Black Iron Magician

「Fufufu, target confirmed! Carmine never invaded Elderado’s territory before! Finally, I can fight fully in my sky, on my battlefield, in my hunting ground! Welcome, lovely young ladies! Even if you’re undead, I will welcome you since you have that appearance!」

Kalios, who’s soaring through the air accompanied by the electricity in his legs, shouted as if he couldn’t wait any longer. These dark clouds were magically created by him. For Kalios, the sky is a perfect battlefield to hunt his prey. To make his hunting ground even more absolute, he created thunderclouds with his level 70 Purple Lightning Magic 『Dark Cloud』 and covered the area around him as if he’s wearing armor. Kalios, now a huge black mass of clouds, moves forward with them. Surprisingly, the speed of the clouds isn’t slowing down at all, and they are approaching Haruna and the others at the same speed as Kalios.

「Once they enter the clouds, their vision will be blocked and they will be struck by lightning from all directions!」

The clouds are still growing even now. The girls should have been able to see the clouds, but they didn’t change their course and headed straight for the clouds.

(They don’t take detours and don’t show any sign of fear. Good girls…!)

After confirming the course, Kalios lifted the corner of his mouth―― and returned it immediately.

(The amount of clouds is decreasing…?)

He noticed that the size of the thunderclouds, which had been deployed as armor that continued to expand, became smaller as he approached the enemy.

(What’s going on? My clouds are being sucked by those girls?)

When he looked around, his thunderclouds were being peeled off from the outside at a tremendous speed. The momentum of the decrease is much faster than the momentum of the increase. The destination of the scattered clouds and electricity is the exact location of the enemies, which he is now heading for.

(The ponytailed girl is holding something in her arm? Is that… a black ball? Is that sucking my Dark Cloud? No, but, that thing is small, you know?)

At this distance, Kalios, who has good eyesight, could clearly see the enemies and the situation. However, it seems that it is difficult to believe the scene.

「Um, Haruna? Is it safe to hold it?」

「I’ve experimented a lot with Shishō, and it seems that it’s safe for the user!」

「I-I see….」

Chinatsu, who is running next to Haruna, made an indescribable wry smile. In her eyes, there’s the figure of Haruna who’s holding a black hole with one arm, as if she’s carrying an American football ball. …… This is not a metaphor or anything. Haruna is really running while holding a black hole.

「It’s a combined magic of Graviton Hole, which swallows anything, and Gravietas, which draws in only magical things! With this, I can nullify whatever attack the opponent is making, and since I have one arm free, I can deal with emergencies!」

「I see. By the way, why are you carrying it in your arm?」

「The current me can’t move the Graviton Hole from where I used it, so I thought it would be faster to actually carry it.」

「I-I see…. It’s a good thing that you have a simple solution for your problem. Yep.」

「■■!」

「You can’t hit me with a big swing like that!」

With the lively sounds of battle coming from behind her, Chinatsu tried to forcibly convincing herself.

(H-Haha, am I dreaming?)

On the other hand, Kalios, was dumbfounded with that unbelievable situation. Most of the magic he had deployed to gain the advantage had already been absorbed by Haruna’s black hole. As the distance is shortened, the absorption speed doubles. If he continues to close the distance, they would collide in a few seconds.

There are three mistakes he made. He doesn’t have much interest in fighting Carmine, which forces are mainly undead, and until now he has only fought the bare minimum. Even if he lost the battle, he would make an excuse that he wasn’t in an environment where he could exert his full strength, so he was conceited that he could win against Carmine if the conditions were met. And lastly, he couldn’t see through that Carmine was holding back in previous battles.

「Kuh! Thunder Stock! Thunder Stock! Thunder Stock!」

Now that it has come to this, he has no choice but to fight as is. Kalios bundled up lightning bolts and fired them repeatedly at Haruna and the others. Each time, the roar of the lightning strike echoed around the area, and sound and light mixed violently. However, just like the clouds, all of Kalios’s attacks were sucked into the black hole. The magic of Kalios, which shone so brightly and made such a rumbling sound, was transformed into complete nothingness once it entered the bottomless darkness. Kalios’s attacks were extremely meaningless.

(But still…!)

The distance between them has closed, and he is no longer in a position to afford to unleash his full power of magic. It can be said that his chance of victory in this battle is extremely slim. However, it is a different story when it comes to winning in the war. With the preparedness for self-destruction, Kalios charged forward, aiming for the black hole held by Haruna.

(This place is far from the imperial capital, so killing me would be against the rules, right? I know it’s out of character, and it’s uncool to do this in front of a girl. But well, I guess it’s also a good thing engrave my name in history!)

Yes, Kalios’s aim was to make the enemy violate the rules. If he touches the enemy and dies, it would end up with Carmine’s side violates the rules, and Elderado would win this war. Of course, this is nothing more than a verbal promise between Titos and Vakala, and it can’t be said to be absolute. Even so, Kalios has no choice but to go for it. Using his legs, which said to be the fastest in the empire, Kalios reaches for the jet-black ball.

「Ha?」

The black hole disappeared in an instant in front of Kalios’s eyes. Did Haruna release the magic? No, Kalio’s magic is still being absorbed, so that’s not the case. The black hole still exists. Then, where is it? …… The answer is right above. Just like making a basket loop shot, Haruna was passing the black hole further into the sky with a super-fast movement. Haruna was using her serious speed, so Kalios could only see Haruna’s figure blurred for a moment. However, the black hole is actually flying in the air while drawing a beautiful arc.

(―― If the black hole isn’t here, then I will touch, I mean, I will just attack her together!)

A wicked thought crossed his mind for a moment, but Kalios shook it off with his steel spirit. The knife in his right hand is infused with the Thunder Magic 『Bolt Blade』, and he thrusts the tip of his knife toward Haruna. It was also the moment when the thunderclouds were completely swallowed by the black hole and their figures were exposed.

「Gah…」

「Ugh…」

Not only the 『Thunder General』 Kalios, but there was also the 『Radiant General』 Sirius, who used the thunderclouds as a cover and also used 『Frage』 magic to make himself transparent. The two twin brothers, who both held the position of the Great Eight Generals, let go of their consciousness and fell from the sky to the ground. They probably did not understand what happened and how they were knocked unconscious.

「Ah, I knew there were two of them in the clouds, but I didn’t know that they were twins. I need to reflect on that.」

While saying so, Haruna caught the black ball that fell from above. At the same time, she threw two broken knives into the black ball as if it was a trash can. Then, she continues her march as if nothing happened. For some reason, the two are falling slowly, so they won’t die even if they hit the ground. Several hours have passed since the war started, and there are still no casualties.