Saikyou Mahoushi no Inton Keikaku (LN) - Volume 15 - Chapter 87

Eighty-Seventh Chapter

Less than Human

Alus looked up at the sky with a sense of foreboding. He confirmed the shimmering of the wall ahead of him. Near it were Vizaist’s subordinates who had appeared from the thicket.

After confirming Alus, they nodded once and returned to hiding in their previous positions. No matter how many times he saw them, they never seemed familiar. As expected of Vizaist’s men, they were well disguised.

Now, how was the weather in the Outer World? What was the temperature and humidity? Alus braced himself and stared at the frayed spot in the barrier that separated the Outer World from the Inner World.

“There will probably come a time where I will have to unravel this,” Alus said.

“Unravel what?” Loki said.

“The principle behind the Tower of Babel’s barrier,” Alus said as he stared at the veil of light that acted as the great shield to protect all of humankind.

“Really?! It has been a secret for so long... But I suppose so. While it might be the wisdom of humankind, the details aren’t known at all. I have heard rumors that only the rulers and a handful of people really know,” said Loki.

“Yeah, well, Babel has always attracted interest because of how large it is, and the barrier itself is easy to approach. Yet not even the foremost scholars have been able to replicate its effects. Maybe it’s not a secret, and more just something that nobody actually knows at all,” said Alus.

“You jest. Then it would be impossible to maintain or manage,” said Loki.

“Indeed... Well, that’s enough idle talk.”

The next moment, Alus’s presence became far sharper. It was like the very composition and even color of the air had changed.

It was a transformation that was impossible for her to copy. She hoped that it was just a matter of training and mental fortitude, but the air around Alus would not allow for even such a simple question. She wondered what was different between her and Alus.

Anyways, the change wasn’t due to spells or mana. If anything, the barrier brought up an instinctual fear. When touching this, one was put in a deadly situation, whether or not they liked it. Faced with something with absolute strength, the body naturally curled up.

Staring at her esteemed Alus, Loki prepared the mana in her body and sharpened her mind. She wasn’t staying at his side to be a burden.

With that, the two passed through the boundary between the human realm and the Outer World, immersing themselves in the real world. As expected, the outside air chilled to the core, and their breath turned white. It would be a strain on their bodies until they got used to the temperature difference.

Like Alus, Loki covered her body in a thin film of mana. From now on, they would be in Fiend territory.

They would need to find the escaped prisoners and finish them off. It was still the middle of the night, and it would take some time before the sun rose. Typically, moving at this hour when Fiends were particularly active was practically suicide, but Alus must have had a reason for choosing this time of day.

Eventually, Alus started running without a word. Loki followed without missing a beat. However, he moved at a far greater speed than in the Inner World, and just keeping up with him took everything Loki had. They weren’t the movements of the Magicmaster that Loki knew.

No, this was another side of Alus.

If she only tried to look at the side of him that was convenient to her, she didn’t have the right to stand by his side. But what frightened her most was how his movements didn’t make any sound at all. It was like she was chasing a shadow.

Even so, she ran as fast as she could to chase after his back. Just as she was about out of breath, Alus suddenly stopped. Lying on the ground in front of them were the bodies of dead Magicmasters. Judging from how dried the blood pooling around them was, they had probably met their end not long ago.

“Talk about unlucky,” said Alus.

Loki tightly pursed her lips and nodded. They certainly had been unlucky. There were five bodies in total, enough for a squad; they had likely been here at the order of the military. Considering they hadn’t been eaten, it wasn’t the result of Fiends but humans.

If the people they were meant to protect had killed them, how could that be anything other than unlucky? It was a truly miserable scene. They were all dead, with no need to confirm their vital signs.

“Did they cross blades...I wonder,” said Loki.

“If you could call it that. It likely ended in an instant. There’s no signs of them stopping to fight back,” said Alus.

“Many of them have injuries on their back. Were they trying to retreat perhaps? The most heavily damaged body is a man who looks like he was serving as the rear guard.”

Alus looked at the body that Loki pointed to.

“Do you know them?” asked Loki.

“No, I can’t say that I’ve seen any of them before,” said Alus. “Even though we’re all Magicmasters from Alpha.”

Loki also didn’t recognize them. But the uniforms were from Alpha, so they were their fellow countrymen. Because of that and the state that their bodies were in, Loki shuddered and felt helpless. However, Alus showed no concern for Loki’s mental state as he bluntly examined the bodies and analyzed the situation. To Loki, that seemed to be a sign of trust he had in her.

“Loki, use your detection. It’s a pain, but we’ll launch an attack and take them out. Besides, the Outer World is our battleground,” said Alus.

“Okay!” said Loki. She didn’t question his instructions for a moment. She sent out her mana sonar, ignoring any chance for an ambush. The first thing she realized was that there were no Fiends around them for some reason. Even the ones she could just barely feel were far away, which meant...

“It doesn’t matter if they find out we’re pursuing them,” said Alus. “It seems they’re taking out the Fiends in their path anyways. Since they’re wasting time, that gives us an edge.”

A mana sonar was less effective the further away the target was and even less so when it was used against people. And if they were intentionally hiding their mana, Loki wouldn’t be able to do anything.

A skilled user could even sense the presence of mana sonar. As magical criminals were always in a position to be pursued, many were well versed in such matters. And considering how strong these escaped prisoners were, they were probably skilled in such tactics.

“I can’t sense the escaped prisoners,” said Loki.

“That’s fine. They won’t get away. So this makes for a great cue for the start of our game of tag.”

Alus also had Loki use her mana sonar to put pressure on the escaped prisoners so they’d know the hunter was closing in. They proceeded south from Alpha, slightly in the direction of Rusalca. Eventually, the path they followed no longer revealed any remnants of Fiends or even mana residue.

It doesn’t make sense. Why go through the effort of scattering the mana residue? wondered Alus. And all traces of Fiends have been erased. Are they just walking down a peaceful path without a single Fiend in sight? No, that’s not possible. Alus furrowed his brow.

“As expected from infamous escaped prisoners from the Trojan Prison, they won’t make it easy. Well, the results will be the same either way,” he said.

“Sir Alus...!” When he heard the tension in Loki’s voice, Alus stopped running. Ahead of him were giant trees with undulating roots. On top of them were several pairs of sharp eyes looking down at them.

They had finally gotten a glimpse of the enemy—two people’s silhouettes showed in the faint light of dawn.

Loki behind him swiftly pulled out her knife-type AWRs.

“Three, huh? Loki, back me up,” said Alus and took off running.

“Understood,” answered Loki.

His speed exceeded human limits. Anyone would be slow to react to him disappearing with his first step.

As Alus ran towards the two men, the slimmer man’s eyes opened wide and his thin smile disappeared from his lips. But Alus was focused on the man behind him, the man sitting with his legs spread wide... He was no doubt the priority target—Dante. He looked just as Sisty had described him.

“Tsk...” The slim man clicked his tongue and thrust out his right hand as Alus got closer. Alus dodged it at the last moment, and the slim man swung with his knife as the Magicmaster passed him.

At the same time, on the opposite side of the man, Alus’s left, another man appeared from the shade of a tree, where he’d been hiding. He swung his pitch-black right arm to perfectly exploit Alus’s opening. While half his face was still hidden in shadows, the ambusher wore a twisted grin.

“There’s the third,” Alus said quietly.

In the next instant, the man’s pitch-black arm was sent flying with a spray of blood. Not even the man himself understood how his arm had been cut off at the shoulder. But the slim man, who’d been first to try and intercept Alus, showed no sign of shock. Instead he steadily swung his knife at Alus.

The blade was heated in an instant. It was the same blow that he had used on Tesfia. Rather than coming from some kind of power, it obviously relied on extraordinary acceleration. But regardless of whether or not Alus knew that this was the attacker who had defeated Tesfia...Alus didn’t even pay him any attention.

