After returning to the original world, Rudger approached Hans, who was spacing out nearby, and shook him awake.

"Wake up, sleepyhead."

"Ugh! Ack! Huh?! What, what?! Don't tell me again?!"

Hans looked around anxiously before seeing Rudger and letting out a sigh of relief.

"This is maddening. To see your face after having such a pleasant dream."

"Is that praise or criticism?"

"Think of it as awakening me to this cruel reality. Your face is so unrealistic that it actually snaps me back to my senses."

Why does it not feel good even though it's meant to be praise?

Rudger shook his head and woke up Sedina and Seridan nearby.

Whatever dream they had been having, they seemed quite happy until they saw Rudger's face and immediately realized reality.

Seridan complained.

"I was so close to creating the world's greatest explosive."

"Just what were you trying to make......"

Hans shook his head repeatedly.

"Brother. Are you really okay now? Looking at this place, it seems there's no danger other than getting caught in those hallucinations."

"Those hallucinations are the most dangerous part."

"You seem fine though."

"You haven't forgotten who to thank for that, have you?"

"Well, of course...Wasn't it because I trusted you, brother?"

In reality, if it weren't for Rudger, none of those present would have been able to escape from the illusion.

No, could it even be dismissed as a simple illusion?

Once inside Dreamland, the scenery shown by the dream world was, in a sense, no different from a new reality.

That's why no one felt any sense of dissonance and became entranced by it.

It wasn't an elaborately crafted fake flower, but rather a seed that could essentially become real.

"Anyway, as long as brother is here, this white world can no longer threaten us."

Hans said that but involuntarily flinched because a building suddenly rose up in the white world.

It was a building with a familiar appearance to Hans.

At the entrance of the shabby, worn wooden structure, there was a large sign that read "Orphanage".

"Br-brother."

Hans instinctively looked for Rudger.

It was a primal struggle, hoping Rudger would quickly wake him from this hallucination he was seeing.

"Brother?"

"This is......"

Hans turned to look in Rudger's direction.

Unlike his worry, he could see Rudger.

Then does that mean they had awakened from the illusion again?

Hans couldn't help but break out in cold sweat as he faced forward.

The shabby orphanage building was still there.

Then with a creaking sound, the door opened.

Why?

Even though brother is right here, why isn't this illusion disappearing?

More than that, didn't brother just see that too?

"Hans. If what I'm seeing is correct, that must be an orphanage."

"......This is crazy. You can see it too, brother? Then what about the others?"

At those words, Seridan and Sedina also nodded.

The scene they were watching wasn't something only Hans could see.

It was a sight that everyone present could see.

The moment Hans was shocked, other things began to appear in the white world.

-Rumble rumble.

The ground began to shake violently, and trees grew through the blue surface.

A massive forest created in an instant.

The forest began to increase in size with tremendous momentum and trees growing from the ground like waves.

Seeing this sight, Sedina shouted.

"We, we need to retreat!"

The group ran without hesitation to avoid the wave of approaching trees.

Seridan shook her white twin-tails and shouted.

"Wh-what is that! Why are illusions suddenly becoming real!"

"Strictly speaking, this is still a dream!"

"That's just a figure of speech! What is this! Wasn't it supposed to be enough to just wake up from the hallucination?! Sir?!"

"This is my first time here too."

Rudger quickly checked behind while running.

Trees grew with terrifying momentum and a wave of living vines and branches was approaching as if to swallow them whole.

Those must have come through Sedina's hallucination.

-Boom.

Buildings rose up in front of the running group.

The Gothic-style buildings exuded an eerie atmosphere and the faint mist surrounding the buildings shed a bluish moonlight.

Stone pillars and iron bars created walls and sidewalks, and growling beast sounds echoed between the buildings.

Proving it wasn't just sounds, red eyes gleamed ominously in the gaps of darkness.

"Wh-what is this!"

"It's the Information Guild!"

Hans answered Seridan who shouted in surprise.

"Information Guild? Wait, isn't that where you first met Sir?"

"That's right. Looks like it's reacting to my hallucination this time."

"Ah, this is driving me crazy!"

-Growl! Woof! Woof!

The beasts that had been waiting for an opportunity moved.

Black-furred wolves that had been lying in ambush leaped out from the shadows to pounce on the group.

"Everyone keep running and don't stop!"

Rudger activated magic through a movement technique.

A blue curtain enveloped the group and deflected all the black beasts outward.

From behind came the wave of trees.

From both sides came the black beasts.

"Nothing else is going to appear here, right?"

