I'm Shenji, what are you doing?

"...Wang Xian"

Inadvertently, a short rhyme came out.

The black cat that swallowed Aruba's body up to his shoulders stopped moving. Orange, who was watching the development of the matter like a bystander, also reacted immediately to the voice.

Behind Aruba, stood a man. The man's face was filled with unbearable distress and seriousness, and he was wearing a black coat.

It was as if he had been here from the beginning, and there was no trace of his appearance at all. The man in black grabbed Aruba with one hand and easily pulled him out of the black cat's mouth and placed him on the floor. The black cat touched one of the three barriers on the man's body and was unable to move.

The man turned to the woman below. With his movements, the previously relaxed air gradually disappeared. As if to welcome the real owner, the apartment itself couldn't help but feel nervous.

"——Long time no see, Aosaki."

"Ah, each other, even though I don't want to see you. However, your appearance here means that she -"

The first and second floors - like being divided into heaven and earth, Orange and the culprit named Araya Soren face each other.

"She's already in my hands."

Araya calmly spoke about the helpless reality.

"It seems I'm a step too late."

"No, you came early. It was supposed to end this without you knowing, but it seems that Aruba has gone too far. There is no way, I can't prepare the bodies of sixty-four people by myself. "

"I'm afraid it's more than that. The injuries on your body were caused by Shiki—"

Orange fixed his gaze on Araya's chest and neck. There was a stab wound there, and the bone was visible.

"——If I were injured like this, I would be dead by now."

"As you said, I'm in a very bad state right now."

Araya didn't hide his serious injury, because he knew it was meaningless.

"If possible, I would like to chat with you a few more words, but I'm sorry, my body doesn't allow me to do so."

"I see, it seems that Shi is fine for the time being. Just to be on the safe side, I'd like to ask you - do you plan to return Shi?"

"It's up to you if you want."

"Huh, that means we can only fight in one fight, right? Really, I'm not good at fighting in the first place. This kind of thing should be left to that brat."

"Let me ask you just to be on the safe side. Aozaki, are you going to help me?" Araya said with an unchanging hostile look and a will to kill.

Orange answered - her amber eyes clearly conveyed her will: never.

"...Really? It's such a pity."

With a heavy look of distress on his face, the magician walked towards the stairs step by step.

"...The path to the root has been found. In a few more steps, my wish will come true. Anyone who comes to hinder me will be treated as a restraining force."

The air in the hall was getting tighter and tighter. The air was frozen, with a dangerous and oppressive feeling that might have been distorted by the magician's murderous intent.

Among them, she looked at her former classmates from a distance. At the end, she asked Araya Soren as a magician, Aozaki Orange.

"Araya, what are you pursuing?"

"True wisdom."

"Araya, where are you pursuing?"

"Only in your own heart." The man replied without hesitation, and his footsteps stopped at the entrance of the stairs.

In order to eliminate each other's existence from the world, the two began to act.

Araya raised a hand from under his black coat.

Slowly, raise your left hand to shoulder height. The palms of its hands were open weakly, as if calling someone from afar.

He faced his opponent with one hand raised. This is the fighting posture of the magician Araya Soren.

In contrast, Aozaki Orange just looked up at the black magician. The suitcase under her feet remained motionless and she was concentrating on watching the enemy's actions.

Her familiar, the black cat, is currently sealed behind Araya's back and unable to move.

Orange has seen through the triple barrier Araya has built with himself as the center.

It is the magician's spider silk stretched between the ground and space, between the plane and the three-dimensional space. As long as a living thing comes into contact with the line that forms a circle, it will be instantly deprived of power.

Generally speaking, a barrier is a line that protects something that cannot move and does not move. Carrying it with yourself as the center, you can clearly see it but can't feel the breath, making you attack the enemy like a monster. Therefore, without targeted means, Araya Soren can be said to be invincible in close combat.

But on the other hand, Araya Soren only has this trick. Unlike Aruba, he has no means of direct attack, and the only way to get rid of the oranges is through combat. Araya is a man who has gone through a turbulent era. He only uses his body to fight. There is no one who can rival him in the world today in Orange's knowledge.

