It was a reckless act. Even the academy’s professors were barely surviving on this battlefield.

 

However, Ariel doesn’t stop his advance. His sword gleams with platinum starlight as he grips it tightly.

 

Starlight is essentially a superior version of mana. It can accomplish nearly everything mana does but with far greater potency.

 

From the start, there’s a clear difference in firepower. Even in equal amounts, starlight surpasses mana in strength.

 

But Ariel can’t produce much of it.

 

For all its power, starlight demands immense skill to wield properly.

 

If not handled properly, it can be weaker than mana.

 

A faint layer of starlight flickers along his sword.

 

A platinum afterimage lingers in the wake of Ariel’s swing.

 

-Pak!

 

His sword strikes the monster’s front leg.

 

But it doesn’t cut. Its thick skin is impervious to both swords and magic.

 

The monster’s eyes narrow, and its gaze seems to sneer, “You dare challenge me with such weak power?”

 

The wolf-like beast opens its huge jaws, preparing to crush the reckless challenger in a single bite.

 

Its bite force, enhanced by the power of a Seed, is beyond comprehension. Each sharp, massive tooth is capable of tearing through flesh and shattering bone.

 

Ariel retreats and defends by wedging his sword between the monster’s jaws.

 

It would have shattered long ago if it had been an ordinary sword. But the blade, etched with the power of stars, held firm. Though Ariel was forced back, he stood his ground against the beast.

 

He had done what none of the professors could. Only by harnessing the power of the stars was it possible.

 

And for the first time, the monster faltered.

 

But it didn’t pause for long. The purple horn on its forehead began to glow.

 

-Kyaaaak!!

 

The deafening roar pushed Ariel further back.

 

Suddenly, bolts of black lightning rained down from the sky. It was magic—magic the monster conjured on its own. This was why the professors struggled so much against it.

 

Ariel had no choice but to retreat. If even a single bolt hit, it would incapacitate him. Magic imbued with otherworldly energy, not mana, could destroy a human from the inside out.

 

As the distance between Ariel and the monster widened, the monster created a fireball in its mouth.

 

“No! Step back!”

 

One of the professors, watching from the sidelines, shouted in panic.

 

He had faced the monster before Ariel and knew what was coming.

 

Once the distance exceeds a certain threshold, the monster unleashes flames across an enormous area.

 

There was no safe zone, no blind spot to escape. Dodging was impossible.

 

Ariel, already within range, couldn’t avoid the flames no matter what.

 

Thus, most of those watching believed Ariel’s death was inevitable. It couldn’t be helped.

 

His opponent was a living calamity, and Ariel was merely human.

 

Wrapping himself in starlight, he braced for impact, trying to minimize the damage. Voices shouted from behind him, urging that his defense wouldn’t be enough. But he stood firm.

 

Then, just before the flames engulfed him, someone grabbed his sleeve.

 

“……Huh?”

 

A hand yanked him backward as a figure stepped forward.

 

Red hair whipped in the wind.

 

-Whoosh!!!

 

In the blink of an eye, the roaring flames swallowed them both.

 

Yet Ariel barely felt the heat. The person who had pushed him back was absorbing most of the fire with her whole body.

 

When the flames finally receded, a woman stood before him, her body scorched with severe burns. Blood trickled from her mouth, which she wiped away with the back of her hand.

 

It was fortunate that it had ended with just burns. Her strong resistance to fire had saved her life.

 

An ordinary human would have been reduced to ash, with no bones remaining.

 

“Sera?”

 

Sera stood before him, her clothes half-burned and her body covered in blood, exhaling heated breaths.

 

“Lukewarm flames. If you want to kill me, you’ll need to try harder than that.”

 

Ariel wasn’t the only human facing this calamity without fear.

 

Sera, who endured with grit despite having nearly fatal injuries, stood beside Ariel.

 

She held the flames that had just engulfed her in her grasp.

 

Drawing power from her own spilled blood, she converted it into mana, amplifying the fire’s intensity.

 

She was using the monster’s own flames against it.

 

The result far surpassed the original as Sera’s mana melded with the monster’s flames.

 

“Hell Flare.”