With a somewhat surprised look on his face, the slim man cast his spell. All that was left was to swing the dagger as fast as possible through the shortest distance available. However, a flash of lightning dashed across his sight, and a person appeared right before him in an instant.

The next moment, the scene played through the man’s mind frame by frame. The small silver-haired girl who had appeared unleashed a kick to the side of his head faster than even his knife moved.

This happened before the other man’s arm touched the ground. The slim man had no choice but to release the ability in his arm and focus entirely on evasion. He forcibly sped up the first step of his movement, moving his body and allowing him to just barely dodge the kick.

With slight relief, he smiled. She missed her wide kick, and the recoil was so large that her center of gravity would be fixed, meaning he could make the next move before she could. That was the established norm in martial arts. The person who’d dodged a wide attack had the chance to counterattack.

Returning to his usual center of gravity, the man used his knife to target Alus once more, rather than Loki. However, Alus kept looking forward. Since he’d left Loki to cover him, he didn’t need to take even the slightest notice of the man.

The man believed that such a belief in a partner was a fatal flaw; therefore, he wanted to destroy that delusion. However, Loki’s next move went against his ideal. She immediately launched her next attack, a lightning-clad kick, from a collapsed posture.

He wouldn’t be able to dodge this one. He couldn’t have anticipated a second attack unleashed at this speed. He crossed his arms to block but felt an impact like a giant iron hammer had slammed into him. A crack ran across the dry surface of the ground where he’d braced his feet.

However, the impact aside, the attack wasn’t powerful enough to blow through his guard. He was fortunate that his opponent had been small and light. The slim man clicked his tongue as he felt how numb his arms were and glanced towards the ambusher who’d have his arm cut off.

He saw Alus grab the man’s head and rip him out of the shadows. Next, his head was slammed into the ground before he even realized his arm was flying through the air or could feel fear from seeing his opponent’s terrifyingly fast movement.

A flower of blood bloomed on the ground, and a beat later, his arm landed with a heavy thud. Alus followed up by using a mana blade to stab his heart and make sure he was dead.

“Loki, you deal with him,” Alus said and took off towards Dante without waiting for an answer.

Loki nodded and confronted the escaped prisoner she’d exchanged blows with and spoke his name. “Marchess Peeket...it’s a fight from the death from here on.”

“I am impressed, you know! I haven’t been going around announcing my name. Are you a student too?” Marchess asked with a look of contempt on his face.

Instead of answering, Loki stared at her opponent. “Did the numbness in your arms go away? I’m glad you’re so slow for someone who was supposed to be confined in the fourth layer.”

“Is that one of the latest jokes going around among students? Unfortunately, this old man’s been locked up for a long time, so I can’t keep up,” Marchess said, the air around him changing. It was a sudden change, like he’d taken off the deceitful exterior he’d been wearing.

“You asked if I’m a student too, didn’t you? Based on your techniques, I take it you’re the one who hurt Ms. Tesfia?” asked Loki.

“Ah, you mean that energetic redhead. I only beat her within an inch of her life, so forgive me. Or maybe she died after that?” he asked.

“Not at all. She’s still alive, like you said.”

“Good to hear. Let her know I’m sorry for the hole in her stomach...or actually, don’t bother. Maybe I’ll do it myself after I’ve killed you. I can even ask about her home and give her a get well soon present in the form of her dead parents,” he said, looking at Loki with a sadistic glare.

But Loki didn’t feel a thing from his scummy words or actions. “By all means. But I wonder what you plan to do? After all, you’re going to die here and become food for Fiends.”

“I just don’t get students’ jokes. Well, you seem to have some skill at least. That little redhead was just sickening... She just jumped in to fight to play hero and save her friends and teacher despite the difference in power. She was so pure and straight I wanted to throw up. Is the Institute trying to mass-produce stuff like that?” Marchess grinned and his shoulders shook.

Loki also had an opinion on Tesfia’s foolhardy behavior, but Alus seemed to see it differently. While he condemned Tesfia’s foolishness, he also seemed to acknowledge it in some way.

That was why she said, “I think it’s stupid. But a certain someone acknowledges that. They might even see it as a virtue that they don’t have. So I will acknowledge that part. Everyone has flaws, and that’s far better than someone full of nothing but malice, like you.”

“I see, so you’re avenging your friend,” he answered.

“Not from my point of view at least. Killing you is the latest assignment I’ve been given. It’s not often you come across someone who has committed such grievous crimes, so this is a good opportunity to measure my killing skills,” said Loki.

“Then let’s get this started. I’ll teach you how harsh the world is.” Marchess dexterously toyed with the knife with his fingertips and gave her a crooked smile.

Loki didn’t really know how to kill. But she felt that the man before her would make for a great test subject. She needed to become more like Alus. All she needed to do was replace the target of her hostility from Fiend to human.

Loki immediately used Force to raise the physical limits of her body. Next, her figure disappeared in a bolt of lightning. With a tail of lightning flashing behind her, she appeared right in front of Marchess. However, he showed no sign of planning to counterattack. Instead, he had his eyes closed and stood still as if meditating.

Loki thrust her knife at him, but just before it touched him, Loki disappeared again and appeared at his side to launch a sideways attack. She’d been careful, throwing in a feint before going for the kill.

But she suddenly came to a full stop and jumped back. In the next moment a knife’s blade swung through the space she’d occupied.

He’s fast! she thought.

Thrusting and pulling—with that simple back-and-forth motion, Marchess was able to slightly exceed the speed of Loki’s force.

A few strands of Loki’s hair fell towards the ground. She took a deep breath. It was such a sudden stop that the recoil put a strain on her heart, and she felt a shudder from the depths of her body. If she had been even a beat later, the knife would have been thrust between her eyes.

“Aren’t you careful? You’ve got a decent bit of margin in the distance between us,” Marchess taunted.

In a sense, it was her first time going up against a foe with such a clear intent to kill her. Her caution had saved her.

“Hmm, not bad.” Marchess touched the edge of his blade with satisfaction. “Yes... I’m impressed. It seems you understand the boundaries required in killing.”

Immediately, the coarse and rough air around him disappeared. His words had a form of refined madness to them, and even his personality seemed to have transformed. His tone differed from what it had been during the attack on the Institute.

In fact, his personality changed from moment to moment, like a stage actor. It was a fetter he’d imposed on himself to survive the underworld. He had created an observer in the depths of his consciousness to objectify himself as a killer.

So Marchess Peeket had two personalities, two masks—one for objectivity and one for subjectivity. They were complex and bizarre personalities that seemed to be acting to confirm what killing for pleasure was like, but at the same time, it didn’t seem to be an act.

While he was true to his desires, he could control it as necessary, which was a far throw from someone with a morally bankrupt personality. Whenever Marchess murdered, his awareness of it was always poor. He only had a vague sense that a person he was acting as had committed the crime.

While most of the time, murder was left to the crude and violent personality, there were exceptions. For example, such as when he encountered a worthy opponent that gave him a sense of tension. The other personality, which had been watching from the subconscious, rose to the surface.

Marchess Peeket was a man who had taken lives in all manners of ways. When he was captured, he was charged with killing over thirty people, but it was said that the actual number was far higher. Killing was practically a daily routine to him.

At times they were planned; at times they were for pleasure. And at times they were on impulse...and finally, at times he killed of his own volition.

“That’s enough of the tasting. It’s time to get to killing. I’ll finish this up before the sky lightens up,” he said to himself, focusing his sharpened mana into his knife.

Loki, with her sharp mana-sensing abilities, realized for the first time that it was an AWR made to kill. The magic formula applied to the blade was hidden by the handle. It was most likely similar in structure to Tesfia’s Kikuri.

