The beast tamer exiled from the hero’s party and the cat eared girl from the strongest race meet
"…That is everything I know."
It took about an hour for Mina to tell us everything.
And what she told us was quite a harrowing story…
"I see… So that's what happened to Aggas."
The most shocking revelation from Mina's account was the details surrounding Aggas's death at Arios's hands.
He had tried to betray Arios and the others…
But Arios saw through his intentions and killed him instead.
I had never liked Aggas. If anything, I had a rather poor impression of him.
Even so…
Knowing that he had met his end at the hands of his own companion left me with an indescribable sense of emptiness.
"Still…"
"Meow? What's wrong, Rain? You look troubled."
"Honestly… After hearing all that, how could anyone not look troubled?"
"Tania, do not say such things. Kanade's mind is incapable of contemplating matters on that level."
"An unexpected insult!? That's not what I meant! Rain seemed to be thinking about something else!"
Kanade really did pay close attention to me.
She was right.
Aggas's story was troubling, but there was something else bothering me even more.
"I was wondering… What exactly are Monica's and the demon named Reez's objectives? What are they really after, considering they're behind all these incidents?"
Mina had been told that they wanted peace between humans and demons, but that was almost certainly a lie.
Their actions were far too malicious to belong to people who genuinely sought peace.
Besides, when we made contact with Jiloull of the moderate faction, Reez's name never came up at all.
It was possible that this was simply a coincidence…
But even so, it seemed far too convenient.
Reez wasn't interested in peace.
It was more reasonable to assume that she wasn't part of the moderate faction and had an entirely different objective.
"…That's what I think. But if that's the case, what could her real objective be?"
"Her true objective, you say? It sounds like something complicated and troublesome enough that even Sora and the others wouldn't be able to figure it out easily."
"W-World domination…?"
"Finia, that's a little too cliché."
"Hau…"
"I agree with Rifa-san, too. Rather than being cliché… I don't think demons have such mundane desires in the first place."
Chiffon added her thoughts.
"Of course, I can't say that applies to every single demon…"
"I agree with Chiffon-san. We should assume that they have some other objective."
So even Eris agreed…
I thought the same way as the two of them.
Reez and Monica.
I couldn't shake the feeling that those two were harboring some other scheme.
And whatever it was, I had a terrible feeling that it would be extremely troublesome… and catastrophic.
I wanted to do something about it before things got any worse.
Unfortunately, neither Mina nor Iris knew where their hideout was, making it difficult for us to take the initiative.
"What should we do…?"
Everyone tried to come up with an idea, but we couldn't find a way forward.
Then, just as we were thinking…
…BOOOOOOM!!!
"M-Meow!? What was that!?"
A tremendous explosion rang out.
Immediately afterward, the ground began shaking as though an earthquake had struck.
"What was that!?"
We hurried outside and looked toward the source of the sound—the city.
"What… is that…?"
A gigantic pillar of light had risen into the sky, swallowing the entire city.
Looking closely, I could see numerous smaller pillars of light extending upward.
They formed a circle, surrounding the city like the bars of a cage.
"Is this… a magic circle? But I've never seen one this enormous before… Sora! Luna! Have you ever seen anything like this!?"
When it came to magic, these two were the ones to ask.
I hurriedly turned to them, but Sora and Luna merely furrowed their brows in confusion.
"What is this spell formation…? I have seen something similar before, but its structure is so nonsensical that I cannot make heads or tails of it."
"There is no doubt that it was created artificially, but… I cannot determine exactly what effect it has."
"Zero-Type Prison…? Why would something like that appear here…?"
"Eris?"
Eris seemed to recognize it. She stared at the city—and the enormous magic circle surrounding it—with a look of utter shock.
"Eris, do you know something about this?"
"…Yes."
She gave a small nod, her expression more serious than I had ever seen before.
"I hope I'm mistaken, but… That is a barrier used by the Church, known as the Zero-Type Prison. It isn't something generally known to the public, and this is my first time seeing one in person, so I cannot say for certain, but…"
"The Church…?"
"It is a cruel spell that traps its targets inside the barrier, drains their stamina and magical power, and eventually causes them to die of exhaustion. It is an adaptation of a spell used by demons, which is why it has been designated a forbidden technique. But why would they use it here…?"
Eris, who was normally so calm and composed, was visibly flustered.
That alone showed just how abnormal the situation was.
"Die of exhaustion…? Isn't that really bad?"
"Rain!"
"Yeah, I know!"
We could investigate what was happening later.
Right now, we had to find a way to dispel the barrier.
"Eris, is there a way to dispel it…!?"
BOOOOM!!!
Another tremendous explosion echoed from the direction of the city.
Smoke was rising into the air.
Carried by the wind, I could faintly hear screams as well.
"This is bad, Rain! Those are monsters!"
"And not just monsters. I can sense it… There are demons there, too."
The tension in Luna's and Sora's voices was unmistakable.
The situation was rapidly escalating, spiraling toward the worst possible outcome.
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