Author note:
Sorry for the long update, my work, lazyness and depression did not give me a lot of free time to write. Not only that this chapter was quite short and focusing more on the battle, something that I don't really like when reading isekai story.
As for replying the review... yeah I will stop it for now. I fear that with the long time to update, there will be a time where there are a lot of review. If that happened and I replied, that can be a long text before the story.
But please don't hesitate to review, because that will motivate me to write faster (Even if only a little), OR PM me sometimes it could help with my loneliness (Though I will ghost you after that, sorry still shy).
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Ever since he was a little boy, Edra always liked a heroic tale of a magician from the past. He got influenced by their story and wanted to become someone better than any of them. That's why he put a lot of effort into learning about magic. Though despite how ambitious he was, Edra still doesn't have the confidence to surpass one particular person.
That person was the grandmaster of the mage guild, Kirishia. From the story that he had read, she was one of the major people that brought the demon to lose in their invasion twice. On top of that, she was the one who pioneered the construction of the mage guild. Even after more than a hundred years, Kirisha was still alive and creating many achievements.
Edra always taught that there is no mage capable of surpassing Kirishia in term of magic power. But in this tournament, he was proven wrong. He never heard about Patchouli nor her achievement. But facing her right now, he could tell that she was the same or much greater magician than Kirishia. Even though, he never had a chance to met Kirishia, but he had an assumption that her magic power must be four time more powerful than her daughter Ellysia.
From Patchouli's last match, he knew she still held back a lot. He wanted to make her a little bit serious and see how powerful her magic actually was. Fortunately, Patchouli gave him the opportunity to do that.
Once the match started, Patchouli watched as Edra carved the ground with his wand. From one of the magic runes, Patchouli could tell that the magic circle would be a big one.
"Is your magic going to take a long time to finish?" Patchouli asked Edra.
"Yeah, sorry, it will take a few minutes. But I will finish it as fast as I can."
"You don't have to rush. I'll patiently wait until you finish it."
Then Patchouli took one of the books from her storage magic. The book she took out was about magic rune and magic circle. She wanted to know what kind of magic Edra would do and whether it was worth waiting.
After 5 minutes passed, Edra finished half of the magic circle. According to the book, Patchouli could tell that Edra magic would be using fire, wind, and earth elements. Though unfortunately, she could not tell what it would exactly do.
Patchouli guessed that Edra's magic circle would be completed after five minutes. For her it was quite unfortunate, if only there were more time to read, she might could tell how exactly the spell would happen like the three noisy judges.
"Everyone here must be bored waiting for his magic. but once it is done, it will be magic worth waiting for." The announcer said.
"This one student of yours is never stopped to amazed me." The long-eared said.
"Well, you are not alone in that." The teacher said.
Since there were times left, Patchouli continued to learn about Edra's magic. Unfortunately, what she predicted about Edra's progress was right. After five minutes, Edra completed his magic circle.
The magic circle was a big one. It covered 3/4 of the arena and had many runes drawn in and out of the magic circle.
"Now, miss Patchouli, please go to the center of the magic circle," Edra said.
Patchouli stored the book back inside her storage magic. Then she walked to where Edra told her to.
"Please use your strongest barrier. I doubt my magic will break it, but I want to see it. So please!"
Ignoring Edra's wishes, Patchouli cast the same barrier she used in the last match.
"There is no strongest barrier, only a barrier that could endure more to something than the others. This barrier is enough. I will modify this barrier accordingly to your spell."
"That makes sense. I guess there are things that I still need to learn about magic," Edra mumbled. "Since you're ready, I will start activating my magic."
[O' wind goddess that has the most freedom among the others god. I beseech a little time of yours to help me gain my freedom. I implore you to shred my enemy to pieces with your fury against anyone who hinders freedom. To repay for your kindness, I will live my life freely and not bound by anything. Great Tornado]
While hearing Edra's chant, Patchouli watched the magic circle closely. She noted that only part of the magic circle shone brighter as Edra continued his chant. Now she knew why Edra did not use magic to help him drawing the magic circle faster. He wanted to use combination magic and avoid activating the magic too early.
The audience may think that the big tornado suddenly formed after Edra finished his chant. But Patchouli could feel a change happening earlier than that. At first, the wind slowly rotates around the magic circle while Edra is halfway in his chant. Then it sped up rapidly until it became a tornado with a diameter as wide as the magic circle and as tall as the coliseum.
Because the tornado took up a lot of dust, Patchouli made her barrier more solid to avoid getting the dust inside and triggering her asthma. Shortly after that, the dusty tornado turned into a flame pillar. Then bolts of lightning hit her barrier, so she created a tall metal pole outside of it to divert the lightning.