But no matter how sophisticated the camouflage was, Loki had seen Alus’s mana control up close and she could now skillfully read the flow of mana.

“I see. You might be a twisted scum, but you are still a Magicmaster. Then I will act as one myself.” Loki converted her mana into electricity and discharged it into her surroundings. As she drew her knives, she unleashed a blindingly bright lightning that pushed away any darkness.

Out of that light, three knives came flying towards Marchess. Clad in lightning, the knives headed straight for Marchess with enhanced speed and penetration ability. However, Marchess seemingly didn’t mind the volley of knives and dodged them with a bare minimum of movements.

That didn’t bother Loki, though. She had already anticipated as much and started running towards the trees on her side at lightning speed. But despite using Force to speed up, Marchess was keeping up.

She took a deep breath and exceeded her limits, putting further strain on her legs. She held out a new knife as a white flash rose into the sky, and she locked her eyes on the target.

“‹‹Lightning››” 

With an explosive roar, lightning struck the ground, but he just barely evaded that too, and its effects were limited to scorching the ground where he had just been. After that, the fearsome murderer melted into the darkness.

As I thought, we’re matched in speed! Loki thought.

Trying to escape his gaze, she leaped and used several branches as footing, stepping soundlessly on the ground before unleashing her next spell.

“‹‹Flash››” 

Light cut through the darkness and filtered through the trees. This spell was typically used to blind an opponent, but here it worked similar to a flare. The surroundings turned as bright as day, making some shadows more defined.

“There...!” Loki dropped one of her knives and unleashed Lightning on it. However, she didn’t feel any response... But in the next moment she felt a disturbing presence past her shoulder. Without giving her time to turn around, Marchess closed in on the petite girl. He quietly wielded his five, heated fingers.

“Excuse me,” the man said in a gentlemanly whisper.

The magic formula on the knife Loki had dropped started glowing. Immediately, the air around Loki was electrified. With a bursting sound, white smoke appeared as the electrical energy gathered in Marchess’s body and turned into a high-voltage current. In one deafening moment, Marchess’s body was enveloped in a white explosion of lightning.

Regardless of whether he was lurking in the darkness or not, as a Spotter, Loki wouldn’t completely lose sight of him. Moreover, the enemy didn’t know about her abilities, so she had created an opening to take advantage of.

Loki kicked off the ground to get some distance, but his hand reached out to grab her clothes. The smell of burnt flesh stung her nose as a fist came flying towards her. Loki crossed her arms in front of her and braced for the attack.

But the fist suddenly changed trajectory and instead a flat palm cleanly struck Loki’s ear. For a moment, she couldn’t understand what happened. Her head shook and her vision was flickering.

As her senses returned, she felt pain in her left ear. She felt like her ear canal was blocked, but something was seeping out. When she looked at her hand, she realized blood was running out from her ear.

“Ugh?!” She let out a muffled scream and tried not to take her eyes off the enemy before her. But she felt an inescapable dizziness and pain. Her brain was shaken, and her eardrum had probably ruptured, but she didn’t have the time to flinch at something like that.

Pulling herself out of her fading consciousness, she could barely see the man’s knife flash in her shaky vision. Fighting back, Loki once more kicked off the ground. She slid forward into the opponent’s guard and delivered an upwards palm strike.

“‹‹Valitra››!” 

Purple lightning radiated from the bottom of her palm, spreading out wide. The flesh around Marchess’s abdomen burst, but it wasn’t enough to destroy his organs.

Too shallow?! Loki wondered.

At that moment, a sharp pain ran through her thigh. In the corner of her eyes she could see the afterimage of a blade that had moved faster than even her attack and burrowed into her thigh before she could evade or defend against it. And the opponent had evaded fatal damage himself.

But Loki’s blow hadn’t been in vain. As proof of that, her opponent had slightly missed his mark: the femoral aorta. After hitting her, Marchess backed off, his face contorted as blood dripped down from the edge of his mouth, and he spat out blood.

He was convinced that would have been the finishing blow if not for Loki’s attack. But when faced with a lethal attack from so close, even Marchess had to avoid a direct attack.

“So you even use those kinds of flashy moves? Hmph. Looks like I failed to finish you. Well, I’ve taken a leg, and if you need it, I can drain it of blood.”

“I’m afraid that I can’t really hear what you’re saying, but...no thank you.” Loki stood up and threw a knife, exhaling sharply. Naturally, Marchess easily dodged it by tilting his head. The missing knife only stopped when it hit a tree behind him.

Loki stared at the enemy before her once more. She didn’t know how it worked, but the first motion in any action he did always exceeded the speed of Force. She’d fired Valitra with perfect timing. At worst, the fighters should have taken each other out.

Yet he’d only suffered a minor abdominal wound, while she had taken a heavy blow to her leg. It wasn’t clear what kind of technique he was using, but she at least hadn’t seen the acceleration in successive movements, so it only applied to the first attack.

However, she lacked the information to do any more analysis. She couldn’t make a plan relying on such uncertain assumptions.

Loki readjusted her AWR and released her mana. The mana around her took on the glow of a white lightning as it visibly transformed.

“My nameless brethren whose bodies were burned to ashes, their souls to white flame. Ancestors of old, bring devastation to the enemy before me...” Loki chanted.

Marchess narrowed his eyes and made his move before Loki could finish her incantation. That first step was so fast that it was almost outside the realm of perception. In an instant, he was right upon her, and all that was left was too swing.

White smoke rose from his knife as the air was burned as he cut towards Loki’s neck. In the next moment, just as it seemed like Loki’s head would fly, she muttered a complete name.

“‹‹Fire Ikazuchi››” 

With a flash, a fang of light had removed the arm Marchess was swinging. It had burned in an instant, not even leaving ash behind. Not even blood came from the shoulder wound, as it had already been cauterized.

“Aaaarghh.” Marchess clutched at his wound and fell to his knees. He looked over his shoulder to where the fang of light had come from. There was a strange heat around a knife that was stuck in the tree behind him, and a complicated magic formula was floating in the air.

That explained why his arm had disintegrated. With a pale face, Marchess looked at the mysterious being who had manifested from the knife and taken his arm from him.

It was a beast of white flame and thunder. Its ears stood up and fierce fangs peeked out from its open mouth. White flame made up its mane and tail, and they occasionally burst with burning lightning. It had a body reminiscent of a tiger or wolf.

With shallow breaths, Marchess took a step in desperation. He kicked off the ground to accelerate, and the distant landscape was rapidly closing in, or it should have. Marchess suddenly lost his support and fell behind Loki.

By the time he’d passed by Loki, he had already lost his left leg. Fire Ikazuchi glanced at its prey and instantly carbonized the left leg in its mouth.

Loki hadn’t seen the moment itself, but she understood what had happened. Fire Ikazuchi...a Vertex of Thunder, had reacted semiautonomously against a moving enemy.

“Impossible!!! Wh-Wh-What the hell is that thing...?!” Marchess screamed, his face still pressed against the ground.

Loki didn’t answer. Instead, she stepped forward, enduring her dizziness.

Ugh, just manifesting it costs a lot of mana, and maintaining it is still draining this much?! she thought.

Loki had been fighting very sparingly with her mana, but Fire Ikazuchi used more mana than Naruikazuchi. And just maintaining it drained mana like she was repeatedly firing off advanced spells. The anemia-like dizziness that washed over her was accompanied by nausea.

But she couldn’t fall here. This was a do-or-die situation, and she needed to do this. She had selfishly decided to stay by Alus’s side, so she had to at least complete the task he assigned to her.

Loki calmed herself and flicked her knife like a conductor’s baton. Marchess squirmed on the ground and pulled out what appeared to be some kind of medicine wrapper from his pocket. He then pushed it into his mouth, dirt and all.

