Aurora Vidalis.
That was the name of Aloe's Original Magic, and it involved taking in the light from her immediate vicinity to increase her speed and power while decreasing the speed and power of her targets.
It was a simple, but vastly efficient technique—one that fulfiled all the major aspects of any powerful Original Magic.
However, it was incomplete.
[Aurora Vidalis] was yet to be perfected due to one major reason, and that was the instability of the Magic.
It was due to this very instability that Aloe required a secondary Core to store the Light and Energy she absorbed, and why she could not completely rid the world around her of light.
The range was also very limited as well.
However, thanks to the tribulations she experienced while undergoing the trials given by the Constellations, Aloe Vida was finally able to complete this technique.
"[Aurora Vidalis: Lightless World]"
This new and improved Original Magic covered all the shortcomings of her incomplete ability, allowing motion or any ounce of kinetic energy to shut down the moment it was activated.
Time and space would still exist, but they would be irrelevant to her solely based on the speed she attained using her Original Magic.
A single second could seem like hours to her, and while time would continue to proceed with or without her influence, she would be much faster than conventional time.
The result of this made Aloe an absolute moster—invincible in a world without light.
A world where only she could shine.
*******
"I won't pretend like I understand that. I'm just glad that the threat has been neutralized…"
Edward was itching his head as he spoke, a hot sigh of relief proceeding from his lips. He was genuinely glad that they had managed to eliminate Legris once and for all.
Of course, everyone else was. However, Kuzon still had a troubled expression on his face.
His thoughts could be anyone's guess.
'She has reached such a level already? Unbelievable!'
Kuzon was recoiling from Aloe's short explanation, and he found it unbelievably absurd.
'Without Leo's help… would I even stand a chance?' It seemed petty, selfish, and even downright despicable, that Kuzon was having these thoughts… but he could not help it!
He felt left behind!
Especially now that he was severely handicapped, with no seeming prospect of recovery.
Beads of sweat appeared on his face, and he forced his lips not to curl downwards. Sure, he was glad to have survived Legris, and he was happy that they had won.
But… replacing all the fear from before was disappointment in himself.
Kuzon, in all his life, had never felt so weak.
'After everything… is this really it?'
Unlike most people, he already had a head start in life. He had the perfect Magic Items, he had a superior bloodline, and he was trained in advance Magic since he was very little.
Everything felt so easy for him, and there was no one who stood even close to be his match.
However, the certainty of time began to set in, and he slowly found himself stagnating.
No, that wasn't quite right.
He was indeed growing stronger than he was before. However… everyone else was growing more.
That was the problem.
His head start no longer mattered. His superior bloodline, or knowledge, or Items… none of those mattered in the grand scheme of things.
Among his allies and peers… he was just one other person.
And nothing made him feel less significant.
"Haa…" Kuzon leaked out a sigh as his lips organically curled upward.
He looked at both Edward and Aloe, noticing how they stared at him with slight confusion. After all, he was smiling as broadly as he could while tears fell from his eyes.
Even he could not explain his current emotional state.
However, if there was something that was certain from all that swirled within him, it was this conviction—
"I will not lose again."
And upon hearing these words he uttered, whether they understood what he meant or not, Edward and Aloe both smiled and nodded.
"Me neither."
"Right back at you."
As the voices of all three of them echoed within the void… something else oozed into it.
"Haha… how quaint."
The instant the voice sounded, the trio swiftly turned in the direction of the voice of malevolence, and their eyes were greeted with a sight that should have been impossible.
Wrapped in darkness, almost as if donning it like a robe, was the man they had just defeated.
"L-Legris Damien?!"
There was only one of him, and he was standing so confidently still, making himself an obvious target for anyone to eliminate.
However, Kuzon and his allies knew better than to fall for that.
"A little victory celebration after defeating the big bad… or so it was supposed to be. Well, what now?" Legris' smile curled to form a crooked toothy grin that showed nothing but pure wickedness.
"The big bad isn't dead yet."
"How is this possible? We definitely eliminated all variants you had! You shouldn't be able to respawn! Or… was my theory wrong?!" Kuzon blurted out swiftly, almost as if talking to himself rather than Legris.
"No. Your theory was on the mark. It was so accurate that you surprised me a lot, Kuzon. It seems I didn't give you enough credit." Legris chuckled softly.
"Kill all my variants, and I cease to exist temporarily, and then I respawn randomly, usually a considerable distance away from my last location."
In essence, he should have been gone from the Constellation Realm.
So why was he here?!
"You only made one slight miscalculation, Kuzon. And now, it's going to cost you everything."
"What miscalculation?" Kuzon yelled, veins already appearing on his forehead. "I made sure to check everywhere in the dimension to see if you had any other variants. You didn't!"
He had exercised all due diligence. By all calculations, Legris should have been defeated already!
So why…?!
"Ah, I suppose you are right. However, even your diligent plan had a particular flaw, an oversight stemming from an assumption that has plagued you since our first encounter."
Kuzon narrowed his gaze as he struggled to understand Legris' words, all to no avail.
What was he missing? What sort of mistake could he have made? What chink in his absolute plan was left unchecked?
He didn't know! He genuinely couldn't figure it out.
"It's quite simple, Kuzon. Your calculations of my limitations—the number of variants I can manifest at a time, and the elimination of all my variants leading to my demise… you were on the mark there, but not really."
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN?!" Kuzon's voice echoed out loud as he clenched his fist in sheer annoyance.
What in the world could he have missed?
"Just because I appeared in this dimension… doesn't mean I am restricted to it."
The moment Legris said this, Kuzon's eyes bulged.
At that point… it all clicked.
"It seems you have finally realized it, Young Midas." Legris' dangerous smile, and his amused words further established the conclusion.
"From the very begining… I was already in other dimensions."
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[A/N]
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!
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