While the pillar of fire was still there, the ground around Patchouli turned into spikes. Though, that spell failed to manipulate anything inside Patchouli's barrier. After a few seconds had passed, the ground spike disappeared, the thunder stopped, and the flame tornado was gone.
Edra lying face-up in the arena was the first thing Patchouli saw when the spell ended. He was breathing raggedly and exhausted. His body was covered in a few cuts and burns.
Then she found out that the barrier around the coliseum strengthened. The judge was no longer in their seat and had retreated into the audience seat.
"Haa….Haa… So...Haa… Is my Ha… magic Ha… good?"
"For doing an element combination, this spell needs an improvement. It was taking too long, wasting too much mana, and you got affected by the magic."
"Yeah..."
"Still, I'm impressed by it. Thanks to you, I learned another way to use magic in this place."
"Haa….Thanks, Haa…."
Then Edra passed out.
"What an amazing combination of magic by Edra's. Casting a flame tornado and thunderstorm at the same time was something that not many people could do. Yet, despite all of that great magic, he couldn't break Patchouli's strong barrier and passed out. So the winner of this match is Patchouli Knowledge. To miss Patchouli, you can go back now." Anire loudly announced.
After Patchouli reached the contestant room, she immediately sat down and tried the same magic system as Edra. She drew a flame magic circle using water magic and then started chanting.
"Interesting. The fire element is not affected even if I draw using water elements. Sadly the praying ritual is a requirement, not an option. Still, it could be a good trick to catch that rat off guard."
While Patchouli continued her experiment, four males were watching her closely.
"Look, she is busy. We shouldn't disturb her for something she would know later." Said a man with brownish skin.
"But, it is bad for her if she is wasting her time walking toward an empty arena." Said another man wearing metal armor.
"It will take an eternity to wait for a magician is done with their experiments. We better tell her now! I want to do something else." Said a man with a long ear and wearing a black robe said.
"Yeah, I informed the judge earlier, so we better tell her before the tournament arena is fixed." Said by a man wearing plain clothes and a wand.
"It's now three versus one. So we will disturb her." The armored man said.
"Tch! Fine."
Then they walked closer to Patchouli.
"You have reached a decision then?" Patchouli asked them while continuing her experiment.
"So you heard it." The armored man said.
"With how loud your conversation is, I think you are not even trying to hide it. So what do you need from me?"
"We wanted to inform you that we are forfeiting the next match."
Patchouli stopped experimenting and then looked at them.
"All of you are joining this tournament because you wanted to win. Why do you want to forfeit now?"
The first one who replied was the brownish skin man, "Well, it's because of you, Miss Patchouli. My strategy to win this tournament is by stealing my opponent's mana and then using it for my big magic. But with your high level MP regeneration skill and strong barrier. I don't think that will work on you."
Then the armored man replied, "Yeah, I can't think of a way to beat you, so I will leave this tournament early and find a quest at the guild to earn money."
"The same as him. the earlier I can leave this place, the more quest I could get." The black-robed man said.
"As for me, I will instantly become the 3rd-rank because the dark elf forfeiting. But After that, I will forfeit too."
"Then that's good. I don't have any expectations with all of you in the first place. Looking from your previous match, none of you seemed interested improving your own magic."
"Can't be helped. After all, there is more to life than magic. Anyway, since I'm not coming here to debate my opinion with you, I will take my leave."
Then the man wearing armor was leaving, followed by the man wearing a robe and the plain mage.
"I apologize on their behalf, Miss Patchouli. They are just jealous of how great your magic is."
"I don't need your apology. I'm not mad at what he was saying. What he said was right, and that's why I'm not expecting something in a match against them."
"Still, I wanted to apologize anyway. I will excuse myself since you may want to continue your earlier experiment."
Shortly after that, the brownish-skinned man left Patchouli. Then Patchouli continued her experiment on magic circles and incantation magic.
The three judges at the judging table were busy talking to each other while waiting for the match to start. They mostly talked about what happened during the tournament and the unexpected event.
"I can't believe four people are forfeiting the tournament at once," Mira said.
"That's my master for you. Even if Edra's magic was flashy and powerful, she managed to come out from that unscathed. If I were her opponent, I would surrender too." Ellysia said.
"Yeah, Edra's magic was scary, but to come out with the barrier still intact was way scarier," Anire said.
Then the sand clock on the desk was flashing.
