"We won!"

  "We push back a demon invasion!"

  "I'm so gonna brag about this!"

  The students cheered in celebration, even the professors looked so relieved that there were not that many casualties in this invasion.

  Marcus remained quiet, 'No, it's not over yet.'

  At this moment....

  The cheers and roars of victory died down the moment Gerald stood back up.

  "H-Hey, he's getting up..."

  "Impossible..."

  He shouldn’t have been able to.

  Leon’s sword had pierced his heart. His body was torn apart by his fierce mana.

  And yet—

  There he was.

  His demonic red skin cracked and flickered like a mirage, his body shifting as if reality itself struggled to contain him.

  His crimson pupils twisted, forming unnatural spirals as he grinned like a man who had just won everything.

  The professors and elite students reacted instantly, surrounding him from all sides.

  ''Gerald Fortold! You are under arrest!" one of the professors declared, his staff raised, mana flaring.

  "Surrender yourself!"

  But before they could move—Gerald laughed. A deep, mocking and hollowed laugh that would send shivers down anyone's spine.

  And then—

  He activated his magic.

  "Heaven's Wall."

  A pulse of black energy exploded from Gerald’s body.

  The air distorted. The ground trembled.

  And in an instant—

  Everyone was forced backward, their bodies weighed down by an unseen force.

  Leon gasped, his knees nearly buckling under the sheer pressure.

  The professors—even the strongest among them—could barely move, their magic being crushed before they could cast a spell.

  Marcus, watching from the stands, narrowed his eyes.

  "High grade Gravity Magic…?"

  A spell of that level should have been far beyond Gerald’s capabilities.

  Although Heaven's Wall was the weakeat High Grade magic and merely used for defense, it's still not something that can be performed by a student.

  And yet—

  He wielded it as if it were effortless.

  Gerald laughed wildly, stretching his arms toward the sky as he drew a massive magic circle in the air.

  But the symbols—

  The symbols were alien, something that humans cannot comprehend.

  They were twisting, shifting, forming letters and glyphs that no one in the entire academy had ever seen before.

  A forbidden language.

  A devilish chant.

  "Tirn’nal ishka voh’thaz!" Gerald roared, his voice echoing across the heavens.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  The moment the last word left his lips—

  The sky cracked.

  A massive fracture in space appeared above the city, black veins spreading across the sky like a spider’s web.

  Then...

  It opened.

  A colossal eye, bigger than the entire city, stared down upon them from the rift in the sky.

  It was not human.

  It was not mortal.

  It was something that should not exist in this world.

  A primordial being, an ancient horror, a demon beyond comprehension.

  The very air turned heavy with an overwhelming sense of dread, as if the world itself was rejecting its presence.

  Students collapsed, unable to withstand its gaze.

  Professors, despite their vast experience, felt a chill run down their spines—a primal terror that whispered in their ears.

  Even Athena, for the first time, showed a flicker of discomfort.

  And Marcus?

  Marcus simply stared.

  His fists clenched.

  His breath unsteady.

  Because he recognized it.

  In the original novel—this was never supposed to happen. This demon—this entity—was not supposed to appear yet.

  And yet, here it was.

  Was him just watching the match causes such a drastic change that a mythical demonic creature appeared so early in the story?

  'Although Leon dealt with this creature in the later volumes, but for now he was way too weak to handle this.'

  Gerald grinned, his cracked demonic body barely holding together as he raised a single hand.

  A black string shot out from his palm, connecting to the colossal eye in the sky.

  And then—

  He pulled.

  Slowly—inch by inch—the eye began to descend, tearing apart the very fabric of space as it tried to enter the world.

  Gerald laughed maniacally, his voice twisted with ecstasy.

  "Behold!" he screamed. "Behold the great devourer! The eater of mana! The consumer of souls! This summoning spell was taught to me by the demon king himself to destroy humanity!"

  The very ground shook, buildings cracked, and mana itself began to thin, as if the world’s lifeblood was being drained away.

  Gerald turned to Leon, his mad grin widening.

