Rei's dense magical power, condensed to its absolute limit, became visible even to those who normally couldn't perceive it.
That semi-materialized magical power was dyed red by the flames that served as Rei's signature attribute.
Red magical power drifted around him.
It was the skill Rei would call his trump card—Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
"Guh, gah..."
Upon seeing the activated Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Deotres let out a groan and took several steps backward, perhaps unconsciously.
He had gained a powerful body and a regeneration ability that could instantly reconnect his torso even if it were bisected. Even so, Deotres must have realized that the Rei standing before him was an overwhelming presence—one against whom he stood no chance.
Naturally, Deotres wasn't the only one who felt threatened by Rei's activation of Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
If anything, Celestan—the mastermind behind this entire incident—still retained enough sound judgment to feel even more threatened by the sight.
...Though, admittedly, for someone who had abducted a noble's child—even if not the heir—and was trying to use that child's blood to resurrect something sealed away, claiming to possess sound judgment was a difficult argument to make.
Mirares, too, despite having been transformed into an aberration, stopped moving the moment he saw Rei clad in red magical power.
The first to act among them all was Elena, who had the longest history with Rei.
She naturally knew about Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, and given Rei's current situation, it was easy for her to predict how he would attack with his limited options.
That was precisely why Elena didn't miss the opening created when Mirares froze. She kicked off the ground, activated her Sleipnir boots to kick through the air, and brought down Mirage—now in its longsword form—onto Mirares's head.
Previously, Mirares had been bisected vertically from the torso down. This time, his head was cleanly split left and right.
But even though it was a strike that would normally kill instantly, Elena didn't stop. The moment she landed, she swung Mirage again in rapid succession, slashing Mirares's torso from the side multiple times at different angles.
Not just once, but two, three, four times—the repeated strikes blew off Mirares's arms and neck, dividing his torso into several pieces that fell to the ground.
Despite this, the pieces of Mirares's body that hit the floor immediately began to bubble, trying to reconnect with one another.
"Rei!"
The instant Elena saw that, she cried out sharply.
Rei, who had naturally been tracking Elena's movements, reacted immediately.
Deep Flame—one of the most remarkable abilities within Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
It was a skill that sent forth a portion of the armor surrounding Rei and transformed it into flames with whatever properties he imagined.
Launched without Rei so much as moving his hands, Deep Flame struck the scattered remains of Mirares's flesh near Elena, instantly erupting into scorching flames that reduced every piece to charcoal.
Only seconds had passed since Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor was activated.
In mere seconds, every piece of Mirares's flesh had been annihilated—no, incinerated.
"Wha..."
Even for Celestan, who knew of Rei and Elena, this development was entirely unexpected.
To begin with, while Rei's name was associated with Set, his Death Scythe, Flame Magic, and recently even Twin Spear Style, few knew of Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
A fair number of people had actually witnessed it in person, but compared to his other rumors, far fewer were aware of it. It was more accurate to say that those who knew about it were simply few in number.
That was precisely why Celestan hadn't known that Rei possessed a trump card like Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor even without his Death Scythe.
"Next!"
Showing no further interest in the enemy reduced to charcoal, Rei kicked off the ground.
The moment Deotres felt a faint wave of heat, Rei's fist had already punched through his torso.
Deotres possessed powerful muscles, but even they couldn't block the strike of Rei, now enhanced by Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
When Rei had first struck him, his ribs had been broken, but his skin and flesh hadn't been pierced. That comparison alone spoke volumes about just how vicious Rei's current strike was.
And naturally, Rei had no intention of stopping at merely piercing the torso.
He activated Deep Flame inside Deotres's body, generating intense flames.
From Deotres's eyes, nose, mouth, ears—and from the wound where Rei had pierced his torso—flames erupted.
Being burned from the inside must have been a shock even for Deotres in his current state, with his pain receptors numbed.
As Rei withdrew his arm and created distance, Deotres staggered—lurching forward a few steps, then backward, sometimes sideways—for several tens of seconds. Then, with a roar, he collapsed to the ground, and as if that were a signal, the flames inside him blazed even more fiercely, engulfing his entire body.
Deotres's fallen form was rapidly consumed by the spreading fire and reduced to charcoal in seconds.
Knowing the regeneration abilities of both Mirares and Deotres, Rei didn't look away even after seeing Deotres reduced to charred remains.
He might still revive from this state.
Harboring that thought, Rei kept his vigilant gaze fixed on the remains, and without so much as a glance, burned away a tentacle of flesh that had flown toward him using Deep Flame.
From Celestan's perspective, this moment—Rei's body enveloped in red magical power—seemed like the one and final chance to defeat him.
The two fighters empowered by the sealed entity whose name they didn't even know had been beaten with ease, even if Rei and Elena had fought together.
Facing such an extraordinary existence, now—when that existence's attention was directed at Deotres's corpse—was the greatest opportunity.
...In reality, even if he somehow managed to defeat Rei here, Elena was still present. But having seen Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Celestan had completely forgotten about Elena, who hadn't made a move.
From Elena's perspective, however, the moment Rei activated his trump card, Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, their victory was half-certain. That was largely why she had stayed still.
