Astrid's smile disappeared.
It was as if she had instantly cooled down from a state of frenzy—turning calm, even indifferent.
And it wasn't just Astrid. Even the black-robed magus around her looked like they had been provoked. Not only did their killing intent rise, but their mana also flared out.
The air in the entire office became both heavy and oppressive.
It caused the breathing of all the hostages inside to grow rapid and shallow.
"...I believe this is not a wise choice, child of the Akabane clan."
Astrid stared at Rozen, not seeming angry nor uncaring—just quietly exuding a poisonous aura that had become much more palpable.
But Rozen remained unmoved from beginning to end.
Because...
"After all that talk, what it boils down to is that the Order of the Rose has its eyes on my power and wants me to work for you, right?" Rozen glanced at Astrid and, as if he found it amusing, said, "All that nonsense about helping me realize my true value and potential—what you're really saying is you want me to go wherever you tell me to and fight whoever you tell me to fight, am I wrong?"
A crude and straightforward summary came from Rozen's mouth.
But crude as it may be, it was not wrong.
The reason Astrid tried to recruit Rozen ultimately came down to using his power on the battlefield. Her talk of "realizing his true value" only made sense from her perspective and had nothing to do with Rozen's own wishes.
"What, my power only has value when used in places you think it should be?"
"What, my talent was granted by you, and how it should be used can only be decided by you, for it to count as growth?"
"Honestly, I laugh at those words myself—what do you think others would think?"
Rozen gave Astrid no face at all. As her expression grew darker and darker, he kept speaking to himself like no one else was present.
"And don't go putting a high-sounding label on your Order of the Rose. Talking about stopping world wars and resisting global domination—sounds noble, but what have you actually done?"
Rozen turned his head to look outside the window, as if drawing everyone's attention to the chaos outside the academy grounds, and declared:
"You attacked this academy. You launched an unprovoked assault on professors and students living in peace. You destroyed buildings. You harmed puppeteers. You even used Multi-Controller to unilaterally control all automatons—disregarding their will, ignoring the feelings of their puppeteers, and plunging them into a state of rampage. Everything you've done screams that you are not on the side of justice."
Perhaps Rozen, who once single-handedly caused a Hyakki Yagyi in Tokyo, had no right to say this.
But...
"If you're doing what criminals do, then at least have some awareness of it."
The Order of the Rose, over its two-thousand-year history, had already completely strayed from justice.
Sure, they may genuinely wish to stop world wars—but they would stop at nothing to achieve that.
Sure, they may want to resist global hegemony—but they acted recklessly and without restraint in pursuit of that.
In short—
"Don't be a whore and still try to build a memorial arch."
"Terrorists."
With just that one word from Rozen, the temperature in the office instantly dropped to freezing.
The black-robed magus had gone beyond rage—into sheer disbelief.
Even the Headmaster's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe Rozen had said such a thing.
Naturally.
"Good! Very good! No one has ever dared speak to me like this!"
Astrid laughed.
It was the kind of laughter that came from extreme anger.
Although the Order of the Rose was indeed unworthy of being called righteous, and Astrid herself was aware she walked the path of evil, who had ever dared humiliate her like this to her face?
She was the Witch of the Seth family, a top executive of the Order of the Rose, with a status second to none in the organization—matched only by one other executive.
In terms of influence, Astrid was essentially the queen of the underworld.
In terms of strength, she could rival Edward Rutherford. Even Lemegeton once belonged to her, and it was only after the Headmaster took it from her that he became the strongest of the 19th century.
In terms of power, Astrid commanded nearly one-third of the Order of the Rose's total military force. The black-robed magus she brought with her were just a small portion of her 500,000-strong force known as the Rose Stems.
In terms of notoriety, while Astrid remained unknown to the public, traces of her could be found behind many major global events. She was the hidden hand behind most of the world's large-scale criminal cases, feared by governments everywhere.
Even the Mage's Association wanted to eliminate her—but without absolute certainty, they had suffered defeat at her hands more than once.
It was this kind of person who had forced the Headmaster into surrender, and even suppressed the world's most elite magic academy.
Who dared be disrespectful to someone like her?
And Rozen not only humiliated Astrid, but dragged the entire Order of the Rose through the mud.
In such a situation...
"In light of your precious talents, I, magnanimous as I am, will forgive your wild words and even allow you to walk out of here alive."
Astrid smiled darkly and spoke these words.
"So long as you hand over Lemegeton and give me one of your arms—so I can take it back for analysis and use it to manufacture banned dolls—I'll forgive you. A living specimen like you should provide satisfying research results."
Astrid's words sent chills down everyone's spines and made their hearts tremble.
A witch is still a witch. She would never let an enemy die easily. She relished others' suffering in all sorts of twisted ways—that was her true nature.
Unfortunately...
"If this were in the past, and you dared say something like that in front of me, you'd be lucky if even a scrap of you was left. Consider yourself lucky that I've become quite broad-minded nowadays—I don't fuss over things like I used to."
Rozen didn't get angry at all. Instead, he gave Astrid a meaningful smile.
"By the way, I'm actually a pretty good magic researcher myself, but I have absolutely no interest in your living specimen."
Why?
The reason was simple.
"An old hag's body, even if taken back for research, would just be disgusting."
Rozen said that so casually.
And this time—it finally triggered her.
"...Very well."
Astrid's smile vanished for the second time.
Rage surged onto her face.
"You're dead."
A horrifying miasma exploded forth.
And in an instant, it filled the entire space.