The <Rampaging Azirmo’s Illusion>, personally taught by the insane duplicate, was genuinely terrifying.

The sight of a massive dragon with black scales bristling as it roared was so realistic that even the Death Knights were momentarily shaken.

“Did Master leave that behind?!”

“As if!”

The Blasphemer snarled but refused to emerge fully from the dimensional gate.

If the opponent really was a dragon-class creature, recklessly exposing itself could prove fatal.

***

“To think we’d end up using it like this!”

“...You’re not actually enjoying this situation right now, are you?”

Lee Han stared at Alshicle in disbelief as the latter cheered.

The moment the high-ranking undead appeared in the sky, Lee Han had been the first mage in the palace to notice it, with Alshicle immediately after him.

The two had recognized the danger instantly from the corrupted mana waves spreading through the shaking dimension.

“How!? It didn’t even approach the palace!”

“We need to block it first! If that thing comes down here, it’ll crash straight through the ceiling! Don’t you have any useful magic?”

“Magic powerful enough to stop something like that doesn’t come easily— Ah! Wait! We can use this!”

Fortunately, the two still had <Rampaging Azirmo’s Illusion> and <Phantom Descent of the Wrathful Duke>.

The spells they had prepared for the performance remained intact.

“That’ll work!”

Lee Han nodded immediately and cast <Rampaging Azirmo’s Illusion>.

The gigantic dragon phantom released a deafening roar that shook both stage and audience seats before bursting upward through the ceiling.

When Lee Han looked up afterward, he saw that the Blasphemer, which had been attempting to descend through the dimensional gate, had retreated into a cautious standoff.

“O-of course I’m not enjoying this! Those insane cult bastards! How did they even pull off a summoning like that?!”

Apparently embarrassed that he had sounded excited earlier, Alshicle hurriedly corrected himself.

‘Seriously... how did they manage it?’

Now that he was a proper mage himself, Lee Han fully understood how absurd the summoning they had just witnessed truly was.

There had been no approach.

No preparation.

Approach?

With the Death Knights secretly surrounding and guarding the palace, no one could have gotten close enough unnoticed.

And the preparation process was even more absurd.

Even summoning a trivial sparrow spirit required ritual preparation. Yet a monster like that had simply appeared out of nowhere.

“That’s not important right now. We need to evacuate the audience.”

“R-right. Let’s go!”

Alshicle nodded quickly.

The two had only intended to stall for time because of the civilians still trapped inside the palace.

Several Death Knights could already be seen flying frantically back into the theater while trying to hold the creature back.

“Everyone, please evac—”

“Waaaaaaaaah!”

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!

The two froze in shock as thunderous applause erupted throughout the theater.

The audience was enthusiastically clapping from their seats.

‘Did the cultists cast some kind of curse on them?!’

“To reinterpret the scene like this...!”

“Even so, this variation is excessive! A dragon? That’s the kind of childish idea that thinks throwing giant creatures onto the stage automatically improves a play!”

“You’re the childish one! The theory connecting House Alkarumata to dragons is the hottest topic in modern Imperial history! This performance boldly incorporated that interpretation! This is art!”

Though some objected, most of the audience was deeply moved by the sudden appearance of the dragon.

Naturally, the actors onstage looked utterly horrified.

A dragon had appeared out of nowhere and smashed through the ceiling in the middle of the play.

Lee Han apologized inwardly.

‘Sorry about this.’

“Evacuate! Evacuate immediately!”

“Everyone out! Einroguard students, drive the audience as far away from the palace as possible! Use force if they ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) refuse!”

The Death Knights who descended from above finally began issuing evacuation orders.

The audience, still immersed in the emotional climax of the performance, stared in confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“The palace is under attack by cultists! You must evacuate!”

“Those damn lunatics! Interrupting a masterpiece like this?!”

Some audience members protested that they wanted to see the ending even if their lives were in danger, but the students promptly dragged them out anyway.

When Nillia kicked three people simultaneously, several nearby nobles gasped in admiration.

“That’s the Northern Mountain Shadow Patrol style...”

“Move!”

“Ah! Understood!”

Fortunately, not everyone was insane enough to risk their life for a theatrical performance.

As the audience hurried out of the theater, some became frightened by the violent tremors and explosions shaking the palace overhead.

“Sir! Are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine... I just... can’t breathe properly... I’ll recover if I rest...”

“Potion! Go grab the potions from the bathroom!”

“Quiet, idiot! Don’t specifically mention the bathroom!”

The Einroguard students sprinted to the bathroom and carried back the entire stash of secretly brewed potions.

Small cauldrons floated through the air as students force-fed potions to collapsed guests or splashed them across the faces of panicking nobles.

Thanks to that, order slowly returned to the chaotic evacuation.

Asan scraped the bottom of an empty cauldron with a ladle and shouted,

“We’ve run out of potions!”

“I think it’s fine now. Everyone seems stable—”

“No!”

One of the audience members suddenly interrupted them.

Judging by the mottled burn scars covering his fingers, he was obviously someone who worked in alchemy.

“No one knows how large this disaster could become. We need to prepare more potions immediately!”

Even without understanding exactly what had appeared above the palace, the sheer ominous pressure in the air was enough to terrify people.

If the Death Knights succeeded in killing it above the palace, that would be ideal.

But if they failed, preparations for worse outcomes were necessary.

