Chapter 181: The Night of the Full Moon – Middle (6)
by fnovelpia
Hour One of the Invasion – In Front of the School Auditorium
“Alright, Squad 2, fall back and take a break! Squad 3, step forward!”
“The enemy’s momentum is fading! We can do this! Let’s go!”
The teachers, desperately holding the defensive line, were beginning to grasp a glimmer of hope—they might actually win this battle.
At the start of the fight, the situation had seemed utterly hopeless.
No matter how many shadow fiends they cut down, they endlessly regenerated from the darkness, while the defenders—being mortal—gradually accumulated fatigue and injuries.
At this rate, the defense would inevitably collapse. Everyone had believed that.
But the tide of battle shifted the moment the world’s greatest archmage stepped onto the frontlines.
“Sunburst.”
BOOM!!!
A blinding, radiant explosion ripped through the darkness. The shadow fiends charging forward melted away as if exposed to searing flames.
In their place, clay golems advanced, reinforcing the defensive line.
These constructs took over as the vanguard, absorbing enemy assaults in place of the exhausted teachers.
Renowned mages often had their own areas of expertise—specific fields where they were unmatched.
Mana’s specialties were creation magic and protective magic. In these two fields, not even Sion could surpass her.
Against an enemy that constantly regenerated, they needed soldiers that wouldn’t tire.
Clay golems were perfect for the job—not only were they incredibly durable, but since they were made of earth, they could simply be reassembled and hardened again if damaged.
While the golems tanked the attacks, the assault team of teachers charged in, cutting down enemies with precision. It was a perfect system.
Whoever had cast this spell, it wouldn’t last forever. But at the very least, by dawn—when the darkness lifted—the shadow fiends would lose their form and vanish.
All they had to do was hold out until then. They could win.
They could protect the school without further casualties. Everyone believed it. Everyone hoped.
Until that moment.
“….?!”
Mana’s expression suddenly changed as she cast spells from the rooftop. Without hesitation, she leaped down, slamming her staff into the ground.
Her urgent voice rang out.
“Everyone, gather near me! Quickly!”
“Huh? What’s going on—?”
Sally turned to ask, but then—
Shaaaa….!
In an instant, the world was bathed in an eerie red light. A suffocating pressure enveloped everything.
It felt as though the entire space had been submerged in an invisible ocean. A thick flood of oppressive magic threatened to drown them.
And worst of all, a sickening sensation crawled over their skin, as if their very life force was being siphoned away.
Sally staggered, her face pale.
“Wh-what is this…?”
“It’s Drain. Whoever it is, they’re definitely draining all our energy”
Mana bit her lip, fury flashing in her eyes.
“Someone is casting a life-draining spell over the entire school, siphoning our energy!”
She grasped her staff, chanting another spell.
“Protective Wards.”
A new surge of magic rippled outward from her staff.
Unlike the sticky, sinister red energy, this power was pure, refreshing, and blue—forming a protective barrier that shielded the allies within.
Yet, despite the ward being in place, the school-wide Drain effect wasn’t completely neutralized. Even the world’s greatest defensive magician was struggling to push it back.
Mana staggered, an unspoken scream caught in her throat.
‘No…! The absorption force is too strong—I can’t block it all…!
Who could possibly cast a spell of this magnitude?’
She knew remnants of the Demon Lord’s army still existed. She had even heard of new commanders rising in their ranks.
But she had never imagined their power could be this great.
She had assumed they were mere remnants—never that they would be stronger than her in her own domain.
‘This is cheating. This is absurd.’
Not even in her adventures with Lier, not even at the very end when she had faced Sion in battle, had she experienced a spell of this magnitude.
A power she had never encountered before.
Could it be—?
‘No. That’s impossible.
No one could be stronger than Sion… No one.’
Mana shook her head fiercely, dispelling the terrifying thought.
Regardless, there was only one course of action now.
She had to trust Sion.
She had to hold the line, protect the others, and endure.
‘Please, Sion. Our fate rests in your hands. Don’t lose. No matter what.’
Sion immediately sensed the change in the battlefield.
The very air around her had shifted—sharpened black energy now replaced by a thick, suffocating red mist.
Her expression hardened.
“Life absorption… a Drain spell? One cast without direct contact?”
“…Oh my, as expected of you, Father. You saw through it instantly.”
A sultry voice echoed through the crimson haze.
“As you guessed, I’ve turned this entire school into my stage. If people wish to remain alive here… they must pay the price.”
Click.
Sion clicked her tongue, glancing down at herself.
Her body, honed and battle-hardened, could still function in this hostile environment.
But the others weren’t as fortunate.
The students, of course, were helpless. Even Mana, a mage by nature, lacked the physical endurance to withstand this magic for long—especially after already fighting for so long.
This needed to end. And fast.
Sion tightened her grip on her sword, leveling it at Raizein.
“I see. Then I have no choice but to finish this quickly—”
THH!!
“!?”
A flash of movement.
Before she could react, Raizein had closed the distance instantly.
Sion barely managed to raise her sword in time to block Raizein’s strike—pure reflex saving her from a lethal hit.
But that was all it was.
Reflex.
She hadn’t even seen her move.
And she hadn’t let her guard down for even a second.
What on earth just happened?
“Aren’t you underestimating me a bit too much, Father?”
Raizein sneered as she pressed Sion down with her shadow-cloaked claws.
“I’ve absorbed the energy of everyone in this school. I wasn’t able to drain all of it due to some interference, but I still managed to plunder more than enough.
