Chapter 535: The Princess's Territory (1)
Idea.
Currently one of the projects being researched in the Tower of Magic, this magic could, to put it mildly, be considered to touch upon the realm of the gods.
A type of magic that allowed a practitioner to see nearly any part of the world, retrieving and rendering the desired images from the vast memory within the World Tree. In essence, it was a spell for creating a virtual world.
Of course, this magic was anything but easy.
The first step alone—retrieving a refined image from Root Net, the inner world of the World Tree, a sea of information—was as difficult as searching for a needle in an ocean.
On top of that, controlling the vast amount of magical energy embedded within the World Tree to create even a single space was incredibly challenging.
One wrong move, and the overwhelming flow of magical energy could shatter both mind and body.
And that wasn’t even the end of it.
Even if one succeeded in extracting a refined image and a large quantity of magical power from the World Tree, constructing a physical space based on that image was no simple feat.
It could be compared to drawing up a building blueprint alone, then singlehandedly stacking each brick in place. The physical and mental endurance required to complete the entire sequence was beyond question.
A demanding task, where every step could jeopardize the caster’s safety.
Thus, to construct Idea, at least several dozen highly skilled magicians were needed.
After all, the task was to manifest a world within the memory of the World Tree into reality. It wasn’t strange at all.
What was truly strange was that Oliver was now accomplishing that alone.
[Moirai School & Spatial Magic School: Idea Construction, X-District]
As Oliver chanted, the massive amount of magical energy surged from the deep roots of the World Tree, spreading across the ground like spilled water and swiftly dominating the surrounding area.
The indescribable rainbow-colored magical energy seeped out from the ground, breaking through like water from wet paper, and began to saturate everything around it.
The lush forest held under Red Hood’s dominion began to disappear as if erased, gradually replaced by a forest of gray concrete.
This was X-District, one of the largest slum areas in Landa.
“Grrrr... Impossible...”
Watching the lush greenery transform into a gray concrete jungle, Red Hood muttered in a mix of fear, vigilance, and shock.
He had managed to grasp what Oliver was doing—an impressive feat, as Oliver was simultaneously implementing both the World Tree and spatial magic, each difficult to master on its own.
However, it wasn’t that Oliver had done it alone. The World Tree’s images and magical power needed to construct Idea had been provided by Eve.
All Oliver had done was open a path through nature’s energy to allow Eve to transmit the images and power into reality for him to receive.
But even that was dangerously risky—one wrong move could cause his brain to burn out or his body to collapse.
“I was lucky.”
Oliver spoke to the dumbfounded Red Hood, casually wielding a spell that went beyond seizing control of space and bordered on creation itself.
Red Hood suspected Oliver was mocking and ridiculing him, yet Oliver was sincere.
After all, the creation of this spell had originated from the Tower of Magic, and its initial implementation was the work of Lilith and Puppet.
All Oliver had done was observe, analyze, and modify it to suit himself—a feat only possible with Eve’s assistance.
Oliver then shared this knowledge briefly with Red Hood, who was despairing at the overwhelming difference in power.
Red Hood had demonstrated exceptional skill, talent, and effort, and Oliver felt it would be a waste for him to crumble just yet.
However, Red Hood only stared in horror.
“A mockery... You saw it once, and now you can... do it alone?!”
Red Hood, who was more scholar than man or beast, expressed his disbelief.
It was not beyond reason.
Even if Eve supplied the World Tree’s images and magical energy, only the magician could absorb it.
While Eve’s assistance lowered the spell’s difficulty, constructing Idea was still no easy task.
Receiving and projecting the images and magical energy into reality required information processing so intense it could burn through one’s brain.
“Ah, I also adapted it to make it easier. Instead of unfamiliar landscapes, I chose one I was familiar with.”
Oliver shared his method openly.
As he mentioned, even with Eve’s help, creating a large space from magic was far from simple—especially if the setting was unfamiliar.
Lilith managed only because she herself was the essence of the World Tree, and Puppet had fortified her body.
By contrast, Oliver was simply human. Constructing space wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
“I considered these points and found a solution. It all made sense.”
“…”
“I realized that if I reconstructed a familiar scene, rather than one I wasn’t used to, it would be easier. Like how you don’t get lost walking along your usual route.”
Red Hood scowled. Although Oliver was speaking as if he’d discovered some groundbreaking solution, Red Hood doubted that just choosing a familiar setting could make solo construction any more feasible.
Whether you used a spoon or a ladle, you couldn’t scoop up an entire ocean.
Even so, if Oliver could do it, the problem lay not with the spoon or ladle, but with the person wielding it.
Oliver himself was unaware of this... or perhaps pretending not to know.
But Red Hood dared not criticize that fact, distracted by the implausible structure looming overhead.
“This place... familiar to you?”
Red Hood asked cautiously, looking up.
Above Red Hood’s head were seven cement piles, each the size of a building, floating in mid-air.
The very reason Red Hood hadn’t dared to attack.
These gigantic concrete stakes, composed of emotion, cement, steel, bricks, and firearms, would devastate the entire area with sheer physical force if they fell.
