INTERMISSION
The World’s Only Knight and Witch
“The First Princess Elletear Lou Nebulis IX.
“While you are still unconscious in this giant flask, I will say this. No, I suppose it isn’t a confession so much as repentance. I’m disposing of you for being a failure.”
“You were the weakest purebred type.
“Your Voice astral power… Well, it’s laughably weak.”
“But in exchange, your body held a frightening hidden potential.
“No one would have guessed you would still retain your ego even after fusing with it.
“You’re dangerous. I agree with the Eight Great Apostles. If you’re able to completely combine with the thing in the planet’s core, the world will perish.
“So I must dispose of you.”
Those had been…
…the last words Kelvina told her when she was still in the water cistern.
“I’m sorry, you know.”
She giggled.
A small room with dim light. Elletear placed her hand on the frame of the room’s window and murmured as though humming to herself while viewing the moon.
Elletear Lou Nebulis IX.
Her fluttering hair was an incredibly beautiful emerald with tinges of gold.
Her looks were as enchanting as a goddess’s, and her alluring, voluptuous figure could have held any man in the world captive. If her superior beauty could be called magic, then there was no one more fittingly called a witch than the First Princess.
“I heard you loud and clear even in the tank, Kelvina. While I was unconscious, it heard your mutterings from within my body.”
That was why she had escaped.
Because the Eight Great Apostles, who feared her power, were planning to eliminate her.
Then again…
At the moment, Elletear was the Empire’s prisoner, and she was once again under the surveillance of these eight leaders of the Imperial assembly. They had even prepared this small room for her.
“…”
She looked up at the surveillance camera on the ceiling. She wondered what the Eight Great Apostles must be feeling watching her as she stared up at it. Did they feel as though they were watching a woman as beautiful as a goddess?
No.
They probably felt they were observing an unfamiliar beast—wondering what kind of monster she would become.
“Just a little longer…”
Even now, a waterfall of sweat continued to pour down Elletear’s face. Constant chills and vertigo gnawed at her body. She almost felt as though she would lose consciousness. To be more precise, she felt as if her mind were being taken over. Her body was undergoing a metamorphosis.
Once her unparalleled beauty was stripped away, the most frightening monster in the world would likely make its debut. A monster that would put both the witch Vichyssoise and the fallen angel Kelvina to shame.
…But this…
…This was something I wanted, that I pursued and accepted for myself.
The thing that transcended astral power, the thing that slumbered in the planet’s core. Because she had accepted its power, her body had started transmogrifying into something inhuman.
“Ugh!”
She was assaulted by a terrible urge to puke as she doubled over.
But there was nothing to vomit. She hadn’t had water, much less eaten anything, for an entire week. Her stomach was empty.
…I know, more or less…
…that tonight is the end of it.
This was her last day as a human. The reason she knew was that the chills, dizziness, and even nausea felt comforting. She was overjoyed that her body was being tampered with. It had at last come.
The night she would finally fully turn into a monster.
“I’m sorry, Mother…,” she said to the distant queen in the Nebulis Sovereignty.
The eldest of the three sisters rasped in agony.
“Mother…your Sovereignty…will fall. With this power…once the power inside me fully becomes mine…I won’t be afraid of anything anymore… Not you, nor Alice…not even if the Revered Founder herself stands against me…”
She would surpass all astral mages and witches. She would surpass all power and authority and all astral powers.
“Even if I make the whole world my enemy, I will manipulate it into what I desire.”
Clack.
She heard footsteps outside her door. When she guessed at who it could be, a small smile slowly spread across her face. It wasn’t the sneer she’d had on earlier. It was her goddess smile—the expression she only showed to the person she had let into her heart.
“I don’t mind. You may enter, Joheim.”
The door opened. The tall, lean knight with crimson hair bowed and walked toward Elletear. The Saint Disciple of the first seat, the “Flash” Knight Joheim. He was also the Lord’s guard. Most notably, he was the man who had impaled her when she protected the queen.
“The First Princess Elletear, who protected the queen, had been cut by the Saint Disciple’s sword.”
That very swordsman…
…now was alone together with Elletear. He knelt on one knee before her. It was almost as though…
… he was a knight protecting a princess.
“…”
“How rare of you to visit my room at night, Joheim.” Elletear invited him closer with a gentle smile. “Thank you.”
She placed a hand on the swordsman kneeling before her and caressed his head.
“My plan came this far because you are with me. If you hadn’t been there when I escaped the palace, things wouldn’t have turned out so well.”
“…”
“Her Majesty was faintly suspicious that I was the Lou family’s traitor. So I needed that act. I protected the queen, and you cut me down. That would clear me of all suspicions, would it not?”
