Ars Goetia is the first volume of the Lemegeton, the Lesser Key of Solomon.

Its name means “the art of commanding demons.”

True to that name, it is a magical system for summoning demons.

Ludger had reinterpreted it in his own way—manifesting it as a system that commands seventy-two evil spirits.

The spell he was using now was the same kind of reinterpretation.

Ars Almadel Salomonis—the meaning of this name is “the art of the altar.”

Here, the word altar refers to a sacred altar for offerings.

And naturally—

The beings summoned through this altar were attendants of celestial power, whose nature stood in direct opposition to demons.

He wasn’t literally summoning celestial beings.

This too was a form of magical reinterpretation done in Ludger’s own unique style.

Even so, its power could never be dismissed as fake.

Ruuumble.

Four pillars rose up around Ludger.

At each of the cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west—stood a pillar of pure white marble, crowned with a statue of a winged angel.

“Come forth—guardians of the celestial directions.”

The statues began to shine, and soon, angels clad in white vestments appeared in midair.

Spring.

Raphael, of Easter.

Summer.

Uriel, of St. John’s Tide.

Autumn.

Michael, of Michaelmas.

Winter.

Gabriel, of Christmas.

Four directions.

Four elements.

Four seasons—each symbolized by one angel.

Their faces obscured by white veils, they descended solemnly, each with a halo representing their elemental domain.

Ludger, his hand still cloaked in shadow, pointed toward the golem behind Rimle.

“Go.”

The angels obeyed.

Rimle narrowed his eyes at the divine beings Ludger had summoned.

“Holy magic? ...No, it’s different.”

Rimle had seen many spells throughout his long life—and even created quite a few himself—but this was unlike anything he’d ever encountered.

Summoning evil spirits, conjuring massive golden idols, and now angels?

Yet these angels radiated a divine aura distinct from that of the Lumenis clergy.

He had met paladins, inquisitors, and priests before. He could tell.

These weren’t the soldiers of Lumenis.

And a magician couldn’t possibly summon familiars with holy power.

Even so, the sanctity he felt from these angels was no illusion.

Could they be servants of some heretical god?

“Whatever. Whether it’s some heretical god or not doesn’t matter.”

Right now, he had to eliminate those dangerous summons.

Rimle raised his staff toward the four charging angels.

GROOOAAAAR!

The golem responded with a deafening roar.

The shout itself released a massive shockwave of mana, expanding outward in concentric ripples.

But the four angels tore through the wave with ease and reached the golem.

It swung its weapon.

The ice greatsword in its left hand sliced through the air, leaving behind trails of jagged icicles.

The icicles didn’t merely form—they exploded forth like arrows toward the angels.

A barrage of glistening ice filled the sky, freezing the very air it passed through and raining down powdery frost.

The one who moved to intercept it was the angel crowned with a halo of flame.

Michael, the southern angel, master of fire.

Michael raised the scales in his left hand, tipping one side—and holy golden flames erupted like a geyser.

Unlike the searing red fire around Rimle, this flame shimmered with divine radiance.

The flames coalesced in front of Michael, spinning rapidly until they became a burning wheel of fire.

The fire wheel launched forward.

The ice it touched didn’t melt—it sublimated instantly into vapor.

ROOOAAAAR!!

The golem howled and swung its right arm.

The lightning-curved sword cleaved through the air, and thunder roared through the mansion as a storm of lightning swept forth.

This time, Raphael, haloed with wind, stepped forward.

Though known as the angel of healing, Raphael also governed the winds.

He summoned a counter-current of air against the incoming thunderstorm.

When the two opposing winds collided, the storm lost its force.

But the lightning within still flashed, loud and violent.

Now it was Uriel’s turn—guardian of earth.

A magic circle bloomed on the floor, and from it poured a massive wave of soil and stone.

Uriel didn’t stop there. He swung the sword in his hand.

Whoosh!

Crimson flames burst from the blade, seeping into the torrent of soil.

It was no longer mere earth—it had become magma.

The molten surge surged forward, pushing back the lightning and crashing toward the golem.

And Rimle.

CRAAAAAASH!!

The golem erupted with fury.

It wasn’t just being attacked—it was witnessing its own master being targeted.

A natural reaction for a magical beast.

CRACKK!

