Bone-spiked tentacles danced wildly through the concourse.
Faced with those terrifying attacks that would leave anyone who made contact either dead or crippled, the few people present could only dodge passively, not even daring to defend.
Because of those jagged barbs, the lethality of the tentacles had increased by more than just a little.
Sturdy concrete pillars struck by that thing had their surfaces completely shattered just from being swept past, with the steel reinforcement inside bent and groaning.
If that kind of force landed on a human body, you couldn't even hope for the corpse to remain intact.
"Smelt Iron."
Two massive masses of iron sand violently gathered in Noah's hands.
Since the opponent was much larger this time, he used Weaver to forge two massive greatswords.
Two giant swords weighing over 150 pounds each felt as light as feathers in his hands, though the stone ground around him cracked under the density.
Noah charged forward, not dodging or avoiding the brutal whipping of two incoming tentacles, simply generating four thick ice shields out of thin air.
The tentacles struck the ice, violently cracking the surface of the shields, but Noah's magic immediately restored them.
Seeing this, Shizuku exclaimed in pure surprise, "How is that possible?! Even if he can technically manipulate multiple elements, to use several heavy attributes simultaneously and still control them so perfectly...!"
"Thats really... impressive, Noah," Ikki sincerely admired while holding his bleeding stomach.
As someone who had faced him once before, this was the first time he truly couldn't figure out a person's absolute limits.
Only Alice watched Noah's flawless magic with a calculating expression.
Roaring flames and crackling lightning erupted simultaneously from the two black giant swords.
With the massive swords heavily augmented by fire and lightning elemental slashes, Noah swung the two giant swords so fast they left glowing afterimages.
He instantly carved fourteen huge, crisscrossing wounds across the monster's massive body in just a single moment.
"Ooooooh——!!!!!!"
The monster's roar was suddenly tinged with genuine fear.
The monstrosity turned its head, actually intending to flee the mall again.
Noah watched it run, not giving chase.
"Don't let it escape!" Shizuku urgently tried to cast a spell to stop it.
But Noah stopped her and calmly speak. "Donyt worry. It is fleeing in the most dangerous direction."
Almost as soon as he finished speaking...
BOOM!
Blazing, roaring crimson flames violently erupted from the dark passageway, blasting the heavy monster backward.
It collapsed heavily on the ground, its fleshy body charred black from the immense explosion, twitching incessantly.
Accompanied by the sharp sound of confident footsteps, the figure of the Crimson Princess emerged from the darkness.
The sea of flames around her clung to her body like a glowing fairy's feather robe.
The girl murmured, "The feeling was strange... my power was dissipated? No, this sensation... it's as if part of my magic suddenly vanished upon impact..."
Watching her ponder the physics seriously, Noah felt somewhat gratified.
Because until now, the sheltered girl had always relied on absolute, overwhelming power, always using only one blunt tactic in battle.
That is right—a frontal, maximum-firepower assault.
No matter what the opponent's Ability was, she would neither probe for weaknesses nor feint, bringing out her full firepower from the very start.
Though somewhat brainless, it was really, really effective.
99% of people in this world simply couldn't withstand her full A-Rank burst attack.
In other words, apart from him, the girl had never actually lost to any opponent.
For this reason, over the last two years, Noah continuously developed all sorts of underhanded, tricky traps to playfully torment the girl in sparring.
Just to make her physically understand the unpredictable dangers of the world, so she would be much more cautious when facing unknown enemies.
Stella looked at the fallen monster, pointed Lævateinn from a distance and two or three massive fire dragons violently pounced on the enemy together.
This time, the monster was completely surrounded from all directions, its entire body set ablaze.
And the girl noticed the anomaly because of this.
"I see... it's a magical absorption ability! But the physical absorption efficiency is highly limited. Just now, and this time as well, it still gets heavily burned because its absorption rate is too slow to catch all of my flames!"
She grinned ferociously.
"Then the solution is simple! I just need to completely overwhelm its capacity with full force!"
BOOM!!
Several massive fire dragons manifested around the girl, mercilessly ravaging the screaming monster.
The incredible high temperatures turned the shopping mall into a scorching melting hell.
Ikki sweated profusely, watching the fiery battle in horror.
'A rank Blazer's power... could actually be this terrifyingly strong!'
He wasn't even standing in the center of the battlefield and was already on the verge of being eliminated by the ambient heat.
Could someone like him really become the Seven Stars Sword King against monsters like this?
For a moment, Ikki's resolve wavered.
Noah silently walked behind the blazing girl, casually leaning against the wall to watch the fight.
Suddenly, a massive change occurred.
Countless jagged mouths opened all over the monster's burning body, gathering massive amounts of fire-attribute magical power—all of it obtained directly from Stella's attacks.
Now, it was going to return it all at once.
Seeing this, Stella realized her mistake. "I see... it can absorb but doesn't use the magic because it can also release it! It was passively taking hits earlier just to find an opportunity for a one-hit victory?! I have been looked down upon!"
"Hmph, so what if it absorbed my power?! This power belongs to me in the first place! No matter how much it collects, it cannot possibly match me personally!"
