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Outskirts, Forest
This was where the final support point of the massive barrier surrounding Kinoko Town was located.
The perimeter of the forest was hidden by minor repelling fields, designed to subtly keep outsiders from even noticing the area. Under normal circumstances, no one should have been able to see or approach this place. It was as silent and eerie as a haunted wood straight out of a ghost story.
But when Alice arrived, she discovered that the barrier surrounding the forest had been deliberately shattered.
Was it Touko?
Alice's vigilance spiked sharply, though a flicker of confusion crossed her mind.
If it was Touko, why wouldn't she leave the barrier intact and set elaborate traps around it? Destroying it so openly only served to warn others, like Alice, that something was desperately wrong, putting them on high alert.
"…Who's there?"
Alice held up a blue glass cat, using the object like a lantern as she cautiously stepped deeper into the forest's darkness.
At what should have been the barrier's center, she saw a lone figure standing motionless in the dirt, like a lifeless puppet. The figure hadn't moved a muscle for what seemed like an eternity.
The person's body was cloaked from head to toe, hiding every discernible feature. From the silhouette, Alice could tell it was a woman, but not who.
She didn't look like Touko. Alice and Touko were acquaintances; years ago, they had even studied magecraft together. But the aura this cloaked woman gave off was completely alien to Touko's refined, predatory presence.
The woman, upon hearing Alice's voice, slowly turned, revealing only the lower half of her face, painted with vibrant purple lipstick.
DANGER!
Every instinct in Alice's magus-trained body screamed at once.
The sense of threat was so strong it felt like the very air was twisting. Her scalp went numb, she immediately released the blue glass cat.
The cat sank into the ground like a pebble beneath water, and moments later...A tremendous surge of magical energy erupted from Alice's body.
The sheer pressure of that magic was easily dozens of times greater than Ryoji's, vast enough to envelop the entire forest in a single breath and form a massive, suffocating field of mana.
Boom...!
But in the short time Alice spent preparing, the woman's lips moved slightly.
An instant later, a massive beam cannon of pure magical energy shot out from in front of her, like a bolt of lightning unleashed!
The blast carried terrifying light and heat. Its barrel width was nearly half a person's height, if it hit directly, it would reduce anyone to ash in the blink of an eye.
Alice didn't dodge.
Or rather, the opponent's casting speed was so impossibly fast, she couldn't.
Chiu, Chiu!
The magic cannon passed clean through her, but instead of blood or fire, only a few blue feathers drifted down.
A blue robin fluttered away in a panic.
Its name was Robin, a Familiar that could do nothing but talk, utterly useless in most situations… except for one precious, unique ability: it could die once in its master's place.
Rumble...!
The ground trembled like waves.
From the earth rose five gigantic stone fingers, clawing upward. They tore through dirt and trees, heaving up a colossal body from the ground.
Just its upper half already towered over eight meters tall, an enormous, mysterious being.
It devoured the soil and trees around it, absorbing them to expand its body even more, transforming into a towering giant radiating crushing, ancient pressure.
The Bridge Giant.
A fairy-tale familiar modeled after London Bridge, possessing over a thousand years of accumulated Mystery. In the modern world of magecraft, it was practically a cheat-level existence. With its sheer strength, over fifty tons of brute force, it could easily shatter countless spells.
"Who in the world are you?"
Standing on the giant's shoulder, Alice glared warily at the distant woman.
At this point, only this towering familiar gave her even a shred of security.
The woman's magecraft was unbelievably powerful. That earlier beam cannon, just a simple spell, had displayed a destructive power that left even Alice speechless.
"…"
The cloaked woman didn't answer.
Her lips began to move again, chanting something.
But if it was a chant, then her speed was monstrous. It was as though she could recite in a single second what would take an ordinary magus several minutes to prepare, a complete, four-verse incantation for a major spell.
That speed was so far beyond human comprehension that even Alice, one of the greatest magi of her generation, felt utterly outclassed.
"High-speed chanting?"
No.
Alice tilted her head slightly, focusing her sharp hearing, trying to discern the true nature of the magecraft hidden within the woman's voice.
But to her shock, the incantation that flowed from that woman's lips… didn't belong to any modern language. In fact, it wasn't even a language Alice recognized at all.
"Could it be… High-Speed Divine Words?!"
A chilling realization exploded across Alice's scalp.
Terror surged through every nerve in her body, every cell screaming for her to run. Her instincts as a magus were in full, primal alarm, warning her of absolute, inevitable death.
Bzzz...! Bzzz...! Bzzz...!
But her opponent didn't give her the chance.
Dozens of massive magic circles appeared, in the air, on the ground, even within the surrounding atmosphere, each one forming a cannon's barrel, all aimed directly at the Bridge Giant.
Then, they all fired at once!
Each magic cannon was thicker than Alice's waist, glowing with a blinding, daylight-like brilliance. Each beam burned with heat like the sun itself.
This wasn't a battle.
It was pure, devastating slaughter.
The Bridge Giant spread its enormous arms, trying to shield its Master on its shoulder, but it lasted only a few seconds. Then its entire body was engulfed by the light of the magic barrage and shattered into a million grains of sand.
Alice fell helplessly to the ground.
But almost immediately, two intersecting magic cannons came roaring toward her from the left and right.
She tried to evade, to summon, to block...But the sheer density and volume of the attacks were overwhelming. Every familiar she summoned was obliterated the instant it appeared.
Her dark pupils reflected only despair.
The roaring cannons drew nearer, reflected as blinding white light in her widening eyes...before consuming her completely.
......
"BOOOOM...!"
The explosion's light shot up into the heavens, shattering the dark clouds of night.
The radiant flare scattered across the sky, like divine punishment descending from above.
The commotion was immense. All of Kinoko Town was shaken, more than a hundred thousand people startled and panicking in their homes.
…
"That direction… the forest outside town?"
Aozaki Aoko stared in disbelief at the massive pillar of light rising in the distance.
"The density of that magic power… what kind of person could cast a spell of that magnitude?"
Like an overflowing flood, the magical energy surged from the forest's direction, expanding violently, shaking the very air.
Was it Alice?
No… even Alice couldn't have generated something that massive. At least, not without extensive preparation and time.
"…There's another enemy on Alice's side."
Ryoji closed his eyes, as though communicating with someone unseen. Moments later, his expression hardened, his eyes flashing cold.
"I've got a bad feeling about this… Aoko, reinforce your body with magic power. Now."
"Eh?"
Without warning, Ryoji bent down, hooked his arm behind Aoko's knees, and lifted her into a princess carry before she could even react.
"Wha...!?"
Then..."BOOM!"
He kicked off the ground, launching himself like a projectile directly toward the devastated forest.
(End of Chapter)