Brown wood erupted across the golem’s body, forming armor.

The golem, once a sleek white humanoid with a smooth, shark-like head, now looked like a towering knight clad in living bark.

Already terrifying, the wooden armor made it even more monstrous.

It swung its ice greatsword with brute force—chilling the surging magma and quenching its heat.

But the waves of earth still came, relentless.

The golem braced itself and tanked the blow directly.

It didn’t budge—its wooden armor rooted it deep into the ground.

The four angels targeted its hunched body.

Just then, Rimle leapt from the golem’s chest and swung his flaming staff wide.

A flaming ring traced through the air, blasting the angels backward.

Rimle didn’t stop.

He poured mana into the ring, aiming to wipe them all out in one devastating strike.

But then—

Gabriel, haloed in water, intervened.

Holding three lilies, Gabriel gave a graceful flick—and rain began to pour inside the mansion.

SHHHHHAAAAA!

A torrential downpour fell.

It extinguished Rimle’s fire, even sapping the mana ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) from the flames that had begun to take control of the battlefield.

“Not bad for a mere summon.”

Rimle focused mana into the tip of his staff and aimed at Gabriel.

If elemental force failed, then he would attack with pure, refined mana.

WHOOOSH!

The gathered mana at the tip of his staff condensed into a razor-sharp spear.

Then it spun at high speed—becoming a drill.

Rimle fired the high-penetration projectile like a bolt of lightning.

At that very moment, Ludger emerged from the shadows directly in front of Gabriel.

He surrounded them both in a sphere of shadow and spun it mid-air.

“You’re throwing your body in front of a summon? Are you insane?”

But then Rimle saw his attack curve and spiral along the surface of the sphere—diverted harmlessly away.

“...That damn beast again.”

He’d known it could warp space—but to deflect a piercing spell like that?

If space itself is twisted, then no amount of brute force matters.

Rimle pulled a potion vial from his belt and drank it.

Mana blazed from his body like wildfire.

Raindrops turned instantly to steam as they touched him, veiling the battlefield in mist.

Ludger pierced through the fog, charging straight at Rimle.

In his right hand, his sword cane.

In his left, the flowing silver blade.

Both hands moved in a blur, targeting Rimle’s vital points.

Rimle didn’t flinch. Instead of blocking, he thrust his staff like a spear.

His body, reinforced with mana, made it possible.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Blows rang out through the air.

Sparks flared. Ears rang.

And beyond them, the battle between the golem and the four angels still raged.

Rimle lifted a leg and stomped hard.

BOOM!

Mana erupted from his heel, sending Ludger’s body floating into the air.

“Rise.”

WHOOOSH!

Mana burst from the ground, transforming into roaring fire.

It consumed the carpeted floor of the mansion hall, growing ever larger.

But Ludger did not land.

Using levitation magic, he remained airborne.

The fire that now filled the mansion floor writhed with Rimle’s will—alive and thrashing.

FWOOSH!

Pillars of flame erupted throughout the mansion.

They burned with a force rivaling a fifth-tier spell—[Pillars of the Sun].

The air turned suffocatingly hot, the entire field of vision bathed in crimson.

It felt as if the space around them had become the surface of the sun in an instant.

But Ludger could endure it.

He had experienced an inferno like this once before.

Unfurling the black wings on his back, Ludger evaded the rising pillars.

The hellfire didn’t die down—in fact, it blazed even fiercer than before.

Rimle’s attack didn’t end there.

The flames began to writhe, slowly taking on form.

Within the chaotic blaze, some of the fire began moving with purpose—as if obeying a will.

Ludger’s keen eyes caught that subtle shift immediately.

“A spell?”

Not mana, but a ritual drawn with flames.

He had sensed it before—ever since Rimle manipulated threads of mana freely. His mana control was monstrous.

Of course, if Ludger had pointed that out, Rimle would have fired right back that Ludger wasn’t one to talk.

But it was already too late to stop the spell taking shape.

Approaching that searing heat now would be recklessly dangerous.

‘With magic on this scale, dodging is impossible.’

If the entire space was set ablaze, no matter how deeply he hid in shadows, it would be meaningless.

It was like being caught in a forest wildfire—you could run anywhere, but fire would be waiting for you.

Then there was only one option left—

‘Fight fire with fire.’

