After this whole battle-tournament thing, an arc will commence, I have the rough idea for it, but let us see. Also, if someone wants to help me get my editing work done faster, please contact me by e-mail, discord, or royal road chat.

"Ice Magic- Wrath of Khione."

She"s pulling out the big guns from the very start, not that I don"t understand how she feels. Her expression is serious, her eyes lit by a fire full of fighting spirit, her glossy and beautiful blue hair is unaffected even with monstrous wind blowing all around us.

The temperature dropped significantly, the speed of the winds have broken the sound barrier. I turn my head in all directions, and all I can see are numerous clouds dyed in black. Huge amounts of ice shards start forming around me, if even one of those ice shards pierce me, I would most probably die. I can see Sylvia if I concentrate, she is standing about fifty meters away from me, unaffected by the storm and winds. A determined smile brandished upon her heavenly face.

"She wants this, huh?"

I could feel her resolve and power from the storm which was swallowing me up as time went by. I could faintly make out Zoysan"s voice in the distance, she was excitedly screaming and following up on our situation. The cheering of the audience, even with this storm surrounding me, managed to penetrate my ears and give me a sense of relief.

"This world is also a world."

A simple statement, nonsensical to many, but still resonated within my body as if my body was. .h.i.t by a truck-kun. I realized how wrong I was. I subconsciously looked down on this world, or rather, I never acknowledged it as one. I"ve been referring to it as "this world", clinging to the belief that "my world" is the one from which I originally hailed. However, this world also contains humans, animals, plants, and every other aspect that makes a "world".

Even so, I never once thought of it as a place where I belonged, on the contrary, I"ve been living uncomfortably all this time, striving to find entertainment to distract me from reality. Hopeful that one day I would be able to return to my world, that one day, I would be able to reunite with my family and friends, I was living in this world while thinking of it as just a game.

No, it is not true. I have friends here as well. Sylvia, Celice, Aneeka, Alissa, the people I met while traveling, all my servants, and the people from Hades. "If I suddenly disappear, I wonder how would they feel?" This is a simple question that should"ve crossed my mind many times, but it never did. I only cared about myself and my world and took the people who held genuine feelings towards me for granted.

I"ve even killed so many people, I never stopped to think about it at that time, but I did something terrible. I don"t regret what I did, because they touched something they never should have laid their hands on. Even so, I took that experience for granted as well.

"I am the worst."

For me to change, for me to accept this reality, this world as my own. From now on, I will live in this world, or rather, I will live in my new world with the resolve to face anything and everything that comes my way with sincerity and diligence. But first, I have to deal with this spell or I"ll die.

I"ve invested a lot of mana into this spell, so much so that I would not be able to cast a divine-cla.s.s spell anytime soon. This power, this resolve, this feeling of excitement, I have never felt something like this. I know that I"ve got no chance of defeating him, I know that my power is meager dust in comparison to his. Even so, I want to give it everything I"ve got. I want him to see who I truly am.

However, the spell has been active for more than two minutes, and its power is at its peak, but there is no reaction from Toru. I can"t see him in this storm, but he isn"t dead, I know that because I can sense his mana. His mana, a soothing blue, the same as my hair, is at the level of a commoner"s. However, I know it"s a deception, so I will not hold back even a little.

Suddenly, I could see something sparking inside the black storm. It started red, turned blue, and formed the words "Now it"s my turn" inside of the storm. A chill ran through my body, my lips curved upwards, and I raised the power of the spell.

"I love this man~~!!"

My scream"s voice ends up being drowned by the deafening roars from the storm and the rising screeches from the blue ent.i.ty. The blue ball explodes and starts burning inside the storm. Looking at it, it resembles a single lit candle, standing alone in the night, illuminating the darkness that surrounds it. The flame, even though its form and color was blur, I was enticed by it, it seemed beautiful. The flame seemed to have the kind of beauty which couldn"t be tainted by any means.

My chest tightens and my breathing gets rougher. My instincts are screaming at me. I can hear my heart throbbing, all my senses are telling me to run away.

"Light Magic- Sacred Barrier."

