"How foolish," I said simply.
The words had barely left my lips before I spoke again, though this time what left my mouth was not ordinary speech. Divine words spilled forth in rapid succession, the incantation flowing so quickly that the sounds almost blurred together. Each syllable carried a weight that ordinary magecraft lacked, something absolute that commanded the surrounding magical energy itself to obey.
From my extended hand, fire erupted.
It surged forward like a raging tide, an overwhelming torrent of flames that engulfed everything in its path. This was not ordinary fire. The moment it touched something, it did not simply burn it. It consumed it entirely, reducing everything it touched into drifting gray ash. Trees ignited and vanished in an instant, their trunks collapsing into powder before they could even properly burn. The grass blackened and dissolved, and the ground itself cracked beneath the intense heat as the inferno tore through the forest.
The attack swept forward in a violent wave before finally dying down.
When the flames disappeared, I saw them standing there.
They had gathered together on a small patch of untouched grass, the only piece of green remaining within a wide circle of destruction. Everything surrounding them had been erased. The trees, the ground, even the forest stretching behind them had been reduced to nothing more than ash and charred soil.
Yet they themselves were unharmed.
"That's interesting," I said, studying the faint magical traces lingering around them. "Using a destructive attack to erase anything that comes in contact with it… as a defense."
My golden gaze settled on the red-haired girl. She had created a barrier, but it wasn't a normal defensive wall. The structure of the spell was more complex than that. Instead of blocking my flames directly, it erased the concept of contact between the attack and their position. Anything that attempted to reach them was destroyed before it could even interact with the barrier itself.
Conceptual erasure.
A clever choice.
It also revealed something about her. She understood the limits of her own strength well enough to know that attempting to block that attack directly would have been foolish. Even if the spell I used hadn't been particularly strong by my standards, it still contained more than enough power to overwhelm someone of her level if she tried to meet it head on.
Before I could examine the spell further, however, I heard movement.
Two sets of footsteps rushed forward across the scorched ground.
The white-haired girl from earlier and the blond-haired boy both charged toward me at the same time. Their movements were fast, decisive, clearly trained.
"Be careful everyone!" the red-haired girl called out. "He might be an Ultimate-class devil, but just based off that attack he's at least a high-tier High-Class devil!"
Her warning had barely finished when lightning came crashing down from above.
A brilliant bolt of electricity tore through the sky, descending directly toward my position with a thunderous crack.
I'm surrounded.
The thought crossed my mind calmly as I began speaking again, another incantation leaving my lips so quickly that it was almost impossible to follow.
The white-haired girl hadn't even made it halfway toward me before the ground beneath her shifted violently. Ice erupted upward from the earth, the soil cracking as frozen crystal surged from below. Frost wrapped around her legs instantly as the ground itself seemed to swallow her, dragging her downward into the growing mass of ice.
The blond-haired boy reacted immediately. His speed was impressive. The moment the ice began forming beneath him, he leapt upward, pushing off the ground just before the freezing wave could reach him. His body twisted through the air before landing briefly on top of one of the frozen structures that had formed nearby.
More ice followed.
Sharp icicles erupted from the ground in jagged formations, thrusting upward like spears aimed directly at him. He pushed off the first icicle without hesitation, using it as leverage to propel himself forward while weaving between the frozen spikes with surprising agility as he closed the distance between us.
Meanwhile the lightning strike descending from above reached me.
Several magic circles appeared instantly in the air around my body. Intricate glowing patterns layered with complex magical formulae spun into existence, overlapping into a defensive structure that intercepted the lightning before it could reach me. The bolt shattered harmlessly against the layered shields.
But the circles didn't disappear.
Instead, more appeared.
Dozens of additional arrays formed around me, rotating slowly as raw magical energy gathered within their centers. In the next moment, beams of condensed power fired outward from the circles, streaking through the air toward the source of the lightning.
The black-haired girl.
She seemed to be the one controlling the storm above.
Her violet eyes widened slightly when she saw the beams racing toward her. Without hesitation she unleashed another surge of lightning, arcs of electricity exploding outward as she attempted to intercept the incoming attacks.
At the same time, the blond-haired boy continued his advance. Still airborne, he used the frozen structures as stepping stones, pushing off one icicle after another as he rapidly closed the distance between us.
Then something else caught my attention.
A surge of crimson energy.
The red-haired girl had raised her hand, and a beam of demonic power burst forward from her palm. The attack carried a distinctly destructive nature, far more concentrated than the lightning or physical assault surrounding me.
Several magic circles immediately formed around my body.
Layer upon layer of defensive formulae overlapped in the air, constructing a multi-tiered barrier designed to intercept high-output attacks.
The crimson beam slammed directly into the formation, exploding against the shields as the layered magical defenses absorbed the impact. Red and gold light flared violently as the demonic aura pressed against the overlapping magical formulae, attempting to force its way through the defensive structures surrounding me.
For a brief moment the air trembled from the pressure of the clash, the magical energy distorting the space around the barrier before finally dispersing outward in a burst of fading crimson sparks.
At that exact moment, the blond boy closed the distance.
He moved quickly, far faster than most beings of his apparent level should have been capable of. His body cut through the air with practiced precision, his sword already drawn as he lunged forward with clear intent to strike before I could react. But he had misjudged the situation.
Without hesitation, I turned my hand toward him. The moment my palm faced his direction, light gathered at its center. A concentrated sphere of radiance formed instantly before firing forward like a piercing lance of energy.
