Boom!!
A fountain of blood erupted in mid-air, staining the ground a vivid red. Walter’s headless corpse and an exhausted Mila fell entangled together.
Thud!!
“Ugh!!”
[…That’s an unpleasant smell.]
Davi, who had been flattened on Mila’s head, hopped down to the ground and sighed.
“…Give me a break.”
As Mila, lying on the ground, groaned trying to get up,
“That was a good finish.”
“…!!!”
A voice emanated from Walter’s beheaded body. An eerie mouth had formed near his heart on his chest and began to speak.
“But this won’t be enough to stop me.”
“He’s not just a cultist, but a monster…!”
Mila had long since used up the magazines Lennok had given her. As she reached into her coat for a handle-less dagger, Walter easily snatched it from her hand.
“Ugh…!!”
“Are all the mercenaries in this city as seasoned warriors as you?”
Walter’s newly grown head on his chest smirked.
“I guess I’ll find out as I explore. I’m thrilled for my first mission in a long while.”
Once he killed Mila, the most tenacious of his pursuers, escaping the university wouldn’t be difficult. Though Lennok’s manipulation of magical energy was noteworthy, evading him wouldn’t be hard as long as he wasn’t a physical combatant. Once Walter hid in the sewers, blending into the city would be easy.
Just as Walter was about to stab Mila’s chest with the dagger,
Lennok, who had been forming hand signs in the distance, muttered,
“That won’t happen.”
Fzzzt…!!
A powerful wave of electricity, centered around Davi, resonated and pierced through Walter’s body.
“Ugh…!!”
Walter’s bizarre regenerative ability had kept him conscious even after his head was blown off. Despite Mila killing him over five times in their previous fight, she ultimately gave him an opening.
It was only natural for Mila to struggle against a power that far exceeded the bounds of normal magic or supernatural abilities.
However, thanks to the fatal gap she created, Lennok could seize the opportunity to intervene directly without much effort.
Woong!!!
Lennok and Davi resonated together, sending a bolt of lightning through Walter.
The disparity between the body and consciousness in Walter’s temporarily formed flesh allowed Lennok to gauge and then precisely target Walter’s consciousness for interference.
Lennok had been watching Mila’s fight and waiting for this moment, a brief gap that wouldn’t have been possible with a normal human body and mind.
Zzzzt!!
Lennok’s mana rapidly spread inside Walter’s body, capturing and interpreting all phenomena occurring within, and Davi immediately recorded and analyzed this information.
This wasn’t just about physical data; it was a sensitive penetration into the consciousness residing within, reaching into the very depths of Walter’s mind and memories.
Lennok’s finely tuned empathic ability reacted with Walter’s mental world, delving into his memory and consciousness.
Belatedly realizing that something had gone terribly wrong, Walter’s expression changed drastically.
“Ju-just a minute… what are you doing…!!!!!”
Kwoong!!
Even after Walter’s headless body fell to the ground, it continued to thrash, but Lennok’s mana already permeated inside, unceasingly.
As Lennok’s consciousness flashed, he followed the faint connection from Walter’s body, shifting the view across the chaotic and dirty glow of the consciousness world to the person overseeing all this from afar.
Paaaah!!
It became visible.
A street lined with exotic wooden buildings topped with tiles.
A densely packed, chaotic cityscape.
And on a balcony of a high-rise building overlooking most of these streets, a middle-aged man knelt in prayer.
“That’s eeeenough!!!”
Finally, Walter realized Lennok had inverted his spell, peering into the core of his consciousness. Walter screamed, but it was too late.
“It was closer than I thought.”
Lennok, opening his eyes, smiled down at Walter.
“The Eightfold Fortress… this will make things easier.”
“Damn youuuu!!!”
All semblance of composure gone, Walter screamed madly and began to flee. His form, dissected to its core by Lennok’s lightning, could no longer maintain a proper human shape. Only an indistinct entity, ghost-like, held his body together.
“Where do you think…!”
Lennok attempted to seize him, but hesitated for a moment due to the backlash of deeply probing someone else’s psyche. His magic sensitivity had become abnormally acute, making power control difficult.
Using mana to catch Walter here could risk blowing up the entire Necromancy Department building.
