“Yeah! Everyone else is in the city, so it’ll be better to ask for help!” Mizuki joined in.
They had a point. However, while they called for help and waited for reinforcements to arrive, the creature would only continue to expand. Their only real chance to defeat it was at this moment while Felmenia was keeping it at bay. If they built a dome around the entire mass of meat to prevent its expansion, the white flames could do the rest.
However, that required a dome of massive scale. As things stood now, the meat was swelling faster than one could be constructed. Therefore, Reiji held the Ishar Cluster at the ready.
“Reiji-kun...?”
“Hey, what’re you planning?”
Ignoring Mizuki and Graziella, Reiji stared into the Lapis Judaix and immersed himself in its glow. He repeated the words it wanted to hear in his mind, yielding himself to the voice in his head, and drew out its power.
Back then, he’d managed it. So, there was no reason he couldn’t repeat the feat. And just as Reiji tried to access the deepest depths of the Lapis Judaix, a black shadow swooped down out of nowhere. It had a human figure. It wasn’t a demon, but Suimei in his black suit.
“Suimei-dono!”
“Suimei-kun!”
“Finally, you’re late.”
The three girls cheered at his arrival as he swept back his long tailcoat and adjusted the fit of his clothes.
“S-Suimei...” Reiji said, completely bewildered by his friend’s sudden appearance.
“Yo, I’m here to help.”
“Oh, right...”
Reiji was partly in a daze at the suddenly anticlimactic turn of events. Interpreting this as shock due to his surprise arrival, Suimei knit his brows.
“Why so surprised?” he asked. “Isn’t this what I’m supposed to do?”
“Aah. Yeah, it is,” Reiji said.
“How are things going elsewhere?” Graziella asked.
“From what I can tell, things are just about cleaned up,” Suimei answered. “This is the only one left in the area.”
“Suimei-kun, are the others alright?” Mizuki asked.
“Yeah. Looks like they managed one way or another,” Suimei said.
“As for us... Sorry,” Graziella said. “It’s as you see.”
“I did see. And it’s alright,” Suimei told her.
“Our skills are poorly matched against it,” Graziella said. “Do you have any good ideas?”
“Huh? You only want good ideas?” Suimei joked.
“Of course. Now’s not the time to be an imbecile,” Graziella told him frankly.
“Well, there’re plenty of ways of handling this,” Suimei responded with a fearless smile. “More than you can ever want.”
With that, he pulled a small bottle from his jacket pocket, opened the lid, and began chanting.
“Heed my words. Saddened by fear, grieving over sorrow, harboring lament for everything in existence. All anguish lies within you. Even in times of peace, the seeds of anxiety will never disappear from this world.”
As Suimei chanted, he poured the content of the bottle into his palm. It was a small spherical object, larger than a bean but smaller than a bulb.
“A seed...?” Graziella muttered.
“Yup. This is best for stuff like this—a Seed of Anxiety.”
Suimei flicked the seed, firing it at the swelling mass of flesh. The meat engulfed it with ease... and nothing happened.
“Hey, that didn’t work at all,” Graziella complained.
“Well, duh. It wasn’t a direct attack or anything,” Suimei told her. “Oh, you guys keep the offensive going. Just do whatever. Tear it, crush it, anything is fine.”
“But Suimei, the regeneration will make our attacks meaningless,” Reiji said.
“I don’t care—just get to it,” Suimei ordered.
“Let’s do it!” Felmenia cried from atop her horse. “If Suimei-dono says it’s for the best, then it’ll work out fine!”
Felmenia trusted Suimei unconditionally. She did exactly as she was told and continued her attack using her white flames. Reiji and Graziella also joined her offensive and launched attacks of their own. Even Mizuki fired magic that mixed several of the Elements—something she’d suddenly been able to use out of the blue.
However, even when crushed by boulders, crystallized by the Ishar Cluster, and burned by white fire, the demon regenerated immediately and returned to its original size.
“Suimei! This really isn’t—”
“Take a closer look,” Suimei said, cutting Reiji off. “It’s fine.”
“Huh?”
Reiji did as he was told and strained his eyes. Upon closer inspection, the regenerated portions of the demon were blackened. What was more, these discolored portions weren’t vanishing. In fact, they were multiplying as the demon continued to expand.
“What is that...?” Graziella mumbled.
“If destroying it is difficult, then conform and transform instead,” Suimei explained. “You can just create an unfavorable condition for it without obstructing its regeneration.”
“Huh. In other words, by altering how it regenerates, you cause it to self-destruct?” Graziella asked.
“Yup, exactly.”
Listening to their conversation, Reiji came to a sudden realization. He knew about this phenomenon.
“Are those cancer cells...?” he guessed.
“Correct. This magicka is based on that concept,” Suimei confirmed. “If the target’s regeneration can’t be stopped, then there’s no point trying to stop it. You let it regenerate everything. By planting it with the Seed of Anxiety, it’ll replicate it all on its own and drive it mad.”
“I see, that makes sense,” Reiji said, clapping his hands in understanding.
“Suimei-kun. This is, like... kinda nasty,” Mizuki said, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Don’t call it nasty,” he complained. “There’s a way to handle everything. Against opponents who regenerate or revive on their own like this, altering the regeneration process works best. Destroying an enemy isn’t the only way of defeating them.”
“I get it. That’s pretty clever,” Mizuki conceded.
“There are other ways of destroying an immortal enemy, but... I’d like to keep that card close at hand,” Suimei said. “All that’s left is to burn it up. Menia, you got this.”
“Yes! Please leave it to me!” Felmenia replied.
She brought her mana furnace to its lower critical point, making full use of it to produce tremendous firepower. The demon that had been regenerating endlessly until moments ago was now only burning away thanks to the Seed of Anxiety Suimei had planted within it.