Inside the train, in Marie's room.
Watching Rei, who stood in the center of the room with several magical circles spinning around her feet, Marie and Trisha's eyes were filled with astonishment.
Moments ago, the two had tried using Magecraft themselves. After all, the inability to use natural Mana within the Forest of Einnashe was merely recorded knowledge. Until they saw it for themselves, they were still somewhat skeptical.
The result was exactly as the records stated. The natural Mana they could usually sense and use gave no response whatsoever. Naturally, using Magecraft was impossible.
Initially, they had planned to hunker down in their room like the other Magi, waiting for the Forest of Einnashe to disappear. But Rei had just entered, and as if completely unaffected, she effortlessly deployed several protective Magecraft spells.
"My Master is currently on his way to destroy the Forest of Einnashe. Until then, I, Sajyou Rei, will take charge of protecting both of you. You need not worry about any danger."
That was what Rei said after activating the barrier.
Regardless of why Naoki had voluntarily gone to destroy the Forest of Einnashe, given the current situation, Marie found it hard to accept and believe.
"How can you still use Magecraft, Rei?"
Marie could barely recognize one or two of the magical circles spinning at Rei's feet, but as far as she knew, they were ritualistic protective Magecraft that required dozens of Magi and lengthy preparations to perform.
How could she do it alone so easily and casually?
Rei smiled faintly and patted her stomach. "Unlike typical Magi, I'm not limited to using natural Mana. Thanks to my Master, my body always stores enough Mana to operate at full capacity for two days. Using this Mana, I can still cast magic freely."
Always storing Mana in her body?
Trisha frowned. "You… aren't human?"
"Correct. Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am a versatile maid puppet created by my Master. My name is Sajyou Rei. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Rei said this while slightly lifting her maid skirt.
◆━⊰✧⊱━◆
At the same time, deep within the Forest of Einnashe.
*SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!* *SWOOSH!*
Amid countless towering, dark red trees, fierce winds roared and raged. Endless wind blades spread in all directions mercilessly, relentlessly carving massive gashes into the ground.
Yet, among the wind blades that would shred anyone who approached, the sea of trees surrounding them from all sides strangely bore not a single scratch. Though they were pushed back by the impact, they remained completely unharmed.
"The closer we get to the core, the stronger they become? Attacks at this level can't cut them anymore."
Looking at the relentless waves of trees, Naoki sighed. Beside him, Ciel, carrying the Seventh Holy Scripture, asked with a frown, "You seem a bit overwhelmed. Do you need my help?"
Honestly, Ciel was already shocked that Naoki had made it this far. Though she didn't know how he maintained such combat strength in this situation, even she had reached her limit.
The branches of the Forest of Einnashe had hardened to the point she could no longer cut them. If they ventured deeper, the branches' strength might increase further, making it too dangerous for her.
Ciel was deeply grateful that Naoki was willing to accompany her this far. "I'm just incidental"—she felt guilty that he had to support her in such a way. But now, she had to do this alone. She could no longer let him carry her forward.
Releasing the Seventh Holy Scripture, Ciel whispered, "[Bleed]—"
"Not yet your turn."
Just as Ciel prepared to transform the Seventh Holy Scripture in her hands, Naoki pressed her hand down. "Ciel, it seems you have a slight misunderstanding about me. I'm curious—where did you get the idea that I can't handle this situation?"
"They're just some slightly tougher tree branches. If the current weapon can't cut them, use a sharper one, right? Or just burn them all down."
"There are plenty of solutions, but we're nowhere near the point where you think I'm out of options."
As he spoke, as if responding to Naoki's intent, the space around them visibly distorted. From that spatial distortion, several objects highly familiar to Ciel emerged.
"Cannon… barrels?"
Seeing the large number of cannon barrels floating around Naoki, Ciel couldn't help but blink. She herself was a firearms enthusiast. The Seventh Holy Scripture, originally a mace and spear, had been transformed in her hands into a versatile weapon of destruction capable of changing forms.
Cannon barrels were a structure the Seventh Holy Scripture could also take. But she was shocked that Naoki was using something like this—did Magi use firearms too?
Spreading all the cannon barrels and aiming them in every direction, Naoki maintained a wind barrier to hold back the branches while injecting a massive amount of Mana from his body into each barrel!
*BZZZZZ—*
A tremendous amount of Mana was compressed and gathered inside the barrels. The overwhelming Mana caused a rumbling in the air. Ciel, standing behind the barrels, could confirm that if the Mana within them was fired, it wouldn't be impossible to level a large mountain peak.
It might even cause an even greater impact!
The next second—
"Fire."
*BOOOOM!*
Without delay, the Mana gathered in the barrels erupted simultaneously. Pure golden Mana lasers, formed from compressing Mana to its limit, became spears that obliterated everything. Anything in their path was pierced and destroyed upon contact.
The countless branches that, just a second ago, had surrounded them and relentlessly bombarded the wind barrier in an attempt to engulf them were, without a doubt, obliterated under this synchronized laser barrage!
Red gashes extended straight outward for nearly a thousand meters!
And afterward, as if unwilling to leave any remnants, all the cannon barrels moved in unison. From stationary cannons, they transformed into mobile ones, sweeping every inch of space they had missed!
"A golden… storm."
At this moment, the scene imprinted in Ciel's eyes could only be described as such.