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「… This isn’t good.」

It seems like absorbing the black magic power is difficult, even in my current state. Refusing to succumb to my control, this black magic power turned into a black crystal as I tore it aways from the victim’s brain. The said crystal was somewhat sinister, looking almost like a magic core.

Without hurrying, I walked around the mansion. One by one, I captured and drew out the black magic power from every victim I saw. Since doing it forcefully might leave them with some side effects, I do it with caution. Luckily, there doesn’t seem to be any problems as long as I engulf it with my magic power before slowly removing it. Still, thinking about the large number of victims restrained outside the mansion is giving me a headache.¹

「Haa… Okay, just leave the thinking for later. First, retake the mansion.」

I switch my magic eyes off for a moment to rest. Seeing that black magic power all the time just makes me feel depressed and even without that, seeing magic power all the time is exhausting. While I expect that it’ll be better as I eventually get used to it, it’s a power that’s originally yet to be released. There’s no wonder that it’s difficult for me to use.

Fortunately, while the victims of the black magic power lost their reasoning, they haven’t lost their life essence. With detection, I can sense the general location of the people inside the mansion. If only they still had reason, I can just use 【Lewd Dream】 and all, but I can’t really ask for luxury right now. I’m lucky enough that there’s a countermeasure I can use.²

「Okay, it looks like Adan and Reina are hiding in the room. As for old man Kent… Ah.³」

Before I could search for him, he found me instead. Well, with how many times I used magic, it’s only natural that he came to see what’s happening regardless of who did it. If old man Kent fought against the victims too, there’s no way that he’d lock himself in a room after all.

「Old man Kent! You’re safe!」
「………」
「There’s some troublesome magic-like thing but do you…… Old man Kent?」
「………⁴」

Hm? Something’s off. His stride’s unsteady and while I can feel life essence from him, it’s awfully weak, or more like… unstable. Rather……

「Old man Kent! What happened to you!?」

Looking closely, the old man is bleeding profusely. His eyes are completely red with blood, and blood is dripping from his nose and mouth. His arms are in tatters, it’s practically a miracle that he can still stand and move.

「Oi! Don’t move! I’ll heal you in a second!!⁵」

I quickly gather magic power for “heal” as I rush over to the old man. From his symptoms, it must be from a magic power rampage. Although old man Kent failed to become a sage, he’s an excellent sorcerer that successfully graduated from the academy. I can’t imagine that he, of all people, would be careless enough with magic power for self-injury to happen.

「Ugkh!? S̲h̲i̲t̲!」

Feeling a sharp pain in my stomach, I kicked the old man and took distance.⁶

「”Levitation”!!」

I immediately cast magic on my own body, kicked the floor, and jumped to the sky. On the place where I was, or more specifically where my head was, there was a child’s pale hand.

「Close.」
「Ow… “Heal”. Geez, really… That’s just nasty.」

Looking down, a ceremonial knife is sticking out of my stomach. It’s unnecessary for me but items like these, which have spells or magic circles engraved into them, can be used as a catalyst to increase the power and shorten the cast time of magic by loading it with magic power beforehand. It was originally a technique used for magecraft, but apparently the Sage of Taurus several generations ago verified that it can be effectively applicable to magic as well.

「Are you Adan?」
「As if. Adan is a lot shorter and has white hair, you know?」
「Lies. She was a fake, but you are real. Since you are real, you’re Adan.⁷」

Absolutely nasty. This conversation is completely meaningless. I’ve already switched my eyes since some time ago. This isn’t the time to complain about being unused to it or grossed out about things. As expected, old man Kent’s brain has that black magic power encroached deep into it, and most importantly, the girl in front of me is a problem.

「The guy that thought of this is either absolute garbage or the devil.⁸」

The girl is probably close to Urania in age. However, likely from the lack of nutrition, her limbs are awfully skinny, looking just like withered twigs. And what I can imagine to be originally beautiful red hair is smeared in dirt and blood.

Still, rather than her appearance, what’s going on inside her is a much bigger problem. On her body, the black magic power entwines her limbs like tentacles, forcefully moving her. And of course, those tentacles originate from her brain, which has a noticeably denser magic power clinging into it.⁹

If it was just that, it’s still fine. No, not fine, but probably easier to deal with. However, the magic power on her brain… has already crystalized.

「No. It didn’t crystalize, the crystal was embedded into her.」

Whichever it is, that’s not how to treat people. It’s like she was a guinea pig. The black magic power’s source seems to be this girl. Capturing this girl, and ignoring the other victims, won’t stop the spread of the infection but I can’t just ignore someone who was treated like that.

「For now, I’m going to need you to behave. “Bind”!」

While I was at it, I restrained old man Kent too. After all, it’ll be a pain to extract the black magic power from someone struggling.

「Useless.」

It was one word. Just one word from the girl, and the “Bind” I shot at her vanished.¹⁰ At the same time, black magic power gushed out of her and she swung it like a whip.

「What the hell! “Move”! And also, “Bind Ball”!」

I cast “Move” on myself, stepping midair to avoid the magic power whip, and countered her with a fusion of “Light Ball” and “Bind” magic. However, the ball I shot vanished before it touched her. This time, I observed what happened, but its magic power just… disappeared.

What happened there, I have no idea at all. While I have hijacked Adan’s “Light Ball” and erased it, in that situation, I just dispersed the magic power to erase it. The magic power was only dispersed, the magic power itself didn’t disappear like it did just now.

「That makes no sense. It seems to be something different from the black magic power though.」

Old man Kent was restrained with the first “Bind” after all, and I don’t remember the black crystal having the ability to erase magic power. Well, it’s not as if I know everything about it, so maybe it is the black magic power doing that, but I have a hunch that the ability to erase magic and the black magic power are two different things.

「I am, a counterfeit. I’ll obtain the real thing.」
「Again with the ominous talk…」

Like before, she swings the black whip once again, but since its trajectory is easy to read, dodging it is pretty simple. Still, if I can’t do something about that magic erasing thing, I have no way to win. Now, what to do.

1. Lyly: Lol, have fun with the cleanup party~
2. Lyly: The ultimate power of lewd, hard countered by literally not thinking
3. Lyly: Ah.
4. Lyly: Uhhh
5. Lyly: Uhhhhhhh
6. Lyly: Poor old man
7. Silva: So Lily was mistaken as Adan, heh…
   Lyly: Yeah, but why doe? What does your sinister little girl eyes see?
8. Lyly: Both might be the case too
9. Lyly: Another tentacle…
10. Lyly: surprised pikachu