* * *

Michael realized that this situation was a kind of lesson.

One meant for him.

‘I wanted to become strong. But now that I have, I find myself even more at a loss.’

After his Awakening, Michael had become a strong one.

Since then, he had struggled and strained to close even the smallest gap between himself and Chris.

As a result, he realized he had grown enough to surprise even himself—

‘But that was all. What mindset I should hold, I still…’

The greatest challenge of his life—the Demon Lord.

He couldn’t even decide what to do about the one who had stolen everything from him.

He felt like he would try to kill the Demon Lord on sight.

He would surely lose himself to blind rage.

‘Would that be acceptable?’

And now, Chris was showing him the answer firsthand.

Do not be swayed by malice.

Do not fall to the depths together, as the Demon Lord desires.

Then, even if your body kneels, you have not lost.

‘Look, Michael. I’m the one lying bloodied on the ground right now, yet the one behaving like a pathetic loser is the Demon Lord, not me.’

It was as if her voice echoed right in his ear.

What actually pierced his ears, however, was the scream of the Demon Lord as he transformed into a monster.

“Kraaaah! I’ll kill you! No—I’ll make you live in a state worse than death! You’re mine, my Chris, you don’t get to say such things to me!”

Chris had her head bowed, as if she couldn’t hear a word of it.

Had she lost consciousness?

Michael realized his turn had finally come.

“Wait! Michael, let’s go together. You can’t handle this one alone…”

“No, Bell. Let him go. This is his family matter.”

“What?”

As Bell tried to grab the silently walking figure, Nika stopped her. Then, with a slightly trembling voice, he continued.

“Instead, let’s watch Michael’s back. It seems like—”

Screech!

The cries of monsters echoed faintly between the Demon Lord’s howls.

Even though most people had fled, the ground rumbled as if something was swarming toward them.

“We’ve got guests.”

And before long…

“My lord, I’ve been searching everywhere for you. Rushing out in the middle of battle like this—truly, you are so impatient.”

A rather familiar voice rang out.

From the sky above, just like when they first met.

“But your condition is quite… what happened? And Lady Chris looks like that as well… Ah.”

The one leading the Chimera Unit, wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

The man commonly known as ‘Maria’ continued speaking.

“Our young master has misbehaved again, hasn’t he?”

It was a farce. There was no way he couldn’t guess what had transpired between Chris and the Demon Lord.

But to Maria, both were precious to him.

Therefore, if he were to redirect his blade, the easy target would be Michael.

“Sorry, but you can’t have Michael!”

“Is that so? Then let’s change the target. Hand over Lady Chris instead of the young master. She appears to be in urgent need of treatment.”

“The professor is even more off-limits~ Is that damn unrequited love of yours still not over? Besides, we have the best healing mage right here.”

“Healing mage? You mean that wolf-human reeking of beast stench? Haha! You have a talent for jokes. In any case—”

Maria stroked his chin, then slowly unwound the bandages around his eyes. With piercing blue eyes gleaming, he extended his hand.

“I won’t go easy on you this time, little bloodbags. Go ahead and give it your best shot.”

Grrrrl!

With that as the signal, the Chimera Unit and the X-Class students clashed.

And on another front—

“Demon Lord.”

“Ah… well, well. My carefully raised evening meal. What was your name again—Mihail? Michael? Well, no matter.”

The Demon Lord, having taken the form of a black dragon, faced Michael.

“You’re a bite-sized snack anyway!”

Acid dripped from its eyes, and black spikes jutted from its entire body as the monster opened its maw wide.

Yet Michael responded with a remarkably calm expression.

“I have one proposal. Surrender now.”

“Surrender? Hah! Know your limits with the bullshit! This is war! This is battle! It’s nothing more than a fight to separate the victor from the loser! I have nothing to say to some milk-scented brat!”

“That’s regrettable. You’ll be sorry.”

Michael took his stance. Just as Chris had once stood before him in his mental world.

This time, he himself stood before the Demon Lord.