"Oh, it's time to start the match." Anire then stood up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, now that the rest time of 10 minutes has passed. It's time for the match you have been waiting for, the match that will determine the champion for this year, the match between the greatest mage and the self-proclaimed genius mage."
The audience then cheered up.
"Which one will win this match? Well, it should be obvious. But a miracle could happen, and Mellisa won this match. If you're feeling lucky, place your bet on the genius mage to get a lot of money,"
"Stop trying to get a larger money in your bet, and start the match already," Ellysia said.
"Yes, miss Ellysia!" Anire said while saluting. "Since our esteemed judge is impatient, please teleport Miss Patchouli Knowledge and Mellisa Linflord."
Like the last match, Patchouli used her teleport magic again to reach the arena.
"As usual, you are fast, miss Patchouli. But Hmm, where is your opponent?"
"She refused to go with me."
"Oh, she probably needs time to find a way to beat you. Then while we're waiting for her, miss Patchouli are you going on offense for this match?"
"It depends on her."
"Please, do it!" Screamed Mellisa at the doorway to the arena.
"Oh, quite a daring proposition from you, Mellisa. Are you sure you can handle miss Patchouli's firepower more than once?"
"It is a bigger problem for me if she stays inside her barrier. I don't think I could do something against it," Mellisa said while walking toward the arena.
Once she reached the arena Mellisa told Patchouli, "So let's have a real battle. I promised I won't be beaten by a single spell, like that idiot in the first match."
"If it is what you want, then I will not hold back."
"Oh, miss Patchouli agreed to Mellisa's challenge. Will it be a good match or a short one? We shall see. Let the match begin now!"
Once the match started, Patchouli immediately shot out five fast-moving blade projectile toward Mellisa. Since Mellisa anticipated for Patchouli shot, she managed to dodge it. Sadly, she could not counterattack after that. Patchouli spammed the same spell with terrifying speed, making her focused more on evading than trying to attack.
In the five minutes after the match started, the only thing that Melisa could do was dodging Patchouli projectile. Despite Patchouli only shooting out three projectile types with predictable patterns, she had lost count of how many of them scratched her.
The first projectile that Patchouli shot was a few fast-moving blades that sometimes homed onto her position. The second one was a flying circular saw that moved straight toward her. Lastly, a sword that did not immediately disappear after touching the ground. The sword projectile was the one she loathed the most since it blocked her evasion path with how long it took to disappear, unlike the rest.
"Damn it, how much MP did she have to spam these spells for a long time. If this continues, I will lose pathetically against her."
"What is this? Even though Mellisa challenged Miss Patchouli to a real battle, she could only dodge. She should have surrendered like the other so I could watch the special match faster." Anire said.
"That Anire! Just because you lose to me doesn't mean you can humiliate me in public. But she is right about me can't do anything against Patchouli. Maybe I should try to hit her once to not make a complete fool of myself."
With that determination and partly because of desperation, Mellisa cast a spell to dull her senses and then ran straight forward to Patchouli. With the help of the spell effect, Mellisa ignored the pain of getting hit and focused more on rushing forward to Patchouli. The closer Mellisa was to Patchouli, the more vigorous Mellisa ran. The only thing she had in her mind now was to get close to Patchouli and then hit her with magic.
"Almost there! Almost there! I could hit her!"
Unfortunately, even when she got closer to Patchouli, Mellisa failed to hit Patchouli. Before Mellisa could even use her spell, the ground he was standing on suddenly lifted and launched him far away from Patchouli. While flying in the air, the duration of her dulling senses spells ran out. So when her battered body hit the ground, she could feel a lot of pain and passed out.
"Mellisa knocked out! The winner for this match and this tournament is Patchouli knowledge."
Before Anire could continue with her announcement, Ellysia landed in front of fainted Mellisa. Then used her wind magic to move Mellisa away from the arena.
"I'm sorry, but I can't wait any longer. Please have a match with me now, master."
"Er… Miss Ellysia, can you do that after we handing out the prize to the contestant?" Anire asked.
"You don't have to do that. I had done it earlier." Then she pointed to Mellisa. "As for her, she could wait."
"But—"
"No, but! Just start the match. After all, the audience is waiting for this match too. You are waiting for this too, right. Miss Patch… Eek, why are you looking mad?"
From Patchouli's expression, Ellysia could tell that she was mad. Ellysia trembled while trying to find out why Patchouli got mad at her.
"Before your interruption, I wanted to try using healing magic. But well, whatever, I could make you the subject, and while I am at it, I could experiment with how the spell card system will work in this place."
Patchouli then flies until she was the same level as the lowest audience seat.
