Ch.186186. Untying the Knot (7)

A strange power created by the mixing and blending of multiple magical energies.

Each time he swung his axe, his black magical energy attacked Junon relentlessly, as if imbued with their lingering thoughts.

“You look much more tired than before. But too bad, this isn’t a faction battle, so there’s no break time!”

CRASH!

Beaten down. And beaten down again.

Objects and furniture split apart under the axe like firewood.

But living beings don’t split so easily.

Though sweating profusely and breathing heavily, he still stands his ground.

CLANG!

The man facing the power-intoxicated madman collided head-on with the axe.

“!!”

The madman senses it immediately. The battle dynamics have changed.

The reason Junon had never been able to parry his magical axe—always having to dodge or evade—was because he couldn’t withstand its tremendous power head-on.

During the faction battle, Junon had used evasion and counterattack tactics, but now it was different.

Far from barely avoiding dangerous attacks, he was now absorbing some of the impact directly and often approaching first rather than waiting to counter.

Naturally, this seemed strange.

“Huh. This little rat?”

Now Demian was beginning to understand. Why Junon, who had focused on evasion and counterattacks, was now responding so aggressively.

Consumed by power and focused solely on attacking, he finally noticed the changes happening to his body.

“I wondered why you became so reckless. You’ve been quietly eating away at my magical energy again, haven’t you?”

He’d experienced this power before.

The power that had suddenly made his surrounding magical energy disappear and turned even his magical weapon into mere magical particles upon contact.

He didn’t understand the theory or principle behind this effect, but the current Demian wasn’t afraid.

“Erase as much as you want, you stupid bastard.”

Demian mocked Junon, who was erasing his magical energy like eraser dust, and infused more magical energy into his weapon to replace what was lost.

Magical energy can be produced endlessly from magical circuits.

Moreover, hadn’t he grown stronger by absorbing the power of his two friends?

He was essentially saying: erase it, erase it, erase it all you want.

“How many beings have I devoured? If you can erase dozens of different types of magical energy, then by all means, try!”

Junon gritted his teeth.

Even while gasping for breath, he absolutely refused to let go of Demian’s magical axe.

Techniques exist to overcome differences in power.

Yet he wasn’t using any techniques. He wasn’t using martial arts to distract his opponent or create openings.

Only head-on confrontation.

He showed not even the slightest retreat.

He must feel the overwhelming difference in magical energy.

He must realize that a magically enhanced body is on a completely different level.

Everything he had seen before would lower its tail or give up when feeling such a power gap.

But why was this guy so confident? Despite knowing he had the upper hand, Demian suddenly had that same thought as before.

‘No, that’s not it!’

How thoroughly he had prepared to face this arrogant opponent.

He shouldn’t entertain even the slightest thought of possibly losing.

“Huff…!”

Finally, he exhaled.

‘That’s right, you’re the one getting tired, not me. But why…!’

Clearly, Junon was the one gasping for breath.

He was the one who had used excessive magical energy and was physically much more exhausted.

Yet Demian was being pushed back.

The magical energy circulating through all his circuits suddenly stopped.

Moreover, the hand gripping the axe seemed glued in place, unable to let go.

Fear. No magical energy was being supplied to his weapon.

The cause was clearly the other man’s doing.

‘I just need to let go. Just his hand…!’

Sensing danger, Demian began flailing with his hands and feet, trying to remove Junon’s arm.

“Let go, you bastard. Let go!!”

With his remaining arm, he was fending off the flailing limbs. Now Junon’s true fighting style was revealed.

With minimal movements and precise steps, he was restricting Demian’s mobility.

Demian’s untrained limbs posed no threat to Junon, who lacked even basic martial arts training.

When one flailing hand forcefully tried to break through, Junon immediately grabbed the arm, using the force against him.

Before long, the once-confident source of all this commotion was not only kneeling but had his head pressed against the shelter floor.

Humiliatingly, he couldn’t offer any resistance.

“After killing people, after doing even worse things, what? You ‘devoured’ them?”

“GAAAHHHH!!!”

A chilling sound of bones twisting echoed throughout the shelter.

He was no longer gasping for breath.

He was coldly releasing his anger in a subdued voice.

