Through the vision shared by the invisible puppet, Ian stared intently at the giant bronze door covered with sealing symbols.
"If you can't break through forcefully, then try to outsmart them."
Ian controlled the puppet, and his fingers danced rapidly in Void, trying to draw a spell-breaking talisman specifically used to break the seal.
However, at the moment when the runes were about to take shape--
"Buzz!"
An invisible wave suddenly erupted from the depths of the giant gate. This force did not cause substantial damage, but it distorted the rules of space extremely tyrannically.
His vision went dark.
"Lost connection?"
Ian opened his eyes suddenly. But he did not give up, but quickly sensed the puppet's position.
After a while, his expression became strange.
"Is this... outside the academy? No, not even in this plane."
He could feel that the puppet still existed, but the connection became extremely weak and distant, as if separated by endless Void.
"The defense mechanism of this door is actually [Spatial Exile]?"
Ian touched his chin, and a glint flashed in his eyes. He had specialized in plane jumping technology during his previous Multiverse trip, so he quickly deduced the truth: the moment the door detected the intruder, it directly used the rules of space to "throw" it into a parallel Subspace or timeline branch.
"It's interesting. Although the puppet is useless, it at least gave me the coordinates of the parallel dimension."
Ian secretly thought, "When resources are needed to recast World Gate in the future, there might be a good mine there."
Since brute force cracking doesn't work, we can only change our thinking.
"In this case, pure strength can no longer solve the problem. I need a more clever layout."
Ian's eyes fell on the calendar.
Three months later, Spirit Calamity Purification Exercise.
This is an excellent opportunity. Not only can it take the opportunity to leave the heavily guarded academy, but it is also the perfect stage to contact and capture the old enemy Zure.
In the next month, Ian behaved like a model student. While he was frantically acquiring knowledge in the Library, he secretly observed the trends in the college.
When the news subsided a little, he found an excuse to visit Principal Hirano.
"Principal, thank you for giving me the permission to the Library." Ian saluted respectfully.
During the conversation, he used his superb Mental Magic to unknowingly give a deep [psychological hint] to Principal Hirano:
"In the upcoming Spirit Calamity exercise, Zure must be arranged to be one of the leading teachers."
After doing all this, Ian left Headmaster's Office with satisfaction. Everything was ready, all he needed was the east wind.
Two months later.
The day of the Spirit Calamity exercise has finally arrived.
On the playground in the early morning, the first-year freshmen were ready to go. Different from when they first entered school, the civilian students held their heads high and their chests were full of confidence. In the past three months, under the training of Ian, the "devil coach", their strength has improved by leaps and bounds, and they have even beaten those arrogant aristocratic children many times in actual combat exercises.
Ian stood at the front of the civilian team, his expression indifferent, but like a needle Sea God.
The three teachers leading the team are also here: Teacher Kuruna from the Talisman Class; Byakuya Kuchiki from the Psychic Control Class; and the muscular man who exudes a dangerous aura - Zure.
"Is everyone here?" Byakuya Kuchiki glanced around, his eyes stayed on Ian for a moment, and then turned to the prince aside, "Your Highness, Yuji, please excuse me."
"I'm happy to help." Yuji Prince took out a specially made teleportation talisman and said, "I am here!"
A huge light door appeared out of thin air.
"Everyone, enter in order!"
After a while, the world was spinning.
When the students opened their eyes again, they found themselves in a desolate wilderness. Not far ahead was a dilapidated village. The sky was shrouded in thick dark clouds, making it impossible for sunlight to penetrate. The air was filled with a disgusting rancid smell and an oppressive evil spirit.
"Go and solve this Spirit Calamity."
Byakuya Kuchiki said something coldly, and then retreated to a distance with the other two teachers, assuming a posture of "We want to watch a show, you can handle it yourself."
The students looked at each other, realizing that this was a real test of survival.
"Follow me." Ian gave the order and took the lead to walk towards the village. The civilian students followed closely behind, and the nobles at the rear were stunned by the discipline of the command and prohibition.
"Let's follow too!" Princess Matsumoto gritted his teeth and followed with the noble team.