  "You thought you won, worm?! You thought you were strong?!" He spread his arms wide. "But now, ALL OF YOU ARE NOTHING BUT FOOD!"

  And in that moment—

  The colossal eye blinked.

  And the world itself shuddered in response.

  "S-STOP HIM!"

  The professors attacked desperately, their spells bombarding Gerald in a desperate attempt to stop his summoning.

  "Cease this madness, Gerald!" one of the senior mages bellowed, unleashing a barrage of fire and wind spells.

  But—

  Nothing worked.

  The moment their magic approached him, it was crushed by his superior gravity field, dissipating into nothingness before it could even touch him.

  Leon gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his sword.

  "Gerald! Stop this!" he roared, his voice filled with desperation. "You’re going to get everyone killed!"

  But Gerald, he only laughed. A deep, guttural, bone-chilling laugh.

  "Stop? You want me to stop? Hahahaha! Fool!" His eyes gleamed with insanity. "I have already won! This world will be devoured, and I will become one with the abyss itself!"

  The colossal eye above twitched, the very space warping as a low, reverberating hum echoed across the arena.

  "STOP IT!"

  "NO!"

  And then—

  A bolt of lightning tore through the heavens.

  CRACK!

  A thunderclap so loud that it shook the entire city followed an instant later.

  A blinding golden-white light descended.

  And then—BOOM!

  An explosion erupted, sending a shockwave so powerful that even the strongest professors and students were flung backward.

  Dust and debris were kicked up into a storm, obscuring all vision.

  Even Gerald—who had withstood countless spells—was forced to stagger, his body smoking, burnt flesh peeling from his arms.

  For the first time—his manic grin wavered.

  His golden spiraling pupils darted to the side.

  And there...

  Floating above them all...

  Was Marcus Rey Dimitri.

  A pair of crackling lightning wings extended from Marcus’s back, their energy arcing wildly as they radiated an overwhelming pressure.

  Lightning coiled around his body like a living entity, his golden eyes gleaming with an intensity that sent a shiver down the spine of all who looked upon him.

  Beside him, equally majestic, was Athena Syr Olympia.

  Her flowing silver-white hair gleamed under the flickering sky, and a faint aura of spatial distortion surrounded her.

  Even among monsters, even among heroes, their presence was undeniable.

  They were absolute.

  Marcus hovered in the air, his gaze locked onto Gerald with an expression of undisguised arrogance.

  And then—

  He spoke.

  "I was just gone for a few days, and this happens?" His voice, laced with disdain, echoed across the battlefield. "Pathetic. You lot can't even handle such trash without my help."

  "M-Marcus..." Leon struggled to raise his head after getting flung away by the blast. His hopeful eyes stared at the man he once fought.

  Yes, if it was him. If Marcus was here, he'd certainly be able to deal with this.

  "Marcus, you finally decided to make a move." A professor sighed in relief, as if Marcus' presence was enough to reassure him.

  Gerald, despite his injuries, grinned wickedly. "Oh? And here I thought the noble Marcus Rey Dimitri was just going to keep watching from the stands like a coward."

  Marcus scoffed. "A coward? No. I simply wanted to see if you were worth my time."

  His golden eyes gleamed as he raised a hand, lightning crackling at his fingertips.

  "And now, I see that you are not."

  Athena, floating beside him, sighed softly, her golden laurel glinting.

  "Marcus, enough talking. We need to deal with that." She tilted her head toward the colossal eye that still loomed above them.

  Marcus followed her gaze, his smirk fading slightly as he clicked his tongue. "Tch. Ugly thing."

  Athena gave him a side glance. "The eye or Gerald?"

  Marcus shrugged. "Both."

  A faint, almost imperceptible smirk crossed Athena’s lips.

  But then—

  Her expression turned serious as she extended her hand, spatial distortions rippling around her.

  "No more delays. Let’s erase them. I'll deal with Gerald, can you handle that thing above?"

  Marcus’s smirk widened.

  "Who do you think I am?"

  And with that—

  Lightning and space magic surged toward the battlefield, shaking the heavens themselves.