Ch.307Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History (End)

# The Butterfly Led Us to the Southern District

The butterfly, with its elegant wing movements like leaves swaying in a gentle breeze, was clearly visible even in the deep darkness.

Riding the subtle wind as it flew, the butterfly suddenly slowed down when it reached a certain point.

Then, after flying in circles, it gently landed on Francesca’s shoulder as if having completed its task.

“I think it’s over there.”

Francesca pointed to the building in front of us.

There stood a department store.

Broken windows, peeled paint, exposed steel reinforcements, cracked concrete, and overgrown weeds and vines everywhere. Only faint lettering remained where the sign had fallen off.

The department store building, which must have once been bustling with countless people, clearly showed the passage of time.

Its grand scale contrasted sharply with its current state, so different from its glorious past. This nameless ruin, once a department store, symbolized the plight of people caught in the five-year conflict.

“You’re saying there’s a demon over there?”

“Yes.”

“How does it feel, Camilla?”

“It feels very ominous. I want to get away from here quickly.”

“If you’re saying that, then it must be certain. Good. Everyone, get ready.”

A moment later,

“Let’s go in.”

Four people entered the ruins in pursuit of the demon.

## Episode 12 – The Greatest Magician in History

When I set foot in the ruined department store, the first thing that came to mind was the basement in Beijing we visited second.

Though the location was different, the scale was different, and even the world was different, the ruins of Orbentsk were eerily identical to the basement we had used as a safe house back then.

The interior of the department store reeked. The smell came from mold created by the temperature difference between outside and inside.

The group frowned as they entered the building, stepping over the shattered remains of the main entrance. But no one covered their nose or spouted nonsense about leaving immediately because it was filthy.

“There’s only one entrance—the main door.”

After scouting the building from outside, we found that the main entrance was the only way in.

According to the floor plan, there had been a back door, side entrance, employee entrance, and a way down to the underground parking lot, but they were all blocked with junk and boards.

Perhaps people who made this place their hideout after the department store closed had taken these measures to block the wind.

I picked up something unidentifiable from the floor, like charcoal, and marked our current position on a simple department store map.

“Remember the location and move. Let’s form a formation first.”

“Let’s do that.”

I decided to lead at the front. Camilla stood behind me with her rifle. She pointed out suspicious locations with her finger.

“That central area looks the most suspicious.”

“Lucia, please cover the blind spots behind Camilla. Francesca, let us know if anything jumps out from behind.”

“Yes.”

“Stay sharp and move.”

With our formation set, we began moving into the department store.

The ruins maintained their silence, bearing the scars of war.

Glass shards scattered on the floor and dark stores stretching beyond the shutters. Tattered tents presumably belonging to refugees and spilled camping supplies were strewn everywhere.

Judging by the size of the tents, roughly dozens of civilians had stayed in this area alone. The tents were empty.

The interior of the ruins was deathly quiet, with even the sound of water dripping from frozen pipes clearly audible.

Despite the noise of battle coming through the broken windows, the department store turned ruins remained eerily silent, as if the commotion outside was someone else’s problem.

In the ominous silence that continued endlessly, we silently continued our search.

And then,

When we finally reached the center of the department store, open from top to bottom,

We at last came face to face with it.

The demon was in the central plaza that overlooked all floors and stores of the department store, reminiscent of a panopticon.

Numerous corpses were scattered throughout the dirty ruins. Their ages and genders varied.

As we entered the plaza and silently looked up at the mountain of corpses, the demon crouched at the very top turned its head to look at us.

“…Visitors have arrived.”

Its lips split into a long smile. Dark red teeth with clear traces of predation gleamed in the darkness.

The demon with its chilling smile stood up from its crouched position.

The exorcist’s body it had taken over was larger than an average adult, but its emaciated limbs made it appear even taller.

Standing tall on the mountain of corpses, the demon slowly began to move. Using the countless piled bodies as stepping stones, it slowly descended to the ground, rolling its snake-like tongue to speak.

“Impressive that you’ve come this far.”

A noble, aristocratic tone flowed from its mouth.

