WHOOSH!!!

Lucien charges forward with all his might, his body becoming a rapid blur in real-time.

"He’s coming!" Alistair shouts, his countenance showing deep wariness.

Everyone in the team prepares accordingly.

But what could they possibly do to a Leaper like this?

They utilize Armaments and send a barrage of attacks, all of which are immediately repelled by Alistair’s Kinetic Repulsion.

Then, he commands his Magivores to take on the new formation.

Half of them ascend towards the Flying Bug Construct, while the other half focuses on the team in front of him. Just as he had designed in his mind, many of them kept their distance while bombarding Division C-07 with multiple attacks of all kinds.

The grotesque creatures have different forms, so their ranged attacks vary from poisonous liquids to fiery, destructive flames.

Unfortunately, since they are all at Cadre 5, this limits their Mystical Characteristics to Level 5.

It is no match for Level 6 Mystical Characteristics.

Upon consuming Masterwork Potions, each of these Ouroboros Sect members has at least one of such Mystical Characteristics, giving them Special Traits of equivalent value.

This is why Amnesis’s barrier is so effective despite the rapid bombardment of multiple ranged assaults. Despite this great power, they are not without limitations. Flaws are bound to appear in the projectile disruptor, which is why Amnesis must focus on the projectiles that will pass or have passed through and inform Jamie in time.

This allows the young boy to use his Conception to banish those harmful projectiles before they cause any harm to the rest of the team.

All of this must be undertaken while Rias protects Richard, taking down her fair share of adversaries. Richard, while conserving his Interference Power, still has to use Blur to avoid as many Magivores as possible while taking down the ones he can with his Armaments. This reduces the burden on Rias and allows her to fight as much as possible.

Elma, without having to defend Javier, can now fight more opponents.

This gives her less obstruction and far greater damage dealt to the opponent.

Naturally, compared to the rest, she is still somewhat limited in her role. After all, her winds become thinner the further she spreads them, which means it’s most efficient when she defends herself and attacks opponents close to her.

Still, with powerful Armaments by her side, she is able to juggle all of these together while not dragging the team down.

All of these things do not surprise Lucien in the slightest.

Everything has been going in accordance with his arrangements thus far.

’Perfect!’

With a wicked smile underneath his more amiable countenance, he finally closes the distance between himself and his opponents.

Rias tries her hardest to take him down, but his barrier does not let up for a second.

Jamie launches several corrosive projectiles towards him while Alistair does the same with his Wood Transformation. But thanks to his earlier preparations, he is able to use his Magivores as the perfect meat shields.

While under this protection, he has the opportunity to quickly observe the Flying Bug Construct.

’It’s faring as well as I would expect...’ He smiles while returning his focus to the group.

His focus is, naturally, Elma!

Of course, he must first of all pretend to target Richard.

This will trigger a desperate response from both Alistair and Elma. They will do all within their power to protect their ally. This will leave them vulnerable for a moment. He could target Alistair, but since he is an Adept—with quick cognition and an extremely high regenerative ability—it would be tricky to take him down.

This is why Elma is the best option to eliminate.

He can kill her quickly.

However, in order to misdirect his adversaries, Lucien plays around by alternating between the targets of his attacks. All of this is to elicit surprise once he pours a great deal of effort into killing Richard, which would then transform into his true goal.

’Hehe... I believe this should be sufficient!’

After concluding a round with Elma, he thrusts several Expenditure-type Armaments towards the exposed Richard—who was more focused on Elma than himself.

This leaves him severely vulnerable.

However, at this moment, several gusts of wind circle around Richard, and a large wooden shield covers him. The shield is so vast that it even obstructs the man from view, preventing the many Armaments from reaching their target.

But so what?

’I’ve achieved my goal!’

Lucien immediately activates Shadow Transformation and charges at the defenseless Elma.

In this state, he cannot see or hear anything.

He cannot sense anything either.

He also cannot utilize any of his abilities—even his Conception.

But this is only natural.

Since he has transformed into an incorporeal figure, he is unable to interact with the material plane. This also means the material world cannot interact with him. His adversaries cannot touch him in this form—not until he deactivates it.

’Alistair is too far away from Elma to immediately reach her. He would have to use Tracing to reach her immediately. However, I made sure to waste his Interference Power earlier, and at his level of mastery, he’ll need to wait for a few more seconds before he can achieve his goals. It’ll be too late by then. Also, since he already created a powerful construct to protect Richard, even if his mind is quick to notice the changes, his body cannot move that fast!’

A snicker leaves his shadowy form.

Right now, Lucien is overflowing with indescribable confidence.

It isn’t unfounded, either.

After all, with this Shadow Transformation of his, Lucien has been able to achieve many things in the past. He once memorized the overview of an entire city and sneaked in at night, escaping all manner of detection by remaining in his incorporeal form.

Even though he traveled for thirty minutes straight, following complicated paths and avoiding any light source that could expose his shadowy form, he still reached his destination.

No one expected his presence, which made his assassination successful.

This shows just how powerful Lucien’s mind is and how sophisticated his mental model is.

His mind can organize and calculate information, sorting through it by a predictive model that takes all variables into account in order to ensure his victory. Just the same way he studied the entire city he wanted to traverse, he has also studied his adversaries.

