My mind couldn't keep up with the sudden situation.
No, seriously—what the hell is going on?
For some reason my stomach was pierced, I was floating in the air, and the cityscape below was somewhere I didn't recognize at all.
The most shocking thing was my left hand in my field of view.
My hand isn't this big…
No, it's not just my hand. My whole body feels larger—grown up?
A young man with traces of my best friend's face stood a short distance away.
Wings, claws, tails—all formed from golden mana.
That mana was unmistakably—
"…Oliver, right?"
"…"
Oliver showed no reaction to my question.
My thoughts still hadn't caught up, but had my consciousness suddenly jumped into the future?
—No, the opposite. My consciousness had jumped back into the past…?
If that's the case… yeah, it makes some sense.
Even if my future self switched consciousness with me from years ago, I can't see any benefit in it.
Still, thinking about it more won't give me answers. I already know that.
So I have to accept the current situation.
Assuming my hypothesis is correct, my future self was almost certainly fighting Oliver.
And that state of Oliver—yeah, that's the berserk power Dad mentioned.
Then I have to stop him.
Originally, the sealing magic Dad developed was meant for this moment.
But because my heart was weak, it ended up being used on me instead.
"Oliver, sorry. Because I was weak, I put this burden on you…"
"…"
Once again, Oliver showed no reaction to my words.
Maybe he has no self-awareness left?
Should I assume even his ego has been swallowed by the power…? This is a state Dad and the others never predicted.
They told me: "Without the sealing magic, the only way to stop berserk Oliver is to kill him."
But that was under the assumption that Oliver couldn't control his own power.
If regaining self-awareness lets him control it, then first I need to jolt his consciousness back.
I don't want to kill Oliver.
If he can control the power, there's no need to kill him.
In fact—that would be the best outcome.
Once I solidified my plan, Oliver seemed to sense something and moved above me.
He raised his right hand—claws wrapped in mana—and prepared to swing down.
"You're too slow—Ori—!?"
I tried to catch Oliver's slow… attack with my left hand, but my body felt heavier than expected… and I couldn't make it in time.
Oliver's attack hit me directly and slammed me downward.
(Huh!? What is this!?)
While bewildered, I healed the injury and regained my stance.
The ground rushed up fast, so at the moment of impact I swung the black sword in my right hand to kill the falling momentum.
"That was close…"
After landing, I immediately identified why my body felt so heavy.
The reason was simple: the sealing magic was still active.
"My future self fought berserk Oliver while still sealed? Why? —More importantly, the sealing magic hasn't been tampered with…?"
I'm still studying magic, so I can't decipher spell formulas, but I remember them.
Yet the sealing magic binding me now is different from the one I remember.
"My body feels heavy, but I can still move because only the physical ability restriction was loosened?"
I have no idea what my future self was thinking…
But even I—someone not deeply knowledgeable about magic—can tell.
He poured tremendous effort into modifying the formula just to loosen the physical restrictions.
"I've been deliberately ignoring it, but this headache is definitely from this…"
Complaining won't help. For now, I revert the sealing magic formula…
As a result, my body felt even heavier.
"I don't know what my future self was trying to do, but I'm doing things my way—"
After mentally apologizing to my future self, I circulated ki throughout my body.
"—[Seal Release: Culmination]"
I released the sealing magic.
◇
With the ki-infused verbal command, I felt the bindings on me disappear.
The headache that had been nagging me gradually faded.
Next, I wrapped mana around the blade of the clearly high-quality black sword.
This turned it from a slashing weapon into an impromptu blunt one.
My goal is to jolt Oliver's consciousness awake. If I slash him with this, treatment might not keep up.
After finishing battle preparations, I checked on Oliver—he was trying to fly away somewhere.
I immediately cast [Ex-Explosion] in his flight path, forcing him to stop with the blast.
"Where do you think you're going—!"
Then I transferred to directly in front of him and swept my sword.
Golden mana wings wrapped around Oliver and blocked my strike.
(So hard…)
The wings boasted incredible durability.
My attack only cracked them—didn't reach Oliver.
In moments like this, I really wish I had something to instantly boost power even for a second.
Oliver forcibly spread his wings after blocking—disrupting my stance.
He attacked from the front with claws, and from behind and sides with the three mana tails from his waist.
I immediately recovered and continued dodging his attacks effortlessly.
After focusing on evasion for a while, I exploited a tiny opening and swept my sword.
Thanks to the mana coating the blade, I didn't cut him in half—just sent him flying backward.
"—[Bind]"
Once I gained some distance, I activated magic.
Jet-black mana chains appeared from nowhere, wrapping around Oliver's body and tails, forcibly stopping his movements.
