In the middle of the night, we rode the Dragons towards Bangkok. The flight took us close to 10 hours in total and by the time we got there the sun was already starting to show itself.

I sent out an order to the others and after looking around for a bit, we headed towards the place we had appointed beforehand.

The scenery beneath us was completely different to what it had been before. Here and there, there were places where the darkish blue land had made its way above the surface and most of the building had been reduced to nothing, creating a scenery of despair.

“So terrible…” said Carlo.

We were clearly in Thailand however the current place didn’t look anything like what it had once been.

We landed at a building that was quite far off from the place where we had fought with the Black Knight. Upon our arrival we immediately concealed ourselves.

“We’ll wait here for nightfall. Carlo, Freya, you both go scout the surroundings.”

Freya hopped on her Dragon and flew off while Carlo summoned a number of monsters and ordered them to go and gather as much info as possible.

“So Leo what will we do now?” asked Carlo with a tired voice.

“We’ll form the plan when Freya comes back, however I have already thought of a way on how we should assign our forces so I’ll share that with you now. Everyone, gather up!”

Hearing my words everyone began gathering.

“Myself and Elias will take care of holding back the Black Knight. The remainder of you will take care of the BOSS.” I said, to which Noah raised his hand as if to ask a question.

“What is it Noah?”

“I would like to ask if you could leave the BOSS to just us alone. If you have more people fighting against the Black Knight I believe that it will lessen your burden as well…”

“You sure do sound like a grown-up.” said Carlo, looking a bit surprised.

“I’m grateful that you think so, but wouldn’t it be hard for you with just yourselves?”

“We have Emily. I believe that Emily is at least as strong or maybe even stronger than you Mr. Leo!” said Noah with confidence.

‘If it’s that kid then maybe…’

“Gress, appraise her.”

“Sure thing!”

Gress immediately turned around to look at Emily.

“Her status is inferior to yours Master Leo, however her Dark Magic’s level is nothing to sneeze at and she’s also a Unique Skill bearer. They’re not all talk.”

‘If she has a Unique Skill then it really will be hard for her to face the Black Knight. However, if it’s the BOSS then… I guess I’ll try believing in them.’

“Got it. I’ll entrust the BOSS to you and Carlo. The rest of us will deal with the Black Knight.”

Upon hearing my words, everyone’s looks changed to ones of determination.

“The goal of this mission is not to take down the Black Knight or the BOSS. It’s to annihilate that black gem.”

“Who will take care of destroying the gem?” asked Carlo. Still even before beginning this meeting I had already made up my mind so it wasn’t a hard question to answer.“I’m planning on entrusting it to Freya. She’ll ride her Dragon and attack it from mid-air. Luke will support her as well and Noah, if you have the chance I’m counting on you as well.”

“Got it.” said Luke.

“I’ll give it my best.” replied Noah.

After a bit of time passed, Freya came back which gave me the opportunity to explain the remainder of the plan to everyone and with that the only thing left was to wait for nightfall.

“Those are one heck of weapons you got there.” said Carlo with a praising tone while looking at the kids’ weapons.

Their weapons really did seem quite similar to the weapons Saruman owned.

“With the help of the twin brothers Rafael and Gabriel’s Generate Skill and my Magic Library Skill, as long as we have the materials, we’re able to create some amazing armaments.”

“Are those twins currently in England?”

“Yes. They evacuated to a safe shelter.” replied Noah, answering my question.

‘With the help of those twins we might be able to fill the gap that the loss of Saruman’s armaments created…’

After night fell we began our mission――

We came to a place where we could see the black gem and looked around only to see…

“They’re here after all.”

The Black Knight and the BOSS that he had summoned were right under the gem.

“It’s probably their mission to guard that thing.” said Carlo.

‘They were definitely given that mission… Still the problem is that BOSS over there. I don’t have a clue as to what abilities it has.’

The only thing that appeared when Gress appraised it was:

The other thing we knew was that it could manipulate lightning…

“Either way the first thing we should do is separate the BOSS from the Black Knight. If we don’t do that, Emily won’t be able to use her Unique Skill.”

We proceeded to split into two groups with each heading for their opponent. During that time Freya and Luke took their positions and waited for a chance to destroy the black gem.

Myself, Anna and Elias came before the Black Knight while Carlo and kids faced the BOSS. We just needed to grab their attention.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

I was standing on the top of a building with Rinto right beside me.

The plan was that we would shoot out towards the gem when the battle began. Feeling my anxiety, Rinto put his cheek besides mine and tried to calm me down.

Feeling his touch, I petted his head and felt confidence well up from within me.

