"A brat like you doesn't need both of us. I can handle you alone!"
"Slanzoni! Caitlin!"
Doll spread his thick arms and roared the names of the two dolls floating beside him.
At his command, both puppets shot forward and opened their mouths, unleashing torrents of scorching flame that spread toward Gray from two directions at once.
Gray brought one fist into his open palm, completing his Ice-Make in an instant.
A forest of thorned ice spears erupted around him like a violent storm, piercing straight through the incoming flames and snuffing them out before they could reach him.
Despite their cute appearances, the two dolls possessed combat power completely at odds with their looks.
They darted through the cavern while firing repeated jets of superheated flame, circling overhead like a pair of airborne bombers and continuously forcing Gray to create more ice to defend himself.
"My daughters can produce flames hot enough to melt anything!" Doll laughed arrogantly. "You think that pathetic ice of yours can stop them?"
Rustyrose, who had so far remained on the sidelines, glanced over with a sneer.
"You gave dolls names and call them your daughters? You're surprisingly childish for a grown man."
Doll immediately whipped his head around and glared at him, but before he could start another argument, Gray's energetic voice rang across the cavern.
"If you two hate each other that much, I might as well freeze you together!"
The dolls continued pouring out Gatling-like streams of fire, melting layer after layer of Gray's ice, but the frozen constructs suddenly changed color.
In the span of a heartbeat, pure white ice darkened into a deep, ominous black, and the situation instantly reversed as the black frost spread through the flames themselves and froze the entire barrage in midair.
"Black ice?!"
Rustyrose's pupils contracted. He reacted at once, pressing two fingers to his temple as his magic surged.
"Guardian Sacred Beast—Belfast of the Hurricane!"
His imagination took physical form, producing a gigantic horned monster clad in heavy steel armor.
The beast lunged forward alongside Doll's two puppets, three summoned creatures attacking Gray at once, yet the black ice spreading from Gray behaved almost like a plague.
Anything that came into contact with it was infected by the freezing force, allowing the unnatural frost to crawl from one target to the next until flames, dolls, summoned beasts, and even the surrounding cavern walls were gradually sealed beneath darkness.
Within seconds, the sweltering volcanic cave had become a cavern of black ice.
Rustyrose planted his fingers harder against his temple as sweat rolled down his cheek, but instead of backing away, he began laughing wildly.
"Fear makes my imagination even stronger! Just watch what I can—"
He never finished.
Rustyrose's Arc of Embodiment allowed him to materialize whatever horrors his imagination could produce, but when it came to shaping magic itself, Gray had long since surpassed a man who had neglected his craft for years.
A black blur crossed the distance between them.
Gray launched himself forward like a cannonball and appeared directly in front of Rustyrose, his fist already descending toward the man's face.
"Dark Blade!"
Rustyrose reacted in panic, transforming one arm into a monstrous claw and driving it straight through Gray's chest.
For one brief instant he thought he had landed a fatal blow, but the moment he felt the strange texture beneath his fingers, horror replaced triumph.
"Dynamic Ice-Make… an ice clone."
The body shattered apart.
Gray had long since reached the point where he could switch freely between Dynamic and Static Ice-Make, even blending both disciplines together in the middle of battle. In terms of pure shaping ability, he might already have surpassed even Ur.
The real Gray had slipped behind Rustyrose without a sound.
He raised both hands into position, a mocking smile on his face.
"You've gotten weaker since last time."
Magic exploded from between his palms.
Dark power spread across his body as enormous masses of black ice condensed around his right arm, thickening layer by layer until they formed a gigantic armored gauntlet.
"Ice-Make—"
Gray's gaze sharpened.
He surged forward and drove the massive black fist into Rustyrose's back.
"Demon King's Forearm Armor!!"
The black-ice armor was harder than steel, and the impact struck Rustyrose squarely along the spine.
He screamed as the blow launched him across the cavern, his body bouncing several times along the ground before finally tumbling to a stop.
