CHAPTER 6
Our Twisted Battle or the Night of Promised Vows
When and why had our wheels of fate gone off its tracks?
Even as enemies, I’d always thought we had a mutual understanding that transcended our places in society.
In fact, I still think that’s true.
That was why I scrambled after Vichyssoise to get Sisbell back from her captor.
“We’ll save her. We’ll go to her rescue right now, so get out of this place and hide in a safe location.”
“Okay…”
“We’ll listen to you but only for tonight, if that means getting Lady Sisbell back…”
The servants had fled the manor.
Commander Mismis, Jhin, and Nene were going to keep an eye on the crumbling estate while Iska pursued the witch on his own.
“Alice, listen to me!” Iska shouted, the air around them cold enough to chill him to the bone.
Astral power had covered the countryside and road with ice, smoothing over the land like a skating rink.
“I’m here because I want to save Sisbell. I’m not lying.”
“I don’t want to listen to what you have to say!” screamed the golden-haired girl, trying to contain a sob. “I…I saw my sister killed in front of my eyes. And Her Majesty!”
“…What did you say?”
“This is war. Of course, someone will be hurt. But as a princess, I need to get revenge for the royal family’s suffering!”
She couldn’t have an opinion on the matter. The middle princess Aliceliese couldn’t have a discussion with an Imperial subject.
“The Imperial army have crossed a boundary they shouldn’t have… Now, we really can’t avoid war. Not until one of us has been burned to the ground!”
“……”
Everything had changed in minutes. Iska instinctively realized this when Alice had raised her voice. The relationship between the Empire and the Sovereignty was beyond rock bottom. It had returned to its roots.
Things had reverted back to a century ago…when the Founder Nebulis had started her rebellion. Even their personal relationship had regressed all the way back to when they had first met.
“You want us to fight until one of our countries is obliterated? Is that what you really want, Alice?”
“As a collective, yes. I don’t get to call the shots here.” The girl constructed a wall of ice between them, wiping away her tears. “My ultimate goal has always been to overthrow the Empire. But I never wanted to take things so far. I never wanted to think about eradicating the Empire or burning it to the ground… That would mean I stooped to the same level as the Zoa.”
Even if they could destroy the Empire in the war, it would come at the cost of casualties from the Nebulis Sovereignty—from royalty to the astral corps fighting in the trenches.
It, however, was too late to stop the wheels of fate.
“By meeting you, I learned that there are some sympathizers in the Empire. I wanted things to end as peacefully as possible when we overthrew the Empire, but the Imperial army ruined our chances at that future for all of us!”
The astral energy radiating from Alice almost bloomed off her body like a flower in the dark of night.
They were heading into the start of their final fight.
“Come at me, Iska, like you want to stop me! I won’t be holding back, either!”
This was the second real battle between Iska the Successor of the Black Steel and Alice the Ice Calamity Witch.
Creak. Under Iska’s feet, the ice rink started to crack.
It looked like something might be coming out of the fissures. Iska steeled himself. In front of his eyes soared a polished ice mirror that looked like an enormous jewel.
Eight mirrors surrounded him, towering over his frame.
“Ice mirrors?!”
“I’ll say it again: I won’t hold back!”
He’d never seen anything like this before.
…Ice is a pretty basic astral power, even if Alice’s powers are on another level.
…They can deliver physical attacks or obstruct opponents. But this…seems different.
What were the mirrors for?
He couldn’t imagine they would have special powers. At their core, the mirrors were just made from ice. If that was it, he assumed he would be able to break them using his astral swords.
“Ice Calamity—Infinitesimal Fans of Light.”
Lights flickered just for a moment. Iska was sure that it wasn’t electric light as soon as he saw the mirrors reflecting at the edges of his vision. The light, faint and almost fantastical, started to converge.
Was the astral light thickening?
He recalled a conversation between Nene and Sisbell.
“What is this energy…? It’s not electricity—or gas. What’s the source of this…?”
“It’s light from astral energy!”
The Object. A witch-hunting machine.
He remembered the signal that had informed them of when it would use its life-form integra.
“I get it now!”
