The wild wind spiraled through the cramped bar, sweeping splintered wood across the floor into the air.
Then, under a suffocating pressure of magic, the storm above the broken doorway suddenly condensed. A tall figure drifted into the room like a ghost riding the wind.
It was a man with silver-gray hair.
His upper body was bare, his muscles lean and defined. He wore strange dark trousers, and in his hand was a massive scythe nearly as tall as he was.
But the most striking thing about him was the visible wall of violent wind wrapped around his body, keeping every speck of dust from touching him.
The "Grim Reaper," Erigor.
The trump card of Eisenwald floated in midair, looking down on them from above. The veins on the back of the hand gripping his scythe bulged, and the corner of his eye twitched uncontrollably.
He had caught the scent of blood on the wind from several hundred meters away and realized something had happened to the guild—but even he hadn't expected a scene like this.
The Council's lapdogs again?
"What nerve…"
Erigor's voice was low and hoarse, like sand scraping across stone.
"To wreck my guild like this while I was away."
"Whoever you flies are, none of you are leaving here alive today!"
Before his words had even finished, he swung the scythe in his hand.
"Storm—"
But he had barely begun the chant when a sharp shout, laced with excitement and madness, cut him off mid-cast:
"Enough talking! Get down here!!"
Boom—!!
A dark violet beam of magic shot upward like a fired cannon straight at Erigor in the air.
It was Mira.
At that moment, she had already released herself back into her Satan Soul form.
That scaled demonic claw was wrapped in ultra-dense dark magic, its edge even taking on a dangerous black-red hue from the sheer compression of the power.
Erigor's pupils shrank.
As a veteran dark mage, he instantly understood how dangerous that attack was.
He forcibly twisted out of his original attack posture, brought the scythe across his body, and thickened the storm barrier around him in an instant.
"Storm Bringer!"
Bang!!
The violent impact exploded in midair.
A ring-shaped shockwave burst outward and swept through the entire bar.
The already unstable roof finally let out its last groan, and huge chunks of it came crashing down.
In the cloud of dust, Erigor landed on the ground looking distinctly worse for wear.
He had blocked the blow, but the scythe in his hand was trembling slightly, and his palm was buzzing with numb pain.
"A brat like you?"
Erigor narrowed his eyes and stared at the silver-haired girl still holding her punching stance, suspicion flashing through his gaze.
"That level of magic density…"
In that instant alone, he realized she was every bit as dangerous as he was.
"Heh…"
Mira slowly straightened up, acting as though she hadn't heard a word he said.
She glanced down at her completely unharmed demon claw, then at the grim-faced "Grim Reaper" across from her. The wild smile at the corner of her mouth slowly spread wider and wider until it became bright enough to send chills down the spine.
"It really is different now."
She hadn't used the new black claw technique she had just learned.
Instead, just like Shane had told her, she had followed her new understanding of magic from the past two days and instinctively compressed Satan Soul's power into a beam-like blast.
It was improvised on the spot—but the result was incredible.
If this had been yesterday, that attack might have looked impressive, but most of its force would definitely have been dispersed by his wind magic.
But now, she could clearly feel it: her magic had become like a forged steel spike, punching straight through his wind barrier with ease.
And this move had tons of room for growth. It could absolutely become one of her new trump cards.
Yeah. I'll call it Soul Extinctor.
"Hey, rib-boy."
In an excellent mood, Mira raised her claw and pointed it right at Erigor.
"Again. Let's see how many more of those you can take."
Being called "rib-boy" by a girl who looked barely into her teens made Erigor's face instantly go black.
"You ignorant little brat…"
The killing intent in his eyes surged. The winds around him grew violent and restless, shrieking sharply.
"If you want to die, I'll grant your wish!"
"Storm Shred!!"
In an instant, countless visible wind blades filled the air like a giant meat grinder and tore toward Mira from every direction.
…
"Tch. Looks like I really don't need to worry after all."
At the edge of the battlefield, Shane—who had already moved himself and Erza to safety before the roof collapsed—was now sitting comfortably on a broken wall.
Just like he had expected, Mira's talent really was monstrous.
The pressure Erigor gave off absolutely lived up to his title as Eisenwald's trump card. He was genuinely approaching S-Class level.
And yet Mira, who had only just barely stepped through the doorway of this new fighting style, was already matching him head-on.
That rate of growth was shocking.
Erza didn't say anything.
Her sharp eyes followed the two figures darting through the battlefield at high speed.
Inside that dense storm of wind blades, Mira wasn't recklessly tanking everything with her body the way she used to.
The demonic wings on her back beat flexibly as she used the unconventional combat instincts she had picked up from Shane, relying on explosive bursts of movement to evade within the cramped space.
And when she really couldn't avoid something, she used that strengthened demon arm to block and shatter the attack with precision.
It looked dangerous, and small streaks of blood were gradually appearing on her body—but Erza could tell.
