The pseudo-sun of blue flames exposed the night shadows that had lost their place to hide, sending them thrashing wildly.

“Hot as hell!”

At this distance, an ordinary soldier would have been drowned in the scorching wind, but Makoto only remarked that it was hot. On top of the absurd magic barrier she had wrapped around herself, the sludge around her dulled the power of Demon Fire. The terrain was also unfavorable, soaked with moisture. Moreover, the assault had clearly been planned with Walm’s exceptional fire resistance in mind.

The unsettling sludge, as if possessed by will, relentlessly pursued Walm. Whenever the azure flames surged and danced across the ground, the pursuing masses of mud were easily blown apart. But it did nothing to solve the problem at its root. The real nuisance was that the supply seemed endless. Mud was continuously drawn up from the earth itself, and new tendrils rose again and again.

“Disgusting taste. So that’s the source of the mudslide.”

It was a spell that combined earth and water magic. The muddy tendrils moved with the dexterity of living arms. With control this precise, manipulating rain-softened ground and the ground water that had pooled beneath it, to trigger a mudslide would be easy.

“Not quite on that scale though!”

Despite the words exchanged like those of old friends, their magic clashed with lethal intent at every opening. Even their light-hearted conversation served as feints and distractions. It only highlighted both their combat experience, and how abnormal they were.

Pillars of fire scorched the canopy of the night sky, while rising mud churned and fouled the ground around them. Walm slipped through the gaps between the writhing sludge tentacles and closed the distance. As if rejecting the approaching imperial knight, fireballs shot from Makoto’s slender arms.

“Fire? That’s pointless.”

Walm had begun to press forward when the surface of the mud flashed across the edge of his vision. Instantly he pivoted away. A moment later the sludge exploded, scattering everywhere.

It wasn’t that Walm disliked getting dirty. The gauntlet and armor protecting his neck rang sharply. The real threat was the debris hidden within the mud full of gravel, nails, and shattered pieces of buildings. The worst kind of recycling, using the ruins themselves.

The demon mask smeared with mud and fragments trembled with rage. Whether that anger was directed at the culprit or at Walm himself for nearly failing to avoid it, was hard to say.

“If you like it, I’m glad”

“You damn brat.”

Makoto’s voice rose with childish excitement as she launched another attack. The mud tendrils packed with rubble transformed into improvised fragmentation bombs. But Walm wasn’t foolish enough to watch silently while the fuse burned. Before the fireballs could be launched, he blasted the muddy thorns apart with blue flames and scorching wind.

The positions from moments before were reversed, and now it was Makoto who was forced to evade.

A wall of mud absorbed the storm of fragments. As a defense against explosive debris, it was flawless, excellent even. For Walm, who was trying to close in, it also served as convenient cover.

“Damn it!”

Makoto swung her arm. A shadow streaked across Walm’s vision. Narrowing his eyes, he dropped his posture as if collapsing, then used the heated wind as propulsion to move in ways that ignored the limits of the human body.

Two projectiles tore through the space where his chest and abdomen had been. They had been Earth Bullets, the most commonly used earth-attribute spell.

“No way… those movements…”

For the first time, Makoto faltered. She had relied on Earth Bullets because of how quickly they could be cast. Now, however, a close-quarters clash was unavoidable. Abandoning her mobility-based fighting style, Makoto drew a short sword.

At the instant she unsheathed it, she released a Wind Blade. But Walm had no intention of giving her time to widen the distance. The halberd swung down from high overhead, mana coursing through it, meeting the twisting force of magic head-on.

The deadlock lasted only a moment.

The wind blade shattered, its remnants blown away by the heat.

“Ha-ugh!”

Makoto struck first. Using the distinctive gliding footwork of Tidewalk, she lowered her body and got within reach. She deliberately attacked from Walm’s off-hand side, which was the direction spear users hated most. Combined with the short sword’s tight range, the heavy halberd head couldn’t be pulled back in time.

Walm blocked the thrust aimed at his throat with the shaft of his weapon. Metal scraped against metal, producing a shrill grinding sound like a scream. The short sword slid along the shaft, aiming for Walm’s fingers. Extending his elbow, Walm knocked the blade away before it could reach them.

But the danger wasn’t over yet.

The sword point wavered, and stabbed again without pause. Twisting his wrist, Walm spun the halberd and smashed the blade with its butt spike. The short sword lifted slightly, but the difference in weapon characteristics allowed Makoto to seize the initiative again. The magic barrier enhanced her physical strength, turning a small frame into one of monstrous power, but even that had limits.

Walm used the difference in physique to let his body speak. As he deflected the halberd aside, he raised the knee of the leg he had stepped forward with up to his chest, then drove it down in a powerful kick.

“Wha—Ghh, ugh?!”

The sole of his foot shot forward in a straight line, striking Makoto’s lower abdomen with the shortest possible path. Makoto instinctively leaned back, redirecting the impact backward, but she could not escape the force itself.