“Heh, hehehehe. HAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Sudden laughter spread.

A completely contradictory attitude to his current position.

“You shouldn’t talk like that. My friends nobly sacrificed themselves, sharing their power so I could judge trash like you!”

“You’re admitting to murder with your own mouth? What a fool.”

“Well. We’ll have to see who becomes the murderer in the end…?!”

Gulp.

‘Just now, did this guy’s body… twitch slightly?’

That subtle movement caught his eye.

He thought it might be his imagination, but it wasn’t.

Gulp.

Again. It was twitching again.

Gulp.

Gulp. Gulp.

The intervals were getting shorter and shorter.

This gulping motion began to release his restrained posture.

“UAAAHHHH!!!”

Demian roared.

The gulping body now vibrated across his entire skin, and soon his tightly stretched clothes began to tear.

Inside that skin, various magical energies were churning, forcibly circulating through the blocked circuits.

The magical circuits should be mostly down, so how was he circulating magical energy?

Dark magical energy began to surround Demian’s entire body. That’s how it was possible.

“Criminals need evidence to be caught. If I just dispose of you here, I can create any evidence I want…!”

Physical enhancement has its limits. While overall physical abilities improve, there’s a limit to how much magical energy a body can accept.

No matter how much magical energy one puts in to strengthen the body, it shouldn’t grow this large.

The fact that his body, even while kneeling, was reaching the height of a standing person meant…

“You don’t know who’s better until you try, you little minnow.”

He had given up being human. Abandoning the magical circulation system.

Crack. Crunch.

Muscles reattached and bones reassembled. The body he had deliberately broken was healing.

“…You’re insane.”

But no matter how much it healed, it was no longer a human body.

The shelter ceiling was about 5 meters high.

His head was positioned at about 3/4 of that height.

He turned around. No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the beast-transformed human turned around.

***

Scratch.

Another wisp lost its form and returned to nature.

But there was still a mountain of things that needed to be returned to nature.

“Spirit users, can’t you do something?!”

“It’s impossible. These spirits that have drunk deeply of magical energy and become intoxicated won’t listen at all…!”

“Damn it, how could this happen right before completion.”

When Tembris arrived, there was an explosion at the Dube Building, which had turned into a cave.

Naturally, people rushed toward the sound.

This made it virtually impossible for Tembris to enter the Dube Building silently.

“…”

“Why such a displeased expression, Michelle? This is actually good timing.”

There was no way they could confront a criminal holding seven hostages.

Even though each of them was skilled, they would be helpless against someone determined to take hostages. After all, Tembris was a party meant to set an example in capturing magical beasts, not one responsible for various crimes.

“Senia said it herself. The Dube Building is a cave. You know it would be difficult to handle those magical beasts and spirits with just our power, right?”

Even for Tembris, dealing with a cave and capturing a barricaded criminal would be no easy task.

“Now that people have gathered, let’s just reveal it. Tell them there are hostages inside!”

Situation report and information transfer.

Erica wanted to quickly pass on information about the hostage situation.

“No. Don’t tell them.”

“Michelle! You need to assess the situation properly!”

“You’re the one who needs to assess properly, Erica. Haven’t you even thought about why the person involved made such a request?”

“What…?”

When Michelle, who had never raised her voice unless facing evil, suddenly raised her tone, Erica was taken aback.

“Then what? What are you suggesting? There’s a hostage situation going on, and you want to leave it alone?”

“We need more information right now. I’m saying we should wait!”

“Michelle, what’s wrong with you today? Did you eat something bad? Or are you hiding something?”

“And you’re so righteous? Erica, you too…!”

You’re hiding something.

Michelle almost emotionally retorted like that.

“That’s enough. This is no time for us to fight amongst ourselves.”

The one mediating between the two was party leader Goden.

“Both opinions aren’t wrong. But this issue seems quite complicated, doesn’t it?”

It’s impossible to immediately determine which of the conflicting opinions is right and which is wrong.

So they seek a compromise.

“Let’s focus on the Dube Building that’s become a cave for now. If the damage increases due to the spirits and released magical beasts, that will be more dangerous.”

“So we’re just going to leave the hostages? Someone should be informed and take action!”

“For that part… I have one solution.”