Ludger focused his mind and began manipulating his mana.

Intricate lines were drawn in the air, forming a ritual as beautiful and precise as constellations in the night sky.

Their gazes clashed midair.

Ludger stared straight at Rimle, standing in the center of the inferno.

The flames had transcended the world itself, now even attempting to consume Rimle along with it.

Even though it was magical fire, it felt like a physical manifestation of Rimle's psyche.

What could have angered him so much that he came to hate even himself?

Ludger didn’t bother asking.

Rimle might’ve been first to cast a ritual—but Ludger’s execution of pure mana spells was faster.

And then, at last, both of their magic completed.

Craaaack.

The ceiling above Ludger froze solid.

In stark contrast, the ground beneath Rimle became a literal hell of flame.

The heat was so intense that the floor turned molten and the very air combusted.

And then—

The two spells were unleashed simultaneously.

Sixth-tier fire magic:

[Scorching Great Hellfire Domain]

A blazing inferno, like a hell brought to earth, roared upward with a gaping maw toward the heavens.

Sixth-tier ice magic:

[Heavenly Sea Icebreaker Fleet]

BOOOOOOM!

From the sky, an immense battleship of pure ice descended with a divine trumpet blast.

Countless ice shards followed in its wake.

It looked like a frozen fleet carried forward by tidal waves of ice.

These were full-power, all-out spells—neither side holding back.

Ice clashed with flame.

────!!!!

A blinding flash, and then—an explosion.

It wasn’t just a collision of elements.

It was a clash of pure mana against pure mana.

And both were equal. Neither overwhelmed the other.

The balance eventually broke, and a violent recoil erupted.

KWA-BOOOM!

It sounded like a carpet bombing had struck.

The ceiling cracked, part of it collapsing.

The ground flipped.

Even the reinforced windows of the mansion couldn’t withstand it—they shattered into sparkling shards.

Neither Rimle's golem nor Ludger’s four summoned angels were spared from the aftermath.

The angels were the first to vanish, consumed by the explosion.

The golem tried to block with its wooden armor and crossed arms, but the force shattered the armor and swallowed it whole.

No one could move through that clash of power.

No one—except Ludger.

Slice—!

Amid the blinding white light, Ludger swung his sword cane toward where he was certain something—or someone—was.

The blinding light faded.

And in the center of the ruined epicenter, Ludger stood alone.

“...That was rough.”

Rimle was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn’t that there was no corpse—

Ludger saw the blood staining the hilt of his sword cane.

Dripping, fresh blood—a result of the slash he’d landed in the middle of that explosion.

Its owner had vanished, as if fleeing.

He should’ve chased immediately to finish it.

But he couldn’t.

He had exhausted too much power.

Rimle had likely used up the last of his strength just to escape.

“...Haaah.”

Exhaling deeply, Ludger popped a potion into his mouth.

His head throbbed from the massive expenditure of mana.

The grand hall of the mansion was in ruins, barely recognizable.

And for the first time, the mysterious energy that once filled the mansion was nowhere to be felt—not even a speck.

That meant just how intense the battle had been.

So intense it had affected the entire structure.

“Even so... I gave it my all. Not being able to settle this is still a bit of a shock.”

He muttered under his breath, staggering slightly.

Then—he felt someone supporting him.

“...Arfa?”

“Leader, are you all right? It’s over now, right?”

“As you can see.”

He glanced around at the devastation.

“...What about Grandpa Rimle?”

“He ran.”

“Then I’ll—”

“Don’t. You’ll only put yourself in danger if you move alone. He’s injured, but so are you. You won’t be able to do anything.”

“...Still.”

“And besides—if you leave me behind, who’s going to support me?”

“Are you saying you might collapse?”

“If I could, I’d do it right now.”

“Then I guess I don’t have a choice.”

Leaning on Arfa for a moment, Ludger thought of the others.

“What about Loina and Sempas?”

“Both are okay. Miss Loina's just unconscious. Mr. Sempas has some injuries, but nothing too serious.”

“...Good.”

Ludger let out a breath of relief.

RUUUMBLE!

Suddenly, the entire mansion began to shake again—much harder than before.

He wondered if they had triggered another mechanism—but this felt different.

The tremor was stronger. And longer.

Ludger furrowed his brows.

What now?