The sound of hundreds of ice shards cutting through the air was a high-pitched whistle, a shriek of impending death. The villagers didn't even have time to scream again; they just braced for the impact that would turn them into pin-cushions.
Seihi squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the cold wind of the descending blades.
This is it, he thought. Forgive me, everyone.
But the impact never came.
Instead, a wave of heat washed over the square. It wasn't the scorching, uncontrolled burn of a wildfire. It was a precise, surgical pulse of thermal energy.
Lencar, still invisible, had thrust both hands forward.
[Flame Creation Magic]: [Flash Point Vaporization]
He didn't conjure a fireball. He didn't create a wall of flame. He used his Stage 5 mana control to superheat the air molecules directly in the path of the falling ice.
HISS.
A massive cloud of steam erupted in the square. The ice shards didn't shatter; they sublimated. They turned from solid deadly projectiles into harmless white vapor in a fraction of a second.
The water vapor drifted down, warm and gentle, dampening the clothes of the confused villagers.
Seihi opened his eyes. He was alive. The ice was gone.
"What...?" the chief gasped.
Heath Grice froze. For the first time, his calm facade cracked. He looked at the empty air where his ice had been.
"Evaporation?" Heath narrowed his eyes. "Impossible. The ambient temperature is insufficient. Someone interfered."
He scanned the area, his mana sensory abilities flaring. But Lencar was a void. His Phantom Walker spell held firm, and the lingering steam masked his location perfectly.
"Who is there?" Heath demanded, his voice dropping an octave. "Show yourself."
Before Lencar could decide whether to reveal himself or strike from the shadows, the sky answered.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
A screaming blur tore through the mist above.
CRASH!
A boy with ash-blond hair and a black headband slammed into the ground between the villagers and the Eye of the Midnight Sun. He landed with enough force to crack the cobblestones, holding a massive, rusted sword that looked like a slab of iron.
"WE'RE HERE!" Asta bellowed, his voice echoing off the valley walls. "THE MAGIC KNIGHTS ARE HERE!"
Behind him, Magna Swing landed on his custom broom, looking like a delinquent yankee with his bat resting on his shoulder. Noelle Silva floated down hesitantly, looking terrified but determined.
"Yeah!" Magna spat to the side. "You punks pick on someone your own size! The Black Bulls are on the job!"
The villagers erupted in gasps of disbelief.
"Magic Knights? Here?"
"They came... they actually came!"
Heath stared at the new arrivals. He looked at his watch.
"Late," Heath muttered. "You are an unexpected variable. And you are loud."
He looked at Asta. "No mana. A peasant with a sword." He looked at Magna. "A peasant with mediocre Fire Magic." He looked at Noelle. "A royal... with no control."
"Disappointing," Heath concluded. "I expected a challenge. Instead, I get trash."
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING TRASH?!" Magna roared. He swung his bat. "Fire Magic: Exploding Fireball!"
He launched a fastball of flame at Heath.
Heath didn't move. One of his subordinates—Fluss, the mist user—stepped forward.
"Mist Magic: Illusionary Haze."
The fireball passed harmlessly through Fluss's body as if he were smoke, exploding against the wall behind them.
"Physical attacks are useless against Mist," Heath stated calmly. "And my Ice is absolute."
He raised his hand again.
"You interrupted my schedule. For that, you will die along with the beasts."
[Ice Magic]: [Continuous Barrage: Icicle Barbs]
This time, Heath didn't hold back. He summoned three times as many shards. They filled the sky, a glittering curtain of death.
"Asta! Noelle! Get back!" Magna yelled, preparing a shield spell that he knew wouldn't be enough.
Lencar, watching from the roof of the chief's house, narrowed his eyes behind his mask.
Observation: Heath is stronger than the anime portrayed. His mana density is at least low Stage 4. He's a serious threat to asta and the others.
Decision: I can't let Asta take all the glory. I need to thin the herd so I can get to the harvest.
Lencar moved his hand again.
Heath snapped his fingers. The second volley descended.
Magna gritted his teeth. "Fire Magic: Prison Kill Scattershot!"
He tried to shoot down the ice, but there were too many.
Then, for the second time, an anomaly occurred.
A third of the ice shards—specifically the ones aimed at the unprotected flank of the villagers—suddenly exploded into steam.
POOF.
Magna blinked. "Huh? Did I hit those?"
Heath's eyes darted to the side. He realized it now. It wasn't the loud delinquent. There was a third party. A sniper.
"Fluss!" Heath barked. "Secure the perimeter! There is a rat in the mist!"
Fluss nodded and dissolved into the fog, moving to hunt the unseen attacker.
Perfect, Lencar thought, a predator's grin forming beneath his mask. Send the Mist user to me.
Down in the square, the battle erupted properly.
Asta charged Heath, his sword cleaving through the ice spells. "I'M NOT DONE YET!"
Magna engaged the other subordinates, his fire clashing with their earth and water magic.
Noelle stood frozen, her wand shaking.
Lencar turned his attention away from the main fight. He watched the swirling mist to his left. He felt the subtle shift in air pressure. Fluss was coming.
Lencar stood perfectly still on the roof. He deactivated his Illusion Magic slowly, letting his silhouette flicker into existence like a ghost manifesting.
Fluss materialized from the fog ten meters away, floating on a cloud. He wore the long robe of the cult.
"Found you," Fluss hissed. "You're the one interfering with Lord Heath's schedule."
Fluss raised a wand. "Mist Magic: Suffocation Cloud."
A dense, purple fog rolled toward Lencar, designed to fill his lungs and drown him on dry land.
Lencar didn't move. He didn't cast a spell.
He waited until the cloud was inches from his face.
Then, he vanished.
[Spatial Magic]: [Short Jump]
POP.
He appeared directly behind Fluss.
Fluss's eyes widened beneath his hood. "What—"
Lencar didn't use a dagger. He used his hand, reinforced with [Iron Magic] (harvested from the Iron-Eater Brothers). His fingers were like steel claws.
He grabbed Fluss by the back of the neck.
"Mist is useless," Lencar whispered into the cultist's ear, "if you have a physical body."
He slammed Fluss face-first into the roof tiles.
CRACK.
Fluss went limp instantly.
Lencar didn't hesitate. The battle below was raging. Asta was screaming. Heath was getting annoyed. Time was short.
Lencar pulled out his grimoire. He slammed it onto Fluss's back.
[Replica Magic: Absolute Replication]
"Give me the mist," Lencar commanded.
The golden light flared, obscured by the fog. He felt the cold, damp essence of Mist Magic flood his soul. He understood how to become intangible. He understood how to diffuse his mana into the atmosphere.
Harvest Complete.
Lencar stood up, leaving the unconscious cultist on the roof.
One down.
He looked down at the square. Heath Grice was currently burying Asta under a mountain of ice.
"Now for the main course," Lencar said.
He stepped off the roof, his body dissolving into mist before he even hit the ground. He was no longer just an invisible observer. He was part of the storm.
And the storm was hungry.