I adopted a child demon from the Gap, and I'm a special agent for the Bureau of Supernatural Ab

[After all, I don't know what that thing is. If it's some kind of weapon capable of covering the entire barrier, my situation would be really bad.]

Li Cheng spoke the truth.

[There's no need to worry about that. Although we don't know what that big sphere is, it's definitely not a weapon. It's probably some kind of conceptual construct, a collection of conceptual things. Such things are usually not offensive, but if left unchecked, it probably won't lead to anything good. Of course, we can handle this; there won't be any problems.]

Sensing Li Cheng's genuine worry, Zi softened her voice and explained things to him properly.

Okay, I got it. Just be careful anyway.

After ending the call, Li Cheng rubbed his temples, closed his eyes, and tried to calm himself down.

"What is that ball?"

Wu Ming, who arrived a little later, also noticed the floating sphere above the central tower and couldn't help but ask a question.

"It seems to be something called a conceptual construct or something. It's said to be non-aggressive, but I always feel that it's something that would be terrifying once it's completed."

"I see. Although I don't understand what that construct is at all, it's something we have to find a way to stop, right? But speaking of which, Senior Li Cheng, you specifically mentioned that person named Aleister when you were exchanging information earlier, that he deliberately captured Touma Kamijou?"

Wuming brandished the short knife in his hand, then suddenly brought up another topic.

"Well, what's wrong? Do you have any thoughts on this?"

Li Cheng immediately realized that Wu Ming must have thought of something.

"An esper inexplicably kidnaps an ability user, and a low-level ability user registered as C-rank. If it's just to keep you in this city, it seems a bit far-fetched. Perhaps, Kamijou himself does have something that makes him worth his time."

Wu Ming analyzed the situation carefully, and Li Cheng quickly understood what he wanted to express.

"Imagine Killer?"

The most mysterious and peculiar power that comes from Touma Kamijou himself.

At the very beginning, everyone in Team Six had doubts about Touma Kamijou's power. His basic physical abilities weren't strong enough, he hadn't had any formal combat training, and he was basically just a kid who hadn't fully grown up yet. As for his so-called superpower, after the C-rank limitation, the members of Team Six didn't take it seriously at all.

But the reality is that this boy, with his C-level ability, is able to directly challenge B-level or even A-level magicians and ability users. As long as the enemy's physical abilities don't overwhelm him, his incredibly magical right hand will definitely be able to defeat those opponents who are clearly much stronger than him.

Many people, including Li Cheng and Kiritsugu Emiya, found it hard to understand how Touma Kamijou, despite being rated a C-rank esper, could directly confront an A-rank grand magic or powerful esper. The ability called Imagine Breaker, which could completely disregard the intensity of energy and erase it, seemed utterly unscientific to Li Cheng.

If we had to pinpoint the most unique feature of Touma Kamijou, it would definitely be his right hand.

"So, Aleister wants to use Touma Kamijou's right hand to eliminate something?"

Li Cheng attempted to deduce the reasoning.

“If we don’t confront it head-on, we won’t be able to figure this out,” Wu Ming raised his head and looked at the large sphere in the distant sky that was gradually becoming clearer. His expression suddenly turned sharp. “Speaking of which, Senior Li Cheng, that sphere seems to be becoming more and more like Earth. Don’t you think so?”

"I've had this feeling since the beginning. I really don't understand what Aleister is trying to do."

High in the sky, the white, illusory sphere gradually evolved into the shape of Earth. From a great distance, Li Cheng could even vaguely see mountains and plains on it, and they were becoming more and more detailed.

A crimson light began to slowly spread from the surface of the white sphere, and a dense magical power could be sensed clearly even from a great distance. In just a minute or two, the enormous sphere in his field of vision was completely covered in crimson, and Li Cheng could feel the astonishing magical power contained within it.

"Could this thing be some kind of super-sized magic bomb that's going to blow this city to smithereens?"

Feeling the surging magic, Li Cheng couldn't help but speak softly.

"While from a purely self-interested perspective, the other party probably wouldn't do something so pointless, to be honest, I'm also a little worried about this situation arising..."

Because he was a magician, Wuming knew even better than Li Cheng how terrifying the magical power within that giant sphere was; his face was already somewhat pale.

A blurry white barrier blocked all communication between the inside and outside, while a huge blood-red orb of light hovered above the city center, radiating a nauseatingly thick magical power.

It was at this time that news of the former prime minister's disappearance reached Lee Seung's ears.

The former prime minister, who had entered Academy City with Kiritsugu Emiya and then joined the group of travelers, was found alone in a room by a patrolling officer, Shin, who discovered that he had disappeared from his room at some point. Rin's investigation revealed traces of spatial teleportation within the room, suggesting that someone had used teleportation magic to take the former prime minister away from this temporary residence.

