Baaam! Waves of mana came in quick succession. Estellade’s light kept slicing and piercing through the waves, but mana continued to press forward at Zich without pause.

<Estell…ade…is…mine…!>

“Its ownership has already been given away! It’s been Hans’ sword since the beginning of this timeline!”

Baaam!

“Kuh!” A groan escaped Zich’s lips. He put more strength into his stinging hands and clutched Estellade harder. Then, he tried to attack Glen once more when he noticed a small fireball rising from below him.

Whoosh!

Boom!

An explosion arose with a loud boom. Walwiss was venting his anger for not having been able to use his powers to their full extent inside the limited space of the tower. His fire magic spread all around him in a brilliant display of red sparks. Beside him, Leona nocked an arrow and aimed toward the sky. She looked up at the fire, fixated on it like she was a stone statue, and saw a black figure inside the flames. 

Ting! She let loose her bowstring. Imbued with her mana, the arrow was extremely fast and powerful.

Til also spotted the figure inside the flames and put his arms around a large chunk of debris next to him. He lifted the rock that was several times bigger than a human as if it were made out of cotton. Then, he pulled his arms backward, placed one foot forward, and used all his momentum to fling the rock into the air.

Whoosh! The rock shot across the sky like it was skipping through time. Its target was also the dark shadowy figure beyond the flames: Glen. Leona’s arrow and Til’s stone flew toward Glen simultaneously. If just one of these attacks hit him, ‌it would land a significant blow on Glen. 

Baam! Yet, with one swing of his hand, Glen crushed their attacks. In the next moment, Glen swung his hands at the flames surrounding him.

Whoosh! Rough mana winds swept across the area, instantly extinguishing the flames that had heated everything up and inexhaustibly hungered for more things to burn in an instant. With just a flick of his hands, the arrows and rocks continuously flying his way were nullified.

Boom!

Walwiss activated his magic once more, yet this attack also failed to harm Glen. Glen simply scowled as if he found all these attacks merely bothersome. Yet, when Zich pierced through the flames and aimed at him with Estellade, Glen felt a bit more threatened. As expected, Zich’s skills were a couple of levels above the others.

Boom! The light fluctuating within the flames dwindled and disappeared inside Glen’s mana. The shockwave it caused extinguished the flames, and Glen smiled. It was a mocking and demeaning sneer.

<I…I am…stronger…>

It seemed like Glen wanted to boast the might of his newfound power, but his demeaning remark had no effect on Zich. Instead, Zich said demeaning lines that were at least two times more unpleasant than what Glen said.

“Yes, you are stronger, but don’t you think you’ve seen this kind of picture before? It’s the scene of a group of heroes working together to fight the final Demon Lord. With companions the hero gathered by traveling the world, they face an enemy much stronger than them. Ha~! It really is a picture-perfect adventure story!”

Glen’s smile disappeared from his face.

<The hero…is m-me…!>

“Really? Who in the world would think that? Lara and Elena are completing the special mission I gave them with Hans and Snoc. And Lubella and Leona are fighting below us on my side—against you.”

Zich arched his head as if he was looking down at Glen. “So, where are your companions now?”

<Give…Give me…ahhhhh! My companions…ahhhh!>

“I don’t want to?”

Boom! Mana from the surroundings shot toward Zich. He swung his sword at it, but he didn’t have enough power to withstand all of it.

‘Fighting in mid-air is definitely tough,’ Zich thought. It was more advantageous for a swordsman to fight on the ground which supported him properly. Yet, the sheer fact that Zich could maintain perfect swordsmanship in the air by just expelling mana from the bottom of his feet displayed his insane skills as a fighter.

Boom!

“Kurgh!” However, Zich was still having a difficult time with Glen’s continuous and explosive attacks right now. Another attack barely missed Zich. 

Pop! Fire pillars shot up from below; arrows and rocks were aimed at Glen again. Glen’s attention turned toward these attacks, and Zich aimed for that opportunity. 

Pop!

Zich kicked off the air hard and approached Glen. At the same time, Glen threw two large mana chunks at Zich.

Crunch! Zich narrowed his eyes. He precisely sliced through the boundary line between the two mana chunks as he poured mana into Estellade.

Cliiiiiiink! A chilling sound rang across the surroundings. Although Zich was aiming for the boundary, he felt great resistance from the mana chunks and Estellade cried out, shining brightly.

Crack!  The mana chunks cracked into pieces and disintegrated into the air. Like that, Zich swung his sword at Glen.

Bam!

‘Is it a barrier?’ The tip of Estellade stopped a fingernail's length from Glen’s body. Zich felt some hard material, as if Glen was wearing a thick coat of armor. Glen was clearly using some kind of special defense to protect himself.

<Uh…ahhhhh!>

Boom!

“Ugh!” Fierce mana storms began to whirl in from the surroundings as if they were responding to Glen’s scream. Every stroke of the wind was sharp and critical. Zich hurriedly began to strike back against them, but there were too many. Furthermore, each one was so strong that Zich couldn’t move his sword with ease; meanwhile, another form of mana targeted him from above.

Crunch! An ominous sound came out of Zich’s body, and Zich flew toward the ground. 

Boom! Fortunately, it didn’t appear that he had lost his senses and he was able to land—although roughly—on the ground. However, he didn’t escape unscathed. He put one knee on the ground, breathing heavily. He was severely injured by Glen’s attack, but he wasn’t too worried.

