Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint
Chapter 336: The Song of Wither And Fireblast (4)

There was an old tale where a task was given by a mother to her three daughters-in-law: fill a room entirely with a single coin.

As with all old stories, multiple solutions have been passed down with most involving intangible things like sound, light, fragrance, or heat to fill the space.

Following that story’s principle, the Abyss Plains were currently overflowing.

Bombs, blasts, smoke, and explosions—everything bore the mark of The Fireblastarch

Dust and smoke whirled through the air, leaving the ground in a crumbling mess.

The once-even plains were now carved with deep scars that seemed impossible to heal.

Watching the chaos, Azzy barked.

“Woof! Bad humans! Chaos! Woof!”

“They’re not all bad, just that person.”

While Azzy was desperately pulling me away from the blast radius, the Regressor was standing off against Lord Rocket with Chun-aeng, fending off the heat with gusts of wind while she glared at the madman.

“What’s the meaning of this?!”

“This is what it means!”

Rocket pressed his hand against the ground, causing steel to spread out like tree roots.

His alchemic mana transformed the soil and sand into steel.

Though hastily made and weak, even this crude steel became dangerous in the hands of a Primarch.

“Just blow up and die!!”

The steel that had sunk deep into the ground exploded simultaneously.

Soil split and upheaved, with smoke and dust obstructing our vision.

Only the trembling ground hinted at the sheer scale of the explosion.

Terrified by the unrestrained destruction, Azzy cried out louder as she pulled the cart.

“Wooooffff! Stupid humans!”

“I apologize on behalf of humanity.”

“Woof!”

The fusion of alchemy and Unique Magic created deceptive value.

The Fireblastarch could take low-quality steel forged from dirt, and turn it into usable bombs.

Rocket definitely wielded both his Unique Magic and alchemy skillfully.

But…

“Are you that eager to die?”

The Regressor was stronger.

With Chun-aeng, the Regressor sliced through the dust storm and severed the wave of steel flowing through the earth with Jizan. The intense explosions didn’t even singe her as the steel roots were effortlessly cut apart. Holding her dual swords horizontally, she muttered with a cold, deadly calm.

“Fine. I’ll kill you right now.”

She swung Chun-aeng at once, releasing a storm of killing intent.

“Skyblade Art, Dragon Slayer!”

The smoke split diagonally as the extended blade of Chun-aeng cleaved through everything between the Regressor and Rocket.

Rocket stumbled back, slashed from his shoulder to his sides.

“Ugh…!”

Staggering, Rocket collapsed onto his four-wheeled vehicle.

The Regressor muttered, her gaze icy and unwavering.

“Hmph. Pathetic.”

Although the Fireblastarch and other Primarchs of the Fallen Dominion were strong enough to be compared to the Six Star Generals of the Military State, they fell short in pure combat power unlike the battle-hardened Star Generals.

Despite that, the difference between the Regressor and the Fireblastarch was still overwhelming.

It must be an issue of compatibility.

Against an extraordinary being like the Regressor, their lesser abilities were no match.

It was a good choice to leave it to her… Wait.

“Mr. Shei! Don’t let your guard down!”

In that fleeting moment, dozens of bombs came flying into the Regressor’s view.

Fortunately, she reflexively adopted a defensive stance before I even warned her.

With lightning speed, Chun-aeng shot up like a serpent and split the center of the blast.

While she successfully defended herself, the sight before her left her speechless.

As the smoke cleared, Rocket was hovering in the air, looking down at her.

Unlike the wings used by his Winged Assault Squad, his were fitted with countless small propulsion devices, appearing like feathers.

Large thrusters at the tail end emitted fierce red flames, keeping him aloft.

His talons gleamed with launchers ready to unleash rockets.

This was the Fireblastarch’s Juggernaut—Wyvern.

The four-wheeled vehicle he had ridden was merely in its pre-transformation state.

His wings blazed with fire as he spread them wide.

The Regressor raised an eyebrow.

“What? You’re still alive?”

“Hah! Did you think an attack like that would kill me?!”

｢That was close! Without the rebound armor, I’d be dead…!｣

Rebound armor, I realized. In his mind, I saw that it was a specialized armor lining his body with directional bombs, which explode upon impact to propel him back—a kind of armor with a principle similar to Qi Deflection.

The difference was it activated automatically, without conscious effort.

I didn’t detect it with Mind Reading and the force of the blast knocked him out briefly, making me think he was actually dead.

Seems like he’s got a few tricks up his sleeve to save his life.

“You had a card up your sleeve!”

“No, I didn’t hide anything.”

“But now I won’t hold back! I’ll kill you with everything I’ve got!”

With that shout, Wyvern’s talons opened, raining down countless bombs.

An unceasing roar filled the air as Rocket soared rapidly, hurling bomb after bomb at the Regressor.

She dodged swiftly, but Rocket’s speed kept him right on her tail.

“Ugh, so annoying!”

The Regressor struck the ground with Jizan, sending pieces of earth into the air.

Using the airborne rocks as steps, she leaped towards Rocket and blasted herself with Chun-aeng’s wind.

It was an acrobatic move, as she soared through the air in a single bound.

“Hah! Too slow!”

Yet no matter what, she couldn’t match the speed of Rocket’s propulsion. As she lunged upward, Rocket had already swung wide, leaving her far behind.

