Chapter : 211

At last, we had returned to that place after a full week.

“Have you arrived?”

Freya, the new Sword of Doctrine, welcomed us with genuine warmth. And when her gaze fell on Fel, it softened so tenderly that I almost wondered if she was even looking at the same person as before.

Well, considering the setting, Fel was a remnant left behind by someone she had loved like family, so it made sense she would be especially happy to see him. Even so, it felt like favoritism bordering on blatant discrimination.

“What is the state of the heresy seal?”

“…We are maintaining it somehow, but it is unstable, as though it could burst at any moment.”

At those words, Professor Beatrice’s brow furrowed. Father was enduring it by sheer force of will, but it meant that endurance could run out at any time.

Fel, who had been listening, murmured as if truly surprised.

“To think he really lasted the entire week.”

“He is the sort of man who does what he says he will do. There is no need to be surprised,”

Freya replied evenly.

As her calm words continued, I suddenly felt her eyes on me. Did she think I was worried? If so, she was right.

Even while learning magic from Albedo for the past week, I had not been able to stop thinking about this.

“I am fine.”

But I could only answer like that.

I truly trusted Father. If he had promised “a week” in his own words, then he would keep it, somehow. Evan Lisitoel was that kind of person.

Perhaps because my composure was more steadfast than she expected, Freya gave a small nod, then immediately went into a meeting with Professor Beatrice.

When we stepped a short distance away from them, the heretic inquisitors waiting nearby fixed us with open, unmasked stares. Their hushed whispers came as an added bonus.

“They are staring like filthy vultures,” Zephyros muttered roughly.

“Either way, the Church has had plenty of incidents lately.”

From the perspective of the Swords of Doctrine, we were the ones who had driven out the Levian family, who had held the papacy firmly for a thousand years. Of course, I had only lightly placed a spoon into Levian’s downfall, but still.

The true lead was Fel, not me, and most of the stares were aimed at him.

“It is getting on my nerves. Should I tell them to stop staring?”

At Zephyros’s dilemma, I gave a faint snort and gripped his shoulder. He was saying that because he did not understand.

“You do not need to step in.”

“What?”

Because there was someone else who would do it for us.

“Hey. Did something become worth watching?”

See? There was no need to care.

At some point, Hartain had started snarling, flinging a vicious warning at the heretic inquisitors.

“If you keep flicking those eyes around, I will gouge them out.”

Look at that violent tongue. A street thug passing by would have spoken more gently than this.

When Zephyros gaped in shock, Lucian reached out and lifted Zephyros’s chin shut.

“So you had something to rely on.”

“Of course.”

Watching Hartain start barking gladly, living up to his nickname as the Church’s mad dog, Lerwon muttered with hollow disbelief.

“These are the kids who are going to face Iris with only ten people?”

Hartain acted like a rabid dog just because they looked at Fel the wrong way, while Fel, in his own way, pretended to restrain Hartain and yet egged him on. The two of them were perfectly in sync.

Look at this freewheeling behavior—so far removed from seriousness and gravity. Who could possibly look at them and think they were about to fight a battle that would decide the fate of the world?

RUMBLE.

I was about to do one last check, when the ground suddenly trembled.

“Ghk!”

In an instant, the heretic inquisitors who had been glaring at Hartain and Fel changed completely. Before anyone could even process it, Professor Beatrice sprinted toward the seal and shouted.

“Fel!!!”

At her call, Fel ran straight over, clasped his hands, and prayed. Professor Beatrice gripped her staff tightly and began chanting, and an enormous tide of mana surged into motion.

The mana itself became a bizarre spell, whipping into a storm. Even in the torrent—so violent it was hard to keep my eyes open—Professor Beatrice and Fel held firm and continued their magic without wavering.

FLASH!!!

At last, a brilliant light exploded outward, and the shaking and the wind both began to subside.

Even the cracks in the seal that had been convulsing as though they would shatter vanished, and everything around us fell quiet.

“Ha… that crazy bastard.”

Professor Beatrice frowned as she barely pushed herself upright, using her staff like a crutch.

“Can you endure it?”

At Fel’s question, Professor Beatrice nodded. But judging by the sweat pouring from her, it did not look like she could hold on for long.

This was the second refinement of the sealing magic Father had improved—now improved again by Professor Beatrice and Fel.

If Father’s seal had been “Mutually Assured Destruction,” sealing both the enemy and himself together to bind them for a long time, then Professor Beatrice and Fel’s seal was, quite literally, a magic that imprisoned the target inside a space.

Their newly improved spell even used the core of a destroyed dungeon, turning the dungeon itself into the seal and allowing them to seal the target perfectly.

However, there were restrictions.

As with most sealing magic, if the target was a living being, it had to be unconscious or constrained.

The materials were a destroyed dungeon core—something that was not easy to obtain in the first place.

And on top of that, it required a mage on Professor Beatrice’s level and someone with holy power comparable to Fel’s, both present at the same time.

A mage of her caliber would be difficult to find, but it might be possible to raise one eventually. But a holy power user like Fel appearing again was close to impossible.