But regardless of what it was...before he could swallow it, Loki finished her spell.

“‹‹Lightning Ray››” 

A thunderbolt of judgment rained down on Marchess from above, lighting up the sky with a dazzling glow. When the sound of thunder stopped, Fire Ikazuchi also disappeared, and Loki looked up at the dim sky.

She did not feel a sense of accomplishment. Nor did she feel elated over mastering Fire Ikazuchi in the moment. She had simply brought down judgment on a criminal who deserved it. An indescribable feeling of emptiness came over her.

She wouldn’t make excuses such as saying that it was her mission anymore. It wasn’t even for Alus. It was an unjustifiable action that she’d done for her own sake. It was neither justice nor evil, just the plain truth that a life had been snuffed out.

She was forced to confront the fact that she had an aptitude for killing as the unpleasant smell of burnt human flesh stuck in her nose.

◇◇◇

Having left Marchess to Loki, Alus focused intently on his top-priority target Dante. His senses were sharpened and his consciousness was optimized for killing as efficiently as possible. But perhaps because he’d spent so much time in peace, the switch to this mode was a little less smooth than usual.

Still, as soon as he looked at Dante, he felt somewhat compelled to get serious.

No that’s not it, he thought after a pause.

This was probably not an opponent he could hold back against. In an instant, the fetters around his mana were unleashed and a dense wave spread out. Not even Alus could predict how far it would go.

Skilled or not, against this opponent, he couldn’t hope for a clean kill.

Even as Dante stood up, the air around him didn’t change. Despite the amount of mana pouring out, his expression was the same.

I suppose that’s to be expected, Alus thought.

The corners of his lips lifted. And with monstrous lightning speed, Alus reached Dante in the blink of an eye. He pulled back his arm for a simple punch. Dante sneered at the thrusting fist and reached out with his arm to ward it off. But Alus’s arm accelerated further, passed through Dante’s arm, and struck his cheek. The fist swung with all of his weight behind it, and bones cracked.

Without pause, Alus drew his elbow back as Dante was violently sent flying.

Focusing vast amounts of mana in it, Alus thrust his arm forward, creating a devastating blast. His wind magic forcibly tried to break Dante’s posture as he attempted to stand firm. Having gained an advantage, Alus gave chase and tried to follow up from Dante’s blind spot. But he suddenly stopped.

Things were falling from far above, one after another. Nearly one hundred or so of them in various forms hit the ground, immediately raised their bodies, and turned their glares on Alus, paying no heed to the impact they’d just suffered.

As if called in, Fiends had suddenly appeared before Alus. It was normally impossible for this many Fiends to rain down from above like hail. There were only so many Fiends that had wings or could glide through the air. Strangely enough, all of the Fiends that had arrived were ground-dwelling Fiends. Large ones. And none of them had wings.

Alus narrowed his eyes and realized the truth.

No wonder there hadn’t been any Fiends on the way here. They’d all been kept far up in the air, near the stratosphere, standing by until they could join the fight. Dante must have used an unusual power to set up the ambush. As Alus had that realization, the Fiends bared their fangs and launched themselves at him.

It took some time for Dante to land on his feet after flying a few hundred meters. He wiped away the blood that had spilled from his mouth and looked up. There was a strange glow on the ground. It seemed the opponent had prepared a literal hell for him.

A giant ball of light with the color and heat of a red dwarf star floated in the air. It scorched everything around it. No living creature could survive such temperatures. And the astronomically hot ball of light was falling to the surface.

It was the spell Astral Sun...but for it to grow to this scale required a monstrous amount of mana. Its brilliance and heat were enough to evaporate anything.

However, Dante fearlessly smiled at the sight of it.

“This would have been dangerous if not for Minerva.” Dante said. And thanks to that unimaginable power, the Astral Sun shrunk until it completely vanished. But it had left behind a scorched wasteland. There were smoldering embers and trails of white smoke all over the place.

Dante grinned over how the visibility had improved. In front of him stood the opponent he’d launched a mass of Fiends at without a single wound.

“Come on now. I gathered quite a few of them too,” he said.

The vast forest behind Alus had transformed into a frozen world. Any signs of life had ceased. An expert-level spell had frozen a wide area. Alus, having eliminated nearly one hundred Fiends in an instant, wore a calm expression. In fact, the mana coming from him didn’t seem to have diminished in the slightest.

“We finally meet, Dante. Performing a flying circus with Fiends was an amusing acrobatic trick,” said Alus.

“Alus Reigin, I don’t want to hear that from you. Phasing through my arm like you’re some sort of ghost. That one hurt. But the first move being just a simple punch wasn’t very smart,” Dante said cynically, wiping blood from his mouth.

“I wouldn’t mind punching you several more times, but that doesn’t seem like it would kill you. There’s also something I want to ask, so I can’t have you die either,” said Alus.

Alus had shown Dante a small trick inspired by his fight with Rayleigh. He’d created a virtual image by transcribing data as close to reality as possible. By hiding his real fist in the decoy, he could conceal its real speed and angle and land a first blow on Dante. It was an effective technique in melee combat, but it wouldn’t likely work a second time.

“Still, it seems like you’re not just relying on that monstrous amount of mana. No wonder Mekfis was concerned about you. And I could see Kurama struggling,” Dante said with a grin, looking satisfied.

“So Kurama really was involved after all. So?” asked Alus. “No matter how cool you might act, it doesn’t change the fact that you’ll die. You better have Minerva with you, because having to beat its location out of you would be a pain.” Alus still hadn’t spotted Minerva, but he absolutely needed to make sure that he brought it back.

If Sisty ends up stepping down, I’ll end up with more problems myself, he thought. He felt like he already had enough problems and concluded he’d end up with even more if she left.

“I just happened to learn some interesting information in the Four Books of Fegel, so I wouldn’t mind playing around with Minerva for a bit,” said Alus.

The corners of Dante’s lips lifted, and he spread an arm to the side in an exaggerated gesture. “I see. So you are someone who knows the truth and has the qualifications to take a seat. That might be something to look forward to too.”

Dante bent his arm as if pulling the curtains, and the space around his hand suddenly distorted, revealing half of the oldest AWR, Minerva. It was a sphere covered in a black shell, its surface covered in fissure-like cracks in a geometrical pattern. The main body of Minerva peeked out from the cracks, and highly pure mana was leaking out along with a pale light.

Dante returned his arm, as if pulling the curtains back, and Minerva disappeared—not just from sight. Any traces of mana also disappeared.

“Don’t worry. It’s one of Minerva’s defensive functions when activated in the Outer World. I think the function releases when the wielder disappears,” said Dante.

“I see. That’s a relief. It means I can kill you without concern.” Emotion disappeared from Alus’s eyes, and only a deep black reflected in them.

“Oh, those are some scary eyes... Even I, who has lived a life of evil, got a chill from them,” said Dante.

“Don’t worry about it. I was just thinking about how to best harass you. I figured you should at least hit rock bottom before you die. I’ll be taking back Minerva, of course, but I’m not sure if that’ll be enough to calm me down,” said Alus.

“Hmm? I don’t recall doing anything to earn a grudge from you,” said Dante.

“Oh, this isn’t a grudge...it’s just me venting. I know a couple of people in the Institute that you attacked, even taught them a thing or two,” Alus responded.

“Ah, did they die? Well, I’m not the one who did it, so I guess it doesn’t matter.” Dante answered like he was bored before continuing as though puzzled. “But that’s strange. You’re not the kind to mind if a few of those students are killed. I can tell from those eyes of yours. What’s someone on this side trying to act like an upstanding person for?”

