“Oh my goodness······.”
From afar, there were continuous *boom* sounds.
Sergey, watching from the rooftop, let out a lament.
“What’s the situation?”
“Oh, Professor Ludwig.”
Feeling someone approach from behind, Sergey turned to see Professor Ludwig walking over.
Once again, Sergey sighed as if the ground would cave in and continued speaking.
“At least it seems Schlus hasn’t collided with the Crows.”
“That’s fortunate amidst the misfortune.”
If Schlus had clashed with the Crows, the area would have been devastated.
So far, only small explosions were happening, indicating that such a major disaster hadn’t occurred.
“Did you warn Schlus?”
“I did.”
“And yet he still went?!”
“I couldn’t provide specifics. Just that he would die if he went······.”
Sergey dropped his head in despair.
Of course, he could have explained in greater detail.
But if he did, the Emperor’s blade would immediately turn toward them.
It was a matter of whether to let Schlus walk into the flames or let the Imperial University face the Emperor’s wrath.
Without the slightest hesitation, Sergey chose the former.
“Please call me if there’s any important news.”
“Where are you going, Professor?”
“The final exam just ended. Now I have to calculate the scores.”
“Huh······.”
“Did I say something strange?”
“No, not at all.”
Watching Ludwig turn his back and leave, Sergey let out a hollow laugh.
To think he was planning to carry on with the original schedule in the midst of this chaos.
He couldn’t help but feel that the man was not quite sane.
“Ha······.”
Left alone, Sergey leaned against the railing and sighed.
Surely, with this large-scale hunt, a significant portion of the Asylum’s influence would be uprooted.
But the problem was the backlash.
What would the people think when they saw that the New Town was intact while only the Old Town was attacked?
Of course, most of the nobles living in the New Town had already passed blood tests and were cleared of suspicion, but the common people wouldn’t know that.
Wouldn’t they end up believing that the nobles hired the Crows to slaughter the commoners?
If that were to happen, the Empire would fall apart.
It wouldn’t be like a colony breaking away; it would be a division of classes.
That’s exactly what the Asylum wanted.
A confused populace is the perfect breeding ground for fanaticism.
The operation to suppress the Asylum would ultimately lead to the destruction of the Empire and increase the Asylum’s power.
“What on earth is His Majesty thinking?”
The Emperor must have a hidden agenda.
At least, he should.
If he was acting irrationally and causing this chaos, then······.
“Tsk.”
Sergey clicked his tongue at the unpleasant possibility that he didn’t even want to think about.
*
Emilia had asked the police to take her to the Imperial University.
Surely, they wouldn’t defy my orders.
I felt I could relax a bit regarding Emilia.
Now, I was running toward the direction Emilia pointed and witnessing the small skirmishes happening here and there.
“Damn those rat-like bastards······.”
I didn’t know there were so many Asylum fanatics within the institution.
If they were willing to fight directly, that meant their brainwashing was quite advanced······.
But what puzzled me more was why they were attacking the Intelligence Agency.
The Asylum and the Intelligence Agency both had the Empire as a common enemy.
Why attack when they couldn’t become allies?
I pondered for a moment and quickly concluded-
“The Intelligence Agency is aiming to land a heavy blow against the Empire!”
What the Asylum feared the most was the collaboration between the Empire and the Kingdom to focus on suppressing the Asylum.
It was easy to intensify the conflict between the Empire and the Kingdom.
All it would take was for the Intelligence Agency to launch a massive act of terrorism against the Empire.
Yet, the Intelligence Agency was trying to flee the institution as this chaos erupted.
So, they must have attacked the institution in a desperate attempt to keep the Intelligence Agency pinned down, thinking nothing would happen.
After that, they probably had no plans on how to coerce the Intelligence Agency into striking the Empire.
They were really clueless.
“Oh. Speaking of which······.”
I suddenly stopped.
There was something weighing on my mind.
Erwin’s siblings were living in the Old Town.
Erwin himself was probably completely unaware of the chaos outside and was quietly in his mansion.
“Hertlocker is in a hurry.”
For now, the kids shouldn’t be targets for either the Asylum or the Crows.
Common sense would suggest they would have been rescued by the police or Crows and taken to some shelter by now, but······.
Damn. Just thinking about the worst-case scenario made it impossible to sit still.
Hertlocker was strong.
So, leaving them alone should be fine.
I immediately turned my direction toward Erwin’s house.
For a moment, I thought about the absurdity of this situation, but I quickly suppressed it.
If something happened to Erwin’s siblings, he would immediately fall into an incapacitated state.
I couldn’t treat the family of someone who would be a valuable asset in the future as expendable.
“Luise! Robin!”
“Uh······?”
As I smashed the door open, a sigh of relief escaped me without realizing it.
