Something enormous appeared beside the crater.
A massive demonic arm intercepted Vexion's next strike. The collision detonated across the surrounding mountains, and dust swallowed the battlefield. When it finally cleared, a tall demon stood between them. Two black horns curved backward from his forehead, and his golden eyes calmly studied Vexion.
He looked once toward Zunar's barely living body, then back at her. A slow smile spread across his face.
"So..."
"You truly are Lady Vexion."
He rested one hand upon the hilt of the massive blade at his waist.
"You certainly have a talent..."
"...for making enemies."
The demon exploded forward. His fist carried enough force to collapse the air before it.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!
It struck the invisible barrier surrounding Vexion. The barrier trembled, but never broke. Instead, the impact rebounded through the surrounding mountains, shattering cliffs and uprooting ancient trees.
The demon barely landed before launching himself forward again. This time, infernal flames erupted around his leg.
"INFERNAL!"
A blazing kick descended. The fire alone scorched everything nearby. Gigantic trees instantly ignited, rivers hissed beneath the unbearable heat, and entire sections of the forest transformed into an inferno.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!
The kick landed.
Again, the barrier held.
Vexion slowly raised her head. Her crimson eyes were devoid of reason. Only hatred remained.
"...Leave."
The word wasn't loud. It didn't need to be.
The instant it left her lips, Monarch's Decree expanded. There was no explosion, no visible attack—only one absolute command.
Push.
The demon's expression changed. His body was violently hurled backward. He slammed both feet into the air itself, infernal flames erupting beneath them as he desperately attempted to resist.
It accomplished nothing.
He continued flying backward for hundreds of meters before finally stabilizing himself.
"...What the hell..."
Even he hadn't expected that.
Vexion ignored him completely. Her gaze returned to Zunar.
He was healing. Slowly. Painfully. His crushed skull had already begun knitting itself back together.
She stared at him in silence.
Then she raised her foot.
STOMP.
His skull collapsed again.
STOMP.
Bone exploded beneath her heel.
STOMP.
His regeneration desperately tried to keep up.
It failed.
Again. Again. Again.
Each stomp crushed him faster than his body could repair itself. He couldn't scream anymore. His jaw no longer existed, and his nervous system had become nothing but endless agony.
Vexion slowly crouched. She seized his right arm and placed one foot upon his chest.
Then...
She pulled.
RIIIIP!!
The entire arm tore free. Blood erupted everywhere, and she threw it aside without even looking. Then she grabbed the other.
"...You..."
RIIIIP!!
"...dared..."
Another limb landed several meters away.
She looked down at what remained of him. Her voice shook, not from sadness, but from rage so intense it bordered on madness.
"...take..."
"...his..."
"...face."
An invisible force seized his broken body. One force pulled upward while another crushed downward, leaving him suspended and pinned helplessly between two opposing authorities.
His bones groaned. His flesh twisted. Every remaining joint slowly dislocated.
"...You dared..."
"...touch me..."
"...while pretending..."
"...to be..."
"...Master."
She took one slow step forward.
"...I'm his."
Another step.
"...Only..."
Another.
"...his."
The words weren't shouted. They were spoken almost gently.
That somehow made them even more terrifying.
Even ten kilometers away, students heard her voice. Not because it was loud, but because the pressure itself carried it.
In that moment a sudden, new pressure descended.
Far calmer. Far older. Far stronger.
The very clouds split apart.
A man sat peacefully in midair, cross-legged, with one elbow resting casually upon his knee. Dark robes fluttered gently in the wind, and black earrings swayed beside his face. His expression remained perfectly composed.
"Leave..."
"...my younger brother alone."
Vexion slowly looked upward. Her fury didn't lessen, nor did the pressure surrounding her. Yet the tiny fragment of reason still remaining whispered one thing.
Mythical Being.
The man sighed.
"I can still save him."
"...if you stop."
Vexion remained silent.
For one brief moment, everything became still.
Then...
She moved.
Her fingers flicked casually.
PTCH.
Zunar's neck disappeared. His head rolled silently across the broken ground, and his body collapsed.
Dead, completely.
The man in the sky stared. For several seconds, he said nothing. Then his calm expression disappeared.
"You killed him...while I was speaking."
Vexion simply tossed the corpse aside. It hit the ground with a wet thud.
She never answered. Reason still existed. Barely. Perhaps one percent remained. One percent could never overcome ninety-nine percent rage.
The Mythical Being slowly stood. Mana flooded the heavens, and the surrounding sky darkened.
"So be it. I'll discover what punishment Midvest Academy assigns for killing a weakling in the legendary tire"
He raised a single finger. Mana condensed, and the pressure alone froze the surrounding air.
Vexion quietly closed her eyes.
...I'm sorry, Master.
'This body belongs to you. Everything I am belongs to you I simply couldn't allow someone who wore your face to continue living.'
The Mythical Being pointed.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
He vanished at extreme speeds, , one minute he prepared an attack and another he was sent flying. A strange feeling especially to him.
One instant, he stood calmly in the sky. The next, his body became a streak disappearing beyond the horizon. The atmosphere exploded seconds afterward, and a shockwave swept across the mountains, flattening forests for kilometers.
Only then did the sound arrive.
The Mythical Being eventually caught himself. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and his entire jaw throbbed. He slowly lifted his head.
Standing where he had once been was a young half-elf, his hands tucked lazily inside his pockets. His expression looked almost bored.
The Mythical Being stared.
"...Who are you?"
He received no answer.
Instead—
"MASTER!!"
The voice echoed across the shattered mountains. Dante slowly turned. His eyes landed on the crimson-haired woman standing amid the devastation. Then they drifted toward the ruined landscape: flattened forests, broken mountains, and a battlefield stretching beyond the horizon.
He scratched his cheek.
"...V."
"The fuck is all this?"
He slowly looked around once more.
"...How did you manage to piss off half the examination , and fuck up all their beautiful landscape. That's very rude you know"
Vexion's crimson eyes immediately brightened.
The fury, the murderous intent, and the suffocating pressure—all of it disappeared.
Only happiness remained.
"...Master."
Dante sighed.
"Yeah. Yeah. I heard."