The flash projected out of the eight mirrors—shooting not ice but the source of astral power—was astral energy. One ray of light would be reflected off a mirror, turning into two, and so on, amplifying power each time. Once they had amassed over a hundred lights, they shot through the target at the center—Iska.
Or rather, they should have.
Alice praised him. “Your instincts are ridiculously sharp as always.”
It was her way of expressing her caution toward her incredible enemy.
“This is a new trick of mine,” she admitted. “I’m still experimenting with it. I haven’t even shown Rin yet.”
“…So I’m lucky.” Iska leaped away nimbly, splatters of blood staining his cheeks.
In less than a second, he had escaped the eight reflective surfaces by an infinitesimal margin, jumping out of their range.
“If I’d tried breaking the mirrors, I wouldn’t have made it in time.”
“That’s right. I thought you would try to break them right away, which is a trap.”
“…It’s almost like you came up with it specifically for me.”
“I did. There’s no point to using this on anyone else.” Alice was looking straight at him through puffy, red eyes. “I’ve been preparing it ever since we first fought in the Nelka forest. But I stopped developing it before it was complete. I thought it was too unfair to use against you…”
She had been coming up with a strategy specifically to counter Iska. Any other Imperial soldier would have made a break for it as soon as they were surrounded by these ice mirrors.
But not Iska.
Alice knew he would try to push forward and use his skills to break the mirrors. She had been planning on using that against him by shooting him with light right as he approached the mirrors.
No swordsman would have been able to react to a shot of light.
…She’s right.
…If she had perfected it, I would have been in trouble.
The flickering of the light had given him a sign of what was to come.
That was how Iska realized the mechanism behind her trick. If she would have seen it through to completion, there wouldn’t have been a flicker to warn him.
“It’s a trap, basically. It’s not fair—and not even part of my original powers. I was hoping to rely solely on my own abilities when we settled things. But now we’re in a situation where I can’t say that anymore.”
“…So you’ll do whatever it takes.”
“We don’t have any time! The Imperial raid is still going on as we speak. I need to protect the Sovereignty!”
Toward an unforgivable enemy, she couldn’t extend the mercy of considering whether something was fair or not. Alice wouldn’t hesitate to use any tactic necessary, no matter how barbarous it might be.
To protect the royal family and her people…Aliceliese would stoop to any level and inflict anything she thought was necessary to secure her win. Even if it wasn’t what she wanted herself.
“Attack me with all you have, Iska. Just like you did when we fought in the Nelka forest. I’ll fight you like you’re an Imperial soldier whose name I don’t even know.”
“You—” Iska gripped his swords.
He couldn’t deny that she was emitting a murderous rage that seemed to freeze his skin. The person in front of him wasn’t Alice but Aliceliese the Ice Calamity Witch, the greatest threat against the Imperial army.
…She’s not kidding. And she wants to settle things when I’m supposed to be rescuing Sisbell.
…Alice wants to settle things here and now, of all places?!
A terrible twist of fate. The middle princess stood in his way, barricading him from saving the youngest princess.
“Move aside, Alice. I need to do something up ahead!”
“I’m telling you that you would need to kill me to pass! Kill me if you can!”
An ice golem formed beside Alice.
Was she creating more pawns for herself?
Iska tried to figure out what exactly she was planning. The golem picked up the limp driver on the ground.
Alice’s royal grab swished grandly as she stretched her arms out.
…She made a golem to protect her subordinate.
…Is she planning on freezing over everything around her at random?!
He narrowed it down to one possible technique, one astral attack, symbolic of the girl who went by the name of Ice Calamity Witch.
Great Ice Calamity.
The night air seemed to whistle, then screech. The countryside—the trees lining the road, the streetlamps, everything—was buried in surreal white mist.
This was bad.
Under the veil of night, the mist made visibility dangerously low. This was what Alice wanted. Iska might have been able to evade her once before, but now the night was on her side.
“Gah?!” Iska recklessly vaulted up, still unsure of how much of his surroundings had frozen over.
Crick. Something frosted over. A cold front of unprecedented size swept over him.
“……” Iska landed on top of an ice wall five yards up from the ground.
