Clap clap clap clap clap!…

「Heheheh…」

Straf's clapping and chuckling fills the oven-like air in the room. A fire crackles in the background, rapidly consuming the knowledge on the bookshelves as it spews out black smoke up towards the ceiling. The cool, fresh evening air flooding in through the giant circular hole in the wall feeds the flames further. The wall behind Straf is simply gone, reduced to rubble along with its door after the remains of the celestial object in the form of a bolt of superheated plasma has hit it. The magic lamps were swept away by the pressure, and the door across with the plaque hanging off its center is gone too. Only a dark, open and torn door frame remains.

Clap clap clap clap…

The clapping continues, echoing in the debris and dust-filled hallway. The sparse magic lamps above have piled up where Aria's barrier had stood, their glass housings shattered from the impact against it. Some of their gems even fell out. The housings, too, had no choice but to drop along with the gems down to the ground, unpowered the moment the physical mana connection was lost. Only roughly a half of the lamps remains levitating above, and of that, less than a quarter undamaged, though all are covered in pale dust from the disintegrated wall.

Clap clap clap…

「My ears are still ringing…」

Cycelia groans, wincing.

「That's not Professor Arkeis? Then who is he?… That was more destructive than anything Straf had ever casted!」

She asks, looking at Aria and Corvus.

「I don't know the man… But I'd recognize that spell anywhere… We're very lucky my memory is good. Reading about it pushed me into learning combat magic.」

Professor Aria says, shaking from weakness as she's kneeling next to Damian, propping herself up on her hands. He stands up, staring at the torn out wall to the demonology study with wary eyes.

「Yes… You've never met him, Aria, and it was the only spell that he's ever shared…」

Corvus nods, and adjusts his glasses, looking at the signs of devastation strewn across the hallway. At the exact point where the barrier had met them and not one step further, the walls at the sides have been smashed in by the deflected pressure. The doors to the rooms have been forced open from the inside out, their locks violently ripped out by the force.

「…As a scholar, Diebin has been somewhat a thorn in my side. I had no choice but to recognize his achievements. He's a veritable scholar, and a genius mage…」

He says, glancing at Aria and Cycelia with his eyes narrowed, and brows lightly furrowed in worry.

「…I remember him as arrogant, stubborn… He'd always have to prove himself right to everyone. Eventually he'd even prove me wrong… But I'd never expect he'd try and harm the Academy.」

Corvus adds, brushing through his beard while the clapping continues.

Clap. Clap.

「Heheh… Well, I did say I'll wait for you to cast, but I didn't say anything about dodging…」

Straf slows his clapping down. He stares at Diebin with a face full of disdain, his mouth lightly turned upward into a snide smirk of pure contempt. The archmage grits his teeth, his eyes jump left and right around the burning room, covered in first and second degree burns himself while standing in a wide combat stance in his charred robes.

Clap.

The clapping ominously stops. Straf quickly glances at the partially depleted bar in the corner of his vision.

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

MANA

Snap.

Straf snaps his fingers, and points at Diebin while moving his other hand back into his pocket.

「I have to give it to you, that was a pretty wizardy thing to do. I can't say I'll have much use for that, but, uhh… Well, want not, waste not.」

He says, shrugging his pointing hand. He promptly returns it to his pocket and shrugs his shoulders as well.

「So, that's it? That was your best shot? No more aces up your sleeve? No final forms? No letting a demon possess you and turning into a giant monster as a last fuck you?…」

Straf asks, leisurely taking a few steps closer. The archmage takes a step back, his face twitches in an angry scowl, but also desperation.

「…You'll just die like the fucking chump you are?」

Spreading his hands, Straf lightly shakes his head with his brows quizzically raised. Archmage Diebin's briefly flashes into fear. He dashes for a pile of tomes on his desk, shoving all but one off, and grabs it.

「Roskiel! We're leaving!… Roskiel!」

He begins sprinting towards the hole in the wall, screaming in the direction of the shelf that the vampire punched through, but receives only silence in response.

「Roskiel! Are you already dead!? Help me!」

Diebin keeps screaming and screaming towards the bookshelf to no avail. He glances over his shoulder, and his eyes widen when he realizes Straf is missing.

「What!?-」

With his clenched teeth, the archmage slides to a stop with his eyes wide open in shock.

「This isn't the type of a fight where you switch, old man…」

Straf says, standing directly ahead with his hands in the pockets, right in the path of the hole leading outside. The flames behind him cause him to appear as a black silhouette almost reminiscent of the wraith.

Diebin blinks, and the man before him is now flipping through the pages of a book that appears strikingly similar like the one underneath his arm.

