At that same moment, before the barrier enveloping the school building.
Katia was stunned.
"What the… is this?"
The school building's defensive battle, centered around her, had been going reasonably well.
The monsters attacking were undeniably powerful—fiercer than the fighting just moments ago—but the allies' morale and abilities were even higher, and they had managed to hold things in a tenuous stalemate, for the time being.
But in that instant, something utterly unexpected occurred.
The bat-like monsters that had been flitting about—every single one of them suddenly latched onto the large monsters in their surroundings.
They swarmed over the creatures, covering them completely in writhing black masses, and what emerged were grotesque, bell-shaped black forms studded with eyes everywhere. And there were multiple of them.
It hadn't affected the front lines. Their defenses hadn't been breached.
But the sheer creepiness of the sight was enough to shake the students' morale to its core.
"Steady yourselves! Stay calm!"
Sensing that the front line she had barely managed to hold together was on the verge of collapse, Katia called out to steady the troops, while simultaneously turning her mind to the question. …How had this phenomenon come about?
The most obvious explanation was only one.
Almost immediately, her thoughts arrived at the answer, and she cast her gaze toward the direction her attendant had gone—just for an instant—before speaking.
"I don't know what happened over there… but I'm counting on you, Herme…!"
With a premonition that a fierce battle was surely raging on that side—or about to begin—Katia turned her consciousness back to the battlefield.
◆
"…"
The black monster born from the bat-like creature that had consumed Clyde.
He never let his gaze stray from the undulating torso section. Ermes kept his observations fixed.
Now, how will it attack?
The instant he thought that, its movement stopped abruptly. The multiple tentacles sprouting from its sides—wavered.
“!”
Obeying his intuition, he executed a backstep.
An instant later, a tremendous crashing sound that split the ground echoed where Ermes had just been standing.
Observing with a cold sweat, sure enough, there they were—multiple elongated hands plastered to the sunken ground.
It was an attack exactly as one might predict from its appearance, but… the speed far exceeded that prediction. That alone would be a threat surpassing the dragon species he had just dispatched with a single blow.
While making that analysis, Ermes called out to the girl beside him.
“Lady Sarah. Did you see that attack?”
“… I’m sorry. I’m doing my best just to keep up with the shadows.”
“Understood. Then fall back, and support me with the barrier to the extent you can observe…”
He couldn’t finish laying out his tactic to the end.
Because from a different tentacle that had grown from the black monster—from the hand at its tip—suddenly, a blazing flame radiating tremendous heat was born.
(Magic—!)
Power not inferior to Bloodline Magic. The moment he sensed it, the flame was released without a moment’s gap.
He barely managed to intercept it with the purple-flame greatsword. He succeeded in nullifying it, but the power exceeded his premonition, and his hand went numb from the light impact.
However, Ermes thought he could win against something like this—until a sight unfolded before him in the next moment, as if to mock that very notion.
“… No way.”
The monster possessed multiple tentacles.
All of them—
separate
magic
dwelled
.
One hand held a microscopic storm, another distorted the very air with its freezing cold, and yet another crackled with wild violet lightning.
Naturally, it was immediately clear that all of them possessed power far surpassing any ordinary Bloodline Magic.
They were released all at once.
"—!"
"'Spirit
Veil'
—!"
This sword, specialized for offense, couldn't block them all. In that split instant, Ermes made his judgment — rather than dismissing the spell to set up a full defense with Enhanced universal magic, he managed to buy a fraction of a second.
In that moment, Sara activated her magic. The Bloodline Magic barrier caught the Enhanced universal magic barrier that had been shattered instantly.
But — even that began to crack within seconds. So Ermes immediately followed with a swift Chant, reproducing the '
Spirit Veil
'. By deploying a double barrier, he barely managed to block all of the magic.
"…This is bad."
"…!"
Ermes murmured with a grim expression, Sara's face twisted in anguish.
It was on a completely different level. Not just in terms of raw physical ability, but above all... in terms of magical power.
No — that was impossible. The bat monster's magic should have been limited to information sharing. Even if it could wield multiple spells beyond that, and even with Clyde's magical ability boosting them, producing spells of that magnitude while simultaneously deploying multiple attributes was out of the question.
There had to be some kind of trick. Ermes turned his thoughts in that direction — and before long, he arrived at an answer.
The multiple bat monsters they had encountered on the way here. The information-sharing magic. And that monster's ability to "absorb others" that it had just displayed.
All of it pointed toward the worst possible prediction — absurd, yet perfectly consistent.
"Don't tell me... it's sharing"
"the magic of other monsters"
"...?"
That his prediction was correct. The scene outside.
The same thing was happening out there — bat monsters absorbing other monsters. Had he witnessed it firsthand, it would have been obvious.
And he thought: if that was the case, this was bad.
First, the capability. If his current theory was correct, the monster before him—
could theoretically wield
the magic of
every
single monster
currently attacking
the school building.
And on top of that — there was no way to counter it.
If its power source existed somewhere other than here, there was no way to put a stop to it. The only countermeasure would be to analyze the bat's magic, reproduce it, and use it to create something resembling jamming... but even that—
(...This is impossible.)
To do that, I'd need to surpass them in either magic power output or magical control.
During the fight against Aster, who had done something similar, I had overwhelmingly surpassed them in both, which was why I was able to seize the flames of dominion.
But this time, there was no gap in the former, and the latter was actually more likely to result in a loss. Unlike humans, that monster was a magical creature, and as such, it had perfected its command over its own magic.
