Original Magic.

It is constantly referred to as the pinnacle a Mage can ever attain, as it is the Magic developed from scratch, using the user’s wealth of experience and techniques as a base to generate this phenomena.

A collection of one’s life experience, to be precise.

However, for someone like Maria, who was only 26, possessing Original Magic meant one thing.

It had more room to evolve.

The earlier one starts to develop Original Magic, the more powerful such Magic is bound to become. Unfortunately, the venture is downright difficult, if not impossible, for most Mages.

Most Mages would never be able to use Original Magic.

And so, Maria Helmsworth’s ability to use one in the prime of her life, with much prospect for growth, could only be chalked up to one thing.

She was a genius.𝑶𝚟𝓁xt.𝚌𝗈𝕞

*******

“Red: Destroy.”

Maria felt heat course through her as she wielded the next blade, pointing it in the direction of her target.

Her image seemed to distort due to the immense heat that now radiated from her, and most especially the tip of her blade.

As her eyes focused on her target, her mind slowly drifted to one person.

One thing.

‘Can I really call this Original Magic? I did develop it from scratch, an its different from what you showed me, but… you were my source of inspiration for it…’

The image of her cousin, his dark hair and blue eyes evident on his scowling face, played over and over in her head.

‘Stefan… your Original Magic back then remains burned in my memory.’

He had thought he was weak, too weak for her, yet Maria had acknowledged his strength. It inspired her to model her Original Magic in the same direction as him.

However, upon noticing the shortcomings of his own Magic, she ensured hers was more advanced.

True Light separated her energy into nine major aspects, each possessing distinct attributes. It was similar to what Stefan had done with his own Original Magic. However, a major difference was that she had added two more colors to her spectrum, while he only had seven.

Another distinct quality of hers was the use of physical manifestations of those colors in the form of blades.

This allowed her to better focus the Aether she expended, as well as increase the effectiveness of each color’s power. By condensing everything, it conserved more Aether and increased the power output.

Also, while there could be overlapping similarities in the abiltiies of their respective colors, there were also differences.

And last but not least…

~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!~

… Her Original Magic was just more powerful than his was.

The red blast that radiated from her blade instantly wiped out all the frozen sculptures in its path, and every other emerging Nether Beast, eviscerating everything in a straight line.

Without prejudice, every single opponent was eliminated.

“Looks like there are just a few more enemies left. I shouldn’t leave anyone unaccounted for.” Maria murmured, preparing her blade so she could aim.

However… even she could not have expected what happened next.

~BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!~

An explosion that dwarfed hers, or anything she currently had in her arsenal, suddenly surged forth.

It caused the very space to tremble, and even Maria felt pushed back despite being in her True Archangel Drive.

‘W-what is… this…?’ Her glowing eyes could not believe what she was seeing.

Her jaws loosened, forcing her mouth to widen in sheer surprise. Her usally stoic face leaked out emotion, and it was due to none other than the state of the Hive.

That single explosion from earlier, the one that caused even space to nearly break apart, had completely decimated the Hive.

That’s right! In one single eruption, the entire Hive was utterly destroyed.

‘H-how? Who…?!’ A bead of sweat broke on Maria’s face as she stared at the destruction before her, seeing the entire Hive reduced to nothing but smoldering vestiges of burning Nether.

Nothing would be left of it in a few more seconds.

Maria knew it wasn’t her. It couldn’t have been. Even she wasn’t that powerful.

So, the same question that was also on the mind of her other allies as they all saw the eruption plagued her as she witnessed the destruction of their entire mission.

Who destroyed the Hive?!

******

Moments Earlier

“Huff.. huff…”

It was barely three minutes into the fight, and Jerry was already feeling sheer exhaustion weigh on him.

His body was currently shrouded in flames—blue ones.

It almost appeared like he was made completely out of the blue flames, and the fact that his image was distoreted due to the heat proved just how intense this form was.

He had a flaming sword on one hand, and an orb of pure flames on the other. His eyes shone crimson as the rest of his body glowed with azure fire. However, his flaming sword had the purple color shrouding it, while his orb was orange.

This was his ultimate form; a mixture of Mage Mode, Elemental Chamber, and his Fusion State. It was Grand Flame Admiral, the most powerful version of himself at the moment.

And yes, in this form, he was able to fight on equal, if not superiror footing, with the swarms of Nether Beasts that approached him.

His purple flaming sword dealt major damage to his opponents in a mid

/close range, while his flaming orb sent long-range damage to enemies far away. The orb’s attacks were not as poweful as the blade’s but it was strong enough to reduce the amount of enemies he had to face at the same time.

He would ward off most of his enemies with his orb, while dealing with few at once in close quarters combat. Using this formula, he was guaranteed victory, even if it would take a lot of time before he could finish off all of them.

… At least, that was what he thought.

“Haa… haa…” Jerry’s breathing became more coarse the more seconds passed as he tiredly stared at the Nether Beasts that were closing in on him.

‘Damnit… I miscalculated!’

*

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*

A

/N

Who do you think destroyed the Hive?

I’m sure its Gigachad Jerry. Tell me your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for reading.

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