The black skull burning with green flames froze.

It wasn't just frost forming on it. The green flames themselves were completely trapped in ice, like a living specimen trapped inside a transparent glass work.

At this surreal sight, as if time had stopped, Casey looked up.

All the streams of water that Casey had drawn up from the sea and spread around had frozen solid, transforming into ice sculptures and snowflakes fell through the gaps.

Along with the gently falling snowflakes, Mariass Selmore descended even more lightly.

-Ha.

Casey twisted her lips.

"What took you so long to get here?"

"I had other places to deal with besides here~"

"Tch. If you were going to come, you should have come earlier."

Though Casey spoke that way, she secretly admired Mariass' ability to freeze all the water.

'To freeze everything in an instant. And to so easily deal with that black skull that I struggled to subdue.'

Of course, it had lost some strength fighting with her but even considering that, it was plenty strong. It had also replenished its lacking firepower by absorbing the magic of Caloto's disciple.

Yet Marias had overwhelmingly subdued it in one go.

'Even though we both hold color titles as magicians, I didn't know the gap would still be this big.'

Though she thought she had gotten stronger, Marias was still beyond that.

It wasn't like before where she had to look up at an unreachable height. She could now see her sister's level with her own eyes.

Even so, she couldn't help feeling frustrated.

'If I were to fight against sister, I would ultimately lose.'

Marias not only had better control over elements than her but above all, the poor compatibility was the biggest reason.

What Casey handles is ultimately limited to water but what Marias handles is ice and cold.

No matter how much water this side brings and uses, Marias can freeze it all and make it her own.

'Still, I have no intention of giving up.'

She'd had enough of tasting defeat.

She also keenly felt that she had been relying only on talent until now so she had no intention of experiencing the same failure as before.

"Hmm."

Marias observed through narrowed eyes as Casey clenched her fist.

She probably wasn't aware that she was showing excessive enthusiasm but Marias didn't bother to criticize that.

Rather, she wanted to praise it.

'My sister has grown quite a bit from experiencing life in the world.'

She wasn't just blindly idealistic and irresponsible like before, and had learned to face reality in her own way.

She had worried that her sister might just keep getting taken advantage of due to her unexpectedly innocent side, but looking at her now, that didn't seem to be the case.

'But right now, rather than my sister's growth, I should focus on something else.'

Marias' gaze turned to the black skull.

Though it was thoroughly trapped in ice along with the green flames, it wasn't dead yet.

-Drip.

The surface of the ice began to melt and water trickled down.

-Crash!

The black skull burst out of the ice, its green eye lights flashing.

-Whoosh!

It raised intense flames as if to express its anger.

It had been doused with water and frozen in ice and for one who raises flames with hell magic, there could be no greater humiliation.

However, at the same time, it responded cleverly, the reason being that it didn't immediately charge at Marias.

"My, my."

Marias read what it was thinking from the black skull's momentum.

"Looking at you, it seems you were born not long ago, but you already know how to use your head."

Though she spoke lightly, this was absolutely not something to take lightly.

From what she could see, it existed from birth solely to destroy everything.

Kill, burn, and leave only ashes.

The smell of death wafted from its magic but what was more dangerous was that it possessed intelligence.

What if a forest fire had will?

What if it even knew how to use deception and psychological warfare against humans?

The damage would be several times, or even dozens of times greater than ordinary natural disasters and the black skull before her eyes was far more dangerous than a forest fire with will, to the extent that it had to be subdued here in one go.

"Well, it seems I need to end this decisively here."

While saying this, Marias glanced around furtively.

Two people who should have been here were nowhere to be seen.

One was Caloto's first disciple who was still alive, the other was Rudger Chelici who had been fighting until just now.

'One ran away, and one chased after. Good judgment.'

They would only get in the way if they stayed here anyway.

"Casey. Could you step back?"

"...You're going to face it alone?"

"Yes. Maybe it's because I've been sitting around too long lately, but I feel like I need to stretch my body like this once in a while."

"Haah. Alright."

Casey obediently stepped back.

When Marias showed such firm determination, it would be difficult to even watch from the side.

Do as you please.

But that person would have to endure the winter wasteland that would follow.

'Even I don't like being cold.'

Considering the level of that skull, Marias would have to use quite a bit of power.

Thinking about the scale of her ice magic, its range would not be limited to just this logistics warehouse area.

"I'll let the agents know too."

"Yes. Please do."

Marias waved goodbye to the departing Casey without even looking back.

Marias' gaze remained fixed on the black skull throughout.

"Now then, shall we fight?"

-Whoosh!

Just as the black skull was about to attempt escape.

-Boom!

Countless huge pillars of ice fell from the sky.

"No, no."

Without raising magic, making gestures, or waving a staff.

Without any such signs, just with will alone, she created dozens of massive ice pillars in midair and drove them into the ground.

The destructive power of the massive mass and sharp ice, plus the cold that freezes to the bone.

"You won't be able to escape a single step from here."

The black skull that barely survived inside felt a chill.

That human is dangerous.

* * *

Delmart, Caloto's first disciple, ran without looking back.

'Damn it. Damn it!'

His master died, the corpse became some monster, and all the disciples who learned magic under him died but there was no sadness.

There was no camaraderie or friendship among black magicians to begin with.

Though he was the first disciple, he was well aware that it was a position he would be immediately cast out from if his skills were lacking but that's something you say when everyone is fine.

