Nirva's expression hardened at Elisa Willow's appearance.
Previously, he might have been able to deal with her calmly, but now he couldn’t.
'There shouldn't be a way for her to find and target me from the Infinite Prison.'
The Infinite Prison, when viewed from the outside, is a massive sphere with a hole only at the top.
But its interior was a mix of all kinds of dreams and spaces, boasting a capacity close to infinity.
Even if you were right nearby, it was impossible to move if you couldn't cross to another field through a door.
"No matter how talented you are, calculating this huge prison itself would take at least 3 days."
And she did it at once? Without showing any signs of fatigue?
"The answer to that problem is separate."
Julia said that and created a magic formula on her hand.
To Nirva, it was a formula that was impossible to understand.
"What is that?"
"Have you heard of [Source Code]?"
"Source, Code?"
"Yes. You wouldn't have heard of it. It's fairly new to begin with. Not widely known either."
Of course.
This source code was a new form of magic created by an individual.
"It's Professor Rudger Chelici’s work."
A kind of tool to make magic faster and easier to manifest.
That's why Rudger taught this source code to only a very small number of students and in pieces, splitting it into 4 frameworks.
And Julia Plumhart was...
One of the students who received the complete [Source Code] from Rudger after ranking in the top 5 in all exams held during the first semester.
What Nirva reacted violently to was one man's name.
Rudger Chelici.
"That, that man again!"
That man who fought on equal terms with him through individual prowess.
That man whom he barely managed to put to sleep by threatening a hostage.
Is he grabbing his ankle again?
'How did he come up with this idea? Can a human come up with it? Or is it some kind of power he received from a god?'
Nirva felt dizzy.
From the extraordinary magic called Source Code that Rudger created, to the idea behind it, nothing made sense.
It couldn't be understood.
What he didn't know was that even modern magicians didn't properly understand the source code Rudger created, and couldn't fully accept its radical nature.
It couldn't be understood because the source of that thought, which he believed was created by an individual, came from future knowledge of another world.
That countless geniuses had put in effort over a long time to create that knowledge.
Even Nirva, a dream demon, couldn't possibly understand.
"This...! How dare you!"
Nirva raised his sand-made prosthetic arm to point at Julia.
He intended to crush that delicate neck, bones and all, with the pressure of sand.
But before that, a pink magic bullet flew toward him, and Nirva had to switch his prosthetic arm to defensive mode.
"Isn't this too much? No matter how crazy you've gone, while I'm standing right here, to ignore me like that? As a lady, I'm deeply hurt."
Nirva's face contorted at the thought of being interrupted.
"Lady? After aging as much as you have, now you..."
Nirva's head flew off cleanly above the chin as he was about to shout.
"Oh my, I couldn't help myself."
Elisa placed a hand on her cheek and shook her head.
Watching this from behind, Sedina and Julia felt chills down their spines.
'P-Principal, you're a terrifying person.'
'I must never make her angry.'
-Shiiik.
Dream sand gathered above Nirva's severed chin.
After regenerating his head, Nirva stared at Elisa with an incomprehensible gaze.
'What's this?'
Just now, he couldn't react at all to Elisa's attack.
It was a bit different from the attacks Elisa had shown before.
The power had weakened, but it was much faster and more precise.
Even saying the power had weakened was relative to her usual wide-range attacks; just looking at how she just blew off his head, the lethality was plenty.
It's different from fighting based on weight class until now.
The techniques were becoming increasingly refined.
"Did you...hide your strength?"
Nirva couldn't understand.
He had already gathered information about Elisa Willow beforehand.
At least the Elisa Willow he knew didn't fight like this.
Moreover, she didn't have any hidden powers.
"Are you surprised? You might well be. You can read an opponent's past and information through dreams, and immediately gauge their level."
Fighting one-on-one with Nirva was essentially like laying all your cards on the table.
Unless you had too many cards to read like Rudger, starting a fight with Nirva meant starting at a disadvantage.
That should have been the case.
"I didn't hide any power. This is just me taking on a new challenge."
"A new challenge? What nonsense..."
"Please don't take humans too lightly."
Elisa smiled but her eyes pierced through Nirva more sharply than anyone else, like a well-honed blade.
"A person who struggles with their best at every moment... can do anything."
"Huh."
Nirva realized Elisa's sincerity.
Despite appearing relaxed, she was genuinely trying her best to fight him with every word.
Just as a swan floating on water looks graceful but paddles harder than anyone beneath the surface.
The same was true for Elisa Willow.
"And have you forgotten? The signal is still being sent."
No sooner had Elisa finished speaking than the doors of the 3D maze opened with a clatter.
Soon, new people arrived through the open doors.
"Little one! So this is where you were!"
"We came to rescue you!"
"You demon! This time I'll bring you down for good!"
The Dream Walkers, including Clara Cowen.
"So this is where you were hiding. Nirva."
And Franz, exuding hatred.
"Oh. I was told there was some kind of signal, and I find an interesting scene unfolding."