"I don't think it will be safe staying inside the arena. I will take miss Mellisa and get out of the arena." Anire said.
"I'm coming with you too," Mira said.
"Uhm… master, can you wait until after I show you my magic, Please?"
[Metal & Water Sign] Mercury Poison
After that, numerous round yellow and blue bullets circle Patchouli and move steadily toward Ellysia.
"That means no then."
Despite many bullets coming in her way, Ellysia could still assess the situation calmly. She moved around the arena while dodging every bullet. Luckily for her, the spell was predictable, so she could easily avoid it. Ellysia did counter-attack when she could, but her attack was all stopped by a strange barrier.
Still, it was weird that a great caliber magician like Patchouli used this easy to avoid magic. To Ellysia, it feels like someone was controlling Patchouli against her will. But it could be because she was taking it easy against her.
That was not the strangest thing that happened in this match. After Patchouli cast her magic, a sound of music was playing coming from Patchouli. She knew that Patchouli didn't bring any musical instrument with her, so how come there is a music playing from Patchouli? Unfortunately, she couldn't hang up on that fact for a long time since the bullet was filling the entire Coliseum's arena.
After a few minutes passed, Patchouli changed her pattern of attacking.
[Earth & Metal Sign] Emerald Megalith
This time Patchouli shot out many small and big green bullets. The pattern for this one was a bit trickier for Ellysia. While she was busy avoiding the big one, she moved into the wrong place and got hit by the small one. Every time Ellysia got hit by a small bullet, she could feel her strength was leaving her.
After a few seconds of dodging the bullet, Ellysia failed to predict the big bullet's direction and got hit by it. Then all of a sudden, she could no longer move. Fortunately for Ellysia, Patchouli immediately stopped her spell.
"So that is what happened when using the spell card system here. Even though I have prepared for the second one, it still makes me cannot move freely. Weird, I should consult about this with the shrine maiden."
"Miss Patchouli, could you start your experiment with healing magic now?"
Then a magic circle for healing below Ellysia was drawn by Patchouli.
[O' goddess of light, please return this precious person of mine to before she was injured. To repay your kindness, I promised that I would use my entire life to eradicate all the demons from this world. Perfect heal.]
A bright light covered Ellysia's whole body. After it dimmed out, Ellysia was standing energetically.
"Thanks. Now I think it's my turn to show you my magic."
"I'm no longer interested. Can you give the book prize to me?"
Remembering Patchouli's bad mood earlier, Ellysia sighed.
"Fine, I will try it at a later time to make you my teacher," She then took out a book from her storage magic. "For your information, this book was made by the first summoned hero. It is capable of giving skill to the one who opened it. This one is worthless since no one knows how to use hermit art. If you want to exchange the book, just tell me. I will give you a better one."
Patchouli took the book and opened it. She got perplexed since the content inside the book was empty, but a window showing that she acquired a hermit skill level 1 showed up.
"This was interesting. Sadly, with the low literature level of this world, it will take a lot of time and energy for me to find out about this book. If only I could go back to Gensokyo, then I could research with the book inside my library to find out how this works." Patchouli thought.
Immediately after that, every person sensitive to magic trembled by the sudden change of Patchouli mana.
"Hey, demon! Teleport me back home!" Patchouli screamed in a manner unbefitting for her.
Then suddenly, Lucifer swooped down and held her, "As you wish, my master."
After that both of them teleport out, leaving the frozen and shocked Ellysia in the arena.
Inside the library of a red mansion near the misty lake, Patchouli was reading the book in her hand. Suddenly, a book with a cover that said "Hermit Art" appeared in front of her out of nowhere. She somehow knew the content of this book and where she got it.
She closed her book and called Koakuma, "Can you tell the maid to get the puppeteer and the rat to my place?"
"OK, Miss Patchouli," Koakuma confirmed and then left the library.
"It looked like I will be busy with Remi's request after this."
Then She stood up and moved toward the summoning section of her library. She then started reading any book that could help her go to that other world she somehow visited.
Author note:
You know I think it's a good time for me to share my preference of reading Isekai. Most of the isekai story that I read is always about OP protag, and I like it. Why? well yeah there is no tension when fighting, but that actually a plus to me since I rarely read a good story and having a battle scene shorter was a good thing for me. That's why this chapter probably has a lot of problem. Other than that I like it when the author not making the enemy more powerful but instead making it more smarter so the side character doesn't have to somehow get a sudden power up as to not left behind.
Anyway, that's my preference. As for the last section yes it's taking place in Gensokyo.