Hans gasped at Seridan's question.

"Don't say things like that in this situation...!"

The two phenomena currently occurring were created through Hans and Sedina.

At this point, phenomena created through Seridan's memories hadn't even appeared yet.

"Ah."

Seridan opened her mouth wide as if she too belatedly realized this.

-Whoosh!

At the same time, red flares could be seen shooting up into the sky from far away.

Looking like military signal flares, they crossed through the air leaving long smoke trails like tails.

And not just one, but dozens of them.

"Wait, don't tell me that's......"

"Ah, we're doomed. Those are the unfinished mortars from outside."

Hans and Sedina stared at Seridan with wide eyes.

Seridan stuck out her tongue and winked one eye.

"I forgot too!"

"This is not the time to be saying that!"

"This is not the time to be saying that!"

Hans and Sedina shouted in unison.

Meanwhile, the red flares drawing parabolic arcs in the air flew towards them.

The red stars twinkling in the white sky grew larger like the Big Dipper.

"Here they come! Mortars with enough power to turn a 15m radius into powder with each shot!"

"You don't need to explain it so specifically!"

"If you all have the leisure to move your mouths, run harder."

Rudger, who was in the lead, stretched his hand toward the incoming mortars.

These hallucinations created by Seridan couldn't be stopped simply by using [Silence of Fire].

Even now, black beasts were approaching from both sides, and a flood wave was surging from behind.

Rudger finely adjusted his magical power to create blue threads.

Like when checking books in the library of the mysterious mansion, strands of magical power stretched out like sea urchin spines and made contact with the falling red shells.

"Begin synchronization."

The magical power flowing through the threads moved precisely and seeped into the surface of the red shells.

Rudger activated a new magic through the power in the threads, telekinetic magic.

The trajectory of the shells flying toward Rudger and the group twisted.

As if hitting an invisible wall and having their paths bent, the scattered shells accurately targeted the black beasts and the pursuing trees.

-Boom!

Red flower petals bloomed all around.

The crimson flames tore through the Gothic buildings and black beasts, and swept through the flood wave pursuing from behind with intense heat.

The shock wave from the explosion hit, but there was no direct impact thanks to the barrier Rudger had created.

Seridan giggled at the sight.

"As expected of my bombs!"

"What are you brazenly being proud of! Anyone can see brother did everything!"

"Since I made those, I have my share too! Do you think the situation could have been cleared like this if the power was weak?!"

Hans found himself unconsciously closing his mouth at Seridan's attitude of shifting blame.

Is, is that so?

Sedina muttered contemptuously at the back of Hans's head as he was unwittingly persuaded.

"What are you trying to accept?"

"Gasp! I couldn't help it!"

"You two, are you trying to do comedy in this situation?"

Rudger shook his head while looking back and forth between Hans and Seridan.

Hans, who was unfairly lumped together with Seridan, wanted to protest his innocence, but decided to keep his mouth shut since making excuses here would probably make things worse.

In fact, there was a more decisive reason that could be considered.

'I don't think the others saw it.'

When Rudger swept the surroundings with the explosives created by Seridan's illusion, though it was an extremely brief moment, Hans was able to see a scene created by Rudger's illusion.

Although it appeared too suddenly to take proper form, and disappeared right away, swept up in the red explosion so it couldn't be seen properly.

But one thing could be known for certain.

That was something that even Hans, who had gathered all sorts of information from across the continent, couldn't comprehend at all.

'Brother. What exactly are you hoping for?'

* * *

-Boom.

Brilliant magic carved through space.

These were attacks focused on flashiness that excessively inflated their appearance rather than magic's original purpose of superior destructive power and lethality.

When that filled the entire space, it created a scene like having a fireworks festival in a localized area.

Magic that only inflated in size without substance.

Naturally, the power had to be significantly lower as well.

This could be seen by how Déjà vu remained fine even after being hit.

However, Déjà vu's expression wasn't very good.

[You're deliberately buying time.]

Even without seeing the future, it was clear what the opponent was aiming for.

To resist his dream power, they were intentionally trying to obscure his vision.

But that wasn't all they were doing with just dazzling the eyes.

Among the flashing lights of various elemental colors, pink magical attacks targeting his vital points approached particularly ominously.

Sharp daggers that thrust through gaps while obscuring vision.

Although Déjà vu had no trouble avoiding them since he could see them, he found it increasingly difficult to shake off the feeling that he was sinking into a quagmire.

Now that his ability's weakness had been figured out, the opponent had no choice but to focus solely on obscuring vision.