"They kidnapped someone at this time? Could it be the work of those infiltrating magicians? But our security is pretty good; there shouldn't have been any chance of them infiltrating."

Standing where the former prime minister had stood, Rin was completely baffled as to how the enemy had managed to sneak into the Sixth Group's defenses.

“It’s not necessarily because an enemy infiltrated; it’s also possible that he chose to leave on his own,” Wuming said, gently tracing the burn marks left by the teleportation magic. “Don’t forget that the former prime minister was also a B-rank magician, capable of activating teleportation magic.”

"If he's going to go on his own, there's even less reason to do it. Why would he leave the group and run into a dangerous city by himself? It's not like that guy is actually up to something, is it?"

"Who knows? Anyway, whatever the reason, we'll find out soon enough. In any case, we should set off now."

After obtaining Zi's message that "everything is ready" through the contract, Li Cheng stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention.

Meanwhile, at the same time, the guard robots that were theoretically out of control around the central tower had somehow all gathered near the tower, quietly filling the huge plaza around it, numbering in the thousands.

Aleister stood atop the central tower, his wand rising upwards, a beam of light connecting to the massive sphere of light in the sky. He himself stood silently, eyes closed, as if asleep.

Suddenly, as if sensing something, Aleister opened his eyes and looked at the road ahead.

"Have they arrived?"

Before he could finish speaking, a straight arrow arrived from a great distance in an instant, landing right before his eyes.

A mere magic arrow—

Broken Phantasm

With a deafening roar, the arrow exploded violently in front of Aleister, instantly covering most of the central tower. The central tower, almost completely destroyed, collapsed with a loud bang.

The next moment, more flames began to burst forth in this huge square.

…………

Thank you to the readers Terrifying Rabbit, Hanyu Ringo, Sin Demon King EX, Niomiya Yakumo, Wusang, Tenmei Dream Seeker, Kazee no Suiyou Flying, Wu Shengqin, Book Guest 88249770284, and Wu~Sang for their recommendation votes.

This chapter is 4k2, and with the 1k bonus chapter added over the past few days (a few hundred words), I still owe 48k.

Section 351, Chapter 30: Illusion, and the Making of a Hero!

Amidst the deafening explosion, Li Cheng burst forth from a gap, his purple demonic power spreading through the surrounding air. He then reached out and gently pulled forward, instantly severing dozens of guard robots in front of him in half.

At the same time, arrow after arrow flew towards the collapsing central tower, each arrow imbued with astonishing power, unleashing unimaginable destructive force. The explosion caused such intense light pollution that even Li Cheng, who was extremely far away, felt as if he were being blinded.

The power of the "Fantasy Collapse" technique is truly not to be underestimated.

However, if it's only at this level, it probably has no meaning for an unreasonable being like the Transcendent One, right?

Just as Li Cheng was thinking this, a crisp sound rang out from the central tower area, which had been engulfed in flames and dust due to the continuous violent explosions. Then, the flames and dust quickly receded, revealing the completely collapsed central tower and Aleister suspended in mid-air.

Not to mention being injured, there wasn't even a hint of dirt on his clothes. The Transcendent is indeed an unreasonable existence.

A strong sense of crisis surged through Li Cheng's nerves. Almost without hesitation, he slipped into the gap and appeared on the other side of the square in the blink of an eye. Where he had been standing, a dark light accompanied by an extremely distorted sound rippled through the space, and a large area of ​​space was instantly warped.

If you were hit by this kind of attack, there's probably no need to consider saving your life, right?

Li Cheng did not stop, because an even faster spatial distortion appeared at the location he had moved to. This kind of grand magic, which even top magicians would need a long time to prepare before it could be activated, was a skill that Aleister could perform instantly without any pre- or post-cast animation. At the same time as he was chasing Li Cheng, he even unleashed a blue light blast containing powerful magic, which directly vaporized the tall building where Wuming was standing.

Wuming jumped out before the building was bombarded, and in mid-air, he fired three more arrows at Aleister. These three arrows exploded violently, but still did not cause Aleister even the slightest damage.

While dodging the spatial distortion in the plaza, Li Cheng noticed that the flames from the explosions didn't touch Aleister at all. An invisible wall completely blocked all the attacks, but it didn't stop him from simultaneously pursuing Li Cheng and Wu Ming.

“Your actions are meaningless. Those who have not reached the level of the Transcendent cannot cross the threshold to fight on equal terms with the Transcendent. The magic power consumed in fighting you is not even as fast as my own magic power recovers. This is just a waste of your own power.”

