“PAPAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

On the Atreterve border, Kaaraal, with Kierul on her back, swooped down from the earth wall charging at the enemy who captured Zoemi.

“YOU FUCKER, GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS AWAY FROM MY ATTENDANT! SWALLOW!” *WHOO* x7777

The red-haired magician roared in outrage, and thousands of crimson bird-shaped flames were unleashed into the world, raining down upon the soldiers down below.

Most of them were dispersed by the barriers, but anyone unfortunate enough to get outside of the effective range ended up set aflame.

The bulk of homing spells were aimed directly at the aloof-looking woman who embedded the jet-black crystal device in the motionless Zoemi’s forehead.

“Hmm… no, thank you. This guy has an appointment without core~ Shadow arise. Shadow gate.”

The woman smirked, looking at the incoming fire spell, and smiled.

Despite initially being the light magician, she ended up casting a darkness attribute spell and sunk into the puddle of darkness that poured from below her.

And she didn’t sink alone – she took the vacant-faced Zoemi with her.

The fire swallows reached their target, but they ended up only disappearing into the silky jet-black puddle without even causing a ripple on its surface.

“NO!” “PAPA!” *WHOOSH* x4867

Kierul and Kaaraal cried out but just then, the black puddle started bubbling up, and the fire swallows now died jet-black shot back up into the sky, with its new target being the green dragon and the fire magician on her back!

“SWALLOW!” x7777

With Kaaraal speeding up and evading the bunch of homing spells, Kierul unleashed another wave on her own to counter them, but…

*BOOOM* x7777 *WHOOSH* x 4867

Even with the numbers advantage, once the fire swallow or swallows crushed into each other instead of canceling each other out, every single fire spell was destroyed while all of the dark ones continued chasing after the pair.

“BULLSHIT!”

“AUNTY, HOLD ON!”

Kierul cursed, winding up her middle finger as her hand began to shine with thin lines of special enchantments, but Kaaraal had to move around erratically to dodge the small spell that was definitely far more dangerous than their compact size would suggest.

A number of the darkness swallows paired up with their agility resulted in a dozen of them piercing through the green dragon’s gigantic wings as they were the easiest target.

*THUNK* x13 “GAH…!”

“KAARAAL! YOU FUCKERS! FLASHPOINT!”

As they pierced through the delicate membrane, the dragon let out a pained growl causing the already furious red-haired magician to rage and drop the long-range spell in favor of the closed-ranged one that could be used to protect the monster.

*^$%#*

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?”

The flash of light was instantaneous… but ineffective as the jet-black spells continued the pursuit completely unbothered.

To make things even worse, the jet-black puddle down below enlarged, taking claim to more space, and three people emerged.

The brown-haired man with black streaks in his hair – the same one who hid the magic device and created a good portion of the towers hosting the black crystals darkening the sky.

…and the burly gold-haired man and the jet-black-haired woman who lost control and was taken away shortly before…

Although the burly light magician didn’t have the jet-black crystal embedded into his forehead before, now the situation changed, and he matched his comrades. He even already got a streak of black in his golden hair.

“Tsk… I hoped that I would get some time off instead of getting my mana refilled and ending up back on the battlefield…”

The thuggish-looking man clicked his tongue, looking over the situation, enjoying the night vision that came along with the darkness attribute.

“And are you sure it’s okay to get you back here? Won’t you start drooling and screaming -Zoemi, Zooeeemiii – again?”

He scoffed while sneaking an annoyed glance at the jet-black-haired woman.

“That trash has to be dealt with before I can achieve my goal.”

The woman sorted mockingly shrugging her shoulders.

“But be free to speak as much as you want; soon enough, you and all the others will also collectively become me, the great hero Cherro!”

She boasted, reaching out her hand and clenching it into a fist.

“Yeah, I know, I know… hmm…? Why is it so quiet on the other side?”

The thuggish man scoffed, waving his hand dismissively before freezing in place and furrowing his brows.

“…how are you able to even say that with all that’s going on…?”

The burly light magician furrowed his brows and asked in confusion.

He was right – the dragon and fire magician up above were making enough noise that it was fending off the darkness swallows but back there on the ground, the heavily armored units of the Atreterve nation were hard at work trying to bring the massive all down.

“You just accepted the hero’s blessing so you aren’t aware…”

The thuggish-looking man was ready and happy to explain. He looked up at the much larger man and tapped the jet-black crystal in his forehead.

“We get a boost in all senses and magic. I’m originally an earth magician, so my connection with earth got that much stronger – I can tell you that people on the other side stopped fighting, and it’s not because they are dead.”

“What? How so? Did the collars fail?”𝓞𝐯𝑳xt.𝚌𝑜𝑀

The thuggish man explained, and the jet-black-haired woman glared at him and asked sharply.

“I am unsure. The device I hid is still well hidden and working, so maybe…”

He shrugged his shoulders and responded with a clueless expression.

——

*KSHHHH*

“Wh-what is going on…?”

One of Aspakeony’s light corpse puppets gasped in confusion, looking at the scene playing out in front of her eyes…

After the friendly-fire earth wave created by Zoemi, the situation seemed to be bleak – for whatever horrible reason, the controlled commoners with their acid attribute weapons were able to mobilize faster than the forces of the Bellcephora kingdom and went on to pick and kill stunned soldiers – but then something almost unthinkable happened.

*KSHHHHH* *thunk*

The neon pink mana covering the magic swords and shields and lighting up the area would overflow the equipment and creep its way through the commoners’ armor, melting it off until the submission collar with the jet-black crystal at its center would be exposed.

Then…

*CRACK* *KSHHHH*

“H-huh… what was I…?”

The crystal would break under the corrosive power of the neon-pink mana and melt away into nothingness, freeing the commoners from the mind control, before dissipating into the air as the neon-pink light faded from the crystals giving power to the equipment…!

“GH…! AAAAAAAGHHHHH!” *KSHHHHHHHH*

Still, not every commoner was spared – those whose eyes and hair showed the signs of being possessed by Cherro would end up being melted into nothingness to the sound of the neon-pink acid sizzling furiously.

“…lady… lady Aspakeony… what is happening…?”

The lightning magician who made his way back to the border recognized and approached one of the necromancer’s puppets and asked her, utterly lost because of what they were witnessing.

“…this attribute… it’s not corrosion or acid… It’s Roiso…!” *click*

“What is that supposed to mean…?”

Aspaekony gasped through the mouth of her corpse puppet before snapping her fingers and creating dozens of golden orbs so that the neon-pink glow wouldn’t be the only light source.

“Roiso’s attribute was Roiso… she is conscious mana, that’s why she had her memories from the past timeline! Getting her physical body destroyed must have weakened her, but… ah…! She must have recognized Zoemi’s star power, and now she finally woke up…! EVERYONE!”

Aspakeony gasped in realization and used all of her corpse puppets on the scene to pass on her words.