Dante had a point. Or rather, Alus had already realized as much. So he wasn’t here to get revenge nor was he trying to vent. The fact that Tesfia, Alice, and Felinella had been hurt hadn’t appeared before Alus in tangible form. It was just that the thought of losing that place and that time created a faint dissonance in his empty heart. Perhaps it could be described as loneliness...

But it stemmed from those days, which he knew wouldn’t last forever. A place to return to, a room to live in, and the peaceful time had all been destroyed alongside the faint connection he felt.

He felt neither clear rage nor sadness. He didn’t even feel hatred. Perhaps it was the discomfort he felt as his less-than-human self faced his last bit of humanity.

Alus once again stared at Dante coldly. “The only fortunate thing for you is that Fia, Alice, and Feli all got away with just injuries.”

“Why the fuck should I care about those guys. What’s this? A Single of all things playing house and getting upset because some people he knows got hurt...? Still, one of those three must be...that redhead huh?”

Dante seemed to recall as he was speaking and spat out what he’d remembered—that girl who should have stopped breathing yet grabbed at his leg. He had reacted violently to the spell she’d unleashed even though he’d understood it was a spell she’d used by reflex because she felt her life was in danger.

In the Institute, he hadn’t dirtied his hands whatsoever, leaving all of the acts of evil to his subordinates, remaining calm and self-disciplined.

“So you’re the one who put something in that brat’s head... I see. No wonder you want to pretend that you’re avenging your beloved pupil.”

“I don’t know what Fia did. But things will get out of hand for them soon.” Alus cast his eyes down and spoke the words that rose to the surface of his consciousness. He couldn’t even tell if they were his true intentions; they just came out like his lips were reading a block of text on their own.

“Oh, so that’s what that redheaded brat’s spell was. You bestowed her with Fegel’s Magic, didn’t you, Alus Reigin? It looks like you can enjoy yourself. And since you were able to follow me, that means... Ha ha ha ha, you saw the third book of the Four Books of Fegel, didn’t you? That’s the only way!” Dante said, laughing, finding something in all of this funny.

But his mind was also vigilantly running. But wasn’t Kurama supposed to have a hold of the third book? So he must’ve stolen it. Yeah, he’s really got guts. 

Dante’s shoulders shook with amusement. Then he exhaled and turned his insanity-tinged eyes to his opponent, who was as crazy as he was.

Alus showed no sign of discomfort, and as if speaking with the dead, he replied with no emotion in his voice, “That goes for you too. If not, you’d never think to steal Minerva.”

Dante’s shoulders continued to shake as he laughed. There was a hint of madness mixed in with his uncontrollable excitement. At the same time, the mana that Dante released danced around him, flickering like a bewitching flame.

“Yeah, quite some time ago. Minerva is the core. But that’s not all. Minerva is a relic of salvation, and its name is just an alias. It’s not its original name. It’s Myrkava, an ancient word meaning the moving fortress of god. You know what that means don’t you?”

Alus said nothing. But like Dante said, it was a word he had found recorded in the Four Books of Fegel. If it was true, there was a frame to house the core near the border of Alpha. Since the location was noted in the Books of Fegel, Dante, who’d obtained the core, would no doubt head there next.

“Alus Reigin. I wanted to speak with you once. As people that have the right to sway the future of the world...a clash against Kurama will be inevitable too.”

“Don’t worry, after finishing you off, I’ll crush Kurama too,” said Alus.

“Is that so? Even though you’re on this side, you’ll side with the old humanity?” asked Dante.

“Side, huh... Dante, that doesn’t matter. It’s just the simple fact that you invaded my territory, so your death is a forgone conclusion,” explained Alus.

“Hmph, as people with the right to take a seat, I’d rather not grind each other down,” said Dante.

“Give it up. You don’t have any more allies,” Alus told him.

“Huh? I never had any to begin with. The only thing I have are pawns,” said Dante.

Seeing how the tyrannical king of the escaped prisoners, Dante, was so eloquent, Alus decided to keep him talking. There was a possibility that he was still hiding some useful information. But while he did, a ferocious irritation and urge to eliminate him began to take form in Alus. Other miscellaneous thoughts were beginning to sink deeper into the depths of his consciousness...

However, he gave it just a little more time.

“And Ambrosia is another one of those pawns, huh? Where did you get your hands on that?” asked Alus.

“Hah, what good is telling you that going to do? Well, the whole Fiendification thing itself is just ridiculous, and I have no interest in it. Think of it as a bonus. I got it from a Kurama executive called Mekfis. Of course, that’s just a fake name, and as far as I know he has changed his name four times already.”

“I didn’t think you would tell me that much, not that I feel inclined to thank you,” said Alus.

“Ha ha, we’re cut from the same cloth. So consider it a kind of parting gift. As we both know the truth, a battle is inevitable. Kurama and the seven nations too. Not to mention that bastard plotting something. At some point, the balance between the seven nations will collapse, and a fight for the world’s secrets will begin. If you wanna survive, you gotta look to the outside. In the end, only those with power will rule,” Dante said.

“If you’re going to talk, cut it out with the riddles. I had to skim through the book in a hurry, and I’m sick of prophetic hints,” said Alus.

“Don’t be naive. It’ll cost you to hear any more... So if you want it, you have to steal it,” said Dante.

“Then that’s what I’ll do.”

Mana began to violently blow.

Silence fell as the two awaited the signal to start the battle.

The oldest AWR, Minerva, which Dante had revealed, showed no signs of reacting. Alus had been exposed to it once before during the demonstration at the Seven Nations Friendship Magical Tournament, and he had intuitively grasped how to connect to it.

Even so, he didn’t sense anything. When it came to AWRs, users were usually the first things to come to mind. However, Minerva wasn’t just an AWR. Like Dante said, it was also a core, a source of power.

Even Alus could vaguely understand that just connecting to it wouldn’t give full access to all of its functions, including the hidden ones. In which case, did it really have a user?

In fact, Minerva likely had functions that Alus didn’t understand. He knew they would become clearer when he could examine the entries in the Four Books of Fegel. Of course, to do that its current holder would need to be eliminated.

There was another strange thing going on in regards to users.

Alus had Night Mist, but Dante was unarmed. For Magicmasters, possessing an AWR was normal. Since Dante didn’t have one, that meant he must also be using Minerva as an AWR.

It was time to get to work.

Alus was the first to make his move amid the stifling silence. He drew back and threw Night Mist. After Dante dodged it, the blade changed direction and pursued its target, using the automatic tracking of the Auto Chase spell.

Alus took partial control and manipulated Night Mist at high speed. The chain rippled as the black blade followed Dante like a hunting dog. If it struck true, it would cut his body and crush his bones.

But Dante was formidable. Before long, the tracking was knocked off and the tip pierced the ground. Alus had anticipated as much, and he grasped the chain. The sound of the chain rubbing against itself rang out and Night Mist emitted a faint magic light.

As Alus whispered the name Niflheim, and the world turned to ice. While the expansion of ice stopped at Alus’s feet, he furrowed his brow.

Dante, who was supposed to have been turned into an ice sculpture, was unharmed. The expansion of Niflheim’s ice had for some reason avoided the ground where Dante stood. There was a circle around him left completely untouched.

Dante wordlessly raised his foot and brought it back down to the ground with great force. The impact and accompanying wave of mana shattered the world of ice in a show of force.

It was the first magical phenomenon that Dante had shown, but after what he’d seen, Alus wasn’t particularly surprised. The effect seemed to be similar to Alus’s own Railpine.

But the way he blocked Niflheim’s effects in the first place is different. How did he do that? Alus wondered.

All kinds of speculations and analyses ran through Alus’s mind, but lacking information, he made his next move. Space around Dante distorted through some effect that was different from mana. However, by that time Alus had already closed in.

Dante clenched his fist as he saw the mana blade in Alus’s right hand move towards his throat. There was a strange twisting space around that as well.