With a stance as commanding as his teacher’s.

“We don’t have time, so let’s end this quickly.”

Flames erupted from the tip of Michael’s sword.

* * *

“Hmm. This takes the fun out of it.”

Bandage—that is, the man named Maria—pursed his lips.

Because he didn’t like how things were playing out below.

“Kraaah!”

A chimera with a tiger’s head was impaled on a sharp spear.

The work of a boy with eyes like ice.

“Watch your back, Gabana.”

“Yeah, Andante. Thanks. How’s the injury Dolce took earlier?”

The girl who had nearly had her head torn off by a chimera moments ago showed not the slightest disturbance. She was as composed as someone who kept a spare body in reserve.

“Bell healed me up, so I’m fine~ Can Nika still hold on?”

Her twin sister also looked as though she were enjoying all of this as if it were a game. But there was no mercy in the bow she drew against the enemy.

“You bet! This shield is pretty sturdy!”

“I’ll keep supporting you!”

The wolf-human girl who, despite her nature, stayed out of the front lines and busied herself supporting those around her—and the boy who, though gradually being pushed back by the Chimera Unit, never once fell.

‘They’re holding their own.’

They were nothing but teenagers. Even if the preparations for war had been rushed due to the Demon Lord’s whim, was his unit really struggling this much against kids like them?

‘I brought a unit composed of fairly decent specimens, yet this is disappointing. Were the experiments insufficient?’

Tsk. If this was how things stood, he had no choice but to step in himself.

Maria slowly rose from his seat.

“Let’s wrap up the playtime around here. Just watching is making me itch.”

Bandages began to slither loose from his fingertips.

Soon, Maria’s jet-black arms were revealed. They looked as though lumps of charcoal had been grafted onto his skin, but then they began to writhe, gradually taking on grotesque shapes.

“What kind of trick are you trying to pull, you freak!”

“Careful. I sense an ominous presence.”

“More importantly—ugh! This foul stench… don’t tell me it’s coming from over there?”

Maria smiled and answered the shaken students.

“My, my. It seems none of you have encountered this before. This is none other than the smell of burning corpses.”

And at that very moment…

-Screech!

Countless faces erupted from both of Maria’s arms. Arms like dried branches extended outward, each one flailing as though craving something.

“What… what is that? People?”

“Urp, urgh…”

“Get a grip! They’re just monsters!”

But even Andante, who had snapped out the rebuke, found it difficult to look at them directly.

These were the very ‘Spirits’ that Michael had encountered in his hometown.

Maria had finally made them a part of himself.

“Haa… Then you probably don’t know this either. The sensation of your body stiffening and your mana being drained before these Spirits. It’s quite thrilling. I shall bestow it upon you as well!”

-Screech!

With his excited breathing, the enormous faces surged toward the students.

“Tch, fall back! I’ll block them! Like thi—”

“No! If you use magic, your mana will be drained instead! We have to take them out in one strike…!”

The innate ability of Spirits was petrification.

Through various experiments, Maria had developed this beyond mere stiffening—into actual transformation into ‘stone.’

As a result—

“…”

“Damn it, Nika! Dolce!”

One by one, bodies turned to stone began to fall.

Maria watched the panicking students with a radiant smile.

“W-wait. I’ll find a way to undo this…!”

“No. Bell, you’re the one who needs to stay standing the longest here.”

“I agree. Hiding your body should be the priority. Leave this to us.”

“But…!”

Gabana and Andante stepped in front of Bell.

Even as his mana was drained in real time, Andante stood his ground, leaning on his spear. Gabana shielded her comrades without regard for her own safety.

It was a desperate struggle.

“Ah, what truly beautiful friendship this is!”

Maria made a show of wiping away tears.

Yes. This was exactly what he wanted to see. Them floundering in the face of overwhelming power.

And…

Their eventual collapse.

“Urk…!”

“Ah…”

With their mana finally exhausted, both of their knees buckled helplessly. Now, only one person remained standing properly.

Only Bell.