「What!? When did he-!?」

The old mage realizes that it is, in fact, the same tome. Diebin looks at his empty hands, then turns his wide-open eyes to Straf. He's nodding, skimming the book with a disinterested gaze.

The archmage takes this momentary distraction to turn around on his heel and flee the other way, towards the hallway.

He slides out into the rubble-filled hall, nearly falling over. Damian immediately points his palm at him and begins casting. Diebin lets out a frustrated groan and backs away into the room.

「What?…」

The archmage turns around to see what Straf is doing, and finds him missing. He looks left and right, his eyes snap to each pillar in search of Straf's shadow, but he finds nothing.

「Hey, Lia… Is this by any chance important to you?…」

「Wha-!?」

Diebin's jaw drops when his head snaps over his shoulder, and finds Straf casually hopping over a shattered stone into the hallway, holding the grimoire's dark, blank cover up next to his head.

「Grimoire!-」

Cycelia blurts out as her green eyes widen at the sight of the leather-bound tome. She immediately covers her mouth with both of her hands, and her emeralds darts between Corvus, Aria and Damian.

「Huh, so it is-」

Straf doesn't manage to finish the sentence before Cycelia runs up and snatches the thick tome from his hand. She stares at him with an intense gaze, covertly shaking her head with a tight-lipped grimace.

She hugs the tome tight into her chest, wrapping her arms around it, and quickly backs away to Corvus and Aria, trying to act nonchalant with her lips tightly pressed together, evading their eyes.

「Right… Whatever.」

Straf shrugs, and turns back to the room. He activates [Contextual Time Perception], and casually begins walking towards Diebin as he's halfway to the hole, frozen in the middle of a feverish sprint.

《I suppose this would be the part where if you're too lazy to do the side quests, eventually the main quest will just corral you to them. Convenient… Or contrived and lazy.》

He thinks while he walks past the archmage, heading towards the hole.

《Man… I kind of miss video games.》

Strraf's mouth slants a little, and he turns around, standing right in front of the hole.

「What!? Again!?」

Diebin shouts as time returns to normal and Straf appears before him. He slides to a halt, grimacing heavily in anger, frustration, fear and unease.

「Yeah, what did you expect? That I'll just let you walk away from this? Fat chance…」

Straf nonchalantly shrugs, and begins walking towards him with his hands in his pockets.

「…Normally, in a cliche story, you two would go on a little back and forth and you'd get to shout out your little villain story and stuff, then you'd get into a magic fight… And then the dramatic vampire reveal…」

He continues, leisurely walking towards Diebin while he walks backwards, matching him step for step.

「…But it all happened so quick. I mean, coooome ooon. Ever heard of suspense building? Plot twists?- No of course you fucking haven't. The other old man being behind it would have been one…」

Straf keeps walking and talking, and Diebin reaches the missing wall. He bares his teeth in frustration as he looks over his shoulder, and stops just short of crossing into the hallway.

「…So, want to have a little villain monologue? Now's your chance. Why'd you do it? Explain your motivations, long term plans, stuff you'll do when the world is yours… I'll give you five minutes.」

He adds, and shrugs his arms, briefly spreading them before returning his hands to his pockets.

「Kuhh… If not for you, everything would have turned out well!」

Diebin throws his arm aside, screaming in anger. His robe flutters from the motion.

「Don't forget the meddling kids.」

Straf says while grinning, and chuckles under his breath.

「My entire life I have been ridiculed, mocked, and held in contempt! Every time I was right, but no one was even willing to humor my theories!…」

The old man shouts, waving his arms about erratically, baring his teeth, seething through them as he narrows his eyes in dismay.

「…And every time I was finally acknowledged, finally recognized for my genius, it was already too late for it to matter! Every time it was too late!」

He shouts and shouts, clenching his fists.

「I should have been the headmaster!- What's so funny!? What are you smirking about!?」

Diebin screams, pointing at Straf's face as he's barely holding laughter in with his head turned aside.

「…Nothing, heh… It's just, uh, a funny thing to say to a writer.」

Straf shrugs, spreading his hands.

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「What?… What nonsense are you talking about!? How is this relevant at all!?」

The archmage shouts in fury, clenching his fist as he stares at Straf's grin.

「More than you think. I want to say same, but I really can't-」

Straf stops himself, furrowing his brows as his eyes jump up to the black smoke above.

「Actually…」

He rubs his chin, thinking.

《Does being immediately prehumously recognized count?》

Straf turns his eyes back to Diebin, and snaps his fingers.

「Same.」

「What?」

Diebin grows confused as Straf points his finger at him with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

「…So, what was your plan? Suppose someone didn't have dyslexia and I wasn't here to ruin your day, what would you do?」

Straf asks, shrugging his hand with a quizzical expression before returning it back to his pocket. Diebin lets out a disdainful huff out his nose.

