Sara took a deep breath.

She and Lily encountered Ralph who led a group of former teachers. However, instead of appearing conflicted, they seemed firm and resolved.

The girls thought that they were forced against their wills but it looked more like they wanted to fight them.

"You have caused quite the commotion despite it being so late already." Ralph remarked.

He wore his typical gentle smile even though it did not match him anymore.

"Were you on his side since the beginning...?" Lily asked sternly.

"Does it look like that to you?" Ralph wondered, not breaking his smile.

The answer was obvious.

And not wanting to waste more time, Sara drew her sword and charged at the group of former teachers.

Because she did not attend the academy of Loogam, she did not have any attachments to the people there in comparison to Lily.

The teachers remained calm and fired off their magic at Sara but she dodged them with ease.

It did not take long until she was right in the midst of that group.

"...?"

She was about to cut them all apart, however, the teachers in her reach were suddenly engulfed in a strange black sphere. Thus, the teachers were protected from her sword as the barrier was almost unscathed by her attack.

Then, Sara backed away when she sensed fire coming her way.

"Don’t think that we’re just some mere mobs." Ralph commented.

His smile turned eerie.

However, that smile vanished immediately after hearing the giggle of Sara.

"What’s so funny?" he asked sternly.

"S-sorry but it seems like there’s a misunderstanding...!" Sara said while still laughing.

The barriers around the other teachers dissolved.

"Here’s a question for you. Do you actually believe that we were considering you as threats?" Sara asked, pointing her sword at Ralph.

"..."

Ralph glared at her menacingly.

"Let’s bring this to an end already, Lily."

"Yea-"

But then, Lily was isolated inside a dense sphere created by Ralph.

"Weren’t you taught any manners, little girl...?"

Ralph wielded his staff and made multiple spheres float around Sylvia.

"..."

Her vision was now mostly blocked.

Shortly afterward, those spheres dissolved, exposing the enemies hidden inside them.

They closed in on her with their magics charged up but Sara did not panic. Instead, she held her sword tightly and readied her attack.

"?"

However, her right arm including her sword was now also engulfed in a sphere.

"What now? Without your relic, you’re no threat to us anymore." Ralph scoffed from afar.

Still, Sara did not seem troubled and swung her right arm nonetheless.

"Hm?"

One after another teacher was sent flying to Ralph’s feet.

"What’s going on here...?"

The screams of the teachers slowly came to an end when the last one was lying right in front of Ralph.

"It’s embarrassing to utter my own nickname but I’m still the ’Sword God’, you know? Even if you may have sealed my relic temporarily, I’m still an enemy to be wary of." Sara stated confidently, marching toward Ralph.

"Tch."

Ralph took up his stance and assembled fire around him. At the same time, he used spheres to store the fire and sent them toward Sara.

Those spheres disappeared, letting the fire they each stored out, causing small explosions.

"!"

Ralph widened his eyes when Sara jumped out of the dust with her arm retracted.

He dodged just in time before Sara swung her sealed arm and sword at him.

"Your fire isn’t enough to harm me." Sara said smugly with a few light burn marks on her.

Ralph gritted his teeth.

"Get up already! How long do you intend to rest there?!" he yelled at his comrades.

The teachers got up despite being exhausted.

"Guess it’s time to call for my comrade, too." Sara muttered relaxedly, looking in the direction of the big sphere that contained Lily.

Ralph had the ability to create spheres that should be unbreakable from both inside and outside. Sara may have been capable of destroying said spheres but only because of the ability of her own relic. But usually, it required an abnormal level of power to break through as those barriers could even trap B-rank or even, in rare cases, an A-rank demon.

"...?"

Ralph suddenly turned slightly nervous and directed his gaze at the sphere as well.

From the outside, the sphere was pitch-black, however, it was at that moment when the sphere strangely began to illuminate.

And then, an explosion occurred.

"Uwah!"

"Argh!"

Some of the teachers were blown away.

