The mana extracted from the broken magic stone was no longer Iria’s.

 

Transformed into blade-like forms by Albert’s manipulation, the mana pierced her body.

 

Simultaneously, accelerated attack spells poured toward her from within the domain.

 

Spells cast without incantations are fast.

 

In the blink of an eye, countless attack spells rain down from all directions.

 

An overwhelming amount of magic flew in, making breathing difficult.

 

Lightning spells pierced through from above, blue flames burst in front, and ice spikes rose from below, embedding into Iria’s body.

 

Of course, trapped within the domain, there was no way to dodge. She had to take it all.

 

It’s a strange thing.

 

Each spell would be fatal if it hit directly. For a human, that is.

 

Even for mages with high resistance to magic, a direct hit would cause severe injury.

 

Iria is taking hundreds, no, thousands of them.

 

Yet she’s still alive. Though bleeding all over, she hasn’t even fallen to her knees.

 

“……”

 

Iria staggered forward one more step towards Albert.

 

After moving a step while taking spells all over her body, she grabbed his wrist.

 

And then.

 

-Crack!

 

She broke the wrist she had grabbed.

 

She couldn’t muster any more strength in her body, so that was all she could do.

 

Albert opened his mouth as he freed his grabbed wrist. His attitude was surprisingly calm for someone whose bone had just been broken.

 

“This is amazing. It’s surprising that you endured and withstood all that, but to even counterattack in that state.”

 

“……”

 

“But that’s all you can do. You’re strong but foolish. This is what it means to turn the Empire into an enemy in the central city. Do you get it now?”

 

Unless you’re a Demon Lord, you can’t be stronger than all the Empire’s forces combined.

 

Of course, they had long been dead and split into several pieces, so it was practically non-existent.

 

There were people stronger than Albert in the Empire, though not many.

 

Thus, it was foolish for an individual to turn a nation into an enemy.

 

Albert seemed to be trying to make her realize this fact.

 

As he snapped his fingers, the mana concentration thickened. Iria’s movements met more resistance.

 

Then he fired a vast amount of mana straight at her. This magic was more powerful than the spells he had unleashed before.

 

Since Iria still wouldn’t fall, he increased the output.

 

“Give up. If you surrender now, I might consider letting you off with just imprisonment.”

 

Albert continued speaking while continuously releasing magic.

 

Each time he fired magic, a blue flash of light flickered, and Iria was pushed back.

 

Who knows how many times that blue flash had flickered. Iria’s body, taking direct hits, kept being pushed back.

 

‘Not even a scream, let alone a groan?’

 

It wasn’t that she wasn’t taking damage. Blood was splattering, and there was a burnt smell.

 

She must be feeling pain beyond words.

 

But she showed no sign of it.

 

She was just silently taking Albert’s magic with her body.

 

The blue flash flickered a few more times. Iria’s body kept being pushed back, almost to the point of hitting the wall.

 

It was still a mystery why she was going this far. It was even questionable if she was human. Could a human with such high resistance to magic exist?

 

To Albert, Iria was a terrifying being. Whether human or not, he judged that she needed to be eliminated now while her stamina was depleted, or it would be dangerous.

 

“I’ll ask one last thing. What was your purpose in coming here?”

 

“……”

 

“It wasn’t for confidential information, was it? If that was the case, you would have turned back when you saw the documents were locked. But you came down here even after seeing that. What was the reason?”

 

It was a one-sided conversation with only questions and no answers. Or rather, it was questionable if it could even be called a conversation.

 

Albert waited a moment, expecting an answer.

 

Still no answer. Iria just maintained her silence with her mouth tightly shut.

 

Albert sighed.

 

Then, as if to finally end it, he gathered the mana around him.

 

The maximum output magic he could unleash was condensed into a single spell.

 

“Then, do you have any last words?”

 

“Heh…”

 

A small sound escaped Iria’s lips.

 

It wasn’t an answer to the question. She made a sound briefly, then immediately stopped.

 

“The last…”

 

She had shown no reaction to the barrage of attacks, but she reacted to the word ‘last’.

 

That small sound was closer to a chuckle than simply exhaling.

 

Iria slowly opened her mouth, pressing down her slurred pronunciation.

 

“I wish this was the last for me too.”

 

It was the last thing Iria said before Albert’s magic was fired.

 

Soon after, the largest blue flash of light yet erupted from underground.

 

***

 

It hurts.

 

Very much so.

 

I don’t remember the last time I felt this much pain. Maybe about a year ago?

 

Further in the past, before I was possessed, it was a familiar sensation, I think.

 

Now, even that handful of memories is fading. It’s evidence that I’m gradually becoming a monster.

 

I feel like even the purpose of coming here has become unclear.

 

Why did I come again?

 

I slowly recalled my memories as I lay on the cold stone floor.

 

“……”

 

I came to learn about myself.

 

As a bonus, I wanted to get a fragment of the Demon Lord. It seemed that eating humans accelerated my transformation into a monster.

