In their desperate attempt to escape, those dressed in black robes ran through the woods with enhancements and magic to boost their speed. The cracked, dry branches, shaking leaves, and a tail of blood left by the injured were visible as their lungs filled with moist morning air.

 They’ve raised this thing, as the higher-ups wanted to cause as much chaos as they possibly could. And carefully, they’ve fed it innocent lives, evolving the once rather weak for its kind to a menace.

 “Shit, shit, shit!” a voice echoed loudly alongside heavy breaths.

 The monster they’ve raised and kept locked up for so long has now been freed from its restraint. It was intelligent, playful and arrogant—as soon as the restraints were somewhat loose, it broke through by force, severing their heads like butter and gulping it down instantly with each and every kill.

 (Dammit! Why is this happening?! It shouldn’t be this strong! Did we miscalculate its rank—no…it played us! Shit! That bastard Hishem knew, didn’t he!? If it had been this strong, we would’ve saved it for the city instead! Why the fuck is that psycho releasing this thing on mere otherworlders and a D-Ranked newbie!?)

 Suddenly, the sky flashed in blue light, and as if a volcano had erupted, the mass of orange hot growing material scattered all over the forest—but along that, a massive amount of mana.

 The Armoured Death Blade stopped on its track as its limed blade was a few millimetres from the throat. She was shaking and breathing heavily but still petrified on the ground with her arms behind her back as supporting pillars.

 (…It…stopped?)

 Its dark armour reflected her terrified state, and its blood-drenched mouth curved into what seemed to be a smile. It retracted its blade from her throat and began to walk toward the source of mana.

 (Huh…?)

 The nameless cultists were left confused, not moving—she turned her eyes toward her comrades, and they were in the same state, unable to utter a single word. Their skin had turned purple, and slowly, their heads dropped from their bodies. She could feel it, too. The twisting and turning inside her body shrieked with energy toward her own demise.

 The Death Blade turned toward her; it smoothly levitated above the ground of its bladed legs, moving efficiently and elegantly in a dance—it was delighted as it danced around her comrades, scooping their heads into its mouth one by one, spitting out their skulls after draining their brains—until it reached her.

 “I…PlAy…YoU…HuMaN,” its metallic cords vibrated a full human sentence.

 The cultist’s already pale face became more pale as her eyes rolled back, and she lost consciousness. But when she came to a few moments later, her eyes met the creature’s crimson glow.

 “I…WaIt…PREY…NO…FUN…IF…NO…RESIST.”

 (It poisoned us all…waited for us to despair, and even waited for me to regain consciousness to see if I’d attempt to live still—ahh…what a wonderful masterpiece we’ve raised…it’s just too bad I won’t witness it in its full glory…I did well raising you for the past years—you tricked even me.) the cultist thought as she smiled.

 “MoTher…ThAnk…YoU…” it said before slicing her head off and gulping down her brain, not spitting her bones out as a sign of respect for the one that raised it. “NoW…We…toGeTheR.”

 Elegantly, it turned its head toward the source of the eruption—it moved its legs, levitating as it skated on the air with its blades. The speed accelerated, and it curved into itself before launching itself like a bullet, with such high rotation that it shrieked the air in a visceral, sharp, metallic screech. Its next target. The condensed mana source—Alum.

 …

 …..

 …

*Boom*

 With an initial exploding strike, Hilos blocked the menace that was the Armoured Death Blade. The force of its initial attack alone had blown away the massive fire-resistant Charwood. The follow-up wasn’t as powerful, but it was still too fast and lethal to anyone present except Hilos.

 With a troubled demeanour, Hilos blocked each and every strike one after the other. The Death Blade was relentless as it used all its four limbs to strike. 

 One initial parry from the left limb only for it to follow up with a right blade kick. Hilos dodged the bladed leg but also the dark mana blades it fired along each slash. It spun and kept the momentum as its right blade curved around its body, leaving no room for Hilos to strike its core.

