After pushing through layer upon layer of obstacles, Charles finally saw Conrad again.
It had only been two days, but Conrad was a completely different person from before.
His white hair had lost all luster, like dead weeds. His face was bloodless, pallid as a corpse, and even his body had thinned considerably.
Anyone could see that Conrad looked like a man at death's door. Asta had still been breathing fire when he learned Conrad planned to set his scheme in motion in Hage Village, but seeing him like this now, he didn't even know what to say.
None of the four felt any pity for Conrad, though, because the mana pouring off him was many times stronger than before.
Even Asta, who couldn't sense mana, felt a completely different sort of pressure—the last time he'd felt something like it was from the word-soul devil Zagred.
It was as if Conrad had traded his life for overwhelming magic power.
With dead, sunken eyes, Conrad looked at Charles and the others and said coldly, "So you still came! Why won't you understand—the country has to change!"
Charles had no intention of responding. This had already gone beyond a last-ditch gamble. When someone's willing to stake their life on something, words won't stop him.
So Charles moved, reaching for the Imperial Sword hovering at Conrad's side.
Before his fingers could touch the blade, several bolts of lightning flashed, lashing straight onto Charles.
He sprang back, arcs still crackling along his forearm.
"Knew it wouldn't be that easy," Charles muttered, then turned. "There are preset spell formulas around the sword. Asta, it's yours. We'll pin Conrad down."
Asta nodded and drew the Demon-Slayer Sword from his grimoire.
Conrad shook his head. "You've wasted your last chance. Very well—come!"
As he spoke, countless magical gates of light opened one after another around him. Conrad reached up and tore off his robe and outer coat.
As his vast mana surged, his withered body seemed to be nourished and swelled back up.
A ring of magic halos spread behind his back, the four primary colors of the four elements each occupying a quadrant.
Even his white hair took on a magical sheen, looking a little less dead.
"The ideal world is almost here. None of you are getting in the way!"
Yuno entered spirit assimilation on the spot. A longsword of wind-element mana formed in his grip, and he was the first to charge Conrad.
Conrad reached into thin air, seized a conjured longsword, and met Yuno's strike.
With a sweep of his blade, a lance woven of lightning and flame thrust out, battering Yuno away.
Now Conrad could freely combine his various magics to unleash powerful composite spells, and backed by his immense mana, their force was frightening.
"Spirit Storm!"
Yuno's sword cleaved out a pillar of wind that shattered the lightning-flame lance, but Conrad's sword chopped the wind to ribbons.
Amid the spray of mana motes, Charles appeared before Conrad, first slapping his longsword aside and then popping him skyward with a rising uppercut.
Stella had been waiting for him; her long leg axed down, smashing him onto the demon skull and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Seizing the opening, Asta reached the Imperial Sword and swung the Demon-Slayer down.
Magic circles in every color lit up—formulas Conrad had prepared in advance. But in the face of the Demon-Slayer, they were as good as nothing, shattering in an instant.
With those defenses broken, Asta reached out for the sword.
Conrad burst out of the dust, though, and with one kick sent the unprepared Asta flying, then casually closed his hand around the Imperial Sword.
He didn't press the attack. Instead, he looked at Asta.
"You're Asta of the Black Bulls, aren't you? I know who you are. You have that miraculous Anti-Magic but no mana at all. A commoner who barely scraped into the Magic Knights—and now you're carrying an exile sentence."
Rather than raise the sword, he offered his hand. "You're not like the others. You can understand how I feel. And like me, you have the same ambition.
"So stand with me. My time is short. When my life ends, you can be the one to lead the new world."
Asta levered himself up on the Demon-Slayer, his expression unchanged.
"What new world? You've got it all wrong! The Wizard King is an amazing person who protects the people. That's why I'm definitely going to be the Wizard King.
"I'm going to stop you here. I won't let you destroy everything!"
Conrad looked disappointed. He'd gathered a lot of intel before making his move. He'd meant to learn more about Charles, but wound up reading up on Asta.
In his view, Asta was different from the rest. A commoner with no mana, he'd be the one who most understood the country's darkness.
Most importantly, Asta, like him, had clearly stated his intention to change the country. And their ideal was the same.
So he thought Asta was the one who could best understand him—and the best candidate to be his successor.
To him, Asta's resolve was mere obstinacy, which only made him more irritable.
"You still don't get it! The Wizard King can't do anything. No one knows that better than I do!"
"What can't do anything is a man who gave up being the Wizard King. I won't give up becoming the Wizard King!" Asta shot back.
"I won't give up building a new world either!" Conrad roared.
"Because… not giving up is my magic!" ×2
Standing on opposite sides, the two said exactly the same words, and their resolve was just as firm.
That clash of wills naturally became a clash of blades.
Asta went straight into Black form, drawing the Demon-Dweller with his other hand. Twin swords in hand, he charged Conrad.
Conrad raised the Imperial Sword. It was a magic tool, not a weapon; its strength wasn't in the steel but in its control over mana.
Magic of all kinds gathered along the blade, condensing into a giant sword dozens of meters long.
With a roar, Conrad cleaved down the mana greatsword.
Asta vanished under the descending edge. With a boom, the entire demon skull shook.
Asta crossed his two swords, startled to find Yuno beside him, bracing the blade with him.
"Idiot. I'm the one who's going to be the Wizard King," Yuno said, holding his mana longsword horizontal.
Stella smiled. "Those two have great chemistry."
Charles nodded. "Don't they? Seeing them like this is what makes you want to fight."
Indeed, with someone like Asta around, Conrad absolutely had to be stopped from going off the deep end.
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