If Rei hadn't used Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, Elena would have had to use her own trump card, Dragon Language Magic. But since Rei had played his hand first, she was spared from needing to use hers—a fortunate outcome.
The tentacle strikes launched several times in an attempt to exploit openings in Rei's guard were all completely burned away by Deep Flame.
On one occasion, the flames spread from a burning tentacle all the way to near the Flesh Cocoon. As a result, Celestan—or rather, the Flesh Cocoon itself—sensed the danger and ceased all further attacks.
Several tens of seconds passed. With no sign of the charred Deotres reviving, Rei judged him to be completely dead and shifted his gaze toward Celestan, still maintaining Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
"Huh!?"
Rei hadn't said anything in particular.
But the moment their eyes met, what Celestan felt was overwhelming terror.
A terror so intense that merely standing was a struggle—a searing dread and a pressure so heavy it felt almost physical, crashing over his entire body.
An ordinary person would have buckled to their knees on the spot.
That Celestan managed to stay on his feet, trembling as he was, was a testament to the man who had once led the largest organization in Anesis's underworld.
But even if such a Celestan tried to stand against Rei, the gap in combat power was overwhelming.
It was like an elephant and an ant—no, even wider than that.
Had the seal on the Flesh Cocoon been released, things might have been different. But the time that Mirares and Deotres were supposed to have bought had vanished completely the instant Rei activated Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
"Now then."
Muttering, Rei took a step toward Celestan—or, more precisely, toward the Flesh Coccon.
Thanks to Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor, the surrounding temperature had risen slightly.
Compared to before, when it had been considerably hotter, his mastery over the skill had clearly improved.
At any rate, Rei closed the distance without giving Celestan any chance to read his thoughts.
"Tch, don't come! Don't come here!"
Because he was being cornered, the words spilling from Celestan's mouth lacked all the composure he had exuded earlier.
Even faced with such a Celestan, Rei's expression didn't change.
"What's wrong? You look like this was completely unexpected. ...No more trump cards left? If not, I can't keep wasting time here. I'll be putting an end to this."
Even Rei, as he said this, wasn't exactly brimming with composure.
No—in terms of whether he could win this battle, he had more than enough.
What concerned him was what came after winning.
It was likely a special ability of the Flesh Cocoon, but the effects of Rei's Misty Ring were currently sealed.
Because of that, he held the conviction that destroying the Flesh Cocoon would release the seal. But that was only a conviction within Rei, and whether it would actually be released remained uncertain.
While he thought it would probably be fine, he couldn't truly let his guard down just yet.
Given those circumstances, there was no time to waste. It was only natural that he wanted to destroy the Flesh Cocoon before him in one decisive blow.
"I'll give you a single word of advice. Step back. If you stay there, you'll be caught in my attack."
At Rei's words, Celestan momentarily moved to pull his hands from the Flesh Cocoon—but then his gaze caught sight of something within it. The figure of Gaiska, embedded inside.
By now, few would be able to identify that figure as Gaiska. But there was no mistaking that the person was indeed Gaiska—and above all, considering Rei and Elena's positions...
Making that judgment, Celestan opened his mouth.
"I'll ask you to stop right there, Crimson Rei. Embedded within this seal you're trying to destroy is Gaiska. What would happen if you destroyed the seal under such circumstances... you're not so foolish as to not understand, are you?"
"You're right. He'll probably die."
Rei stated flatly, without hesitation.
Even as he declared it, his advancing feet showed no sign of stopping.
Even from Rei's perspective, Gaiska was already far beyond any hope of rescue.
Moreover, even if he could be saved, Gaiska had hired Black Wolf to assassinate Rei. Given that, Rei had no inclination to go out of his way to help him.
If anything, incinerating him along with the seal with Deep Flame would be better for both sides—or so Rei thought.
Seeing that Rei's feet showed no sign of stopping, Celestan wavered on what to do.
With Rei approaching step by step, it felt as though he could even sense the heat of Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor.
...In reality, due to Rei's control, some heat was leaking, but it wasn't enough to make him break into a sweat with each step closer.
The fact that it felt that way was, undoubtedly, a measure of how desperate Celestan had become.
"Now, I've already given my warning. I won't say anything more. If you won't move from there, then go ahead and die right along with that seal."
"W-w..."
Wait.
Celestan tried to say the word, but Rei showed no sign of listening. He manipulated his Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—his magical power condensed to its absolute limit, now an existence close to physical matter—and was about to hurl the magical power surrounding him toward the Flesh Cocoon.
Crack.
A faint... but unmistakable sound of something about to shatter echoed through the surroundings.
Hearing that sound, Celestan instantly snapped his gaze to the Flesh Cocoon.
It was the moment Celestan had been waiting for—the instant the time bought by sacrificing his most trusted subordinate, Mirares, as a pawn was finally rewarded.
"With this—!"
He could win.
The instant he was about to declare that, Rei's Deep Flame—utilizing the majority of Flame Emperor's Crimson Armor—engulfed the Flesh Cocoon in a roaring conflagration that brought tremendous heat to the surroundings.