After calculating all their abilities and potential resources, even being generous and exceeding their true capabilities by an acceptable margin, he has prepared a perfect outcome.

For example, Rias has gone out of Frontflow at this point, so she can’t be faster than he is at the moment. She can’t protect Elma.

This, among many other things, is a part of Lucien’s calculations!

That is why he is confident.

Just like the many times in the past, he knows it for certain.

His victory is assured.

’It’s over!’

The moment he materializes, Lucien Zevalis reaches out for the target, and the sound of squished flesh echoes out loud.

SQUELCH!

Blood spurts out, and his bloodshot eyes widen.

However...

... It isn’t because of his victory.

’W-what?!’ His face contorts in surprise as he finds his outstretched hand skewered beyond recognition.

It doesn’t take him very long to realize what has just happened.

’T-this is... Graft! ’ His gaze instantly shifts to the man who is meant to be protected by layers of security—the Caster, Richard!

The lanky, pale man breathes heavily while blood trickles down his nostrils and eyes. It’s clear that he has exceeded his limits and has finally run out of Interference Power. He must have squeezed the last of his energy to make the correct decision at the last minute.

But how?

How could he have made such a split-second decision the moment Lucien materialized?

’No, most importantly... what is the meaning of this?’ Lucien Zevalis quickly stares at his unrecognizable arm.

It appears mangled, as though his flesh was torn in multiple locations.

The pale skin barely shows any hint of vitality, with barely any blood leaking out in its pathetic state. Not only has he lost all feeling in the arm, but severe pain and lightheadedness assail him as a result of the current situation.

’But why?’

Based on Lucien’s current understanding of the Conception, Graft is able to exchange the present designated area with a corresponding past or future version. This only applies to a portion of the target, not the whole.

This explains why only his arm has been affected by this Conception.

The problem is the result.

’My arm has not looked like this in the past week, which is the limit of his Rank. Which means this is a future occurrence. But what could possibly cause my arm to become this way?’

Unfortunately, he is unable to conclude his thoughts, as both Elma and Alistair have finally adapted to the situation, which forces him to use Shadow Transformation to avoid all of their attacks and retreat yet again.

’I have to avoid using Tracing! But I can’t resort to Kinetic Repulsion since it requires time to charge. The longer the charge, the more effective it is. With the little time I have to react, it won’t be enough to repel my adversaries...’ He tells himself, feeling a strange feeling growing inside him.

Doubt.

It starts small, but the emotion slowly begins to spread in his mind.

Am I going to lose?

Really?

How?

It makes no sense!

Thinking about it well, there was no way Richard would have been able to use Graft on him unless he was fully aware that he would attack Elma exactly when he did.

But how could he know this?

Lucien already made preparations for all the variables, didn’t he?

’Yet somehow he did! No... not just him!’ Suddenly, his shadowy eyes widen as he quickly realizes what is happening. ’Everyone knew! But they played along with it until the last minute.’

This explains why Alistair used his shield to perfectly obstruct Richard, even though there were more efficient ways to go about it. By blocking Lucien’s view of the Caster, he had ensured that the former would not be able to detect Richard’s focus on him.

It also explains why both Alistair and Elma recovered from their ’shock’ and turned against him as soon as the Graft happened.

They were prepared!

’They knew... But how?!’ The moment he realizes this, Lucien deactivates his Shadow Transformation and notices that he has been surrounded by Richard, Alistair, and Elma.

’They knew where I would be again!’

Before he can react, he suddenly feels a powerful blow press against his chest.

"Guh!"

All his Expenditure-type Defensive Armaments, as well as his main S Grade Armament, shatter upon impact. Smiling in front of him is Rias, and her blazing figure becomes a blurry image to Lucien, whose body shudders from the pain.

’They timed it perfectly... The moment of weakness before I could reactivate Designated Fortification!’ Despite his body experiencing pain and his mind being in a mess, Lucien struggles to maintain his shaky thoughts.

This shocking situation has paralyzed him beyond words.

Still—

’I’m not done yet!’

Having no other choice, he uses Tracing and leaves for a safer position, swiftly taking a Potion to recover from his immediate injuries.

But this is another mistake.

A costly one!

’I am...’ Lucien’s eyes broaden as he sees someone materialize right next to him.

It is Jamie!

"... In his Sphere of Influence?!"

Jamie must have changed his position a while back and used an Invisibility Potion to remain in this position, waiting for Lucien to appear.

Lucien couldn’t have noticed since he was so shaken up by the unexpected counterattacks.

He was also using Shadow Transformation at the moment this happened.

None of the changes reached him in real time.

His Magivores should have been keeping Jamie occupied, but since Richard, Elma, Alistair, and Rias had already left Amnesis’ protective barrier, there really wasn’t a need to stay back to protect his allies any longer.

Thus, Jamie switched his position.

His new location is precisely where Lucien appeared upon Tracing.

"Call..." The boy whispers.

At that moment, death manifests before the Adept Leaper.

A massive wooden stake pierces Lucien in the face, squishing his flesh, bursting his eyes, crushing his skull, and scattering his brain matter everywhere.

Blood and viscera scatter in all directions.

Lucien Zevalis dies.

The Ouroboros Sect wins.