In front of the palace.

Just moments ago, the area in front of the palace was void aside from rubble and corpses lying on the ground. However, now there were traces of ice and sharp ice pillars emerging from the soil.

"Who is she? She’s quite strong for a human."

"I think her name was Elsa Sunoma. Apparently, she’s the current head of the Grand Order."

"Hm~"

The two A-rank demons Aliya and Santro were casually talking whereas the two B-rank demons Jetra and Brandy were keeping Elsa occupied.

And although Elsa was fighting two B-rank demons at the same time, she did not appear tired or pushed to a corner. In fact, it seemed like she was on equal footing with those two.

"Tch! I won’t let a mere human ridicule me!" Jetra scoffed.

The teenage-looking demon flew high up into the air and spread his demonic wings. His former slender silhouette started to change as his body seemingly grew in every direction. It was as if he transformed into a completely different being.

"..."

Sternly and while on her guard, Elsa stared at him.

Jetra’s wings grew, too, and his body turned almost as big as the palace.

In his new body, Jetra descended on the ground, making it tremble for a short moment.

He had the appearance of a black dragon, like those from picture books and let out a ferocious roar.

Then, Jetra cocked his head back, puffing out his cheeks as he gathered flames inside his mouth.

Elsa was about to dodge but Brandy got in her way.

"As if I would let you!" she remarked with a mocking grin.

Brandy aimed her palm at Elsa.

On her palm was a black emblem engraved which suddenly shone brightly when Elsa gazed at it instinctively.

"?!"

Following that, Elsa suddenly felt slow.

Her body did not keep up with her thoughts anymore. Although she was trying to run away from her spot, her body moved as if it had slowed down.

"...!"

Jetra let out a fire breath in his dragon form, engulfing Elsa in those flames.

"Oh~ Did they get her?" Aliya wondered with big eyes.

"No." Santro replied, sharpening his gaze.

After the fire breath dispersed, the figure of Elsa still standing was visible.

She countered the fire with her ice magic, however, she could not react in time and was, therefore, still hit by the breath.

"A demon who can transform into a dragon and another one who can slow down my movements, huh...?" Elsa muttered, grinning amusedly.

"How can she still smile...?" Brandy murmured offendedly.

The middle-aged-looking demon spread her wings and launched herself at Elsa with her right arm retracted.

With her sharp nails, she attempted to pierce Elsa.

"Die!" Brandy shouted.

But before she could touch Elsa, her whole body froze in midair.

Elsa elegantly stepped aside as the frozen Brandy flew past her face.

The frozen body then shattered after crashing to the ground.

"..."

Elsa quickly switched her attention to Jetra who wildly charged at her with his big body.

He opened his mouth, baring his fangs at her but even that was pointless.

Elsa stood still and waited for Jetra to come.

And once he was in arm’s reach, his large body froze up, too.

Because Brandy died, her ability was nullified and allowed Elsa to move freely again.

Thus, she clenched her fist and strongly punched the frozen Jetra whose body also shattered in a heartbeat.

"A-amazing..." Aliya commented genuinely impressed.

Santro descended to the ground and faced Elsa sternly.

He noticed the cold air around her and her skin that was even paler than a few moments before.

"I suppose it’s our fault for underestimating you." he admitted.

"No worries, I’m kind of used to getting looked down upon." Elsa huffed.

Since the introduction of Mika’s squad, the Hunters, the public’s opinion of the Grand Order shifted to the Hunters. Nowadays, the majority of people were more interested in the Hunters and neglected the new achievements of the Grand Order.

Albeit being once called the strongest group of humanity, the glory of the Grand Order fell off tremendously, degrading them to just another strong group of mages.

Especially, Elsa was looked down upon.

She was always called the number two behind Olivia. Back then, she was annoyed by being called that but she was still proud deep down. However, since Olivia joined Hunters after handing over her position to Elsa, she received even more pity from the people as it seemed like Olivia left the group for a better group, treating the Grand Order like something from the past.

Thus, the spotlight shifted to the Hunters, making the Grand Order appear like the leftovers.

"I don’t really care anymore if I was looked down upon by someone..."

Elsa walked toward Santro.

"After all, it was me who still stood tall in the end." she added with an energetic grin.

The cold air spread further around her.

Simultaneously, dark matter emerged around Santro who seemed the same age as Elsa. He had long hair slicked to the back and wore a black coat but nothing beneath it, exposing his trained abs.

"Aliya, come down." he said.

At his words, Aliya slowly descended, too.

She appeared younger than him. She had blonde highlights in her short hair and wore golden earrings. Her pants were very loose. She wore no shoes and her sleeveless shirt was skin-tight.

"..."

Elsa turned even more serious.

At first glance, it looked like Santro was able to control dark matter. However, it was a mystery to her what kind of ability Aliya had.

"Hm?"

Nonchalantly, Aliya pointed her fingers at Elsa.

"?!"

Elsa quickly jumped to the side as her instincts screamed to do so.

And when she jumped away, she turned around to the building behind her which had a gigantic hole inside it.

The building crumbled down as an aftermath.

"Impressive...!" Aliya gasped.

"Take this seriously, will you?" Santro scolded her sternly.

"Fine, fine~"

This time, she used both her hands and pointed with her index fingers at Elsa.

"This doesn’t look good..." Elsa muttered with a wry smile.

In the meantime, the group led by Lereon was slowly pushed to a corner.

"What’s wrong? Why don’t you sound so confident anymore?" Loram laughed menacingly.

Whereas Lereon’s troupe was exhausted and injured, the enemies surrounding the former Grand Order associates looked fine.

Even Lereon had bruises and cuts on him.

"..."

He glanced at Harik who was not any better-looking.

Harik was solely focusing on fighting Eliza, however, it was clear who was superior between those two. After all, Eliza was the former earth mage of their group and now, she even wielded a relic which she did not reveal even once during her time with the Grand Order.

And aside from Harik, the other soldiers and students had trouble as they had to fight the former candidates of the Grand Order, meaning that they had to clash against people who were considered the strongest after the actual members of the Grand Order.

However, Lereon knew that he did not have the leisure to worry about others as he faced two Grand Order members at the same time: Loram the wind mage and Werena the water mage.

"How were you able to get here so fast...?" Lereon asked.

"How? We just sailed to Grat the moment you all fled from Loogam." Loram answered.

"Sir Lucio already planned for us to head over to Grat in order to support the demon army that was lurking in Grat for a while." Werena added.

"?!"

Lereon widened his eyes.

"So demons were hidden here all along...?" he muttered bitterly.

"That’s right. In the end, your trip to Grat was a complete waste, haha!" Loram laughed once more.

"I know it’s painful to hear but you all just headed to your graves on your own." Werena stated sternly.

Then, Lereon took off his suit and his white gloves. He folded his sleeves up and cracked his neck a few times.

"Even back then, you were talking so noisily all the time..."

"Hm?"

Loram sharpened his gaze as he felt annoyed by Lereon’s words.

"I kept quiet since our captain did not say anything to you, however, since you’re no longer a part of our group I can finally do what I want with you."

"Oh, is that so? Then, what exactly do you want to do? Do I have to remind you of your own situation? Look around you first!"

"..."

But Lereon just kept glaring at Loram.

"I don’t care now. I will only focus on what’s in front of me first." Lereon declared.

Everyone suddenly noticed a strong wind coming from every direction.

"Werena. Leave him to me." Loram stated.

"Sure but hurry up." Werena replied after heaving a sigh.

Even the others around them stepped back when Lereon summoned thorny stalks from the ground.

Both of them opened their mouths simultaneously as they looked down on the other one.

"Today one of us will die."