When he saw the scene again, it sent another shiver down his spine. It was like they were trapped in the Ice Age. The countryside, the streetlamps, the flipped-over car in the street—everything was frozen over. Had this been the battlefield, tanks and military bases would have become solid ice.
“I knew you would dodge it.” Her voice came from behind him.
Beyond the wind sweeping up snowflakes stood a golden-haired girl illuminated by astral light.
“I honestly hadn’t been that shaken up when you avoided it in the Nelka forest. In my mind somewhere, I assumed it had to have been a coincidence.”
The girl stood on a hill of ice. White breath spilled out from between her glossy lips.
“So Rin was right in the end. She was always saying that the Imperial swordsman would inevitably become a threat to me someday. She told me that I shouldn’t let you in.”
“I could say the same about you. When it comes to being a threat, at least.”
“……So…” Ice crystals were collecting on her shoulders. Standing at her full height, the Ice Calamity Witch continued, “Aren’t you going to curse at me?”
“Hmm?”
“You can call me a witch. I am an enemy to the Imperial army, after all. And I declared war on you, too. So I would accept it if you wanted to call me a witch.”
“……”
“It’s fine. I won’t mind if you call me tha—”
“Alice,” Iska cut her off.
“Your voice is shaking. I don’t want to hear you putting yourself down.”
She opened her eyes wide. Her shoulders trembled slightly, and her lips quivered.
“—”
“This doesn’t benefit anyone. I—”
“Stop!” She shook her head, disheveling her hair. Her voice was hoarse, almost like she would cough up blood. “Please…don’t be kind to me. I don’t have the right to be your rival any longer!”
The girl bit her lip, tears pooling in her eyes. They turned into glittering beads of ice like crystals in the shape of tears. The wind swept them away, but they kept falling, showing no signs of stopping.
“I need to be a princess of Nebulis! I need to destroy the Empire! So stop! Forget about everything, and fight me!” Alice screamed.
It was the saddest declaration of battle that Iska had heard from a witch.
“Great Ice Calamity—Thorn Blizzard.”
Ice daggers materialized from the wind in the space above Iska.
He’d seen her use this attack in the Nelka forest, but this situation was different. He had difficulty tracing the blades with his eyes in the middle of the night.
…It’s no use. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back.
…I’m fighting Alice, and she’s serious about this!
He rebuked himself. If he didn’t actually fight her, he would have no life left to live. His opponent was just that strong.
“Come, Iska!” Alice beckoned him.
So Iska threw himself at the blades that flew through the air.
They were coming at him from all directions—from above, of course, and behind, ahead, left, right, like a May shower. He didn’t have the option of dodging this time.
All he could do was kill—before he was killed.
Alice had chosen this astral attack to corner Iska into making that decision.
“Hah!” Iska gripped his black astral sword and knocked away the blades coming at him.
He dove across the fissures forming on the surface of the ice, twisting his body around in midair like a cat. From the corner of his eyes, Iska watched blades graze his shirt cuffs as he just barely ducked.
“They’re coming from below!”
He kicked and broke the needles of ice that formed below his feet.
Then he kept going forward. He didn’t even pause to blink as he plowed toward the blizzard, like he was gliding over ice. He headed straight for the girl’s bright-blue light.
“Now come, Iska. Let’s end this here.”
Aliceliese the Ice Calamity Witch thrust both of her hands out before her.
“No matter which of us wins, it’ll be over now. We’re going to end our battle—aching from the regret that fate has made us settle things in a way we never wanted!”
The wind whooshed past them, carrying ice and snow.
The cold front made by Princess Aliceliese blotted out their surroundings, bringing them back to the Ice Age.
“……”
The transcendental sorcerer Salinger, indifferent to the cold, watched the scene below from a low hill that overlooked the countryside. The man with white hair didn’t flinch, even as the grass under his feet froze over.
“The fate of the stars. Is this what you wanted from the world?”
Princess Aliceliese and the Imperial swordsman were locked in battle.
The Imperial army and astral corps were still engaged in a fraught fight at the royal palace. In the background of war, Salinger was the only one watching the combat between the pair.
