"This... How is this possible?! How could you possess such incredible power?"
Malcolm's eyes widened as he stared at Allen before him in disbelief. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't imagine it. Among A-Class mages, Allen had already been considered outstanding, yet this wasn't even his strongest power. Looking at Allen's exceptionally young face and overwhelming magic power, the flames of jealousy nearly consumed Malcolm. However, Malcolm didn't make a move, because Allen's strength and pressure after using Full Body Reception were simply too overwhelming, completely intimidating him.
Especially when the terrifying pressure from LordKnightmon swept over him, Malcolm felt unprecedented pressure. The power was simply beyond the limits of his understanding, filling him with fear.
Although Malcolm himself had accepted part of Asmodeus's power, he knew all too well that compared with Asmodeus's true form, that amount of power was utterly insignificant. Even if Asmodeus descended here personally, its strength would perhaps only be on the same level as Theodore.
Even so, Malcolm was unwilling to admit defeat so easily. He clenched his teeth and tried to rise up in resistance, making one final struggle. Unfortunately, Allen gave him no chance. Gram in Perfect Form unleashed Holy Spear Slash, which flashed before Malcolm's eyes and pierced straight through his body without the slightest effort. Not only that, as the holy spear twisted, even the magic source hidden within Malcolm's body was caught in it and completely ground to pieces.
Having lost his supply of magic power, Malcolm's body began to change. Gradually, his body, which had been twisted and deformed by magic power, returned to its normal human form. At the same time, the magic power that had originally belonged to Asmodeus did not disperse like ordinary magic power in the air. Instead, as if drawn by some mysterious force, it rapidly flew toward the same direction in unison.
Allen stared solemnly at the direction in which the magic power shot away, secretly startled. It was actually the north, where he and Laxus had planned to go earlier! It seemed that this journey north would be even more interesting.
Immediately afterward, Allen dispelled LordKnightmon's reception state without hesitation. Just then, Laxus came rushing over, his face filled with concern. Seeing this, Allen hurriedly waved at him to show that he was unharmed. Then he turned and walked toward Malcolm.
At that moment, Malcolm lay sprawled on the ground in a sorry state, as if all the strength had been drained from his body. Allen slowly crouched down, fixing his gaze on Malcolm as he asked in a deep voice, "Can you tell me who taught you Eighteen Demon God Magic?"
Malcolm, still dazed from having been defeated so quickly, suddenly developed a strange smile when he heard Allen's question. He threw his head back and laughed wildly. "Heh heh, you want to know? But I'm just not going to tell you! Hahahahaha..."
In truth, Allen had never held out much hope that Malcolm would answer honestly. Hearing Malcolm's reply with his own ears only further confirmed his earlier suspicions. Thus, Allen stopped paying attention to him. Instead, he rose and looked toward Yahar, who was walking over, then calmly said, "This mission is complete. What happens next is up to your Council. Also, if your Council learns any information from him, could you tell me? I want to continue investigating."
Yahar nodded lightly. "If we obtain any information from him, I'll contact you. If you learn anything afterward, I hope you'll tell me as well."
"Of course!"
After answering, Allen intended to lead Laxus away quickly. But just as they were about to move, Yahar suddenly stepped in front of them and blocked their path.
Yahar said seriously, "You can't leave yet. Look at the situation around you. Until our support forces arrive, you'll have to stay here with us."
In reality, Allen was eager to leave because he had seen how the town had been devastated by the shockwaves from his battle with Malcolm. It had been utterly ravaged and was a heartbreaking sight. That was why he had tried to pretend nothing had happened and take Laxus away, hoping to escape this troublesome place as quickly as possible. But now Yahar had exposed his intentions with a single sentence. Allen couldn't help feeling awkward, and a sheepish smile appeared on his face. Leaving just like that did indeed seem a little too irresponsible.
Afterward, Allen and Laxus naturally stayed behind to help.
After searching for a while, everyone finally found a square where the town's residents could be housed, barely. Then they carefully began moving the unconscious residents to the square, preventing any further incidents from occurring where they had fallen.
Looking at the unconscious residents before him, Yahar suddenly remembered that Allen possessed powerful sensory abilities. He therefore asked, "Allen, sorry for the trouble, but could you use your sensory ability to investigate exactly what caused these residents to fall unconscious?" Allen nodded when he heard this, then closed his eyes and concentrated, sensing the reason the town's residents and the mages of Foxes of the Forest had lost consciousness.
After Allen examined them, he determined that the reason the residents remained unconscious was that Asmodeus's magic power was too strong, while the bodies of ordinary people were too weak to withstand it. Their current unconsciousness was merely an instinctive bodily response, and they would recover after some time.
As for the mages of Foxes of the Forest, their situation was somewhat troublesome. Asmodeus's magic power had fused with their own magic power, and the fusion was still in progress. Once it was complete, they should wake up.
After hearing Allen's explanation, Yahar looked solemnly at the members of Foxes of the Forest. The strangeness of Asmodeus's magic power had been glaringly obvious during the earlier battle. If possible, Yahar naturally wanted to remove all of it. However, Allen had made it clear that the magic power was currently fusing and would soon finish. Therefore, unless they destroyed the magic source like Malcolm, they could only accept the current situation.
"I'll report the situation here to the Council. The councilors will make an appropriate decision."
After thinking it over, Yahar still decided to leave the problem to the councilors of the Council.
Allen naturally had no objection. He only said one thing:
"I hope the people of Foxes of the Forest can all live safely and normally in the end. You understand what I mean, right?"
Before you continue