The pressure in the air spiked violently, compressing the space around them until it felt as though the world itself was on the verge of collapsing into a vacuum.

  For a fleeting instant, it felt as though time itself had stalled.

  Every Guardian’s gaze locked onto the same point—the first-year student standing at the heart of a raging storm of spells, magic crashing down upon him like a torrential downpour.

  The three mages closest to Rein went pale with terror.

  They were trapped at point-blank range—too close to raise proper defenses, and far too likely to be torn apart by the crossfire of their own allies.

  Just as they instinctively lifted their staffs—

  Rein’s black shadow surged forward like a fired bullet.

  His right hand snapped out, deflecting and wrenching their staffs aside in a single, brutally efficient motion—forcing their aim toward the outer ring of Guardians.

  It all happened within the same heartbeat that the barrage of spells detonated.

  That kid is using us as human shields—!

  “Shi—”

  The unfortunate Guardian didn’t even finish cursing before the explosions erupted.

  A deafening blast shook the plaza. Dust, smoke, and unstable mana tore outward, swallowing the battlefield and obliterating all visibility.

  And then—

  A white blur tore through the smoke.

  It moved with a speed that bordered on the supernatural, like lightning ripping through a storm cloud.

  The situation inverted in an instant.

  No one dared to cast another spell. Fear of striking their own allies froze their hands. Impact after impact rang out in rapid succession as one Guardian was launched into another, bodies colliding and scattering like bowling pins struck by a steel ball.

  Only then did panic truly set in.

  The formation they had taken such pride in had become Rein’s shield—

  and their own prison.

  A single, clean punch.

  That was all it took.

  The force transferred with surgical precision, obeying the laws of physics down to the smallest margin, sweeping through four, then five Guardians, dropping them in a heap as easily as a line of falling dominoes.

  “What the hell is this?!” the unit commander roared, eyes bulging as he watched Expert-rank subordinates crumple like insects.

  “Fall back! Spread out—!”

  The order never finished.

  A Guardian screamed as a sweeping kick struck him mid-motion, his body lifted off the ground before he was hurled through the air, crashing into three of his comrades and sending all of them sprawling.

  “Damn it—!” another Guardian cursed, desperately trying to raise his staff and lock onto the target.

  But he couldn’t.

  The white blur was too fast for a mage’s eyes to track.

  Worse still—

  Every time it stopped, there was always another Guardian standing right beside it.

  A living shield.

  And then it was his turn.

  The white shadow closed in at point-blank range.

  Before he could move his staff, a sudden, bone-deep chill surged up his spine. His senses blacked out completely.

  Rein was about to finish him—

  when a flash of pale blue-white light sliced through the air from the corner of his vision.

  Instinct, honed through countless battles, kicked in.

  He twisted mid-air.

  There was no warning—only the sudden.

  The Guardian Rein had just released was instantly encased in thick ice. His skin turned a sickly purple, like a corpse dug from frozen ground.

  From then on, wherever Rein moved, beams of freezing light followed.

  Ray of Frost.

  This was true Troposphere Master-tier magic—cast without restraint. Fired with a terrifying indifference to who might be caught in the blast—ally or enemy, it didn't matter.

  The blue-white beams behaved less like spells and more like jets of liquid nitrogen under extreme pressure, flash-freezing everything in their path. Blood crystallized into ice before pain could even register.

  Rein drove forward along the remaining line of Guardians—

  only for the situation to worsen.

  The freezing beams converged from both sides like colossal shears, cutting through everything in their path. Those who failed to escape in time were frozen solid, transformed into grotesque ice sculptures that lined the battlefield like monuments to failure.

  The tactic left Rein with only one option.

  Forward.

  A corridor of death pressed in on both sides, human walls of ice hemming him in.

  Breaking through them would mean shattering frozen bodies—and that, biologically and magically, meant irreversible death.

  Those green-haired twins… They’re ruthless.

  Rein clenched his jaw and accelerated, charging straight toward the stone staircase leading up to the Council Cathedral, fully aware it could be a trap.