Though the tone was formal, the aura it emanated was not just vulgar but dangerous.

Thud, thud. The demon, slowly walking, stopped halfway down the mountain of corpses. Then, tilting its head to one side, it began to smile crookedly.

“How foolish to still think of fighting. Ambition is a pitiful trait. You take on more than you can handle, then ruin everything without being able to do anything about it. Despite all the warnings, you don’t listen… Truly foolish monkeys.”

“……”

Without erasing the smile on its face, the demon raised its head to look at the sky.

The sky, where the flare had gradually dimmed, was as deep and dark as an abyss.

The demon took a deep breath, inflating its chest where ribs were clearly visible, then exhaled with a “hoo-” sound. Despite the considerable distance, the revolting smell of death tickled my nostrils.

After exhaling, the demon began to scan us all.

“A young saint and a magician… A priest and a magician together, now that’s something to see. You are a descendant of those called arch-magicians among humans.”

“……”

Francesca didn’t respond and gripped her rune sword. She held the rune sword in one hand and a vial in her inner pocket with the other.

Like her, Lucia slightly lowered her stance to prepare for battle. Her right leg was ready to kick off the ground at any moment.

The silver knuckles on her hands gleamed ominously in the moonlight, illuminating the small crosses engraved on them. The purple stole around her neck fluttered slowly in the breeze.

Despite seeing his opponents preparing for battle, the demon remained utterly calm. It continued to speak without erasing its smile.

“What a curious combination. And there are strange fellows mixed in too.”

The black eyes briefly passed over Camilla and me.

When that eerie gaze touched her, Camilla startled and ignited flames. The flickering fire began to surge threateningly, but the demon showed no reaction.

“As much as I’d like to show mercy and send you away before the great deed, unfortunately, my patience has run out, and I cannot make such a decision now. What can I do? You brought this upon yourselves.”

That gaze, like looking at a pitiful child, seemed to ask, ‘What could you possibly do with that?’ It was clear contempt.

With the enemy before us, the demon who had spoken in a light tone suddenly began looking around.

“By the way…”

Then, with a puzzled tone, it dropped a question.

“That angel’s bell didn’t come with you? I heard she came to Orbentsk.”

“…Angel’s bell?”

At Camilla’s murmur, the demon’s mouth split into a wide grin.

“I mean Veronica. Angel’s bell, vulgar gunslinger, silver bullet marksman. I really wanted to meet her again, but that’s too bad.”

“……”

“But it doesn’t matter. That woman is here today anyway.”

The demon, standing tall on the corpses, crouched down with its hands on the floor. A cracking sound erupted from its hunched back.

Simultaneously, the skin on its back began to surge like boiling water in a pot.

The protruding spine, dried and emaciated, quickly stretched and gradually extended.

It was growing larger.

Watching the demon suddenly begin to grow, Lucia widened her eyes and bit her lip.

“Damn it…!”

Crack! Crack-crack-crack! The body grew with a horrifying sound.

“When I kill you, that bitch will go crazy looking for me.”

The demon, crouching and grinning, slightly raised its head to meet her gaze.

“I can’t wait to see what expression she’ll make then.”

Lucia turned like lightning and shouted urgently.

Flip-flip. A powerful sound of turning pages struck the eardrums. Somehow, Lucia now held a Bible in her hand. Her expression hardened as she turned to look at the demon.

The demon’s mouth gaped wide.

Its elongated jaw reached its chest. Unlike its emaciated arms, its chest and back swelled to an enormous size.

Green smoke swirled rapidly in the mouth, which had opened wide enough to swallow a small child whole.

In the midst of this ominous development, the saint turned her gaze again and, without a moment’s hesitation, tore the Bible.

-Rip!

The torn Bible scattered into individual pages. Each paper was imbued with holiness.

The glowing white papers were like a cluster of exquisite lilies. The wave of lilies created by the saint scattered like a profusion of cherry blossom petals.

Eventually, when red smoke began to pour like a river from the demon’s gaping mouth,

The papers, floating one by one in the air, approached as if drawn by a magnet and stopped in front of us. This happened just before the red smoke collided with us.