 

Instead of eating humans, I wanted to eat the piece to extend the grace period, I think.

 

And now here I am.

 

‘…It hurts.’

 

As far as impressions go from being hit by the Empire’s strongest mage, it hurt.

 

My whole body was covered in blood, several bones were already broken, and my flesh smelled burnt.

 

But that’s all. The fact that it hurt meant I was still alive.

 

I was alive this time too.

 

I failed to die this time too.

 

After taking all of Albert’s magic, one thing was clear.

 

Albert couldn’t kill me either. It was impossible for him to kill me too.

 

It was a somewhat expected result, but still.

 

Albert was strong. There’s no disagreement that he’d be a difficult opponent without using magical energy.

 

But I wondered if there was a reason to hide my identity to this extent.

 

It would be enough if there were no witnesses.

 

Just kill them or erase their memories.

 

After all, right now, this place was a space with only me and Albert.

 

“I can’t keep this up.”

 

I took off the lenses I had been wearing on both eyes.

 

I also released my magical energy with a ‘come what may’ attitude.

 

This damn body regenerates to some extent when injured, regardless of my will.

 

And regeneration consumed stamina. Once it drains me, extreme hunger sets in.

 

Moreover, when the hunger became too severe, it led to a rampage.

 

The rampage, relying only on instinct after losing reason, continued until the hunger was satisfied.

 

For these reasons, I cannot die. I wanted to die, but my body wouldn’t allow it.

 

If I took a bit more damage in this state, the situation would spiral to the worst, so there was no hesitation in releasing my magical energy.

 

Even the hair dye… well, it came off on its own when touched by magical energy. In the end, I returned to my appearance before the disguise.

 

Albert’s expression became a bit subtle.

 

Yes, it’s me.

 

Iria, the student you taught magic to during lectures.

 

***

 

Iria, who had released her magical energy and shed her disguise, stood up.

 

At her feet, shadows with an ominous aura were swarming. It was magical energy.

 

Red eyes flickered in the darkness. Her eyes, emitting light without any external stimulus, were sharp.

 

They were the eyes of a predator looking at its prey.

 

“Iria?”

 

Albert expressed his doubt. He was acquainted with the intruder who removed their disguise.

 

It didn’t matter much.

 

More important than the fact that the intruder who broke into the underground was actually an academy student was that the substance emanating from her body was magical energy.

 

She was a monster.

 

Albert once again grasped a spell to subdue her.

 

But it didn’t work.

 

The magic Albert fired dispersed midway before reaching Iria.

 

There was no time to understand what was happening. Based on the circumstances, he could only guess that Iria had used magical energy to deflect the magic.

 

And then.

 

“Hey, Albert, do you know,”

 

This time, Iria asked Albert.

 

The same question, but with reversed roles.

 

“How it feels to be in enemy territory?”

 

A black shadow covered the floor.

 

The dense magical energy emitted from Iria overlaid Albert’s mana.

 

It was a domain overlapping another.

 

Iria’s magical energy was greater than Albert’s mana.

 

Therefore, this was no longer Albert’s domain.

 

This entire area… no, the whole floor covered in shadows was essentially Iria’s domain.

 

“I thought you might be different, but I guess not. I’ll remember that the magic you shot hurt, at least.”

 

“What do you mean……”

 

Albert tried to escape using magic, but it was futile.

 

In Iria’s domain, everything was under her control. Even if it was mana, there were no exceptions.

 

The mana that had belonged to Albert changed direction in mid-air and returned to him.

 

After transforming into a sharp form, it pierced his body.

 

With a thud, blood gushed from his body. It was her small act of revenge.

 

Albert fell to his knees, and Iria took a step forward.

 

Just that alone was enough to feel the pressure of her presence.

 

Do you know the story of the back alley monster? It’s a terrifying monster that lures humans with hallucinations and devours them.

 

Such a monster had appeared this time, not in a back alley, but underground.

 

Iria stared into Albert’s eyes.

 

From the moment she released her magical energy, took off her lenses, and made eye contact, he no longer had a chance.

 

Albert couldn’t even move his body until she approached right before him.

 

“I’m stronger.”

 

She lifted his chin as he knelt, making eye contact.

 

At this close range, she could manipulate even his memories despite his high mental defense.

 

She erased all memories of what happened here. No, to be sure, she erased all memories of the past week.

 

After that, well…

 

As she approached the blood-covered human, she couldn’t resist the rising hunger and started biting his neck.

 

It wasn’t particularly tasty, so she only sucked for a moment before stopping.

 

It was enough to fill her stomach to regain her senses. After all, she was planning to take the fragment of the Demon Lord underground.

 

“Sleep well, Albert. I don’t know when you’ll be able to open your eyes again.”

 

She showed him the strongest hallucination she could produce.

 

She had used magical energy and cast it at a very close range.

 

She was not sure, but he’d probably be like this for at least a week.

 

With blood on her lips, she walked towards the place Albert had been blocking.