Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  Anything he wanted… Seiji instantly imagined various scenes.

  'No! Stop!!'

  Before his fantasies could run wild, he forcefully slammed on the brakes and stopped himself from thinking any further.

  "Cough… thank you for your good intentions, but there's no need."

  "There's no need to be so reserved. Just treat it as the payment for your assistance. You can ask for anything that you want to see. I personally recommend the bunny girl look." Kazuko smiled.

  Seiji couldn't help but imagine how alluring she would look in a bunny girl outfit. But, he then immediately shook his head and banished the scene from his mind!

  "I feel like I'll lose something important if I ask you to do such a thing as payment."

  "No need to worry even if you lose something. I'll catch it all for you." Kazuko glanced towards Seiji's lower half.

  "What exactly do you want to catch!?"

  At this moment, Seiji suddenly felt like Kazuko was rather similar to Chiaki… the excellent student who was always so serious suddenly acquired a female personality like this? Such a mystery.

  'Cough, I should stop getting sidetracked. Time for serious business.'

  Seiji and Shika made their preparations in the spellcasting room. Natsuya and Mai observed them.

  Kazuko raised her palm which let out a blood-red glow. A pitch-black crack instantly appeared in the room's floor which then opened up in an oval shape with a red polygon inside… this formation appeared quite similar to the Inner World's formation!

  Seiji's vision instantly darkened and he felt his body whirling around as faint sounds whirred past his ear. But soon, he suddenly saw everything clearly again.

  He was in a classroom… a classroom which resembled one from Genhana High School. However, there were no tables, chairs, or anything else inside. This space simply resembled a classroom with the windows tightly shut. Everything outside was pitch-black.

  So, this was Kazuko's Domain… Seiji thought about its possible connections to the Inner World.

  On one hand, it was because he just witnessed a spell formation similar to the Inner World teleportation formation. On the other hand, this Domain also felt similar to being in the Inner World.

  "They're coming." There was a red flash as Kazuko's figure appeared in midair. She was half translucent in a form that resembled a ghost.

  The next instant, dense mist started entering the room through the windows. The mist swiftly formed into some dark humanoid figures!

  These ghostly figures all had blood-red holes in their faces where the eyes should have been. They were glowing faintly, had distorted limbs, and stiff movements. Everything about them seemed ominous.

  They suddenly attacked!

  Shika moved first, arcing her body as she stepped forward and unsheathed her Demon Blade Muramasa and sliced!

  One slice cut two dark figures in half at the waist.

  These figures that were sliced in half shrieked strangely before vanishing into the air.

  Seiji also unsheathed his sword and slew another humanoid figure.

  "It seems that it's quite easy. Let's take on a few more at a time, then," Kazuko spoke up.

  The moment she spoke, more dense mist entered the room and created even more dark humanoid figures.

  Seiji and Shika cooperated without need for verbal communication as they swiftly dealt with this second wave of ghostly figures.

  They then dealt with the third, the fourth, and the fifth wave…


  After Seiji and Shika slew at least fifty or sixty dark humanoid figures, the black mist then formed into a gigantic monster that resembled a gorilla! There were four eyes on its "face," along with blood-red runes on its body that faintly glowed.

  "This one's rather strong—"

  Before Kazuko even finished speaking, the monster approached at an astonishing speed and viciously swiped with its claws!

  *Boom!* Explosive red light also shot out from the monster's hands.

  Seiji and Shika retreated in time to dodge the attack. Shika then swiftly circled around to the monster's side and lifted her Demon Blade…


  Infliction technique -"Icefall"!

  A powerful chill arose from her blade and formed a giant blade of ice under the sword as it sliced down. This ice blade struck a heavy blow against the monster!

  *Grraaagghhhh!!!"

  The gorilla monster howled in a hair-raising manner. Its movements grew stiffer due to being affected by the ice blade's chill.

  Sealing technique -"Gather Snow"!

  Shika swung her sword, enveloping the monster in a deep blue mist which magically appeared. The mist then speedily froze into ice which completely sealed the monster's movements.

  Killing technique -"Shatter Ice"!

  A blue flash appeared on her sword as she inserted her blade into the giant hulk of ice. The ice then shattered into tiny pieces, including the gorilla monster inside!!