As soon as they approached the entrance of the village, dozens of black figures rushed out from the ruins. They were contaminated villagers. Their skin turned purple-black, deformed horns grew on their heads, their bodies were covered with disgusting black spots, their eyes were blood red, and they roared like Beast in their throats.
"Enemy attack! Prepare to fight!" The noble students immediately drew their weapons and prepared various offensive talismans.
"Stop! No one is allowed to kill!" Ian's roar was like thunder, shocking everyone, "Whether you are a commoner or a noble, obey my order - only control, no killing!"
"Why?" Princess Matsumoto asked in confusion, "They are monsters!"
"They are villagers." Ian's voice was as cold as ice, "They are just contaminated by the Spirit Realm energy, but they are still living people."
"So what?" Tsuchimikado, who was born in the Gojo Family, retorted disdainfully, "Once eroded by the energy of the Spirit Realm, it is impossible to reverse it. Instead of letting them live in pain, it is better to give them relief and send them to reincarnation."
This is also the consensus of the Onmyoji community - those who are polluted can only die.
"That's because you are incompetent." Ian turned his head and glanced at the nobleman who spoke like Blade, "Just because others can't do it, doesn't mean I can't do it. If I say I can save it, I can save it."
"Huh? Who do you think you are? God?" Tsuchimikado was about to taunt, but he met Ian's unruffled eyes. At that moment, he remembered the fear of being dominated by Ian in the martial arts field for the past three months - no matter what tactics he used, no matter what Shikigami he summoned, he would be crushed by this civilian as easily as beating a child.
"You..." Tsuchimikado swallowed and swallowed back the curse words that came to his lips.
"Why should we listen to you?" Some nobles were still unconvinced.
"Because I'm stronger than you." Ian gave the simplest and most irrefutable reason, "On this battlefield, the one with the biggest fist is Truth. If you don't want to die, just do as I say."
The whole place was dead silent. Both civilians and nobles were shocked by this Haki.
"Yuji, Matsumoto, you two groups are responsible for the flanks." Ian began to quickly deploy tactics, "Others, follow the plan!"
"... Yes."
Under the command of Ian, the originally loose group of students turned into a sophisticated machine.
Step one: blockade. Dozens of students who were good at enchantment were scattered in the four corners of the village, chanting incantations in unison. "Four-Sided Barrier, get up!" A huge transparent light curtain rose, covering the entire village, completely cutting off the spread of pollution sources.
Step 2: Suppression. The samurai students rushed to the front, using their flexible body skills to restrain the frantic villagers. The onmyojis at the rear were throwing [Binding Talisman] wildly. "Sure!"
Step 3: Search for the core. "Mido, it's up to you." Ian looked at the girl with Prophecy talent.
Mido nodded, and Three-Eyed Crow on her shoulder opened her third eye, shooting out a faint light. She quickly shuttled through the village, and finally stopped in front of a seemingly ordinary thatched hut.
"Here!" Mido pointed at the hut and shouted, "The source of the evil spirit is inside!"
"Nice job!" Although Princess Matsumoto doesn't like listening to Ian's instructions, he has to admit that this tactic is extremely efficient. "It's convenient to have a prophet, which saves a lot of trial and error time."
Mido smiled politely, but subconsciously took a step back to keep a distance from these enthusiastic nobles. She always remembered Ian's warning - behind these smiling faces, there are cannibalistic plans.
"You monsters inside, get out!" Yuji prince shouted loudly in order to take credit.
"Boom!"
The hut exploded instantly. In the smoke, a giant monster over five meters tall walked out. It was red in color, with two horns on its head, and a huge mace in its hand. The ground shook with every step it took.
Red Oni.
"Human brat..." Red Oni blew out a hot breath with a voice like Law of Thunder, "If you don't want to die, get out of here!"
Feeling the terrifying pressure coming towards their faces, the legs of many pampered aristocratic young men began to tremble. This was not a practice target in school, but a real bloodthirsty demon!
However, Ian is not on the ground. He is currently floating above the village, with his arms crossed, like a chess player overlooking the chess game from the clouds.
"Is this the so-called Boss?" Ian was not in a hurry to take action. He was waiting. He was waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to get rid of the monster at the same time and lure Zure into revealing his true identity.