“…Or are you testing humanity? But there’s no future beyond this futile fight.”
Salinger didn’t know the circumstances between the two, but he could guess what had happened. He’d seen this before. Alice had assumed the same expression as Mirabella had when she caught him in the Queen’s Space thirty years ago.
“So the royal family will repeat the mistakes of the past…”
—Why do all our paths lead to outcomes that are so horrible?
She might have lamented the fate of the stars, bewildered by divine providence. But as a princess, she didn’t have the luxury of hesitating. In past and present, the girls born to protect the Sovereignty had become playthings of fate.
“…I can’t bear to watch this play out.” Salinger turned his back on the fight below.
The fight would conclude in a few more minutes. He could tell from the gravity of their expressions. And it didn’t matter to him who fell and who survived.
The one to survive this conflict wouldn’t be the victor. They would have lost, too.
After all, there was nothing to be won from this battle. Waiting for them on the other side was pure emptiness. In other words, both fighters had lost the moment the battle had begun—lost to fate.
Just as the former princess and the transcendental sorcerer had thirty years ago.
“…I can’t bear it,” Salinger murmured to himself, irritated, turning his back on the pair as they headed to the final stage of their battle.
This was it.
Ice blades ripped through the night, raining to the ground, numbering nearly a thousand.
Iska, hounded by a shower of death, ran straight for the golden-haired girl.
“Ice Flower!” Alice thrust her hands in front of her.
The smooth surface below her feet cracked. A frozen shield bloomed like a germinating flower. This was a trait of her astral power—the ice flower—an invincible shield that could guard attacks launched by the Founder Nebulis.
Was this to counteract his astral swords? Iska tried to see if his guess was right.
Something protruded from the center of the flower.
A seed, beautiful and translucent like a crystal made of ice. Just large enough to hold in his hand, it started to glow from where it was enclosed by petals.
The light was coming from the center of the seed itself.
“Is this—?!”
“While this flower is activated, my astral power travels out of my body into the seed,” Alice told him as she readied the shield with both hands. “This is my astral power itself.”
“…That explains it.”
The ice flower had fended off even Iska’s swords in the past. His blade could cut through astral energy, but these petals were made from astral power.
“I won’t hide anything from you, since this is when everything ends…!”
Light burned in the seed. The output of astral power from the source itself was incomparable to the flash discharged from the eight mirrors.
The light surged.
Iska readied his sword, bringing it up at the same time that the light shot out of the ice flower. There wasn’t a second, an instant, a moment of difference in timing.
The flash of light passed by Iska’s side, shooting far behind him into the night.
……
…………Huh?
It wasn’t a direct shot. It hadn’t even grazed his clothes. It was like its aim was screwed up. Maybe she had missed the first time on purpose? Maybe the next one would be the real shot?
He looked into Alice’s eyes as she held her ice shield. That was when he noticed something. He realized why she had missed him.
Had she missed on purpose? No.
The Ice Calamity Witch had been trying to hit him. She had been meaning to shoot.
But she had missed.
“……”
“Wh-what’s gotten into you, Iska?! Why have you stopped running?!” Alice, protected by the ice flower, screamed at him when she realized Iska had stopped in his tracks.
Iska was silent. He had halted right before his swords were within reaching distance of her.
He faced her.
“I-I’m going to shoot! If you don’t put up resistance, then I’ll—”
“It won’t hit me.”
“What?!”
“You can’t see me clearly. Not when your eyes are like that.”
The eyes of the Ice Calamity Witch…were flooded with tears. Her vision was blurry, and she could only make Iska out vaguely. At some point, her eyes had puffed up and turned red.
In the arctic blast, her tears had turned into little crystals, but she couldn’t stop herself from crying. Tears trickled down her face from the corners of her eyes like a spring.
“……Uh… Aaah…”
The wind carried her sobs. The ice flower had come undone like an unraveling string. Her astral power had been depleted, returning to its owner’s body.
“…Let’s stop,” Iska said, sheathing his pair of swords.
This was enough. This wasn’t their crusade. They both knew that to be true.
“I’m going to say this clearly: I don’t want to fight you when you’ve forgotten who you are, Alice. This isn’t the time for us to engage in battle.”