At that moment, with the holy papers densely blocking our view,

Lucia shouted to all of us:

“Don’t get separated!”

And then,

-Boom!

The red vortex and the pure white barrier collided.

*

After ordering the knights and inquisitors who had volunteered as escorts to evacuate civilians, Veronica quickly headed to the southern district with the imperial battle mages.

-Whoosh!

The sound of cutting through the air captured both ears. Her white cassock and fascia swayed violently like a ship meeting a storm surge.

“Kuhahaha!”

Veronica let out a strange cry as she caught a newspaper blown by the wind with her face.

As the startled imperial mage tried to check on the saint’s well-being through his windproof goggles, Veronica threw the newspaper that had stuck to her face behind her.

“Aack! My eyes…!”

“Oh…!”

The newspaper unfortunately struck the eyes of a magic tower battle mage following behind. Though not threatening enough to blind him, he felt the pain acutely since he wasn’t wearing windproof goggles.

Veronica looked at the flailing mage from the magic tower with a surprised expression.

The magic tower mage, who had come along to support Francesca, was controlling his broomstick while wiping away the tears that trickled down.

After confirming the mage’s condition and sighing in relief, the saint turned her head sharply to look ahead. Then she asked the imperial battle mage carrying her:

“Can’t we go any faster?!”

“This is the maximum speed! If we fly any faster, the broomstick won’t hold up!”

Contrary to the common perception that mages fly through the air on their own, most mages cannot use flight magic with just their bodies. Therefore, most mages use magical tools that guarantee stable output for flight magic.

Eastern clouds, Mauritanian flying carpets, Nahuatl quetzals, and so on.

And the most commonly used tool on the continent is the broomstick.

Just as driving skill and car performance determine speed limits, the limits of flight magic are defined by proficiency and broomstick specifications.

In other words, no matter how skilled a mage is, if they’re riding a poor-quality broomstick, there’s a limit they cannot exceed no matter how hard they try.

That was precisely why the battle mages couldn’t increase their speed.

Eventually, Veronica burst out in frustration:

“Ah, why don’t they supply better broomsticks!”

“We’re almost there! Just a few more roads and we’ll reach our destination!”

It was then.

One of the magic tower mages flying ahead suddenly shouted in a panicked voice:

“Uh, uhh…?”

“What’s happening!”

“No, there’s something ahead—”

Crack! The sound of breaking branches struck everyone’s ears. The broomstick of the mage flying in the lead was already shattered at the front.

Fortunately, only the handle area was broken, which didn’t greatly affect the flight magic, but speed was an issue.

The rapidly flying mage was pulled forward by inertia, and soon hit something in mid-air with his head.

-Thud!

The mage, who had been flying in a low posture, lost consciousness from the impact to his head. His neck bent and sank down, and soon, with the center of gravity shifting forward, he plummeted to the ground.

Witnessing their colleague’s sudden fatal fall, the mages quickly applied brakes and turned their heads to scan the surroundings.

However, their speed was already at its peak, and broomsticks don’t stop immediately just because brakes are applied.

Thus, the mages soaring through the sky collided one after another with something that had appeared in mid-air.

Watching the scene like a chain-reaction crash, Veronica suddenly noticed a green barrier flickering in the air.

For a very brief moment, the green barrier, densely spread and blocking their flight path, was a type of magical power.

A demon’s attack? Or magic?

Countless assumptions flashed through her mind, but there was no time to think deeply.

“Eek!”

“Damn!”

Sensing that the imperial mage had failed to reduce speed, Veronica immediately jumped off the broomstick and landed on a nearby rooftop.

Meanwhile, the mage, realizing that the flight magic formula had stabilized due to the weight change, attempted a precarious turn to decelerate, but the tail of the broomstick collided with the green barrier.

The damaged broomstick began to lose its effectiveness, and the mage fell onto the rough asphalt, spinning round and round with the broomstick that had turned into a wooden stick.

“Ugh…!”

Veronica, who had landed forcefully, rolled on the ground.