“Sir Zich!”

While falling, Zich had pushed himself so that he could fall where his party was gathered. There was an excellent zombie maker in his party.

Wiiing! 

Thanks to Lubella’s holy energy, Zich’s wounds disappeared instantly. Zich got up and tried moving his limbs lightly. His whole body was full of energy as if he had never been injured in the first place.

“Thank you, Saintess Lubella,” Zich said.

“Don’t mention it.” After Lubella, other party members also came to Zich’s side.

“It’s my first time seeing you in such a pinch,” Walwiss said.

“I recall that I had quite a difficult time when I was hit by your inferno.”

“You mean when we were at Sunewick? Don’t lie. You destroyed my magic so easily. Besides, aren’t your skills completely incomparable to those times?”

As soon as Walwiss finished talking, a huge clump of mana hit the party, and they all joined forces to intercept it.

Baaamm! The clump of mana exploded and disappeared.

“That just shows how strong that guy is now,” Leona said as she looked at Glen reaching out to them with his hand.

“Yeah, Zich. Regardless of how pathetic and mentally ill he was until recently, he’s now a monster. We need to take him down. Do you have a plan?”

“No, I don’t have one right now. To be frank, I didn’t think I would have to deal with him again.”

“Well, since even Ultel was stabbed in the back even though he acted as the mastermind behind all of Glen’s plots, I guess it can’t be helped.” It was impossible for Zich to have expected this situation to occur and plan accordingly.

Walwiss continued, “Then, I guess we have no choice but to fight back with brute strength.” 

However, it was unclear whether this would work. Even Zich couldn’t properly counteract Glen’s enormous mana and was pushed back one-sidedly. Of course, they had superior numbers and a good combination of abilities and skills, so they might be able to win somehow. However, Walwiss had a great amount of experience and vast knowledge, and he thought that this seemed very unlikely. This was a testimony to how different the level of Glen’s mana felt compared to theirs.

“We’ll have to endure it with our brute strength first, but that doesn’t mean we’ll have to push back with just our strengths.”

“Didn’t you say there was no other way?”

“Yes, right now. I don’t have a plan, but I do have a backup plan in mind.”

“Oh, as expected! I expected no less from you! So, what is that backup plan?”

Zich smiled mysteriously and said, “Should I describe it as…fate?”

“…I am merely advising you with the utmost sincerity, but that word seriously doesn’t suit you. Rather, it suits you much better to trample on humans who say such words and laugh at them while saying, ‘Come on now, bring out your so-called fate.’”

“Personally, I completely agree with you, Sir Dwayne, but I’m telling the truth. What’s so bad about it? Even if I have a terrible personality, there is no one more suitable than me for the title of hero when it comes to merit.”

“I can’t say anything because that’s true.”

This was the end of their conversation, as Glen began attacking again. The power was overwhelming, but Zich’s party did not give in. They silently defended Glen’s attack and waited for Zich’s ‘fate’ to arrive.

* * *

Elena was fidgeting in front of the controls in the Brushel System. The World Tree’s mana, which suddenly began to flow in all directions, was completely out of her control.

“W-why is it like this?” Elena tried to twist the World Tree’s mana by putting her mana into the control device. However, her mana was unable to even put a dent to the powerful flow of the World Tree’s mana.

Koo! Nowem had been quietly protecting Elena’s side so as to not disturb her, and quickly ran out with a loud cry. When Elena turned back, she saw her companions returning to her side.

“Good job, Elena. As planned, no more enemies are coming out of the magic circle,” Snoc said as he rubbed Nowem after it ran up to his shoulder instantly. However, after seeing that her expression wasn’t good, he quickly rushed to her side. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Snoc…” Elena quickly explained what had happened so far, and everyone’s faces slowly hardened.

“So what exactly is the problem?” Hans asked. His heart felt impatient, but he maintained the same tone as usual to not trigger Elena and make her more agitated than she already was.

“Awakening Teacher has now become impossible!”

This was a serious concern; Lyla was precious not only to Elena, but also to Hans and Snoc. However, it was even more important to keep their composure.

“Is that all? Is there anything else?”

“It’s also a problem that the World Tree’s mana is flowing differently from what I expected! I don’t know where and how that mana is being used! If something goes wrong, it could cause a huge disaster in the world!” The World Tree’s mana was unimaginably enormous, to the extent that it could really cause a disaster of world-level magnitude.

Hans stared at the Brushel System’s control device and then stared at the Key That Distorts Destiny in Elena’s hands. He asked, “Did Lady Lyla not send you any information?”

“Nothing yet…ah!” Elena’s eyes widened. “It’s here! She sent it right now!”

“What did she say?”

“That…I should wake her up first and…”

“She must have told you a different method, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good, then why don’t you quickly start? Tell me if you need any help.”

“…”

“…What’s wrong?”

Elena’s eyes trembled slightly. Lara was standing behind Hans, but she approached Elena and clasped her hand tightly. Then she said, “It’s all right. Please tell me, what’s wrong?”

“…This method is too dangerous.” Since it was a quick response to an unexpected situation, it was only natural that there would be high risk. However, considering Elena’s reaction, it was clear that the risk was extremely high.

“What is so dangerous about it?”

“…Teacher’s self-identity may disappear.”