Now that everything had crumbled away into the distance, Delmart had to run to survive.

'First, I need to find somewhere to hide.'

He wasn't sure what that green monster was, but it was clearly after the hell magic he possessed.

Didn't he see with his own eyes how the second one had all his magic taken without any resistance?

If he had stayed there, he would have been next.

'Fortunately I prepared a hideout for escape in case of times like this.'

He planned to escape there first, then watch the situation before fleeing elsewhere.

Though he was at a loss for what to do next, at the same time, Delmart saw this as an opportunity.

'Master is dead, and all the other disciples are dead. I'm the only survivor. That means I'm the sole survivor of the hell magic school.'

What does being the only one mean?

It meant being the best in this field.

Of course he was lacking compared to Caloto, but he had already learned everything there was to learn theoretically.

Given enough time, he could become stronger than Caloto.

'I can revive the hell magic school!'

It wasn't pure enthusiasm about preserving the school.

The desire and expectation that he could become the best made Delmart dream of the future even in this uncertain situation.

However, Delmart overlooked one fact…the shadow of fate always grabs someone's ankle in moments like this.

"Huh?"

Delmart felt his body tilting forward.

His body fell and rolled heavily on the ground against his will.

"Why, why."

Delmart let out a shrill scream as he belatedly realized both his ankles had been cut off.

"Hiiiek! My, my legs! Wh-what happened!"

Though crying from the pain, Delmart raised his magic.

Someone cut off his ankles. So there must be an enemy nearby.

At the same time, one thought followed another.

Hadn't he seen this method just before?

His shadow on the ground rose like an awl and pierced through both of Delmart's palms.

"Kuaaaak!"

The hell magic he had barely managed to raise scattered due to the pain.

With his legs cut off and both arms restrained, Delmart was truly like an insect specimen.

"Busy running around in the middle of the night."

Then along with footsteps, a man emerged from the darkness of the alley.

"You, you are..."

Delmart's face turned as white as if he had met the grim reaper when he saw Rudger.

That man is the magician who killed all the disciples below him and turned his master into a monster.

That monster had finally come to catch him too.

Delmart instinctively realized that this guy wasn't something like a magic intelligence department agent.

He was someone who had rolled through much more terrifying muck, an existence more frightening than himself.

"Pl-please spare..."

"That depends on how you answer."

Rudger stood before Delmart, who had lost even the will to resist.

"If you answer my questions faithfully, I might be able to look the other way and let just one person slip away secretly."

"Ask anything!"

Delmart was quick-witted.

Acting up here about being an arrogant magician or whatever would only increase his own pain.

"Good that the conversation will be easy."

Rudger snapped his fingers then a warm light settled on the wounds of his severed ankles and stopped the bleeding.

At that sight, Delmart's body trembled.

Though he didn't know what power it was, it healed his wounds without being holy magic.

To Delmart, Rudger now appeared like a monster that transcended common sense.

"I know your hell magic school was residing in Isla Machina. Who chased such people out and made you come all the way here?"

"Th-that...we don't really know either."

"You don't know?"

"It-it's true! They suddenly appeared one day. We don't know where such people were hiding, but other black magic schools were helplessly defeated. There wasn't even time to resist!"

"You don't have any suspicions about their identity?"

"No, no. Ah! On-one thing! There is one thing!"

Ending the answer here would be like admitting his uselessness so Delmart wracked his brain as much as possible and recalled one thing.

"What is it?"

"Th-this is something I only heard, but I remember it because it was so unusual. At the time, strange people appeared and fought with us black magicians, and there was one particularly unusual one among them."

"An unusual one?"

"A knight wearing armor. Though he wore a hood, it couldn't hide the black armor worn underneath."

"Black armor, huh."

Rudger muttered softly at Delmart's words.

"So it was that after all."

The Black Dawn Society was involved in the series of incidents occurring in Isla Machina and a First Order directly at that.

'Knight Verom. If he moved, it means there's something being plotted in Isla Machina.'

As far as Rudger knew, Verom was a close-combat swordsman who gained strong power by wearing artifact armor.

Even if such a person led others and raised forces in a place overflowing with magicians, could he have successfully established himself?

'Moreover, judging from Verom's behavior that I saw then, he seemed to prefer going alone.'

Even when they clashed once, Verom had come because of Victor Dreadful.

Then is this time also related to Victor?

'It wouldn't be strange for that mad scientist to do anything there. But even Victor isn't really suited for managing people and building forces.'

There was just one guy who could handle such things well.

'Nikolai.'

Schemes, information warfare, behind-the-scenes operations.

If it was someone capable of all that, it wouldn't be strange if he had been preparing in Isla Machina for a long time.

'Then why are they doing such things in Isla Machina?'

Rudger shook his head.

Were they the type to do such things while considering reasons in the first place?

What's important is that they're plotting something in Isla Machina.

And Isla Machina was a somewhat important place to Rudger too.

"Right. I heard your answers well."

"Th-then..."

Delmart looked up at Rudger with expectant eyes but soon he had no choice but to snap his head to the side with his eyes wide open because the sword stick that had been drawn at some point sliced through his carotid artery.

Rudger never intended to let him live in the first place.

Just as Rudger was about to leave after completely destroying all evidence like that.

"What are you doing right now?"

He met Casey, who was staring at him with eyes that couldn't trust him.