Her body was battered from rolling on the uneven concrete surface, but that wasn’t important.

Immediately springing to her feet, Veronica looked around. The mage had definitely mentioned a department store in this area.

Veronica ran across the rooftop, scanning all the tall buildings. And soon she found one building that most matched Frederick’s description.

To be precise, not a “building” but a “ruined building.”

“What kind of department store is that…?”

Anyway, she had confirmed the location she needed to go to. After healing minor wounds with her holy power, the saint checked her weapons and then went down the stairs.

Or rather, she “tried” to go down.

As she was turning the doorknob of the stairwell, Veronica suddenly stopped at a sound from behind.

She turned her head slightly and focused her hearing, then crouched down and pressed against the rooftop railing to peek at the ground below.

The moment the ground view, previously out of sight, came into view,

Veronica’s expression hardened.

Kneeling on one knee and looking through the railing, Veronica muttered with evident surprise:

“What is that…?”

*

A skeletal fist cuts through the air.

Lucia crossed her raised arms to take a defensive stance. The demon’s fist, striking from the air, hit her forearms with a tremendous sound.

-Boom!

Though she successfully blocked the attack, there was damage. Her crossed arms collapsed as if bouncing, and her body was pushed back by the recoil. The soles of her shoes scraped against the floor with a screeching sound.

“Ugh…!”

Though she took the attack with her whole body, Lucia was unharmed.

Although her arms raised for defense had collapsed, her overall posture remained solid. Whether to forget the pain or to gather her wits, Lucia shook her head vigorously and prepared to attack.

Seeing the saint clench her fists, the demon rushed forward without hesitation, kicking off the ground.

As if determined to finish her off this time, considerable force was put into the five fingers raised sharply.

The demon intended to grab the saint’s neck as soon as she came within range, then rip it out along with her spine.

-Slash!

Just then, a slash flew from somewhere.

The slash, emitting a chillingly blue hue, was sharp, fast, and lethal.

The demon, wide-eyed at the incoming slash, quickly twisted its body to barely avoid a fatal wound, but couldn’t completely evade the attack.

The passing blue slash cut through the thinned thigh, leaving a wound.

“Kuh…”

The blackened eyes rolled around to find the culprit.

What came into the demon’s view was a purple-haired magician caressing a blue blade.

Francesca, checking her blade, suddenly spoke:

“Hmm… I was a bit tense because it was a demon, but it’s not as strong as I thought.”

Lucia, gripping her knuckles tightly, added:

“That’s because it’s a low-ranking demon.”

“Ah, so it’s a minor one?”

“That’s one way to look at it, but be careful.”

Lucia’s blue eyes sank coldly.

“Whether high or low ranking, a demon is a demon. It’s an enemy that should never be taken lightly.”

“If the saint says so—”

Francesca raised her rune sword and grinned.

“I should do my best, right?”

Another blue slash was fired.

The slash, tearing through the air, rapidly advanced toward the demon. It twisted its body to avoid the attack, then leaped into the air with a roar, kicking off the ground.

-Crash!

The sound of breaking glass was clearly heard.

Glass shards sparkled on the floor of the central plaza.

Weeds, soaked in glass fragments and potion, grew vigorously and struck the airborne demon, pushing it far away.

Seeing this, Francesca threw away the pieces of the vial she had just broken.

“You worm-like bitch, how dare you…!”

The enraged demon swung its leg in mid-air.

Black energy, much faster than the blue slash just fired, poured down on Francesca.

“Administrator…!”

“I’m fine!”

Francesca, who had barely avoided the attack by bending her waist backward, adjusted her grip on her sword and raised her voice:

“Attack!”

Blue slashes began cutting through the air.

Despite being fired from an unstable posture, the accuracy and power were quite high.

Lucia struck the air with her fist to hit the demon. When her knuckled hand beat the air, pieces of the demon’s flesh fell off like rotten tree bark.

Blood vessels popped on the demon’s forehead from the unexpected attack.

“I’ll tear you to pieces, bitch!”