Trapped within the virtual space of Idea, escape was impossible, only adding to the danger.
“Yes, I created them.”
Oliver recalled the time he had met with the apprentice of the Flesh Chef to prevent a war between Fighter Crew and Crime Firms.
Joe had initially come to kill Oliver but had changed his mind. Oliver had, with Joe’s guidance, fought the Chef, leaving Fighter Crew out of the conflict.
The massive stakes hovering in the sky were created during that encounter.
They had demonstrated to the Chef that Oliver was qualified to fight him.
It had been a considerable amount of time since that event.
And yet, here, in an unfamiliar forest far across the sea, they reappeared once more. Such strange twists life could take…
...
Crumble, crumble...
Dust fell from the cement stakes suspended high above in the sky.
In the tense atmosphere, with what felt like bombs hanging overhead, Red Hood cautiously asked, “Why are you… telling me all of this?”
“As a form of apology.”
Oliver replied without hesitation, indicating his sincerity.
Red Hood sensed the honesty behind those words, but that only deepened his confusion.
He couldn’t understand why Oliver felt the need to apologize to him.
“I feel I may have treated you disrespectfully… calling you a beast.”
When Oliver voiced the reason himself, Red Hood suddenly grasped his error.
It was as if Oliver had regarded Red Hood as an amusing experiment.
Ironically, it was during their recent fight that Oliver realized Red Hood’s considerable intellect, scholarly knowledge, and indomitable willpower.
To view him as merely a beast was inappropriate.
“So... you were holding back, weren’t you?”
Red Hood, recalling his earlier suspicions, asked in a low voice.
Even after consuming every piece of flesh he had gathered over decades to reach his peak fighting potential, and ingesting the unusual flesh held by the Flesh Chef, transforming himself into something far stronger than he had once been…
He was still insignificant in the face of someone like Oliver—a mere spectacle, like the antics of a trained animal.
“No, that’s not—”
“—Cruel and arrogant.”
Red Hood cut him off.
It was quite unusual, considering that his initial interactions with Oliver were hesitant and evasive. Even when he had been targeting Oliver’s life, his words had been chosen with caution.
Whether this was due to the intensity of their recent clash, Oliver’s seemingly merciless attitude, or the black magic Calm that Oliver had cast upon him, was unclear. In any case, it was an intriguing shift.
Though for Red Hood, the important matter wasn’t any of those reasons. What truly mattered was the realization that his years of effort were little more than amusement or fuel for the figure before him.
The spell Oliver had cast was likely used more for practice than out of necessity.
Nothing could be as ruthless and arrogant as that.
“Well, I suppose... you, your kind, you’re such beings.”
Oliver showed a slight reaction to those words.
“My kind? Who exactly do you mean?”
“The Piper… that monster!”
As he spoke, Red Hood recalled a time when he’d confronted the Witch and her granddaughter, both of whom had consumed him to maintain their intellect while devouring people to survive.
It was back then, as he roamed the village abducting children, that Red Hood first encountered the Piper. It instilled in him an unspeakable fear and humiliation, but also a yearning, an ambition to reach that unattainable place.
He desired to become something greater. From a beast struggling merely to retain intelligence, he became a man.
Oliver, noting Red Hood’s response, reacted as well.
The Piper was the only black magician of the Black Hand’s Fingers that Oliver hadn’t encountered yet.
Consequently, he knew almost nothing about him—just that Lake Village had fallen due to the Piper’s actions when Oliver visited it during the Tower of Magic’s scholarly convention. Even the reasons behind it were unclear.
“I will no longer stand still in fear! For this… for this, I came here!!”
As Oliver gazed in the direction of the central continent where the Piper resided, Red Hood, glowing with a fierce light, charged forward with his incarnations by his side.
The courage of one who had accepted death.
Even Oliver rarely witnessed such resolve, especially from a creature of primal origin like Red Hood.
It was a remarkably stirring moment.
Eager to observe it more closely, Oliver extracted an emotion from within himself, overlaying it onto Idea, exerting his control over the magical domain.
[Bless]
Mari’s original black magic spread throughout Idea like a misty light, an ethereal glow of shadows and luminescence.
As the black magic infused into the domain, the nature of X-District altered; each individual brick seemed to gain purpose, intent on protecting Oliver.
Crack-crack-crack-crack!
The magically constructed pavement fragmented into blocks, collapsing downward to form a cliff, thereby cutting off the path to Oliver.
Columns and walls disassembled from buildings, some reassembling mid-air into protective barriers around Oliver, while others launched like projectiles toward Red Hood and his incarnations.
The tightly condensed forces of nature, potent magic, and deadly black magic that surrounded Red Hood and his incarnations failed to bring them closer. In stark contrast to just minutes earlier, when Red Hood had dominated the dense forest, the situation had reversed entirely.
The overwhelming power of the stakes above, combined with the realization that the entire space was under Oliver’s control, rendered Red Hood helpless.
He inwardly cursed. The battle was already over the moment Idea was completed.