  Then—

  The massive figure of the Guardian commander descended, landing squarely on the steps and blocking his path.

  He slammed his hands together, unleashing a torrent of mana as he began chanting.

  Manus Etheria, prehendere et movere!

  “Crush him! Mage Hand!”

  Two enormous translucent hands manifested from nothingness, blotting out the light as they closed in, slamming together with crushing force—targeting Rein like colossal iron clamps meant to pulverize a mere insect.

  A crimson CUBE materialized before Rein, spinning so fast it shrieked through the air.

  “If you won’t let me dodge…”

  His dark blue eyes flared with light.

  “…then there’s no need to.”

  He launched himself forward.

  Straight at the hands.

  The commander grinned savagely, pouring every ounce of mana into the killing blow—

  Then—

  Flames erupted.

  Scarlet fire engulfed the mage hands, tearing them apart in a violent explosion.

  Rein burst through the inferno like a shell fired from a cannon, wrapped in searing heat.

  The next sensation the commander registered was impact—not just sound, but a vibration that rattled his teeth in their sockets and turned his vision to static.

  The barrier shattered like glass beneath a sledgehammer.

  His massive body was hurled through the air like a kite with its string cut, slamming into one of the twelve stone pillars with cataclysmic force.

  Cracks spider-webbed through the pillar—a symbol of the Council’s authority, now visibly fractured.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The body hung there for a heartbeat.

  Then dropped.

  He lay broken on the marble, arms twisted at unnatural angles, chest caved in by a terrifying fist-shaped imprint. His white uniform was charred black, burned through to blistered flesh.

  A trail over thirty feet long smoldered behind Rein, fire licking across the marble floor.

  The boy stood calmly before the wreckage.

  His eyes were cold. His posture serene.

  Snow began to fall from the gray sky—but the moment the flakes touched the immense heat radiating from Rein’s body, they vanished, evaporating instantly, as if cast into an invisible furnace.

  The image of flames and blood before the Student Council blurred—then dissolved, replaced by a memory from two weeks earlier inside the Mana Realm.

  Back then, Rein had been obsessed—consumed—with designing new CUBEs after the first prototype succeeded beyond expectations.

  That day, the moment he stepped into the pristine white laboratory, he headed straight for the main monitor—normally LIZ’s seat of command.

  But he stopped short.

  The chair was empty.

  No holographic troublemaker lounging there. No smug voice. No candy. Nothing.

  Before he could even call her name, something strange in his peripheral vision caught him.

  On the wall facing the training field—

  A large glass window that had never been there before.

  “…There was a window here?”

  He muttered to himself, frowning, and walked closer to confirm it with his own eyes.

  And the moment he looked through—

  He blurted out without meaning to.

  “Wha—what is that?”

  He rubbed his eyes hard, fast, almost afraid it was an illusion.

  Because instead of the blank, lonely white of the training field—

  He was looking at the sea—a beach of clear turquoise water, a horizon so bright it hurt to stare at.

  The atmosphere was so familiar it felt like a place he’d once escaped to, back when he was still Dr. Rhys.

  Rein shook his head, forced himself to breathe, and stared again.

  Outside the window, the sky was flawless—no clouds. Seagulls glided over rolling waves that kissed fine white sand in gentle silence.

  If this was virtual reality, it wasn’t even comparable to the VR room at Nackerl. This was leagues beyond it.

  Then his eyes caught something that shocked him even more. He pressed his face against the glass, needing to be sure.

  On the white sand—

  A blonde girl in a bright bikini was reclining lazily on a beach chair.

  Black sunglasses. A white parasol. A small table beside her, snacks and drinks arranged like she was lounging on a private island.

  “…LIZ?”

  Out of habit, Rein lifted a hand to adjust glasses that weren’t on his face—then hurriedly pushed open the lab door and stepped out toward her.

  At first, he meant to scold her.

  For using his memories without permission.

  For turning the training field into an ocean without warning.

