Book 9: Chapter 39

「……!」

The Staff Demon was in shock.

The blue knight that had appeared was clearly strong, with dense magical energy that was neither lesser or greater than the white knight’s.

Yet she had not detected his presence until he had gotten this close despite of that.

Even an expert would have difficulty in completely concealing their magical power. After all, someone like that would be using magical energy on a regular basis as if it was the same thing as simply breathing the air.

It was not impossible to completely conceal one’s magical energy, but no average person would be capable of doing so.

The only ones possible of doing that would be…

「An assassin, huh…? They brought in even one of your kind?!」

Brutus continuously let out his barrage of water-aspected attacks while the Staff Demon countered against them with her fire bullets.

In response, Brutus easily cut past those fire bullets with his water-aspected Magic Sword, but he didn’t manage to reach the Staff Demon.

「I’m technically a knight, just so you know.」

After deflecting the last fire bullet, Brutus shifted his gaze towards Shironos who had rushed to Eltrinde’s side.

「…So what exactly’s going on here? Where did that Mazenda person go off to?」

「It’s that thing right in front of you.」

「I see. I’ll take care of this, then.」

The Staff Demon clicked her tongue as Brutus readied his twin blades.

She was annoyed that he was acting like taking her down would be an easy feat, but she still had to admit that she now in an unfavorable situation where she had to face against two strong opponents.

And there was still a chance that a 「powerful spellcaster」 capable of countering Mazenda appearing.

Hopefully, Chester had already put an end to that annoyance, but she didn’t have any high hopes for that at this point.

「Tch… These pests just keep showing up one after the other. What to do, what to do…」

「There’s nothing to be done about it. You’re going to die. And then everything will get solved.」

「…Ridiculous.」

The Staff Demon hit the floor with her staff and then looked up at the ceiling while letting out a sigh.

「Well, now that it’s come to this, I suppose I don’t have any other choice. My plans have crumbled… I shall admit that.」

A large magical circle expanded from the center of the audience chamber. An intense light then began coming out of it.

「Geh?! W-Wait, stupid kid! Hey, Staff Demon! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!」

The Sword Demon who had been exchanging blows with Kain suddenly jumped away while kicking away the Imperial Guards who were in his way.

Kain and the rest also were startled by the sudden magical circle and turned their eyes to the Staff Demon who was suspected to be the culprit behind it.

Along with the harsh high-pitched sound of the Staff Demon’s staff hitting the floor, magical energy began flowing into the magical circle.

「What am I doing…? Hmm, how about this? Elheim Castle has been attacked by the brainwashed Princess Eltrinde and her group of assassins, and then crumbled from the use of forbidden magic. It is unknown whether those in the castle survived… I suppose that about sums it up.」

「Do you really think I’d let you do that?!」

「…Yes. But it’s very possible that I’d be stopped. Assuming that accursed existence is in this room as I had suspected…」

The Staff Demon muttered as she poured magical energy into the circle through her staff.

As the harsh sounds from her staff began to grow dull, Brutus, Shironos, and Eltrinde ran towards the Staff Demon.

Eltrinde’s sword cut off her head, and Shironos’s sword cut her body in half.

On top of that, Brutus swung his sword to cut her staff into pieces… however, a black armored arm reached out of the warped space to deflect it.

Before Brutus could figure out what that was, he received a strike from the Sword Demon who had jumped in.

「Heh, you sure screwed up, Staff Demon!」

After picking up the staff that had dropped onto the floor, the Sword Demon jumped into the expanse of warped space.

He then waved his hand from within that space.

「Oh, by the way, you won’t be able to stop this magic circle! Well, if you somehow manage to survive, let’s play again sometime!」

Leaving those words behind, the Sword Demon disappeared along with the warped space, and the light from the magic circle in the audience chamber continued to grow stronger.

「W-What are we gonna do about this, Shironos?! Will breaking the floor do anything?!」

「…Perhaps. It might cause the magic circle to fall apart.」

「Then it’s simple. We’ll just have to break the floor while making sure we don’t destroy the whole castle…」

Brutus then swung his twin blades onto the floor… but before they could reach their mark, they were deflected by Kain’s sword.

「…What do you think you’re doing?」

「Hey, Kain! What are you…?!」

Ein rushed to Kain’s side, but before she could reach them, Brutus pointed his sword towards her as a threat not to get any closer.

「Quiet. I’m talking with him right now.」

Brutus then returned his eyes to Kain while he kept his sword pointed at Ein.

「…You can’t destroy this magic circle.」

「Why’s that?」

「If you do, then this whole castle will collapse.」

Panic began to spread upon everyone hearing those words.

But at the same time, it couldn’t be ignored that there was a chance that a powerful spell was about to be released as the light from the circle grew stronger.

「S-Shironos…」

Eltrinde looked at Shironos with a worried face, to which Shironos responded with a smile. Brutus then drew closer in front of Kain.

「…Boy. I’m assuming you have some kind of evidence for that, right?」

Just like a magical chant, a magic circle was a means for the activation of magic. It’s written with magical energy, and when magical energy is passed through it, magic is activated.

It was unknown whether it would still activate even without the caster, but typically speaking, the magic could be avoided if the magic circle was to get erased. In other words, it could be possible to stop the magic.

That essentially meant that Brutus’s course of action was likely the most optimal choice within the limited time they had to deal with this situation.

「I wouldn’t really call this evidence, but… I’ve read about something similar to this in a book.」

「A book?」

「…Sage Teria’s Diary.」

The moment she heard those words, Eltrinde was about to grab hold of Kain, only to be stopped by Shironos.

「L-Let me go, Shironos! You speak of Sage Teria’s Diary out of all things?! Where did you learn about something like-」

「We can talk more about that after this. Anyway, what exactly did this diary say?」

「…Agna Rava. A Mazoku known as the Staff Demon once used this spell to burn the Fortress City Claysoa to a crisp.」