When Mizonas released his aura, the Zodiacs and Frondier naturally sensed it. The location was clearly the underground prison. Something had definitely happened there, where the konjac monster was held.

Some of the Zodiacs had already headed towards the underground prison.

However, Frondier's expression was quite calm.

"...Hey, Frondier," Monty spoke up, having been silently observing him.

"Yes."

"Is it true that Azier is already in the underground prison?"

"Yes, it is. I requested it in advance."

Frondier recalled what Lily had said.

- Even if they expected the attack to fail, they wouldn't have expected it to be captured, right?

Frondier had come to a similar conclusion, so Lily's words were quite convincing.

If the enemies hadn't anticipated the monster being captured, then it would be absolutely necessary for their plan.

In that case, they would show up at the prison.

Of course, there was no guarantee, but the place that needed the most defense was still the underground prison.

"Then isn't that even more dangerous?" Daisy asked this time.

"That monster copies everything it sees. If they're fighting in there, it'll just copy all of Azier's combat techniques."

Daisy's concern was understandable. She had witnessed the monster's incredible replication ability firsthand.

After mimicking its appearance once, the monster successfully replicated it again in less than 3 seconds. Not only its replication ability but also its proficiency when repeating it was tremendous.

"It's alright," Frondier said nonetheless.

"That's what I'm hoping for."

It was such an absurd statement that Daisy hadn't expected at all.

"Uh, what?"

"From what I've heard, it managed to mimic appearances quickly, but it hasn't mastered speech yet."

"...Ah, well, that's true. It was only able to utter a few words."

"That means it can't mimic everything indiscriminately. The more it has to use its head, the longer it will probably take."

Of course, even that was still incredibly fast.

Compared to babies who take years to start speaking, it was amazing that a newborn monster could utter words so quickly.

But it definitely took longer than mimicking appearances. Unlike copying what it saw, speech required the ability to infer through conversation and context, and the monster's current knowledge of language was still extremely limited.

"From that perspective, my brother's techniques are close to the highest difficulty level for it to mimic."

"...What, are you bragging about your brother?"

"I'm simply stating a fact."

Frondier knew exactly what kind of person Azier was.

Azier had reached an incredible level in even just swinging a weapon once.

While most strong individuals excelled in their specialties and were relatively weak in other areas, Azier was consistently outstanding in all aspects.

'It would have been more helpful for the monster to watch Renzo fight.'

Renzo often swung his sword carelessly, and even that was effective against his opponents. From the monster's perspective, it would be much easier to copy and also effective.

However, Azier never did anything carelessly. Every action was a perfect combination of his theory, practice, and thoroughly instilled experience.

It was impossible for the monster in its current state to understand all of that individually.

"...So, showing the monster Azier's combat is actually a way to stop its replication ability?"

"That's right. It's just a deduction, though."

"And if that deduction is wrong?"

"The monster will perfectly replicate Azier and absorb his combat techniques."

"...Hey."

Since Frondier didn't know the current situation in the combat prison, he had no way of knowing the monster's current state.

He had asked Gregory to find out about the situation in the underground prison, but the report hadn't come back yet.

"But even if it somehow manages to mimic Azier to some extent, there's one thing it will never be able to replicate."

"What's that?"

"Falling edge."

At those words, Daisy tilted her head once more. She didn't even know what 'Falling edge' was in the first place.

Monty, who was next to her, explained instead.

"It's one of Azier's techniques. If you touch his weapon, you'll lose your own."

"...Anyone can do that, right? Just hit the opponent's weapon with mine."

"It's not hitting. He uses no strength or speed. According to those who have experienced it, no matter how their weapons come into contact, they end up dropping their swords. And unless you're a skilled fighter, you won't even realize you've dropped your weapon."

"...What the heck is that?"

While the two were talking, Frondier recalled something.

When Binkis, the Constel teacher, was creating golems, had devised an algorithm to defend against Falling edge. However, the algorithm crumbled instantly when Frondier used Falling edge.

Later, when he heard Binkis' explanation of the algorithm, he learned that it was designed to respond to a few specific movements of Falling edge.

In other words, if the actual Falling edge were performed exactly as Binkis had inputted, the golem would be able to defend against it.

However, Frondier knew that such a method would never be able to stop Falling edge.

'I know because I've tried it.'

Falling edge showed completely different movements each time it was used.

This was only natural, as the opponent's weapon was different each time, and the kind of attack they would make was also different each time.

While most techniques had some variations, they ultimately converged on a certain pattern. Falling edge had no such pattern.

If ordinary techniques produced results through a process, Falling edge created countless methods to achieve the result of making the opponent drop their weapon.

Therefore, Falling edge couldn't be learned by observation and imitation.

Because it showed different movements every time.

'The enemy sent the monster to assassinate the Emperor without sufficient training.'

Even though a sufficiently trained monster would have a higher chance of success...

'Perhaps that's because the learning stops at some point.'

Whether it was due to the difficulty level or the monster's own choice...

Even a monster that could mimic everything couldn't mimic everything 'simultaneously'.

The fact that there was a disturbance in the underground prison meant that, as Frondier had thought, the monster's capture was an unexpected situation for the enemies.

And if a 'second' unexpected situation occurred where the monster couldn't grow sufficiently...

The enemies, already in a difficult situation, would lose their patience and reveal themselves.

Caw-

At that moment, a crow cawed outside the bedroom window.

"What is it?"

"Ah, it's a crow I tamed. May I open the window?"

"Be careful. There might still be other enemies targeting us."

Frondier nodded and opened the window. The crow flew in and perched on his shoulder.

'Well-trained,' the Zodiacs thought, then turned their heads back to their own directions. But then,

[Reporting.]

They all whipped their heads back to the crow at the sudden voice.

[The enemy confronting Azier has been identified as a devil.]

Everyone's jaws dropped at the eloquent speech.

A crow that could speak so well? What kind of training had it gone through?

"What's the devil's name?"

Of course, Frondier asked the next question as if it were natural.

[Mizonas. It seems to be a subordinate of a devil named Satan.]

Frondier's eyes twitched at those words.

Satan, Satan... He never thought he would hear that ridiculously famous name here.

[Also,]

And the crow delivered the report Frondier had been waiting for.

[The monster's transformation has stopped.]