The first emotions the academy students in the shopping district felt were confusion and fear.

Naturally so.

The sudden attack that began with fireworks exploding in the sky, along with the environment where the students beside them were dying one after another, was more than enough to shock them.

That was why the students, who had frantically fled toward the academy’s new and old school buildings and somehow reached the shopping district, could do nothing but fall into despair once more.

It was not because the shopping district had become ruins.

It was because they realized they had been trapped inside the shopping district.

By a gigantic, incomprehensible wall surrounding the academy.

Of course, nothing had happened yet aside from being trapped behind the wall.

However, the students here already roughly understood what kind of situation had unfolded at the academy.

That they had been attacked by unidentified enemies.

That someone beyond the distant wall was confronting the enemy.

That the headmaster, the greatest mage in the academy, had been killed without even being able to properly resist.

They all knew.

And among them, Delgart knew who the man inside that wall was.

‘Alon......!’

Taylor Alon.

Of course, there were many differences between the person he knew and the Alon standing inside that wall.

Their heights were different from the start.

Even so, that distinctively expressionless face was recognizable, so Delgart could see him confronting the enemy amid the now-ruined buildings beyond the shopping district.

And though Delgart only briefly questioned his identity, he soon found himself admiring the battle that followed—

“Ah......”

—and then letting out a stunned breath.

And he was not the only one.

Every student gathered there was staring blankly at the scene.

Earlier, sounds had erupted from all over the place, but at this point, the only location where horrifying explosions continued to echo was where Alon was.

‘......He’s losing.’

Watching a battle his eyes could not even properly perceive, Delgart came to that conclusion.

It was not because he envied or looked down on Alon.

If anything, he felt awe toward him now.

The magic Alon had displayed in battle until now far surpassed Delgart’s common sense.

When Alon created a miniature sun, everyone there, including Delgart himself, had stood there with their mouths hanging open in astonishment.

Unfortunately, however, the one-armed black dragonman Alon was fighting possessed power even greater than his.

No matter how incredible Alon’s magic was, it could not reach the one-armed dragonman.

Thus, it did not take long for the expressions of the students, who had once cried out in admiration, to become dyed with despair.

Because while Alon’s magic could not inflict any damage on the one-armed being—

the one-armed being was effectively driving Alon toward death.

No, honestly, it was strange that he was still alive at all.

That was why, the more the students watched Alon being helplessly overwhelmed, the more fear slowly spread among them.

None of the students knew any truths or details.

But instinctively, they realized it.

That after Alon fell, they would be next.

And so, at the moment when everyone was being consumed by fear—

it happened.

“......Flowers?”

A dazed murmur escaped Delgart’s mouth.

And at that moment.

The students there saw it.

The ruined world suddenly freezing over.

And then—

Crackkk—!

──────────Kuwaaaaaa—!

A sun so enormous it sent chills down their spines rose into the frozen sky.

And beneath that sun—

Alon, who had maintained an expressionless face no matter the situation until now—

stood there wearing a deep smile.

And when the sun descended.

What appeared before their eyes amidst the horrifying sound of everything burning away was—

“Ah—”

—the Karma Throne.

The black dragonman with one shoulder of its crimson-black armor torn away.

It was smiling now, unlike before, as though it were truly enjoying itself.

At the same time, sighs burst out all around.

However, even hearing those sighs, Delgart was not swept up by that emotion.

Because—

he could see it.

Alon, standing opposite the Karma Throne of War—

was wearing a smile similar to its own.

####

Alon looked at the Karma Throne.

The Karma Throne looked at Alon as well.

“......”

[.......]

Without saying a single word, they merely stared silently at each other.

For a short while.

[It seems you can finally fight properly now. Did you gain some kind of enlightenment?]

As though it had been waiting for this moment, the Karma Throne spoke with laughter in its voice, and Alon—

“That’s not it.”

[Then what is it?]

“I just realized there aren’t any restrictions here.”

—smiled as he formed a hand seal.

And in that instant.

[!?]

The dragonman saw it.

Alon’s figure appearing directly in front of him.

A transcendent speed even it could not properly perceive.

Its expression was briefly dyed with shock—

Drip—!

—but in that fleeting instant, the Karma Throne of War saw the bloody tears flowing from Alon’s eyes and the body behind them collapsing as though disintegrating, only to regenerate again.

And then—

[Indeed—!]

—with a smile spreading widely across its lips as though genuinely delighted.

Because it had realized how Alon was displaying movements like this.

[You removed the restrictions—!]

At the dragonman’s words, Alon grinned.

Because it was right.

Until now, whenever he tried to manifest magic, there were usually certain restrictions placed on the formulas he used.

No, strictly speaking, all magic had restrictions placed on it.

There were two reasons for that.

The first was mana.

And the second was the mage’s physical body that had to support the manifestation of magic.

A mage’s mana was not infinite to begin with, so he limited output to only the degree necessary for manifestation.

And even if one possessed an enormous amount of mana, there were still situations where formulas had to be continuously processed for magic manifestation, as well as spells that burdened the body, meaning restrictions had to be placed on each spell formula.

And the same was true for the True Mage magic Alon used.

