"[Amaterasu]!"
"[Blue Heaven is Dead], [Yellow Heaven Shall Rise]."
"[The Crawling Devourer]."
Three combatants, three distinct techniques.
Three cheat-wielding monsters unleashed their attacks.
The solar laser Lest fired flashed across the battlefield, ribbons of yellow and blue light flowed and surged, and grotesque aberrations ran rampant.
Though numerous soldiers from the Margrave Lavender House and the Empire were present on the Great Bridge that served as the battleground, the clash had escalated far beyond anything bystanders could interfere with.
(I'll absorb the enemy attacks with [Star Eater]. And counter with [Amaterasu]...!)
Drawing their strikes and ambient light into his dark star, Lest converted the energy and discharged it as a searing laser.
Though by far the youngest and least experienced among the trio, he stubbornly held his ground, desperately refusing to fall behind his predecessors.
"How troublesome. Still... every crisis brings opportunity. I shall erase you both at once."
Leonardo Gascoyne—the mage hailed as the pinnacle of the world—attacked with dual-colored radiance.
Unlike the beam Lest discharged, Gascoyne's light moved like ribbons, twisting and dancing through the air.
Though it looked like light, it was unmistakably distinct from any natural phenomenon.
"How sad. Everyone around me is an enemy."
And then... Japanese Yoichiro.
Manifesting sinister, blasphemous abominations from the void one after another, he hurled them toward the other two.
This was no ordinary magic, but a paranormal power—almost certainly a cheat granted as a Reincarnation Gift.
The three clashed, wore one another down, and held the line, with the battle showing no sign of reaching an end.
(Wait... could I actually pull this off...?!)
Yet amid that chaotic three-way fray, Lest alone caught a glimmer of hope.
Both Gascoyne and Japanese were vastly superior combatants.
Lest had no way of knowing what Reincarnation Gift cheats they possessed, but had he faced either in a one-on-one duel, his defeat would have been all but guaranteed.
However, because they were locked in a three-way standoff, he had somehow managed to hold his own.
(Their output is dropping... Their mana is finally running dry!)
As the prolonged battle dragged on, both Gascoyne and Japanese were visibly exhausting their mana reserves.
No matter how immense their power might be—or perhaps precisely because they wielded such overwhelming might—consuming vast amounts of mana was inevitable.
The fierce momentum of Gascoyne's ribbon-like light and the frantic pace of Japanese's grotesque summons were steadily waning.
"[Fire Cannon], [Ice Bolt], [Thunder Bolt], [Stone Bolt], [Earth Bolt], [Wind Bolt], [Water Bolt], [Poison Bolt]!"
Seizing his chance, Lest unleashed a relentless barrage of spells.
It was an all-out assault fueled by pure brute force, drawing upon his Infinite Mana.
With his opponents' output weakened, he aimed to overpower them in a single, decisive push.
"Mmph..."
"Impressive...!"
Both Gascoyne and Japanese grunted.
Gascoyne deflected the magical bombardment with his dual-colored light, while Japanese used his summoned beasts as shields to absorb the onslaught.
(I can win... I'll take them both down together, right here...!)
Catching his opponents on the back foot, Lest began preparing his ultimate technique.
He generated countless fireballs, compressing them into a single point. To prevent the intense heat from dissipating, he wrapped the spheres in Barrier Arts, condensing them even further.
It was the single most destructive spell in his entire repertoire—[Kagutsuchi].
"With this one strike...!"
"I certainly cannot afford to take that."
"Hmm, how tragic. I suppose things will get ugly if I don't get serious."
"!"
However, the two were far too seasoned to let him claim victory so easily.
"[Flames Surge to the Heavens], [Brilliant Stratagem on Ice], [Drive the Tiger to Devour the Wolf], [Oath of the Peach Garden], [Crouching Dragon Kongming]."
As Gascoyne murmured solemnly, three distinct hues of light—red, blue, and yellow—manifested before him.
The three lights merged into one, coalescing into the form of a brilliant, radiant dragon.
"Come forth... [King in Red]."
From behind Japanese, a humanoid figure draped in crimson rags materialized.
The hooded figure's face remained hidden in shadow, but it was unmistakably inhuman.
(What is this...?!)
An unprecedented chill ran down Lest's spine.
Death itself had taken physical form right before his eyes. And not just once, but twice over.
He knew with absolute certainty that the radiant dragon Gascoyne conjured and the crimson-clad entity Japanese summoned possessed more than enough power to annihilate him instantly.
(I'm going to die. They're going to kill me... But still...!)
At this stage, there was no time to run.
He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that even if he tried to flee, he would be caught in an instant.
(I don't know what their powers are... but with ultimate moves on this scale, there's no way they can use them repeatedly!)
In other words, if he could just push past this clash, victory would be his.
With goosebumps erupting across his entire body, Lest braced himself to unleash [Kagutsuchi].
"That is quite far enough, you know."
"Gh...?!"
In an instant, the spell he was about to fire vanished into nothingness.
Immediately after, something resembling a rope tightly bound his body.
Yanked out of midair, he was dragged downward and slammed hard against the stone atop the fortress wall.
"Ow... What the...?!"
"That would have been truly disastrous, surely. Restrain yourself, Rest Clover-kun."
"Who are you...?!"
At the other end of the binding rope atop the wall stood an elderly man.
Lest immediately recognized the face, and the voice.
"H-Headmaster...?"
Clad in flowing robes, the old man sported white hair and a matching beard.
It was none other than the head of the Academy Lest attended—Verloid Hahn.