“Grimo... You were awake?”
“With all that racket going on, I couldn’t have stayed asleep even if I wanted to, sir.”
Grimo spoke while standing defiantly against the flames.
He had enlarged his size and was likely using Nature Transformation to bolster his heat resistance. The defensive effect of this was far greater than any barrier; as a result, the searing heat didn't reach me at all.
“W-Wh—Hey, Majin! How can you withstand such a tremendous heatwave?!”
“Because Master Lloyd poured his mana into me. If he hadn’t, I’d have been charred to a crisp by now... Though, to be honest, when that absurd amount of mana came flooding in, I thought I was going to burst.”
Grimo began muttering under his breath.
Now that he mentioned it, I did have a feeling I might have poured a bit too much mana into him all at once when I was trying to revive him. I had been in a rush, but that process had indeed drained a significant portion of my mana. In fact, that was one of the reasons I was having such a hard time against Vilfrey.
“Oh, so you were awake, Shitty Grimo. Not that I care... but why the hell are you standing there?”
Vilfrey glared at him, radiating an overwhelming sense of intimidation. From behind, I could see Grimo’s tail give a violent shudder.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually trying to shield that brat from my attack.”
“...! N-No, well... it’s just...”
Greasy sweat broke out on Grimo’s back, and he began to tremble uncontrollably. Vilfrey narrowed his eyes and reached out with a flaming hand to grab Grimo by the head.
“—Move. Unless you want to be slaughtered.”
The flames flared up even higher, and Grimo fell silent. Then, he slowly turned around to look at me.
“H-Hey, Majin. Don’t tell me you’re planning to betray us again...”
Jiriel questioned him as Grimo looked down. His face was painted with terror. Because the quality of Grimo's mana was similar to Vilfrey's, he was able to neutralize and reduce the damage to a certain extent, but in exchange, he was highly susceptible to the influence of a higher-ranking being of his kind.
Grimo took one step, then another, approaching me. The heat that slipped past him brushed against my cheek.
“...I never could understand you, Master. You possess all that mana, yet you hide your power. You have no interest in authority; you move solely on your curiosity, you do reckless things that drag everyone else into the mess, and then you try to play it off... I always thought what a waste it was. I thought if I were in your shoes, I could do things so much better.”
“G-Grimo...?”
Jiriel gasped at Grimo’s confession.
“The only reason I’ve followed you this far was because I was waiting for the chance to steal your body. I looked after you as a way to lay the groundwork for that. And yet, in a situation like this, you go and save me at the cost of a massive amount of your own mana. You’re a fool beyond measure. Heh... Hahaha, HAHAHAHA!”
“Oh, that worked out perfectly, Shitty Grimo. If you’ve got that much mana, you can just take his body right now, can’t you? Hurry up and get to it.”
Vilfrey smirked as he watched Grimo laugh hysterically.
“You bastard! I won’t allow you to insult Master Lloyd!”
“Abandon that pathetic human and come back to me! I’m a big-hearted guy, see? I’ll forgive that betrayal from earlier after I bash your face in a few dozen times!”
Vilfrey held out his hand. Grimo moved as if to grasp it—and then slapped it away.
“What...?”
Grimo looked straight at the dumbfounded Vilfrey and spoke.
“—But you see, this man... a man who cares about nothing but magic! He actually came to save someone like me! I wouldn’t be a man if I turned tail and ran now!”
After making his grand declaration, Grimo turned to me and bowed his head.
“...And that’s how it is, Master Lloyd. I’d like to be back in your service again, if that’s alright with you?”
“Of course. Come back, Grimo.”
“Yes, sir!”
With a spirited reply, Grimo returned to the palm of my hand.
“Oh... I always believed in you, Grimo! I knew you would definitely return!”
“...Like hell you did, Shitty Angel.”
Grimo sighed as he spoke. I felt like it had been a while since I’d seen the two of them bicker like this.
“...I see. So you’re really going to betray me.”