The Wyvern’s speed was at least as fast as an arrow—if not faster.

Too far away to catch, the Regressor abandoned the pursuit, instead she swung Chun-aeng at the retreating Rocket.

“Tch! Sword Art, Sundered Sky!”

“It’s useless!”

Her attack triggered an explosion, repelling the strike.

Gripping Chun-aeng tightly, she muttered in frustration.

“A shield?”

“Hah! This is Wyvern’s Storm. You wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to you, peasant!”

Wyvern’s Storm, my foot. It’s just steel powder!

It was a defense mechanism that scattered leftover steel powder in the air.

So fine it drifts like dust, the steel powder becomes tiny bombs under Rocket’s power, designed to explode on contact and shield him from the Regressor’s attacks.

Spreading his wings wide, Rocket shouted boastfully.

“A blade of wind? Fancy toy you’ve got there, but you will never reach me!”

“Damn you! You’re just running away!”

“It’s called strategy!”

Ascending to a height beyond reach, Rocket once again dropped a deluge of bombs.

The Regressor, having just swung Chun-aeng, couldn’t dodge in time and instead enveloped herself with Qi Deflection.

- Boom!

A massive explosion resounded.

Dust clouds spread everywhere.

Satisfied with what he saw, Rocket shouted triumphantly.

“Haha! Finally took you down!”

“What? With that little blast?”

But bombs had never been a particularly great weapon.

Having consumed every elixir and enhanced her strength, the Regressor’s resilience was formidable.

Though her clothes were now a bit sooty, her Qi Deflection had shielded her completely.

She shrugged nonchalantly and put Jizan on her shoulder.

“All you can do is fly around and buzz like an annoying insect! Don’t act so high and mighty when you can’t even do anything to me!”

“Shut up! You mere peasant can only yap while being stuck on the earth!”

Rocket soared even higher, shouting.

“They all laughed at me, just like you! But in the end, the victor, the last one standing, will always be me!!”

As the battle dragged on, the noise was relentless and the fight repetitive.

The Regressor hurled rocks and slashed wind blades at Rocket, but he was too fast to catch and the few attacks that did land were absorbed by his rebound armor.

Even when she struck his wings, the Juggernaut barely flinched.

Without effective means of attack, the Regressor grew frustrated.

The same went for Rocket; his light bombs couldn’t scratch her Qi Deflection.

Though he could make stronger bombs, he risked blowing himself if he was intercepted in the middle of charging so he focused on sapping her energy instead.

Neither had an advantage as the minutes passed.

Breaking the stalemate required… me.

It’s a shame to reveal my Unique Magic here… but I have no choice.

And it’s not like a dog will understand what I’m doing.

“Azzy, don’t go barking about this anywhere.”

“Woof? What?”

As if she’d understand what I’m doing anyway.

I reached toward the empty air and the drifting steel dust from the explosions clung heavily to my hand.

Maximilien’s Unique Magic was the power to turn gears.

Using his Unique Magic against him made me able to counter his Unique Magic—a good match for me.

Rocket’s Unique Magic imbued steel with explosive properties.

So while I couldn’t prevent his explosions by copying his power…

I could certainly trigger them ahead of time—right when he wasn’t prepared.

With that, I delved deep inside his mind.

***

Born with a physical disability in his spine, he was filled with an inherent sense of inferiority.

Fortunately, his disability didn’t prevent him from moving, but unfortunately, it led him into endless fights. If anyone mentioned his deformity in front of him, he would charge at them without hesitation and knock them down.

At age ten, Rocket was exiled from Claudia and became a Dhole.

However, his congenital deformity became an even greater obstacle in the harsh life of a vagabond.

If his mount so much as brushed over a small stone, even that tiny impact felt like a brutal strike to his spine.

Rocket seethed with anger—at the stones that caught his wheels, at his body, and at his helplessness in failing to overcome it all.

But one day, fate brought him a pivotal encounter.

The floating city of the Magic Federation.

A Juggernaut created by the Golden Lord, the celestial city where the Mage King resided. He was conscripted for the city’s upkeep and thus had the chance to fly through the sky. In that moment, he was reborn.

Flying was fast and exhilarating. Most importantly, it freed him from the constant pain in his spine.

He passionately wanted to stay in the floating city, but as nothing more than a mere Dhole, it was practically impossible to reside at the heart of the Federation.

However, during his time there, he received advice from a certain mage.

“The floating city doesn’t fly; it’s just an ancient piece of land that rose up long ago and hasn’t fallen yet. If you can’t grasp that difference, you’ll never be able to stay here.”

Whether that was literally true or held some hidden meaning, he didn’t know.

But it didn’t matter.

The mage’s words stirred Rocket to action.

Returning to the surface, Rocket began constructing cannons. Though gifting someone with precious steel at high speed was considered the most foolish weapon in the Dominion, Rocket, who had dreamed of the sky, would often take time to work on these “foolish” creations.

Watching the cannonballs fly through the air until just before they fell, he built a Spiritual World in that image.

If explosions continued endlessly—if he burned everything within himself to soar—

He would never fall.

He would burn up in the air and vanish before that happened.

This was his Unique Magic: Fireworks.

***

I understood it all.

With his Spiritual World now in my grasp, I reached out to him.

- Boom!

One of Rocket’s wings exploded.