High in the sky, Aleister calmly spoke, tapping his wand lightly. A violent shockwave spread outwards from him, and with a deafening roar, all buildings and the ground within a radius of several kilometers were pulverized. A massive storm even rose tens of kilometers into the air. Then, he tapped his wand again, and gravity hundreds of times that of Earth suddenly descended, instantly causing the several kilometers of ruins to collapse dozens of meters downwards.

We didn't see those two people. Did they escape using the teleportation ability from the Gap Demon?

Aleister stretched out his hand behind him, and an invisible barrier opened in his palm, blocking the force coming from behind. But then he frowned, as a black flame had somehow started burning his sleeve. With a cold snort, the flame disappeared, leaving behind a charred sleeve.

"Flames from the Netherworld Valley of Death? No wonder they could penetrate my defenses. If it's that person's power, I really don't have a good way to deal with it. But—"

Looking at the letter behind him, which was firmly fixed in mid-air by the sealed space, Aleister said leisurely.

"However, only that person can pose a real threat to my life. Your strength is not enough to fully unleash that power."

Although killing that person's disciple would inevitably invite hostility and assassination attempts, at this moment, for the sake of his years of planning, he no longer had so many concerns.

A purple light wave suddenly struck from a black rift behind him. The light wave penetrated the spatial defenses and struck with great destructive power, but it stopped just before hitting Aleister and quickly disappeared into the air. Then, Li Cheng, who had been hiding in the rift, was pulled out directly from the rift.

"Is it because that person was overexerted that you, who are only A-rank, were sent to attack in an attempt to disrupt my operations?"

Aleister, whose expression remained calm throughout, effortlessly located Nameless, who was hiding in a pile of ruins more than 600 meters away, and teleported him directly to his side, securing him with the same spatial sealing technique.

The only one capable of defeating a transcendent is someone of equal power—this is an unshakeable common sense, and the gap monster should be well aware of this. Yet, the attackers were only three A-rank beings. Does this mean that she has exhausted herself and is no longer able to continue high-intensity combat?

Without hesitation, he crushed the three captured people with a space-sealing technique, leaving not even a trace of blood. Aleister calmed down and went to search for the trace of the gap monster.

"...Even his thought process was almost disrupted. I must say, he truly lives up to his reputation as a flower magician who has survived from the legendary era to the modern era."

Suddenly, Aleister stopped what he was doing.

The shattered houses had somehow returned to their original state, as if the horrific destruction caused by Aleister's attack had never happened. And naturally, the three A-ranks he should have killed were standing perfectly still at the edge of the plaza not far away, while he himself was already almost out of the plaza.

Only the central tower actually collapsed. Does that mean the spell was activated when the man with the strange connection to the Gap Demon entered the arena?

Aleister looked behind the group and saw a white-haired girl sitting on the edge of a tall building.

"With your eyes that can see through the present, you can certainly know what's happening here easily, but you have no reason to interfere, Merlin?"

As Aleister teleported back to the ruins of the central tower, he cautiously asked...

"I only get involved in things because it's fun, I don't need any other reason," the girl called Merlin replied with a smile. "And, Aleister, what you're about to do this time is beyond terrifying."

She looked up at the huge, blood-red Earth model in the sky.

"What are you trying to do by creating this conceptual entity? Destroy the world? If that's the case, I won't have any fun left. Even I can't accept something so boring."

"Does that mean there's no room for negotiation?"

Clearly understanding the meaning in the girl's tone, Aleister stopped talking and instead gathered his magic power once more.

The magic used in the illusion during the previous battle with those three A-ranks was not actually used in reality, yet my magic power was genuinely depleted. It seems that in the upcoming battle, I must dedicate some of my power to protecting my consciousness to avoid being affected again.

Knowing full well the identity of the seemingly young girl opposite him, Aleister had no intention of holding back and unleashed his full magical power. The girl, seeing this, gave a wry smile, her face clearly showing that she was in trouble.

"It's so annoying. I really, really hate fighting and sweating."

As she spoke, the girl stood up, and a huge black wooden wand, almost as tall as herself, appeared in her hand, decorated with many golden parts.

"I'm not going to take responsibility for the fighting, so I'm leaving it to you. You've put in so much effort, you should at least do something in return, right?"

As the girl spoke, a rift silently opened in the plaza, and a purple figure slowly emerged from it, standing in front of Aleister.

"So, shall we call this the second round?"

Aleister ignored Violet's words and launched an attack without hesitation.

The dazzling burst of magic instantly swept across the enormous plaza and then rapidly spread outwards to the surrounding city.