 Currently, Hilos didn’t use enough mana to cut right through it with void magic—he had to keep his physical form from breaking from the exchange. And even if he tried to slice through the Death Blade’s limbs, it was met with resistance such as resistance as it had infused a condensed dark aura around its limbs.

 Void magic had one fatal flaw. If the mana of the space it tries to tear open exceeds the rift’s mana, it will fail. The same principle also applies to already torn space—if it’s overpowered by another source of mana, it will close.

 It has only been a minute since the Death Blade’s initial strike, and Hilos led it further and further away from the group. He defended against it and passed through the obstacles as he kept up his phase. The Death Blade, on the other hand, cut through all the rocks and trees in the way as though it were butter.

 Eventually, after many sparks of clashed steel, Hilos lured it outside the barrier completely a few kilometres away, and his voids weren’t limited in range.

 Meanwhile, as Hilos was busy taking care of the Armoured Death Blade, Alum observed from a distance through his and Hilos’ memory link. He closely observed and noted patterns, abilities, and other details in his notebook.

 Aska happened to see and wondered why he was able to read a language he’d never seen before, but he shook his head as he noticed Alum noting down exactly what he saw with [Eye of Concept]. 

 “...Brother Al, what are you doing?” Aska inquired.

 He wanted to know how Alum saw the situation. Alum was always calm, but Aska could tell he didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it. The others were scared of everything that had happened already.

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

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

 While his eyes weren’t lit up in a soft blue glow, they were still cold—he could tell that Alum was more wary than he seemed.

 “...What do you mean?”

 Noticing that Aska wanted him to articulate it properly. He wanted to focus fully on Hilos and the Death Blade, but if he ignored the students, he knew he’d raise their unease.

 “Mm… This Death Blade is an exceptional sample—this is almost unheard of, though… I do suspect this one was raised rather than being natural,” he replied nonchalantly, suggesting they had nothing to fear as he even had time to study it.

 Alum knew better. One couldn’t just raise an already intelligent monster like an Armoured Death Blade. While this was one of the higher-ranked Death Blades, there are records of much stronger ones. This one, in particular, pretended to be raised and was, in turn, weaker than its suggested rank—even if it had a lot of condensed mana, he could tell by the way it fought that it wasn’t used to combat—rather, it was used to slaughter what it was fed.

 Nevertheless, Alum figured that Aska wasn’t as naive as he presented himself to be. He had a girly look—prettier than most women he’d seen in his life—but the cold, calculating mask under the cute, anxious, yet calm demeanour reminded him of himself as a child when he had to feign certain emotions. He knew Aska chose not to ask why they hadn’t left the barrier despite the threat being far away—the cultists were still around in the shadows; even if they hid and feigned retreat, Alum was more than used to tactics like this back in his own world. 

 “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,” Alum 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?” Aska nervously asked, subtly hinting at the fact he knew they were surrounded by prepared spells.

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

 (Then why did he raise walls of ice instead of letting the barrier tank that ominous attack…? I don’t think he’s lying, but there’s something he’s not mentioning…)

 Of course, Aska couldn’t fully trust those words because he figured that Alum almost always spoke in a broad, general way to hide the intricacies, and he’d be correct. While the barrier is as powerful as Alum claimed it to be, he left out the part that required the same amount of mana to be as powerful as the city barrier. In other words, this barrier ran on much, much lower mana, and it was only as powerful if it was being hit.

 But even so, it could only withstand such attacks for a brief moment before alternating to a lower mana drain to maintain it, which was enough in most cases as not many spells retained the same amount of force as the first initial strike.

 But regardless of how the barrier truly worked, Aska sighed in relief—if it was made by a Saint, then he felt like he could his faith in it.

 “...Is she perhaps The Saint the cultist mentioned?” Aska queried, giving Julia a glance at the same time.

 “Yes, it is certainly her the guy mentioned,” Alum replied with a softened expression.

 “…..”

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

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

 He did signal her to join the conversation somehow to brighten the mood—Alum was doing a sloppy job, and Aska wasn’t the best when it came to cheering people up. Julia, his step-sister, is popular and bright despite her hot/cold attitude towards him, so he figured she could do something in this somewhat heavy atmosphere.