「I'd use the grimoire to take over the throne and kill everyone who opposes me! I wonder how those naysayers' faces would look like if they'd find out I'm running a kingdom through my wit!」

The archmage shouts back, glaring at Straf.

「Yeah, well… Looks like outside of your fantasies, your wit just wasn't sharp enough. Better luck next time… Say, is your shield still up?…」

Straf asks, and only receives an uneasy stare in return.

「Okay. Well, if it isn't, you're losing a leg…」

He says, and points two of his fingers with thumb extended out at one of Diebin's legs. In front of Straf's hand shaped like a mock pistol, a blue orb of light appears.

「…Pew.」

Straf says with a grin, and the orb extends a narrow beam aimed at Diebin's shin. He flinches, but the beam impacts the mana shield around him as it briefly becomes visible once again, appearing like an egg-shaped soap bubble while the deadly beam harmlessly passes through the barrier as a stream of rainbow light, splashing against the exact point Straf was aiming at with no injury.

「Oh, good. I'm craving a magic fight, you see… Want my advice?…」

Straf asks, briefly pointing his pistol upward with a smug grin on his face and a lightly cocked head. The old, gray-bearded mage stares at him with a face of palpable concern, his upper lip twitching slightly.

「…Don't stop moving.」

He adds, pointing his fingers dead-center at Diebin again. The archmage's eyes widen, and heeding his advice he begins running for cover behind a pillar.

「Pew! Pew! Pew-pew-pew!」

Straf keeps shooting, hitting Diebin multiple times, but his mana shield absorbs each shot. Just before the mage is about to slink behind cover, Straf begins running as well, raising his other hand into a pistol.

「Pewpewpewpewpew!」

Multiple narrow beams scatter around the mage, some hitting his shield and scattering into light all around his torso, and others ripping out chunks of the pillar as he's trying to evade Straf's magic fingerguns.

「Kuh!…」

《He's toying with me!?…》

Diebin thinks as he watches Straf try and circle around the pillar, pointing his fingerguns his way. He ducks behind cover when he sees orbs of light form at his fingers.

「Pewpewpew!…」

Straf continues making sound effects for his fingerguns. Fragments of the pillar come off as the rays impact it, sending a cloud of dust into the air. Diebin begins chanting an incantation under his breath.

He loses sight of Straf, and even loses track of his footsteps. It's as if he disappeared from the room, but he notices his shadow creeping up to his cover.

「『Flamejet』!」

Diebin shouts, pointing his palm ahead of the shadow to anticipate Straf and intercept him with the spell.

《New spell memorized.》

A monotone female voice announces in Straf's mind as he's leaping through the air sideways, pointing his dual fingerguns at the old mage with a constipated grimace on his face.

Fwwwwwwwoooooooooommmm!…

Flames scream above Straf's hip as he's flying just below them. The jet of highly focused fire shoots across the room and impacts one of the bookshelves causing it to get pushed back a little from the force and wobble before settling down. The point of immediate impact is entirely shrouded in flames in a mere second. They quickly spread upwards and aside along the shelf with an accompanying curtain of tar-black smoke rising up into the already smoke-filled tall ceiling.

Straf continues flying from one pillar towards the next one, his face stuck, frozen into a slanted mouth smirk with his eyes narrowed.

Thud!

「Pewpewpew!…」

He lands on his side with a loud thud and slides a few paces along the floor. Bright beams of light continue impacting Diebin's shield of mana, causing it to be nigh-permanently visible to the naked eye.

「Gah! You bastard!…」

The mage curses out as he's chased out of his current cover.

《At this rate I'll have to make my shield directional!…》

He seethes through his teeth and slinks behind another pillar. Straf stands up, his face finally unfreezes and shifts into a little grin while chuckling quietly.

「Headmaster, you take care of Aria and the rest, I'll go help Straf-」

Damian walks a step ahead of everyone else, and looks at the old man over his shoulder.

「No. You'll just get in his way at this point. Cutting his way out is the right choice here.」

Corvus quickly stretches his hand out to grab him, shaking his head.

「Patience wins duels… As much as I hate sitting here… Trust my experience as a duelist. He's cornered.」

Aria chimes through heavy breaths, looking at Damian with half-open eyes. Meanwhile, inside demonology, Straf is rushing beyond a pillar again.

With his spell already prepared, Diebin jumps out from his cover, pointing his palm at him. Straf quickly turns towards a nearby pillar and jumps with his foot outstretched towards it.

「『Flamejet』!」

Fwwwwwwwoooooommm!…

Another jet of flames roars through the air, splashing against a pillar and leaving a large charred spot upon it.