However, it was Alus who had to pull his hand back and dodge an attack from Dante. And that instinctual dodge proved to be the correct move in the next moment. Dante swung his fist, and even though it never touched the ground, a wide area around it collapsed.

“So you’ve got good instincts, or you already knew about this,” Dante said, raising his fist and amplifying the veil of mana around it.

He had struck the blow just now to see how things played out, but the destruction it wrought on the ground was bizarre. It wasn’t due to air pressure or shock waves, nor was it an attack using coordinates. The way the impact was delayed was also unnatural.

However...that was another piece of information Alus could take in. He brought Night Mist back to his hand and stared coldly at Dante as he formed another plan. Dante met that glance with nonchalance.

“So it seems that it’s true that you can use multiple attributes. Not only are they all of the highest standard, the amount of mana in them isn’t diminished in the slightest. What a shame,” said Dante.

His fearless expression was unchanged, and Dante unleashed his mana again as if to reconfirm his abilities.

“Don’t cry about it. Having a large hand leaves you with plenty to think about it. So how would you like to die?” Alus asked in monotone. Those who heard that would no doubt see a glimpse of how truly frightening he was.

There was a clear difference between a carefree magical criminal and a Magicmaster who embodied order. Many magical criminals were true to their desires, committing crimes out of self-interest. But in the case of Alus, he was required to play the role of necessary evil with absolute power by the nation.

So his decision-making was ruthless and at times inhuman. The essence of the nation’s Magicmaster wasn’t an outburst of instincts but a controllable and intelligent violent device.

The distance between the two closed in an instant. Whatever Dante’s fist was clad in was no doubt lethal. While evading blows that would mean certain death, Alus swung Night Mist at high speeds. Their movements cut through the wind, and your ordinary Magicmaster wouldn’t be able to keep up even if they sharpened all of their senses.

This exchange of blows, each dodging the other’s attacks, continued until Dante lost his patience. He clicked his tongue, spread his fingers into the shape of claws, and swung his hand towards Alus’s flank. Alus lowered himself to dodge and launched a kick to Dante’s side in return. Then he switched his AWR to his left hand and slashed down with it.

It reached Dante’s thigh as he’d aimed for, but it was shallow. Dante must have pulled his leg back by reflex. It was a slight cut on his enemy’s leg, but it would have to do for now. The chain drawn behind Alus was at a considerable length behind him and coiling in the air.

Whether he realized that or not, Dante thrust out his left arm to seize the initiative. However, Alus took half a step in and snapped his right hand up to knock it aside. Carrying on with that momentum, he thrust his palm over Dante’s heart.

“Ugh?!” Blood spurted from Dante’s mouth.

Even then, Alus’s expression didn’t change. If anything, he was becoming more heartless, as if he was gradually transforming into a machine.

As Dante bent over, Alus followed up with a roundhouse kick to the solar plexus. Dante somehow managed to endure it by bracing himself, and his feet carved up the ground as he was pushed back. Alus continued his attack.

From there, their intense close-combat battle unfolded. To Alus, everything was just a stepping-stone to hit the next attack. He put together an optimal strategy to dodge and block Dante’s fist and arms, following the steps to achieve the results he wanted. Without blinking, he used his sharpened vision and mana senses to react to his enemy’s movements.

“D-Don’t think you can do whatever you want!” Dante bitterly spat out.

The chain fluttered through the air and the tip of Night Mist was suddenly right in front of Dante, who tilted his head at the last moment to dodge it. It grazed his neck. He thrust up a fist from below to counterattack, but Alus manifested a translucent board to kick off and dodge it.

As Alus landed, Dante stomped the ground, creating a shock incomparable to the previous one and shattering the ground. At the same time, Alus had pulled Night Mist back to his hand and swung it sideways. Dante moved to block the slash of wind. Not only did the slash seem to slow down, it also bent down against Alus’s will and carved through the ground.

As I thought, that’s his power...! The corners of Alus’s mouth lifted.

Alus attempted to step forward, but gravel from behind Dante flew at him at high speeds. In response, Alus gathered the chains of Night Mist and deployed them in front of him as a circular shield.

Dante and Alus’s eyes met through the rings of the chain. The gravel had been a bluff to allow him to close in on Alus. In the next moment, the gravel crashed into the chain and shattered.

Entering Alus’s blind spot, Dante soundlessly turned his right hand towards Alus. Even though he couldn’t see it, Alus swung Night Mist towards the attack by reflex. But before the blade reached Dante, the attack stopped.

Night Mist suddenly became heavier. Suddenly exceeding Alus’s strength, Night Mist was sucked towards the ground, pulling Alus’s arm with it.

Alus’s posture broken, Dante mercilessly attacked. He swung his right hand clad in terrifying power. However, Alus had already let go of Night Mist.

“It’s gravity,” he muttered and turned on his leg to kick Dante’s neck.

The powerful kick sent Dante flying to the side. Alus pulled his AWR back up and lightly shook it.

‹‹Lightning Slash››

Roaring thunder enveloped Night Mist with a white light, and the slash of lightning that shot out from it scorched the air it moved through to pierce its target. But as Alus had expected, its trajectory bent. Just before hitting Dante, it curved down and hit the ground instead.

Alus no longer had any doubt. The wind attack from before had also had its trajectory forcibly changed. Then there was the warped space around Dante’s fist.

The ability to control gravity was a technique that could probably only be approached after mastering multiple attributes. Alus could, of course, replicate it to some degree with attribute-less magic, but Dante’s seemed slightly different from what Alus knew.

Warping space was probably not the end of it. It had not only bent the wind attack but even the lightning slash, which was relatively free from the concept of mass. That meant it was interfering with the magic formula, reflecting the effects of gravity. It was the equivalent of creating a new classification of gravity-based magic. Normally that was something to be lauded as a major development.

“Minerva is adapting well to me. There’s nothing you can do about it even if you know. No matter how much mana you have, Minerva can create a near infinite amount of mana. Though it took some time, I’ll have it under complete control soon. Once the link is complete, I will be on par with Kurama, no maybe even more powerful,” said Dante.

Dante easily controlled his posture, landed slightly in front of Alus, and wiped more blood from his mouth.

“If chain-spinning acrobatics are fine, I can play tricks too.”

Dante gasped at Alus’s words. Night Mist appeared from under the ground behind Dante and flew towards Dante’s back like an arrow. Sensing danger from behind, Dante hurriedly unleashed a portion of his power. When Night Mist was a few centimeters from stabbing into his back, the phenomenon happened.

Powerful gravity was applied around Dante; it spread out to the chain and even Alus. Instantly, the chain was stuck to the ground, and Alus’s shoulders felt so heavy it was as if a boulder had been placed on them.

The blade near Dante’s back fell and burrowed into the ground. Alus also bent his knees due to the overwhelming weight. Dante made his move and cut through the wind.

Using his momentum, he kicked up at Alus’s chest. The single blow made Alus spew blood and fall back. It had enough power to fell a tree with a single touch and had crushed his sternum in an instant.

Tsk... Alus ground his teeth. He’d put up a barrier of bent space around himself, but Dante’s power deployed over such a wide area had neutralized even that. Dante’s real abilities had caught him off guard.

While Alus was still in the air, Dante jumped up and swung his fists down like a hammer. Alus created mana blades from his arm, stretching them into the ground to forcibly stop his body. Despite being upside down, he kicked Dante in the jaw as he approached.

...It wasn’t strong enough, thought Alus.

It hadn’t been enough to break Dante’s posture, and his fists swung down without pause. Alus spun around and crossed his arms to block it, at the same releasing an enormous amount of mana.

The hammer-like blow, heavier than any Fiend’s, flew towards him. Alus somehow managed to block it, but as more and more power was fed into it, Alus’s feet incrementally sunk. The sleeves of his clothes exploded and his arms dropped, unable to bear the blow.

