FFFWSSH!…

As the immensely bright beam of light crosses the interior perimeter in an instant, it sets the well-trimmed grass beneath itself on fire. It continues onward, impacting the Academy's fortification wall, and bores another hole into it right next to the smaller one. It takes mere seconds for it to completely punch through, the spell hits the imperceptible to the mundane eye dome over the Academy, rendering roughly half of the above-ground barrier visible in a gigantic, cloudy white patch. Straf continues to allow his mana pour freely.

Smashhh!…

A loud, ringing noise of shattering glass sounds out from all around the Academy at the same time. The barrier turns completely opaque and begins speeding towards Straf. The beam continues spraying into the barrier as it shrinks, diffusing into a dazzling rainbow to the other side. He grins, as mere moments later the cloudy opaque barrier passes by him like a speeding train. The giant orb in front of him briefly fluctuates into a rainbow-colored shimmering mist when the barrier impacts it, and continues towards the Academy's crystal deep underground. The orb then quickly reforms back into its shape from the residual mist of mana, and the harmless rainbow now becomes a deadly ray of energy.

「Wha-?」「Huh!?」「Was that?…」

Corvus, Cycelia, and Damian all let out surprised utterances at the same time as they catch a glimpse of the white barrier phase through the walls across the corridor, and disappears off to somewhere.

「The barrier!…」

The headmaster says in a shocked-breathless tone, replaying the split-second event at his leisure.

「It broke?…」

Aria asks, sweating and breathing heavily while she looks up at Corvus with he brows furrowed. He nods with an amazed expression on his face.

「Yes… And we're not dead.」

The old man lets out a relieved sigh. He adjusts his glasses and rapidly tugs at his collar to cool down a little as he turns his eyes back towards the missing wall ahead.

《Straf…》

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Cycelia's mind summons the image of Straf's serious face from a moment ago. Smiling, she hugs her family's grimoire closer to her chest, squishing her breasts against it, causing the buttons to beg for mercy.

Disinterested, Straf glances at his mana bar again.

[|||||------------------]

He cuts the mana's flow. The beam and the orb quickly narrow towards their center, shrinking, then disappear without a trace other than the immense heat.

Diebin shuffles away from the pile of burning books to not catch fire himself. Realizing Straf's attack has ceased, he hesitantly stands up and looks at the damage. Most of the wall is gone, the bookshelves closest to the beam's path are now crumbling charcoal, and the books are simply ash. A shallow channel stretches across the stone floor towards the exterior, as if plowed by an enormous ox. Feebly holding his hands up as a gesture of surrender, Diebin walks closer towards it, tracing the channel's path with his eyes wide open.

「Wha-!?…」

His jaw and hands both drop when he sees the full extent of the damage outside. Small flames are dancing on the grass, a large chunk of the perimeter wall has collapsed on itself from the unsupported weight, and the distant mountain range beyond it has a portion of its ridge turned into an upward-pointing crescent. It glows through the night with an orange light like a beacon, contrasting heavily against the dark sky behind it, its rock melted into magma and slowly oozing downwards to the center. It almost appears as if a giant took a large, gluttonous bite out of the mountain.

「If you're too stupid to grasp it yet… You never stood a chance.」

Straf declares with a mix of disdain and boredom on his face, walking up to Diebin with his hands in his pockets.

「…You were playing with me from the start?」

The archmage asks, staring at him with frightful eyes.

「…Yeah? I had to quite literally light a fire under your ass and get you to sweat, since I didn't believe you'd break the lifelink if I'd ask nicely.」

He scoffs in response with an amused smirk, drawing near.

「Wait! I surrender!-」

Diebin quickly raises his hands again and jumps a step back.

「Fuck!… Shit!…」

Frustrated, Straf shouts expletives aside with a powerful nod of his head each time. The old man stares at him with a worried and fearful expression.

「…So you didn't change your mind, huh? Tsk…」

Straf turns his disdainful glare back to him as he asks then clicks his tongue, turning his eyes away again.

「…It'd be pretty hard to sell Lia a story that you got away if there was a massive fucking blood splatter on the floor…」

He says as he gazes at the mage again, rubbing the back of his neck, visibly annoyed and discomforted.

Meanwhile, in the hallway, Damian and Cycelia look at Corvus. He notices their intense stare, and lets out a sigh.

