'Is this it?' Akeru didn't need to look to feel death creeping in.
His life flashed—he cut it short.
'Fucking THINK. Go with that mode.' Akeru quickly decided, activating multiple spells from his grimoire.
He triggered '3D Witness', then half-cast 'Bystander's Indifference'.
Finally, he unleashed 'Still Spectator'.
...
Nothing happened.
'Why the hell isn't it working? Isn't near-death enough?' Akeru panicked, fear creeping in as he was unable to enter the cheat-like state he had entered during his battle with Malgeth.
WHOOSH
Through '3D Witness', he saw someone slam the wormhole shut.
BOOOM
The light cannon struck elsewhere, carving a trench—more like a new terrain.
Akeru stared at the result and gulped.
'Even my ashes wouldn't survive that.'
He turned toward the new presence.
'Didn't think I'd ever say this, but—'
"I love you, Langris!"
"!!???" Langris blinked, baffled.
Akeru's gaze went to the people behind him.
A trio was accompanying him, with a vermilion-haired girl at the centre.
She stared at Akeru, unreadable.
'Shit…' Akeru swallowed hard.
In the next instant, his eyes widened in horror.
Light swords rushed toward her back.
Langris hadn't noticed them.
'I FUCKING HATE YOU, Langris' Akeru cursed.
---
It was a normal day for Mimosa. A normal mission that involved the investigation of the bandit hideouts.
Then it wasn't.
"So, why are you accompanying us?"
"Aww, you are making me feel like I am unneeded here. As your senior, it's my responsibility to look after you guys and guide you." Langris replied with his signature fake smile.
"He's sometimes incompetent—"
"Hey—"
"But most of the time he is reliable," Mimosa said without looking at Klaus, who had his shoulders dropped, muttering, "Am I unreliable?" or something along those lines.
"You broke him." Langris patted Klaus's shoulder. "I was just curious."
"Curious about what?"
"Curious about the holder of the four-leaf clover." He looked at Yuno, who looked back.
'Not the main reason. It was due to the Wizard King telling me to keep an eye on Yuno and assess him. The other guy with four-leaf caused so many problems.'
"It's almost natural for Yuno to gather attention, after all, he is my contractee."
Everyone unanimously ignored the wind spirit's bragging.
"So that's why you've been tagging along? Did this also lead to our mission getting quite difficult when you are accompanying us?" Mimosa suspiciously looked at him.
"No. That is all on you guys. Before me, one in three missions had already gone sideways. I am pretty surprised how you are still in one piece."
"Now it turned for every mission," Klaus muttered.
BEEP BEEP
Langris scanned the holo-screen of his communicator.
"Follow me." He instantly disappeared from the position.
Yuno created a wind platform beneath them and followed the trail left by Langris.
Around the two-minute mark, they started feeling intense mana radiating from a certain direction, which was only increasing with time.
"Are captains clashing there?" Klaus solemnly asked.
"Captain-level enemy." Mimosa corrected him, preparing herself mentally for the battle.
They reached the area, and the first thing she saw was the captain of the Black Bulls deflecting some attacks.
Her gaze shifted to an almost charred boy— except for the face.
She then recognised the face.
Her blood chilled—he looked scared for the first time.
She'd seen every expression on him—except fear.
Until now.
A space crack opened behind his head, which disappeared as soon as it appeared.
"I love you, Langris!"
She ignored that, and her eyes met his.
His expression was one of relief, which quickly changed— to a panicked one.
Suddenly, she felt a wave of heat behind her.
"You should be more aware of your surroundings. If you bring them with you, you must take responsibility." Fuegoleon appeared from behind and reprimanded Langris.
"I am sorry," Langris said without looking back.
"We will talk about this later." A lion's face formed in front of him, biting at the person, who vanished next second.
"Is he not affected by our mana zone?"
"Yes. I cannot control the mana surrounding all three of them." Langris confirmed.