Now at the ideal range for his halberd, Walm raised it to strike. Makoto, prioritizing surface area and impact, fired off a Water Ball.

Walm didn’t try to split the spell with Strong Strike or attempt to evade.

Since their encounter at Sarajevo Fortress, Makoto had grown. Her mana reserves were impressive, and she had developed enough skill not to be controlled by her own elemental magic. The swordsmanship in close combat and the training she had accumulated were admirable as well.

However, Walm hadn’t spent those days in stagnation either. He asked a question with his eyes alone. “You’ve never seen my full power, have you?”

“Justan, brace yourself!”

“W-what—ugh?!”

The warning was directed at his own ally. Since the battle with the Undead Dragon, Walm unleashed the greatest surge of blue flames he had ever produced. The incoming Water Ball resisted for only a moment before dissolving into steam. Makoto ground her teeth in pain.

The flames that had burned a dragon were a deadly toxin that bared their fangs even at their wielder. The damage spread far enough to reach the enemy soldiers attacking the church.

The demon mask, strangely cheerful, urged him onward like a spectator enjoying a show. Walm, on the other hand, said nothing. He just swept his halberd sideways.

Most of Makoto’s magic barrier had been temporarily stripped away, but her eyes were not dead yet. Raising her short sword, she attempted to retreat.

“Ha-AAAH!”

Strong Strike smashed through the short sword, shattering it and tearing apart Makoto’s defense. The halberd’s axe head, its momentum still undiminished, drove straight toward her slender throat.

“Got you.”

Just as Walm was certain of victory, Makoto thrust out her arm. The unexpected action overturned everything.

The gauntlet shattered. Even after the bone was severed, the blade stopped. The arm hung there, barely attached by a thin strip of flesh and skin, swaying limply.

“Ah… aaah… ngh…”

The magic barrier formed again, but it wavered clumsily from the intense pain. It barely managed to hold back the worst of the bleeding, but that was only delaying the inevitable collapse.

“It’s over.”

The halberd pointed directly at her was a final warning.

“Don’t look at me with those pitiful eyes!”

Even with her left arm ruined, Makoto’s will to fight hadn’t faded. Without hesitation, Walm moved to finish her.

“Don’t underestimate meeeee!”

Makoto thrust forward the arm that had been torn open below the elbow.

Unlike the clean, orderly flow of mana she had displayed while skillfully switching between spells, her consciousness was now in disarray, and the exposed nerves made her mana run wild. It was as if all four elements had been mixed together.

From the nearly severed arm, she fired off a desperate spell. A last, futile struggle, or at least it should have been.

“Three Magic Attack?! No… that’s not it.”

The mana was in a chaos, like paints on a palette smeared together into a muddy mess. Yet the resemblance to Three Magic Attack flashed through Walm’s mind. Just as Walm himself had experienced, it was in desperate circumstances that a person’s true potential surfaced.

A strike resembling Three Magic Attack. Four attributes layered together, forming something closer to a Heavy Burst. The torrent of mana slammed into the ground and the mud rose up, glowing with energy. At the center of it all, the girl from his homeland laughed.

Walm manipulated the heated wind to retreat, while gathering Demon Fire with what remained of his mana.

“Ah?”

Makoto’s voice sounded strangely blank. The next instant, a flash tore through the battlefield. It felt as though Walm’s retinas had been burned by light. A sinister pillar of chaotic mana erupted upward.

Walm was slammed into the mud and sank halfway into it, but ironically that protected his body from the violent torrent of mana.

“Damn it… my vision’s warping.”

The murky flash left Walm’s vision flickering painfully. It was only temporary, but having overly sharp eyesight had its drawbacks. On top of that, the leg he had used for the front kick throbbed painfully.

“So when we crossed… she managed to slash me after all… Makoto.”

Shaking off the heavy mud, he looked around. The lingering flames of Demon Fire and the aftermath of the Heavy Burst smoldered everywhere. Even at the church that had been caught in the blast, the fighting had ended.

Using his halberd as a staff, Walm rose to his feet and began walking with heavy steps.

At the scorched epicenter of the blast, fragments of flesh were scattered across the dried ground. Beside a broken sword was a left arm that had once been human, curled as if still trying to grasp something. The charred fingers resembled burnt twigs.

“…A misfire? That idiot… she blew herself up.”

Eliminating a threat. Paying respect to his fallen squad. Killing a fellow countryman whose humanity had twisted beyond repair. Walm had prepared himself for that. But this? There wasn’t even a proper body left.

“Hah… how am I supposed to explain this to Ayane? That all that’s left of her childhood friend… is this?”

A dry laugh escaped him.

Unable to gather his thoughts, Walm removed the demon mask and raked his fingers through his bangs. He could only stare at the girl’s remains.

The charred ring finger crumbled in the wind until nothing but ash was left.

TL note: Leaving 1 chapter for today as the next one is quite long, and I didn’t have the time to do it today unfortunately.

Translator – Lyxxna