Regretting his moment of recklessness, Red Hood wondered if he should have fled, succumbing to his base instincts like a mere beast.
At that moment, darkness loomed over him.
The massive cement stakes, emanating an aura of black magic, began to fall from the sky, one by one.
Red Hood frantically scanned his surroundings, but the X-District, remodeled by Oliver into a concrete jungle and prison, left him no escape.
Rumble... Rumble...
A tremendous rumbling tore through the air.
The massive, black magic-infused stakes descended under the pull of gravity.
Rumble... Rumble... Rumble!!!
As the stakes neared the ground, the sound became deafening, their shadows darkening the area like nightfall.
Had Oliver not been in control, even he would have thought of escaping. But with his mastery over the domain, he instead observed Red Hood closely, curious about his reaction.
Impressively, Red Hood, sensing death yet unable to find an escape, did not despair. Instead, he gritted his teeth, consuming his final meatball, channeling his emotions, magic, and nature’s power all at once.
He had no hidden aces—only the desperate will to keep fighting, even in the face of doom.
Red Hood forced an unnatural mixture of emotions, magical energy, and nature’s force into his body, reinforcing himself.
He attempted to shield against the falling stakes.
Just as the stakes struck, Oliver moved a finger, reducing their impact.
BAMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!
Despite the weakened force, the simultaneous collision of the seven stakes shattered the earth, fracturing the space within Idea, and forming a massive crater.
Cough… Cough…
Amid the dust and ensuing silence, Oliver walked forward, standing over the battered, unconscious form of Red Hood.
The split-second alteration in the stakes’ angle had prevented a direct hit. But even so, the residual impact was overwhelming, leaving Red Hood unconscious.
Oliver watched him closely, moved by his defiance in the face of certain death, before drawing out his emotions and casting black magic.
[Vomit]
Using the sickness-inducing, weakening black magic, Oliver forced Red Hood to vomit, expelling a mass of meatballs and a heavy iron key.
Oliver picked up the iron key without hesitation, wiped it with a handkerchief, and pocketed it. This key was, after all, his primary reason for meeting Red Hood.
With his first objective complete, Oliver gazed down at Red Hood once more.
His secondary reason for seeking Red Hood was to understand why he was so afraid of him, but Red Hood’s answer had fallen short of expectations.
Nonetheless, Red Hood had shown something even more fascinating. Enough that Oliver almost felt remorse for having viewed him as a mere experiment.
After some thought, Oliver decided to honor Red Hood’s resilience and courage by healing him. But suddenly, his communication device crackled to life with Eve’s urgent voice.
[Dave!]
Oliver paused, taken aback, as Eve’s usually calm tone sounded uncharacteristically alarmed.
[Outside Idea... I’ve detected an unusual presence in the heart of the dense forest, something significant. You must leave now—kzzzkkkt!]
Before she could finish, static interrupted their connection.
This was highly unusual. The communicator, assembled following Eve’s blueprint, was designed exclusively for their connection, capable of functioning anywhere as long as the World Tree was nearby—even within the magical domain of Idea.
The device losing connection could mean only one thing:
They were no longer within the World Tree’s realm.
It made no logical sense, yet this was reality.
Beyond Idea, a barrier was expanding from the dense forest, encroaching upon and consuming Idea itself.
Even with the recent fractures in Idea, it was an extraordinary phenomenon.
But more troubling was the nature of the barrier’s energy.
The eerie mixture of black magic in the barrier reminded Oliver of the portal to hell that Puppet had once created in the Contaminated Zone.
The hellish aura grew sharper, and then gray mist and thorny vines surged, swallowing the concrete jungle of Idea and racing toward Oliver and the unconscious Red Hood.
The mist closed in, blurring the surroundings.
Shockingly, the barrier’s influence seemed to obscure even Oliver’s black magic-enhanced vision, which typically allowed him to see through all except demons and other anomalies.
And that wasn’t all.
Though he remained still, he sensed a strange distortion in the mist, as though he was being transported to another place.
Gradually, the swirling mist coalesced, forming the shape of a woman.
She appeared as a girl, at most in her mid- to late teens.
The mist-formed girl gazed directly at Oliver and spoke.
“It’s an honor to meet you, bearer of an unjust fate.”
As the mist cleared, Oliver saw it.
A dense forest filled with eerie creatures, and among them, people fighting to survive.
Judging by their struggle, they had likely come in pursuit of the Flesh Chef’s legacy. Among them, Oliver recognized a familiar face.
“...Claude?”
Amid the mass of black magicians, Claude manipulated a puppet in the form of a female corpse, valiantly fending off the creatures. Upon noticing Oliver, he cried out in surprise and relief.
“Ah, Sir Dave! It’s so good to see you. I hope you’ve been well... I hate to ask this right away, but could you lend us a hand? We’re about to be wiped out here.”
Maintaining composure and courtesy, Claude continued his battle against the human-like creatures, and Oliver responded with a question.
“Do you know where we are?”
“Pardon?”
“I asked if you know where this place is.”
Sensing the seriousness in Oliver’s tone, Claude replied.
“Sleeping Princess... This is her territory!”