The archmage’s smile widened, and for a moment, he looked almost gentle. Almost.

"No game," he said, lowering his arms. "A test. The last one."

"Fighting you isn’t a test. It’s suicide."

"Normally, yes." He took a step closer, and the torches along the walls dimmed in response, their flames bowing toward him like flowers following the sun. "But I won’t be using my full power. That would be boring. For both of us."

"How much?" Evelina asked, her voice steady despite the tension in her shoulders.

"Enough to make you work for it. Not enough to kill you." He tilted his head, that blind gaze somehow finding each of us in turn. "Probably."

"Probably," Kevin repeated flatly.

"I’ve been alive for centuries. Certainties are for the young."

Vivianne shifted her weight, her eyes darting between the archmage and the darkness around us. "Can we refuse?"

"If you do, then you leave. The trial ends. You get no reward, no knowledge, no power. Just the memory of coming this close and turning back."

He snapped his fingers, and behind us, the corridor we’d walked through shimmered and reformed into a doorway. Sunlight poured through it, warm and golden, so different from the library’s lamplight that it hurt to look at.

"The exit," he said. "Open whenever you want. No hard feelings."

I stared at the doorway, at the sunlight, at the easy escape.

Then I looked at Evelina.

Her crimson eyes met mine, and I saw the same calculation running behind them that was running behind mine. We could walk away. Take Kevin and Vivianne and leave this place behind. Find another way to stop the church. Another way to get stronger.

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

"If we accept, can we leave whenever we want?"

It was a gamble, but it didn’t hurt to ask.

"Sure."

"Really?" Kevin asked, surprised.

"You all entertained me, so I don’t see why not. But you won’t get anything out of it anyway. Besides... it also depends on whether you can surrender before my magic hits you."

"So basically, leaving after accepting is allowed—you’ll just make it a living hell?"

"Correct."

I tilted my head, running the calculations. Our chances of winning were low, but I wasn’t willing to leave this place empty-handed. As for his threat, I was confident I could avoid him long enough to surrender if things went south.

You know what? I’m accepting his challenge.

"Fine. But I have one condition."

"You’re accepting?" Evelina and Vivianne said at the same time.

"Trust me on this," I muttered.

"A condition?" The archmage laughed, looking at me like a bacterium demanding an audience with a god. "You’re hardly in a position to negotiate. But fine. You’ve all been entertaining enough. Name it."

"Let all of us deliver the first strike on you. And we get all the preparation time we need."

"Oh...?" The archmage’s smile widened.

The archmage’s blind eyes glittered with something that might have been approval.

"Bold," he said. "Stupid. But bold."

"Is that a yes?"

He clasped his hands behind his back, the royal cloak settling around his shoulders like folded wings. The torches along the walls flickered once, twice, then steadied.

"Yes," he said. "Take your time. Prepare your spells. Position yourselves. I’ll even stand still for you."

"That’s generous."

"I’m feeling generous. Don’t make me regret it."

Evelina’s hand found my elbow, her fingers pressing hard enough to hurt. "Cael. What are you doing?"

"Buying us a chance."

"His idea of ’not full power’ could still kill us."

"Then we don’t let him hit us."

Kevin and Vivianne had moved closer. Kevin’s magic was already flickering around his fingers, not attacking, just ready. Vivianne had unwrapped the borrowed coat from her shoulders and dropped it in a heap on the floor, also preparing.

"If we’re doing this," Kevin said quietly, "we need a plan."

"Not a complicated one," I replied. "We hit him with everything we have. All at once. First strike advantage."

"And if that doesn’t work?"

"We surrender."

Vivianne stared at me. "That’s your plan? Hit him and hope?"

"Hit him and see. There’s a difference."

"Not a meaningful one."

The archmage had turned away from us, examining the darkness beyond the torchlight as if we no longer interested him. But I could feel his attention, a weight against my skin, heavier than any magical pressure he’d used before.

He was watching. Closely.

Evelina released my elbow and stepped back, her white hair swaying. The succubus at her throat pulsed once, crimson light bleeding across her collarbone.

"I’ll open," she said. "Crowd control magic at full extension. Bind his limbs, his throat, his magic if I can."

"He’ll break out."

"Then do you just want me to hit him with all I’ve got without any strategy?"

"Exactly. Let me show you an example."

I stepped forward first, my body tense. I knew I was the one who’d accepted the archmage’s challenge for all of us, but even I couldn’t help feeling nervous. This man was on an entirely different level than anyone I’d ever met.

Well, excluding Beelzebub and Nyx.

But those two weren’t exactly mere mortals either.

[Command False Hydra]

I unleashed the False Hydra’s full power behind me. Its invisible building-tall necks emerged from my back and began to slither around the dark chamber. The air grew colder and heavier with every second they remained unleashed.

"W-What’s going on?" Kevin’s voice wavered as his magic flickered and sputtered in panic.

"C-Cael!" Vivianne yelled out, also feeling her magic destabilize.

"Don’t worry. I’m preparing my own attack. You three should do the same."

[Command False Hydra]

’All of my magic. All of it. Combine it now.’

The hydra immediately complied. A spell circle began to materialize in front of me, editing itself by the second, crammed with random spells that weren’t even compatible.

Thank the gods for this beast.

If I had to do these calculations myself, I’d probably be fifty by the time I finished. Even with the hydra’s help, it would take more than an hour—but that was still a massive difference.

That didn’t mean I would slack off while it worked, though.

"I’ll help you all with your spells. Don’t get distracted by what I’m doing."