somewhat complex manipulation of magical energy."

More than somewhat, Chris understood it better than anyone.

This magic is fundamentally offensive magic. It's a magic specialized in harming people. 

To enchant it upon oneself is nothing but self-harm from a normal perspective. It's evident from the sorry state of Chris's right leg.

To twist that logic. To utilize propulsion force without harming oneself, and to control it with a certain degree of directionality—how much magical control, how much skill in manipulation is required to make such a miracle happen?

Hermes, who successfully performed such a feat raised his arm towards the still unyielding Chris.

"Enchant: Arms. Do you understand now, dear brother?"

"Hermeeeeeeeessssssssssss!!"

Before Chris could fire again, Hermes endowed his fist with a far faster, more accurate, and more powerful magical bullet.

"This is how you use your magic."

And with that, he decisively slammed the finishing blow into Chris's abdomen.