However, Alus didn’t panic. Even though all of his joints were in pain, his expression didn’t waver for a moment.

‹‹Cocytus››

Frost and a pale blue light covered Alus’s right hand. Alus turned his right hand around towards Dante. In it was a spell that would send anyone into a world of absolute zero. However, his hand never reached Dante. He’d flown into the air and avoided being touched.

As was befitting of a power capable of perfectly freezing anything, using Cocytus came with a price. Alus’s arm turned pale from the frostbite and fell limp. It had already been broken from blocking Dante’s blow. Since he couldn’t use it anyways, he figured he might as well use Cocytus.

Having escaped Alus’s clutches, Dante spoke up. “Your dominant arm is useless, and Minerva has adapted to me.”

Dante reversed gravity, stopping in midair and looked down at Alus. He raised his hand, and stones of all sizes floated up.

“What about it? I still have one more arm.” Alus held Night Mist with his left hand, pulled the chain, and levitated.

“Then try to block it. Try to keep up until I can extract all of Minerva’s power,” said Dante.

The rocks fell towards Alus at high speeds. Each of them was accelerated by gravity and imbued with unique mana. The first rock hit, kicking up a cloud of dust, and after that a seemingly infinite number of them rained down like bullets.

Finally, a giant boulder flew towards the cloud. Its size and speed made it resemble a meteor, and it would crush anything in its path.

As the boulder hit the ground, a ray of light shot out from it, splitting it in half and grazing Dante’s cheek. It was a blow from Alus. The boulder shattered into fragments that scattered across the ground.

As the cloud of dust was blown away with the wind, Dante looked down to see Alus standing without a scratch.

“No way... Shit, is that the Sword of Damocles?!” said Dante.

The Night Mist in Alus’s left hand had transformed into a pitch-black long sword. But it was too large to be an ordinary long sword, and black flames clung to its blade. There were several spells that imitated swords, but this was the highest rank of them all; it was on a mythical level.

Black mist flowed from one of Alus’s eyes. It was both a mist and a liquid. A black drop of the mist fell down the ground, and mist rose up from that spot too.

“So it showed up after all... I didn’t want to use this,” Alus bitterly murmured. The manifestation seemed to have happened automatically, without his will. It was a power that touched upon Gra Eater. Not only could he not control it, it also came with a time limit.

Two different kinds of mana existed within Alus. The first was Alus’s original mana; the other was the mana of his special ability. Since it was reliant on Alus, he had the ability to control it. If he handed over the control to the power, he’d lose the ability to restrain it as he had with the Demi Azur incident.

This spell in particular was created to see if he could use the mana for anything other than Gra Eater.

Of course, it was practically impossible to control a massive spell construct at the same time as his special ability. But after Vanalis, Gra Eater seemed to have assimilated more tightly with him.

It had become easier to handle and control.

In order to use his special ability for magic, Alus needed to rely mostly on its mana. Because of that, the switch was always on hand.

That was the switch he flipped whenever doing work in the shadows. He sank his consciousness deep below. In the darkness where he could see nothing, he disposed of his emotions and optimized himself for fighting.

Those depths were probably where his other mana rested. Right now he felt like he could understand that the darkness was Gra Eater itself. But regardless, he couldn’t use his special ability to its fullest in this darkness.

Alus suddenly thrust his black sword into the ground. His surroundings began to warp and then filled the area behind him.

Normally, elaborate copies of Night Mist would appear from there. It was the sign for Oboro Hien, an attribute-less spell that created an infinite array of swords. But this time, it wasn’t the usual short sword but long black swords. Affected by the Sword of Damocles, the spell had become something else.

‹‹Senkenkokuyou››

The expelled swords were all covered with the same black mist as what flowed from Alus’s eye.

“As if I’ll let you! ‹‹Last Carmalum››” said Dante.

The black swords flew towards Dante flying high in the sky, and in the next moment, he unleashed a wave of gravity over a wide area. The heavy force that was exerted over everything, including the mana information body itself, distorted even the scenery.

The black swords struggled against the gravity, like fish trying to swim upstream, but they wouldn’t last long. At least that’s what Dante speculated.

No, it was absolute conviction based on the understanding of magic.

And yet...

Like a king giving orders to an army, Alus raised his arms. When he did, the black swords picked up momentum, easily brushing off the domain of gravity and reaching Dante’s body. The blades pushed into his body and pierced the flesh.

The swarm of swords ripped deeply into Dante’s flanks and shaved the flesh off his shoulder. A particularly dark light reached out towards his center. The impact shook his body.

While he’d managed to throw it off its trajectory, it still pierced his shoulder, causing him to grunt and slump over slightly.

Sticky blood dripped from his mouth and oozed from all of his wounds. It ran down his legs and formed a red pool on the ground.

Alus didn’t even blink as he stared coldly. As if reflecting his coldness, the spell also stopped, leaving Dante crucified in the air.

“Why isn’t my power working?!” Dante asked through pants. He struggled to at least pull out the sword piercing his shoulder. But the moment he touched it, his palm burned and a finger was blown away.

“Ugh! Fuck! Damocles...if Minerva could fully adapt to me, I could...! Fuck!” Dante spat out with bloodshot eyes. But in the next moment, he showed an ominous smile and his palm squirmed.

A black sphere of compressed mana formed in his hand. It started off as small as a fist, but then started rapidly growing. Minerva, hidden behind Dante, seemed to be letting out a scream as the space distorted and an overwhelming amount of heat was generated.

It was now clear what was happening and where he was hiding it. The amount of information being processed in an instant was beyond the capacity of the system. Not even when seven people had used it simultaneously during the demonstration had it generated this much heat.

Yet as Minerva gave off a strange roar, the white smoke stopped, and the device faded into space again. It had finished reading and processing Dante’s next spell.

“So Minerva finally adapted. Took it long enough...” he said.

The light in Dante’s eyes was being drawn to the sphere of gravity at his palm. Now that it had grown, Alus could tell that it was a mysterious sphere of gravity, but what was inside it was a mystery.

The supercompressed mana and vast amount of information was chaotically shaking the very space inside the sphere. The ability to compress mana to this level and fit it inside a small space was likely due to Dante’s unique attribute. Only someone with outstanding affinity for gravity manipulation could create such a supergravity sphere containing a storm within.

In the next moment, the sphere of gravity disappeared from Alus’s view. Alus hurriedly looked up, far above Dante’s body.

The sphere had left his hand and was flying rapidly, a distorted spider web of a sphere appeared in the air around the sphere of gravity. It was now so large that it could fit an entire city.

Alus stared at it with his mouth shut, sensing the coming disaster. It would eventually become a symbol of destruction and cover the surface.

The light in Dante’s eyes now that Minerva’s powers had fully adapted to him convinced him of that. While they were on the outskirts of Alpha, Alus worried about how far the impact would reach with the added gravity from the fall.

As Alus was thinking about that, there was a change in the airflow, as pebbles of all sorts were sucked up into the sky. Perhaps interpreting Alus standing still as him being in a stupor, Dante triumphantly spoke the spell name.

‹Diurnal Dogma››

It began to fall and picked up speed. Even if he avoided a direct hit, everything would get caught up in the supergravity once the giant sphere was released. Any living creature caught in that would be crushed to death. Be it trees or rocks, anything would be crushed, leaving behind only specks of dust.

Dante looked down as if to witness Alus’s last moment. The outer shell of Diurnal Dogma was falling down on Alus. It was a glimpse of the disaster the supergravity would cause.

“You can run if you want,” Dante taunted him.

However, the black sphere was already so close that avoiding it would be impossible.

“Don’t make me laugh,” Alus whispered softly. In the next moment, Diurnal Dogma was split in half. The two halves of the black sphere slid away from each other and broke.

