Seven shadows soared through the sky at breakneck speed.
They approached, scattering shockwaves and kicking up dust, their speed far surpassing standard aerial flight magic like Daedalus Wing.
At worst, I wondered if it might even rival my own Air Lord.
“We’ll go first. Stand back, Abel.”
Beatrice drew the sword at her hip and assumed an eight-stance guard.
The area in front of the castle walls was a wide, open plateau, making it easy to use wide-range destructive magic.
She was probably planning to intercept the enemy with a full-power strike.
“Seventh Squad, draw your swords! Magic Swords, prepare to activate!”
Beatrice shouted in a dignified tone, any hint of her previous flirtatiousness gone.
The female knights of the Seventh Squad, moving as one, raised their respective weapons—swords, spears, axes, and more.
All members of the Seventh Squad were female knights who wielded enchanted weapons.
Incidentally, while they were colloquially called “Magic Swords,” that was apparently a general term for melee-type Artifacts, including weapons other than swords like spears and axes.
“All personnel, Acceleration! Magic Sword— Limit Break!”
At Beatrice’s command, the Seventh Squad unleashed a wave of magical slashes simultaneously.
The terrain in front of the castle walls was a wide, open plateau, so there was no need to worry about collateral damage.
This was a full-power, all-out assault.
Blinding blades of energy flew towards the enemy one after another—
“What!?”
Whose voice of astonishment was it?
To the magicians who had further accelerated, every single blade of magic was dodged.
“They’re still increasing their speed—!?”
Beatrice’s delicate eyebrows knitted together in a frown.
“Tch!”
I tried to cast a spell, but the enemy was accelerating even more.
Moreover, they were gliding irregularly through the air, making them difficult to target.
“Fist—”
Even as I tried to at least feint with a minor spell,
“Burn Light!”
Someone among the enemy chanted a light spell.
However, this was not an attack spell.
A dazzling radiance, like a second sun, exploded in front of us.
“Ngh…”
I instinctively narrowed my eyes at the overwhelming brilliance.
Beatrice and the others did the same.
In that moment, the enemy soared over our heads and infiltrated the castle walls.
It happened in the blink of an eye—
“Air Lord!”
I hurriedly cast an aerial-flight spell and pursued them.
As I soared over the castle walls, I saw flames.
Explosions were erupting all over the Royal Capital.
The mages of the Empire had begun indiscriminately raining down attack magic from the sky.
Buildings and alleyways were being blown away.
And the screams and shouts of conflict filled the air…
Damn it, I won’t let them rampage any further!
“We’ll handle those four over there, Seventh Squad. Abel, you hold off those three.”
Beatrice, who had caught up with me using her flight spell, issued the orders.
“I hate to leave you to face them alone… but to fight four Empire mages, the Seventh Squad needs to pool all its strength. Even then, it’ll be a close match. However, you— you can handle multiple opponents by yourself.”
Her gaze was clearly different from the seductive one she’d had earlier.
It was the sincere gaze of a Knight Captain.
“…I’ll do my best.”
Meeting her eyes directly, I nodded.
“Burn to ashes, Raging Bomb!”
A massive fireball created by an Empire mage blew away one of the spires.
The tower, engulfed in flames, began to collapse.
With its immense mass, the tower threatened to crush the people directly below—
“Aegis Sphere!”
The defensive field I deployed intercepted it just in the nick of time.
“Flee, quickly!”
I, having arrived with flight magic, shouted to the people who hadn’t escaped from above.
Even as I yelled, my gaze remained fixed ahead.
“Sweep away, Megasplash!”
“Be gone, Burst Melt!”
In front of me were three Empire mages.
They were sporadically launching lightning strikes and magic bombs, burning down the city.
In modern terms, it was like launching missiles at a populated area from close range.
Ordinary humans had no way to counter this.
Neither attacking nor defending.
Not even enough time to flee.
It was a one-sided destruction—
They were wielding immense power as if exterminating vermin.
“I won’t let them do this any longer…”
My clenched fist trembled.
I will drive them back—
“Aegis Sphere!”
The defensive field I deployed again repelled their magic attacks in unison.
“…Hoh, you blocked our magic?”
The three mages finally seemed to notice me.
They glided through the air and stood before me.
All of them were middle-aged men clad in black robes.
The wind whipped the hems of their robes and their deeply pulled-up hoods.
“We are envoys from the glorious Magatsu Empire! I am the Magister Templum Grigli, rank 8=3!”
“I am Forceg, also rank 8=3.”
“And I am Berligh, also rank 8=3.”