“…”
“Oh, but please rest assured, I have already healed from the wound you gave me.”
Elletear placed a hand on the thin nightgown over her chest.
“You see?”
There was neither scratch nor scar.
The ghastly injury, which had seemed fatal, had healed without leaving a trace behind.
“I know you didn’t want to do it, but—”
“Lady Elletear.”
He was still kneeling. The knight kept his head bowed as he continued in a hushed voice, “My lady, please do not forget the pain of a humble servant asked to hurt his master.”
“…”
“I will never follow an order like that again. I came here to tell you that.”
“…” She blinked in surprise.
But then, a bittersweet smile formed on the emerald-haired witch’s face.
“Thank you, Joheim.” Her voice was tender, and not contrived. The princess’s warm eyes were the greatest proof of her gratitude. “……Yes, that battle must have taken a toll on you.”
In the Nebulis palace that had been assailed by the Imperial forces, Elletear had planned to be struck by a sword. The Saint Disciple had pursued the queen, and by protecting her and being cut down as a result, Elletear had been able to successfully disguise her travel to the Empire as a natural consequence of being taken away.
Only three people knew of the plot. She, Joheim, and the Hydra witch Vichyssoise.
“Now off you go. I have an important role to play soon.”
“Ha! Getting wounded hurts, even if you have a body like mine. I’m sure it’ll hurt even more if it’s a Saint Disciple doing it.”
It had all been part of Elletear’s scheme.
The queen had been tricked along with the Second Princess Aliceliese. The girl hadn’t been able to forgive the Imperial forces for killing her older sister—and with that single-minded thought, Alice had fought again against Iska even though she hadn’t wanted to.
“Thanks to that, I’ve been able to defect to the Empire. I wanted to leave the Sovereignty, by any means necessary. I didn’t want my mother to see her own daughter turning into a monster, after all.”
“…”
“Joheim, please stand.”
The Saint Disciple did as she asked. Meanwhile, Elletear sat on the window ledge. She took in the face of the man who was staring down at her.
“I think it will be tonight. In one or two hours, I’m sure I’ll no longer be human. Even I don’t know what grotesque form I’ll take.”
“Yes.”
“I have no regrets. I’m doing this to achieve both our visions, after all. In order to obtain that power.”
“Yes.”
“But…” Elletear hesitated. She bit her lip as though she were holding back a sob that would shake her shoulders. “I’m still…just afraid of you…being frightened after seeing me……”
“…”
“You can laugh when you see me. You could even hate me from the bottom of your heart. But please…just don’t be scared of me—that’s all I ask!”
The room fell silent. Elletear didn’t move in the slightest.
Her escort held her in a tight embrace.
“Lady Elletear.”
“…”
“I am your shield. If you’re the last witch in the world, then I promise I’ll become the last knight in the world to protect you.”
The Saint Disciple of the first seat, the “Flash” Knight Joheim.
Why had the man who normally resided in the Lord’s quarters, who would normally never leave the side of the Lord for even an instant, visit an imprisoned witch deep in the night?
That was because…
…she was his true master.
In this world, they only served each other. The knight Joheim Leo Armadel only served Elletear, and Princess Elletear only had one knight—Joheim. Always.
The two had only been fighting for each other this whole time.
“I was born in the Sovereignty, and because of my weak astral power, I failed to join the astral corps. In the nation where astral power reigns supreme, there was only one person who spoke to me. Who told me that we were alike. Only you smiled and offered me a hand.”
“…”
“Elletear, that’s why I fight for you.”
“…”
“Never doubt me. Believe in me. Use me. Order me. As long as you are you, I will continue to be your knight.”
“……Oh, you. How stubborn you are.”
The beautiful witch closed her eyes.
She hadn’t had anything to drink in over a week. Though her skin was parched as the sands of a desert…she felt as though something would begin flowing out of her—something she couldn’t stop—if she didn’t close her eyes.
“Joheim.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s destroy it together. Then let us create a true paradise on this planet alongside each other. A paradise where no one will be discriminated against, no matter how weak a human or mage they are.”
“Yes.”
“The Empire is in the way. They do persecute mages, after all.”
“And the Sovereignty as well. The strong mages reign over the weak, and the weak astral mages look down upon those without powers.”
“The Lord, too.”
“And the Founder.”
“And the Lou.”
“And the Zoa.”
“And the Hydra.”
“And the Eight Great Apostles.”
“And the Nebulis royal family.”
“And even the astral powers.”
“I will destroy them all. That is why I will become the world’s last witch.”
That night.
In the outskirts of the capital, an anguished scream that did not seem of this world could be heard.
And hours later…
…the delighted singing of something inhuman reverberated.
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