"Wind Magic- Whistle Protection."

"Ice Magic- Ice Prison."

I cast three defensive spells consecutively to defend against whatever monstrosity is about to be unleashed. As if waiting for me to cast my spells, the fire starts sparking even more furiously, as if it is ready to lunge at me any second. Inside the flames, a silhouette of some sort could be seen, that silhouette brought one of its hands towards its neck... and cracked it.

"SHATTER*

*SHATTER*

*SHATTER*

Barriers shattered. Storms, hurricanes, typhoons, all brutally destroyed. I stood there in the middle of the huge field which has turned completely black. Previously, there was thick ice acc.u.mulated all over the field, but in a matter of milliseconds, the whole field turned black. The only area where the ice still showed its presence was beneath my feet. My eyes widened, my breathing rough, a painful throbbing in my chest, I look at the figure of Toru standing in front of me with a calm expression on his face.

"Seriously, magic is amazing, a fire burning without the presence of oxygen."

He looked in my direction and said those few words, I didn"t understand the meaning, but I realized that it was he who silenced the entire dome in one move and burned the entire field.

So… This is his firepower. He destroyed the strongest spell I"ve been able to cast to date, along with the three barriers I conjured, just like that.

"Ice Magic- Halberd of Snow."

"Wind Magic- Electric Hail."

I cast two legendary-cla.s.s spells at once, after all that mana I used up for the last spell, I don"t think I"d be able to fight after this. The atmosphere changes color again. Before the match, it was a beautiful and sunny weather, it turned black and stormy soon after, and was followed by a bright, hot, and sunny weather again. And now, because of my spells, it has turned black and stormy again.

Electric sparks flew in the clouds, huge halberds were created all around Toru, but he stood there, unfazed. I clenched my fists and roared.

"GO!!!"

"Light Magic- Sacred Barrier."

Wait… What!? Even if his mana quant.i.ty is high and he has exceptional magic manipulation abilities, that"s taking it a little too far. Using a primary level barrier against two legendary-cla.s.s spells! He must be crazy!

But I can"t hold back, I released all the power acc.u.mulated by the spells with full force in his direction. The huge halberds, break and fall. The thunder comes in contact and vanishes. The storm clears up and the destroyed halberds can be seen scattered on the blackened field, the aftermath of my barrage of powerful attacks.

"Fufufufu"

I chuckled to myself as energy leaves my body and I start to fall on the ground. I have lost, no, I never stood a chance in the first place. Even now, I think he held back. So… this is the man I fell in love with, huh. No regrets, whatsoever.

As I resolved myself for the pain that would attack my head after I landed, my waist was grabbed by the arm of my opponent, and I was pulled closer to someone"s chest. How did he even travel fifty meters in such a short amount of time? I guess I know the answer already. I look away from the strong chest to the face that was looking down at me from above. As handsome as ever, as calm as ever, and as lovely as ever.

"Hey, Sylvia, I believe I never explicitly said this, but I like you."

His cheeks were a bit red. This is the first time I"ve seen him fl.u.s.tered. That means this is coming straight from his heart. Tears roll down my cheeks, my heart is violently throbbing inside my chest, I am so happy that my brain is ready to explode. However, before I could say anything, he continued.

"I don"t know if these words would make a difference or not after we"ve already slept together, but still, I wanted to be sincere with you."

"Idiot!!! These mere words mean everything in the world to me!!"

I screamed at his face which was about 5 centimeters away from mine. He makes a painful expression but smiles soon after.

"Wanna kiss?"

He asks with a gentle and affectionate tone.

"Yes."

I extend both my hands towards his cheek and bring his face closer to mine, and when the distance between our lips is virtually non-existent.

"I"ll love you, forever and ever."

He smiles, and at the next second, our lips come in contact. Amid the audience"s thunderous cheering and applause, and Zoya"s deafening maiden-like screams, I thoroughly enjoy this moment with the man I love. Unaware of the consequences that would follow.

Bio: I am an editor currently affiliated with confused translations and Gakusei translations, on top of that, I am a big anime, light novel, manga, and web novel enthusiast.

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