「…You want to check on Straf?」

The headmaster reluctantly asks, glancing at them both at his sides.

「Can we?…」

Cycelia asks, and turns her emerald eyes to Damian, exchanging a knowing look.

「…With me. Carefully now.」

Corvus lets out another troubled sigh and hastily steps towards the corner leading to demonology. The two hurry behind him, leaving Aria kneeling in the center of the hallway.

「…Fine. We have a magic school, let's have a magic court case too, and all that so-called justice circus… You're just adding an extra step before they string you up.」

Straf reluctantly says, pulling his hand away from his neck and shrugging with it, before returning it to his pocket. His face shifts into a deeply annoyed tight-lipped grimace, and he turns to the hallway.

「…I don't know what you expect, you signed your death warrant by trying to kill everyone anyway.」

He adds, walking away from Diebin. His gaze briefly meets with Cycelia's as she peeks into the room with Corvus and Damian.

「Ah, Lia.」

He utters out, looking at her happy face. Her emerald eyes snap wide open, and her face twists into screaming terror in an instant.

「Straf!-」

She yells out. A dagger rises up above Straf and points at the back of his neck.

Pop!

「Gyyyyarrgggggghhhhn!!…」

Diebin screams in pain as his forearm makes a sickening, muffled noise of bones breaking within when Straf grabs it, compressing what's in his grasp into the thickness of perhaps a single finger.

《Even from behind!?…》

「…Nnghhhh!… Grrrrghhhh!…」

He thinks as pained yelps and groans continue slipping out past his clenched teeth. His hand is in a death grip around the dagger's hilt, completely numb and paralyzed below Straf's crushing hand.

「…In that case, I'll gladly be your executioner.」

Straf says, glaring at Diebin.

「Gyaaahhhh!」

The mage's arm is bent at an unnatural angle beyond Straf's grasp. Diebin tries to yank his arm away on an instinct, but his face immediately twists into wet-eyed agony. Cycelia sighs out with relief.

「Y'see, it really brings me no joy to hurt old-timers like you…」

「Nghh!…」

Clank-clank!…

The dagger drops to the ground as Straf lets go of the old man's arm. With his forearm horribly crushed at its midpoint, the rest of his arm wobbles limply as he stumbles back.

「…But there was this quote. Wait, how did it go again?」

Straf looks up at the black smoke spewing from the fire all around them, rubbing his chin while Diebin gasps and heaves trying to control his pain, clutching onto his mangled arm.

「Let people know that they'll have an opportunity to fuck up some really bad people completely guilt-free, and they'll jump at the chance. Great moral treat.」

He continues and snaps his fingers, pointing at Diebin's face as it twists in agony, profusely sweating from both the pain and heat. The two make eye contact.

「…Paraphrasing, but you know what I mean.」

Straf clarifies, shrugging with his hand before returning it to his pocket. Diebin takes a few steps backwards while Straf stares at him with a cold glare.

「Hhhgnnhhh… Searing flames, set enemies of mine ablaze…」

Archmage Diebin turns around, shambling towards the burning grass outside.

「Where do you think you're going? I'm not nearly done with you.」

Straf says, and leisurely follows after him. He reaches out for his collar, but Diebin abruptly turns around and points his palm at Straf's face in close range, nearly touching it.

「『Flamejet』!」

The old man shouts out, and Straf doubles, tilting their heads with their eyebrows raised.

「…Hnhhghurk!」

Splat!

Diebin's eyes lose focus, and he coughs out a large blob of blood onto the floor, right in front of his feet. He lifts his head back up and looks at Straf, coughing weakly.

「Khrkhk… Khakh…」

「What's the matter, old man? Running on fumes?」

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Straf asks, spreading his hands while blood starts pouring from the archmage's nose. He can't decide which blurry Straf to stare at, and the old mage's dull eyes dart left and right.

《Too much… Mana?…》

His thoughts a muddled mess, Diebin stumbles backwards away from Strafs. He turns his head sideways to the still dark segment of the room, beyond a bookshelf with a hole punched through it.

「…Rossskiel… Hurk!」

Splat.

The mage croaks out, liquid gurgling in his throat, and a cough sends more blood splattering on the floor from his red-stained mouth. With his brows furrowed and his mouth aslant, Straf looks over his shoulder.

