I couldn't take my eyes away from the fierce battle between the Death Blade and Hilos. Despite the ability to accelerate my thoughts, the battle was still too fast for me to comprehend. It looked like a flash of light as the Death Blades limbs collided with Hilos’s black voided blade.

This battle was in a league of its own. Although brother Al’s battle was impressive, this wasn’t even something most people could comprehend, as I’m sure I’m one of the few people that actually see anything but flashes of light and destruction.

Still… it was surreal. What in the world?

Meanwhile, brother Al sat beside us as he pulled out a book and a pen. He was also observing the fight as he noted things down.

Could he also see what I see?

“...Brother Al, what are you doing?” I asked.

I had to know… since he seemed way too calm to dispute his eyes not glowing.

“Mm? Oh? Nothing in particular. Just taking this opportunity to learn about the real thing,” he nonchalantly said.

…what do you mean by learning about the real thing? I was so confused.

“...What do you mean?” I asked, wanting him to properly articulate his thoughts.

“Mm, I mean, meeting an exceptional sample such as this is almost unheard of, though… I do suspect this one was raised rather than being natural,” he explained.

…Raised?

“I did mention that I found corpses, right? They all had missing heads and were probably fed to this guy. Although…. I suspect they’re not the only victims,” he later added.

His eyes were cold despite being his ‘normal’, and he kept noting things down anyways as he somehow watched the battle.

“Aren’t you worried? That this barrier might collapse?” I nervously asked.

It had been on my mind since the cultist broke the other barrier he put up pretty quickly. And this Death Blade thing seems way more powerful than the cultist, so I have a genuine concern.

“Mm, this barrier is a little different,” brother Al replied. “My fiance made this, so she told me it was as powerful as the main city barriers. It is a secret art… and I don’t doubt her since I’ve never actually witnessed it break.”

His words were reassuring but a little unexpected, but not in their entirety since the cult man mentioned lover….

If it was genuinely made by someone with the title of saint, then yeah… my faith is in the right place.

“...Is it perhaps The Saint the cultist mentioned?” I carefully asked and glanced at Julia.

Bother Al nodded, “Yes, it is.”

Unexpectedly, Julia’s eyes sparkled when she heard this.

…I guess I was wrong about that… huh? It does appear to be genuine admiration rather than romantic interest…. Somehow I feel relieved….

“Wh-what’s she like!?” Julia asked, the pitch of her tone a little higher than expected.

…I guess girls really love to talk about love, huh….! Hell, in this situation!?

I… I guess watching someone as calm as brother Al also makes one more relaxed.

“...What she’s like?” bother Al seems to ponder on how to answer her question…

Was it difficult to say?

“She’s a sweet girl, a little clumsy at times, great at cooking, loves flowers. She also researches magic, Instruction Magic, to be precise. An example of that is this sturdy barrier.”

…Somehow, that’s not how I imagine a saint… then again, it’s his fiance, and that’s probably how he sees her….

“I-I see!” Julia replied, “How did you two meet!?”

When Julia said that brother Al blushed a little, which was… cute? Not handsome? But cute!?

“I… It’s a long story. Can we take that another time?” He replied.

As everyone saw Julia and I interacted with brother Al, they seemed to have eased their nerves a little and began asking questions too. They all surround him, eagerly waiting for their question to be answered.

Stolen novel; please report.

I also wanted to ask about many things, such as magic and magic!

“...A-Aska… I-I don’t think you need to keep carrying me,” Miss Hilda said, her face red as she sheepishly looked at me.

“Ah… oh, right,” I replied.

I put down a coat for her to lie on. I also lent her my lap again, but this time it was a little different since she had a pillow too. I think it was less awkward as we got to know each other better while waiting for Hilos to finish the fight.

— :::: —

While everyone was chatting and having a snack, Hilos fought a formidable opponent. Each and every attack was deadly as the monster had infused its limbs with magic, specifically dark corrosive magic.

| …Tch, those youngsters have no concern, do they? | He thought as he repelled one attack after the other.

And as their blades were about to clash again, Hilos used [Spatial Tear] to connect two spaces, one where his blade was and the other where the head of the Death Blade was.

Unfortunately for him, the Death Blade noticed and twitched abnormally and avoided the attack as it spun in the air, trying to slice Hilos with its balded legs.