Just as vulgar curses were about to pour out, two gunshots crossed the ruins, silencing the demon.

-Bang! Bang! Bang!

-Ratatata!

Camilla and I showered the demon with gunfire. The consecrated bullets tore the emaciated body to shreds.

As soon as the bullets ran out, flames surged to engulf the demon. The blazing fire seemed ready to roast it alive.

While Camilla controlled the flames with gritted teeth, blue slashes and white fists headed toward the demon.

When Francesca smashed a vial on the floor, tiles rose and roots shot up. The rapidly growing plants stretched toward the demon.

Someone was running, using those vines as stepping stones.

-Whoosh!

A long leg drew a half-moon.

As the pure white cassock fluttered in the rough wind, Lucia’s kicked leg advanced toward the demon’s abdomen, drawing an elegant curve.

A trail of white light followed the path of her foot.

As if this attack couldn’t be allowed, the demon recited a strange incantation to draw in surrounding junk and create a shield.

-Crash!

When the kicked leg met the shield of junk, shockwaves spread in all directions.

Like waves hitting a breakwater, the holiness around her leg, except for a small part, couldn’t even touch the demon’s hair.

Only a tiny amount of holiness that broke through the weak part of the shield and flowed in tickled the demon’s face.

It seems there was a rejection reaction even with that tiny bit of holiness.

“Hmm…”

The demon, grinning while feeling the stinging pain, suddenly noticed something approaching and widened its eyes.

Seen through the gaps of the collapsed shield was a bumpy, uneven concrete.

To be precise, it was a huge concrete fist.

The fist that touched the shield made of piled junk crushed the layers of junk and pushed the demon away.

-Thud!

Watching the demon being pushed away and tumbling onto the pile of corpses, Francesca leisurely put her hand in her pocket.

Beside her stood a massive golem made of concrete and rebar.

“The best way to hunt a demon is to set fire to a pile of firewood.”

Francesca’s gaze turned to us.

“Hero, Saint.”

The alchemist said:

“Want to try a witch hunt?”

Meanwhile, the demon, having regained consciousness, pieced together its broken and twisted bones.

“Ugh…”

When it raised its head while groaning in pain, what its black eyes saw was an array of vigorously grown plants.

And from above, descending Bible pages and flickering flames.

-Whistle~!

Green chains shackled its legs.

Scattered cursed lilies stuck to its skin, searing it.

And a red snake approaching, flicking its tongue.

The demon, gritting its teeth hard enough to break them, widened its bloodshot eyes. It tried to grab and tear off the Bible pages sticking to it and causing pain.

However, the holy scripture did not allow the intrusion of evil hands.

-Sizzle!

As soon as the skeletal hand touched the edge of the paper, terrible smoke rose, and searing pain engulfed the demon.

In the end, the demon had no choice but to take its hands off the Bible. It was a quick surrender.

Instead, it tried to clear away the plants binding its legs before the flames engulfed it.

Just as its sharply honed fingers were about to tear at the vigorously grown plants, a consecrated bullet lodged in the back of its hand.

There was no time to check whose doing it was. When it looked up, the red snake had already approached within reach.

The red snake, crawling up the pile of stones, bit the demon’s leg with a snap.

Eventually, when the red snake began to flick its tongue and burn the green firewood piled at the demon’s feet,

-Whoosh!!

The flames surged fiercely upward, upward in an instant.

Francesca swung her rune sword to collapse the ceiling structure. The metal structure, barely hanging by electrical wires, was cut by the blue slash and fell onto the demon’s head.

Boom! A tremendous impact shook the ruins. The scattered dust engulfed the entire plaza, causing coughing, but the flames trapped in the iron cage didn’t diminish at all.

The momentum of the flames, spreading at the speed of light and burning the demon, was so tremendous that even we, who had launched the attack, stepped back in fear.

“Did we get it?!”

“Keep your mouth shut, Camilla!”

We surrounded the burning demon in a semicircle, looking at each other’s faces with tense expressions.

The demon burning with plants as firewood, the mountain of corpses behind it, the ruins of grand scale. Everything before our eyes felt like an unreal fantasy.