Where do you think all that energy went? You don’t actually believe I just stored it away neatly, do you?”
“You…!!”
With a furious expression, Sion swung her sword. Raizein’s body split in two and collapsed right on the spot.
Even after enhancing her defenses, she was still getting cut down in a single strike.
It was exactly the same as before. However—
“Hehe, that method won’t work anymore, Father♪.”
Just before Sion could land her second strike, Raizein smoothly melted into the shadows and slipped behind her, whispering with a grin.
“If you can’t stop regeneration, then kill over and over until regeneration is no longer possible.”
“Quite the clever solution. And if it’s you, Father, it might have actually worked.
But that logic only holds if you have a clear speed advantage to completely shut down my counterattacks, right?
If my regeneration speed surpasses the number of attacks you can land… then—”
Squelch!
A shadowy blade pierced straight through Sion’s side.
“In that case, it’s a completely meaningless tactic. Don’t you agree?”
“Urgh…!?!?”
Sion clutched at the wound and let out a pained groan. Yet, even through the searing pain, she managed to maintain focus and instinctively cast a spell.
A short-range teleportation spell—Blink.
Flash!
The distance between Sion and Raizein widened once again.
But unlike before, this time, it was Sion who was injured.
The tables had completely turned. The advantage had flipped.
-“S-Sion?! Are you okay?! Didn’t she just stab you?!”
“I’m… fine. For now.”
The wound could be closed by mimicking a major healing spell with Major Creation. That was the whole point of learning the technique in the first place.
More importantly, the enemy in front of her was the bigger problem.
“Hehehe…”
Raizein let out a satisfied laugh.
She looked down at the pained Sion with a relaxed, mocking gaze.
“Well then, I’ve revealed my trump card. Now, the situation is perfectly in my favor.
Do you have one, Father? A method to overcome this predicament?
Go ahead and bring it out. Anything will do. I wouldn’t want this waltz to end too soon, after all~.”
“….Damn it.”
Sion pondered as she regenerated her wound with magic.
A way to fight back? Of course, there was. There were plenty of enhancement spells she could use.
She could boost her speed with acceleration magic, slow Raizein down with debuffs, or even transform into a dragon and crush everything outright.
The problem was that Raizein would expect all of it.
She had read Sion’s grimoire and learned Black Parade from it. That meant she knew all the spells Sion did.
And if she knew the spells Sion could use, she could just Dispel them. Nullify them entirely.
In other words, using magic to turn the tide was pointless. A waste of mana.
There was no time to think. She had to act before Raizein attacked again.
And the best option she could think of at this moment—
‘I need to retreat from here! If I keep fighting like this, I’ll lose for sure!
I have to get out of her sight, hide, and wait for the right moment to launch a surprise attack. That’s my only chance.’
Sion quickly made her decision and moved her hand to cast a spell.
A 5th-circle teleportation spell—Teleport.
As long as she could escape this location, the rest—
“Where do you think you’re going? Shadow Division!!”
But Raizein was faster.
Just before Sion could complete her spell, Raizein spread her shadows wide, engulfing the entire area.
A solid, dome-shaped barrier.
Even the faint moonlight that had been shining through the forest disappeared, leaving Sion in total darkness.
At the same time, her teleportation spell was completely nullified.
“!? What the—?!”
“Hehe.
You can’t just run away with the enemy right in front of you.
That’s not how this works.
You and I are going to stay here forever. That’s the fate you were given, Father.”
Raizein smiled sweetly.
“Shadow Division—an 8th-tier spell that isolates the space it engulfs into another dimension.
Now that we’re in a separate phase of reality, escape is impossible. Neither physically nor magically.”
“..!!”
Sion channeled all her mana into her sword and struck at the barrier with full force.
Boom!
A powerful impact resounded.
But, just as Raizein had said, the wall didn’t even crack.
Seeing that, she giggled.
“Oh my, trying the obvious answer right away? You’re quite the experimenter.
Or do you just not trust me?
Well, now you know. No matter how much you struggle, you can’t escape this space.
Not unless you defeat me first.”
“…….”
Sion gazed at Raizein beyond the darkness.
There wasn’t a single light to be seen, but darkness wouldn’t affect her perception.
Even with her sight cut off, she could still detect her enemy through sound, magic, and intuition.
However, there was a problem—
Her opponent was someone who fought using the darkness itself.
She had drained energy to strengthen herself and even created a battlefield entirely in her favor.
“…Aren’t you being too greedy? You didn’t have to go this far.”
“Ahaha, what are you talking about? Against you, Father, nothing is ever ‘too much.’
I already let my guard down once and nearly lost without being able to do a thing.
This time, I’ll fight with everything I have. Without a single moment of carelessness.”
Raizein stepped forward, approaching her slowly.
Step. Step. Step. Step.
“……..”
—Ever since becoming the Demon King, Sion had never even considered the possibility of losing.
The seven generals under her command, the dragons of Elpidion, the hero’s party—
None of them had truly been able to defeat her.
Even in her final battle against Lier, she had been holding back, at least to some extent.
But now, for the first time—
Sion felt it.
The possibility of her own defeat.
That something she had always believed impossible…
Might actually become reality.
And the one to bring forth that possibility…
Grinned, as if she found Sion’s fear utterly delightful.
“Well then… please don’t die too easily, Father.”
A cold sweat formed on Sion’s hand as she gripped Exia tighter.
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