 “What she’s like?” Alum pondered. “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.”

 “I-I see! How did you two meet!?” Julia’s eyes sparkled with a slight blush.

 (…Well, I guess that watching someone as calm as Brother Al also makes one relax a little, especially when he softly smiles and talks so fondly about his fiance... but somehow, that wasn’t exactly how I imagined a saint. A researcher? Really?)

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

 (The mood is still awkward, but it was more bearable, at least…) Julia thought.

“Well, at least the weather is nice,” Alum sighed.

 (…this guy is impossible…) Aska sighed.

 “It sure is…”

 …

 …..

 …

 After a while, Alum brought out some snacks for everyone while simultaneously observing the fight between Hilos and the Armoured Death Blade.

 (…Tch, those youngsters have no concern, do they?) Hilos complained as he repelled one attack after the other.

 (…..)

 “VoID SpIrIT…WhY…DO…YoU…ProTECt…HuMAnS?” the death blade suddenly asked.

 (…? It talks?) Alum asked, seeming a little baffled.

 (So it seems!)

 Hilos’ blade and the limbs of the Death Blade continued to clash, igniting how glowing sparks. The shockwave imbued with corrosive magic blades passed through him as they sliced and poisoned the surroundings.

 (Hilos, I hypothesise the bladed limbs are filled with shock-absorbent fluids if you can somehow—)

 (Yeah, yeah! I could already tell, brat! Who do yer think exchanges blades with this thing?)

 (How about fighting it where the pressure is high? Or a chaotically windy place—)

 (Do ye think use wind magic or something!? I can’t even warp this thing somewhere like that! It cuts through all ma voids if yer paid attention!)

 (…..)

 Hilos used [Spatial Tear] to connect two spaces, one where his blade accelerated right toward the neck of the Death Blade, but as expected, it twitched abnormally and cut right through his void before his blade seeped through.

 It was faint. Hilos instantly opened another torn space, and his blade was still travelling in the void, ready to exit the rift with deadly acceleration. The Death Blade’s irregular movement didn’t stop as it jerked and caught Hilos’ blade with its mouth.

 Hilos grinned and infused his left hand with void magic. But as he was about to punch the Death Blade with a deadly [Total Collapse], its mouth lit up as the attack was about to rupture; Hilos directed it away from Alum and the others, and a powerful beam of mana burst through the forest—leaving a massive destructive trail of rot and decay.

 In the nick of time, Hilos warped out of the attack, but as he looked at his blade, it had corroded and was about to crumble.

 (…What a pain.)  he thought as he watched the silhouette of the Death Blade behind the steamy mist. (Well, most of those bastards should have retreated by now.) he noted. Hilos did have pride as an ex-powerful warlord, but he knew his limitation as a void spirit.

 (Hey, Brat! I’ve taken care of most of them.) Hilos wiped the cultist’s blood from his face as he called out to Alum.

 (Got it.) Alum replied and noted one last thing down.

 (Hey, Brat! Stop studying it!) Hilos complained via memory link. (Anyhow… I don’t think we can get out of this without destroyin’ parts of the forest.)

 (…I suspected as much, huh?) Alum replied.

 (Do yer think ya can finish it in one attack?) Hilos asked.

 Hilos had to admit that Alum had more destructive potential than him in his current state. After all… Alum has hyper-condensed mana and a large amount, too.

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

 (Good.)

 Hilos readied himself and fought it a little more to buy Alum some time. Alum quietly got up, and the others looked at him, gulping down their saliva as if they were expecting something to happen. He grabbed his trusted Depth cutter and looked at the others apologetically.

 “I’m sorry. It’ll hurt a little,” Alum said bluntly.

 Now that most of the cultists were gone—slaughtered by Hilos and the Death Blade, Alum could afford to compromise the barrier—he released [Sanctuary] and replaced it with [Abyssal Depth]—layers of it.