Vilfrey muttered quietly. Something was strange. Along with his words, I felt the surrounding heat recede. The receding heat was gathering into Vilfrey himself. His body, which had been burning a deep red just moments ago, began to glow with a brilliant, white light.
“Wh—An incredible amount of high-intensity heat is concentrating at his core!”
“White Flame Body! It’s Vilfrey’s strongest form, far surpassing his Exploding Flame Body! His firepower is on a completely different level now!”
As the white-hot Vilfrey took a step forward, the space around him warped from the intense heat. He was keeping all the heat he had been emitting earlier contained within his body.
“Calling me by my name without an honorific... you’ve certainly grown a big pair, Shitty Grimo!”
“Eek! S-S-S-Scaring me won’t w-w-work! I-I’m not a-a-afraid!”
Despite his words, Grimo retreated further back. He was terrified. Where did all that bravado from a moment ago go?
“Get blown away!”
Vilfrey swung a dazzlingly bright fist. It was an excessively wide swing, and yet, I felt an ominous sense of danger. Following my intuition, I leapt back a great distance to dodge. The smell of scorched air grazed the tip of my nose. Immediately after—
The space itself burned. That was the only way to describe the strike. The ground was charred black, the distant grass withered instantly, and my barriers began to melt.
“That super-high-heat fist incinerates everything in its path! You absolutely cannot let that hit you, Master Lloyd!”
“Yeah, it looks like it would punch right through a barrier with ease.”
It was an attack that concentrated all his previous flames into a single point. The Waterfall Canopy I had deployed earlier would be nothing more than a drop of water on a hot stone against that.
“However, being troubled by how to handle it is a thing of the past.”
Now that Grimo was back, my mana deficiency was resolved, and more importantly, Triple Casting was available again. I had plenty of ways to defend.
“■■■”
Using a spell bundle, I activated the large-scale water magic, Water Dragon Veil. I condensed it and deployed it around myself. After a sensation like sinking to the bottom of the deep ocean, the heat radiating from Vilfrey was completely cut off.
“The Water Dragons that dwell in the deep sea can negate any impact, especially those of the fiery variety. A barrier modeled after them might indeed be effective against those flames, but even so...”
“That’s still fire made of shaped mana. No matter how large the barrier is, it won’t be able to withstand it indefinitely!”
“Just leave it to me.”
I reassured the two of them and faced Vilfrey.
“Hah! I’ve slaughtered plenty of Water Dragons in my time! If you think a thing like that can stop my attack, then bring it on!”
With a roar, he unleashed a punch, and I caught it normally. With a sizzle, a faint heat reached my palm, but it vanished instantly. In front of me, Vilfrey wore a look of pure disbelief.
“I-Impossible... My fist couldn’t break through a barrier like that...?”
“Oh, it broke. About seventeen layers of it. You’ve got impressive firepower.”
The trick was simple. I was constantly redeploying new Water Dragon Veils the moment the previous ones were shattered. The disadvantage of large-scale magic with long incantations is that you usually can't fire them in rapid succession. However, with Grimo back, I had an extra ‘mouth,’ allowing me to perform three incantations simultaneously.
By slightly staggering the timing of the Water Dragon Veil incantations, I could deploy a fresh one the exact moment the previous one was shattered. I was simply repeating that process in a loop.
Cyclic Casting—unlike multiple casting, this method involved ending incantations at precise intervals to trigger magic seamlessly.
“Guh... But I should have an overwhelming advantage in mana capacity. So how the hell can you fire off large-scale magic like that in succession?!”
“If I had to say, it’s humanity's wisdom.”
Efficiency through Military Magic, high output from my own Bloodline Magic, large-scale magic via Diguardia... This was the wisdom accumulated by generations of mages that I had gathered. And it was only possible by adding the power of Grimo and Jiriel to the mix. I never could have achieved this alone.
“No, normally even with the knowledge and the environment, there isn't anyone with the power to actually put it into practice.”