「…Ahhh, man… This turned from an execution to euthanasia completely at random.」

He looks at Cycelia, Corvus, and Damian with his mouth lightly scrunched to the side, and lets out a large, fatigued sigh as he turns back to Diebin.

The archmage is wobbling on his feet like a struck bowling pin, or a drunkard that was just shoved out of a bar. His mangled arm dangles limply, half of his face is smeared in blood, his unfocused eyes are bloodshot red, his robes charred here and there, and most of his body is covered in burns of varying degrees. Straf rubs his neck once again, pondering what to do next.

「You really should go through what I have in mind for you… But I'm sure Lia would get upset for some reason. She's a nice girl like that.」

Straf says, but it doesn't appear the old man is quite there anymore. The crescent shape on the mountain range behind his head appears almost like horns.

「Tsk… Whatever. You've been a total piece of shit, both to me and the cliche fuckin' magic school. This is more than what you deserve, but it is what it is…」

He clicks his tongue, sliding one of his feet back, and cocking his fist.

「…By the way, if you don't get that quote, ask the dyslexiac bimbo.」

Straf adds, glaring at Diebin's slack-jawed dazed face as he's just standing there, struggling to breathe through the blood. He shifts his eyes down to the center of the archmage's robes.

CRACKSPLAT!

Cycelia forces her eyes shut, turning her chestnut head away and baring her clenched teeth in a discomforted wince.

「…Urk…」

Archmage Diebin lets out a breathless gasp when Straf's fist slams into dead center of his chest like a vicious piledriver, ejecting bone fragments, blood, and viscera backwards from the old man. It leaves a surprisingly clean, circular hole in his chest, slightly larger than Straf's fist. Despite, or perhaps because of the immense force and speed involved, Diebin is left still standing in front of Straf, though his eyes back into his head as he topples backwards like a felled log the next second.

Splat.

Diebin lands on his back with a grisly wet sound, mouth agape and filled with blood, and more begins pooling beneath him through the hole in his chest. He lies still, arms splayed sideways, glazed-over eyes staring at the night sky. Straf looks at the mountain in the distance, and lets out an amused huff out of his nose.

「Well, with that out of the way, time for just desserts…」

He sucks the hot air through his teeth, and approaches the darkness between the bookshelves the old man was looking towards with desperate eyes a moment ago.

「Are you ready for round two, asshole?-」

Straf says, peeking his head past the pierced bookshelf. It's dark, but just bright enough to see thanks to the flames' reflected light.

「Hm?」

He hums, furrowing his brows as he looks around the dark space. Baron Roskiel is gone, and the only signs of him left are the hole in the bookshelf, the bloodstained tomes scattered on the floor, and another partially shattered shelf just opposite of the penetrated one. Straf looks up and down their height, but sees nothing, and senses no presence.

「Well, whatever…」

He blinks a few times, then shrugs and turns back, walking through the burning room with no sense of urgency.

「Well? I'm ready for your scathing comments, like「Why'd you kill him!? You are just like him!」and such. Go on, hit me with your best one.」

He says, spreading his arms as he approaches Corvus. Hearing Straf's voice, Cycelia opens her emerald eyes and turns them to him.

「…No, Straf. After his perfidious attempt, the only reasonable option left was to kill him.」

The headmaster shakes his head, brushing his beard.

「I'm not upset at you, Straf… In fact, I'm glad you're okay.」

Cycelia says, hugging the demon-summoning grimoire. Damian looks at Straf with wary eyes, then silently nods.

「Wow. Surprising.」

Straf blurts out with a shrug. Corvus peeks his head inside, and looks at the fire eating away at everything flammable.

「Professors! Fire control, quick!… Neela, Tisha, you too!…」

The old man waves his hands towards the professors in the distance, still standing at the corner just as ordered to. They glance at each other, and begin running up.

「Neela, Tisha, be careful. Do not get too close to the flames…」

He instructs the two girls as they reach the collapsed wall, but gets distracted when Straf walks past him towards the empty doorframe across the hallway.

With his hands in his pockets, Straf looks down the dark stairs. The wooden door is badly shattered, bent, and splintered at the bottom. Its temporary plaque was likely flung into the dark, earthen room.