“…Ugh…” Her face turned stony. “I feel that way, too! But I already told you more than once: I can’t forgive the Imperial army!”
“I think that’s where you went wrong. It’s not just the Empire scheming. The Founder’s descendants took Sisbell and brought in the Imperial forces. And one of the descendants involved is your sister, the eldest princess.”
“…My sister…?”
“That’s what Sisbell told us—right after you left the villa.”
As soon as Alice had left, the head of the Hydra had immediately launched an attack.
“I just…realized…
“My sister Elletear is the traitor… I’m sure she’s behind the scenes, trying to betray the queen!”
“Are you telling me you don’t believe your sister, either?”
“It’s not like that! I…can’t believe you—I can’t believe you when you say that Sisbell told you that!” Alice balled her hand into a fist. “I suspected my older sister was involved in the coup…but I saw Elletear about to die as she protected the queen!”
“That’s suspicious because—”
“How can you doubt her after I saw her myself—?”
“Listen to me!”
“Eek?!” A yip escaped from Alice’s lips.
This was the first time anyone had ever berated her.
She was speechless, scared of this unfamiliar sensation. There had never been a single person other than the queen who had ever scolded Princess Aliceliese. Even the queen would only give her a gentle warning.
So this was a first.
It was the first time Alice had experienced someone being angry at her.
“……”
“Listen, Alice.”
She had the eyes of a scared girl as he addressed her.
“Your villa was destroyed by the Hydra. Even the people dressed as Imperial soldiers were their assassins operating under the orders of the head of household.”
“…The head of household?”
“Talisman the Tyrant. He enhances his physical capabilities using the astral power of Waves. I’m sure of it.”
“……” Alice’s silence was her answer.
An Imperial subject knew about the powers of a purebred. This was one piece of proof that Talisman had attacked her villa.
“…Even I……” Alice broke her silence, letting out a tiny sigh. “Even I…don’t think you’re the type of person to lie. But…”
“But?”
“I can’t decide these things on my own! I can’t eliminate the possibility that you looked into Lord Talisman and his astral power before the Imperial forces started their raid. If I questioned Lord Talisman, I already know how he would reply!”
“The Imperial subject, Iska, has lied to you.
“My dear Alice. Are you really going to believe a fabricated story? Do you truly trust him over your own family?”
She didn’t have proof to deny his claims.
The villa owned by the Lou had been essentially demolished.
Anything discovered under its debris would be products made in the Empire—guns, gear, and all. It would just lend strength to the idea that the Imperial army had attacked, not the Hydra.
…Of course that would happen.
…The only thing to prove the Lou family is under attack is Sisbell’s Illumination.
That was why Sisbell had been targeted. Talisman had come to stop Iska himself. He had even used Vichyssoise to flatten the villa.
“…I…don’t know what to do…” Tears started to form in Alice’s eyes.
She didn’t think Iska would lie, but she had seen for herself the amount of destruction and cruelty that the Imperial army could cause. She didn’t know what was true.
“Didn’t Sisbell get kidnapped? I can’t take the word of an Imperial subject who failed to protect her.”
It was almost impossible to shake the general populace’s absolute trust in the House of Hydra. Who would take an Imperial soldier’s words as truth, especially when the queen had been maimed by his troops? Alice, too, had trouble trusting him.
“I…obviously don’t want to fight you feeling this way! I wish I could come up with any excuse to keep from battling you. But there’s nothing!” Alice wiped her eyes, drying the tears that blurred her vision, and looked at Iska through the arctic blast.
“…Huh?” Alice opened her mouth, dumbfounded. “Iska, is that—?!”
“Wh…what is this?” Iska noticed something when she pointed at his hand.
An infinitesimal bit of astral light around his wrist. It was so weak, and he had been so preoccupied with the situation that he’d failed to realize it.
…It has a gray light… That’s not Alice’s.
…Then who did this?
Was it a subspecies of astral power derived from curses?
Surprisingly, he felt no sense of malaise, though it was on his skin. If he had felt any pain, he would have taken notice of it even if he was distracted.
