novelraw Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Chapter 24. Then... Let’s First Pay Tribute to the Two Strongest of Humanity!
‘Both sides shall wager the knowledge and wisdom of two worlds in a battle of intellect.’
There wouldn’t be too many things to consider, but the scope would be incredibly wide.
The key to victory lies in who can react faster.
Since both of them possess immense amounts of knowledge, it’s unlikely that either would run out of words.
In other words—
If one isn’t prepared for a long battle of endurance, then the only way to win this game is to set up a trap early—to take the opponent down before they can respond.
That was the most reliable way to achieve victory.
A prolonged mental struggle would dull one’s consciousness and reaction time, leading both sides into a very dangerous situation.
Compared to Cidy, who was a Saint Magus, Yan’s mental strength was clearly inferior. If he didn’t rely on the power of his Cosmology, then he had to avoid a battle of attrition at all costs.
“I’m already starting from a disadvantage, huh...” Yan muttered.
As a white light wrapped around his vision, everyone’s consciousness was pulled into a virtual space. In the next moment, their figures appeared in this new world.
When they opened their eyes again, they were still inside what looked like a library.
Only now, in the center of the tea table they were sitting around, a crystal-like projection of a star map floated quietly.
This was the core of the temporary mental space.
Even though everything around looked perfectly real, this was no longer the real world.
Fulfilling Yan’s request, Cidy had constructed this place as a stage for their game.
“It’s not too late to regret and give up now, you know.” The girl smiled gently at Yan, her tone calm and serene. She never once believed Yan could defeat her.
Her agreement to this duel was merely out of interest—it just sounded fun.
It wasn’t mutual respect between equals; it was simply curiosity!
Yan faintly shook his head.
He wouldn’t give up…
With the analytical power of his【Simulated Star-Creation Map】, he could quickly find the knowledge he needed within his mind. If he couldn’t even face a challenge like this, that would be too pathetic.
“Big Bwother…” Giselle clung to his arm worriedly.
A gentle smile bloomed on Yan’s face. Then he turned toward Cidy.
Sensing Yan’s gaze, Cidy spoke first:
“Don’t worry, I’ve already adjusted the rules of this world. No matter what we do later, the two of them won’t be affected. In this space, they’re invincible existences.”
Yan nodded slightly and said no more.
Restia, sitting nearby, didn’t even react.
Just a mere illusory mental world spell—someone who was once a Demon Lord would hardly be intimidated by something like that.
“Well then—let’s begin the game!” Yan declared.
“Ah~ Why don’t you start first? Don’t hold back—pick any word you like,” Cidy said with a faintly pitying smile, though her lips curved with a mischievous gleam.
She hoped he wouldn’t end it too quickly.
Such an interesting game...
It was a little regretful, really. If only her opponent were another mage—how much more fun it would have been!
To make sure the game wouldn’t end too soon, Cidy had already decided to go easy for now—to savor this new and fascinating battle of wisdom.
“Me first?” Yan gave Cidy a deep, meaningful look.
That glance made her feel strangely uneasy…
She had just decided to hold back, yet the moment she thought of that, he looked at her like this. Did he somehow notice?
“Then let’s begin… first, I’d like to pay tribute to the two strongest of humanity… then—【Hydrogen Bomb】.”
Using the language unique to this world, Yan uttered a word Cidy had never once heard before.
In his mind, Yan recalled the scene where Blank faced Jibril in a game.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t continue to imitate that sibling pair’s exact tactics.
He did have a little sister—but in the original story, Blank’s final method to win against Jibril wasn’t something he could copy!
After all, it involved exchanging oxygen… mouth-to-mouth.
He glanced at his adorable five-year-old Giselle and felt that if he really tried something like that, he’d be walking straight down the path of a pervert.
Besides, Shiro was already eleven in the original!
“Hydrogen bomb!?” Cidy’s expression froze in shock. She didn’t even have time to process what Yan meant by “paying tribute to the two strongest of humanity.”
The next instant—because this world Cidy created was constructed according to the model of the real world—and within her cognition, there was no such thing as a hydrogen bomb.
Thus, according to the game’s rules: any nonexistent object that was spoken aloud would be materialized out of nothing.
The moment Yan said it, the world’s rules interpreted the knowledge in his mind and began reconstructing it.
A block of iron weighing 27 tons materialized above them.
Neither Giselle, Cidy, nor even Restia—who had once stood at the pinnacle of the continent—could recognize what that object was.
After all, it was something born of Yan’s world—mankind’s greatest and most terrible mistake.
For it was, without question, a weapon of mass murder.
A wicked grin tugged at Yan’s lips.
‘Now then… what will you do?’
As Cidy looked up blankly at the looming mass above, the altitude fuse activated. The nuclear fission reaction ignited for the first time—triggering detonation.
The heat from the explosion caused the lithium deuteride to fuse, releasing an overwhelming light.
—Cidy had no idea what that was.
But through the heightened perception of a mage who could sense the world’s principles beyond the limits of the body, her instincts screamed at her:
That was—【the storm of light that would burn everything to ashes】!
“Wall of Sighs!!”
Finally, Cidy couldn’t stay still any longer—she shouted the words of power with all her might.
The invocation in the Divine Era Language, Wall of Sighs, happened to resonate with the final syllables of the word Hydrogen Bomb.
Her cry ended just as the fusion reached its final stage.
—Light expanded along with heat.
Within the narrow confines of the library, a second sun was born.
Bzzzz~—BOOM—!!!
The sun exploded violently!
An overwhelming heat capable of annihilating all life, strong enough to blow the entire continent skyward—instantaneously vaporizing everything in its wake.
The resulting energy and shockwave—Literally, an ultimate storm that erased structures and destroyed civilization.
Outside, the sheer force swept outward like a tornado, scorching everything within a one-kilometer radius into blackened earth.
…The library turned into a mushroom cloud that reached the stratosphere, leaving behind only a single dark, rectangular wall—standing alone amid the massive crater left by the cataclysm.
For a moment, the entire space fell utterly silent.