But even knowing this, Chengzi still waited for him to get close. Of course she wasn't going to engage in a close combat with Araya, that would be tantamount to asking for death. She was just waiting for an opportunity to attack Araya the moment he walked down the stairs to the hall.

However, the magician only stood in front of the stairs and moved his outstretched hand slightly.

"——Sure." Following a low cry, Araya's open palms suddenly clenched.

Orange's body began to shake at the same time, and her coat, which could cover the circuits of various magic systems, turned into fragments and scattered on the ground.

It was an impact that could not be seen by the eyes, hitting the whole body evenly from all directions, and Cheng Zi couldn't help but kneel down.

That was a completely different attack method from the one he fought with Shinji. That time, Araya just put pressure on the atmosphere. This time, Araya crushed the entire space where Orange was standing. To give an example, it was like being hit by a car before, but now it's like being run over by a road roller.

Chengzi clicked her tongue in disbelief when she realized what had happened. She didn't expect Araya to have the kind of magic that could affect space with just a few movements.

"...I was hit. Damn it, how many ribs were broken?" Chengzi swallowed the blood gushing from his mouth while confirming the damage to his body.

For Orange, who has not exercised, she cannot accurately judge the extent of her injuries like Shinji. All she was sure of was that the coat would save her life. If hit again, it will be crushed.

Then, she can't be merciful anymore

"—Go!"

Before he finished speaking, the black cat whose movements were sealed suddenly started to move.

The stiffness just now was just an act, and the black cat pounced on Araya, who was turning his back to it.

"What!"

Araya turned around quickly with a hint of surprise, then without any pause opened his outstretched palm and clenched it tightly again. There was a "buzzing" vibration all around.

Orange saw the space in front of Araya collapsing inward step by step. Black Cat jumped up before being crushed. Like the reaction force of gravity, it stood on the ceiling looking at the magician.

"That's it."

The other hand hidden under the black coat held the palm of his hand hard. The black cat was crushed together with the ceiling. A hole opened in a corner of the ceiling, and the black cat was compressed until its eyes could no longer be seen, and then disappeared.

"Your chess piece disappeared... You said it in the academy - the magician himself does not need to be a strong person, he just needs to make the strongest item... Indeed, when the puppet loses, the puppet master loses. ”

Araya turned to look at Orange again, opened his palms and said this.

Chengzi listened to this with an unhappy expression.

"Well, my statement is still correct. However, you are really amazing. This is equivalent to your body, and you can destroy the space as you like. I have already jumped into a huge magic... Humph, since you are ready to come here In such a situation, why are you almost forced to a dead end by Shi?"

"——It's not easy to capture her alive. If you're not careful, you can break her into pieces, but it's different now. I will use all my strength to deal with the opponent who deserves to be killed."

"I hope you don't make it self-defeating."

After regaining his position where he was about to fall to the ground, Chengzi slowly leaned against the wall.

"Araya, there are three ways to make people fall into fear, do you know? First, monsters must not speak to others. Second, monsters must be unknown. Third, monsters are meaningless if they are not immortal."

"——!" Aranya seemed to have thought of something and turned around quickly.

On the ceiling that should have been destroyed, the black cat was living as if nothing had happened.

"——Sure!" He clenched his fist hard towards the ceiling, and the space was compressed in an instant.

The black cat swayed because of the distortion, jumped down towards the magician, and then opened its mouth with a "pop". Araya couldn't escape and was bitten.

"——Ugh!" He shouted in a voice that sounded like a scream before death.

There was a "swish" sound, and the magician had no time to fight back and lost more than half of his body.

The magician, who was left with only his head and shoulders, fell to the ground with a thud. With an expression full of distress whether he was dead or not, the piece of flesh that had once been the magician rolled down the stairs.

Orange said briefly while observing the scene calmly:

"If you want to solve it, you have to kill it with one strike. Araya, that's what a sneak attack is."

Orange left the wall and turned around and walked out.

At this moment, she felt someone pushed her back hard, and her already shaky body could no longer stay flat, and she fell to the ground in embarrassment.

Before she could figure out what was going on, a dull sound, like dead wood hitting leather, reached her ears.

Then, a dark cloak appeared in front of her eyes.

The owner of the cloak had blue curly hair and was holding a short knife to protect her behind him.

"Shinji?"