Halochassis

Chapter 30 – Versus the Silent Warlock

The moment Cattleo heard the emergency announcement echoing throughout the academy grounds, his heart skipped a beat. The metallic voice reverberated through the stone corridors of his hidden laboratory, interrupting the eerie silence that usually surrounded his secret experiments.

Without wasting a second, he hurried out of the underground chamber, his robe billowing behind him as he moved. He quickly equipped his chainmail armor, the cold metal links clinking softly against one another, before draping his magician's robe over it. Grabbing his staff from its stand, he rushed toward the surface. Of all the possibilities he had considered for the day, an attack by the Iron Bandits on Saint Marian Academy had never crossed his mind.

By the time he reached the academy's main hall, chaos had already consumed the area. Students were screaming, professors were issuing orders, and magical explosions illuminated the grand chamber with flashes of blue, red, and gold. A group of magic students had formed a defensive line near the entrance, desperately casting spells at the invading hoodlums.

Streams of fire, shards of ice, and bolts of lightning streaked through the air, colliding with walls and sending debris scattering across the polished floor. The bandits, expecting frightened students rather than trained mages, quickly lost their nerve. Many fled in terror as spells detonated around them.

Cattleo stepped into the battle without hesitation. Magical circles materialized around his staff, and chantless fireballs erupted from their centers. The blazing projectiles roared through the hall like miniature comets, striking several bandits and sending them tumbling across the floor.

The scent of smoke and scorched cloth filled the air as the remaining invaders scrambled for cover. Within minutes, the resistance collapsed. After helping eliminate the stragglers, Cattleo immediately organized the frightened students and guided them toward a designated safe room, ensuring none were left behind.

No matter how twisted his methods might be, Cattleo was still a member of the Celestial Wardens. Beneath his obsession with immortality and forbidden research remained the duty of a hero. Protecting innocent lives was a responsibility he could not ignore. Besides, the students of the academy were far too valuable to lose. They represented the future of the kingdom—and, in more selfish ways, they also represented the source of resources that sustained many of his secret endeavors.

After successfully escorting two groups to safety, Cattleo began leading a third wave of students toward the gymnasium, where most of the academy population had gathered. The corridor echoed with hurried footsteps and anxious breathing as dozens of students followed closely behind him. Just as they were nearing their destination, a strange shadow swept across the courtyard outside. Instinctively, Cattleo looked up.

Something hovered in the sky above the academy.

His eyes widened.

The armored figure floated effortlessly in midair, its massive silhouette framed against the bright afternoon sky. It stood nearly three meters tall and was covered in pristine white and blue armor that gleamed beneath the sunlight. From its back extended a pair of enormous black mechanical wings, each feather-like segment shimmering with energy. Its mere presence radiated overwhelming power, causing the surrounding air to feel unnaturally heavy.

A Halochassis.

“G-Go. I-I-I’ll h-handle t-t-this!” Cattleo stammered, forcing the words out as he pointed toward the gymnasium.

Although frightened, the students trusted him. They quickly ran inside the building without question. Once the last student crossed the entrance, Cattleo swung his staff through the air. Layers of magical circles unfolded around the structure like giant gears. Moments later, a translucent barrier enveloped the entire gymnasium, its surface rippling with pale blue light before becoming nearly invisible.

Only then did he turn his full attention toward the floating machine.

If his memory served him correctly, the Halochassis was Samael. Cattleo had studied the declassified files recovered from Empyrea's Laboratory shortly after the Northern Fortress Incident. Unfortunately, most of the information had been lost when the fortress was destroyed. Entire sections had been erased, leaving behind only fragments regarding Samael's design and combat capabilities. What little information remained was enough to convince him that this opponent was extraordinarily dangerous.

“Cattleo Vi Examillenia. The Silent Warlock of the Celestial Wardens.”

Samael's voice descended from above like rolling thunder. Each word reverberated through the academy grounds, carrying a mechanical distortion that made it sound less like speech and more like divine judgment.

“This is the day of judgment—the day you will pay for your sins.”

The Halochassis slowly raised one of its rifles and aimed directly at him.

Without responding, Cattleo activated his blessing.

The Autonomous Spell Cast.

Dozens of glowing magical circles instantly appeared around his body, rotating in complex patterns. Their runes illuminated the courtyard with pulsating blue light. A split second later, countless magical missiles erupted from the circles and surged toward Samael. The projectiles whistled through the air in pursuit of their target, leaving bright trails behind them.

Samael reacted immediately. The Halochassis darted across the sky with astonishing speed, weaving between the incoming barrage. Missile after missile exploded behind him, filling the heavens with bursts of light and clouds of smoke.

“Buster Mode!”

At Samael's command, his black wings suddenly separated into eight floating swords. The metallic segments unfolded with sharp mechanical clicks before positioning themselves around his body like orbiting satellites. At the same time, his two rifles merged together, locking into a single massive cannon that crackled with concentrated energy.