The trio of mages introduced themselves with sonorous voices.
…Is it their country’s law to state their rank when introducing themselves?
By the way, I learned about the ranks from Ashe the other day.
Let’s see, 8=3 was the third highest, wasn’t it?
That means they are ranked just below the Emperor and those called the Elysion Octa.
They are definitely superior to anyone I’ve fought so far.
And there are three of them…!
“Consider yourselves honored. Three mages of the caliber that could serve as Court Magicians in your country are about to fight you simultaneously.”
“That face belongs to a brat named Abel, isn’t it? We know. They say you’ve defeated our Empire’s mages more than once.”
“Defeating SS-class monsters, Artifact soldiers, and even Golem legions… it seems there are a few competent users outside our country.”
The three laughed arrogantly.
“His Majesty was concerned about this. So he dispatched us all at once.”
“…In other words, you figured numbers would win out, right?”
I muttered.
“Indeed.”
“No matter how powerful a mage, they cannot overcome sheer numbers.”
“Receive this. Our spell of the Three in One—”
Saying this, the three mages began to chant simultaneously.
But, I was faster.
“Calamity Delta!”
Three spears of light, which I conjured with a Silent Incantation, streaked towards the enemy mages in blue arcs.
Just as they were about to hit—their figures vanished.
“Huh…!?”
“It’s an illusion.”
“Don’t fall for such a basic spell.”
“They have power, but their combat experience is shallow, we surmise.”
I hastily looked in the opposite direction at the voices. Three figures floated in mid-air.
Tch, so they had prepared an illusion spell beforehand.
It seemed I had hit their illusionary copies with my spell.
The next moment, their chant was complete.
“Scarlet Bomb!”
“Aqua Splash!”
“Blast Gale!”
Fire, water, and wind— the three magic bullets they launched merged into one in mid-air, transforming into an even larger magic bullet that charged forward.
“What is this—!?”
It’s similar to the technique used by the… whatever their name was, the Triple Star of the Fourth Squad.
Magic Stream Attack.
I bet this is some kind of upgraded version of that.
The power is probably on a completely different level.
What to do—!
I stared at the approaching colossal magic bullet.
Since we were in the city, I couldn’t use wide-area spells like Photon Blast.
If I used it, it would cancel out— no, it would obliterate this flow of magic energy, and defeat the enemy.
But its power was too high; it could potentially devastate the Royal Capital.
On the other hand, a convergent-penetrative spell like Photon Bullet wouldn’t be able to cancel or erase this energy flow.
Even if I repelled it with a repulsion-based Defensive Spell, the area where it was deflected would suffer immense damage.
With an absorption-based Defensive Spell, I couldn’t absorb this much energy.
I had no way to defend against this without causing damage to the Royal Capital, using the spells I had in stock.
“…If it were the old me, no.”
A smirk spread across my lips.
I’ve also been training in preparation for the war with the Empire.
For now, I’ll try out… that thing I completed a few days ago.
—For the past month, what Ashe had me working on was mainly mastering the spells written in Grimoires.
Ordinary mages learned the magic written in these Grimoires and acquired them.
Of course, simply reading them doesn’t mean you can use them.
It requires the appropriate Magic Power, control, and most importantly, the ability to visualize.
Only by possessing these can one finally use them.
And there are an immense number of Grimoires in the world, including originals and copies.
Among them, what I needed to master were spells that weren’t as excessively powerful as Photon Blast, but still sufficiently high-output, and usable even within the city.
However, I ultimately couldn’t achieve that.
High-output spells aren’t simply cast by having a large amount of magic power.
They require a commensurate level of magic control.
For example, Icicle Cannon, considered the ultimate elemental spell, is at a level that ordinary mages cannot handle at all.
It’s something first-rate mages like Ashe can only master after years of training.
Setting aside my original spells like Photon Blast, which I acquired naturally through flashes of inspiration— I couldn’t attain the control needed for spells of that caliber.
It’s probably not something that can be accomplished overnight.
“But that sparked an idea, didn’t it?”
A grin played on my lips as I thrust out my right hand.
“And I mastered it. This.”
I imagined concentrating “power” behind my forehead.
At the same time, I visualized the spell’s effect and the accompanying imagery in my mind.
Clear blue ice.
A dragon roaring ferociously.
Freezing. Cancelling. Shattering. Nullifying.
And— manifesting that image into a tangible “form” through magic!
“Hydra Frost!”
As the spell I shouted erupted, an ice magic bullet in the shape of a dragon appeared and charged forward.
