"Scum."
Kudo Mitsunobu spat out the word coldly. Still, using his brain waves to operate the earring-shaped CAD, he stopped the bleeding of Shiichi, who was wailing in pain.
It wasn't because he had suddenly felt a pang of sympathy. If the bleeding wasn't stopped immediately, Shiichi wouldn't live long enough for the ambulance to arrive.
He might have been scum, but he was still valuable for now. After all, he was a key figure in clearing the students from his school of their crimes.
"Damn it!"
One of the mercenaries in combat gear seemed unable to take the pressure any longer. He drew the military knife from his thigh and charged straight at Kudo Mitsunobu.
"Honestly, you could've been arrested with all your limbs intact. Why make things harder for yourself?" Kudo Mitsunobu sighed softly.
He raised a specialized, jet-black gun-shaped CAD with silver streaks: [Night].
He gently pulled the trigger.
"It's so hot! What is this?"
"It's the [Blazing Flame Domain]!" one of the mercenaries cried out in terror.
"So there are some of you who know your stuff! Don't worry, I've got pretty good control. I'll probably only roast you until you're half-done!"
Kudo Mitsunobu broke the gas down into plasma, then forcibly separated the positive ions and electrons to create a high-energy electromagnetic field.
A few seconds later.
No one in the room besides Kudo Mitsunobu was still standing. Everyone on the floor had suffered burns of varying severity.
Although they belonged to an anti-magic organization, it seemed a few of them could use magic. Those who remained conscious had managed to hold on amid the blazing flames only by using defensive magic.
"Hmm. My control really is pretty good."
Kudo Mitsunobu looked over Shiichi, who had escaped the flames, and nodded in satisfaction. After all, Shiichi couldn't be allowed to die, no matter who else did!
A blade tip emerged from inside the doorway. The knife sliced the five-centimeter-thick iron door into several pieces as easily as tofu.
"Vibration-type magic—High-Frequency Blade?"
Orange-yellow psions wrapped around the silvery-white blade. Even from nearly ten meters away, Kudo Mitsunobu could hear the piercing buzz coming from it.
The ones who entered with their blades drawn were Kirihara Takeaki and Jumonji Katsuto.
"Hey, don't you think you went a little overboard?" Kirihara Takeaki said, looking stunned.
Even he couldn't help feeling sick at the ghastly scene before him, especially with the familiar smell of burning flesh wafting into his nose every so often.
Jumonji Katsuto also frowned, though he didn't show anything like Kirihara Takeaki's strong reaction.
"All the enemies on the way here have been dealt with. None managed to escape."
"What about your side?"
"As you can see, they've all been wiped out."
Kudo Mitsunobu returned [Night] to its holster, then pointed to Shiichi, whom he had reduced to a limbless torso.
"This is Shiichi, the leader of the Japanese branch."
"What did he do to you? Why did he get such special treatment?"
Kirihara Takeaki couldn't think of a better way to describe Shiichi, so he settled on "special."
"He used the mind-interference magic [Evil Eye] to control almost all of our school's students before they committed their crimes."
"What do you mean?"
Kirihara Takeaki tightened his grip on the hilt.
"He tampered with our students' memories and preyed on those who felt empty inside, taking control of their minds."
"So Mibu ended up like this because he deceived her?"
Kirihara Takeaki's expression changed at once. The joking look he'd worn a moment ago was gone, and now he looked like a ravenous tiger ready to pounce.
The buzz from the Japanese sword in his hand grew louder as the A-rank close-combat magic [High-Frequency Blade] once again enveloped its edge.
"Kirihara."
Jumonji Katsuto immediately stopped Kirihara Takeaki. If Shiichi had still been in one piece, letting him take a swing to vent his anger wouldn't have mattered.
But in his current state, another blow would send Shiichi straight to the Buddha.
"Please, hold your anger for now, Kirihara-senpai! If he dies, no one will be able to clear Mibu-senpai's name."
"Fine!"
The warning from Kudo Mitsunobu and Jumonji Katsuto helped cool Kirihara Takeaki's blazing fury a little.
"All right, let's clean up the battlefield first."
Jumonji Katsuto contacted the Jumonji family members he had alerted before they arrived and told them to clean up the battlefield.
"I'll go outside and get some air. The smell in here is awful."
The smell after the burning was truly foul, even if watching it happen had been satisfying. Kudo Mitsunobu briefly apologized to the two of them and went outside.
Neither objected. Jumonji Katsuto was simply acting according to his nature, while Kirihara Takeaki wanted to keep a close eye on the criminal who had deceived Mibu.
"How did it go? Did you finish cleaning up?"
As soon as Kudo Mitsunobu stepped outside, he saw Fujibayashi Kyoko waving to him. There was also a man at her feet, completely paralyzed.
"I didn't expect there to be one who slipped through. Where did he come from?"
"Oh, he didn't slip through! He seems to have been on reconnaissance. He'd just come back from outside when I caught him here."
As soon as Fujibayashi Kyoko finished speaking, she gave the man on the ground another [Lightning Rod].
"I thought he wasn't supposed to be able to get back up."
Kudo Mitsunobu's mouth twitched as he counted the Lightning Rods on the man. There were a full ** of them.
A human body could be completely paralyzed with just two [Lightning Rods] at most.
This woman was clearly using the terrorist on the ground for her own amusement!
"Kyoko-sis, you really haven't changed. You still have such a wicked sense of fun!"
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