A deafening beam barrage erupted from the weapon.

Blinding pillars of light rained down upon Cattleo, tearing through the courtyard and vaporizing sections of stone wherever they landed. The ground trembled beneath the relentless assault, while dust and shattered debris exploded in every direction.

Yet Cattleo remained standing.

A magical barrier surrounded him, its translucent surface shimmering every time a beam struck it. Waves of magical energy rippled across the shield, but none of the attacks managed to penetrate its defenses.

Seeing an opening, Cattleo planted the base of his staff against the ground and raised it toward the heavens.

The clouds responded.

Dark storm clouds rapidly gathered above the academy, swallowing the sunlight and casting the battlefield into shadow. The wind intensified, howling through the courtyards and rattling windows throughout the campus. Blue lightning flickered within the growing storm, illuminating the sky with brief flashes.

Then the spell was unleashed.

A colossal dragon formed entirely of lightning burst from the clouds. Its body twisted through the heavens with a thunderous roar, illuminating the darkened sky with blinding brilliance. The crackling beast descended upon Samael, jaws wide open and claws extended.

Recognizing the threat, Samael immediately deployed an energy shield. A glowing barrier expanded around the Halochassis just as the Thunder Dragon collided with him.

The impact shook the entire academy.

Lightning exploded in every direction, engulfing the sky in a storm of electricity. Although the shield absorbed part of the attack, the Thunder Dragon's enormous area of effect struck every angle simultaneously. Countless arcs of lightning crawled across Samael's armor, overwhelming portions of his defenses and forcing the Halochassis backward through the air.

A mechanical voice echoed from within the construct.

[Hybrid Armor at 49%]

The HUD gave a sharp, mechanical beep right in front of Aether’s face, the sound cutting through the smoke and thunder like a warning siren. A fresh warning flashed across his vision, and his stomach tightened when he saw the damage report.

Just one hit, and it put my Hybrid Armor down by half!? Aether thought, the realization hitting him harder than the spell itself.

The inside of his chassis felt suddenly too hot, the energy cores humming with strain as warning lights flickered in rapid bursts.

I have to up my game, or else—

Cattleo raised his staff again, and the air above the academy convulsed with mana. One after another, enormous thunder dragons manifested within the storm clouds, their bodies formed from crackling lightning and roaring wind. Their glowing jaws split the dark sky open as they descended, each one twisting through the blackened atmosphere with violent speed.

This time, Samael reacted faster. He lowered his altitude and veered sharply across the battlefield, using the broken airspace near the academy grounds to make himself a more difficult target.

“Blitz Mode!” Samael shouted.

His wing fragments shifted with a shrill metallic click, breaking apart and then aligning into a broader, more stable span. Blue-white energy surged from the engines embedded in the frame, flooding the air behind him in a blazing trail.

With the added thrust, he cut low across the battlefield in a swift, near-ground maneuver, skimming just above shattered stone and drifting dust as he dodged the descending thunder dragons. The spell cracked overhead, close enough that the force of it rattled his armor even without a direct hit.

The thunder dragons slammed into the academy buildings instead, sending up exploding bursts of stone, splintered wood, and burning debris. Roofs caved in with a terrible roar, glass shattered like rain, and entire walls gave way under the force of the impact.

The destruction visibly irritated Cattleo, his expression tightening as he watched pieces of the academy collapse into ruin. Yet a different thought quickly surfaced in his mind, cold and practical, pushing aside his annoyance.

The academy can be rebuilt. For now, I have to destroy the Halochassis!

With that decision, Cattleo thrust his staff upward once more. A series of gigantic magical circles opened across the sky, each one rotating slowly as if turning the heavens themselves into a spell array. The air grew heavy and charged, the pressure in the atmosphere becoming almost unbearable.

Then, one by one, massive meteors were conjured within the circles—each one as enormous as a coliseum, each one blazing with fire as it tore through the upper layers of the atmosphere. Their descent painted the sky in streaks of burning orange and white, and soon the entire horizon darkened beneath the smoke and heat of the approaching catastrophe.

The spell he had unleashed was one of his ultimate techniques.

Raining Meteor Fall.

“You have to be kidding me! Is he going to destroy the whole academy!?” Aether cried out, his voice cracking with alarm.

Through the chaos, he knew with absolute certainty that if he did nothing, those colossal meteors would bury him alive beneath an avalanche of stone and flame. The survival system in his chassis blared with escalating urgency, and without hesitation, he switched modes again.

“Aegis Mode!”

His wings disassembled once more, each fragment rearranging with precise, mechanical elegance. Layers of protective magic blossomed from the segmented parts, forming overlapping barriers around his frame just as the first meteor struck.

The impact was monstrous. A deafening boom shook the ground, and a blinding flash of fire swallowed the battlefield. Even with his shields holding, the sheer scale of the spell drove him downward, forcing him deeper beneath the collapsing rubble as more meteors followed. Stone, dust, and fragments of shattered masonry buried the impact zone, each collision feeding the next until the entire area was drowned beneath a mountain of debris.

