106 Battle

The invisible blast Eva let rip seemed to have cranked the alertness of The Disobey up to eleven.

Bull, the man with the permanent smirk, whipped two daggers from his belt and settled into a two-handed stance. Beside him, Mika—the one who’d actually had the reflexes to save him from Teacher Milk and Tura’s invisible slashes—was practically vibrating with mana.

Even the surrounding mooks, who appeared to be former soldiers, were dragging themselves back to their feet. Eva’s attack had been enough to make Michael writhe in agony, but these guys must’ve had some insane defensive resistance.

They were veterans of a world defined by blood, violence, and zero hope for salvation. Worse, they were the kind of psychos who enjoyed that life and thrived in it. Without a doubt, these were the nastiest enemies I’d faced yet. I couldn’t afford to let my guard down for even a fraction of a second.

One of the biggest pains in the neck when fighting mages is the existence of counter-formulas. They’re like trap cards—limited-use spells that trigger specifically when the user intentionally takes a hit. Generally, the one who strikes first has the advantage, but these Pseudo-Demons had evolved Unique Abilities. That’s probably why Teacher Milk was hanging back to size them up.

With this many enemies, their abilities would vary wildly based on their individual personalities. Since one of them had already used Concealment Magic, the odds of other nasty surprises were high.

Just as I was thinking we were safe, one of the enemy soldiers started chanting. We had them surrounded on four sides; I really thought our group was invincible. I was wrong.

“Teleportation Magic—”

The ground erupted in a brilliant, blinding white.

They must have set the formula up beforehand. Still, the combined mana pool of our five-person party was massive; they shouldn't have been able to warp us very far. Were they dropping us into a trap, or just buying time to bolt?

When the white light faded, I found myself standing alone in the middle of a forest.

Based on the terrain, I was probably directly above where we’d been standing. I activated Dark Eye and immediately picked up mana signatures nearby. I couldn't tell if I was the only one warped or if we’d all been scattered like leaves in the wind, but at least the distance wasn't huge. Still, the fact that they managed to displace us at all was terrifying.

They must have decided that splitting us up was worth burning every last drop of their servants' mana.

I started to run. I needed to reach the closest mana signature—likely hers—as fast as possible. But the second I moved, two men burst from the trees on either side of me, blades swinging. I triggered Time Lapse, dodging the synchronized strikes by a hair’s breadth.

In the frozen moment of the skip, I lined up a thrust aimed straight for one guy's heart. But as I lunged, my sword tip veered off course as if the air itself was pushing it away. The guy scrambled back, looking genuinely shocked that he’d survived.

“Not bad for a brat,” one of them spat.

“Hey, don't get cocky!” a voice yelled from above.

I looked up to see a third soldier perched in the branches, palm leveled at me. What did he do? Is that his ability?

“We finally got a second chance at life!” the guy in the tree cheered. “Entertain us, kid!”

The two on the ground charged again. The sniper in the tree flared his mana.

“—Magic Shield.”

I chanted the formula, but it didn't matter. Something was penetrating my defense. My body locked up as if a giant hand had clamped down on me. Then I felt it—a faint pulse of mana from the earth. It was like Shari’s trap endowments.

I see. He’s not aiming at me; he’s aiming at the ground beneath my feet.

Strangely, I felt a wave of relief. The fact that they had to freeze me just to get close meant they weren't counter-magic specialists.

“It’s over!”

“Die, kid!”

Their blades were inches from my skin.

“—Debi!”

I screamed for Debi, whom I had already released. During class, while sleeping—I was constantly keeping Debi summoned. He was always firing off attack magic because I was obsessed with firepower, and he knew that. But right now, I needed something else.

Yeah, that’s it.

From the sky, Debi rained down an Anti-Magic chant aimed at the ground. The invisible shackles shattered. With my freedom restored, I focused on the closest guy. Pseudo-Demons are a nightmare because they barely feel pain. Chopping off limbs is just a minor inconvenience to them. If you want to put them down, you have to smash the core.