His eyes widened in alarm.
He forced his body backward mid-motion, desperately trying to create distance between us before the attack could fully reach him. His reaction speed was impressive, quick enough to prevent the attack from striking him directly in the chest.
But not quick enough to escape entirely.
"Kiba!" the red-haired girl shouted.
The beam pierced through his shoulder, tearing through flesh with surgical precision. Blood sprayed through the air as the attack burned straight through the muscle near the joint, leaving a clean hole in its wake. The wound was small, placed deliberately away from arteries and bone, but the damage was still significant enough to weaken his arm and disrupt his fighting ability.
He stumbled back slightly, clutching his injured shoulder as blood began dripping steadily down his arm.
It would not cause permanent damage.
But for the moment, it would be more than enough.
Then suddenly the ground beneath my feet collapsed.
The earth cracked open as something burst upward from below.
A fist.
My eyes widened slightly as the small fist shot toward my head with surprising speed. The strike came from directly beneath me, an angle that had nearly escaped my perception entirely. I stepped back at the last possible moment, the blow passing through the air where my head had been only an instant earlier. The force behind it was strong enough that if it had connected, it would likely have shattered my skull.
Instinctively I raised my hand again.
Wind magecraft activated instantly.
A powerful blast of compressed air erupted outward, striking the attacker and launching her backward through the air. The white-haired girl spun through the air before correcting her position mid-flight, twisting her body gracefully before landing lightly beside the red-haired girl.
"Sorry, Rias," she said casually. "I missed."
My eyes narrowed.
I hadn't sensed her presence at all.
Had she hidden herself that well, or was this simply a weakness of my current condition?
"It's fine," the red-haired girl replied quickly. "You're okay, right?"
"I'm fine," the black-haired girl answered calmly.
"Yeah," the white-haired girl added.
The blond boy, Kiba simply nodded, though his injured shoulder trembled slightly as he tried to steady his sword. Three voices answered at once as the black-haired girl, the white-haired girl, and Kiba responded almost immediately, though Kiba was clearly struggling to keep his injured arm steady.
"He has so many different magics," the black-haired girl murmured quietly, her violet eyes fixed on me. "How could someone be this diverse?"
"I don't know," the red-haired girl, Rias, answered, her gaze sharp and focused. "But he's clearly holding back. He hasn't moved much at all. Not only that, he hasn't used any ranged attacks like that first one again."
I simply watched them with quiet interest.
It seemed she truly was quite competent.
A faint smirk spread across my face as I slowly raised my hand again, and the moment I did every one of them tensed immediately.
"I hope you can all reach me before this does," I said calmly.
I raised my hand toward the sky.
A beam of brilliant light shot upward from my palm, piercing directly into the clear sky above. For a moment nothing happened. Then the sky itself began to change. Dark clouds gathered unnaturally fast, swirling into existence where the sky had been perfectly clear moments earlier. Thick masses of black storm clouds rolled across the heavens as if pulled together by some unseen force.
The blond boy stared upward, eyes widening slightly.
"Did he just create a storm?" Kiba asked.
The clouds continued thickening overhead, darkening the sky as they spread outward.
"Is he trying to inform the entirety of devil society?" Kiba added.
Then the storm began.
But instead of lightning, light fell from the sky.
Hundreds of narrow beams of radiant energy began raining down from the clouds like glowing droplets of light, each one descending rapidly toward the battlefield below.
Rias frowned slightly.
"You guys will have to deal with him," she said firmly as she stepped back and began weaving her magecraft again.
My eyes focused on her.
Was she planning to sustain that earlier barrier?
On this scale?
"Okay!" the others replied without hesitation.
As Rias focused on constructing the barrier, two figures immediately sprinted toward me again. The blond boy and the white-haired girl charged forward across the scorched battlefield. I was about to sink them into the ground again when the girl suddenly jumped, clearly sensing the buildup of magical energy beneath her feet before the spell could activate.
She landed on the blond boy's outstretched hands.
He immediately launched her forward with all his strength.
Her momentum doubled instantly as she shot toward me like a projectile.
Instead of casting another spell, my smirk widened as I stepped forward and swung my fist to meet hers. The moment our fists collided, a sharp tremor rippled through the air from the force of the impact. She adapted instantly, shifting her stance the moment our fists connected as she reached forward to grab hold of me.
I understood the danger immediately.
If I continued fighting her in close quarters combat, I would lose. She was clearly trained in close combat techniques, and while my body was likely both faster and stronger, her technique and experience would eventually overwhelm me.
So I didn't allow the exchange to continue.
Divine words slipped from my lips again.
From the ground behind me, several dark tendrils shot upward like living shadows, wrapping around her arms and torso before lifting her into the air above my head. At the same moment I snapped backward as a sword blade swept through the air toward my body.
The blond boy had already reached striking distance.
I reacted instantly, turning the ground between us into molten lava. The earth melted into a glowing mass of liquid fire, forcing him to jump backward before he could fall directly into the burning surface.
Before he could recover, a powerful beam of lightning shot toward me from the black-haired girl's direction.
My magecraft activated instantly.
Layer upon layer of defensive magic circles formed around my body, dozens of protective spells overlapping into a dense barrier that intercepted the lightning before it could reach me. The electrical energy shattered harmlessly against the defenses.
"Your teamwork is admirable," I said calmly.
"But this is enough."
I raised my hand once more.
But before I could release the spell, another presence appeared.
A powerful one.