The confusion in his empathic ability lasted only about two seconds – an incredibly fast recovery considering he had almost completely merged with another’s psyche. But in that brief window, Walter had managed to escape Davi’s lightning.
Swoosh!!
Realizing which direction Walter was heading, Lennok quickly shook Mila.
“Mila, we need to get moving.”
“What? Isn’t it over?”
“He’s heading towards the Elemental Studies Department.”
Lennok spoke with a slightly hardened expression.
“It seems he’s targeting Priscilla and Phenia.”
“Damn it.”
Mila, who had been sprawled on the ground, slowly got to her feet. She took out her phone and immediately called Priscilla.
“Silah, you listening?”
She called while heading towards the Elemental Studies Department. Mila gritted her teeth, chasing after Walter at full speed, with Lennok following close behind.
The reason Walter was targeting Priscilla and Phenia seemed obvious. If he had temporarily used Lanfei’s body, it was highly likely he had inherited some of Lanfei’s memories. Considering the blood used in the ritual was a mix of Lanfei’s and Phenia’s, Walter might believe he could also take over Phenia’s body.
And if all those assumptions were true, there was only one conclusion.
Gasping for breath while following Mila, Lennok muttered,
“He can’t end the spell at will… There must be a condition that requires him to stay in the possessed body for a certain period.”
Otherwise, there’s no explaining why he didn’t cancel the spell and flee the moment his original location was exposed.
Davi, floating above Lennok, commented,
[It seems Master is closer to death than that bishop was.]
“…This can’t be helped… Hoo!”
Running at full speed without the aid of drugs was a rare experience for Lennok. If he had a cigarette to rely on its effects, he could at least run like a normal person, but he had no choice but to pant and chase after Mila.
Fortunately, the Elemental Studies Department wasn’t far from the Necromancy Department dormitory.
In the wide courtyard in the center of the research building, Priscilla and Phenia were confronting Walter.
Priscilla, sweating profusely, and Phenia, exhausted from excessive blood loss, both faced Walter, still full of fighting spirit.
Gurgle, gurgle…!!
From within the barely human mass of flesh, Walter’s mouth emerged.
“I won’t mince words. Hand her over, and I’ll leave quietly.”
“…”
Priscilla, holding a hesitant Phenia’s shoulder, firmly shook her head.
“Get lost.”
Kwaaang!!
Then, Mila, who had swiftly caught up from behind, kicked Walter’s back, slicing through the grotesquely protruding flesh.
“I don’t know what you’re relying on to struggle like this.”
Mila, stomping on Walter’s body, spoke harshly.
“Do you really think you can escape from here? Shall we see how long you can stick to that body?”
The moment Mila blew up Walter’s head, the fight was essentially over.
The fact that he couldn’t regenerate his head properly afterward indicated that the power within that body was almost depleted.
Yet, Walter was still desperately clinging to some sliver of hope.
“It seems you misunderstand something,” Walter gurgled and laughed.
“I’m not doing this because I enjoy it. Educating savages who can’t wake from their dreams isn’t always pleasant.”
“What?”
“But enduring such humiliation is worth it to spread a great will across this land… That’s why I can make such decisive decisions without hesitation.”
At that moment, the faint tentacle-like shape that had been floating behind Walter began to be absorbed into his body.
The blurred shape, initially thought to be part of a necromantic spell, entered his body in a bizarre scene.
Lennok, who had caught up, gasped for air and raised his mana to stir Walter’s consciousness, but to no avail.
It was a higher-dimensional spell, operating on completely different principles and laws than magic.
A path of physical manipulation showing a twisted version of the reality he believed in, powered by near-mad faith and mental strength.
Suddenly, Walter’s body under Mila’s feet began to swell insanely.
Creaking loudly!
The mass of flesh that erupted from the small boy’s body spread at a pace that threatened to engulf the entire Elemental Studies Department building.
“Waaaah!!”
“What is this…!!”
Other students, who had not yet realized what was happening, ran out of the research building with shocked faces at the sight. However, more than the abnormal growth rate, what caught Lennok’s attention was the fact that, despite rapidly expanding, the mass was starting to take on a specific form and balance.
Lennok immediately began to act.