Erwin’s identical twin siblings were huddled under blankets in the corner.
I stepped back and slowly approached the trembling kids.
“Your sister sent me. We need to go, quickly. It’s dangerous here.”
“Is sister······?”
“Yes. Erwin entrusted me with you.”
Finally, the kids relaxed their guard and threw off the blanket, rushing toward me.
They must have been quite scared during this time.
I grabbed their hands and quickly exited the building.
Just as I was searching for the police or Crows-
*BOOM!*
A tremendous noise erupted from behind.
Startled, I turned around to see the building the children had just been hiding in collapse.
That was a close call······.
“In the name of Schlus Hainkel, I command the protection of these children.”
“Yes. I will ensure their accommodation at the shelter and assign guards for thorough protection.”
Handing the kids over to the police, I headed out again.
Now I really needed to find Hertlocker.
No matter how much of a jerk he was, he wouldn’t know how to handle suicide bombers.
“What the hell are the Crows doing?”
Suddenly, I felt irritated.
Fanatics were popping up everywhere to sacrifice themselves, and it seemed there weren’t nearly enough personnel to manage it.
Clearly, they had charged into the operation without a rough assessment of the enemy’s scale.
It was like poking a beehive with a stick.
‘Huh?’
At that moment, an odd sensation washed over me.
It was a strange mana wave that I had never felt before.
No, I had felt it once.
Just once.
On the Day of Magic, when I faced Hertlocker.
It was magic that only one person in this world could utilize.
*CRACKLE!*
In that instant, with a sound that shook the heavens, a massive spear shot up from the ground in the distance.
A dark black spear that seemed to absorb all light around it.
As soon as I saw what it was, I recognized its identity.
A spear made of the hardest substance in the world, Black Steel.
Soon, the spear began to crumble from the tip and disappeared, only to-
*THUD!*
Pierce through the ground again, appearing anew.
This time, it was of a completely different size and shape.
‘He did it.’
Hertlocker’s original magic, Mana Decomposition Technique.
A spell that transforms matter into mana for storage and then reassembles it back into its original form.
Hertlocker had now surpassed just reassembling matter; he was at a level where he could completely recreate it in the form he desired.
It meant he could generate weapons in desired shapes according to the time and situation.
‘Selection and Concentration. One second of mana use.’
In that fleeting moment, I used wind magic to propel myself high into the sky.
Below, I could see Hertlocker surrounded by hordes of fanatics.
Before even a second passed, I aimed at each of their heads and unleashed Flash Magic.
*SHWEEEEEEEP!*
Countless beams of light radiated from one point, shooting down toward the ground.
As they precisely struck the heads of the fanatics, those heads exploded cleanly, killing them instantly.
*THUD!*
“Schlus?!”
As I landed right in front of Hertlocker, I could see his stunned expression.
What an idiot.
Emilia could be flustered, but you shouldn’t be.
“What are you doing here?! You’re not trying to capture me, are you?”
“Get a grip, idiot. If I wanted to kill you, I would’ve smashed your head with the last spell. Wouldn’t I?”
“······.”
“Emilia is safely evacuated. You should hurry as well, before the Crows spot you and arrest you.”
“You’re not saying······. You came to help me?”
“Why else would I come? You can’t die yet, Hertlocker. You have a lot left to do.”
“Hah! You can’t use me as a slave anymore! I know all about the spell embedded in Emilia’s heart!”
“You just figured that out now?”
“What?!”
“It’s not that there’s a lot for you to do as a slave. It’s that there’s a lot you need to do for the continent.”
“Why would I fight for the Empire—”
“For the continent, Hertlocker. Not for the Empire. The fate of humanity rests in your hands.”
“······.”
Grabbing him by the collar, I could see Hertlocker unable to hide his surprise.
In the midst of contemplating just how much to explain at this critical moment, more hooded fanatics charged in, stepping on corpses.
“A visitor has arrived.”
“Pfft! I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I can tell you don’t want to fight right now.”
I stood back-to-back with Hertlocker.
Normally, Hertlocker would have been eager to kill me no matter what.
But seeing how he immediately gave up and tried to join forces with me, it seemed he was in quite a bind himself.
Glancing over, I spotted a bearded corpse.
It was Eric.
“You said it was for the continent. Why do you think I would fight for humanity? I’m just a spy from a minor nation.”
“That’s exactly who you are. No matter how corrupted you become, you are ultimately the hero destined to sacrifice yourself for the world.”
“You have completely misjudged me, Schlus Hainkel.”
“Let’s see. In the end, it will turn out as I said.”
“······.”
The Asylum fanatics began to charge.
Behind us, Hertlocker gripped a longsword made of Black Steel.
I drew my Vafe and took a stance.
I had never felt this secure behind my back as I did today.
