“I see… so you’ve trapped me in a miniature Demon Realm,” Elrich murmured, looking around him.

Fortunately, he was within a safe area thanks to his Magic Tool responding on time, but that was only a temporary measure.

Being surrounded by so much Miasma meant that his barrier wouldn’t be able to remain active for long.

“It’s not as simple as a Miniature Demon Realm. I can alter the environment however I please. I could increase the intensity of the Miasma, or use any of the surrounding Miasma for a Spell–like so.”

With a snap of his fingers, a dense spike appeared out of nowhere, nearly piercing Elrich.

>BOOOOOMMMMM<

His Mana Field suffered a hit, causing Elrich to recoil as a result. The effects were not fatal, but the shield’s integrity had been reduced for sure.

“Why can’t your Grimoire offer a solution to this one? Or is it restricted to regular Spells and not Original Magic? Maybe it can’t deal with an Area Of Effect Spell like this. Oh, there are so many limitations I would love to extrapolate from that power you have.” Lubick grinned devilishly.

He currently held all the cards, and that made the Demon Lord bask in his superiority.

“Well, you’re not completely wrong about that. When it comes to Original Magic and certain kinds of Spells, it’s tricky to win.”

Lubick’s smile grew wider upon hearing the Grand Mage admitting defeat.

His pride had been bruised more than once since the start of this war, but he was finally regaining his confidence.

At the very least, Lubick was certain he could beat the man before him.

“I could wait… but we should end this quickly. Besides, I don’t know how long it’ll take for the Analyze effect to be completed. This Field may break down before then.”

‘Uh?!’ Lubick thought he heard something weird from the human.

“I suppose I’ll be using my Trump Card now.”

“W-wha–?!”

>VWUUUUUUUUUUSSSSHHHHHH<

Something akin to a vacuum appeared above the layers of Miasma.

It resembled a portal, but due to its unstable and chaotic nature–as well as its darkened swirl–one could refer to it as a Black Hole instead.

“I haven’t completely mastered that Item, but… if I make a mistake and mess up the calculated directions, the portal becomes a Vortex instead.”

Lubick could only hear gibberish from the Grand Mage, but what was happening warranted concern.

The swirling singularity above began sucking in the clouds and mists of Miasma.

The pulling force it had completely outweighed Lubick’s control over the surrounding field.

“No! No! What are you doing?! This can’t be happening!”

The never-satisfied Black Hole kept sucking the purplish-black clouds and red mist… until the Miasma around was so thin that it couldn’t be registered as a threat any longer.

>SWUUUUSSSSHHHHH<

The Black Hole kept sucking in things despite completing its job, causing Elrich himself to give a very worried expression.

“Oof! I’ll have to forcefully deactivate it.”

Placing his hand in his pocket and bringing out a card–displaying the symbol of a Tower on it–Elrich used his Mana to shut down the bright blue glow emanating from the object.

And then–

>SHUUUUUUUUU<

The dark blot in the sky slowly closed, and then space returned to normal.

“Haaa, that was a close one. If it went a bit more out of control…” Elrich spoke, heaving a sigh of relief.

“W-what is that? What did you just do?” Lubick growled.

Not only had his Original Magic been combatted, but his opponent was holding something so immensely powerful that even the Demon Lord slowly began to rethink his earlier stance.

“Ah, this? It’s an Arcana. You Demons have your Arcana, right? The Devil, if I’m not mistaken. Jared told me about that.”

Lubick was stunned beyond words.

The Devil was a National Heritage–the most important thing in the Demon Realm, that ensured their survival.

It was an Arcana, yes, one of the most powerful Items in the world.

Still… for a mere human to also be wielding an Arcana–one that was capable of such a feat–while professing his lack of control… it made Lubick utterly concerned.

‘C-can I even win?’

The Demon Lord had once imagined himself being in possession of The Devil Arcana, and how much power he would be able to control.

The possibilities were endless.

Now that he was facing someone who had another equally powerful Arcana.

‘N-no way…’

“Ah! What do you know? Analysis is complete.” Elrich Lendertwale interrupted Lubick’s inner conflict.

“Uh?”

“Let’s try it out. Mana Realm, I guess.”

Instantly, the environment was filled with Mana–a dense supply of it–rather than Miasma.

Unlike a Mana Field that spammed just the Caster’s immediate surroundings, the effects of Mana Realm covered a large area, just like Lubick’s Original Magic.

And, as a result…

“Guark!” The Demon Lord fell to his knees, coughing violently.

His blue body shuddered, feeling the invasive force of the toxic Mana that surrounded him.

“N-no way… H-how…?!”

Lubick was now shaking violently, unable to defend himself from the Mana-saturated place he was trapped in.

“It takes some time, but even Original Magic can be analyzed. There are exceptions like Neron Kaelid’s and Serah Crimson’s. Those two are monsters, and my Grimoire wouldn’t be able to keep up…”

Lubick was slowly losing control of his sense. He fought to stay alive, but even an extra second was too painful.

“Yours took a bit over five minutes. I expected it to be longer. Maybe because the concept is similar to Mana Field. If it was more complicated, then that would have been disastrous.”

Lubick felt insulted, but he couldn’t even raise any objection at this point.

“You weren’t a bad opponent. To be honest, I was unsure of who would win. But, then again, isn’t that what a battle is supposed to be about?” The white-haired man smiled at the blue-skinned Demon.

The Demon Lord’s body was already rotting, and in a few seconds, he would die from Mana Poisoning.

“Y-you…” Was all Lubick could say as he faded from existence.

“I suppose there’s a lesson to be learned here. Just because you have Original Magic doesn’t make you superior.” Elrich Lendertwale raised his hand and smiled.

Of course, that was only because he was armed to the teeth with several Magic Tools. Even with all that help, he wasn’t guaranteed to win.

Everything was due to skill and a bit of luck.

“Huu, looks like I win. That sure was one tough fight.”