But all of this was clearly vivid reality.

And as always, reality approached us with a cruel and miserable appearance.

“Uh, what, what is that!”

Camilla’s terrified voice came as she watched the burning demon.

Following her pointing finger in disbelief, I saw the form of the demon trapped in the blazing flames.

The demon, sitting in the flames waiting for death, reached its hands above its head.

And when its hands touched the metal structure,

-Crunch!

The iron cage pressing down on the demon was grotesquely crushed.

The solid metal structure was crushed, crumbled, and ground in the skeletal grip.

“I acknowledge it.”

The demon, who had lightly broken the iron cage as if tearing soft paper, slowly rose from the blazing flames.

“Only the despicable god’s servant who brought down the stars and the one who brought a swarm of locusts to the desert empire have ever cornered me like this.”

The black eyes swirled with emotion. Joy, anger, expectation, desire, pleasure.

A wave of countless emotions passing by in a brief moment.

The demon, who had shed tears of joy, wiped its face with its skeletal fingers.

Then it rolled its coldly settled gaze to look at me.

“But first, I must settle my debts.”

A black crystal-covered arm descended from the air.

At that moment, Lucia, who had rushed out from behind, blocked the oncoming attack with her Bible.

“Ugh!”

A huge hand fell on the white barrier.

Boom! The earth shook and the building trembled. Even though it didn’t directly hit the ground, the demon’s attack was terrifyingly powerful.

“I!”

Black crystals fell with a thud, and the fist was raised.

“Will not stop!”

The earth flipped over.

It was beyond difficult to stand still; my two feet lifted off the ground. Floating in the air, I was thrown down and rolled on the floor.

A shout full of anger echoed through the ruins.

“I will tear that abominable enemy to pieces! And reclaim my throne! You will be the cornerstone and the sacrifice!”

Merciless punches began to rain down. The demon raised both arms and pounded the floor. Crawling on the floor like being in a bombing scene, I spotted the fallen radio and crawled toward it.

Just then, Francesca’s shout clearly came through the roaring noise from afar.

“Corpse explosion…!”

The alchemist warned.

“Everyone, get down!”

Looking up, I saw corpses raining from the sky. The demon had grabbed monsters that hadn’t been absorbed and corpses that hadn’t awakened, and threw them straight at us.

“I’ll crush you!”

The falling corpses began to swell.

Like balloons being inflated, the corpses rapidly swelled. Black energy flowed from every orifice as the flesh stretched to its limit. Soon, the skin reached its critical point and tore with a horrible sound, and bombs covered in entrails, flesh, and blood exploded above our heads.

-!!!!!

Intense roaring pounded our eardrums, and disgusting byproducts hit the barrier.

Francesca tried to intercept the corpses that hadn’t yet exploded by firing blue slashes at them, but it wasn’t enough.

As I rolled on the floor and frantically tried to get up, sound began to come from the radio I was gripping tightly.

-‘Major!’

It was Veronica’s radio transmission.

-‘I can see the demon in the department store from my position! If you can adjust the position, I can shoot and hit it!’

“…How should I adjust it!”

-‘East! Look at the east side windows!’

As she said, when I looked at the east windows, something shiny was stuck to the glass.

It was light.

A faint beam of light penetrated the glass, pointing to a spot in the central plaza.

The distance was quite close. If the demon moved just a little, it would enter the range of the light beam.

Picking up the fallen rifle, I positioned myself and shouted to the three:

“Everyone, draw its attention!”

Hearing my shout, the group summoned their strength.

White holiness was fired. The radiance that struck the demon’s face instantly took away its sight. Lucia deactivated her barrier, rushed out, and fired holiness at the demon’s face.

Something rushed at the demon as it staggered backward.

A golem hastily created by alchemizing concrete and rebar. Stomping the floor with heavy steps, the golem pushed the demon with all its might, colliding with the flesh mass.

-Whoosh~!

Behind the demon, a massive wall of fire was erected.