“An endless thirst for research, respect for his predecessors, and an overwhelming individual power. That’s Master Lloyd for you.”
I wasn't sure if they were exasperated or praising me... regardless, I decided to use that for my next attack. Seeing Vilfrey’s fist falter, I made my move.
To damage Vilfrey in his flame form, I needed Holy Magic, Sealing Magic, and... that one would probably be effective. Let’s try it.
“■■■■, ■■■■, ■■■■”
Using a Triple Casting spell bundle, I activated the magic. A Bow of Light was generated, a black-and-white arrow was notched... and released. With a sharp crack, the area where the arrow struck was obliterated.
“What...?”
Vilfrey was stunned, and for good reason. Normally, magic doesn't work on demons, and on top of that, a magic body made of flames usually dampens the effects of Sealing Magic and Holy Magic, making it a veritable iron wall.
However, the final element I mixed in was Ancient Magic—something Grimo had shown me before. It was a magic with a simple structure that amplified and fired one’s own mana. At the time, I thought the spell formula wasn't very refined, but that was exactly why Ancient Magic was pure mana itself—which meant it was close to the attacks launched by Majins and demons. By mixing this into the Holy and Sealing Magic, I had altered the quality of the spell to make it highly effective against demons.
“Holy, Ancient, Sealing... all three of these magics have such strong characteristics, and there are so few users that there are barely any samples to study. And yet, he pulled off a Triple Casting on the first try.”
“Hmm, he’s adding his own arrangements to the incantations and making fine adjustments. In other words, he has made those magics perfectly his own. As expected of Master Lloyd.”
It was true that these magics were rare and lacked samples, so more than half of them had ended up becoming my original versions. That was why I was able to sync the incantations like this... but if I ever get the chance, I’d still love to read the original magic books for them.
“What do you think, Master Lloyd? This magic is essentially your own original creation now. Why not give it a name?”
“How about Black-White God Fang?”
“What... White obviously comes first, you stupid Majin! At least call it White-Black God Fang!”
“Hah? That sounds terrible! Black goes first!”
“White! I’m not backing down on this!”
Grimo and Jiriel glared at each other.
...I don’t really care which. Let’s just split the difference and call it Grey Demon Divine Fang.
“Hmm... if Master Lloyd says so.”
“I think it’s got a pretty good ring to it, sir.”
The two of them seemed satisfied. Still, an original magic of my own, huh? I didn't care much about the name, but I was actually quite happy that I was the first person to ever see this magic.
“Guh, I don’t know what’s going on, but I can regenerate from this much as many times as I want!”
Vilfrey, whose body had been reduced by half, was trying to reform himself. Since his body was made of formless flames, regeneration was easy for him. It really was an incredible ability. —However, unfortunately for him, I had already accounted for that.
Another arrow was already notched in my bow.
“Wh...! There’s no way... There’s no way you can fire magic with that kind of absurd power in succession...?!”
What Vilfrey saw through his wide, terrified eyes were countless bows and arrows being generated one after another. Each of them floated in the air, aimed directly at Vilfrey.
“Impossible... Impossible, impossible, IMPOSSIBLE! Wisdom?! How could a mere human, no matter how much wisdom they hoard, ever hope to match me?!”
“Oh, you still have more moves? As expected of one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Army. What are you going to show me next?”
I held the countless arrows that continued to multiply through Cyclic Casting and released them with high expectations.
“—Grey Demon Divine Fang: Cyclic Volley.”
“GUAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!”
The arrows pierced through every inch of Vilfrey’s being, erasing him as they went. He tried to disperse and escape, but the myriad of arrows wouldn't allow it. And a few seconds later—
“...Oh, is it over?”
I looked around, but there wasn't a single fragment of Vilfrey—not even a stray spark—left. Hmm, it seemed Vilfrey had been completely annihilated. A shame; I suppose he didn't have any other tricks up his sleeve after all.