Mira was smiling.
Not that old grin she used to scare people with, but genuine joy—joy in battle, and in the rapid evolution she could feel happening inside herself.
Erza couldn't help the slight curve of a smile.
She could feel it.
Mira was changing.
She was transforming from a "demon" who only knew how to squander raw power into a true mage.
The figure that had always been chasing after her had, for the first time, drawn up beside her.
Now, Mira truly had the qualifications to challenge her.
"Excited?"
Glancing at the red-haired girl beside him—whose back was still perfectly straight even while seated—Shane asked casually.
"No."
Erza kept her eyes locked on the battlefield and shook her head lightly.
"I'm happy."
"I'm happy that Mira has become this strong. As her companion…"
"So you've learned how to lie now too."
Shane lowered his gaze to her right hand hanging at her side.
Her fingers were unconsciously tightening and loosening, and between those pale fingers—
a sword with rippling water-like patterns was appearing and disappearing in her grasp like flowing spring water.
She was so excited she had unconsciously started summoning Flowing Water, and she still called it "just being happy"?
He didn't expose her clumsy little excuse.
Instead, while Erza was fully absorbed in the fight, Shane quietly shifted his attention to their surroundings.
He was still interested in the mysterious figure the underground boss had mentioned—the one supposedly gathering the underworld factions of Onibus.
Logically speaking, Eisenwald was one of the most valuable "assets" in the area. With this much chaos breaking out, if the hidden mastermind really cared, they should have shown up by now.
Shane had been waiting for them ever since the fight started.
Unfortunately—
until now, aside from the wind and the sounds of battle, there was absolutely no sign of a third party intervening.
"A bunch of cowards hiding in the shadows."
Shane shook his head in disappointment.
Either the other side had a very sharp nose and sensed danger early enough to retreat, or Eisenwald was nothing more than a disposable pawn in their eyes.
Either way, the fact that they didn't dare show themselves meant they were nothing worth worrying about.
And by now, in the ruined bar, the balance of the fight had already begun tilting hard.
"Darkness Stream!"
Mira shouted and clenched one hand in the air.
That was the name she had just come up with.
This time, the deep violet magic didn't explode out in a crude burst.
Instead, it took the form of several jet-black claw shadows, like a school of sharks tearing through the deep sea, ripping madly toward Erigor.
Unlike the earlier improvised strike, this was a technique she had forged through countless hours of magic-control training under Shane's "torture" over the past two days.
Riiip—
An unpleasant tearing sound rang out.
The black claws clung like a curse and instantly broke through Erigor's proud Storm Coat—
slashing toward his wrist, thigh, and vulnerable throat all at once.
"Get the hell away from me!!"
Faced with death, Erigor's rage and panic reached their peak.
The wind around him swelled violently.
Woooo—
He thrust up four fingers, while emerald magic gathered in his palm like mad. The violent wind element compressed to its absolute limit, producing a shriek sharp enough to stab at the eardrums.
"Emera Baram!!"
This was his strongest Wind Flight spell—a burst of ultra-high-pressure wind blades capable of slicing through rock and iron, shredding everything they touched.
But—
"Idiot."
A mocking smile curled on Mira's lips.
"You left yourself open."
The moment Erigor converted his magic into offense, the wind cloak around his body visibly thinned.
That was exactly the opening Mira had been waiting for.
Without the slightest hesitation, she didn't retreat—she advanced. Just before that terrifying wind blade fully formed, she shot forward like a bolt of black lightning.
In that instant, the two were face to face.
The magic of the dragon heart, driven to its very limit, replayed itself over and over in her mind.
Mira raised both clawed hands and slammed them against his chest. In her palms, the terrifying magic she had been building up had already reached its critical point.
"Soul—Extinctor!!"
BOOM—!!!
A massive purple-black beam erupted point-blank.
There wasn't even that much of an explosion sound.
Because in that instant, every other sound seemed to be swallowed whole.
The recoil alone made the ground cave in several meters beneath them, and the horrific shockwave leveled the last few surviving walls around them.
The wind dispersed. Dust filled the air.
Mira remained in a forward-palm stance, panting heavily. The scales and claws vanished, leaving her clothes damaged and her whole figure looking disheveled.
But her eyes were glowing with frightening intensity.
And in front of her—
the so-called "Grim Reaper" Erigor, the man whose mission success rate had once been one hundred percent, was now lying in a huge crater with his eyes rolled back, smoking all over, completely unconscious.
"Looks like that settles it."
Shane dusted off the seat of his pants and stood up from the broken wall.
He scanned the silent ruins around them one more time. Even at the very end, there was still no sign of reinforcements.
"So… he really was completely abandoned."
Shane shrugged, more bored than anything.
Then he turned to Erza—who still looked like she wanted more—and beckoned.
"Come on."
"Let's go take a look at our thoroughly defeated 'trump card.'"
~~~
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