Healing potions. Antidotes. Resistance potions. Anything useful.

“We... don’t have any more ingredients with us!”

“Don’t worry. My name is Oneil. I supply reagents to House Meikin’s alchemy workshop. I can provide as many materials as you need. Please follow me!”

“I’ll help too! I provide alchemical tools!”

The evacuating audience members immediately began cooperating and hurried the Einroguard students outside.

The students involved in the potion-escape plan suddenly realized something.

‘...Wait. Couldn’t we just escape after we finish making the potions?’

Was this what Wardanaz had planned all along?!

***

“Students, escort the audience outside!”

The students from the noble-deception escape group hurriedly guided the audience toward the carriages.

Opening carriage doors, calming frightened mounts, and shoving nobles inside as quickly as possible, they heard desperate pleas from every direction.

“Please come with us!”

“Pardon? We still need to assist the knights.”

“B-but there may be enemies waiting outside!”

“The Death Knights thoroughly patrolled the area beforehand (to stop us from escaping), so it should be safe!”

“But... but...”

Terrified nobles clung desperately to the Einroguard students.

The Death Knights barked orders from above.

“Escort them!”

“Pardon?” 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

“The illusion mages should leave with them as well! Escort the audience and split them into separate evacuation routes!”

Without waiting for further questions, the Death Knights immediately flew back toward the battle overhead.

Permission granted.

The audience immediately grabbed the students and practically shoved them into the carriages.

“We’re counting on you!”

“Ah... understood.”

The students comforted the terrified nobles and illusion mages as they fled the palace.

While silently thinking to themselves—

‘Wait a minute. This sounds suspiciously similar to Wardanaz’s original plan.’

Had he predicted this entire situation from the beginning?!

***

The dwarf-tunnel group that Salko belonged to was dealing with the most troublesome audience members of all.

The lunatics who still wanted to watch the play.

“No! Let go of me! I need to see the ending!”

“I already told you the actors have all fled! What ending are you talking about!?”

As the ceiling shook violently and terrifying sounds echoed overhead, the Einroguard students stared grimly at the stubborn audience members refusing to leave.

“There’s no choice. We handle this the Einroguard way.”

“What does that mean? You’ll cast invisibility magic so they can keep watching?”

The nobles, completely ignorant of reality, still failed to understand the danger even as the students rolled up their sleeves and approached.

At that exact moment—

CRAAAAASH!

The palace ceiling tore open.

“Fooled again!”

The Blasphemer, finally realizing it had been tricked, descended in a fury.

At first, it had genuinely wondered whether a dragon was waiting in ambush.

But even after remaining hidden behind the dimensional gate for so long, the dragon had never attacked.

A real dragon would never behave so cautiously.

The Blasphemer blasted away the palace ceiling with waves of corrupting mist before forcing its grotesque body through the dimensional gate.

Humiliation and fury burned within the massive eyeball embedded in its swollen stomach.

“One more time!”

“But will it fall for it again?”

“There’s no downside to trying!”

“You’re right! Cast it!”

Alshicle activated <Phantom Descent of the Wrathful Duke>.

The floor engraved with magic circles shattered beneath the impact of mana as a colossal demon erupted upward from inside the palace.

The Blasphemer recoiled in shock once again and retreated backward.

Among all beings, demons were some of the creatures most commonly employed by the Empire’s greatest archmages.

They could never be underestimated.

“A-a demon too?!”

“That one definitely wasn’t part of the play!”

The students shouted frantically, but the audience was already too immersed to listen.

Salko exchanged glances with his seniors.

Staffs slammed downward with heavy thuds.

“Drag them out!”

“Toward the main gate?”

“No. Too late for that! Fighting while protecting civilians is impossible now. We’ll escape through the tunnel instead. Can you finish it immediately?”

“Yes!”

Watching corrupted undead spill throughout the palace, the seniors made their decision instantly.

Since these remaining audience members were the final group anyway, the tunnel route was now the safest option.

“First, we’ll send these people back to their estates.”

“Understood. Then should we take however much gold we need?”

“...”

The seniors stared at Salko in disbelief.

Salko immediately corrected himself.

“That was a joke.”

“Haha! What a hilarious joke!”

***

“I think everyone’s escaped now. Let’s join the battle too.”

“Yes!”

“...Wait. I think I got carried away just now. I meant ‘I,’ not ‘we’...”

Alshicle hurriedly corrected himself after coming back to his senses.

Because Stedal currently looked like a cynical, rough-looking nobleman, Alshicle had momentarily forgotten that Lee Han was technically supposed to evacuate too.

But before he could finish speaking, Lee Han had already moved on.

“Sharkhan!”

Above Lee Han’s head, an obsidian mirror wreathed in smoke materialized as a dimensional gate split open.

The Creature of Death and Darkness burst out with a furious roar.

“Blasphemer! You mocked the Creature’s downfall last time, didn’t you?!”

Mutual recognition!

The two powerful undead beings immediately directed killing intent toward one another.

Ignoring Sharkhan’s anxious whining, the Creature of Death and Darkness glared at the Blasphemer.

“Its power is immense, mage. Maintaining the Creature for long will be impossible. This battle must end quickly.”

“It’s fine! Take your time fighting! No need to rush at all!”

Lee Han answered while calmly preparing yet another summoning spell.

At that response, the Creature of Death and Darkness could only blink its giant eye in bewilderment.