"…what the… ?

"

Raseriat took a deep breath, flabergasted by the discovery.

Her wings weren't chopped off or damaged in any way… they were… frozen over…!

And not just by the physical ice – the mana composing them was frozen solid too, rendering the first pair useless…

…and the ones that she created after that were slowly getting covered in frost too…!

"WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN! HOW A MAGICIAN-LEVEL TRASH LIKE YOU LIKE YOU CAN AFFECT A SAGE LIKE M…?! …eh…?

"

Raseriat's face turned pale and she growled at the indifferent pale-blue-haired man below – until a dark shape moved at the corner of her vision, and then another, and another…

"?!?!?!

"

The round woman tensed up and looked around, it wasn't just a single shadow sphere floating next to her but at least two dozens – making her realize that it wasn't one of her fellow Ghosts keeping an eye on her at all…

"…sir Galamroze, please, I tried my best to make her distracted enough to not realize what was happening… I hope that you know that if you pointed my sentinels to her even a second earlier she would be able to get away…

"

"YOU ARE ALIVE?!

"

Without any warning, a shadow under the pale-blue-haired man expanded and rose up, allowing the armorless black-haired boy to walk out of it, prompting Raseriat to growl furiously.

"Is that so? I misjudged the temperature then… But changing the subject, I see the so-called original personality or whatever is gone?

"

Ludier glanced at him and smirked before looking back at the round woman barely managing to keep herself up in the air with two pairs of wings flapping slower and slower as more and more ice gathered on them freezing them solid.

"I think that it's just the earlier version of me… but… it's weird… I am not sure what is going on with it…

"

Zoemi admitted with a bothered expression, acting completely reverse to Ludier by ignoring Raseriat as if she was no longer a threat of any sort.

"DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME YOU PIECE OF SHIT BRAT!

"

The member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora roared and reached out her hand – in response to that gesture, her wings spread out to their full extent and…

*crack*

"…eh…?

"

…shattered into jet-black particles that dispersed into the air, sending the shocked woman down to the ground…

"Darkness blade! Eh..? Darkness blade…! DARKNESS BLADE!

"

She shouted again and again but no matter what she did, not even a single particle of mana in her body moved to form the spell.

"That took long enough… I am getting nauseous from mana depletion, freezing that ridiculous amount of mana is really taking its toll…

"

Zoemi, slightly green in the face still smirked and reached his hand to the side.

Using whatever mana was left in him, he became encased with the shadow armor once more, but unlike the last time when multiple ice blades grew out of his right hand a single enormous ice blade grew around his entire forearm and extended to the length that was far too large for any practical blade to achieve.

*BOOOOM*

Not waiting for Raseriat to hit the ground to finish her off, the shadow-clad black-haired boy launched himself into the air to met her halfway.

"N-no…! NOOOO! H-HELP! HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!

"

Seeing him approaching, the round woman lost whatever was left of her composure and started flailing her limbs while wailing, overtaken by despair and fear.

And then, as if somebody listened to her cry, the attacking boy disappeared from right in front of her, exposing the pale-blue-haired man still on the ground glowing with the ice enchantments.

"Ah…! I-it worked…! It worked! GET ME OUT OF HERE! GET ME OUT OF HERE, KIRI…!

"

*SHING*

For a moment, Raseriat really thought that she had a chance, she even felt the connection with the rest of the Ghosts of Bellcephora, so she did her best to transfer whatever she could back to them in order to escape the extremely disadvantageous situation she got herself in – but then the massive ice blade sung and cleaved vertically from behind…

*SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING**SHING* *SHING* *SHING**SHING* *SHING* *SHING*

Not settling for just a single slice, the black-haired boy who teleported behind the round black-haired woman swung his weapon, again and again, chopping Raseriat into pieces like a butcher preparing the meat.

"…ugh…

"

With that, Zoemi landed on the frozen ground and gasped when his shadow armor dispersed because of his extremely low mana level, as the remains of Raseriat rained onto the ground right after him.

He was barely staying conscious and nausea caused by the mana depletion was overwhelming.

"…mana conversion…

"

The boy groaned, using whatever was left to extend his shadow and swallow the frozen pieces of the defeated member of the Ghosts of Bellcephora in order to both expand his mana pool and regain the used mana.

At the same time, the darkness barrier that Raseriat created ceased to exist with her demise, freeing the brown-haired capture target, Xeonith Zarble Derizno.

"Ah…! I… I am ali…!

"

*RIIIIIP*

"GYAHUAAAAAAAGH!!!

"

The same moment that Xeonith lifted his body off the ground, the impaler – a gigantic ice spear that was also freed after the jet-black wall disappeared – pierced through his pelvis, separating his legs from the rest of his body and ripping out his intestines while flinging it all around the place in a gory mess that froze over the very next second because of the extremely low temperature.

"Fuck…! I actually fogot bout him…! Ghahaha!

"

Ludier flinched after the pig-like squeal of the brown-haired boy being ripped apart reached his ear – but the shock soon turned into satisfaction.

"Hey, kid, look – you wanted to make him suffer and my impaler gutted him like a fish! Isn't that a fitting… kid…?

"

The pale-blue-haired man laughed heartily and glanced over at Zoemi to point at the job well done, but then he had to do a double-take when he saw that the black-haired boy was laying on the frozen ground lifelessly like a puppet without strings.

"KID?!

"

Ludier gasped and ran over to him and shook his shoulder.

"Ah… it's just mana depletion… ghahaha… I have never actually seen anyone get knocked out because of it. Just how much mana do you have, kid…?

"

The ice magician breathed out in relief after confirming that the black-haired boy was breathing steadily – unconscious but not dead.

"It's him! That bastard never actually left!

"

"It's him! I see him! Wind mages! Message the King's Guard and the pursuing group to return now!

"

"Get him!

"

"That's a student from my class! You filthy degenerate, get away from him…!

"

"…!

"

All of a sudden a group of people scaled the wall to the academy and started shouting seeing the situation below.

"Ah, **…!

"

Ludier clicked his tongue and glanced towards them all judging his chances in a confrontation.

…no, there was no reason to mess with innocent people without confirming their connection to the Derizno family…

"Well… they are after me, so you should be alright. You're in luck, kid.

"

Ludier smiled at the unconscious black-haired boy and put him down before standing up and facing the group of various magicians.

"Good luck trying to catch me, naive fools!

"

Then, the pale-blue-haired man laughed towards the incoming people and dashed away faster than anyone could react.

After all, if compared to other enchantments of the mages with the same mana level, ice enchantments were the strongest by far!