“Davi.”
[What should we do?]
“Such growth without any process. He’s using his body to overload and devastate this area. If we don’t stop it here, it’s going to get messy.”
Simply observing the power, Lennok could tell it was an extreme method, potentially even impacting the caster’s original body. It was akin to a suicide bombing. If they didn’t intervene, the entire Elemental Studies Department could be destroyed.
As Lennok had promised the Faculty Administration Office, mediated by Archiwood, to handle the situation smoothly, he had to do whatever he could. Of course, this didn’t mean revealing his undercover identity. Sacrificing his assistant professor cover for a single bishop of the Gido sect would be too great a loss.
Fortunately, there were efficient alternatives without resorting to drastic measures.
“Just buy some more time, and the other professors from the university will start to intervene. If we can just hold it off until then, that’s enough.”
[Understood. I’ll immediately analyze the internal magic flow and set up a cooling efficiency optimization scenario.]
“Good. Then… Hm?”
Just as Lennok was about to raise his mana with Davi to subdue the flesh that was once Walter, an overwhelming surge of mana burst from the sky.
The pressure was so intense that even Lennok flinched for a moment.
Then, a torrential downpour started from the cloudy sky.
Kwaaaang!!
The sudden downpour quickly flooded the area, but before anyone could react, another phenomenon occurred. Instead of pooling on the ground, the water shot upwards, enclosing the expanding flesh in the center of the research building.
The mass writhed as if annoyed by the water constraining it, but the water, unwilling to tolerate even this small defiance, began to rotate rapidly, grinding the flesh to shreds.
Crackling loudly!!!
[Screeech!!!]
For the first time, the flesh let out a grotesque, pain-filled scream as it began to twist. There was no hint of rational thought in that barbaric cry; Walter’s consciousness had long since disappeared from that mass.
“Wow…”
Lennok watched the spectacle in the pouring rain, observing not just the disintegrating flesh but the sorcerer’s ability to perfectly control the massive flow of water.
The Elemental Studies students who ran out late also watched in horror, but they likely couldn’t grasp the intricacy of the magic manipulation involved. The manipulation of the water flow went beyond mere control, splitting the magical power controlling the water into dozens of streams, each rotating at different speeds.
The water vortices, spinning at different velocities, collided and created intense friction within the liquid. The flesh was torn and shredded within the twisting rotations, unable to expand any further and instead began to shrink.
Just as the flesh tried to break out of the water mass, the water mercilessly slicing it into dozens of pieces suddenly began to freeze.
Creak…
With an icy coldness, white frost spread, and the falling rain froze mid-air, turning into hail.
The twisted mass of flesh, torn and mangled, was now trapped and solidified within a pillar of white ice. It was a rapid cooling of such high caliber that it almost seemed like time had stopped.
Finally regaining their senses, the students began to make calls here and there. Although others were likely already moving to handle the situation, Lennok did not intend to stop them.
“Evan…!!”
Mila, who had hesitated to approach the mass, quickly came over to Lennok.
“Is that okay? Is it an ally?”
“Yes, fortunately, they arrived just in time.”
“Do you know them?”
“It’s not so much about knowing them as…”
Lennok paused, recalling the sudden emergence of the magical power from the sky. It was a magic pattern he remembered more vividly than anyone else. The intricacy and diversity of its elemental manifestations and water manipulation were unmistakable. If this magic wasn’t of the mage Lennok knew, then whose could it be?
Instead of satisfying Mila’s curiosity, Lennok simply smiled faintly, looking up at the sky.
“Just watch.”
A spiral of frozen white ice, still in the shape of the swirling water that had frozen in place, created a beautifully etched staircase of ice on the slope. Someone was slowly descending the steps from the end of the ice pillar.
“I didn’t expect to encounter such a monster in my department right after returning.”
As she brushed her soft blonde hair back, the cloudy weather cleared, revealing a bright sky. The sunlight beamed down on the research building, making her hair shine brilliantly. Her eyes, blue as the ocean, gazed softly yet firmly down at the ground.
At the end of her gaze, finding Lennok, Aris smiled playfully and spoke,
“I’m sure I explicitly asked in my letter to take good care of the students.”
