Noble Lady Reformation Guide - Chapter 261

Facing a transformation mage who manipulates the very fabric of existence is the epitome of absurdity.

There's no way to predict their attacks—when or how they'll strike. You only realize you've been hit after the fact, left to comprehend your defeat belatedly.

Kochella's magic never misses.

She manifests magical energy directly at her target's vital points, making evasion impossible. To oppose her, one must either ambush her for a single decisive strike or possess absurdly high endurance.

Yet no one in this world could withstand the sheer scale of her power—enough to send massive meteors to the opposite side of the map—with bare flesh alone.

As stated earlier, those who face her can only experience this absurdity before being brutally slaughtered.

Thus, to defeat her, one must bring forth even greater power.

The only thing that can overcome absurdity is even greater absurdity.

That was the conclusion Derek had reached.

- Crack!

- Whoosh!

Derek's beast-like movements lunged toward Kochella, who sat clutching her side in pain.

Once drawn, his sword never hesitated. As excruciating pain momentarily clouded her reason, he aimed to swiftly behead her.

Against such overwhelming momentum, most mages would freeze and offer their necks without resistance.

But Kochella was no ordinary mage. Even as agony threatened to spill her entrails, she widened her eyes and summoned magic in an instant.

- Whoosh!

- Thud-thud-thud!

- Gah!

In the time it took to blink, ice spears erupted from Derek's entire body. Shoulders, arms, thighs—every part of him was impaled by an absurd number of spears.

Had her panicked reaction to Derek's sudden counterattack been excessive?

Derek's form, pierced by dozens of ice spears, was a gruesome sight drenched in blood.

"Kuh... Hahk... Gahk..."

Only after subduing Derek in an instant did Kochella finally clutch her side and let out a pained groan. The wound was deeper than expected—as if her flesh had been split in half.

Blood already trickled from the corner of her mouth.

Gritting her teeth, Kochella barely managed to rise.

She was about to dismiss Derek—now reduced to a bloody mess—as no easy opponent when—

- Whoooosh!

Once again, causality reversed.

As if it had never happened, Derek stood unharmed, maintaining his charging momentum as he drove his sword into Kochella's shoulder.

"Gahk!"

There was no mercy in Derek's grip as he twisted the blade with reverse-handed force.

- Crack!

Blood splattered across Derek's face.

But it wasn't just Kochella's. After multiple uses of time magic, blood now gushed from between Derek's clenched teeth.

"Manipulating causality itself... *cough*... *gahk*... Just witnessing this, I can imagine the toll it takes..."

"One eye's already blind. Still enough to kill you."

"We'll see."

- Crack!

Kochella staggered back and swiped her hand through the air.

That single motion shredded Derek's body anew. Blood sprayed as he became a human pincushion for ice spears.

Resistance was impossible. You couldn't even perceive being hit.

Such absurdity could only be countered by greater absurdity.

- Thud! Whoosh!

Once more, causality reversed amidst the carnage.

Derek, now blood-soaked, grabbed Kochella by the collar and slammed her down. After taking two fatal wounds, Kochella was hurled against the floor. Derek's blade descended again, but before he could even catch his breath, his body was impaled once more.

Yet it meant nothing.

Derek's magic of reverting to past states appeared unbreakable.

'No—there is a way!'

Derek's magic wasn't infinite.

Though his reserves as a Family Head-level mage were vast, the time magic he wielded clearly consumed staggering amounts. No matter how absurd the spell, it couldn't be used indefinitely.

All she needed was to kill him repeatedly until he couldn't reverse anymore. Since Kochella's total mana surpassed Derek's, a battle of attrition would guarantee her victory.

As she reached this conclusion, another blade pierced her shoulder.

- Thunk!

Blood sprayed.

Though aimed at her neck, Derek's near-crippled state likely impaired his precision.

Fortunate for Kochella, but the pain remained undiminished.

"Gahk... Hahk...! Hahk!"

"Missed."

Derek muttered this before withdrawing his bloodied sword with a twist.

As Kochella exhaled a half-gasping sigh, Derek's body was again skewered by blades.

Yet, predictably, it became undone.

Amidst reversed causality, Derek's strikes continued. In close combat, the mercenary-born Derek held absolute advantage—Kochella would likely collapse from blood loss before his stamina waned.

- Thud! Crash!

- Whoooosh!

Blood sprayed and splattered repeatedly.

Kochella finally realized—this wasn't a contest of mana reserves at all.

The agony of each blade piercing her flesh—Derek must be feeling it too.

Though time reversed, the memories and experiences remained. Every time she gestured, spawning countless blades, their pain was etched into Derek's psyche again and again.

No human willpower could endure this. Rewinding such torment repeatedly was madness.

Kochella's tangible suffering versus Derek's remembered agony despite reversal.

Their battle had become a clash of mental fortitude.

Before either's mana depleted, their minds would break first. That certainty dawned.

- Thud! Whoosh!

And yet, Derek's crimson-glowing eyes never wavered.

Drenched in blood, enduring death's whisper of pain... this machine-like man's will showed no signs of breaking.

Kochella's composure began crumbling.

The spirit hordes blanketing the land, the branches of truth—all grew indistinct. In this environment testing human willpower's limits, their mana reserves were also depleting.

Reversing time... Isn't this too absurd?

But she couldn't voice such complaints.

- Crash! Bang!

- Whoosh! Bang!

Magic collided, blades struck, kicks sent bodies flying, only to rise again, subdue Derek once more... After hundreds of exchanges... Kochella's eyes became bloodshot.

Guttural rasps escaped her throat as blood trickled from her eyes. She gnashed her teeth, but the madman showed no sign of falling.