It was then that lightning ran through the sky.

“It started…”

Thunderous booms sounded out and sounds of clashing swords could be heard. I hopped on Rinto’s back.

On the side, Luke was waiting at another building pulling his bow. There was nothing to be afraid of. With the hopes of everyone pushing me forward, I flew into the fray alongside Rinto.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

After crossing swords with the Black Knight I was once again reminded of the gap between us. Myself and Anna were both attacking simultaneously, but even so he still easily blocked our swords and sent us flying back with his strikes.

Elias tried guarding us with Protection, however…

[Dimensional Slash]

The barrier of light surrounding us was shattered with just one strike from the Black Knight’s sword. There was no way such a flimsy barrier could block his strikes.It was then that――

A single ray of light ran through the sky. It was Luke’s magic arrow.

The arrow headed directly for the gem, piercing it right through the middle and exploding. However, when the smoke screen dispersed the black gem was still floating in mid-air without the slightest scratch.

“A Magic Barrier…”

Even though the gem that he was supposed to protect was attacked, the Black Knight didn’t even bat an eye. He was completely certain that we wouldn’t be able to destroy it with our attacks.

However, that was way within my realm of thought, our real purpose was――

Rinto was flying through the sky with terrifying speed alongside Freya on its back. If it’s Freya’s Light Magic Sword then it should be able to pierce the gem’s Magic Barrier.

However just then, lightning ran through the sky once more.

‘The BOSS!’

It seemed like it really was way too hard for the kids to handle it alone… Freya continued getting closer to the gem while avoiding the falling lightning.

Just as she was about to reach it a whirlwind of lightning surrounded the gem, sucking Freya inside.

“Kyaaaa!”

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

“Damn it!”

Even though I had told Mr. Leo that we’d take care of it we were in a real pinch. The reason for which was that Emily couldn’t use her Black Sun due to being way too close to the Black Knight.

Furthermore…

There were the BOSS’ 10 arms that were menacingly floating in the air. Each of those arms could use a different kind of magic to attack us.

The arm that I was currently fighting with was using Strengthening Magic and also had a high defense which made it so that no matter how many bullets I shot it would still have no effect. Just as I was about the get pushed down――

“Dark Binding!”

Emily’s Dark Magic took hold of the arm. I thought that the arm would just get sucked into the darkness like that, however a different arm focused its Lightning Magic on Emily.

I took up my guns to try and bring it down, however even without the Strengthening Magic, the arms still had a stupidly high defense so I couldn’t bring them down easily.

The lightning fell on Emily, blasting her off which in turn forced her to release her Dark Binding.

All of our other companions were having a hard time as well.

Sara was having a hard time holding back an arm that was using Fire Magic, while Louise was also at his wits’ end while fighting against an arm that was wielding Earth Magic.

Arthur and Victor on the other hand were combining their efforts in trying to take hold back a single arm.

All of this only increased the burden on Carlo.

He was currently facing the BOSS as well as numerous hands at the same time. He was able to somehow hold them back with the help of Amon but…

The BOSS brought down his crescent sword with all of its might.

Under the force Amon was split in two, turning into black smoke. Afterwards the BOSS swung its yellow covered weapon in its left hand, creating a fearsome lightning which didn’t allow anyone to get close.

We were in completely different leagues! If it continued like this, we’d get wiped out.

I took hold of my guns, putting them one in front of the other and merging them into a single rifle. I aimed at the black gem floating in mid-air and gathered my magic power.

“Fall!!”

The bullet flew towards its mark. Its strength was 5 times bigger than any other bullet I had, however its magic consumption was tremendous as well.

‘Please let this end it!’

The bullet exploded upon impact and sparks flew everywhere.

I looked up praying, however the gem was still floating as if nothing had happened.

‘So it was useless…’

I didn’t have any other cards up my sleeve.

The only thing that could pass though that Magic Barrier was Emily’s Black Sun, however the gem wasn’t even within the skill’s range, and she couldn’t even use the skill in the first place.

‘What should we do….’

――　Combination Magic ――

“Annihilating Divine Flame Lightning!!”

A single lightning fell from the sky, destroying the gem alongside its Magic Barrier, and turning it into pieces.

The ground where the lightning fell had formed into a crater, which bottom couldn’t be seen. Furthermore, everything around the newly formed crater was covered in a sea of flames.

I had no clue as to what had just happened, however I could think of only one person who could use magic as powerful as that.

There was a single man looking down at us from the roof of a nearby building, with the Dragon Ember’s Sword in hand…

“Mr. Gojo!!”

“Oh Noah!You’ve sure grown up since the last time I saw you.”