My Body Becomes a Magic Scroll
Instead of managing the complex flow of magical power on my own every time I cast a spell, I simply call upon the runes engraved on my body and inject them with magical power. The spell is then activated.
My flesh is like paper, and the characters form a magic circle.
It's not quite a casting-free level, but it's close.
A previously unseen magic system that grafts rune magic and scroll magic onto the human body.
Louis Ancton, the one who initially conceived the idea, insisted that it wouldn't work.
Magic has evolved, and the use of runes is too primitive.
Discarding the developed system and reverting to the primitive method of implementing modern magic with the ancient language is too inefficient.
First, the modern magic must be reinterpreted and reverse-engineered into runes. Naturally, a deep understanding of runes was required.
Harriet could do it.
The prestigious Saint Owan Archduke of Magic emphasized the importance of runes from a very young age, so Harriet had been studying them for her entire life. Although she wasn't quite at the level of a dedicated rune scholar, her understanding was profound.
But more than that, she had to memorize an enormous amount of rune formulas to activate and rearrange them as needed.
Harriet could do that, too.
Memorizing was far too easy for her.
As a result, Harriet's body, rather than her mind, now performed most of the actual work needed after magical calculations. All that was needed was to memorize the countless combinations of magical runes.
Her body was an infinite magic scroll, as long as the magical power permitted.
That's why Harriet, without the supernatural ability of no-casting, obtained power rivaling that of Redina.
-Krrrrrr
It wasn't over yet. Harriet reached out her hand towards the thick smoke rising from the collapsed arena.
Blue magical lines formed runes on her right arm as they etched into her skin. The more extensive the magic, the larger the magical lines that covered her body.
Now Harriet's entire right upper and lower arm was glowing with runes.
-Krrrrrrng
Magic restructured into runes and activated.
Thunderstrike.
Not a simple bolt, but a thunderstrike from the sky to finish it off. The once clear sky suddenly darkened, causing people to start murmuring.
-Flash!
A single streak of lightning struck the arena.
-Kwrrrrrrrrng!
Immediately after, a deafening thunderclap shook the arena, as the lightning strike expanded the air.
For a moment, silence followed at the site of the strike.
"…"
"Ha…"
Soon after, Harriet revealed a smile as she looked at Olivia, emerging from the debris.
Though victory had yet to be decided, she was confident that she had successfully landed a blow.
Olivia Lanze, battered and bruised, emerged from the rubble of the collapsed arena.
"This… really pisses me off…"
Although Harriet had successfully struck Olivia, the fact remained that Olivia Lanze was still a monster.
With her bare body, Olivia withstood both Flame Strike and Thunder Strike. Flame Strike was a large-scale destruction spell, and Thunder Strike was a powerful, albeit narrow-range, offensive spell designed for single targets.
But Olivia managed to endure both.
The audience couldn't help but be astounded by the fact that even in an Unrestricted-class match, there was a person who could cast such high-level destruction spells and another who could withstand them with her bare body.
The smile on Olivia's lips disappeared.
It was as if the playtime was over.
Once again, lines of magical power began to form on both of Harriet's arms, which were hidden beneath her sleeves.
The arena had collapsed, and the area beyond it no longer held any meaning.
Harriet would lose if she allowed even one attack, and Olivia would lose if her seemingly impenetrable barrier of Magic Body Strengthening disappeared.
The current state of the arena was in Harriet's favor.
The uneven terrain made it difficult for Olivia, who had to close the distance, to move.
However, Olivia was unaffected by such mundane standards.
Leaping as if she were flying, Olivia approached Harriet without faltering a single step.
Of course, Harriet, who had engraved magic directly onto her own body for use – an unprecedented feat – was also no ordinary person.
Harriet cast a spell at the exact spot where Olivia was about to land.
It was a simple telekinesis spell.
-Thump!
With a dull sound, the rock Olivia was supposed to land on suddenly shot out to the right.
“!”
