Chapter 185: Light and Darkness 5
[High-Grade Light Magic]
[Luminous Nova]
A radiant sphere of blinding light surged through the air, its sheer power warping the very atmosphere around it.
The energy crackled violently before exploding in a dazzling burst of destructive brilliance.
Dorothy barely had time to react. Already drained from the relentless onslaught of attacks, her body ached, her mana reserves nearly exhausted.
BOOM!
The explosion tore through the air with a deafening roar.
Although Oz managed to conjure a shield of darkness to absorb the brunt of the impact, Dorothy wasn’t spared.
The shockwave from the blast knocked her off balance, sending her hurtling from the rooftop she had been running across.
CRACK!
Her body twisted mid-air, and in the brief moment before impact, she summoned the last dregs of her mana.
A thin veil of energy cushioned her fall just enough to prevent immediate fatal damage.
But it wasn’t enough to save her entirely.
She hit the ground hard, headfirst, the rough pavement biting into her skin as she tumbled, leaving a trail of blood in her wake.
She lay there for a moment, dazed, gasping for breath as blood trickled down her forehead. Every muscle screamed in protest, her body trembling from the strain.
She could barely lift her head to see the figure approaching.
“Just tell me where he is right now,” a voice rang out, cold and devoid of mercy. It was Rose. Floating above her, bathed in an eerie glow of light magic, her eyes gleamed with a cruel intensity. “And I might even consider sparing you, Ex-President… for old time’s sake.”
Dorothy’s vision blurred as the words reached her ears. She wiped the blood from her face, wincing at the pain, and struggled to push herself off the ground. Her arms shook as she barely managed to rise to her knees.
“This monster…” Dorothy whispered, her voice hoarse with pain and exhaustion.
Dorothy had hoped their battle would last a bit longer but it seems Rose was truly getting serous now just from the release of her high-grade magic just now….
‘Her impulsive nature hasn’t changed…’
Dorothy thought, gritting her teeth as she surveyed the devastation around her.
Nearly half the building was reduced to rubble, disintegrated into nothingness by Rose’s unrelenting power.
If it hadn’t been for Oz’s quick actions, entire blocks of the district would have been wiped out in the blink of an eye.
His shields had barely managed to contain the destruction, but the strain on him had been immense.
Everything was crumbling faster than Dorothy anticipated—her mana reserves, her strategy, even the tenuous control she thought she had over the situation.
And yet, through it all, the smile on her lips never wavered. It was a smile born out of the chaos, a blend of defiance and resignation.
Rose’s cold eyes twitched in irritation as she noticed Dorothy’s grin.
Her wand hummed with energy, gathering an even greater torrent of mana than before.
Dorothy could feel the intensity building in the air, the pressure of Rose’s overwhelming power pressing down on her like a vice.
“Does she have no limit?” Dorothy mumbled aloud, her voice tinged with both awe and frustration.
There was no doubt that Rose’s strength was far beyond anything Dorothy had anticipated.
The sheer magnitude of her mana output was monstrous, bordering on reckless.
It was as if Rose had thrown away any regard for restraint or caution, her focus consumed entirely by the singular goal of finding Riley.
Dorothy quickly scrambled to her feet, ignoring the pain that flared through her body.
Blood dripped from her forehead, blurring her vision, but she forced herself to keep moving.
She had no idea what had happened to Oz after taking the brunt of Rose’s high-grade magic, but if even he—a mystical familiar born from another dimension—had been brought low by Rose’s attack, things were far worse than she thought.
Her connection with Oz was still intact, which meant he was alive, but the silence on the other end of their telepathic link was unsettling.
He wasn’t responding, and that could only mean one thing: he was incapacitated, at least for the moment.
Dorothy cursed under her breath, feeling the weight of the situation pressing down harder.
Running through the debris, Dorothy could barely keep up with Rose’s relentless pace.
Every time she tried to regain distance, Rose was right there, floating above with her cold, judgmental gaze, raining down destruction with wave after wave of light magic.
From her mana reserves to her physical strength, even the shadow army that had once been her greatest asset—Dorothy was stripped of almost everything in her arsenal at this critical moment.
