'I'm in peak condition right now,' Megumi announced first thing in the morning, absolutely brimming with fighting spirit. She stood in the middle of the living room, covering her left eye with one hand and laughing with theatrical menace. 'Combined with my True Crimson Flame Staff, I'll be able to unleash the most perfect Explosion magic imaginable!'
'You've sure got energy, Megumi.'
Jhin had woken up early to prepare breakfast, but this morning's meal had turned out a little different from usual. As it happened, Megumi — for all her chunibyo posturing — was surprisingly capable in the kitchen. The moment she'd woken up and spotted Jhin already at work, she'd volunteered to help, and taken the opportunity to get acquainted with the villa's modern cooking equipment.
'Of course I have energy,' Megumi said proudly, chin raised high. She was just about to pull out her staff and strike a heroic pose when something crucial occurred to her. 'Um... Jhin, have you seen my [True Crimson Flame Staff]?'
'Hmm? There wasn't anything that looked particularly flashy lying around when we found you.'
'No — the [True Crimson Flame Staff] has had its eye-catching appearance sealed away. To anyone else, it just looks like an ordinary wooden magic staff.'
'I honestly didn't notice anything like that. Wait until Pecorine and Kokkoro wake up and ask them.'
'Fine.'
Megumi hadn't shown even a flicker of panic over losing her staff, which Jhin found a little strange. He asked her, 'Megumi — can you still cast magic without your staff?'
'I can. I can't speak for other mages, but everyone from the Crimson Demon Clan can cast barehanded.'
'Then you don't really need a staff at all, do you?'
Megumi instantly went ballistic. 'Jhin, you just don't get it! Explosion magic is only real Explosion magic when you cast it with a staff in hand. Casting barehanded is like a body with no soul — it means nothing!'
'Master, Megumi — good morning.'
'Morning, Kokkoro.'
'Morning.'
Shortly after Kokkoro emerged from her room, the remaining two followed. After a simple breakfast, Megumi asked both Pecorine and Kokkoro about the whereabouts of her [True Crimson Flame Staff] — but neither of them had seen anything that looked like a magic staff.
'That's strange. I could have sworn I left it right beside me.' Megumi's brow creased into a deep frown. Without her staff, there was absolutely no way she could cast Explosion magic.
Does this mean I'm going to lose today's duel without even fighting?
'Let's just go back to where we found you and have another look around.'
'I suppose that's all we can do.'
'Kyaru — no objections?'
'None.'
The group made their way back to yesterday's cliff. There, they found the staff Megumi called her [True Crimson Flame Staff] — which looked, for all the world, like a cheap wand whittled from a thick piece of rough wood.
It had been found wedged upright at the entrance to the cliff, blending so perfectly with its surroundings that, without Megumi's intimate familiarity with her own weapon, no one would ever have identified the dried-branch-looking thing as a magic staff.
'At last, you've returned to my side — True Crimson Flame Staff.'
'That's just... a regular staff.' Kyaru, as a fellow mage, genuinely could not stomach Megumi giving a name like that to what was clearly an ordinary stick.
Megumi, however, had never cared even slightly about other people's opinions. She hoisted the weapon above her head triumphantly. 'Mere mortals cannot perceive its true form. Only I, its master, can recognise its singular presence through its disguise!'
'Can we just get to the duel already.' Kyaru had seen enough — this Crimson Demon Clan mage was not quite right in the head.
'Fair enough! The peak of this world is the perfect stage to display the splendour of our magic!' Megumi twirled the staff twice in her palm, then slapped her hand over her left eye with absolute confidence. 'Let's see whose magic packs the bigger punch. One shot each — that's the rule.'
'Fine by me. Then let's begin.'
Kyaru finished speaking, gripped the wand that bore her spellbook, and began her chant. Ring after ring of incantations materialized around an expanding sphere of violet light high in the distant sky.
She channelled two-thirds of her mana into the spell and stopped there — she'd already hit the ceiling of what she could safely control. Pushing any further risked losing control entirely, which would be the same as handing Megumi the victory outright.
'Guren Burst!'
Boom.
The shockwave from the explosion rolled outward in successive waves, crashing over everyone standing on the clifftop. Kyaru's [Guren Burst] was devastatingly powerful — at the very least, its area-of-effect damage far surpassed anything Jhin, Pecorine, or Kokkoro could match.
'Now it's my turn.' Megumi paid absolutely no attention to the self-satisfied look Kyaru was sending her way. She was already somewhere else entirely — sinking into the private world that existed the moment before she unleashed Explosion magic.
With a single step forward, the entire atmosphere around her shifted. She became something different from her usual self — like a seasoned hunter locking onto prey, radiating fierce, unshakeable confidence. Her crimson eyes blazed with a light that was striking even in full daylight.
'Master, this is a trait of the Crimson Demon Clan,' Kokkoro murmured, stepping close to explain to a wide-eyed Jhin. 'Their eyes emit light when their emotions run high.'
'Wait — Crimson Demon Clan?' The words hit Kyaru like a bucket of cold water. Down at the bottom of the cliff, she'd only caught fragments of their conversation — she'd had no idea at all that Megumi was a Crimson Demon. A cold sweat broke out across her skin. This is bad. 'The clan where literally everyone is a Arch-Mage??'
Don't tell me I've just walked headfirst into a wall of iron.
'Crimson that tears the sky,
True flames that burn all things,
The spider lily that buries all life—'
As Megumi chanted, the crimson rings Jhin knew so well rose into being one after another, stacking in a vertical column, pulsing in perfect rhythm. An inexhaustible torrent of mana condensed into a deep-blue luminous fluid that surged continuously into the staff.
'The scorching raging dragon shall roar here,
Shattering space and time—
This is the ultimate attack magic.
Manifest!
Explosion!'
For one suspended instant, the very concept of sound vanished from the world — and then it came crashing back, an eye-searing white detonation slamming into everyone's eardrums, nearly bursting their hearing entirely.
'Everyone get behind me!' Jhin summoned his Substitute and planted it at the front to intercept the shower of stone and splintered timber hurtling toward them. Megumi, who was about to get blown off her feet by her own shockwave, was snagged by the collar, spun around, and deposited squarely into Kokkoro's arms. 'Kokkoro — keep an eye on her!'
'Yes, Master.'
When the aftershocks finally settled, Jhin turned around, looking thoroughly dishevelled. 'Everyone alright?'
'Master — no one is injured. Megumi has lapsed into her immobilised state again, but that's all.'
'Good.'
Pecorine brushed the dust off herself and let out an impressed sigh. 'That's the most destructive magic I've ever witnessed in my life. Incredible!'
Kyaru's staff hit the ground with a flat crack, kicking up a puff of ash. Every ounce of strength seemed to drain out of her at once — she sank bonelessly to the ground, sitting in the dirt, her tail — which was always carried with such proud hauteur — now hanging limp and defeated against the earth.
I accepted her challenge without doing proper research. Now what? If I can't join the guild, I'll have no way to complete the mission His Majesty gave me.
Jhin dusted off his hands and announced the verdict with a light clap. 'Congratulations to you both — you've successfully joined our guild.'
'...What?' Kyaru looked up at him in genuine confusion. 'Wasn't it only supposed to be one person?'
____
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