Facing Luck's boiling fighting spirit, Ryoma's expression remained unchanged.
He calmly walked to a more open space further out and slowly raised one hand.
His silver-white grimoire merely flashed, simulating the effect of using magic. There were no massive mana fluctuations. But the surrounding temperature plummeted at an incredible speed.
Hiss—
A faint sound of condensation arose.
Countless tiny ice crystals, almost invisible to the naked eye, appeared out of thin air, silently spreading throughout the entire battle space. They emitted no coldness, nor did they carry any offensive properties.
"Hmm?"
Luck, who was dashing at an astonishing speed, paused slightly.
He felt a very faint sense of sluggishness in the flow of the lightning magic on his body's surface.
Although the impact was negligible, for a mage like him, any abnormality was enough to trigger an alert. However, this alertness was quickly cast aside.
"Just a regular cooling spell?" Luck grinned, not taking it to heart at all.
His speed didn't diminish in the slightest. Instead, it increased even further.
Electricity condensed at his feet, forming a pair of mighty Thunder God's Boots, each step bringing a series of dazzling electric arcs and explosions.
"Come on! Let me see your strength!"
Luck's figure transformed into a bolt of lightning, carrying immense thunder, and charging straight towards Ryoma.
Watching Luck, who had almost teleported in front of him, the corners of Ryoma's lips curved up almost imperceptibly.
He whispered in a voice only he could hear.
"Let's begin."
"Ice Water Illusion: Kaleidoscope."
The moment his words fell, Luck's fist, imbued with terrifying lightning, was already within reach.
However—
His fist, at a strange angle, brushed past Ryoma's clothes.
No!
That's not right!
Luck's pupils suddenly constricted.
Ryoma was clearly right there in his eyes, so why did his fist miss?
His body's reaction couldn't keep up with his stunned thoughts. He only felt his fist firmly strike a warm and elastic object.
Bang!
"Ahhh—!"
A familiar voice let out a piercing scream.
Luck turned his head in bewilderment. He saw Magna, who had just been laughing and talking with Asta, hit squarely by his fist, spitting foam, eyes rolling back, and sent flying like a cannonball.
Boom!
Magna's body crashed heavily through a wall of the base, and in a cloud of rolling dust and rubble, he was completely buried.
The entire scene instantly fell into a deathly silence.
"…"
Everyone was stunned.
Luck stiffly retracted his fist, the ecstatic smile on his face completely frozen.
"W-why?"
He couldn't understand at all. His target was clearly that new guy named Ryoma.
Why did he hit Magna?
Magna was clearly more than ten meters behind him and to his side.
"Luck… you bastard!!!"
A voice filled with boundless anger echoed from the ruins.
Boom!
Rubble exploded, and Magna, with his messy pompadour, smoking with black fumes, staggered out of it. The veins on his forehead bulged, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"You bastard… are you trying to kill me?!"
Flames ignited on Magna's fingertips as he roared, furious beyond measure.
Luck was a bit annoyed. "Huh? What are you talking about? I clearly hit that new guy."
"Bullshit! You hit me!"
"I didn't!"
"You did!"
Seeing the two about to start arguing, Ryoma quietly yawned.
What a waste of time.
"Damn Luck! I'm going to make you taste my power!"
Magna was completely ignited by rage. His grimoire flipped open, and a scorching fireball instantly condensed.
Whoosh!
The fireball, trailing a long tail of flames, carrying the fury that wanted to burn Luck to ashes, whistled away.
However, a bizarre scene occurred again.
The menacing fireball, halfway through its flight, seemed to be nudged by an invisible giant hand. It traced an extremely peculiar, gracefully curved arc in mid-air, completely defying the laws of physics. Then, it changed direction and smashed back fiercely towards its owner…
Magna himself!
"Huh?"
Magna's roar caught in his throat, and the expression on his face changed from anger to extreme bewilderment.
He watched with wide eyes as his own magic flew towards his face at an even faster speed than it came.
Boom!
Magna was once again blasted by his own fireball, his entire body blackened like charcoal, and he fell straight down.
"…"
This time, even Luck was dumbfounded.
What on earth was going on?
Not only did his own attacks miss, but even Magna's magic curved on its own?
Chaos began.
The entire battlefield instantly fell into a chain reaction of "friendly fire."
Their magic deviated from its original targets.
At various inconceivable, bizarre, and even comical angles, they attacked their companions, or… themselves.
For a time, explosions, curses, and shouts of surprise rose and fell.
The area in front of the Black Bulls' base was a chaotic mess.
"Damn it! What in the world is going on?!"
Luck, while clumsily dodging magic flying from who knows where, frantically spun his head, trying to find the problem.
His gaze finally locked onto the tiny ice crystals floating in the air, almost imperceptible.
That's it!
His super-high magic perception ability finally captured a hint of abnormality.
These ice crystals were refracting light. They were like billions of tiny prisms, constructing a massive and precise illusionary domain. They not only twisted vision, causing everyone's perception of the scene to be distorted. But even more terrifyingly, they were also interfering with magic perception.
This caused them to make fatal errors in judging the enemy's position, distance, and even controlling their own magic.
"So that's it!"
Magna climbed up from the ground, having also discovered the crux of the problem.
"It's that new guy's magic!"
The two exchanged glances, instantly reaching a consensus.
First, deal with that new guy!
"As long as I'm fast enough, the illusion can't catch me!" Luck roared, his entire body erupting with lightning, once again transforming into a bolt of lightning.
This time, he no longer trusted his eyes or senses. He relied on his memory of Ryoma's position, charging forward with the purest, most extreme speed.
The Ryoma in his eyes was less than ten meters ahead.
He charged past!
However, when he stopped, he found himself still in the same spot.
No!
He clearly felt he had sprinted a long distance.
Why was this happening?
He didn't believe it and charged again.
Once!
Twice!
Thrice!
No matter how he accelerated or charged, he was like a trapped beast, repeatedly circling in place.
The Ryoma in his eyes and Ryoma's actual position were completely different concepts.
This illusion… was too terrifying!
And at this moment, where was Ryoma, the instigator of this chaos?
He was no longer in the center of that chaotic battlefield.
With just one step, he leisurely walked to the back, standing with Vanessa and Finral, like nothing had happened, enjoying the farce unfolding before him.
The "Ryoma" on the battlefield that had Luck and Magna scrambling was merely an illusion he had created by refracting light with ice crystals.
Only the area where they were standing was an absolute safe zone.
"Oh my, what a terrifying new guy."
Vanessa held her wine glass, laughing so hard she swayed.
"Magna and the others seem to be getting played to death."
"W-what kind of magic is this…" Finral broke out in a cold sweat.
Yami, who had been silent, no longer had his cynical, playful smile. Instead, it was replaced by a look mixed with intense interest and extreme admiration.
In just an instant, he saw through the essence of Ryoma's magic.
This wasn't a simple illusion. This was a manifestation of ultimate, subtle control over magic, light, and spatial perception.
Using the smallest magical power consumption to leverage the most terrifying battle results.
This new guy… was an absolute monster.