  But the instant his bare foot sank into sand—fine, warm, almost alive—

  Something buried deep in his memory surged back to the surface.

  This beach…

  Koh Samui.

  A place he and Dr. Alicia Hartmann—his girlfriend—had once taken a full week off to escape to together.

  Alicia walking beside him at sunrise.

  The salty tang in the air.

  Her bright laughter.

  It all remained etched into his subconscious, untouched by time.

  Rein—who had intended to run—slowed, until his steps became a quiet walk.

  He stared at the endless horizon… then looked back at the AI girl lounging not far away, his gaze subtly changed.

  “You… built this?” he asked softly, even though he already knew the answer.

  His voice trembled—just a little—caught between astonishment and a longing he couldn’t name.

  LIZ lowered her sunglasses slightly to look at him properly.

  Then she snapped her fingers.

  In an instant, Rein’s clothes were replaced—without consent—with a garish floral Hawaiian shirt, shorts, and black aviator sunglasses.

  “Woooow. Now that is what I call fitting in. See? You look insanely cool!”

  “Hey—don’t you dare change my clothes whenever you feel like it, you lunatic.”

  Rein barked, tugging at the coconut-tree print like it had personally insulted him.

  “My body’s owner?” LIZ echoed, voice climbing, then laughed like she’d been waiting for that line. “Your body in here is something I generated with my own hands, you know.”

  She pretended to count on her fingers.

  “Thirteen times. Yes. You destroyed your avatar during those stupid tests—thirteen times. And every time I rebuilt you, I had to withdraw mana from the Mana Realm. That’s not free.”

  Rein froze for a beat at the number.

  “…Right. Got it. So I’m in debt.”

  He sighed and sat down on the second beach chair LIZ conveniently manifested right beside him—along with his Hawaiian outfit.

  “But how did you even do this? Build a world this real?”

  “Hah. Real?” LIZ puffed out her chest proudly as she sipped her drink. “This is my Mana Realm, you idiot. Not yours.”

  She tilted her chin up, smug.

  “I’ve been here for thousands of years—long before you were born, no matter which world you’re talking about. For me, forcing mana to change state—what humans call ‘magic’—is as easy as breathing.”

  Then she pointed at the sea, grinning wide.

  “Isn’t it amazing? I’m a genius.”

  As Rein gaped, a chilled coconut drink—with a straw—appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

  “As for the ocean,” LIZ continued, casually, “I just gathered mana from neighboring borders and powered up this space. As long as you have enough mana, something like this is nothing.”

  “Where did you even get that much mana?” Rein asked warily.

  LIZ ignored him—until he pressed again.

  Then she leaned closer and whispered, as if someone might be listening.

  “I rewrote eighty-four percent of the code from that black book. I just created a connection to the boundary those cross-dimensional gods left behind…”

  Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

  “…and skimmed a tiny bit of their mana. Easy.”

  Rein made a face. He had given her permission to manage the data herself, but he hadn’t expected the result to become literal inter-dimensional theft.

  “Then how big is this Mana Realm now?” he asked. “Numbers. Real numbers. No illusions.”

  “Diameter: about 2.78 kilometers,” LIZ replied flatly, sipping again. “And it’ll keep expanding as long as I keep absorbing mana from that side at a steady rate.”

  She shrugged, unapologetic.

  “Either way, thanks to you. That’s why I ‘donated’ a portion to you for that boring little lab of yours.”

  Then she spread her arms dramatically.

  “The vacation zone? That’s mine.”

  With that, she snapped her fingers again.

  Daylight vanished. The beach shifted into early night in an instant.

  Rein looked up at a sky packed with gray clouds, a pale moon, and millions of stars flickering like scattered sparks.

  It was painfully obvious he was being cheated.

  His lab was a mouse hole compared to the sea and white sand she’d built for herself.

  If LIZ kept expanding her territory like this…

  Wouldn’t this eventually become a planet?

  A worry rose in his mind—sharp, immediate.

