Charging the staff had its limits. When it reached capacity, the red gem at the tip radiated with blinding light. Shirakawa looked ahead and—
Activated the skill: Explosion Magic.
Unlike Megumin, who recited long chuunibyou-style chants, Shirakawa skipped the theatrics. Pure, condensed mana surged like a vortex from the tip of the staff—
Spiraling toward the corpse-infested Fujimi Academy.
The air trembled under the strain of the gathering spell. Mana swirled violently, drawn to the heart of the school campus.
"Let's see how you handle this ultimate attack."
As seven-colored radiance burst from the red jewel—
BOOM—
「Explosion」
A brilliant eruption engulfed the school.
The blast radius was enormous—roughly the size of a football field. A torrent of fire shot into the sky.
The shockwave ripped apart the academy's outer walls, uprooted the trees around the perimeter. The explosion was so intense—
Even the sky seemed dimmed.
Winds roared outward from the epicenter, causing Shirakawa's coat to flap wildly and the school bus behind him to shake uncontrollably.
Then came—
A thunderous detonation that split the heavens.
The towering column of flame burned for over ten seconds before finally extinguishing. What had once been Fujimi Academy—
Could no longer be described as mere ruins.
The blast had reduced reinforced concrete to powder, leaving behind a massive crater over ten meters deep and over a hundred meters wide, its edges scorched black.
The shockwave had shattered every pane of glass in the surrounding buildings. The nearest structures had their concrete skin peeled away, exposing rebar skeletons.
As for the undead?
Vaporized. Reduced to ash.
"…So this is what she meant by 'Explosion is art'…"
Before meeting Megumin, Shirakawa's impression of her had been that of a chuunibyou mage overly obsessed with one spell. But after unleashing Explosion himself—
He finally understood her obsession.
Compared to this, all other magic was child's play.
Firepower supremacy—now that was a man's romance!
Those who felt the full force of the blast most directly were, of course, Saeko, Saya, and the others inside the school bus.
The resulting shockwave nearly flipped the entire vehicle.
The sheer scale of the firestorm… had they not witnessed Shirakawa cast the spell themselves, they would have assumed it was—
A military-grade nuclear strike.
"This is…"
Even knowing Shirakawa's rough level of power, Saeko Busujima's heart nearly stopped as she gripped the bus seat for support.
Her arms—were trembling.
As for Takagi Saya and Miyamoto Rei, their stunned expressions said it all. Their minds had completely shut down.
At this point—
Even Saya could finally understand why Shizuka had once called Shirakawa "a god."
That man… was the very embodiment of divinity.
The only thought lingering in her heart now—
Was regret.
If Shirakawa held any grudge over what had happened earlier, and wanted to kill her—
It would be as effortless as stepping on an ant.
"H-How powerful is he?!"
A psychic?
No…
Even Misaka Mikoto—ranked third among all espers in Academy City—shook her head. Just Shirakawa's "Holy Sword Wielder" class alone was barely ranked in the top six.
But now—
He had revealed this terrifying trump card. What other skills could he be hiding?
"So…"
"How the hell is he getting so strong, so fast?!"
Meanwhile, in the dimensional chat group—
The livestream was in full swing.
Compared to Shirakawa's holy sword powers, this Explosion spell was a complete paradigm shift.
A power like this—
Could only be described as a god walking the earth.
Mistress of the Butterfly Estate: @Normal High Schol Student, I sincerely apologize for my previous tone. It was clearly inappropriate. I hope Lord Shirakawa will not take offense!
Asuna: …I honestly don't even know what to say anymore. I don't know how strong a god really is, but from what I've seen, using the tech level of my world to describe it—
Asuna: He's basically a walking nuclear bomb.
Mistress of the Butterfly Estate: How strong is a nuke?
Mai Sakurajima: About strong enough to level an entire city…
Aqua: With firepower like that, fighting a Demon King would be a walk in the park!!
Mai Sakurajima: …Did I join this group too late? How do I learn that spell?
Future Holy Sword Wielder: So Shirakawa-kun had this kind of power before becoming a Holy Sword Wielder? Maybe the goblin cave just wasn't a place he could go all out?
Bronze-Rank Adventurer: Lord Shirakawa really is the strongest!
Gabriel: @Normal High School Student Are you really human?! Or the highest-ranking demon walking among us?!?!
And yet, while the group chat scrolled rapidly, Shirakawa paid it no mind. His eyes swept across the scorched remnants of Fujimi Academy—
Not a single undead remained
The Proficiency Panel continuously popped up with experience notifications.
"You have successfully slain a corpse. Gained EXP +50."
"You have successfully slain a corpse. Gained EXP +50."
...
"You have successfully slain a corpse. Gained EXP +50."
"Level Up: Lv2 → Lv4"
"Arch-wizard Lv4 (379/50000)"
"Basic Skill: Explosion Magic Lv4 (179/50000)"
"Skill Points Gained: 2"
"Evolution Points Gained: 2"
"Looks like unlocking the blank job panel and choosing the same 'Arch-wizard' class as Megumin to learn Explosion Magic was the right call after all."
Admiring the aftermath of his handiwork, a satisfied smile bloomed across Shirakawa's clean-cut features. He could feel the mana in his body rapidly regenerating. Wrapping his staff back up in a gray cloth, he turned to reboard the school bus.
The interior was enveloped in a heavy silence.
Casting a glance at Shizuka Marikawa, Shirakawa smiled and said, "All done on my end."
"Let's get moving again."
"...Okay."
"Understood, Divine One!"