It was as if her foothold had suddenly disappeared.
-Thunk!
“Ugh!”
Olivia stumbled and fell flat on her face.
Falling face-first in the midst of an intense battle was a potentially fatal situation.
However, Olivia's fall was so comical and unexpected that it created a humorous scene.
"…Heh."
Instead of casting an offensive spell, Harriet laughed at the sight of Olivia.
"Wow… really…"
As Olivia staggered to her feet, she looked at Harriet, who wore a mocking smile.
She couldn't have even imagined that she would be laughed at like this.
By a little girl like her.
By a mere mage.
"Really."
"Freaking."
"Annoying…?"
A dark fire ignited in Olivia's heart.
With tensed neck and forehead muscles, Olivia clenched her teeth and approached Harriet calmly once more. This time, she wouldn't fall for the same trick. The previous attack had been unexpected.
Being cautious would be enough to prevent such a small exploit.
In a matter of moments, Olivia closed the distance and lunged at Harriet, who vanished using a short-range teleportation spell.
However, the moment Harriet completed her teleportation, she found herself face-to-face with a massive boulder.
It was too late.
There wasn't even enough time to cast a spell.
-Swish!
It wasn't Harriet's quick reflexes that allowed her to dodge the flying rock, but rather, the rock's trajectory simply missed her.
The speed of the rock was so great that, had it struck an ordinary person, it could have shattered their skull and killed them.
"It didn't hit," Olivia said, her tone tinged with disappointment.
Knowing that Harriet would use short-range teleportation to escape when she got close, Olivia had aimed the rock at the moment Harriet teleported away.
Fortunately, the distance was too great for her to hit her target.
Harriet felt a shiver down her spine.
Her opponent was gradually finding ways to counter her repeated patterns of attack, exploiting weaknesses, and evading.
The moment she teleported, in the brief gap upon arrival, Olivia was able to target her with a rock.
Next time, it wouldn't miss.
This was the end.
Her remaining magical energy wasn't much. She had already used many powerful spells.
"You seem to be running low on magic energy, huh?"
Olivia was also aware of Harriet's condition.
-Thud!
As Olivia advanced, Harriet chose to use the terrain rather than offensive magic.
She lifted the debris from the arena with telekinesis and threw it.
-Bang! Crash!
Olivia shattered the debris, which was as solid as rock, as she continued to advance.
Ellen had at least used the divine sword Lament to break walls and cut through doors.
But Olivia Lanze was doing this with her bare hands. There was a limit to how much arena debris she could throw at the approaching Olivia.
However, it seemed that Harriet had no other choice but to continue hurling debris. Olivia broke through the debris and continued to advance.
As a result, a thick cloud of dust was inevitable.
Olivia reached Harriet, who once again escaped with a blink, and gritted her teeth.
"Annoying."
Olivia, seeing her vision obscured by the dust, guessed that this was Harriet's intention.
In this state, she couldn't determine in which direction her opponent had moved. The spectators also couldn't properly understand what was happening due to the dust.
"Huff…"
Suddenly, the blue magical energy surrounding Olivia exploded.
-Kaboom!
Just like when Saviollin Turner fought the darkness-possessed Charlotte.
The magical shockwave blasted away the dispersing dust in an instant.
Olivia swept away the dust as if clearing fog and observed Harriet, who had reappeared on the opposite side.
Now, the arena had completely vanished, reduced to a chaotic mess.
"Nothing left to throw?"
From Olivia's perspective, Harriet looked too exhausted to teleport, resorting to weak attacks by throwing large debris with telekinesis.
However, Olivia had destroyed all the boulder-sized debris.
All that remained were small rocks.
The era of short-range teleportation and shallow tricks like raising dust clouds to escape was over.
At this point, she had dealt with the little magician for far too long.
"You don't have to throw anymore."
However, Harriet was smiling.
"I've already thrown everything."
"…What?"
Thrown everything? What exactly?