Conclusion: there was no path forward other than a head-on confrontation.
Ermes had arrived at that conclusion, but... even more despairing scenery continued to unfold.
Multiple powerful spells resting on its palms. The black monster gazed at them as if it had just now—casually—had an idea.
With a sharp clap of its hands—
Two
spells
merged
together.
"Wh—"
It combined fire and wind magic. The result was a firestorm far more powerful than before, and the monster launched it toward Ermes without a moment's hesitation.
"Ermes!"
Sarah, who had been at a slight distance, quickly threw up a barrier to shield him. But the firestorm plowed right through it, engulfing Ermes without batting an eye.
Sarah let out something close to a scream. But in the very next instant, a shadow burst out of the firestorm and leaped back to where she stood.
"Ermes! Are you—"
"I'm fine. Just a scratch."
His hem was singed and he bore a few minor burns, but his quick decision to retreat had paid off—as he'd declared, he wasn't seriously hurt.
If it comes to this, then "
Star Corolla
" — I won't even need to use it. I can handle this with my own enhanced universal magic." He healed his wounds as he spoke — but Ermes still wore a grim expression as he looked toward the monster.
"...That monster..."
It possessed powerful close-range capabilities.
It could wield multiple formidable spells at will.
And now, it had even managed to combine those spells.
Indeed, it was almost as though — it was copying Ermes.
No — that was exactly what it was doing.
That monster was in the process of learning how to fight. It was "analyzing" and "reproducing" the combat of Ermes — the strongest human it currently faced.
This, too, was exactly like Ermes. What's more, it maximized the traits of being a magical creature, exceeding even Ermes in certain areas of performance and speed.
Watching this, he felt it anew.
The sheer, overwhelming terror of "giving intelligence to monsters."
It was at that moment — when Ermes and the others were overwhelmed by the threat before them —
With a soft breath.
The black monster suddenly dispelled the magic it had deployed and let its limbs hang limp.
The gesture seemed to signal a loss of fighting spirit, but — right after that.
The lower central portion of its bell-shaped body. The area that would correspond to the mouth, if the body were treated as a face.
That part — with a crack, split open into a crescent shape.
"—Ha."
From within it, a terrifyingly eerie dissonance erupted.
"Hahahahahahahahaha!!"
"——"
That cackling was familiar.
Horribly distorted, yes. And doubly so—it was layered with something else, making it extremely difficult to make out.
But that intonation, that condescending tone of voice—it was all too recognizable.
"...No way."
It was Clyde.
He was alive... no—had his consciousness persisted?
Before the stunned pair, the monster continued to raise its voice as if to prove its identity.
"Ah, ah. What a wonderful feeling! Any magic, any power—it's all mine! That's right, after all—it would be absurd for someone like me to settle for merely manipulating humanity's enemies!"
"...You..."
"Oh my? What's wrong, Ermes? You seem rather frustrated that I can use the very magic you thought was your exclusive privilege! What ugly jealousy!"
...Yes. It was definitely Clyde.
Directed at Ermes—who had ironically arrived at certainty precisely because of those words—he continued on.
"That's right! There's no way I can't do what someone like you can! I'm the one who transcends the framework of existing magic—the one who transforms everything! Not you, but me! I am the one who deserves it!"
"...A human? Even at the cost of becoming something like that?"
"Hmm? What are you talking about?"
Ermes had made the observation anyone would have, but Clyde responded in a tone that was genuinely bewildered—as though he harbored not a single doubt.
"
"I"
"am still myself."
"Nothing about my appearance has changed at all. I'm unquestionably Clyde von Helmut through and through."
"—What?"
"My appearance too? Hmm—I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm confidently superior, but at the very least I'm certainly better-looking than you. Oh, or were you trying to disparage my appearance because you couldn't find anything else to criticize? You're the very picture of ugliness!"
No way.
He doesn't even realize it. That he's been transformed, taken over. That he's become a terrifying, grotesque black monster.
"So, what were we talking about again?—Oh right, yes. I was going to make the academy crowd the foundation of transformation, and Miss Sara...huh? So Miss Sara was beyond saving too. I suppose putting her to rest with my own hands would be doing her a kindness—umm, and then I would become the center of changing this country...Wait, Ermes, why are you still alive?"
"...Ah."
He understood immediately.
When you thought about it, it was only natural. The monster he'd believed was under his control had bitten into him, invaded his flesh, corrupted his nerves, and had probably assimilated parts of his thoughts and magic as well.
—There was no way he could still be sane.
"Well, I suppose all I need to do is kill you once more. That's right—when you think about it, your crimes against me can't possibly be settled with just the one killing."
"...I understand."
It seemed his purpose and will alone remained unshaken, but that didn't matter.
He needed to steel his resolve.
That thing should no longer be considered human. Even if it still spoke in human language, at least for now, it had to be treated as exactly the same threat as any monster.
If he didn't think that way, didn't hold that awareness, then he himself would be the one in danger.
After all... the magic that had been deployed once again alongside those words showed not the slightest dimming compared to before.
"Lady Sara, can you go?"
"...Yes."
Once again, he confirmed with her.
Though her face was deathly pale, she nodded — at least she still had the will to fight.
For now, they'd seen what the other side had to offer.
Then, based on that, all they needed was to prepare their countermeasures. They just needed to surpass them once more.
Once again, Ermes raised his magic power and kicked off the ground as a signal to start fresh.
Next time: the counterattack begins. Stay tuned!