 

She thrust her fist skyward, releasing the vast flames. They swelled even larger than the fire the monster had breathed, now engulfing the beast entirely.

 

At this moment, Sera possessed the greatest power on the battlefield.

 

This was the pinnacle of fire mastery.

 

Sera had gathered the flames the monster unleashed and simply reversed their direction. Mixing in her own mana to boost their firepower was just a bonus.

 

Now charged with overwhelming energy, the flames seared the monster’s skin. Unlike before, when nothing seemed to work, these flames were causing real damage.

 

It was the first effective blow against the disaster-level monster.

 

Of course, the strain on her body took its toll. After releasing such massive flames, Sera’s arm was severely burned.

 

Her skin was charred beyond recognition, no longer resembling a young woman’s.

 

The charred smell of burnt flesh filled the air, and blood dripped from her wounds, pooling on the ground.

 

Though she had boasted that the flames were “lukewarm,” her body had taken the brunt of the damage.

 

In that state, Sera turned her head toward Ariel.

 

Despite her miserable appearance, she wore a faint smile.

 

“See? I told you not to do reckless things.”

 

“……”

 

“Stand up, Ariel. It’s been a while since we stood like this, right? As always, you’re the vanguard, and I’m the rear guard.”

 

Ariel grasped Sera’s outstretched hand and rose to his feet.

 

He readied his sword, while Sera, converting her spilled blood into mana, prepared another spell.

 

***

 

In a situation where even the academy’s professors had given up, it was the students who stood against the disaster.

 

Subduing a monster of this magnitude with their remaining forces was impossible.

 

But just because they couldn’t defeat it didn’t mean they couldn’t face it. The damage would become catastrophic if they allowed the Seed of the Demon King to continue rampaging within the academy.

 

They needed someone to keep the monster at bay, if only to buy time for the remaining students who had yet to evacuate.

 

Now, two students were fulfilling that role.

 

Ariel intensified the power of his starlight and bound the monster’s movements, while Sera intercepted from behind.

 

If Ariel managed to land a sword strike between the patches of half-melted skin, he could inflict minor damage.

 

One might ask what can be done with just that, but it was enough.

 

Ariel could destroy the monster from within by engraving starlight into the small wounds.

 

He stabbed his sword into one such wound, letting the starlight flow.

 

-Kyaaaak!!

 

The monster’s front leg gave way, its balance disrupted. It stumbled, momentarily vulnerable.

 

And that brief fall was the opportunity they needed. The professors who had all but given up now rose to their feet.

 

“It… it fell?”

 

“Now’s our chance! Kill it!”

 

They realized they couldn’t rely on the students forever.

 

Professors, after all, are there to teach and protect. They couldn’t leave the task to those they were meant to safeguard.

 

Some picked up weapons, and some chanted spells.

 

The academy’s elite personnel unleashed a barrage of attacks on the single monster.

 

As the onslaught rained on the defenseless monster, its impenetrable defense began to break apart.

 

Attacks that had previously failed were now landing. If they kept this up, subduing it seemed within reach.

 

Ariel’s sword danced with starlight as he sought to deal as much critical damage as possible in the fleeting opening.

 

However, his sword didn’t reach the monster.

 

Sensing the crisis, the monster released a thick cloud of magical energy.

 

“Wh-what is this!?”

 

“I can’t see anything!”

 

Dense black magic descended like a suffocating fog, plunging the battlefield into darkness. Panic set in as the humans were blinded, their vision clouded.

 

In the pitch-black void, the chilling sound of a wolf’s howl echoed through the air.

 

Hidden in the darkness, the wolf-like beast began to hunt.

 

The body of a sword-wielding professor was shredded by its front paws. Another professor, mid-spell, was torn apart by its vicious teeth.

 

The garden became a slaughterhouse, soaked in blood. At this moment, the beast, fueled by the Seed of the Demon King, turned the battlefield into a place of death for those who dared to fight back.

 

As the black fog lifted, the purple horn on the wolf’s forehead glowed ominously, brighter than ever before.

 

The monster’s red eyes gleamed with malevolent clarity.

 

They stood in a garden where shadows clung like the remnants of death, thick with black magical energy.