「Straf, do you want your flashli-?」

Cycelia jogs up, reaching behind her back to pull out the flashlight tucked into her skirt band. A bright orb of white light abruptly materializes above his head, slowly orbiting him.

「A- Ahh…」

She lowers her flashlight with a little disappointed sigh. Meanwhile, earnest firefighting efforts begin behind them as splashing water audibly turns to steam.

「Nope, don't need it…」

Straf declares, and slowly makes his way down. Corvus and Damian approach the stairs as well, but Damian remains at the doorframe.

Tap-crrreak… Tap-crrrrreak… Tap-crreaaaaaak…

The steps groan under Straf's weight. Cycelia follows, furrowing her brows with an uneasy face, and the headmaster is right behind her.

Thud. Crrreak.

Straf hops out onto what's left of the door, then steps onto the uneven dirt beside it. He looks around the small, damp room. Wooden support beams have been set up in all three cardinal directions, many, many years ago, visibly rotting and barely supporting anything at all. Cycelia and Corvus join him a few seconds later, fanning out a little.

「Hmpf!…」

Thudthudthudthudthud!

Cycelia's eyes dart to one corner, and she immediately covers her mouth and nose. She rushes upstairs past Corvus, almost ramming her shoulder into him.

「Hurk!- Hnnnnfff… Hnnnnnffff… Hnnnnnfff…」

She gags and retches, just barely stopping herself from vomiting as she lurches forward, breathing heavily through her nose.

「H- Hey, Lia, are you okay?…」

Visibly concerned, Damian approaches with his hand extended. She quickly nods her chestnut head, but continues her controlled breathing.

「Khah… I'm fine… It just smells bad…」

Cycelia replies, sounding dismayed.

「Smells bad?…」

Damian echoes, and peers down the stairway.

Straf and Corvus look into one of the corners. An old skeleton lies on the ground with its jaw wide open, almost as if screaming in silence. Straf approaches closer and squats down in front of it. Near its bony hand there are deep, telltale scratch marks in the dirt. The vertebral column is visibly shattered just below the ribs from a heavy impact. Straf turns his head to the other corner, where a rotting corpse rests. With his hair black like his decomposing skin, it fills the room with a stale stench of death. Straf then turns his eyes to Corvus, who is rubbing beard with an incredibly sullen look on his face.

The old mage turns around, lethargically climbing back up the stairs. Straf stands up, and returns as well.

Aria stumbles up to the doorway just as Corvus enters the hallway.

「Corvus… What's wrong?」

She asks with her brows furrowed, looking at his troubled, cloudy face.

「I will explain everything later…」

He replies, and looks over his shoulder as Straf joins them. Cycelia is slowly beginning to collect herself, and her breathing returns to normal.

「Straf… What of the vampire? Is it dead?」

Corvus asks, looking at him.

「Nope. He got the fuck out, and I'm not even sure when.」

Straf shrugs with his hands in his pockets, briefly glancing at Aria's beauty-marked, blood-spattered face.

「He did? Nhh…」

Corvus asks, furrowing his bushy brows at Straf before turning his eyes down to the floor with a groan, still stroking his beard.

「…No matter. I will send for a team of Federation's battlemages to bolster security. The Federation must know.」

He shakes his head and pinches his glasses too adjust them.

「Aria, how are you feeling?」

The headmaster asks, speaking in a completely natural tone, though his eyes are still anguished.

「Well… I won't cast anything, but I can probably get back to my room on my own.」

「Can I ask you to handle things here for now? I have to return to my office.」

「Ah- Yes. Leave it to me, headmaster.」

Aria nods, a little surprised that the responsibility is being delegated to her. Corvus turns his eyes back to Straf, and then Cycelia as she draws near his side. He looks at them both, thinking in silence.

「Mr. Damian, please help Professor Aria. I know I'm asking a lot of you, but I hope you remember my words.」

He then looks at Damian, briefly glancing at Aria as he speaks.

「…Yes, headmaster. You can count on me as well.」

Damian nods. He and Aria briefly gaze at each other.

「Very good… On my way back, I will collect the scattered professors to help you with the fire. Please contain it before it spreads…」

Corvus nods back, and takes a step away from the group.

「Straf, come to my office… At your earliest leisure.」

He speaks to Straf over his shoulder before abruptly continuing onward, pensively brushing his long beard along the entire way back…