The Incandescent (And Counterproductive) Flare...

Yawn

"That's it!? Boring!"

Tatsuya sounded bored due to the huge jump in power, as Ayato, Isolde, and Vera faced an enemy whose challenge difficulty suddenly increased after setting the forest labyrinth on fire.

However, the smoke was permeated with burning spores and the smell of certain plants.

"Guys, cover your noses!!!" Vera shouted in warning, which Ayato and Isolde quickly heeded to avoid inhaling the peculiar smell.

This wasn't the case for Tatsuya, as he staggered.

The smoke surrounded him, and his pupils dilated.

He began speaking to someone invisible.

"I don't want to go to school, Mom! I want to help you in the kitchen~!"

Isolde asked Vera a quick question.

"Vera, do any of your textbooks give any indication of this!?"

"Yes, there were rumors that this forest contained plants and mushrooms with psychoactive properties... So travelers get lost searching for those things in order to reach what they call 'paradise,' being out of their own minds..." Vera said, explaining another of the forest's dangers.

"Hey, Vanilla Slut, stop cloning yourself! I can't fight ten of you!"

Tatsuya was hallucinating, believing he was seeing more than ten Vera's upon hearing her voice.

"Really? This guy got high on drugs himself!? This is a self-destruct speedrun...", Ayato raised an eyebrow at such stupidity.

Isolde took advantage of his inattention and struck him in the stomach with her sword, knocking him back.

Tatsuya laughed even harder, spitting blood that sizzled on the ground.

"You're becoming a tremendous pain in the ass! Okay, I'll crush them with everything I've got!"

The pyromancer launched another blast of flame and fireballs, but his body was staggering, consumed by both the fire and the visions.

So his movements, however dangerous, gradually became imprecise and his reaction time was slow.

"This way!" Vera shouted as she cast a blessed healing spell on Tatsuya, which ended up causing him quite a bit of pain due to his demonic affinity.

"Ahhhh!!! Bitch!!! This isn't the kind of burn I like!!!"

Then Ayato, in a moment of cunning (and opportunism), kicked Tatsuya hard in the groin, knocking him to his knees.

Plam!

"You're a...!"

"Take it!" Ayato kneed him in the forehead, knocking him unconscious after taking advantage of this exploit.

"Fuck, how unclimactic... And you two don't say anything, since we're not here to fight fairly!"

Ayato glared and pointed at Isolde, while she looked at him with an "I didn't say anything" expression, while Vera tried to put out the flames with water spells.

"Wow, you finally learned..."

Isolde's words gave Ayato ambiguous approval, seeing that the three of them were able to take advantage of a situation of mutual disadvantage.

"How disappointing..."

A rather soft, almost muffled female voice spoke, as if she were yawning constantly.

A summoning circle appeared as a female dark elf appeared, with long, braided maroon hair, heterochromatic blue and purple eyes with glasses, and wearing attire reminiscent of a stereotypical witch.

"I didn't think we'd see each other again, Lady Isidora Rose Tepes..."

"You sure are a pain when you put your mind to it, Zeltha!" Isolde's words reflected frustration when the dark elf referred to her by her 'full name'.

"Another of those Dracula followers like that Rydia, right?!" Vera is on guard, not to be fooled by the sorceress's lethargic and silent appearance.

"What a ridiculous name~" Ayato was holding back his laughter after hearing Isolde's name.

"You're earning yourself a straight trip to the underworld, with no return..." Isolde warns Ayato if he tries to be funny.

Then, the four present noticed Tatsuya getting up from the ground, badly injured, exhausted, and returning from a "bad trip," but eager to fight.

"Trio of misfits, this isn't going to stay like this..."

However, the female dark elf immobilized him with a magical seal on the ground, preventing him from moving or using his flames.

"Don't tell me you're here for that lunatic..." Ayato said, as the dark elf nodded.

"Don't interrupt, Zeltha! A man has his pride!" Tatsuya shouted, but more respectfully, to the dark elf they referred to as Zeltha.

"I know... But I'm not going to lose a Dark Lord Candidate, and you want to watch the world burn, right?"

Zeltha snapped her fingers and teleported Tatsuya to another location, probably to recover from his deranged state.

"Wroaah!"

The Dark Pyromancer is no longer in the already burned-to-ash forest.

"Well, Lady Isidora, I think you can still defend yourself even though Azrael has stripped you of your weapons and limited most of your abilities..." Zeltha was adjusting her glasses, very sleepy.

"Don't tell me she was the most OP character here and was nerfed for plot convenience before she met me...", Ayato murmured softly.

"I underestimated you, Lone Demon... Even though you are a troublemaker, you might be able to take advantage of your opportunism..."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult..." Ayato felt angry hearing Zeltha speak as if she were a schoolteacher, and a very apathetic one at that.

"I see in you great potential to be an excellent mage... It's a shame your affiliation with celestial ignorance is what limits you..."

Zeltha points at Vera as she says these words, as if possessed by some sort of omniscience.

"And as for the three of you, you can now enter the Pseudo-Castle without dealing with the fog or the botanical labyrinth..."

The entrance to the depths of the forest is located in what appeared to be some kind of passageway that could only be accessed if you managed to cross the fog by normal means, using your wits, or not being carried away by hallucinations.

"Not so fast... I want you to answer this question, and without incoherent riddles!" Isolde points her sword in front of Zelta.

"Both you and Azrael, Rydia, and others are responsible for summoning these Dark Lord candidates, right?"

"Why do I say no, it's actually yes~" Zeltha yawns and answers as lazily as possible.

Then they start walking toward their first objective to learn more about it.

"And remember, you didn't beat Tatsuya! It was only his own personality flaws that worked against him..." Zeltha seemed very sleepy and uninspired, so she couldn't be taken seriously.

"Use that to your advantage..." The dark elf teleports away, leaving the ruins of the Dark Iriswood.

***

"And what's the relationship between you and that Zeltha?" Vera asks Isolde after considering the Dark Elf's words.

"Let's just say she was the one who taught me how to control my magical abilities and dark arts many years ago... Specifically, long before you two were even born..." The Vampire's words indicate that, aside from their own kind, Elves are the longest-lived beings in existence.

"Just what I needed was to run into a lunatic aspiring Shonen Anime Rival and one of the favorite clichés of fantasy isekai, the Elves!" , were Ayato's thoughts after the increasingly absurd events.

"Wait a minute! Why didn't you get more useful information out of her if she seemed more neutral in this mess?!" Ayato said in a moment of lucidity.

"Nah, I know Zeltha pretty well... Either she'll speak very loosely and vaguely like she did a few moments ago, or she'll ramble on about a topic she's passionate about to the point where it won't get anywhere..." Isolde expresses that it's difficult to talk to Zeltha, no matter how intelligent and cultured she is.

"At least Rydia is very funny..." Ayato said, after adding that between the Succubus and the Dark Elf, he prefers to put up with the first.

"Hey..." Vera approaches Ayato to talk about the Candidates...

"If the people of your world can... become like that... What awaits us when we get to the Pseudo-Castle?"

"I have no idea, Vera, or we'll have to deal with more like me, those referred to as Lone Demons..."

While the aspiring hero and the cleric discuss their concerns, Isolde remains silent and thoughtful.

She had seen in the "Yokohama Arsonist" a dark reflection...

Someone who accepted immeasurable power to fulfill his baser instincts, at the cost of being a sort of "unwitting pawn" of something beyond his understanding, but who is too self-absorbed to even question it.