"Boom!"
In front of the Headmaster's residence, an explosion suddenly rang out without any warning.
It was the sound of the ground cracking open.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
The ground around the Headmaster's residence exploded in succession, and from the fissures, figures began to crawl out.
They were skeletons.
Skeletons wrapped in rusted iron armor, wielding weapons in their hands.
These skeletal warriors crawled out from the underground, clanking as they moved, their teeth chattering with clacking sounds. Whether they were laughing or crying was unclear, but the sight was terrifying.
It looked exactly like a scene of the dead coming back to life — enough to make one's skin crawl.
These skeletal warriors were all summoned by Dorothy.
Standing behind the skeletal army, Dorothy held a magic staff and radiated mana, gazing at Frey with contempt. Seeing this, Rozen immediately understood.
"So she's a necromancer?"
— Necromancer.
As the name suggests, it refers to a magus who uses a form of magic known as Necromancy.
Necromancy is an ancient form of magic capable of controlling the dead, manipulating corpses, spirits, and even hellish creatures. Like Onmyodo and Spirit Arts, it is a mysterious art that has withstood the test of time.
In other words, Dorothy, just like Hinowa and Charlotte, is a practitioner of ancient magic — the only difference being that Hinowa manipulates shikigami, Charlotte commands spirits, and Dorothy controls the undead.
Of course, what Dorothy manipulates isn't real skeletons. Like shikigami and spirits, they are magical creatures.
"No wonder her registration name is 'Nosferatu.'"
Rozen nodded in understanding.
"And no wonder I haven't seen her automaton until now."
That's because she didn't need an automaton. Just using Necromancy to control undead gave her an endless army.
"Everyone! I'm counting on you!"
Frey, seemingly realizing how formidable the opponent was, called out to the Garms beside her.
"Woof!" "Woof!"
The Garms immediately barked in unison. Like a well-trained pack of hounds, they rushed forward and dispersed.
"Destroy those mutts for me! My skeleton warriors!"
Dorothy showed no concern for Frey, still full of disdain in her gaze. She commanded her skeletal warriors, who began to shamble forward, clanking and rattling as they lunged toward the Garms.
The Garms launched sonic blasts one after another, shattering skeletons into pieces and sending bone fragments flying.
However, the broken bones immediately began to reassemble themselves. Before long, they returned to their original form, struggled to their feet, and continued to lunge at the Garms.
This was the nature of Necromancy: even if the controlled beings were defeated, they could be instantly revived. They were already dead — they couldn't die again.
With Dorothy's seemingly vast mana reserves, Frey quickly found herself in a difficult battle.
"Trying to challenge one of the 'Thirteen' with Frey's current strength might still be too much."
Rozen watched the battle unfold and made this assessment.
Although Frey had grown significantly stronger compared to before, matching a puppeteer of the Thirteen level was still unlikely.
Unless Frey activated her Machina Heart and gambled her life, she probably couldn't defeat Dorothy.
Meanwhile, Loki was also engaged in a fierce battle.
Facing the Zekaros brothers' relentless storms and sudden stone assaults, his sword form cherubim couldn't fully defend itself and had to revert to human form. Loki shot out dagger after dagger, dashing through the air, cutting through stone and wind to hold his ground.
The opponents were two members of the Thirteen, twin brothers. Their teamwork boosted their power significantly. Even though their individual rankings were below Loki's, together they were not easily beaten.
In contrast, Loki was already in poor condition, not yet fully recovered. Fighting under such circumstances and lasting this long was already impressive.
Naturally, Charlotte was also struggling.
Facing Olga's automaton Thor unleashing wave after wave of annihilation attacks, Charlotte was forced into a defensive stance. Surrounded by torrents of radiant energy, she looked overwhelmed and was clearly having a hard time.
In terms of automaton performance, both Thor and Sigmund were Dragons of the Gram, but Thor housed two Grams, giving it twice the output of Sigmund.
In terms of Spirit Arts, the two were evenly matched, but Olga clearly had more experience.
Olga was a witch who had been training in Spirit Arts since childhood. In familiarity and proficiency, she far outclassed Charlotte, who had only recently learned the art.
So while their Spirit Arts were equal, Olga had the edge in experience, and Thor had superior performance. Naturally, Charlotte and Sigmund were locked in a hard battle.
And yet...
"Even though you've just learned Spirit Arts, your power and scale already match mine. In terms of spirit-user potential, you far surpass me, Charlotte."
Olga spoke, not knowing whether she was impressed or envious, but her attacks grew even fiercer.
Rozen's companions were all being overwhelmed, clearly at a disadvantage.
"At this rate…"
"Big sisters and big brothers will all lose, won't they?"
The muttered words from Komurasaki made Henri — the only one unable to participate in battle — tremble all over.
Henri could only watch the battle continue. Her eyes showed fear and helplessness, but more than anything, sorrow.
"I'm no help at all…"
She felt deeply guilty.
Among everyone present, she was the only one who hadn't contributed.
But then—
"Since you want to do something, then use this."
So saying, Rozen handed Henri a thick stack of talismans.
"This… this is…?"
Henri looked at the talismans in her hands, completely lost.
Rozen didn't explain much. He only said one sentence.
"Inject mana into the talisman to activate the spell drawn on it, and the magic will trigger." Rozen said plainly, "I've given you all kinds of talismans. Use them from the sidelines to support everyone. That should reduce the pressure on them a lot."
"Then… what about you?" Henri asked reflexively.
"Me?" Rozen smiled slightly. "I'm going inside."
After all, the one leading the enemy… was waiting for him.
"Olga Saladin and the others are just distractions." Rozen said, "The real opponent invited me alone — they don't want anyone else by my side."
In that case, how could Rozen not respond?
"I leave this place to you, Henri."
Rozen looked straight at her.
"…Yes!"
Henri clenched the talismans in her hands and responded through her tears.
"Irori, Yaya, Komurasaki — let's go."
Rozen smiled and called out to his automatons.
"""Yes!"""
Irori, Yaya, and Komurasaki responded without hesitation.
Rozen then walked across the battlefield and entered the Headmaster's residence alone, leaving the others behind in their fierce battles, where waves of roars and blasts continued to erupt.