What the hell was this thing ......?

　Avril approached Messaias and was about to reach out to him when .

"Avril, be careful.

　I grabbed her by the shoulders.

"This is ......?

　Avril's eyes widened.
　Messias' body began to glow with a golden light.

"Hmm, golden magic.

　It seems that someone is using magic against Messaias.
　This is .......

"Well, well, what do we have here?

　In the end, Messiah's soul and golden magic mingled, and it took the form of a man.
　It was clad in pure white armor, and its face was hidden by heavy armor.

　He refused to open his mouth. ...... Let's call him "Shiro Armor". ...... I asked him this question.

"You're the mastermind behind all this, aren't you?
"............

　The Shiro Armor didn't make a sound as I asked.

"Hey, Kurt, ......!　What the hell is going on here?　What the hell is going on? Explain it to me!
I'm talking about ......, the person who manipulated Eerik and the others during the test of courage, and also the person who ordered Messiah to blow up the school building.

　I'm not sure what to do.
　It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

　No, this is .......

Oh.

　Well, that's an interesting thing to do.

"So it's our enemy!　First strike!

　Before I could stop her, Avril fired a Fire Spear at the Shiro Armor as a check.
Before I could stop her, Avril fired a fire spear at the Shiro Armor as a check. The Shiro Armor didn't even try to avoid it, and the flaming spear pierced through it.

　But...

"It's regenerated!

　Avril exclaimed in surprise.
　The Shiro Armor seemed to have fizzled out after the direct hit of the Fire Spear, but it immediately returned to its original form.

"The substance is somewhere else, ......, isn't it?

　In other words, the Shiro Armor is just a puppet made with magical power.
　It's a shadow without a body.

　And yet, no, no, no, the quality of the shadow is much better than the one created by the Four Great Sages the other day.
　I was too late to notice it.
　It's probably because he's taken in Messaias' soul to create this shadow.

　But ...... this is still easy to control.

"............

　As usual, no matter what you ask, the Shiro Armor will not give you an answer.
　But to me, that seemed to be a substitute for consent.

"Then what the hell ......?

　As soon as Avril was about to open her mouth, the Shiro Armor's right arm slowly rose.

"Hmph, Avril. Stand back. I need to check something.

A magic formula was constructed from the Shiro Armor's body.
　A spell called the meteor cyclone.
　The spell exploded on me and the fire surrounded my body.

"Qu, Kurt!　What the hell are you doing at ......?

　The flames of the Meteor Cyclone grew more and more powerful.
　The flames of the Meteor Cyclone grew stronger and stronger. I can't even counteract it with backfire magic.

　In the corner of my red vision, Avril was trying to use water magic to offset it, to save me.
　But no.
　This meteor cyclone is an evil flame that won't go out until it burns the opponent to death.
　Once the Meteor Cyclone envelops you, there is no way to escape from its infernal prison.

　That's the way it's always been.

"Okay, ......, I get it. So that's what this is all about.

　But then I took a step forward towards the Shiro Armor.
　When the Shiro Armor saw this, it seemed to tremble for a moment, as if it was upset.

"Kurt, Kurt!　What do you mean?
"Avril, it's simple. Avril, it's simple. I just neutralized the magic of the Meteor Cyclone.
What do you mean?　Aren't you ...... hot?

　I almost laughed at that statement.

　It is true that if you are completely hit by a ...... meteor cyclone, even I would have a hard time escaping in the middle of it.
　After all, the spell will continue to work until it burns to death or the magician finishes supplying the magic power.
　Then...

"You mean I can move freely until I burn, right?

　Of course, I don't know when that will be.
　Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, ...... a year from now, two years from now, or maybe that time will never come with these cool flames.

He's just casting a spell from a distance anyway. I don't think we're going to get any more information out of this guy.



　But I know one thing that's worthwhile.

　I drew my magic sword from its sheath and made a flash at the Shiro Armor.
　Even if I physically sliced the Shiro Armor, which was like a lump of ...... magic power without any substance, it should have just returned to its original state like smoke.

　However, the Shiro Armor that had been sliced by the magic sword did not come back to life, but disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"My dear, this is the second time I've used this magic sword to slay something without substance.

　Put the sword away.

　But ......, this sword is still well adapted to magic power.
I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure it's a good idea.

What's the matter, Avril? You look like that.
I don't know what's going on ......, I'm afraid.

　Avril opened her mouth as if stunned.

I'll explain later. But it looks like now is not the time to take things easy.
Hmm?

　Averill also noticed, and looked up at the ...... ceiling.

　What is this?

What the hell is that? It sounds like footsteps, but ......?　And it's pretty hectic.
It means the Empire is finally getting serious.
What?

　I'm sure they've heard that Mesias has been defeated.
　I'm not sure what to make of it, but I'm sure it's a good idea.

If my guess is right, the person who created the Shiro Armor ...... with magic is the mastermind behind all of this. Apparently, they're up to something.

　That doesn't sound like a pleasant situation.

　Let's recap.
　That Shiro Armor is some kind of puppet remotely created by the mastermind behind all this.
　It doesn't matter how many of them you kill.

　At first, I thought about tracing the doll's magic and transferring to its location.
　But that didn't work. The doll was covered with several warding spells, and it was impossible to reach the location.

　However, he was able to figure out the location of the mastermind behind the ...... incident.


"He's in the Imperial Palace.


　He pointed in the direction of the castle.
If the Shiro Armor is in the palace, then it's highly likely that this is a state-sponsored plan.

You can continue to head to the castle, but ...... I'm worried about Marise and the others. Let's go back.
I'm not sure what to make of it. To be able to create something like that remotely, you must be a ...... very good user.

　Who is it? .......
　The reason why I dared to take the Meteor Cyclone before defeating it earlier was because I wanted to analyze the magic power contained in the Shiro Armor.
　I was hoping to transfer directly to the other side, but that didn't happen.

　But instead of ......, I found out who he was.
　I've seen him before and I've seen him again.

As I said, I'll explain everything later. Apparently, the disturbing atmosphere is getting thicker and thicker.

　The footsteps on the ground are getting more and more numerous.
　As I hurried to Lara, Marise, and Cynthia ......, I thought again.

　--It seems that the time has finally come to settle things with the Empire.