 But before the students and teachers could brace themselves for what was to come, their hearts sank, and it was as if they’d drown in pressure. As if their ears were to rupture, their lungs explode—they watched Alum gather a massive amount of water falling into a singular point—a blue glowing droplet of rapidly spinning plasma.

 Alum was rapidly draining his own remaining mana and using all the reserves that the Depth Cutter had. In just a few seconds, his vision became blurry as it was as if his guts twisted along with twirling blades in his lungs. His eyes lit up in the same colour, and he lost the sensation in his body. His mind was still clear but with the sole purpose in mind—complete the spell.

 Slowly, the bright droplet started to leak magical energy, and sparks of electrostatic repulsion dispersed and fluctuated from the tiny droplet’s raw destructive energy—it was ionising the air. The ground around him begins to melt, and despite Alum’s mana armour, his hands begin to swell, and his skin is slowly torn from his flesh. 

 The droplet began to pulse, crackle and ooze an acrid scent, and he was starting to lose control of the spell despite Depth Cutters helping to regulate it. A small crack flicked a metal piece of Depth Cutter away, and its glowing magic circuits were being torn apart little by little.

 With the help of his esper powers, he prevented the spell inversion but also weakened the repulsion between the nuclei, allowing it to become a soup of energy about to erupt violently if released. But despite the high energy contained, the light it emitted was dim, as Alum prevented energy from leaking as much as he could.

 The spell was stable—somewhat, but Alum proceeded anyway. He began to line up rows of acceleration magic. Despite his boiling blood and bleeding nose and arms, he calmly told Hilos.

 (I’m ready.)  

 (Got it.)

 Hilos instantly replied as he put more mana into his swing. As his chipped-away blade clashed with the Death Blade, it broke, and his arm shattered like glass. But it was enough to fully stagger the monster as he placed his hand on the ground, using almost all the remaining mana he had left.

Attribute Void: [Spatial Collapse]

 The spell fell susceptible to the massive gravitational pull in the small area, but it was enough as its movement was almost completely restricted, forcing its levitating bladed legs to dig into the ground—it struggled to move and each step tore and shook the ground.

 But that was all Alum needed; he had the accuracy, he had the spell, and the time for it to make it there before the Armoured Death Blade broke through Hilos’ spell.

Attribute magic: [Droplet Pulsar]

 With the spell released and passing through the acceleration magic, in just a moment, the core of pulsating spinning plasma tore and scorched the ground as it travelled, leaving a five-metre wide trail, and in just 1.4 seconds, it reached its destination. But despite the speed of the spell, the Armoured Death Blade was able to react and slice it—it was a massive mistake as it had just cut right through the shell meant to contain the destructive energy kept inside. 

 In an instant, a burst of blue light covered the whole sky before burning intense red, which illuminated the sky. The blue and white light kept flickering and pulsating as the shell expanded, resisting the explosion as it tried to keep the spell from causing too much damage. But even so, the complete destruction zone expanded to one kilometre—leaving a crater as large alongside charged particles.

 The barely conscious students watched in disbelief as Alum lost consciousness and was about to collapse; all the barriers he’d kept active disappeared, but Depth Cutter generated a rather weak flickering barrier with the small amount of mana in the metal itself as Alum passed out. What followed was a flashing light and massive trees in the sky being torn up from the ground.  But before the devastating shockwave reached them, Hilos appeared out of a void and caught Alum before tearing the space around all of them, briefly turning everything dark.

 He kept them there for a while until he almost ran out of mana after healing Alum, the reckless mage who was covered in blood and suffered from torn skin alongside internal bleeding and dehydration. The outside was a sight to behold as the trees around them were all tilted, their roots were torn up, and the air was steamy hot and filled with charged ionised mist. But thanks to the sacrifice of Death Cutter’s core being shot along the spell, it was able to contain it to a certain degree before the spell broke through the multilayered barriers around the destination area.

 The students and teachers were too speechless to comment on anything, and Hilos scoffed.

 (Hmph, who’s the one destroyin’ the environment? What a hypocrite.)

 

A/N

I wanted to name this chapter Droplet Pulsar so bad…