The Princess raised Lævateinn high with a slight arrogant smile curling at the corner of her mouth.
She intended to increase her output, directly crushing the energy she had previously given the opponent and ending the battle with pure, overwhelming force.
The previous attacks were nothing more than normal, casual strikes to her.
What she was about to use now could truly be called an ultimate move!
"Watch me burn you to complete cinders... Ow!"
Just as she was getting intensely into her casting, a sudden karate chop landed squarely on the top of her head, making her crouch down holding her head in defense.
And at that exact moment, the monster's attack had finished charging.
Noah quickly stepped forward, entering a five-meter range of the beast.
He raised his hand in a firm grasping motion, as if clutching something invisible, then clenched his fist tightly.
The next second, the massive magical power actually began to rapidly reverse, madly gathering back into the monster's body, no longer under the monster's control at all.
"It seems your Ability and mine have a massive difference in Rank," Noah stated coldly.
Both were powers that manipulated magical energy.
The stronger side held the absolute authority; the weaker side could only be slaughtered.
The power of the Judgement Ring lost completely to Spell-Weaver—that is just how Orario skills worked.
The scorching highly compressed magical power formed a dazzling miniature sun inside the beast, violently burning the monster, charring its body from the inside out.
The carbonized body gradually decomposed like dry limestone, scattering across the ground as ash.
The battle was over.
Stella rushed forward in a flash. "Noah! What was that chop for just now?!"
Noah extended a finger and lightly flicked her forehead.
"Idiot. If you used that kind of ultimate move here, have you considered what would happen to the structural integrity of this shopping mall? As it is now, the repair costs won't be too outrageous. But if you used your Noble Art and clashed with that blast head-on, this entire place would be flattened, and we would be buried."
This was all from painful, personal experience.
Back in Orario, when he had wanted to blast Hermes to smithereens, he got carried away and demolished a few buildings and streets, ending up paying quite a bit in guild compensation.
For a while, whenever he passed by that area, people would glare at him for a long time... Kids would even make faces at him when they saw him!
It could be said his reputation was in tatters!
"Uh..."
"I knew you hadn't thought about it."
Noah took out his student handbook and snapped a few quick photos of the ash remains on the ground as police evidence.
Shizuku had already finished treating Ikki's puncture wound by now.
Alice walked over at this point.
Smiling perfectly, he said, "As expected of Princess Stella, that destructive strength is truly astonishing. And Noah-kun... did you use a special method just now to make the magical power self-destruct inside the enemy?"
Noah casually glanced at him.
'As expected, he is specifically here to gather information.'
'The information being mine and Stella's Abilities.'
"A petty magical trick. Not worth mentioning," Noah feigned modesty, then fell completely silent.
To avoid raising Noah's guard, Alice also chose to avoid similar topics, shifting to open concern for Ikki and Shizuku.
...
Following the Chairwoman's earlier instructions, they all waited on the spot for a while.
Until the Chairwoman and Nene Saikyo finally arrived.
Kurono Shinguuji glanced at the group, then took out her terminal, seemingly dialing someone's number.
At that exact moment, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air.
That's right—appeared completely out of nowhere.
Even Noah was slightly surprised. He didn't noticed anyone hiding there before.
'Teleportation? Or an invisibility ability?'
He stared at that person and used Truth Seeker.
[Shizuya Kirihara]
Blazer Rank: C
Device: Oborozuki
Attack Power: E
Defense Power: D
Magical Power: D
Magical Control: B
Physical Ability: D
Luck: B
Noble Art: Kariudo no Mori (Hunter's Forest) - An invisibility camouflage that perfectly conceals all physical actions and presence.
'I see.... no wonder.'
'Wait... so this guy has been safely hiding here since a long time ago? This guy... has he been cowardly slacking off all along while we fought?!'
"Kirihara-kun?!" Ikki looked at the suddenly appearing figure, exclaiming in shock.
The two seemed to know each other.
Normally, Kirihara wouldn't mind taking the chance to verbally humiliate his former classmate, but right now he was in no mood for his usual arrogance at all.
He simply ignored Ikki, went directly before the Chairwoman and respectfully presented his student handbook with both hands.
'That is... a video recording?'
Watching his actions, Noah suddenly understood something.
'I see. Secretly gathering evidence at the Chairwoman's explicit request? Indeed, a cowardly holder of an invisibility ability is perfectly suitable for such covert work. After all, students were officially allowed to use their Abilities and participate in the incident.'
'Having a verified recording as evidence would naturally double the legal persuasiveness for the police. Depending on the situation, it could even quickly refute all public opinion and media criticism.'
The Chairwoman took the student handbook and began quietly replaying the content Kirihara had recorded.
At the same time, Kirihara quietly lifted his head.
This glance happened to perfectly meet Noah's eyes.
Just that one look made Kirihara's breath inexplicably catch.
Cold sweat poured down his face as if he were enduring some immense, primal fear.
This terrified reaction struck Noah as somewhat strange.
'Is he... afraid of me?'