What the hell was this thing...

　When Averil approached Messiah and was about to reach out to him.

'Avril, be on your guard,'

　Saying that, I grabbed her by the shoulders.

''This, this is........!

　And Avril's eyes widened.
　Messiah's body began to glow with a golden color.

''Mm, golden magic?

　Apparently, someone is exercising magic against Messias.
　This is.....

Now, now, what do we have here?

　Eventually, Messiah's 'soul' and golden magic power mixed together and it took the form of a human.
　The guy was dressed in pure white armor, hiding his face in heavy armor.

　That thing that refused to open its mouth-let's call it "White Armor"-I asked the question: "You're the mastermind behind this.

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

　Even though I asked the question, the White Armor didn't try to speak.

''Hey, Kurt...!　What the hell is going on here?　Explain it to me in a way I can understand!
'The one who manipulated Erik and the others in a test of courage, and also instructed Messiah to blow up the school building...'

　Without breaking his vigilance, he explains to Avril.
　But still.........even though it is radiating so much hostility, the 《White Armor》 doesn't try to utter a single word.

　No, this is........

''Hou.''

　Okay, they do an interesting imitation.

'So you're our enemy!　The first move!

　Before I could stop him, Avril fired her fire spear at the White Armor as a check.
The White Armor didn't even try to evade, and the spear of fire pierced through it.

　However.

''Sa, it's regenerated!

　And Avril let out a surprised voice.
　The 《White Armor》 seemed to have dissipated after receiving a direct hit from the Fire Spear, but it quickly returned to its original form.

''The entity is somewhere else again........right?

　In other words, the White Armor is a mere doll made of magic.
　It is an insubstantial - a shadow.

　I'm sure you'll find that the quality of the shadow is much better than the one made by the "Four Wise Men" the other day.
　I'm not going to be the only one who can do this.
　It's probably because he also took in Messiah's 'soul' and created this shadow.

　But.........this is still easy to do.

''..........''

　As usual, no matter what you ask, you won't get an answer from the White Armor.
　But to me, it seemed to be a substitute for consent.

''Then what the hell is going on...?

　Just as Avril was about to open her mouth, the right arm of the 《White Armor》 slowly raised.

It's not a good idea. I'm sure you'll be able to find out more. I want to make sure of a few things.

A magic formula was constructed from the body of the White Armor.
　It's a magic called Meteor Cyclone.
　The magic burst into me, and the body was engulfed in flames of fire.

I'm not going to be able to stop it.　What in the world are you.......doing?

　The flames of the Meteor Cyclone gradually gained momentum.
　Oh, that's quite a magic. I can't even counteract it with backlash magic.

　In the corner of my bright red field of vision, Averill was trying to help me out, trying to counteract it with water magic.
　But no.
　This Meteor Cyclone is an evil flame that won't go out until it burns the opponent to death.
　Once one's body was enveloped by the Meteor Cyclone, there was no way to escape from its hellish prison.

　If you're a common man.

''Alright........I understand. So that's what happened.

　But in the midst of all this, I took a step forward toward the White Armor.
　Seeing this, it looked as if the 《White Armor》 seemed to tremble for a moment, as if it was upset.

''Ku, Kurt!　What do you mean by that?
'Avril, it's easy. I just disabled the magic of the Meteor Cyclone.
Well, the fire still surrounds you, doesn't it?　Lord ... isn't it hot?

　I almost laughed a little at that thing.

　It's true........if I was completely hit by a direct hit from the Meteor Cyclone, it would be a pain in the ass even for me to escape in the middle.
　In any case, the magic will continue to activate until you are burned to death or the sorcerer finishes supplying you with magic power.
　So...

"Until we burn to death, we can move freely, right?

　Of course, we don't know when that will be.
　It could be tomorrow, the day after tomorrow ... maybe in a year or two, and that time may not come forever with such a cool flame in the first place.

''I'm just releasing magic from a long distance anyway. I don't think I'm going to be able to extract any more information from this guy.

　However, I knew one thing that was significant.

　I pull the magic sword from its sheath and flash the 《White Armor》.
　Even if I physically slashed the disembodied...a magical mass of existence, the White Armor was only supposed to return to its original form like smoke.

　However, the White Armor that was slashed by the magic sword did not revive, but instead disappeared in a puff of smoke.

''My dear sir, this is the second time I've slashed something insubstantial with this Demon Sword.

　I put the magic sword away.

　
The magic of the "white armor" is gone, and in conjunction with that, the flames that surrounded me were also digested.

''What's the matter, Avril. You look like that.''
I don't know what's going on I'm not sure I'm aware of what's going on....

　Avril opened her mouth as if stunned.

'I'll explain later. But right now is not the time to take your time, it seems.''
Hmm?

　Averill noticed, too, and looked up at the ground ... at the ceiling.

　'Do, do, do--.

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

　The fact that Messias was defeated must have already been transmitted.
　Otherwise, there is no way that the "White Armor" from earlier would have appeared through the medium of Messias' "soul".

I'm going to be the one who magically created the White Armor just now, if my guess is correct, is the one who is behind it all. It seems that they are planning to do something.

　That doesn't sound like a pleasant situation.

　Let me summarize.
　That "White Armor" is like a doll created remotely by the mastermind behind this incident.
　It doesn't matter how many of those things are defeated.

　At first, I thought about tracing the doll's magical power and transferring it to its location.
　But that was a dud. A number of warding spells have been applied, and as expected, it was impossible to transition to the next level.

　But........I even figured out where the mastermind behind the incident was.


''That guy is in the imperial royal palace.


　I point in the direction of the castle.
If the 《White Armor》 is in the royal palace, then there is a high probability that this is a state-wide plan.

''We can continue to head to the castle, but I'm worried about Marise and the others. Let's go back once.''
But who is that White Armor? To create that much stuff from a remote location........he must be a very good user.

　Who are you........
　The reason I dared to defeat it earlier after receiving the Meteor Cyclone was because I wanted to analyze the magic power contained in the White Armor.
　If I had to, I tried to transfer directly to it, but that was not possible.

　But.........I knew what he was instead.
　I knew the guy, and I knew him.

As I said before, all explanations can be given later. Apparently, the air of disquiet is getting thicker and thicker.

　The sound of footsteps from the ground is increasing in number.
　It's not just a matter of time before you're able to find your way back to your home.

　--It's time to settle this matter with the Empire.