Camilla, sweating profusely, blocked the demon from escaping elsewhere. Then she adjusted the flames to gradually corner it.

Lucia and Francesca also drove the demon in their own ways. Holiness rose like a tidal wave from her leg kicked in a half-moon shape, shattering the black crystals, and the swung blade glowed blue, cutting through the flesh mass.

“Argh!”

Just as the demon, gradually regaining its sight, widened its eyes,

A butterfly fluttered past its face.

The butterfly, soaring gracefully, crossed the air with elegant wing movements. Captivated by its beautiful appearance, the demon was momentarily distracted.

As it turned its head to follow the trail of the silky wings and artistic patterns, a beam of light tickled the demon’s eyes.

And then,

-Bang!

A single gunshot echoed through the ruins,

-Crash!

One of the east side windows shattered.

And far away, on a rooftop,

A saint with a sphere of the Holy Spirit’s power in her chest closed one eye gently while holding a revolver.

“Got you.”

Click, the moving trigger.

Continued firing.

The muzzle flame exploded, and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.

The fired silver bullet crossed the southern district of Orbentsk under the faint moonlight, passing through the broken window.

“No, no!”

Two arms flailed in resistance to the approaching death. The grotesque flesh mass writhed.

The silver bullet, carrying pristine holiness, struck the demon’s heart.

*

The attack hit.

Veronica’s silver bullet, carrying a pure white light, flew across the night sky like a meteor shower and pierced the demon’s chest.

It was the heart.

The demon, with both arms raised high, threw its head back. Its wide-open mouth showed no signs of closing, and its bulging eyes were filled with shock and terror.

Plop.

The black crystals that had sprouted on its skin lost their strength and fell. The crystals, which had shone like obsidian, faded in color and dropped to the ground.

Then the flesh mass began to collapse.

Like charcoal crumbling under slight pressure after even the embers had died out, the solid flesh began to turn to powder and fall. Red-black flesh turning to powder and scattering in the wind through the broken windows.

The sight was like a visualization of the annihilation of existence that philosophers had imagined.

“……”

As I watched the demon slowly disappearing, my eyes suddenly focused.

The lowered muzzle raised its head again, and the legs supporting my standing body firmly fixed my upper body.

Because the scattered flesh was gathering again.

The flesh pieces that had fallen and scattered began to clump together. Like iron filings drawn to a magnet, the red-black flesh and black crystals attracted each other and began to take shape.

“This crazy…!”

I wasn’t the only one who saw this.

“That, persistent bastard…!”

Veronica, who had sniped the demon’s heart, fired her revolver rapidly. Five silver bullets passed through the broken window and pierced the demon’s body again.

Simultaneously, vials shattered, and vigorously grown plants broke through the floor and rose, with terrible poisons beginning to dissolve the gathering flesh. Barriers also appeared here and there to prevent the flesh from joining.

And intense flames engulfed the massive flesh mass.

-Whoosh!

The surging flames completely covered the demon’s body and grotesque flesh masses. The swirling flames burned more fiercely than ever.

The flames rising on the hot air resembled a massive hurricane.

Camilla controlled the flames with blood seeping from her gritted gums.

Veronica’s enraged voice came through the radio.

-‘That bastard is already dead! This is just its final struggle! If you keep it from escaping, it will definitely disappear. So—’

However,

-Boom!

An explosion occurred, and flesh masses scattered everywhere.

The flesh masses with sharp crystals embedded didn’t distinguish between friend and foe, living or non-living. Crystals as thick as forearms tore through steel plates, and fist-sized crystals grazed legs.

Francesca tried to intercept the flesh masses by swinging her rune sword but was hit in the head by a bouncing fragment, losing her balance and rolling on the floor. Lucia, who was praying to deploy a barrier, collided with a flesh mass larger than a car and was buried in the collapsed ruins.

“Damn…!”

I hid behind cover, avoiding the falling crystals and fragments. And in the distance, I discovered Camilla, who had lost consciousness and collapsed.

Perhaps from handling too much flame, she was already unconscious. Left like that, her life might be in danger. I abandoned the safe cover and, breaking through the storm of falling fragments, dragged her to a safe place.