At the same time, it was also to buy time to prepare their trump card.

For Déjà vu, he had to end this drawn-out war of attrition as quickly as possible.

'The most threatening person is that pudgy man with the faint impression.'

Though his appearance suggested he couldn't even kill an ant, he was the biggest threat to Déjà vu.

To Déjà vu who specialized in grand magical battles, the steel golem mixing science rather than pure magic was an opponent outside his calculations.

[Such things didn't even exist in the human world before Lord Nirva awakened.]

Of course, looking at just magic, humans had rather regressed compared to the past.

Although it seemed magic had become more widespread in terms of using it more precisely and calculatedly, the power of miracles that relied on pure imagination and mysterious forces was practically lost.

Even back then humans weren't beings he paid much attention to, but now they had even forgotten their past purity.

Thus Déjà vu had inwardly felt disappointment toward the human race as a whole.

Now witnessing new changes in the human world that he hadn't known about, Déjà vu had no choice but to change his thinking.

[A new power called science rather than magic. Magical engineering that mixes that with magic.]

Data created by combining fragments of knowledge flowing in through Dreamland.

Understanding how the outside had changed while having that information forcefully imprinted in his mind.

After learning centuries of long history in just a few seconds, Déjà vu changed his target.

The teacher named Bruno would be dangerous if not killed here.

Déjà vu's gaze turned toward where Bruno should be but countless spells blocked his view as if to obstruct that line of sight.

Each time that happened, Déjà vu's retinas turned transparent and the magic was erased like an eraser.

‘In that case.’

Déjà vu advanced through the curtain of magic blocking his path.

Elisa Willow's magic flash that flew through those gaps targeted his vital points, but Déjà vu responded by slightly twisting his body.

One flash pierced through his shoulder.

It was the first clean hit that properly connected.

However, Elisa's expression wasn't good.

'He deliberately took the hit with his body.'

Déjà vu's gaze had been directed at Bruno, who had been preparing something, for a while now.

She realized what he was aiming for.

He planned to eliminate Bruno as the top priority while accepting some damage.

Even if injured he wouldn't die, and once Bruno was eliminated there would be no one who could defeat him, so he intended to clean everything up afterwards.

"Protect him!"

At Elisa's command, the other teachers gritted their teeth and used magic.

However, it wasn't easy to stop Déjà vu who had made up his mind.

Though inferior compared to other subordinates, Déjà vu's physical abilities themselves were quite superior.

Hopping like a rabbit while quickly traversing space, he reached Bruno's location in an instant.

Déjà vu jumped high and looked down at Bruno.

[This is the end.]

Déjà vu's dream power activated.

His retinas turned transparent, and Bruno's figure reflected in his pupils disappeared.

What that meant was one thing.

The real Bruno would also disappear, just like the image that passed through his retinas.

Bruno's figure full of troubled expression was cleanly erased from his spot.

At that sight, Déjà vu rejoiced but right after, the boy's face couldn't help but freeze.

His death was waiting several seconds in the future.

Where from? How? He had surely eliminated the biggest threat factor.

Déjà vu belatedly discovered the purple airflow circling around his eyes.

[What is this? When did......]

His startled gaze turned toward a female teacher holding a staff while breaking out in cold sweat.

When Déjà vu looked at Merilda, she curled up the corners of her mouth into a grin.

"Little boy. You finally noticed this sister?"

[Just who are you......]

"My specialty is, you know, mainly placing curses? But didn't you know that among curses, there's also charm that clouds the target's reasoning?"

-Flinch.

Only then could Déjà vu understand the identity of this creeping anxiety.

Curse and charm. If those had blinded his eyes?

Since it wasn't direct damage, he couldn't react to it as dangerous, and naturally wouldn't have thought to avoid it either.

[Even so, there's no way I wouldn't notice this......]

The thought that struck his mind next was the magic that the other teachers had been using until now.

What if it wasn't meant to hide Bruno's figure from him?

[From the start, aiming for this......]

Though he realized the truth, it was already far too late.

Though he had the power to see the future, he couldn't discern whether the future he saw was real or a well-made set.

Since he couldn't distinguish with his ability alone whether it was reality or not.

The price of overly relying on his ability came like lightning striking from clear skies.

-Boom!

The ground shook greatly and split left and right.

A giant steel arm that shot out from within grabbed Déjà vu's body.

Using a dummy as bait, the real Bruno had hidden his body underground with earth magic while preparing his trump card.

What broke through the earth was a massive steam golem.

No.

Calling that giant creation a golem would be extremely disrespectful.