"—[Shot]"
Massive clusters of jet-black mana surrounded the chain-bound Oliver in midair—then all fired at him simultaneously.
Each shot rivaled high-grade magic. Countless blasts struck, roaring smoke engulfing Oliver.
(…He can still increase convergence rate? Of course—Oliver's [Mana Convergence] has grown over these years.)
When the smoke cleared, Oliver stood—his mana wings cracked but still shielding him.
(If I raise power any more, I might kill him. Then—)
Next I swung the black sword downward, sending a jet-black slash flying.
Still bound by chains, Oliver tried repairing his wings to endure the slash.
That slash alone, his wings could probably block. But—
"—[Shift]"
I transferred right in front of Oliver and touched his golden wings with my left hand.
Combining ability and ki, I struck with fa jin-like force.
The golden wings and jet-black chains shattered like glass.
I immediately pulled back. In my place, the jet-black slash struck Oliver directly.
Once again smoke enveloped him. In retaliation, five golden slashes flew toward me.
"—[Rebound]"
A geometric pattern unlike a magic circle appeared before me. The golden slashes that touched it reversed direction completely and assaulted Oliver.
After the jet-black slash came the golden ones—dealing considerable damage—but Oliver showed no concern and closed in for melee.
"—[Shot + Blast]"
I fired suppressed-power jet-black mana bullets to intercept him.
The mana bullets made contact and erupted in a massive explosion.
For the third time smoke swallowed Oliver. I closed the distance instantly—he was defending with wings.
(Isn't this getting too predictable?)
I clenched my left fist, wrapped it in [Mana Convergence] mana and ki, then punched the golden wings.
Concentrating force at one point, my attack pierced the wings and struck Oliver's face.
Using the momentum, I spun my body and kicked him with my right foot.
I landed several hits, but he showed no sign of stopping or regaining consciousness.
(…Next.)
While growing weary of pummeling Oliver, I steeled my heart.
◇
From there I continued one-sidedly beating him down.
When distant I hammered him with [Shot] or high-grade magic. When close I struck with sword and body techniques.
But with no progress, I changed tactics.
"—[Shift]"
As Oliver approached and swung his claws down, I activated magic—transferring both of us outside the city's outer wall.
I created distance during the transfer. Now we were dozens of meters apart.
While constructing formulas, I looked below—many monsters and humans were fighting.
(Why so many monsters on the ground? Whatever. I'll exterminate them too.)
"—[Shift], [Meteor]!"
First I transferred the humans on the ground near the city entrance, and the monsters directly below Oliver.
Then I activated an earth high-grade spell. A massive boulder appeared above Oliver's head and fell with gravity.
Oliver tried to escape, but the boulder emitted a small gravitational pull—he couldn't get away.
Oliver crashed to the ground along with the boulder. A roar sounded as a crater formed.
With such mass impacting the ground, the shockwave should have scattered—but the boulder's gravity canceled it.
No excessive collateral damage.
(This mass attack should have dealt serious damage.)
Thinking that, I landed on the ground too.
The transferred people near the entrance were making noise, but better not to get involved.
They might be my future acquaintances, but talking now would just expose inconsistencies.
For now, focus on Oliver.
The boulder that formed the crater suddenly shattered.
Almost certainly Oliver's doing. He still hasn't lost consciousness.
Monsters that luckily escaped [Meteor] rushed toward me at full speed.
I ran toward the crater's center where Oliver was, cutting down the monsters in my path along the way.
As expected, Oliver stood at the center—bleeding somewhat.
The accumulated damage was finally showing. His mana-formed wings and tails could no longer maintain shape—distorted and warped.
I immediately healed Oliver's wounds, moved above him, and swung my sword downward.
I planned to knock out his consciousness, but he still had strength left—his claws blocked my sword.
"—[Bind]"
I bound Oliver and pinned him to the ground.
While keeping distance and constructing formulas, I activated magic.
"[Ex-Explosion + Chain]"
An explosion erupted in front of Oliver. It chained into massive blasts assaulting him.
With his mana form already struggling to maintain itself from exhaustion, he had no way to endure the chain explosion.
But when the blasts cleared—Oliver still stood.
(Still standing…)
His toughness was reassuring, yet thinking I still had to fight twisted my heart.
I took a deep breath, refocused, readied my sword—and finally Oliver collapsed.
"…Is it over? No—can't let my guard down yet. No guarantee he won't rampage again when he wakes…"
While treating Oliver, I checked the surroundings.
After pinpointing a location, I activated [Shift]—transferring myself and the chained Oliver away from the area.