Chapter 241: Nuclear mana (1/2)

”Teacher, why won't you step in?!” Tytus asked, noticing how a massive amount of energy suddenly appeared right where one of his friends stood.

”Intervene or not to intervene,” Bart smiled. ”That's a deep question,” he added, rubbing his chin.

”Isn't this man a potential wrench to the plan of this world?!” Tytus protested. ”If he unleashes this magic, everything that was supposed to happen in this world...”

”Son, there is nothing like a one, correct path for the world to take,” Bart shook Mukken's head. ”We watched over countless worlds following the plan, we watched over countless worlds developing as they wanted without any intervention... But the result was all the same,” Bart said, turning his head towards his student.

For the first time in their long relationship, Tytus saw a sad expression on his master's face.

”And if it's all in naught, what difference does it make if the world follows its predestined path?” Bart asked, a small spark of interest suddenly appearing in his eyes. ”Actually, I'm more interested in how things will go if we let this guy run free. Maybe that's exactly what we were looking all those millennials for?” Bart shook his shoulders before looking back towards the battle.

But this time, his calm demeanor didn't last for long.

”Is that fission...” he muttered, straining his eyes as he looked towards the battle. ”Change of plans,” he announced out of nowhere, his entire body tensing up. ”If he unleashes this magic in here, it won't be interesting at all!”

***

Layn was both humble and aware. He knew that he was one of the strongest, if not THE strongest mage in modern civilization. His power steemed both from natural talent, years' worth of effort, and his overwhelming knowledge.

He was humble because he never believed that his power made him a better person than others.

'If wielding the biggest sword doesn't make you the greatest man, why would this kind of logic apply to wielding the greatest magic?' he liked to ask himself to keep his ego in check.

Yet, it came without a doubt that he belonged to the absolute top tier of mages in the entire history of the world he was born with. Discounting for those whose tales were lost by history, there was hardly anyone who could even dare to compare to Layn.

But now, Layn realized that even someone as powerful as him was mere dust in the face of an absolute.

The flames of his firelances fueled the first step in the magical fission reaction. And as soon as it fired up, the dominos started to fall at a rate that even Layn couldn't control.

But to be fair, he had no interest in controlling it either.

Watching how some lowlife dared to penetrate his woman with a sword, Layn lost all his attachment to morals, rationality, and reason.

'I WILL BURN YOU ALL!' he screamed out in his soul, allowing the nuclear magic to grow at the expanse of his magic flesh. The rate at which the power in his body increased made one thing obvious.

He could no longer control it.

'I guess that's really the reason why my time-jump failed,' Layn thought, his mind surprisingly clear. His eyes moved towards the man that gave him so much trouble.

'If not for him, I could stop any harm from coming Irea's way!' Layn realized his brain was only able to make the simplest connections.

”BURN!” Layn brought his hands forward in an attempt to unleash all the nuclear power stored in his flesh right in the face of that old bastard.

”Stop.”

A simple, silent word somehow made its way to everyone's ear. But as if it wasn't enough, the entire reality appeared to grind to a halt in respect to the authority behind that word.

Bart appeared above the battlefield without any fireworks. There was no flash, no explosion, no puff of smoke. He wasn't there... and then he was as if someone stripped him out of an invisible barrier.

'What?' Layn thought. This was all he could do. Not only was the movement of his body restrained by this single word, but so was the flow of his magic.

'The fuck is going on?' he thought, instantly using all his willpower to try to break free from the restraints.

'Whoever can just stop the time like that is a threat only I can dare to handle,' he thought, forcing the nuclear mana through his body.

He cared not for the trauma it was leaving behind. He cared not for the fact that in order to do so, he basically had to revert his magical flesh back into its natural form just to give the nuclear magic enough mana to feed on to keep it going.

Despite the overwhelming authority of that single word, Layn managed to do the impossible.

At the cost that would drive others insane from its pain factor alone, Layn managed to shake off the shackles that held him.