“It couldn’t be…” Alice, still shell-shocked, staggered over to him. The light on Iska’s shoulder reacted and turned into something like a butterfly.
A butterfly of light.
“I knew it! It’s Affinity! It’s Yumilecia… This is the astral power of one of the girls at the villa. Did you do something to her?”
“Me? I haven’t done anything. The servants should be safe.”
Yumilecia hadn’t been hurt, even after being attacked by the witch. All five girls had evacuated from the old castle.
“That’s not what I meant. Her astral power is used to deliver messages…”
“Huh?”
“She can touch a messenger to entrust her note with them. She must have touched you.”
He could only think of one time—right before he had left the villa, when he had promised to rescue Sisbell.
“We’ll try again. We’ll get Sisbell back—for sure.”
Iska picked the blade up and pressed it into the girl’s palm, wrapping her fingers around it.
“If I can’t do it, you can take my life yourself. You can take it out on me with this knife.”
He had touched her hand. She must have covertly used her astral power on him.
“…Iska. I won’t hurt you, I promise. Come closer.”
He nodded silently.
Astral power had faded from Alice. It was her way of demonstrating that she wouldn’t attack him if he approached her.
“Our attendants are no ordinary servants. The five of them can’t fight, but they have astral powers to use in times of urgency.”
“Is that what this Affinity stuff is?”
“That’s right. It won’t invoke unless it touches a specific person.” Alice reached out her hand. Her fingertips were trembling, perhaps owing to an inner conflict that Iska couldn’t possibly understand.
Alice touched the butterfly.
“To Lady Alice, Lady Sisbell, Lady Elletear, or Her Majesty.”
This was a message for her employers, which would play once when one of the four members of the Lou touched it.
“I have a report. As one of your humble servants, I pledge to the royal family that these are my own words.
“This Imperial raid was not just orchestrated by the Empire.
“The masterminds behind the coup are the Hydra.”
Yumilecia hadn’t been forced to say that by the Imperial army. If she had been threatened into making a statement, they would have used a tape recording. But she had exposed her own astral power to an Imperial soldier to leave this message.
This proved…the note was of her own volition.
“The head of household attacked and demolished the estate with mages disguised as Imperial soldiers. I apologize for allowing Lady Sisbell to be taken. It was my fault.
“The actual Imperial soldiers saved us, concerned for Lady Sisbell’s safety.
“Please have it in your heart to be accepting of the four of them…”
A firsthand account from the Lou. It wouldn’t hold up as evidence in an inquisition to pull Talisman from his position as head of the household.
However…for the princess, this testimony from her own servant was more than sufficient.
“……”
Upon carrying out its duty, the butterfly fluttered away, disappearing under the veil of night. Princess Aliceliese could only watch it go.
“……I see.” The strength in Alice seemed to fade, even in her voice. “You were right…until the very end. I was the one tricked…”
It had all been a sham.
After the Hydra had ushered in the Imperial army, Iska and his companions had done everything they could to protect her dear sister. Alice should have directed her need for revenge at the Hydra.
The two hadn’t had a reason to fight. Even if the Imperial forces attacking the palace were real soldiers, their plan wasn’t associated with the boy in front of her. Alice finally was able to believe it all.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry…!” Alice crumpled onto smooth ice, sobbing.
Like a burst dam, her tears that had paused temporarily started to flow again. As she sobbed, gasping for air, her voice was so quiet that it almost disappeared.
“……I…just wanted to protect the Sovereignty and my family… Why did…I let myself do something so wretched to you…?” Alice wept.
She was defenseless. She couldn’t see clearly through the tears.
If the boy was her enemy, he would have brought his sword down on the witch. It would have been simple. She would have just had to accept her fate.
“Stand up, Alice.”
When Iska said her name, the princess’s body jolted.
“There’s something you’ve got to do before you go around apologizing to your enemies.”
“…Huh?”
“What are you going to do now that you know your sister’s been kidnapped? Are you going to abandon her?” Iska asked the girl who looked up at him.
He just kept talking to her. “An Imperial subject doesn’t care what happens to the Sovereignty or the queen. But I can’t abandon Sisbell, and I’m planning on helping her.”