"I-impossible...!" Ralph muttered in disbelief as he was blinded by the light coming from the explosion.

The light soon faded away and instead of a big sphere, there was nothing anymore. However, there was fire scattered on the ground and it felt like the temperature had risen quite a bit.

"I had to sacrifice a handful of creatures..." Lily murmured.

The sphere that isolated her was not there anymore after she broke it down by converting some of her creatures into magic again and launching that assembled magic power at the barrier from inside.

"Hm?"

Her attention was fixed on Sara’s arm which was sealed inside a barrier.

"Sorry, Lily... But could you take over for me...?" Sara asked clumsily, waving her sealed arm.

"No problem. I wanted to finish things here quickly, too." Lily replied with a small huff.

She summoned 12 fire creatures.

"Damnit...! She was able to break through...?!" Ralph cursed quietly.

He erected a sphere around him and the other teachers. Following that, he created multiple layers by summoning more spheres around the first sphere.

"..."

Lily calmly pointed her wand in the direction of Ralph.

The fire creatures were absorbed by the wand and turned into a small fire ball.

"Not yet..."

Lily put some of her own magic into that small ball which soon changed its color to blue.

"I think I should step back from there..." Sara whispered cautiously.

"..."

Lily looked indifferent.

Although, Ralph was not her main teacher. The two happened to cross each other paths sometimes in the hallway or when he was acting as a substitute teacher.

In the end, he remained engraved in her mind as a kind teacher.

"What a shame, Mr. Arma..." she muttered one last time.

After those words, she fired off a small but dense blue fire beam which pierced the multi-layered sphere effortlessly. The beam even pierced the other end of the sphere and left a devastating trace behind until even far outside of Loogam.

Smoke was emitting from the ground.

"Let’s go, Sara." Lily suggested apathetically.

Sara nodded.

She took a glance at the sphere which was dispersing.

Even the sphere around her right arm was disappearing.

"..."

She was about to shift her gaze to Ralph but looking at the destruction caused by Lily prior to her attack reaching Ralph changed her mind.

There was no need to check as there was no way for them to survive such an attack.

Thus, she and Lily headed to the dorms, leaving the burnt corpses of Ralph and the other teachers behind.

In the meantime, Ophelia and Olivia were busy fighting demons.

Or rather, it was Olivia who was busy.

"..."

Taken aback, Ophelia and even her opponent watched Olivia wiping the floor with the other demon.

Aside from a few bruises, Olivia was practically unscratched as she strangled her opponent.

The fight there began just a few moments ago.

But before Ophelia could begin her fight, Olivia already charged at her opponent and mercilessly attacked the demon.

"He may be one of the lower-ranked ones among the A-ranks but he’s still an A-rank... Just how strong is that woman...?" the other demon pondered baffledly.

Instead of fighting each other, Ophelia and that demon turned into spectators.

"No... It makes sense..." the demon corrected himself after sharpening his gaze.

Contrary to his comrade who was currently about to meet his end, he realized the demonic power coming from Olivia.

"..."

Then, he shifted his field of vision to Ophelia.

"I apologize in advance but I have to take you out now even if this method is cowardly."

The demon straightened his hand and aimed to pierce Ophelia with it.

"...!"

Ophelia dodged just in time but a scratch was left on her stomach.

"I assume that you two are sisters, meaning that you, too, possess the ability to make use of demonic power."

"..."

Ophelia glared sharply at him.

"Ophelia."

"?"

The demon lost his balance after the other demon’s motionless body was thrown at him.

"I will head in first. Take care of him quickly and join me afterward." Olivia stated collectedly.

She could have decided to fight together with Ophelia, guaranteeing their win, however, both she and Ophelia knew that this was not the way they wanted to do it.

Ophelia had her pride after all.

She did not want to be helped by her older sister all the time.

Instead, she wanted to stand and fight on her own feet even if it was not the right time for her pride.

"Leave him to me." Ophelia declared with a firm smile.