I didn't hesitate. I drove my Dual Sword into his chest with enough force to punch through a brick wall. I felt the sickening squelch of meat, the jarring thud against bone, and then the final pop as I hit the heart.

“Aaargh—aaagh!!”

He didn't die instantly—the guy actually tried to keep swinging—but once his heart was shredded, the mana drained out of him. He coughed up a spray of gore, collapsed, and finally stopped twitching. The other two went pale.

Oh, good. They still know how to be afraid.

“Come on then, you fakes,” I growled. “I'll show you what a real villain looks like.”

Suddenly, a scream echoed through the woods. A mana signature I knew very well flared up like a supernova, and a burst of malicious energy was instantly snuffed out. Heh. It’s actually pretty nice having reliable teammates for once.

The soldier in front of me realized his backup was gone and charged in a panic. He’d lost his cool. I only needed one of them alive for questioning, and the guy in the tree was the better candidate.

This one... this one was done. I aimed a fatal thrust at his exposed chest.

Clang!

To my surprise, the moment my sword touched him, it produced the ringing sound of steel.

His magic... hardening?

He tried to take my head while I was off-balance, but my Inviolable Domain caught the blade.

“Dammit, that's cheating!” he barked.

“Is it?”

The man backed off, eyeing me warily. He’d regained his senses. I’d need to use Time Lapse to shred his formula first. It was a lot like Duke’s power. Still, for a mook to be able to tank my Dual Sword with just his skin... these guys were definitely upgraded versions of the originals.

“Debi, take the one in the tree!”

Debi moved in. In his right hand was his transformed sword; in his left was the rope I’d given him. During our training sessions, I’d discovered he could handle it too. Honestly, he was better with it than I was. I’d even confirmed he could trigger Magic Turbulence (Enroute) with it.

I sharpened my focus. If I attacked the same way, he'd just harden again. I needed to destroy the formula and land a hit simultaneously. I could close the gap, but who knew what other tricks he had? Then, I remembered my fight with Tura.

You’re going to be my practice dummy.

I took my stance and infused my blade with the Wind Attribute, weaving a formula-breaking spell into the edge. I swung with everything I had.

The next moment, an invisible blade of pressurized air screamed toward him. He saw the mana and threw up his arms like a shield. Magic is all about visualization. He’s probably picturing his arms as an unbreakable wall. Too bad for him, this wasn't just a physical hit.

“Wha—?”

The man's fingers flew off, sliced clean through by my invisible Magic Slash. It wasn't just a long-range gust; it was a blade that severed his defensive formula as it traveled. The strike caught him right in the face—not deep enough to split his skull, but enough to spray blood everywhere. He screamed and clutched his ruined eyes.

I was already moving. I’d wanted to take his head off, but I was still working the kinks out of that move. Still, talk about effective. I lunged and drove my blade through his heart—a deep, clean, through-and-through puncture.

I wasn't done. I chanted Unnatural to create a foothold and launched myself with High-Speed Movement Magic. I closed the distance like a bullet and lopped off both arms of the support role who was fighting Debi.

“GAAAAAH!”

“Phew. Good job, Debi.”

“Debibi!”

Even with both arms gone and bleeding out, the guy was still alive, enduring the pain. I pressed my sword to his throat.

“The students from Aria Magic Academy—where are they? What’s your goal?”

“He... hehe... ahahaha!”

Suddenly, the guy triggered Explosion Magic—just like the Pseudo-Demons of the past, using his own life force as a battery.

“Debibi!”

“—Shield.”

When the dust cleared, the surrounding trees had been leveled. Debi had his own defense magic ready; he really was evolving every day.

But man, these guys were a nightmare. Fighting an enemy when you have zero intel on their kit makes the difficulty spike like a vertical wall. This wasn't a school exam. You have to analyze, adapt, and overpower them in a heartbeat, or you just die.

So this is what real combat feels like.

But hey, my stuff worked. All that grinding was finally paying off.

“Debibi!”

“Yeah, I know. No time to celebrate. Let's move.”

I didn't hang around to savor the win. I headed straight for the next mana signature.