This monster who rose from the very bottom matched even the most extraordinary mages in sheer mental endurance.

Here, that truth became painfully clear.

- Thud! Whoosh!

Then, as both reached their mental limits... the clash momentarily halted.

Derek's blade pierced Kochella's shoulder again, while her dimensional magic impaled his back with ice spears.

In this mutual state of ruin, the blood-soaked battle briefly stilled.

Their ragged breathing suggested the next strike would fell them both.

"This... is insufferable..."

"Finally... tired out?... *hahk*... *gahk*..."

"Why resist me so fiercely?... What... grievance drives you...?"

Kochella grabbed Derek's collar, grinding her teeth as she shoved her bloodied face forward.

She looked like a witch cursed with madness.

"I've sacrificed everything necessary. Devoted my life purely to pursuing truth. Across this continent, none revered Adelbert's legacy as purely and nobly as I. Is it so wrong to seek reward for such dedication? Does sublime purpose not deserve sublime outcome?"

Discarding even honorifics, Kochella's desperate sophistry felt alien.

Her composure was gone. Any longer, and others might intervene.

She conceded—fully subduing Derek now was no simple task.

Yet time couldn't be wasted.

"*hahk*... *hahk*... Very well, Count Ravenclaw. I acknowledge you. I'll... cease trying to subdue you."

Derek's eyes widened.

In that instant, Kochella's form began transforming anew. Derek expected her to shred him as before.

But this time, Kochella did the opposite.

Her transformation magic targeted not Derek, but herself.

- Whoosh!

Simultaneously, a golden gate to truth opened beyond.

- Fwoooosh!

"From a higher plane, as a star beyond reach, I'll crush that feeble time magic."

It happened too fast to react.

Kochella would ascend to the starry sky, reaching the 7-Star Realm. Upon awakening to that divine-tier magic, earthly beings like Derek could be effortlessly crushed.

She'd wanted to savor this moment, but circumstances forced her hand.

Once she touched that celestial plane, Derek's magic would be meaningless.

With that thought, Kochella leaped through this fleeting moment... finally reaching the starry sky.

She would realize her ambition, ascend to heaven, and inherit Archmage Adelbert's will.

Stretching toward the celestial center.

-'You're... trying to make Kochella ascend? Why?'

Empress Rozelyn had asked.

This aged detection mage claimed to have wandered the world's edges, confronting many truths.

Derek's long-time mentor, a mysterious archmage like a wandering ghost... What purpose brought him to Gremfort Palace?

-'Correct. I came to send Kochella to that starry sky—to reach the legendary Archmage Adelbert.'

-'Why would you help that woman...'

As Rozelyn pressed further, memories from Phee flooded her mind, making her gasp.

Long ago. Before becoming a 6-Star necromancer, during Phee's first life as Rublen.

Memories of lying in an alley, awaiting death in the snow.

A mage's approaching footsteps.

Wide sleeves, an ornate gold-trimmed robe. The figure looking down at the girl.

-'Kochella is ambition incarnate. She'd discard anything to realize her dreams. How does one break such madness?'

-'──.'

-'Crush that ambition. Make her realize her lifelong dream... is unattainable.'

That was how to truly break the fanatic.

- Whoosh!

Bloodied and battered, Kochella finally reached the starry sky.

This space, filled with darkness and stars, felt utterly different from the human world below. Opening her eyes, she realized—this was the realm Archmage Adelbert had created... and overwhelming ecstasy surged within.

At last, she'd arrived.

Finally, she touched the celestial 7-Star Realm.

Here, she would reach magic's final frontier—touching the divine.

Endless darkness. Occasionally lit by starlight.

Ahead, beyond luminous stairs, lay the stellar altar.

Raising her head, the legendary figure she'd longed for began appearing.

A massive altar of pure light. Towering pillars resembling a temple.

Upon it sat a mage observing the world with regal indifference.

Surely this was the legendary Archmage Adelbert.

The first to reach the 7-Star Realm, establishing magic's foundations, illuminating the world.

"Archmage Adelbert... I... I've devoted my life to worshipping you... Ah... For this day... For truth... I sacrificed everything..."

Tears welled in Kochella's eyes. Sobs escaped unbidden from overwhelming emotion.

"I... was right... From this swamp of fools, I alone reached the heavens... I alone am truth's seeker...!"

Slowly, she approached the legendary mage transcending space, time, and natural law.

Dragging her bloodied body toward that luminous truth.

The gold-trimmed robe draped over the seated figure seemed to await her claim.

As she climbed the final luminous stairs... the obscured form became clearer.

"───."

The face was familiar.

A bucket of cold water dousing her fervor.

Her burning ecstasy vanished instantly, pallor draining from Kochella's face.

Beneath the fluttering robe—snow-white hair. Crimson eyes like blood.

A scar on the neck, stark reminder of a mercenary past.

Eyes cold enough to freeze the air itself gazed down at Kochella from the altar.

"You... are..."

Kochella couldn't finish.

How could he be seated here?

Archmage Adelbert belonged to ancient history. The timeline made no sense.

As this realization struck, one word echoed in her mind:

Time.

Time magic.

Looking up, she saw a face slightly older than the man she knew.

All pieces clicked into place like a puzzle.

A dagger-through-the-heart shock left Kochella forgetting to breathe.

-'Derek.'

-'You'll become a star someday.'

Phee's dying words while holding Derek under the night sky.

Those words reverberated through Empress Rozelyn's mind.

"..."

Dawn's chill wind fluttered her dress.

Amidst Gremfort Palace's devastation, she gazed alone at the spiraling stairs ascending to the starry sky.

A faint luminous veil seemed draped across the dark heavens.