Another presence entered the battlefield.
"What is the status?"
"We just got here. Yami's in trouble." Fuegoleon pointed towards him, his body having multiple bleeding cuts.
"How disgraceful." 'Uhh, why did Yami have to be present here? And why is he shirtless?'
Charlotte tried her best to look at anything but Yami's body.
BOOOOM
Everyone turned their head towards the source of the sound.
Akeru could be seen holding a pink-haired woman's neck.
Looking closely, he was trying to squeeze her neck to oblivion.
However, multiple tendrils of light were holding him from behind, and multiple light swords were embedded in his body.
There were countless holes in his body.
At this point, it was hard to differentiate his body from the hole itself.
Azure claws met with the fire surrounding the girl— steam forming around them.
"Why won't you die? Please die for me." Akeru's neck rotated so many times in a second— his bones breaking and joining each second.
He dodged multiple light swords aimed at his neck in that time.
"I could say the same to you. How can you use our speciality?" Rhya said, multiple earthen lances clashing with a claw made of yellow lightning.
"By copying you, duh."
Rhya found himself speechless at his answer.
'Is this how everyone feels when I can use their magic?'
Akeru internally smirked. 'Upgrading Mana Method had been on my to-do list for so long. The only reason I could compete with mid-ranking devils till now is due to my techniques. My mana always held me back.
I initially suspected that I needed to increase my understanding of mana, which is kind of true, as I wouldn't have been able to copy what these Elves can do. I would have probably been able to reach this level after some time in advanced mastery of the Rune Array. However, their presence speeded up that.'
Rhya charged up another light cannon, only for the lightning claw to neutralise it.
"I think I need to get some more variety." Rhya disappeared from the position and appeared beside Charlotte, his hand darting towards her grimoire.
Charlotte's eyes widened, plants around her trying to surround her, but they were not fast enough.
Click.
A clicking sound was heard throughout the clearing.
Rhya's face was ugly as he disappeared from his position, taking the severed arm along with him.
"Am I getting rusty? Why is it always the hand?" Yami wondered to himself.
"I think it's about time you get serious. I can't use spatial magic in his domain." Akeru suddenly found the water converted into ice along with his body, courtesy of Rhya.
"Ok." Suddenly, the small reptile on Fana's shoulders spewed a very concentrated fire sphere at Akeru.
BOOOM
The sound barrier broke as Akeru was hurled back like a ragdoll.
His mind flickered in and out of the heat.
He was barely able to stop himself around where the Fuegoleon was standing.
"Uhh, it fucking burns. WATER, I NEED WATER," He shouted, already instinctively creating water balls, only for them to evaporate even before reaching his head.
"CALM DOWN. You are the water mage," Fuegoleon said calmly.
"Oh." Akeru quickly created his Seraph's shell and filled it with water, which was trying its best not to get snuffed out.
Multiple light swords were heading for Akeru's head.
"Not on my watch." The vines had automatically moved even before the attacks could move, blocking them.
'Automatic mana zone? Neat.' Akeru observed the array on the floor.
His respect for light magic dropped by the second on the battlefield. It wasn't as overpowered as he initially thought it to be.
'If only he could increase the density of the light or something, even just 1 gram moving at the speed of light could cause disastrous damage.'
Akeru dispelled the shell, his body uncharred and most of his wounds healed.
"You have gotten faster," Fuegoleon commented.
A lion started hurling multiple fire projectiles in a wide area, neutralising most of the light swords.
"Mid-battle upgrade," Akeru grinned.
"I am not even surprised anymore. One of these days, you should try fighting the Wizard King. Maybe you would get an upgrade. Anyway, it seems we have a fire spirit against us."
"Yeah. Nearly lost my mind in that fire. Spirit users are so overpowered." Akeru's gaze went towards Yuno.
Sylph was going to say something, but Akeru beat her to it.
"Ahem. Matured ones, obviously."
***