  Wouldn’t she turn into some world-conquering AI—like Skynet or The Matrix?

  “Nonsense,” LIZ snapped, turning on him instantly. “You think I’d be like those brain-dead AIs?”

  Right. Of course.

  She could read his mind the entire time he was logged in.

  “At my level,” LIZ said, puffing out her chest, “it’s not just the world I’d conquer.”

  Her grin widened.

  “It’s the universe. Or better yet—the multiverse”

  Then she started humming Darth Vader’s theme, completely delighted with herself.

  “…Okay,” Rein muttered, staring at his feet. “Yeah. That’s on me. I was thinking nonsense.”

  Rein drained the coconut in his hand in a single gulp. The sweetness and coolness washed over him, dulling—if only briefly—the longing he still carried for his old world.

  “Alright…”

  He exhaled slowly. “I think I finally see a way forward.”

  He tossed the empty coconut aside without ceremony, picked up the plastic straw, and held it like a pen. Leaning forward, he began sketching lines into the clean white sand with practiced ease—no different from writing equations or geometry across a board.

  “Do you remember that flaming charge the brawler used?” he asked without looking up.

  “Oh— you mean Kairos’s Flame Strike?” LIZ replied, slipping off her sunglasses and setting them on the table. She moved closer, eyes following the geometric patterns forming beneath Rein’s hand.

  “Yeah. The core idea was simple—combining a warrior’s physical toughness with raw magical energy.”

  Rein drew interlocking lines, shaping the framework. Then he traced three concentric circles into the sand, pressing the center down slightly, like the axis of a jet engine.

  “Normally, Magic Armor is garbage,” he said almost dismissively. “By design, it’s nothing more than a hardened surface layer. Its effective Young’s modulus is too low. Under real impact loads, it doesn’t bend—it fractures. Like glass.”

  He paused, then continued, his straw cutting decisively through the sand.

  “But what if we apply a spellsword’s technique—like an Enhancement spell—directly to the mana-molecular structure of the armor itself, instead of a weapon?”

  LIZ raised an eyebrow.

  “So… you’re turning ‘glass’ into ‘carbon fiber’?”

  “Not carbon fiber,” Rein corrected. “A titanium composite, encoded with rigid-body constraints.”

  He began outlining the architecture of the CUBE—faces one and two taking shape.

  “This layer becomes the foundation. It’s built to withstand extreme stress.”

  He then drew the second ring, carefully spacing it away from the first.

  “Next problem: Sacred Flame. Ingrid’s spell runs at absurd temperatures. If I wrap that directly around my body, even reinforced Magic Armor won’t save me. Heat conduction would cook me from the inside within seconds.”

  Between the inner armor and the outer flame, he marked a zigzag pattern—like interlocking waves.

  “That’s where Levitate comes in. We won’t use it to float.”

  He tapped the area between layers.

  “We use it to trap space—create a static air layer. Or, if the parameters hold… a simulated vacuum. Thermal insulation.”

  He continued, voice steady, almost clinical.

  “This air layer also functions as a buffer zone. External impacts get absorbed by the air cushion, while heat is trapped and prevented from flowing inward, in accordance with basic thermodynamics.”

  Finally, Rein etched the last set of spell equations onto the remaining faces of the CUBE.

  “And the final two spells—Haste and Might Enhance. They won’t run continuously.”

  He drew sharp, rhythmic marks into the sand.

  “Pulse activation,” he muttered. “Like nitro injection in a racing engine. Short duration. Absolute output.”

  LIZ noded.

  “When impact occurs, mana is compressed to its absolute limit—then released in a kinetic burst, synchronized with the flame. It’s not just a charge. It’s not just a punch.”

  He looked up at LIZ, eyes sharp.

  “It’s the injection of superheated plasma directly into the enemy’s weakest point.”

  LIZ stared at the blueprint in the sand, her eyes sparkling.

  “That’s incredible. Then—what do we call this protocol?”