It was only then that Olivia noticed the stones embedded in the ground around her, despite the magic shockwave she had released.
These stones should have been blown away by the shockwave, but they remained in place.
Olivia looked around.
Amidst the scattered fragments and stone pieces, she couldn't discern much.
Yet, there was an odd regularity in the shapes of the fragments.
"I'm almost out of magic, but it's something that can be done without using my magic."
Harriet had thrown the fragments.
And she had secretly arranged the scattered fragments so that Olivia wouldn't notice.
The method of using natural mana.
Reinhardt had told her to discover it, but Harriet still couldn't do it.
However, wasn't there a method of using natural mana from the beginning?
In the form of magical circles.
Magical circles are used for various purposes, but large-scale magical circles are originally designed to draw and use natural mana.
In the short time, Harriet had accomplished the incredible feat of setting up a magical circle in the stadium.
Uuuung
"This can't be…!"
Olivia could only dumbfoundedly watch as the magical circle, now set up over a vast area, began to react.
"I've won."
With Harriet's smile, the magical circle she had set up emitted a blue light and took its final form.
The magic was activated.
Inferno.
A higher-tier fire destruction magic than Flame Strike.
It was so widespread that there was no way to avoid it.
Olivia knew it too.
This was a disaster.
As she watched the crimson flames beginning to flicker at her feet, Olivia cried out with a grimace.
"Youuuuu…! Just you wait!"
"People who say 'just you wait' are the least scary!"
The conversation at the end of their meticulous and fierce battle was excessively childish.
Kwarrrrr!
The crimson inferno engulfed Olivia and soared into the sky.
Olivia couldn't endure this magic.
Harriet de Saint Owan takes the second set!
The audience stared blankly at the eerie flame columns, writhing like snake tongues, reaching for the sky.
——
Harriet was not familiar with the fights themselves, but she knew well what was important in them.
Conceal your information as much as possible.
Harriet had hidden her trump card well. She had concealed her abilities to the utmost, leading to a surprise attack. While making Olivia believe that throwing fragments was her only remaining offensive strategy, she hid her true intent to set up a large-scale magical circle on the ground.
However, in the end, it was a stroke of luck.
Olivia had underestimated Harriet, and Harriet had made good use of deception.
There, of course, Olivia had not used her divine power until the end. Had she used her divine power, she could have survived Harriet's final attack.
In the end, Olivia had underestimated her opponent and faced defeat while under numerous constraints.
Regardless of the outcome, the fight had been the most spectacular of the tournament so far, and the excitement of the audience was at its peak.
The set score was 1:1.
Olivia would not be careless anymore.
Harriet and Olivia were summoned back to the restored stadium through restoration magic.
Olivia glared at Harriet as if she would devour her in an instant.
She would no longer be careless, underestimate her opponent, or be deceived by tricks.
Seeing Olivia, who was just waiting for the match to start, Harriet suddenly raised her hand.
"I forfeit."
It was only natural that Olivia's face would turn pale at those words.
"You, you! Don't! Don't forfeit!"
"I'm too tired to continue."
Lacking magic power was no excuse.
In Reinhardt's case, he couldn't recover from the adverse condition caused by Magic Body Strengthening, but ordinary magic depletion could be solved by a standby magician using a mana-replenishing spell called Siphon Mana.
An unexpected declaration of forfeit.
Uh… Well, due to Harriet de Saint Owan's forfeit, Olivia Lanze is declared the winner of Group C in the main tournament…
Of course, they couldn't force a player to fight if they didn't want to.
"Don't forfeit! You! I said don't!"
No matter how much Olivia screamed and pleaded, Harriet had no intention of fighting further.
Harriet could not beat Olivia.
"Fine, just one more set, just one more! If you win the next set, I'll admit you've won! I'll forfeit then!"
"Why should I? I don't want to. You can't even fight properly."
"Ahhhhhh!"
Harriet's goal was never to defeat Olivia, but to make herself undeniable.
Harriet had succeeded in that.