The web of gravity spread out like a blooming flower...but a beat later the web of gravity stopped moving. A strange rift opened in the space cut by the Sword of Damocles, like a giant beast opening its eyes. Something black appeared to be stirring within, and in the next moment, Diurnal Dogma was rapidly absorbed into the rift.

The damage that the slash inflicted on the space was far greater than Dimension Thrust, and its impact was incomparable. Before long, the calamity that Dante had unleashed had been fully absorbed, and the rift closed. The remnants of the black mist that had appeared in the last moment danced like a snake before disappearing.

The same mist came from Alus’s eye, and he quickly shut it.

“Wh-What did you do...?” Dante shook his head as if rejecting reality.

The Sword of Damocles was closely related to Alus’s special ability. It was the act of transforming Gra Eater’s power into magic. Being able to use attribute-less magic was also because of Gra Eater’s influence and why Alus had two different kinds of mana.

Alus had the mana he was originally born with, as well as mana absorbed from others. He had reached a point where he could use two sources independently of one another.

Typically, he would use his own mana and resupply it with the mana that Gra Eater absorbed. He took advantage of it, in fact. But when he used Gra Eater, the essence of the mana he used changed. He stepped into the realm of his special ability.

It was an irregular situation, but it allowed for certain magic to be used. Rather than using Gra Eater, which he didn’t fully understand and couldn’t fully control, there were situations where it was better to construct spells with the human side even if it used up more mana.

He fired the last sword from his attack and pierced Dante’s stomach.

I can’t really let him go any further, thought Alus. Raising his arm, the spell disappeared and Dante’s body was freed.

Dante fell a long distance and hit the ground without even attempting to break the fall. Alus held his right hand and walked up to Dante.

“What did you even want to do?” A question suddenly left Alus’s mouth.

Dante raised his gaze slightly and gave Alus a dry smile, spitting out the blood in his mouth. “I had...some business...at the end...of the world.”

“The end of the world... What are you talking about? Do you mean that spell that was the embodiment of calamity?” asked Alus.

“N-Nah, I mean...th-the literal end...of the world... Its edge,” said Dante.

“The end of the world? Is paradise supposed to be there or something? Besides, you... No, where could foreign objects like us even go than this cramped human realm? What a ridiculous fantasy,” said Alus.

Dante smiled more deeply. “W-We’ll see... Well, I’ll die either way. But before I go, how did you find out...about the description, about Minerva...? Th-That’s not something so easy to d-decipher...”

But Alus had glimpsed into the Akashic Records. If not for that, it would have taken a long time. But there was still one sentence that he hadn’t been able to unravel. It was a completely unknown language.

“Who knows. You can think about what the answer might be in hell,” Alus said bluntly, prompting a final triumphant look from Dante.

“Tsk, h-hell, is it...b-but paradise...really does...” Dante weakly raised his arm above his head...pointing in a clear direction. Not towards the Inner World but towards the edge of the Outer World. In that instant, an association flashed through Alus’s mind.

The Four Books of Fegel, Minerva’s secret, the extraordinary knowledge Dante had, and the outside world he was talking about. Dante’s fearless smile might just have been trying to ridicule Alus one last time, but Alus threw curt words at him in return.

“So those are your final words after everything you’ve done. Sorry that I won’t believe you, besides nothing was as surprising as my students’ growth.”

Dante grinned. He seemed to come to an understanding about the black mist from Alus’s closed eye...and then he died, finished off by the Sword of Damocles piercing his chest. His body was absorbed into space, or perhaps into the sword itself.

After that, Alus readied his sword once more.

“So it won’t come out right away. Maybe he just wanted to annoy me, but I’m not going to go along with it,” he said.

A cut in space appeared, revealing Minerva. It fell to the ground with a heavy thud, as if representing the fall of an ambition. With Dante’s death and Minerva retrieved, Alus’s mission was complete.

If all this did was protect Sisty’s job, then it wasn’t worth the effort...but it was still better than having the Institute run by someone else. If that were to happen, the Institute would probably be a lot more inflexible than it was now.

With the loss of its master, Minerva sat silently on the ground, not making a sound or leaking any mana. If left there, nobody would have thought that the AWR was humanity’s greatest treasure.

Alus suddenly thought of connecting and accessing Minerva. For a moment, its functions seemed to be damaged, but it finally floated up in the air as if it had gained a will of its own. But he had no idea how Dante had been able to control its power to such a degree.

It would have been nice if the book had a hint, but it was unclear if there was any mention of it in the book Alus had. Even if there were, he was unsure if he’d be able to decipher it better than Dante had. Still, it had been a disappointment to see the oldest AWR fall into the hands of a magical criminal and be used as a source of mana.

If Dante is to be believed, it’s supposedly a core... But I’ll hold off on confirming that now. I’ll leave it for later, thought Alus.

At any rate, as Alus stared at the AWR floating in the air, he was just glad he wouldn’t need to physically carry it back.

Loki joined up with him afterwards, and judging from her triumphant look, he figured she’d properly handled her new spell. Even Alus was a little surprised by that. The magic formula had only been hastily engraved into the AWR, and while the theory was sound, there hadn’t been a guarantee it would work in practice. He would have preferred to take more time to try it out and work out any kinks.

Well, I can’t really blame her when I’m the one who engraved the magic formula, Alus thought to himself.

Regardless, it was true that Loki had an affinity for the Vertex of Thunder, too much of an affinity even. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they were a perfect match.

For the time being, he decided to wait until later to confirm her progress in more detail. Instead, he put his hand on her head to praise her. But with his right hand broken, he had to pat her silver hair with his left.

Loki looked pleased, but worry suddenly took over. “Sir Alus, is your arm and eye okay?”

“Yeah, probably. Although I’m not even sure what’s going on with my eye,” he responded.

Loki’s expression further clouded over at his answer. She asked him to bend down, and while Alus didn’t think it was that serious, she pulled at him with more force than he’d expected.

He had no choice but to get down on his knee, and as soon as he did, Loki peered at him. She used her thumb and index finger to pry open his eyelid, and her face reflected clearly in his eye.

It was fine. He could see her face and her eyes without any difficulties.

“G-Good! It looks like it’ll be fine!” she said.

“So it seems. There’s no problem with my vision either,” he said.

“Yes! I’m glad,” Loki said, moving her fingers away and pulling Alus’s hand. She’d only just completed a difficult mission, but she was in refreshingly high spirits. Then it occurred to her. “Would you like to pour some water over yourself?” she casually asked.

“It’s not like I do that all the time,” he said.

For some reason, Loki knew about Alus’s little ritual after finishing a mission in the Outer World. It was his custom when he finished a mission to wash the grime away from his body and the dirt from his eyes. At those times, he felt the vast Outer World welcoming even his tiny existence. Feeling the gateway to a boundless world opening its gates to him, Alus felt the weight lift from his body and mind. But it wasn’t like he was troubled by not doing it.

“There’s no water,” he said.

“There’s a small river over there,” said Loki.

That was his first time hearing that, but even if that was the case, he had no intention of going. “I’ll just catch a cold if I get drenched in water in this season.”

“Ah, I suppose so. I’m sorry. It was just a joke,” Loki cheerfully jested, and Alus responded by poking her forehead.

She seemed overjoyed even by that, so Alus looked up at the sky with a sigh. “Still...it was a pretty rough mission.”

“Yes, but I knew that you would be able to complete it without problems, Sir Alus!” Loki innocently replied.

“No, it was full of problems. And there will probably be even more up ahead,” he said.

“It will be fine. You can overcome any predicament. And by your leave, I will accompany you!” Loki said with an almost disgusting amount of optimism.

Alus shrugged in exasperation, putting his hand on her head once more as a show of his appreciation.