The top floor of the World Mage Academy Babel.
Inside the headmaster's office at the apex of the Tower of Babel, over a dozen men and women, along with a single white divine beast, stared at the nightmarish scene displayed before them via projection magic.
Then, shortly after a crowned fly-like monster appeared, the transmission abruptly cut out.
"Please... no more..."
The long-eared, blonde woman in a pointed hat and navy-blue robe who had been maintaining the projection magic squeezed out a trembling plea. A moment later, she collapsed onto all fours, retching and vomiting repeatedly through her tears.
She was Chloe, head of the Investigation Department and the chief headmaster's closest confidante. When it came to remote surveillance magic, she was among the top two practitioners in the entire world. As the others looked on in stunned disbelief at the sight of a woman—normally so infuriatingly composed—completely falling apart,
"S-See?! What did I tell you?! I told you not to meddle with that any further!"
The white divine beast, Kouma, shrieked in a frantic, hysterical burst.
"Department Head Chloe, was that fly monster he summoned really that bad?"
The narrow-eyed man in the black robe, Sigma Rockwell, rubbed the back of the weeping Chloe as he voiced the bewildered question weighing on everyone's mind.
"D-Did you fools not understand what you were looking at?!"
For a long moment, Kouma stared at Sigma as if looking at an alien species, but quickly clutched its head in its paws.
"It is over... We are finished... We are all doomed!"
Watching Kouma lose all composure, its eyes rolling frantically in sheer terror, Inea spoke up.
"There is no need to worry, Kouma. Even if he noticed our little peek, he would not bear hostility toward us over something so trivial. Right, Ralph?"
Headmaster Inea turned to ask Ralph Excel, the short, muscular man in a red robe standing beside her.
"Indeed. Provided, of course, that none of the young examinees were harmed as a result of your secret maneuvers."
Ralph replied with a blunt, sour grimace, prompting everyone present to swallow hard.
To Ralph, Headmaster Inea was both his former mentor and the woman who had raised him. Under normal circumstances, he would never dream of taking such an overtly disrespectful tone with her. That alone made it blatantly clear just how furious he truly was.
"Purely out of curiosity, what would happen if there were casualties among the examinees?"
A blue-haired young man from the chief headmaster's faction rested his chin on his hand, asking Ralph with genuine intrigue.
"Ruin, most likely. Kai may live by the rules of mankind, but that only holds true so long as the other party does not cross the line into villainy. Once someone strays from the path of humanity, Kai's code dictates that they be smashed to dust. Just like that pitiful fool."
At Ralph's grim assessment,
"No! That was a foolish plot concocted by greedy humans! I have nothing to do with it!"
Kouma spat out, spraying saliva in frantic denial. Seeing the beast's desperate expression, the onlookers exchanged uneasy glances.
"To me, he looks like nothing more than an ordinary boy. Certainly, that fly creature appeared powerful, but I find it hard to believe he could ever rival Babel."
The blue-haired youth's puzzled remark echoed the sentiments of most in the room.
"Ignorant fools are always so blissfully happy, aren't they...?"
Having finally collected herself, Chloe wiped the saliva from her mouth and muttered with venom.
"Lady Chloe, what is that supposed to mean?"
When the young man snapped back in irritation, Chloe pushed herself to her feet.
"Rival them, you say?! Us, against them?! Impossible! It's completely, utterly impossible! That thing is a monster—no, something far greater! Could you pick a fight with the sun or the stars in the sky and hope to win?! Fighting that entity is the exact same thing!"
Her voice cracked as she glared at him with bloodshot eyes. Then, turning the furious visage of a demon toward Headmaster Inea, she hissed:
"Lady Inea, I respect you. No, I did respect you! But this stunt of yours is sheer madness. It is a death march! Tell me your true intentions. If you do not, I can no longer follow you."
She had laid down an ultimatum. While the rest of the room struggled to process this sudden declaration of mutiny from Inea's most trusted aide,
"It is all right. There is no need to worry. I believe I already told you that, did I not?"
Headmaster Inea merely kept her serene smile, speaking with her usual unflappable calm.
"Even with me here, it will do no good," Ralph pressed sternly. "My presence might buy us forgiveness for a bit of peeping, but nothing more. If we blatantly violate our own rules as an academy, Kai will exterminate us from this world without a moment's hesitation."
"Arrangements have already been made. Isn't that right, Lord Girimehkala?"
Headmaster Inea rose from her chair, straightened her posture, and addressed the empty space near the window.
In an instant, a long-trunked monster materialized. From its towering frame billowed a dense, pitch-black aura, making the very air groan with pressure as cracks webbed across the walls.
The moment the beast swept its three blood-red eyes across the room, every single person present—save for the chief headmaster—dropped flat against the floor.
Simultaneously, three more grotesque entities appeared out of thin air. One hovered silently in the air, another stood upside down on the ceiling, and the third perched arrogantly atop the headmaster's desk.
Trapped in a suffocating, lethal presence where survival seemed impossible, the long-trunked monster threw its arms wide.
"We thirst! For the dawn of the peaceful future envisioned by our supreme Great One!
We thirst! For the fervent, unyielding faith of this city's people in our supreme Great One!
We thirst! For the total annihilation of all filth that dares displease our supreme Great One!
Praise him! Our revered Master!
Praise him! Our supreme Father!
Praise him! Our absolute God!"
Its booming voice shook the entire chamber.
No one dared lift their head. Every soul in the room instinctively grasped the terrifying nature of the long-trunked entity and its kin.
The only sound breaking the silence was the surreal, frantic clatter of chattering teeth echoing through the room.
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart for gracing us with your presence," Headmaster Inea said, placing a hand over her chest and bowing with deep reverence.
"How proceeds the operation?"
"All arrangements for the practical test—including handling the Imperial Six Knight Generals who infiltrated the exam—are fully in order."
"We leave the remaining cleanup to you."
The long-trunked monster gave a satisfied nod before dissolving into the air like smoke. Before anyone realized it, the other three grotesque figures had also vanished without a trace.
Silence returned to the room, revealing a scene of utter devastation:
—People huddled on the floor, trembling with faces as pale as corpses.
—Others coughing raggedly, struggling to force air back into lungs that had forgotten how to breathe.
—The narrow-eyed man in the black robe muttering frantically under his breath like a Buddhist chant, bloodshot eyes wide as he gnawed on his fingernails until they bled.
—The white canine divine beast foaming at the mouth, its eyes rolled back in terror.
Amidst this chaotic display of dread,
"Lady Inea... is this why you claimed there was no need to worry?" Ralph asked, his voice heavy with exhaustion.
"Yes. So long as we do not stray from the script they have drafted, we will not find ourselves at odds with Kai Heinemann. Of course, prying any further would bring nothing but disaster. We would do well to leave it alone."
Inea gave a slight nod, her tone unwavering.
"That... would indeed be the wisest choice," Ralph replied, sinking into a nearby chair and letting out a long, weary sigh.
"From here on, we need not overcomplicate things. We need only offer Kai Heinemann our utmost support.
Now then, things should be set in motion soon. Let us make our way to the plaza."
Beaming brightly, she clapped her hands together to rally the room.
Watching Headmaster Inea act as if they were merely setting off on a pleasant picnic, Chloe's eye twitched violently.
"Lady Inea... you are utterly insane to the very marrow of your bones."
She gave voice to the one thought burning in the mind of every single person in the room.