Ariel, who was still covering Merrien’s eyes, looked at him with disbelief.

“Hey. You’re not serious, right?”

There’s no way you would fall for such a trick.

But when sparks flew from Agnes’s outstretched hand, Ariel quickly whispered to Merrien and teleported her away.

After deflecting the incoming magic, Ariel spat out a curse.

“This idiot. He actually fell for it.”

“……”

Naturally, there was no response from Agnes.

Instead, another spell came back.

One strong enough to collapse the rooftop if dodged.

Forcite’s pupils, watching the fight between the two, rolled separately in different directions.

Then Forcite leapt down from the rooftop.

“Me…rri. Merri……”

His legs, which had landed lightly, buckled with a cracking sound before heading toward where Merrien had teleported.

***

“Merri. The Imperial Guard and knight orders will arrive soon. Can you hold off the magical beasts for a while?”

As soon as Ariel realized Agnes was under mental control, he whispered into Merrien’s ear.

It seemed that while Ariel stopped Agnes, he couldn’t also block the magical beasts pouring from the gate.

The moment Merrien nodded, she was teleported to the front of the Imperial knight order, which she had often seen during magical beast subjugation.

“…Saint Merrien!”

The knight commander’s face, which had been grimacing at whatever else might appear while tightly gripping his sword, brightened.

Behind him, the knights were confronting dozens of magical beasts.

From the rooftop of the banquet hall, thunderous sounds continued to be heard, as if the building might collapse at any moment.

“Commander, I’m here to help!”

“Thank you, Saint.”

Merrien stretched out her hand.

Perhaps because they had worked together during magical beast subjugation and built some coordination, she and the Imperial knight order could understand each other with just a look.

They all nodded together in a clear display of strengthened resolve.

White light began to spread from Merrien’s hand.

The Holy Power gradually extended not only to the nearby knight order but also to the guards protecting the entrance to the banquet hall.

They rushed toward the magical beasts with battle cries, as if both their bodies and morale had been recharged.

Merrien also consistently shot Holy Power at the magical beasts to burst them after healing the wounded.

‘Until Ariel comes… I just need to hold out until Mr. Nes regains his senses.’

Merrien exhaled breathlessly, gauging her remaining Holy Power.

There was no luxury to use Holy Power on herself.

“…To think Holy Power can eliminate magical beasts. That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

Meanwhile, Forcite, who had been watching this scene, muttered.

He, who had been repeating ‘Merri,’ had either been completely consumed by something or had lost his original purpose.

“Eliminate the Saint first.”

Rather, he was approaching her with even more dangerous thoughts.

***

Agnes continued to hurl spells at Ariel.

Top-tier fire magic that could burn an entire city to ashes, top-tier ice magic that could freeze an opponent for 100 years, and more…

“What are you doing, seriously.”

But with one indifferent gesture from Ariel, everything faded away pathetically.

It was natural. They were all spells he had taught him.

Agnes, trapped in his unconscious, seemed to decide that magic wasn’t working and gave up.

Instead, he clenched his fists and took a fighting stance.

Perhaps he wanted to use mental control as an excuse to have one more proper match with him.

“You’re doing this because you fell for such mental control? Agnes.”

But even that didn’t work.

Punching and physical fighting were Agnes’s strongest areas, but Ariel dodged them all too easily.

All while getting irritated at how annoying it was.

Agnes’s body, with its sleeping soul, trembled. Probably from anger…

“No time.”

Ariel swiftly grabbed Agnes’s arm and slammed him onto the rooftop floor.

Then, without any emotion, he drove his fist into Agnes’s face.

As if to say he would kill him right there if he didn’t come to his senses.

That cold and vicious emotion penetrated Agnes’s body and immediately woke his sleeping soul.

‘…Right, I wasn’t just beaten by Ariel’s magic, but also got severely beaten by his fists.’

That’s right, I was no match for him.

Agnes recalled the memory of being on the verge of death at an ice cliff before Ariel saved him.

The reason he had trembled wasn’t anger, but fear deeply etched into his bones.

Realizing this, Agnes’s eyes flew open.

“Are you coming to your senses?”

“…Ariel?”

With Ariel’s fist right in front of his nose, Agnes gently pushed it aside.

It was exactly the same situation as when they first met.

The tangy taste of blood spreading in his mouth and the nosebleed were also the same.

Agnes, who had been slowly blinking his eyelids, just squeezed his eyes shut.

‘This is so embarrassing…’

He had seriously lectured that the monster inside the Second Prince’s eye couldn’t be called a dragon, only to fall under mental control.

Moreover, he had been beaten badly by Ariel again and was dripping with a nosebleed.

How could he confidently claim to be the last remaining dragon in the world after this?

To avoid the situation, it seemed best to just sleep right there.

It was cold anyway, and he was sleepy, and his consciousness was fading…

“Let me sleep a bit.”

“No. Open your eyes. If you close them now, you’ll die.”

Ariel tapped his cheek, or rather, almost slapped it, so Agnes barely opened his eyes.

He had apparently stepped onto the boundary of death just as he felt sleepy.

At least his attractive fangs were still intact, thankfully.

Agnes barely moved his mouth to mutter.

“No matter what, is it right to beat someone so brutally just to break mental control? Huh? I’m really hurt. Friend.”

“I don’t have any friends who would fall for mental control. Even our house’s Whitey wouldn’t fall for it.”

“…Isn’t Whitey you?”

“No. I’m going to raise one soon.”

“…?”

Agnes barely held onto his consciousness that was trying to fade again.

Actually, he didn’t need to.

Ariel grabbed the back of his neck and teleported somewhere without warning.

***

“Huff, huff… huff…”

This was bad.

Merrien clutched her chest, feeling her Holy Power running out.

‘There are many more top-tier magical beasts than I expected…’

Her mind was growing distant, and her legs were losing strength, making her want to collapse.

And worse…

Forcite appeared as if he had been waiting for this moment and released five top-tier magical beasts in front of her.

She glared at Forcite, but the five top-tier magical beasts surrounded her, and she could no longer see him.

Seeing all the grotesquely shaped magical beasts licking their lips at her, it wouldn’t be strange if her throat was torn out immediately.

‘…It will take a while for my Holy Power to recover.’

Merrien rolled her lower lip.

Even if her Holy Power recharged, it was uncertain whether she could handle so many top-tier magical beasts at once.

The knight order around her couldn’t help because they were busy dealing with the magical beasts in front of them.

Merrien decided to find another way. Her throat moved noticeably.

“Forcite. Forcite! Wake up!”

She would try to bring back Forcite, whose one eye had turned black.

But no matter how much she shouted, he didn’t move, and the magical beasts began to close the distance.

“……”

Merrien stepped back. But behind her was only the solid hide of another magical beast.

Merrien finally used the last of her remaining Holy Power and stretched out her hand.

As she saw the faint beam of light emit, she was about to call Ariel’s name.

Bang-!

An enormous amount of white light struck around Merrien.

Simultaneously, two top-tier magical beasts were trapped in the Holy Power and disappeared with a thunderous sound.

“…Huh?”

Merrien, who had been sweating cold sweat down her back, looked at her hand.

It definitely wasn’t her doing.

Then…

“Merrien!”

Someone in a white dress was approaching from a distance.

A person running wildly with white hair flying, not even holding the hem of her dress.

“Merrien! Sorry, I’m late!”

“…Charlotte!”

The person waving her hands in all directions was Charlotte.