After the storm continued for quite some time and gradually subsided,

“Ugh…!”

The demon standing on the flesh mass, which had melted like ice cream, began to groan in pain. It had a hole in its chest, and its body had long been in tatters.

“How dare, how dare you! You worms dare to interfere with me!”

“……”

“No matter what, without fail! You will all die here—!”

I raised my head and looked at the sky with a dazed mind.

Embers were falling from the sky like heavy snow.

Due to the flesh pieces with unextinguished flames scattering in all directions, fires had already spread throughout the department store. The fire licked its tongue, threatening to devour everything as it spread upward, upward.

While Camilla’s controlled flames had been so reliable,

Flames without their master were merely a disaster.

The spreading fire threatened everyone’s lives as it spread in all directions.

Holes formed in clothes where embers landed, and the heat made skin tingle and hurt, but trapped in the flames, I had no thoughts.

“……”

The sky with falling embers, the collapsing ruins.

The barrier protecting us from the demon’s attacks and flames had long disappeared. Looking now, even the department store’s roof was completely open.

The night sky with the Milky Way visible through the gaping hole. Stars twinkling in the darkness seemed about to pour down on our heads.

A massive shadow slowly covering that starlight.

While black flesh and crystals fell from the grotesquely raised arm,

The demon, with black eyes full of malice, spat out one last sentence in a voice choked with anger:

“Be crushed—!”

Looking at the massive flesh mass descending,

I slowly closed my eyes.

*

-Flutter.

At that moment, I clearly felt a subtle sensation pressing against my skin.

Opening my eyes, what I saw was still the demon’s massive arm descending. And a butterfly that had landed on the back of my hand.

…No, not just one.

There was a butterfly on Camilla’s forehead as she lay in my arms, on Francesca’s shoulder as she wiped away blood, and on Lucia’s knee as she sat leaning against the wall, catching her breath.

Four butterflies closing their wings with elegant grace.

“……”

Not understanding, I instinctively checked Francesca’s face, wondering if the butterflies were sent by her.

But the emotions on Francesca’s face were only subtle. Confusion, surprise, shock. Many emotions passed by in a brief moment. I instinctively realized that these butterflies were not Francesca’s.

Then whose?

As such thoughts crossed my mind,

A beautiful woman’s voice was heard.

“I’m sure I told you, that’s not how you handle fire.”

Whoosh!

A massive pillar of fire poured down from the sky.

The flames passing through the open ceiling from the dark night sky were blue. Blue flames.

Unlike Camilla’s flames that rose upward, the blue flames didn’t rise. Like a waterfall flowing to the ground, they spread along the floor and to the sides the moment they reached the ground.

Despite the hot flames approaching so close, strangely, no heat was felt. The butterfly on the back of my hand was elegantly fluttering its wings as if cooling off the heat.

“……”

As I instinctively lowered my gaze following the pouring blue flames, I saw the back of a woman blocking the way in front of me.

The burning demon.

The surprised Lucia.

Veronica, who had rushed in with a shotgun, looking shocked. Francesca, wide-eyed and slightly parting her lips in a daze.

Eventually, the woman who had been standing with her back turned slightly turned her head to look at me.

Having felt a strange sense of déjà vu from the blue flames, I finally understood the entire situation unfolding before me when I faced the woman directly.

I had to.

“You never listen, just like Kolya.”

Silver hair as if woven from melted silver.

Blue eyes as if sapphires were embedded.

“It’s been a while.”

The hero of the so-called “Independence War,” the Magic Tower-Church War.

One of the 17 Great Arch-Magicians.

The great scholar who established elemental magic, and the first head of the Elemental School, one of the three major schools of the Magic Tower.

The aunt of Emperor Nikolai VI of the Kien Empire.

The master of Novo-Nikolayevsk, the vast snowy plains, and the Naroda Mountains.

“Alexandra Smirnov.”

The Grand Duchess of the North.

“That is my name.”

She was a living legend.

## Episode 12 – The Greatest Magician in History – END –