Cold sweat poured down his face, and the pain was so severe that he couldn't even force out another word.
"You left yourself open!"
Doll's voice suddenly came from behind Gray.
While Gray had been finishing Rustyrose, Doll had already ordered his "daughters" back into motion, and both puppets rushed toward Gray's exposed back from opposite directions.
"Open?"
The corner of Gray's mouth rose.
He spoke almost under his breath.
"Ice-Make… Silver World."
Black cold exploded outward from his body.
The wave spread in every direction at once, freezing both dolls in midair before Doll could even react.
The broad man's face was still twisted into a triumphant grin when frost climbed across his body, sealing him completely inside a solid block of ice.
Gray walked over at an unhurried pace.
An ice greatsword formed in his hand.
Without the slightest hesitation, he brought it down.
The frozen shell shattered violently, and Doll burst out of the ice with his eyes rolled back before collapsing to the ground, his condition impossible to judge at a glance.
"So much for getting a good fight…"
Gray scratched his head with obvious disappointment.
"Should've never told Happy to come pick me up afterward."
With the battle apparently finished, he shoved his hands into his pockets and started leisurely toward the cavern entrance.
Then Rustyrose's strained voice came from behind him.
"Don't… underestimate…"
Gray stopped.
"…the power of a demon!"
He slowly turned back toward the two opponents who should already have been incapable of fighting.
Rustyrose's body began swelling.
The injuries Gray had just inflicted disappeared at an unnatural speed as flesh and bone reconstructed themselves, and within moments the man had transformed into a towering winged demon.
Doll changed as well.
His enormous frame expanded into something resembling a demonic bear, while the two puppets broke free from the remaining ice around them and twisted into vicious little flying demons of their own.
Rustyrose bared a mouthful of fangs and laughed hideously.
"This power…"
His eyes burned with renewed madness.
"It's given me all kinds of wonderful ideas about how to torture you!"
Doll looked equally delighted, his two demonic puppets circling around him as he stared at Gray like a predator examining prey.
"Oh?"
Gray's interest immediately returned.
He turned fully toward the two creatures, both now standing nearly three times his height, and narrowed his eyes.
"This is bringing back some unpleasant memories."
Then he smiled.
"But maybe that's a good thing."
Gray grabbed the front of his loose shirt and tore it away in one motion, exposing his muscular upper body.
Black markings immediately began spreading across the right half of his body as his demonic transformation emerged once again.
With his hair swept back and half his face transformed into that of a demon, Gray's smile became downright frightening.
"Then this time…"
His voice dropped.
"I'll freeze your imagination too."
Dark ice gathered around him as Ice Devil Slayer power flooded the cavern.
"Using magic made specifically to hunt demons."
...
"This beautiful young lady! Please put down that fat cat, or I'll be forced to get rough with you!"
Elsewhere in the forest, Kain Hikaru's enormous body barreled through the trees at surprising speed.
Hearts practically shone in his eyes as he looked up at Wendy and tried to sound gentlemanly while chasing her.
Carla visibly bristled.
"This man is revolting."
Happy, still being carried in Wendy's arms, sniffled indignantly.
"I'm not a fat cat…"
A blur suddenly flashed past them.
Wendy sensed the attack a fraction of a second before it arrived.
She immediately shoved Carla aside and twisted her body, dropping toward the ground just as something tore through the space where she had been flying.
Gapri hovered overhead on his enormous iron sphere and looked down at her with mild surprise.
"Not bad, kid. You actually dodged my high-speed attack."
Wendy steadied herself on the ground.
Without showing fear, she glanced back at Kain rapidly approaching from behind, then returned her attention to Gapri.
"That wasn't luck."
Her eyes hardened with quiet determination.
"The wind told me you were coming."
"The wind?"
Gapri stared at the little girl for a moment, clearly baffled.
Then he shook his head and grinned viciously.
"Doesn't matter."
The floating sphere beneath him began humming with power.
"For the sake of my big promotion…"
His grin widened.
"You can die right here."