Near the Royal Capital, in one corner of the outskirts.
A small forest standing alone, and a vast, wide-open plain surrounding it.
Their stronghold was there.
"...They're all gathered, aren't they?"
"Yes. The number of Monsters in the surrounding area is on a completely different level from anywhere else—and that Magic power inside the forest."
"He's... Karma is in there."
All preparations were complete.
They had piled up analysis and countermeasures, gathered everything necessary, and completed both the soldiers' training and the restructuring of the command chain.
The Monsters surrounding the Royal Capital—handling the other locations had been left to the remaining soldiers and Rose, so the preparations to annihilate them all in one stroke were in place. As for developments within the Royal Capital itself, Laila and the Second Princess faction would use the nobles to gather intelligence and keep them in check as needed.
In other words—
All that remained was for them to take down that monster.
"Are you all ready?"
"Yes."
"I'm fine."
"Same here~"
"Anytime."
When he called out, four voices answered back. The elite mages who had gathered here to defeat the Monsters concentrated in this location. Liliana, Katia, Niina, Lucius. And beyond them, the soldiers who would move alongside them primarily through Liliana's reinforcement magic, and then—
"..."
In one corner, surrounded by the Royal Family's direct unit—stood a single figure with a sour expression.
Thinking it was only proper etiquette, Ermes decided to at least offer a few words.
"Prince Helck, thank you for joining the battle as well. In this decisive fight, we're short-handed on every front — your strength was needed."
"This isn't for your sake."
The reply was the bare minimum. It was curt, tinged with rejection — but there was absolutely no malice in it. Understanding that this was the proper distance between them, Ermes didn't press the matter.
Helck continued without pause.
"I understand that I'm a loser who couldn't reach him on my own, and that my body is in need of immediate treatment as the price for that."
"...But even so. I am royalty. Whether I can reach him or not, I have a duty to stand at the forefront and slay as many Monsters as I can. No one told me to do this — I decided it myself."
"—So this is for my own sake."
"Your Highness..."
At that anguish-filled yet utterly unyielding declaration, the Royal Family's direct-unit mages watching from nearby cast worried, troubled glances his way.
...There was surely something between them that she didn't know about.
Ermes already understood that it wasn't something she could casually interfere with.
"Then — let's move out."
No more words were needed.
At Ermes's command, everyone began to move — quietly, so as to carry out the surprise attack, yet brimming with the utmost fighting spirit.
"...Well then."
The battle had begun.
Here and there, soldiers and mages had already encountered Monsters and were launching preemptive strikes.
The Monsters were unsettled — not quite panicked, but until their commanders stepped in, it would be difficult for them to properly respond to this surprise assault.
Of course, it was undeniable that this advantage came at a steep cost. Once the enemy commanders — in other words, once Karma — realized what was happening and began redeploying and directing the Monsters properly, their side would be at an overwhelming disadvantage in one fell swoop.
Therefore—
we won't let the other side
deal with it.
Ideally, we'd finish everything off before they get the chance.
That's why.
"Then, Lord Lucius—"
"Yeah, let's go."
He called out to the only one who'd stayed behind at Ermes' side, while the rest of their allied mages had scattered across the field. Karma's position had been pinned down—so then, let's proceed as planned, he said.
A nod came back, communication complete. They immediately set into motion.
"Formula Replay—'
Seamless Great Eagle
'"
First, he took to the sky alongside Lucius. Higher, higher—climbing to the absolute ceiling of altitude.
It was partly so they could close in on the enemy stronghold without interference from Monsters, but more than that—
to buy
time.
That was the true purpose.
Once he'd maxed out the altitude, he released the spell. After delegating the defense against Monsters' aerial attacks to Lucius, he poured every ounce of his focus into controlling the next technique.
"Formula Replay—'
Ashen World Tree
'"
"Formula Combination—'
Fire heaven judgment
'"
What he brought into being now was the same spell he had used in the opening battle of the Northern Rebellion. No—for him, back then, who had pursued nothing but maximum power while control was utterly beyond him, it couldn't even be called magic. It was a self-destructive attack and nothing more... but that was a thing of the past.
But now. With his understanding of magic having advanced further, even this spell—the one that boasted power beyond all measure—could be brought under some degree of control.
He employed the technique with every ounce of his soul, commanding the mass of heat in his palm. He suppressed the crimson incarnation that threatened to run wild the instant his concentration wavered... and then pushed beyond that, compressing it.
He restrained the flow of power, brought it under control, and circulated it with the smallest possible loss. He shrank the cycle of that circulation, smaller and smaller. After several seconds of total control, it was done—a compact mass of staggering energy, something that could only be called a sun sitting in the palm of his hand.
That.
Further
.
"—[
Fire
]"
'
Magic Bullet Archer
''s
Delayed Chant
.
Using that characteristic, he infused the magic bullet with the sun in his palm.
''
Ashen World Tree
'' and ''
Fire Heaven Judgment
'' — a composite Bloodline Magic, affixed to the ''
Magic Bullet Archer
.''
Composite Bloodline Magic and
Delayed Chant
. He gathered the essence of his techniques, combining three Bloodline Magics in truth — a tiny, crimson magic bullet.
And Ermes —
quietly aimed it at the forest below... and fired.
It struck.
A swath of the forest
,
vanished.
An explosion so absolute it swallowed even its own sound.
It did not matter where Kalma was hiding in the forest.
The notion that he could simply erase the entire forest whole was armchair theory — yet he made it a reality through an overwhelming, otherworldly display of magical power.
...Kalma was an exceedingly dangerous opponent.
Therefore, now that things had reached this point, there could be no quarter given. If the enemy let their guard down, all the better — and he would not hesitate to finish them with an overwhelmingly powerful sniper shot from a distance no one could hope to counter.
But—
"...Well, it won't be that easy, will it?"
The moment he touched down on the ground alongside Lucius—
From the center of the scorched forest, there was a boom — the sensation of something launching into the air. Without a shred of hesitation, it flew straight toward them, landed, and—
"...That — was the best."
Having taken that very sniper shot.
Far from being killed, the wounds he sustained healed in an instant, his original beautiful features restored in the blink of an eye — and the white-haired boy declared this with the corners of his mouth turned upward.
...His extraordinary nature was already fully apparent from just that single scene.
But he could not afford to falter.
With that resolve, Ermes spoke, standing alongside Lucius.
"...As I said before."
Quietly, as if imparting wisdom — yet also as a provocation, fixing the enemy's attention squarely upon him.
"From here on, I will hold nothing back. I will use every spell at my disposal.
—So please, feel free to experience it all with your own body. To your heart's content. Until you die."
"...Now that's what I like to hear."
The boy — Kalma — took those words and grinned even more fiercely. Lucius, Ermes... the two strongest fighters of the Third Princess's faction, and the monster born as a proto-Demon King — all three kicked off the ground at the exact same time.
From every direction, at the exact same instant.
The battle that would decide everything had begun.
The comeback arc charges straight through from here! Stay tuned for the next chapters and beyond!