  This entire process was as smooth as wind over water. Seiji felt as if he was watching an expert League of Legends player utilize all of a character's abilities with perfect sequencing. This way of combat even seemed quite artistic.

  "Beautiful," Seiji praised her.

  Shika responded with a faint smile.

  Upon witnessing this scene, Kazuko was also stunned for a moment by the black-haired girl's incredible beauty.

  No more dark mist entered from the windows. This meant that all the "demons" in this section had been cleared out.

  After personally witnessing the rampaging monsters that Kazuko spoke of, Seiji recalled how Zankita Juumonji's body had been invaded by Hell's Aura. This felt quite similar to him, especially how those creatures shrieked.

  Did Kazuko's abilities have a connection to Hell? Or, could it be that the person who made Zankita like that was connected to the person who kidnapped Kazufuru Ooike?

  Perhaps these mysterious individuals were from the same faction.

  There was also that mysterious spell which Akatsuki used on Akasuzume Koogi and Naruo Yashuu… perhaps they were all connected.

  'I didn't have a chance to use Cleansing to test things out against the first batch of monsters. I should try it out in a bit,' Seiji thought to himself.

  If Cleansing was highly effective against these demons, then it would seem more likely that all these things were secretly connected.

  After resting for a few minutes, Seiji and Shika opened the door of the classroom. They saw a staircase leading downward.

  After walking down the stairs, they arrived at a door.

  Upon entering, Seiji immediately recognized this room as the karate club's dojo!

  He couldn't help but recall his duel against Rion, Kotomi, and the entire karate club.

  Just as he was reminiscing about what happened, the mirror on the wall suddenly turned pitch-black! Large amounts of mist poured out of the mirror and formed into numerous dark humanoid figures.

  Unlike the unarmed figures in the classroom from earlier, these dark demons were all wielding red swords!

  They wielded their swords and surrounded Seiji and Shika. Their speed was apparently faster than the previous group, increasing the level of danger.

  Cleansing!

  Seiji created a hand seal and cast his spell upon the first demon that approached him.

  *Boom!* The dark figure was vaporized.

  It was supremely effective. He was certain now.

  But then, the red sword from the exploded demon transformed into a red mist which twined around another nearby demon!

  "What's this?"

  "The demon that's being possessed by the remaining red mist will be strengthened. Please be careful," Kazuko explained as she continued floating in midair.

  Shika dashed into the group of monsters and left numerous afterimages of herself as she continuously slew the demons.

  All the killed demons' blades transformed into red mist which possessed the remaining demons, making their movements swifter and more dexterous!

  Seeing that there were too many enemies, Shika once again cast her Snow Gather technique to freeze a large group and then destroyed them with Ice Shatter.

  Seiji enchanted his longsword with his own White Lotus technique, creating a mystical blade of over ten meters long. A single swing of this blade allowed him to slay five or six monsters in one go.

  Seiji and Shika had excellent tacit cooperation as they swept through the monsters.

  The monsters continuously appeared and became stronger and stronger due to all the red mist.

  Finally, a giant six-eyed, six-armed monster which wielded six swords appeared, covered in thick-red mist!

  Its six arms were capable of extending and retracting at will. Its wild sword dance was quite dangerous as it would be impossible to dodge all the swords or even block them at close range.

  Its defensive prowess was impressive as well. The red mist acted as a barrier which blocked all attacks! It even blocked Seiji's Evolved Cleansing technique.

  Seiji came to the conclusion that only a powerful spell would take it down.

  "Shika-chan!" He looked towards his adopted younger sister, communicating with his eyes.

  Shika nodded in understanding and swiftly retreated to the rear.

  Seiji cast Evolved Mana Barrier on himself and engaged the monster in single combat, stalling for time!

  After retreating a certain distance, Shika sheathed her sword, created a seal, and uttered an incantation at maximum speed.

  Soon, a blueish-white glow appeared on her body. A gigantic spell formation slowly appeared before her. Its aura became imposing at a rapid pace.

  "Brother!"

  The instant that the spell was finished, Shika shouted out to Seiji.

  Seiji immediately retreated.

  Destruction technique, "Blizzard"!

  Upon completion of the spell, the giant spell formation suddenly released a dense white fog which swept across the six-armed monster like a tempest!