The atmosphere in the cave, which had briefly felt lighter after the children's departure, curdled instantly. The woman in the white robe—Sally—leaned forward on her rocky perch, her eyes wide and unblinking behind her thick glasses.
Asta's jaw tightened, his grip on the Demon-Slayer sword turning his knuckles white. "You! I remember you! You're from that group, the Eye of the Midnight Sun! You're the one who attacked the Royal Capital and messed with everyone!" He pointed his heavy blade at her, his voice booming with indignation. "How are you even here? What do you want with these children?!"
Sally didn't even look at him. She was staring at Lencar, a small thread of drool escaping the corner of her mouth. "The Capital was fun, but the samples were so... ordinary," she giggled. "But this one... a commoner who can create twenty high-level fire constructs without breaking a sweat? I want to see what your mana veins look like from the inside!"
Baro, who had been shivering in the corner after Asta's last hit, finally found his voice. He scrambled toward the base of the rock Sally was standing on. "Sally! You're late! You were supposed to be here hours ago!" he shrieked, his voice cracking with cowardice. "Look at what they did to me! Look at what they did to the children! My business is ruined! You have to kill them! Kill them all and get me out of here!"
Sally looked down at him, her manic grin turning into a look of slight boredom. "You're so noisy, Baro. And you're not a very good gatherer anymore, are you? But... you still have a use. Every specimen has a limit, and I've been dying to see yours."
She reached into her robe and pulled out a massive, glowing syringe filled with a swirling, dark purple liquid. Before Baro could even process what was happening, she leaped down and slammed the needle directly into his spine.
"Let's see what happens when we jump-start your mana to 1000%!"
Baro's scream wasn't human. It was a wet, gurgling sound that echoed horribly through the cavern. His body began to swell, his flesh liquefying and turning into a sickly, dark brown sludge. Within seconds, the man was gone, replaced by a towering, pulsating mound of magical mud that touched the ceiling of the cave. The stench of stagnant water and dark magic was suffocating.
The monster's first instinct wasn't to attack Asta or Lencar. It was a mindless, thrashing beast. A massive, muddy limb swung out with bone-crushing force, aimed directly at the nearest person: Neige.
The silver-haired boy was still paralyzed with grief and shock, staring up at the horror his brother had become. He didn't even try to move.
"Neige! Move!" Asta yelled, but he was too far away.
"Flame Creation Magic: Fire Fist!"
Lencar appeared in a blur of motion. He didn't use a giant snake this time; he focused all his power into a concentrated strike. His right arm was engulfed in a roaring, spiraling pillar of blue-gold flame. He slammed his fist into the mud-limb, the impact creating a massive explosion of steam that hissed throughout the cave. The force of the punch didn't just stop the attack; it vaporized a huge chunk of the monster's arm.
Neige tumbled backward, gasping for air as Lencar stood between him and the monster. The boy looked up at Lencar, his eyes trembling. "Why...?" Neige whispered. "After everything I did... why did you save me?"
Lencar didn't turn around. He kept his eyes fixed on the regenerating mud monster. "Don't get the wrong idea," Lencar said, his voice cold and pragmatic. "You've ruined the lives of dozens of children. You've stolen their futures and left them scarred. If you die here, you're getting off easy. You haven't even begun to pay for what you've done. I'm not letting you escape your sentence through a quick death."
Neige flinched, but then a strange look of resolve crossed his face. He wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up, his hands shaking as he opened his grimoire. "Alright... you're right. I'm a monster. But if I'm going to prison, I'm going to help you stop... stop my brother first."
Lencar glanced back at him, his expression grim. "Look at that thing, Neige. Really look at it. That isn't your brother anymore. That woman, Sally... she didn't power him up. She burned him out. His soul was the fuel for that transformation. Baro is already dead. That's just a corpse made of mud and dark magic now."
Neige let out a choked sob, but he nodded, his snow magic beginning to swirl around his feet. "I... I understand."
"Hmph. Quite a speech for a restaurant owner," Sister Theresa said, stepping up beside Lencar. She raised her staff, her own fire magic beginning to glow. "I've spent my life protecting children, and I won't let a pile of dirt or a crazy scientist take another one. I'll make sure these two are captured so they can never hurt anyone again!"
The battle erupted. Asta charged forward, his sword swinging wildly, but the mud was like a vacuum, sucking his blade in and making it difficult to move. Sally laughed from above, throwing glass vials that exploded into strange, jelly-like creatures.
"Dark Magic Tool: Salamander's Jelly!" she shrieked. A massive, translucent lizard made of sticky, acidic slime lunged at Asta from his blind spot.
"Asta, focus!" Lencar shouted. He thrust his hand out, a gust of wind sharpening his flames into a localized blade. He sliced through the jelly lizard, the heat cauterizing the slime before it could touch Asta.
Asta was struggling, his boots sinking deep into the mud that now covered the floor. The monster roared, its mouth opening to swallow him whole.
"I don't care how big you are!" Asta roared, his voice straining with effort. He planted his feet as best he could, his muscles bulging. "I don't have magic, and I might be a commoner from the middle of nowhere, but I'm going to be the Wizard King! And a Wizard King never gives up! NOT GIVING UP IS MY MAGIC!"
As Asta swung his sword upward, a wave of mud crashed down like a tsunami, threatening to drown him. Lencar moved instantly. He didn't just use fire; he used the heat to create a massive updraft of air.
"Get up, Asta!" Lencar yelled, the wind catching Asta and lifting him just enough to keep his head above the sludge. At the same time, Lencar unleashed a barrage of fire bolts, deflecting another round of Sally's chemical attacks that were raining down on them.
"You're so annoying!" Sally pouted, stomping her foot on the ledge. "Stop protecting my test subjects! I'll just have to break you first!"
She reached for a massive magical tool, her mana peaking, but before she could activate it, a flash of light brighter than any flame filled the cave.
"Mirror Magic: Ray of Retribution!"
A beam of pure, concentrated light slammed into Sally's position, blowing the rock apart and forcing her to leap away in a panic.
Lencar looked up. Hovering near the ceiling, his cloak fluttering and his mirror-eye glowing with a murderous intensity, was Gauche Adlai.
"I dropped Marie off at the church," Gauche hissed, his voice echoing with cold promise. "And now, I'm going to kill everyone who made her cry. Especially you, you four-eyed freak."
Lencar wiped a smudge of soot from his forehead and looked at the reinforcements. "Took you long enough, Gauche. Now, let's finish this equation."
The mud monster roared, Sally prepared her counterattack, and the three mages stood their ground as the real fight began.