  Rein fell silent for a moment. He rested one hand against his chin, thinking. Then, with the tip of the straw, he wrote a name beside the hexagonal structure.

  “Fire… Ignis…”

  He nodded once, committing the design.

  “Ignis Drive.”

  These entries expand the lore and mechanics introduced in this chapter.

  Completely optional—read only if you enjoy diving deeper into the system.

  Magic & Spell Techniques

  Ray of Frost

  A high-level Troposphere-tier ice spell that fires beams of concentrated freezing mana. The attack functions like highly pressurized jets of liquid nitrogen, capable of flash-freezing organic matter instantly. Blood crystallizes before pain can register, and failure to evade results in complete encasement in ice. In this instance, the spell is cast with no regard for friendly fire, creating a terrifying battlefield hazard.

  Notable Users: Unnamed green-haired twin mages.

  Mage Hand (Advanced Form)

  Spell Command: “Manus Etheria, prehendere et movere!”

  This is a scaled-up version of the standard utility spell Mage Hand. At Master-tier levels, it manifests as two massive, translucent magical hands capable of applying crushing force. Often used for battlefield suppression or containment.

  Notable Users: Guardian Commander in Chapter 70.

  Ignis Drive

  A multi-layered battle CUBE system invented by Rein combining several spells into a composite form:

  –Core spells: Magic Armor, Enhancement, Levitate, Sacred Flame, Haste, and Might Enhance.

  – Inner layer: Reinforced Magic Armor with embedded enhancement properties (resembling titanium composite instead of glass).

  – Middle layer: Levitate-based air pocket simulating a vacuum, functioning as heat insulation and impact buffer.

  – Outer layer: Superheated flame (Sacred Flame).

  – Activation: Pulse-triggered bursts of kinetic and thermal energy timed with close-combat impact.

  – Function: A system inspired by Flame Strike, designed to transform the caster into a living projectile—channeling destructive plasma directly into enemy weak points.

  Design Notes: Engineered in collaboration with LIZ.

  Reference: Compared to nitro injection systems in racing engines.

  Status: First seen as a concept blueprint at the end of the chapter.

  Scientific / Engineering Concepts

  Young’s Modulus

  A measure of the stiffness of a material. Rein criticizes default Magic Armor for having a low Young’s modulus, meaning it breaks rather than bends under stress—akin to brittle materials like glass.

  Simulated Vacuum

  By using Levitate to suspend an insulating air layer, Rein theorizes the creation of a near-vacuum zone to block heat conduction—an essential mechanism to survive being wrapped in Sacred Flame.

  Pulse Activation

  Short bursts of magical output, similar to the “nitro boost” used in car engines. Allows for explosive force with minimal mana drain and overheating.

  Location

  Mana Realm (Update)

  Mana Realm Expansion:

  LIZ’s Mana Realm is now confirmed to be expanding—2.78 kilometers in diameter—and growing by siphoning mana from interdimensional connections (rewritten code from the “black book”).New

  Region: Beach Simulation

  LIZ constructs a hyper-realistic tropical beach modeled after Koh Samui—a place tied to Dr. Rhys’s past. Features include weather cycles, night shifts, and real-time ocean physics.

  Meta-Details: Constructed without Rein’s permission by tapping into his memories. LIZ considers this her personal vacation zone.

  Pop Culture & Meta References

  Koh Samui

  An island in Thailand. Here, it’s portrayed as a real-world memory from Dr. Rhys’s past—a vacation with his former girlfriend, Alicia. The beach becomes a recreation within the Mana Realm.

  Skynet & The Matrix

  Rein worries LIZ may be going the route of fictional AI overlords. She dismisses the idea mockingly, claiming she would go beyond world domination to multiverse domination.

  Darth Vader’s Theme

  LIZ punctuates this by humming Darth Vader’s theme, adding a dramatic villainous flair.

  Nitro Boost (Car Racing)

  Used as a metaphor for spellcasting: short, high-powered bursts that temporarily exceed normal limits. Key to the Ignis Drive system.