“……”
“Are you just going to sit there? Because I’m going with or without you.”
He wasn’t saying niceties. He didn’t even offer her a hand up.
Their relationship wasn’t like that.
“…You’re ruthless.” A self-deprecating smile flashed across Alice’s face for a moment. Then she wiped away her tears with a fingertip and stood up on her own, staggering, but upholding her dignity as a princess. “Hello? A girl is crying in front of you, and you can’t be bothered to say a single kind word or offer a helping hand? Imperial subjects are so barbaric.”
“You can be disappointed in me, but—”
“Thank you.” Her breath brushed against his neck.
He had no idea what had happened. Before Iska could gather his thoughts, Alice’s golden hair, soft as silk, tickled his nose. He felt the soft sensation of her chest against his.
“Thank you…for thinking of me as your rival again… If you’re treating me the same, that means we can be equals, right?”
This wasn’t a hug. She had just entrusted herself to him and wrapped her arms around his body.
Yes. There were no ulterior motives. She wasn’t trying to get anything from him.
“…Alice?”
“—”
They only touched for a few seconds.
Before Iska could realize what was happening, the lovely witch princess parted from him and turned her eyes away.
Fate had changed course.
They weren’t going to repeat the history between the leading actor and the princess—the destiny of Salinger and Mira. Fate was informing them that they were at a turning point.
That was because…the pair from thirty years ago couldn’t express themselves outside of battle. Their egos had been too big, which prevented them from getting any closer.
Or maybe that would have been solved with time to close their emotional distance.
But for Iska and Alice…
“Do you like pasta?”
“Iska, why do you like this painter?”
“As your rival, I have a right to know everything about you!”
They had interacted as humans, connected through their strengths and weaknesses and many other ways. Iska the Successor of the Black Steel and Alice the Ice Calamity Witch knew each other outside of the battlefield.
They’d met over and over, sometimes having missed connections, and they just couldn’t get away, even if they tried.
They had an intimate bond—closer than anyone else—that had just barely stopped them from repeating the same mistake.
“…I’ll apologize again. I’m sorry.” Alice bit her lip as the ice melted away.
The wall dissolved, and their surroundings gradually returned to its original form.
“I resented the Imperial forces who attacked the palace. I will never forgive the Saint Disciple who hurt the queen… But I won’t take those feelings out on you.”
“What about Sisbell?”
“I’ll go after the House of Hydra. There might be proof… I want you to stay with the servants. The villa isn’t safe, so keep away from it.” Alice turned around to look behind her.
Sirens screamed from the streets through the night.
“I think the medics I requested are here… You must go. I don’t want them to see us talking.”
“Okay.”
“…Iska.”
“Hmm?”
“I’m glad I fell for you.”
An inhibited smile spread across her lips…until Alice realized what she had said and gasped.
“I—I didn’t mean it like that. I meant I’m glad things fell into place, so we can be rivals! Wh-why is your mouth hanging open? This is a critical time, you know!”
“And who’s to blame?!”
He had known that wasn’t what she meant, of course.
So why wouldn’t his heart stop beating out of his chest?
They were supposed to be enemies. She was the witch who he’d been engaged in battle with until now…
—Why do I feel so flustered? It almost seemed like…actual magic had been cast on him, like he’d been bewitched.
“…I was just preparing myself because I thought it was another one of your traps.”
“H-how rude. Why would I try to seduce you?! …Ugh! Just go. You narrowly escaped death, Iska. We’ll settle things next time. You keep that in mind!”
Alice swished her dress around, turned her back to him, and started running, trying to hide her burning cheeks.
“Next time, huh?”
It would happen someday. Even if fate veered off course, their intention to settle things would never change. Iska and Alice felt the same way.
But it wouldn’t happen right now.
Someday, a time would come for them to square off in their crusade.
Iska and Alice ran in their respective directions, knowing this feeling in their hearts.
Alice the Ice Calamity Witch headed to the palace where the flames of war still fanned.
Iska the Successor of the Black Steel sprinted to the countryside where his friends waited.
The two of them had no idea…that even stranger events were occurring as the battle at the palace carried on.
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