Hold On, I'm About to Show Off

"Useless." Ultear waved her little hand, and a magic circle formed in her palm. Then the black monster vanished outright.

No! Rather... it had returned to the past... to a stage before it had materialized!

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

Dozens of Free Balls slammed into Sawen at tremendous speed, producing a series of impacts. Blood sprayed from his mouth.

The Free Balls did not stop attacking Sawen. The impacts continued, battering him into a bloody mess.

Even Chiba couldn't bear to watch. This was fucking brutal.

Yet an A-Class mage like him couldn't even fight back against Ultear.

That woman was terrifying.

Ultear stopped attacking only when Sawen was at death's door.

She looked at Puroke and said indifferently, "Aren't you comrades? You're just going to stand there and watch me kill him?"

"Hehehe... Go ahead and kill him... He bought me just enough time..." Puroke chuckled.

Ultear's pupils suddenly contracted, and a sense of unease welled up in her heart.

The thin man pressed his palms together. Then, in four distant directions, four silver magic circles abruptly formed, followed by four beams of light shooting into the sky.

The four beams formed a massive, cube-shaped curtain that enveloped everyone.

Everyone inside the curtain felt their magic power severely restricted.

"A magic item: Magic-Sealing Space. It's a one-use spell. The magic power of mages within the curtain of light is suppressed according to how much they have. The stronger their magic power, the stronger the suppression. Although this item is ineffective against opponents at the level of the Ten Wizard Saints, it's more than enough to deal with a mage like you who's only just reached the threshold of S-Class," Puroke said with a cold smile.

Feeling how much her magic power had diminished, Ultear's expression turned grim.

Her magic power, originally at the peak of A-Class, had been reduced to B-Class!

Puroke, across from her, had likewise been weakened to B-Class.

There was no longer much difference between their magic power. In fact, Puroke had a little more.

"Magic-Sealing Space... A fine magic item, but it weakens your magic power too. So... are you planning to finish us off with just these people?" Ultear said coldly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... The drop in magic power has dulled your perception quite a bit too, Miss Ultear..." Puroke shook his head and clicked his tongue.

Then, outside the curtain of light, over two hundred Shadow Skull mages charged out of a forest. They rushed into the Magic-Sealing Space one after another and began fighting the Grimoire Heart mages.

Two A-Class mages then came to Puroke's side. Their magic power was nearly equal to his.

Things had taken a bad turn.

Judging by how much magic power the Magic-Sealing Space suppressed, Ultear was the only Grimoire Heart mage present still at B-Class. The others were basically at C-Class, and most had been weakened to D-Class. Shadow Skull, on the other hand... still had three B-Class mages, and roughly twice as many people as Grimoire Heart...

"One more friendly reminder: the Magic-Sealing Space can't be broken with magic. It'll only dissipate on its own after eight hours. Of course, if you're confident your Taijutsu can break it, feel free to try," Puroke said.

Ultear gritted her teeth.

"We racked our brains and exhausted every trick so we could send you to hell ourselves," Puroke said.

"It really excites me to be able to hunt down a future member of the 'Seven Kin of Purgatory'!" One of the A-Class mages beside Puroke grinned coldly.

A cold smile appeared on Puroke's lips as well. He had expended considerable manpower and money to lure Ultear into this trap.

All to nip this future magical genius in the bud!

"Attack!" At Puroke's command, all three charged forward.

Suddenly, a fierce gust swept over them. A figure flashed past, sweeping a leg wreathed in pale blue mist into all three and knocking them aside!

"Who?!" Puroke roared after being sent flying.

Rustle, rustle...

Soft footsteps sounded, and a boy in plain clothes came to stand between the two sides.

"Magic-Sealing Space?"

"Doesn't seem to work on me..."

Chiba grinned.

Ultear froze for a moment, and delight filled her beautiful eyes.

That was right. Chiba was here, and he wasn't a mage! The Magic-Sealing Space only weakened mages; it couldn't weaken a ninja!

After all, there was a major difference between magic power and Chakra!

I'm about to show off...

"Ultear's bodyguard..." Puroke's expression darkened.

He didn't know much about Chiba. He had only learned from Sawen that Chiba was Ultear's new bodyguard, and that just now... he had manipulated elemental power without using magic power.

That meant... the Magic-Sealing Space had no effect on him at all!

Damn it!

For all his calculations, he had never expected this. Where on earth had this kid come from? Why could he manipulate a power other than magic?

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

Phoenix Flower Fire spewed from his mouth, but Chiba didn't seem to have many Shuriken left, so he didn't bother taking any out to combine with the Phoenix Flower Fire this time.

But with a fifty-percent boost in power, the Phoenix Flower Fire was still not to be underestimated, especially... by those mages whose strength had been greatly reduced by the Magic-Sealing Space.

"Aaaah!"

Many Shadow Skull mages screamed as the flames burned them, and some had already suffered severe burns.

"Damn it!" Puroke cursed, then exchanged a glance with one of the A-Class mages beside him. The two charged at Chiba together.

When the other A-Class mage tried to go and help them, Ultear's Free Ball stopped him.

"Flank him from both sides. Let's take this kid down first!" Puroke ordered.

The two split up, attacking Chiba from the left and right.

Chiba's expression turned serious. Although the Magic-Sealing Space had greatly restricted their strength, they still had B-Class magic power. Before his fall from the cliff, Chiba would never have been able to defeat two mages who barely reached B-Class.

But over the past week, his freakish body-tempering method had greatly improved his physique. His spiritual energy, which had once far exceeded his physical energy, was now equal to it.

The amount of Chakra he could refine had also increased considerably.

Likewise, he could allocate more Chakra to his Caged Bird Seal, and its power had grown accordingly.

His strength had improved greatly.

That meant he was now capable of fighting two B-Class mages!