He then cast his gaze on Senia, who had been silently listening.

“You’re saying you have a job for me?”

“Yes. You’re the fastest one here. And one of the most quick-witted members.”

Erica continued to protest, asking if they were really going to send Senia alone to infiltrate the Dube Building, but that didn’t happen.

***

All living beings on the Kempton continent carry magical energy.

How much they carry and how they use it may differ, but they are all life forms adapted to magical energy.

Some species were content with adapting to magical energy.

Some used it to create extraordinary physical abilities and constantly craved more magical energy.

Some accepted it as a resource and used it for strategy and tactics.

Among them, humans are beings with unparalleled intelligence.

They are a species that can maintain reason to face magical beasts that prioritize instinct, not satisfied with mere adaptation.

What happens when reason disappears from such humans and only instinct remains?

-GROOOOAR!!!!

Even if they were once human, they become monsters craving only instinct, intoxicated by magical energy.

That is no longer human.

It’s just a magical beast seeking more magical energy to gain strength and grow further.

SLASH.

“Damn, shit…”

It was clearly just a glancing blow, but the damage it inflicted was unbelievable.

How many seconds did his foot slide against the ground? It felt like he was pushed back at least three normal steps.

Unlike with Charlotte, this creature hasn’t completely lost its reason even after becoming a vengeful spirit.

In the current situation with hostages, it means he’s an even more troublesome opponent than Charlotte.

“So this is it. This is the extreme point of power that person spoke of…!”

An even more gravelly voice.

A voice as rough as his bulked-up body emanates from his elongated muzzle.

He had an epiphany.

But within that epiphany lay mockery, contempt, and confidence.

A confidence bordering on arrogance that he would never lose.

“Why? Why aren’t you charging at me like before, you damn bastard!!”

“Kuk!”

“It was amusing how you talked as if your weak self amounted to something. Did you think a hypocrite who puts others in front could ever be praised?!”

The magical axe, now even more threatening, drives Junon back.

He tried to find openings for counterattacks, but couldn’t even make a scratch. The height difference was too great to reach vital points.

Demian, who had been pushing his opponent like a bulldozer, finally cornered Junon.

“…”

“You’re just a fake. You’re a fake who puts others in front because you can’t win with your own power.”

The monster said this to the panting Junon, gripping his axe.

He looked ready to swing at any moment.

‘Shit…!’

His body was also under strain.

Even if he tried to dodge like before, his muscles throughout his body screamed in protest.

His nerves felt like they were going numb.

Still, Junon, who had cursed inwardly, couldn’t just stand still.

He had to face it.

Like when he defeated Shanbereshu.

Recalling that moment, he squeezed out his magical energy.

He expanded his senses.

He changed the pathway.

He stimulated the magical circuits spread throughout his body, concentrating them in one place—his right arm.

He had to shatter it.

That axe imbued with the magical energy of victims.

That mass of magical energy that only awakened the monster’s instincts, with only lingering thoughts remaining.

The very essence of immorality, inhumanity, and unethical behavior.

“Trying to struggle? Good! A head-on confrontation, I like it! I’ll crush you miserably!”

One was a dark axe surrounded by things that weren’t his own.

One was a faintly white fist created by stimulating all the magical circuits throughout the body, without even a definite form.

It was the moment when these two magical energies, starkly divided into two sides, were about to collide.

-Senior, get down!

‘This voice…’

Familiar yet different.

Urgency instead of vivaciousness.

Sharpness instead of clarity.

Seriousness instead of playfulness.

But get down? The moment he gets down here, he’ll surely be sliced by that axe and his breath will cease.

Nevertheless, Junon withdrew his magical energy and pressed himself flat against the floor.

What matters is who said those words.

A kind, righteous girl. The one who always smiles and spreads happiness to everyone.

Because the idol of this academy said so.

“!!!”

FZZZZZZZ-!

BOOM─!!!

This space, previously lit only by subtle lighting, begins to brighten.

A beam of white light shot from the collapsed shelter entrance precisely pinned the magical energy-consumed monster against the wall.

“Are you okay, senior?”

A girl entering the shelter extends her white hand with a worried expression.

“Renias…!”

A single helper has appeared to aid the boy who had been struggling alone against the monster.