"We almost took a wrong turn."
"If only someone hadn't been stirring things up trying to hunt."
The Owens, wearing white masks to hide their identities.
"Principal! We've come to help too!"
"Are the children safe?"
Even the teachers from Theon who followed the signal.
Front, back, left, right, up, down.
Doors in the 3D maze opened, and people who had found the signal poured out.
Surrounded on all sides, Nirva was literally like a poisoned rat.
'To think that I, by mere humans...'
Nirva barely suppressed the desire to kill them all.
He had to face the immediate reality.
Right now, he was surrounded by the humans he so despised. If he fought here, he would be the one to lose.
'There's no point in being stubborn.'
Things might have been different if he had fought with everything from the beginning but it was too late to turn back now.
He had to make a choice too.
-Bang!
Nirva raised his prosthetic arm and struck the ground.
The dream sand that had been rippling around spread out in all directions like waves in concentric circles.
It was a wide-range attack, but people gathered here were able to respond to it.
-Crack!
The sand waves split as a sword strike hit Nirva's prosthetic arm.
With a 'kagak' sound, sparks flew.
Nirva gritted his teeth and deflected Alex's sword.
However, he couldn't block Pantos’ harpoon that came flying immediately after.
-Thump!
The harpoon pierced through his side.
His side was torn out in a circle, and golden blood flowed out.
'Regeneration is slow!'
Nirva realized that there was a strange power imbued in this harpoon, something fundamentally different from dream energy.
'Is this the Spirit that the beast people are said to use?'
In that Spirit, there was a strong will to certainly kill the prey.
In some sense, it was also connected to dream energy, which is the embodiment of mind and imagination.
-Puhwak!
Nirva roughly stirred up a sandstorm around him to block the next attack.
It wasn't an offensive action, but rather to obscure vision.
Immediately after, Nirva placed his hand on the floor and removed the block underneath.
The choice he made was to flee.
"He's running away!"
"Don't let him escape!"
The quick-witted ones rained attacks to stop Nirva.
Nirva threw himself into the open hole in the floor.
In the process, he suffered injuries all over his body from incoming attacks.
Another maze unfolded in the newly created passage.
Nirva intended to shake off the humans here.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Franz stuck close behind Nirva and swung his dagger.
Nirva twisted his body urgently.
"Kuk!"
The dagger, aimed at his neck, cut a long gash across his cheek.
It was a dagger that had blown away his arm without even allowing it to regenerate.
The obsession, resentment, and anger imbued in that blade carved an indelible scar on his cheek.
Franz mocked Nirva.
"Pathetic. To think that such an arrogant demon would tuck its tail and run from humans."
"Shut up!"
Nirva only expressed his anger in words, not stopping his escape.
He kept opening doors, twisting spaces, and continuing to flee.
'This won't work. Those persistent ones have no intention of letting me go.'
At this point, he needed to devour humans during his escape to gradually recover his strength.
If he could drag this out into a long battle, he might see a chance of victory.
"Soldiers!"
The ceiling wall opened wide, and Samnium Terracotta poured out.
The soldiers, clad in sand armor, clung to the pursuers like zombies.
Nirva used that opportunity to widen the distance.
-Kwang!
Nirva now had no time to open spaces and simply moved by breaking through walls.
Moving incessantly in search of life force, Nirva eventually found a group of students.
"Found them!"
Like someone who discovered an oasis in the desert, Nirva exuded a vicious aura as he rushed toward the students.
The students were surprised by Nirva's sudden appearance.
After all, a hook-nosed old man with golden eyes, moving with swirling sand, couldn't possibly be a normal human.
"W-what is that!"
"Run away!"
The students were about to scatter like sheep confronted by a wolf, but there were some who stood their ground instead of fleeing.
Flora Lumos was one of them.
Nirva's gaze turned to Flora, who was clearly staring at him.
She was a girl who contained the most energy among the gathered students.
Eating just her alone would give him at least the strength of 100 ordinary humans.
"Get away!"
Flora deployed a defensive spell in that short time.
Nirva's sand hand thrust down onto the barrier.
A quite intense repulsive force was felt.
For a spell used by a mere student, its refinement was outstanding.
Seeing that there was even dream energy slightly mixed in, her talent was clearly extraordinary.
Nirva's mouth watered.
Though there was a strangely different apostle's energy emanating, Nirva had no time to confirm it now.
Devour to recover strength.
And survive.
With that intense survival instinct burning through everything, Nirva put strength into his prosthetic arm.
The defensive magic shattered like thin ice.
Amidst the scattering fragments, Flora's eyes saw Nirva reaching out with his sand-made hand.
And also someone's sturdy back blocking in front of it.
-Pa-ang!
The air, unable to withstand the collision of forces, pushed out with a rough sound.
Flora, not even thinking to fix her hair blown by the wind, stared at the person who had saved her.
"How dare you."
Rudger, who had blocked Nirva's arm with one hand, muttered with an irritated expression like someone who had just woken from sleep.
"Try to touch my student!"