「Pewpewpew!-」

Straf continues nonchalantly shooting at Diebin, backflipping high above the flames while leaping off the pillar after a brief wall, or pillar-run.

Thud.

「Pewpewpewpewpewpew!」

Straf lands on his feet just after the stream of flames ends and continues his barrage, going as far as simulating recoil with his hands.

「Gyarghh!」

Diebin lets out a screaming groan of pure frustration, pointing his other palm at Straf. The egg-shaped shield appears to part at his rear, becoming more like a flattened hemisphere at his front.

《At this point I'll just run out of mana!… He's just going to kill me if things keep heading this way!…》

He thinks, his eyes rapidly dart left and right past the streams of rainbows scattering on his shield.

《He even cut me away from cover!… Why didn't he kill me yet?…》

The archmage continues backing away from Straf, hopping left and right, trying his best to sidestep at least a portion of Straf's fingergun shots.

「Pew pew.」

Straf shoots a singular beam through the round hole in the wall. It impacts the Academy's barrier, causing a large patch to become visible and shimmer red. He turns his eyes back to Diebin.

「Pewpewpewpewpew!」

The barrage continues with no end in sight, setting individual books on fire as stray beams impact their spines.

《…I have no choice! I'd have to do it to escape anyway! My shield has to last at least a moment longer!…》

While pointing on palm at Straf, the archmage clenches his teeth and makes a complex motion with his other hand, slowly making his way backwards to the hole.

「Pewpewpewpewpew!」

Straf's fingerguns do not give Diebin even a moment to think, impacting the miniature gaps between his shield and the floor the split second it opens up with the archmage's rapid steps.

The mage's eyes keep darting downwards. Pointing his palm at Straf to continuously redirect the shield, he ducks down a little so that Straf stops threatening his feet, trading speed for safety.

「Pew.」

Straf's fingergun beam flies past Diebin and into the hole behind him. It takes no time at all for it to project past the extensive courtyard through the hole in the perimeter wall, then into the Academy's barrier. The beam splashes on the barrier, rendering a patch of the pale white dome visible. A smug smirk appears on Straf's face as he exits his wide gunfighter's stance and places his hands in his pockets. Though deeply confused and somewhat concerned, Diebin takes the momentary respite to wipe the sweat off his forehead, panting heavily from either exhaustion or the heat.

「…You broke it, didn't you?」

Straf asks, looking at the archmage with snide contempt in his eyes.

「What?」

Diebin asks back, stalling for time as he's slowly making his way to the melted hole nearby on his tiptoes.

「You did. You broke the lifelink off. Now I can stop holding back.」

Straf says, and his smirk turns into a wide, narrow-eyed grin. A bright blue orb the size of a golf ball forms before him, it takes no time at all for it to swell to the size of a watermelon.

《…He was holding back!?》

Diebin thinks, clenching his teeth as the orb keeps growing to the size of the one from the last blast.

「Yeah I was, dipshit…」

Straf nonchalantly replies to the mage's thought as the orb continues growing, already exceeding the size of the largest one.

《He can read my mind!? That would explain-》

The old man's eyes widen in shock, and cold sweat runs down his back.

「…And no, I can't read your mind, but I have a good idea of what you're thinking. You're thinking about just saying fuck it and bolting it to the hole…」

Straf clarifies. It takes all the willpower he possesses for Diebin not to glance at the hole behind him, standing still and watching the deadly orb of light continue growing to potentially cataclysmic size.

「…Bad idea. I hope you'll feel searing pain, but the moment you turn your back on me you'll probably just feel really, really stupid. Otherwise, the beam is going right where you're standing right now.」

He adds, glaring at the gray-bearded mage.

「Front towards the enemy, like on the mine-」

「Wait!… Wait! I surrender! I lost!」

Diebin drops his shield and raises his shaky hands, staring at the blindingly bright orb in front of Straf that now obscures him entirely. He scoffs audibly in response.

「Dodge first, surrender later.」

Straf says with a mocking, amused tone as the orb makes contact with the floor due to its size, immediately creating a shallow pool of magma beneath itself.

Archmage Diebin's eyes widen, and he takes Straf's advice. He breaks into a panicked sprint sideways, gasping and panting before leaping behind a pile of stacked books on the floor and curling up.

FWWWWWWWWSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHZZZZZZZZZZZ!!…

The ground rumbles and the room temperature skyrockets in an instant. The beam continues onward, carving the floor out along its path.

CRASH!

It hits the wall across the room, partially melting and mostly collapsing it. A handful of large bricks that form the Academy's structure are pulverized by the immense force and the remnants are blown outside onto the grass, into the cold moonlight. The books between Diebin and the beam catch on fire, although his quick decision leaves him mostly unharmed for now…