“Theo!”

At some point, Fel’s eyes met mine.

Now was the time to move.

As if we had all promised it in advance, we charged inside at once.

“According to the plan—one hour! I will endure for one hour!!”

“Yes!!!”

“Do not die, no matter what!!!”

Professor Beatrice shouted after us.

That was what I wanted to say.

Clenching my fist around my staff, I shouted back as I gladly threw myself in.

“Yes!!!”

Into the sealing circle—where Iris would be waiting!

—

The moment the ten of them entered, the dungeon entrance soon wriggled like liquid, then spat something out as if coughing up an object.

“Hurry and confirm it!”

At Freya’s command, two heretic inquisitors who had been standing guard ran over in a rush.

“It is Count Lisitoel!”

“Proceed according to plan!”

They sent Evan Lisitoel—unconscious—toward Professor Artemia, who was waiting at the Academy with protective magic prepared.

Because the situation could change depending on Evan Lisitoel alone, the sooner he recovered, the better.

Hiss.

Then a very small sound reached their ears—subtle, faintly irritating.

It was so quiet that an ordinary person would not have heard it at all. But the inquisitors, their five senses enhanced by holy power, heard it clearly.

The problem was that hearing and responding were two different things.

What followed was an anomaly that happened in the span of a single moment.

CRUNCH!

A sound rang out like someone taking a massive bite of an apple.

“Aaaaargh!!!!!”

A heretic inquisitor screamed.

Freya, not yet grasping what had happened, shouted.

“Stay alert!!!”

“I am barely holding one spell together as it is—seriously, do we have to deal with this too?!” Professor Beatrice snapped.

CRUNCH, CRRUNCH.

Teeth ground through something.

A snake large enough to swallow several people had appeared out of nowhere, grinning so wide it looked as though its mouth would tear.

“Ahahaha!!!”

“Everyone, stay alert!!!” Freya cried again.

“Ha… we are screwed,” Professor Beatrice muttered faintly.

Still propping herself up on her staff, she stared blankly at the scene. The enormous snake laughed, its irises shimmering with rainbow colors.

—

The instant we stepped through the entrance, I sensed something was wrong.

The air itself had changed, and Iris’s laughter echoed through it.

“!”

Laurel sprang forward on instinct and blocked Iris’s attack.

She had aimed for Lerwon.

Iris’s slick, gleaming gaze pinned Lerwon in place.

“Ghk!”

Under the suffocating pressure, Laurel clenched her teeth.

Even transformed into a Magical Girl, she was forced back, her arms feeling as though the bones were about to shatter.

Do you think this will end as a mere fracture?! Still gripping Iris’s fist, Laurel shouted.

“Now!”

At Laurel’s shout, shards of light—formed by Fel’s holy magic—shot in.

Then Theo’s sword of ice and Lilia’s flaming arrow struck true.

Holy magic scorched Iris’s pale skin, and as the ice sword tore into her arm wreathed in flame, extreme cold and extreme heat collided and detonated into an explosion.

BOOOOM!!!

With a burst of noise, something shaped like a human arm flew off into the distance.

Her arm had vanished in an instant.

And yet, even as the coordinated assault continued, Iris only blinked a few times, then burst into laughter.

“Ahahaha!!!”

The smoke from the explosion drifted away, and a horrific scene was revealed in full.

Her flesh bulged and bubbled. A skin-colored foam gathered into the shape of an arm, then, grotesquely, became a new arm.

“This is insane.”

Theo muttered a raw curse after witnessing it all.

“Horrific” was not enough to describe it. If someone had a weak stomach, they might have vomited on the spot.

Zephyros, forced to see it with his own eyes, seemed nauseated; a small groan slipped out of him without his meaning to.

“Are you all right?”

It was only an instant—hardly enough to even call it a lapse.

In that sliver of time, Iris lunged at Laurel, who stood guarding Lerwon, and seized Laurel’s hand in a tight grip.

“My pretty little one, would you step aside for me?”

Despite the sudden turn, Laurel showed no sign of panic. She swung her leg at Iris without hesitation.

THUD!!!

A sound rang out—not like flesh, but like striking a wall.

Laurel’s expression twisted into shock.

With a Magical Girl’s monstrous strength, any creature should have been sent flying, coughing blood somewhere far away…

“Oh dear. That hurts.”

Iris whispered softly, then grabbed Laurel by the face and smashed her straight into the ground.

“Sister!!!!!”

Lilia screamed in horror as a deafening crash echoed—Laurel’s face hitting the floor.

BAM, BAM, BAM!!!

After slamming Laurel’s head down again and again until cracks split the ground, Iris lifted Laurel up.

“Kgh….”

“You are tougher than I expected. A Magical Girl… was it?”

Murmuring quietly, Iris threw Laurel away as if tossing an object.

BANG!!!

Laurel crashed into the wall and spat blood.

Iris licked the blood smeared on her cheek—whose it was, I could not tell—then smiled, rapture filling her expression.

“There are so many toys.”

Her smile was as innocent as a girl staring at Christmas presents.

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