There was no denying it: she had nothing left to throw against Rose.
The gap between them was insurmountable.
Although the runes Dorothy had meticulously prepared all night had worked wonders to maintain the protective veil over the area, it was only a matter of time before that, too, would be shattered.
Three high-ranking mages—one of whom was on par with an Archmage—were relentlessly hammering away at her barrier from outside.
The god of darkness’s blessing that lingered within her, a remnant of Oz’s power, was weakening by the second.
Dorothy could feel it slipping through her fingers, the divinity inside her becoming more erratic and uncontrollable without Oz to channel and mitigate its effects.
She was running on borrowed time, and soon, that time would run out.
But… Dorothy smiled through the exhaustion and the pain. ‘I’ve achieved my goal…’
In the chaos of their battle, Dorothy had made sure that the civilians hidden behind the residential hotels near the public market, the ones evacuated by senior students to safety near the clocktower, and even the general department students huddled in fear, all bore witness to the spectacle that unfolded before them.
Every eye in the district was drawn to the relentless light that pursued her—the brilliant, terrifying display of Rose’s magical onslaught.
Dorothy’s movements throughout their confrontation weren’t just desperate attempts to survive; they were deliberate.
Every dodge, every deflection of Rose’s attacks, was part of a larger plan to capture the attention of everyone in the vicinity.
The students, the civilians, the mages attempting to break through her barrier—all of them were now riveted to the unrelenting power of the light mage chasing her through the district.
Rose, for all her single-mindedness, couldn’t ignore those in front of her, especially those she could save.
Dorothy had always known that about her.
Rose’s cold, calculated exterior didn’t mean she was indifferent to the suffering of others. It was one of her core traits, a vestige of the person she used to be.
And Dorothy had used that to her advantage.
Although Rose typically disregarded the crowd, Dorothy had forced her hand.
The sight of people—students, civilians, and even allies—caught in the crossfire would weigh on Rose, pulling at that part of her that still cared, even if it was buried beneath layers of fury and obsession.
Right now, the narrative Dorothy had carefully crafted was already taking shape.
The light chasing her down, the very embodiment of Rose’s unrelenting power, would be the end of her darkness.
But with its arrival, it would also illuminate the despair that had gripped the people for so long.
The hero, the savior she once hoped for before she disappeared from the world, had arrived—just not in the form Dorothy had once imagined.
It didn’t matter anymore if the scenario ended here.
It didn’t matter if she died in this very moment.
The plan was already set in motion, and everything was falling into place.
Rose, the beacon of light, would soon be hailed as the victor who brought an end to the shadows Dorothy cast.
Her role in this final act had been fulfilled, and the outcome was written, solidified like a prophecy no one could change.
But… there was no harm in letting it all play out just a little longer, right?
Even as threatening as Rose appeared, Dorothy knew she wouldn’t kill her—not yet.
As long as she held the information Rose needed, particularly regarding Riley’s whereabouts, her life was temporarily safeguarded. Rose’s immediate goal wasn’t to end her life but to extract the truth.
Restraining Dorothy, making her talk, and explaining the situation—these were the steps
Rose would take, even if she had to get a little violent.
That was Dorothy’s advantage.
Yet, as Dorothy continued running through the crumbling streets, she felt her mind growing hazier.
An unsettling sensation spread through her thoughts, whispers of unknowable words muttering at the edges of her consciousness.
The energy deep within her soul, the one she had sealed away, was clawing at her from the inside, screaming to be set free.
‘The moment my connection with Oz fades completely… you’ll take over. You can claim my soul as promised,’ Dorothy silently screamed back at the voice. ‘But for now… stay back. I’m not done yet.’
The entity lurking within her waited, hungry and patient, its presence growing stronger as the battle wore on and her connection with Oz continued to weaken.
Dorothy could feel it, like an itch just beneath the surface of her skin—a creeping darkness that would swallow her whole if she let her guard down for even a second.
But she wasn’t ready to give in just yet.
Not until she had seen this through, the best ending she could possibly muster….
‘I’ll give it all to you….’