Using [Spatial Tear] again, Hilos redirected the attack as it went straight through him and connected to the death blade's own neck.

It’s an intelligent creature. As it noticed its attack didn’t connect, it stopped and twisted its mouth open, releasing a mana blast that Hilos dodged as he backed away. The attack incinerated everything in its path, which resulted in rot.

All of its attacks inflicted corrosion as it chips away Hilos’s spirit blade. He had received enough mana from Alum to maintain a physical body and fight, but that reserve was running low since he’d been directing so many corrosive attacks into the sky, preventing the death of the forest. But he couldn’t afford that now….

| …What a pain. | He thought.

Since he was already dead, his powers were nothing compared to his past. Not only that, he had to rely on Alum for mana. Which usually wasn’t an issue since the guy had more than most people in this era.

| Hey, brat, stop studying it! | Hilos complained via memory link. | Anyhow…. I don’t think we can get out of this without destroying parts of the forest. |

| …I suspected as much, huh? | Alum replied.

| Do you think you can finish it off? | Hilos asked.

Hilos had to admit… Alum had more way destructive potential than him in the current state. After all… Alum has hyper-condensed mana and a lot of it, too…. It’s very unnatural, which is why he must be careful, as he could sicken people just by prolonged exposure to his mana….

| Mmm, if you could restrict its movement, I think it’s manageable. | Alum replied.

| Good. |

Hilos fought it a little more to buy Alum some time.

Alum quietly got up as the others looked at him. Visually confused, they let him pass. He grabbed his trusted Depth cutter and looked at the others apologetically.

“Sorry,” he said, “It’ll hurt a little.”

Everyone didn’t know what he was referring to, but soon they realised why he had apologised.

They felt heavy pressure in their body, as if their lungs were about to rupture. They watched as he condensed water into a single point.

Massive amounts of water sunk into that little drop, glowing brighter by the second until it was completely blue as electricity fluctuated from the small orb.

This was Alum’s special spell, its base was rather simple, but the amount of mana and control needed for it was unreal. Even with the help of Depth cutter, it was almost at its critical limit, making it semi-unstable.

He even had to contain it in many layers of barriers so that it wouldn’t melt his hands, but even that proved challenging as his hands had swollen from the heat, boiling the blood. His nose bled, and so did his eyes.

Magic circles appear in a row. This was acceleration magic since the spell's expected blast radius was around 1 kilometre.

Hilos and the Armoured Death Blade had to be about 3 kilometres away. Otherwise, it wasn’t guaranteed that the barrier would hold.

| Hilos, I’m ready. | Alum calmly said via memory link.

| Got it. | Hilos replied as he proceeded to cast [Spatial Collapse], making the Death Dlade susceptible to a massive gravitational pull. Its movement was restricted, and each step shook the ground, and it was barely moving as Hilos held it down with all the mana he had left. Which would only last for a few more seconds before the spell wore off.

Attribute magic: [Droplet Pulsar]

[Droplet Pulsar], Alum’s most powerful spell, originated from his original spell: [Droplet Bomb]. But also the only spell in his {Drop} collection to never been used.

As he fires it off. And as it goes through acceleration magic, melting 5 meters of its radius as it travels through trees, rocks and everything in its path. Despite its small size, the trail it left scorched the land.

It only took 1.4 seconds to reach its destination, and blue light enveloped the sky.

Hilos had teleported back and caught the collapsing Alum and soon followed a shockwave that tore the trees out of the ground as the barrier cracked and weakened due to its caster being unconscious.

No one said a thing as they watched the destruction surrounding them.

“Reckless as always,” he complained as he began to heal Alum’s wounds.

He then glanced at the others, saying, “You’re other worlders, right? Just to make things clear. Most people can't cause this level of destruction. Only a few elites. Got it?”

The other worlders were too bewildered to properly answer as they just lightly nodded, staring into the blue light that enveloped the sky.

— :::: —

Mom… Dad, lil sis, today I witnessed something close to a nuclear explosion. It’s surreal and terrifying…. Wait, Julia witnessed it as well….

‘Gulp’

The man named Hilos looked at us and said something. I feel relieved that this wasn’t the norm, but also….

If that thing isn’t dead… then I don’t know what’s in store for us moving forward…..