There had been eight meteors in total. Most of them crashed on top of one another, compounding the devastation and flattening everything beneath their weight. By the time the smoke began to spread, half of the academy had been obliterated, while the other half was little more than broken shells, cracked foundations, and jagged ruins.

Even the surrounding landscape of the Cordilla District’s mountain range had been violently reshaped, the battlefield now marked by a cratered wasteland of scorched rock and toppled structures.

Did I get him? Cattleo thought as he hovered over the rubble, his robe fluttering in the hot wind rising from the wreckage below.

He scanned the broken landscape carefully, searching for any sign of Samael, but there was nothing visible through the haze of dust and drifting embers. For a moment, the silence felt wrong, too empty after such a violent spell. Then, all of a sudden, a volley of fireballs streaked toward him from the smoke.

Cattleo reacted instantly, raising his magical barrier just in time to intercept the attack. The fireballs splashed against the shield in bursts of crimson flame, sending ripples through the translucent barrier.

Only then did Cattleo realize that another Halochassis had joined the fight. It was the crimson one—Armaros.

Armaros’ Dragon Form unleashed a chain of fireballs, six in total, each one blazing hot enough to scorch the air around it. The projectiles hissed and crackled as they crossed the battlefield, but none of them could penetrate Cattleo’s barrier. The shield shone brighter with every impact, reflecting the violent orange glow of the flames and the steady determination in Cattleo’s eyes.

Unbothered, he waved his staff again, and gigantic magical circles appeared across the sky once more. Within moments, each circle discharged a blinding beam of divine light.

This was his Divine Blaster Spell.

Armaros responded with sharp, desperate aerial maneuvers, rolling and spinning through the air with the agility of a predator trying to survive a trap. Some of the divine blasters missed entirely, carving luminous scars through the sky and striking the mountains beyond. Others grazed him, their light sparking across his crimson armor.

A few were even swallowed by the dragon’s open mouth, absorbed into the burning energy roaring within him. Then Armaros answered with the same destructive force, launching a blast of light straight toward Cattleo.

But Cattleo’s barrier held firm, shimmering as the attack struck and dissolved against its surface.

That thing can absorb magic?

Cattleo’s eyes widened in genuine surprise, and for a rare moment, his composure cracked. The thought sent a cold pulse through his chest as he watched the crimson Halochassis endure the divine blasts with unnerving ease.

Then the rubble on the ground began to shift.

At first, it was only a faint tremor beneath the broken stone, like something massive stirring under the wreckage. Suddenly, the debris exploded upward in a spray of dust and shattered rock, and a gigantic laser sword sliced through the meteor remains with a piercing, molten shriek.

The glowing blade carved a path through the ruins before revealing Samael once more, now gripping an oversized sword forged from his own metal wing fragments. The weapon gleamed with a cold, merciless sheen, its edges humming with compressed energy.

“Strike Mode,” Samael muttered.

Cattleo’s breath caught in his throat. He had already unleashed S-tier spells, flattened the academy, and torn the landscape apart, yet the Halochassis before him still seemed to stand on the edge of battle with frightening durability. The realization gnawed at him. Just how resilient are they? The answer was becoming more unsettling with every passing second.

Still, Cattleo had no intention of retreating. He possessed unlimited mana, an endless reservoir of power that required no chant, no pause, and no sacrifice of time. With a sharp motion of his wand, he lifted it toward the sky, and the battlefield responded.

Millions of magical circles bloomed above and below him, layering the air and the ground alike in glowing runic patterns. Their light pulsed in waves, bathing the ruined academy in a brilliant, otherworldly radiance. A heartbeat later, magic missiles began pouring from every circle, streaking toward both Halochassis in a relentless downpour of force.

This was his strongest spell.

Unlimited Magic Missile.

The barrage came in terrifying density, fast and countless, like a storm that had taken shape and chosen violence. The missiles battered Samael and Armaros from every angle, their impacts bursting against armor in rapid flashes of blue-white light. One after another, the magical projectiles hammered into their frames, tearing away plates and chipping at the power armor layer by layer. The Hybrid Armor readings on both Halochassis dropped with alarming speed until they reached zero, and broken fragments of metal scattered across the shattered ground like sparks from a furnace.

I can win this! Cattleo thought, a fierce surge of triumph rising in his chest.

Or so he thought.

Because behind him, moving with terrifying speed and absolute silence, came the Halochassis Mastema. Its stealth had allowed it to slip through even Cattleo’s heightened senses, crossing the battlefield unseen until the very last instant.

By the time Cattleo felt the presence at his back, it was already too late. He turned, but only barely, and found himself staring into the piercing green eyes of Mastema, so close that he could feel the chilling weight of its gaze through the air between them.