"————"
In that moment, an eerie aura appeared on the battlefield.
Hiraga Reisen, who was laughing incessantly, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself as if he had encountered something extremely amusing.
"Oh my, oh my, I've been found out."
Hiraga Reisen didn't seem disappointed at all; instead, he sounded delighted.
"I thought I could have some fun with this puppet this time, but it got found out immediately. As expected of the second-ranked A-Class Knight in the Magic World. You're more capable than I imagined."
Hiraga Reisen's voice remained comical, but the evil, eerie aura surrounding him couldn't be dispelled.
Rozen had already realized that the person behind Hiraga Reisen might be an unexpectedly formidable opponent.
To be able to manipulate such a puppet from an unknown distance, making it act as his avatar and even allowing it to use his abilities, and to be able to create more puppets endlessly, this person could likely deploy a network of puppets worldwide, observing and causing trouble globally without ever leaving his home.
Such a person would undoubtedly rank among the world's top experts and could even be among the top five in the League of Mage-Knight Nations.
Of course, what stood before Rozen now was merely a puppet.
Otherwise, today, Hagun Academy would truly be in danger.
Under such circumstances...
"Even though I've been exposed, it doesn't matter much. Why don't we keep playing?"
Hiraga Reisen said cheerfully, with his shattered chest still sparking.
"Anyway, it seems the Sword Emperor of Wind is quite pleased with the Crimson Princess. If I take you, he won't complain, right?"
Hiraga Reisen's tone sounded as if he were about to savor some delicacy, full of delight.
It seemed as though he was intentionally disgusting Rozen.
But in fact, that wasn't the case.
"You think I didn't notice you've already secretly laid out your threads around here?"
Rozen looked at Hiraga Reisen, who was laughing joyfully, and instead of losing interest, his expression turned indifferent, and he spoke coldly.
"If you want to prepare something, go ahead. I won't stop you. You can have this little bit of self-entertainment time, Pierrot."
Words that were not outright contemptuous but carried even more contempt, not outright insulting but even more insulting, reached Hiraga Reisen's ears.
Instead of getting angry, Hiraga Reisen became even happier.
Of course, he was happy.
"My favorite thing is seeing the once-confident people experience fear, anger, and desperate screams of despair."
Therefore, the more Rozen acted aloof and unaffected, the happier Hiraga Reisen became.
Otherwise...
"It wouldn't be fun at all."
As he spoke...
"Rumble..."
The tremors began, like an earthquake, suddenly appearing.
"Boom!"
The ground suddenly shattered.
"Boom!"
The walls suddenly crumbled.
"Boom, boom, boom...!"
Trees were uprooted one by one, flying into the sky along with numerous rubble and debris.
Centered around Hiraga Reisen, everything around was lifted into the air as if pulled by invisible threads.
"What...what is this...!?"
"What is that...!?"
People engaged in fierce battles subconsciously stopped for a moment, looking towards this direction.
"..."
Edelweiss's eyes flickered, but she ultimately chose to silently observe from the side.
Under everyone's gaze, everything from the ground, the broken walls of buildings, steel beams, and rows of trees were torn apart, reconnected, and gathered behind Hiraga Reisen.
That scene, as if something were being assembled, caused all the rubble and debris to form an incredibly large figure.
A giant over fifty meters tall, made of rubble, took shape.
"Deus Ex Machina!"
One of Hiraga Reisen's trump cards was used.
At the same time, Hiraga Reisen slowly retreated, merging his body into the giant formed by rubble.
From within Hagun Academy, an enormous giant appeared.
"Make sure to let me have a good time, okay?"
"The Enigmatic Star."
As soon as the words fell...
"Rumble..."
The second tremor sounded.
This time, it wasn't the surrounding objects being lifted by invisible threads but the colossal rubble giant thrusting its fist, creating a tremor in the atmosphere like a meteor descending.
A terrifyingly powerful punch fell from the sky, aimed at Rozen standing on the ground. The shadow of the falling fist expanded on the ground, centered around Rozen, growing larger and larger.
The wind from the massive fist was already pressing down on Rozen, making his uniform flutter wildly and loudly.
Just as the massive fist was about to land on Rozen, shaking the ground...
"Summon Golem..."
A brief incantation was softly spoken from Rozen's expressionless face.
In the next second, a gigantic magic circle formed behind Rozen.
From within, a colossal arm, made of rock and metal, emerged as if reaching out from hell and the abyss.
"Boom————!"
A thunderous roar erupted.
The enormous arm from the magic circle clenched into a fist, colliding with the descending rubble giant's fist.
Shockwaves spread out like circular explosions, expanding rapidly towards the surroundings like blades.
The rubble giant's descending fist was shattered by the giant arm from the magic circle, turning into countless fragments and flying wildly.
"This...!?"
Seeing this scene, all the representatives attacking Hagun Academy, including Hiraga Reisen within the rubble giant, widened their eyes.
"It's...!?"
On the other hand, the representatives of Hagun Academy seemed to recognize something familiar, their eyes lighting up.
Taking advantage of this moment, the gigantic golem crawled out from the magic circle, slowly revealing itself.
Its height exceeded several hundred meters.
Compared to this golem, Hiraga Reisen's Deus Ex Machina was like an ant.
Standing in front of the golem, Rozen spoke.
"Don't worry."
Rozen lifted his eyes and spoke calmly.
"This will entertain you."
As Rozen spoke, the giant golem, just like Hiraga Reisen earlier, thrust its fist downwards.
An unparalleled strike, like a falling star, landed on Hiraga Reisen before he could react.
"Boom————!"
An unprecedentedly loud roar reached the sky.
The rubble giant formed by Hiraga Reisen was shattered like a fragile puppet by the golem's strike.
Countless debris rained down on the ground.
Making the ground tremble incessantly.