Of course, even if the restrictions on magical formulas were removed, they were not something that could be used easily.

But that did not matter.

Because Alon possessed a method capable of compensating for formulas that broke down once their restrictions were removed.

Shaaaaa—!

The countless arms sprouting behind Alon’s back changed hand seals all at once.

Excluding broken formulas and replacing them with new ones.

Supplementing collapsed formulas.

And forcing dozens of additional hand seals into the gaps between them through sheer brute force.

As a result, his brain melted down, and half his body—which had briefly transformed into lightning—could not properly recover and creaked apart.

But that was fine.

As long as he did not give up—

Kuwaaaaaaang—!

—he would not die.

Alon’s fist shot toward the Karma Throne of War’s face as blue lightning exploded in every direction.

The Karma Throne of War crashed into an invisible wall with its head blown apart.

However.

[Ha—!]

The Karma Throne immediately regenerated its head as though nothing had happened, then rushed toward Alon with an even wider smile, as though it was only now truly having fun.

Kwaaaajijik—!

With a chilling sound, the Karma Throne’s right hand pierced through Alon’s heart.

At the same time, a horrifying pure-white light descending from the sky pierced through the Karma Throne’s body.

Chwaaaaaak—!

Blood scattered everywhere.

But without caring about that blood at all, the Karma Throne’s leg kicked Alon high into the sky before immediately leaping upward after him—

“!”

—but then a gigantic meteor made of ice descended from the heavens, swallowing the Karma Throne whole before crashing down to the ground.

And after the massive explosion that followed.

“Cough—!”

Even while vomiting blood from his entire body, Alon was already preparing the next attack.

By now, most of the armor he had been wearing had been torn away.

[Hah—!]

And despite that, the Karma Throne still wore a vivid smile as it reached Alon again in an instant.

Just like before, the Karma Throne pierced straight through Alon’s heart.

However, in that state, Alon—

Grab—!

[!]

—clung directly onto its body as though this worked out perfectly instead.

And he opened his mouth.

Light-source fixation, silence of dark shadows.

A quiet murmur.

However, the next instant, the Karma Throne realized it.

That Alon’s freely moving right index finger was touching its heart.

And then—

“This is my first time using maximum output too.”

As Alon smiled.

“So I’m not sure what’ll happen.”

Maximum output.

Solar Eye at point-blank range.

The dark world—

was dyed in light.

####

Even after light engulfed everything as though a nuclear bomb had exploded, the battle between Alon and the Karma Throne of War did not approach its conclusion and instead continued in a deadlock.

Countless spells still poured down from the sky.

And amid them, the black one-armed dragonman continued killing Alon over and over.

And Alon was likewise somehow continuing to kill it.

To the point where the number of times they had killed each other had already easily surpassed several hundred.

An endless slaughter where they simply killed and were killed, one that would not end until one side gave up.

However, within that slaughter.

The black one-armed Karma Throne of War was feeling a strange sensation.

‘What is this?’

The situation was still at a stalemate.

It continued endlessly killing the Star Eater.

And the Star Eater continued endlessly killing it.

A paradise more fantastic than anything else to it.

And yet despite that, the Karma Throne felt an eerie sense of incongruity.

A sense that something was changing.

And then at one moment.

[!]

The Karma Throne of War realized something.

‘......No way?’

Alon’s magic—

was stabilizing.

The Karma Throne of War looked at Alon, who had once again pierced through its heart in an instant.

His body could not be described as being in good condition even as a joke.

Blood was pouring from every hole—his eyes, nose, mouth, all of them.

However, separate from that, his body—

‘It’s stabilizing......?’

—was maintaining itself.

[......!]

As far as the Karma Throne knew, the Star Eater had been turning his body into lightning in order to achieve high-speed movement and attacks.

And at the very beginning, whenever he moved at high speed, more than half his body had disappeared.

But what about now?

His body was cracked apart in places because it still could not fully keep up with the burden—

yet it was clearly remaining intact.

Meaning—

Kuwaaaaaaa—!

—he was growing.

Shiver—!

Without realizing it, the Karma Throne widened its eyes as it watched Alon once more forming countless hand seals while preparing the next attack.

[Hah—]

And what burst from it was hollow laughter.

How long had it been since it last felt such chills?

It felt delight at the long-forgotten emotion raising its head once more.

And at that moment—

“......That’s a relief. At this rate, it really feels like Godfather might actually defeat that thing.”

Watching the battle between Alon and the Karma Throne, Rine murmured that and let out a sigh.

Honestly, this battle was painful for her to watch.

No matter how impossible death was inside there, the pain they felt would surely remain exactly the same.

......But even so, she could not bring herself to look away from the battle.

So while forcing herself to say it was a relief, despite her expression looking utterly terrible, Rine—

suddenly looked to the side.

“......?”

At Yutia, who had not said a single word for a while now.

And then—

“......Yutia?”

Rine called out to her.

However, Yutia did not answer.

She merely remained silent, staring into the battlefield with her crimson-red eyes.

The only thing Rine could confirm was—

Twitch—

one eyelid trembling slightly as though from a spasm.

That was all.