7
Volcanica’s breath became a blue light that rained down on the highest floor.
“ ”
For an instant, the thought of hiding behind the monolith crossed Emilia’s mind.
It was sturdy and might not budge from a dragon’s breath. But in the worst case, if something did happen to it, she had a feeling that would ruin the examination.
And unrelated to the issue of the examination, she had a feeling…
“If it got destroyed, that would be really sad…”
The monolith with an oddly familiar handprint.
She didn’t know how it was related to her. Maybe she was just overthinking things. But she wanted to confirm what that unidentifiable feeling was. So she couldn’t lose it. That meant…
She gathered all the reactive mana that she had channeled into her Icicle Line and concentrated it into a single point.
Emilia possessed a level of mana that surprised even her, but she couldn’t just control that massive amount of mana all at once. No matter how much mana she stored up, the limit for how much could be released at the same time was her gate. Emilia boasted an output more than ten times that of an average magic caster, but the strength of her long experience as a spirit mage increased her possibilities even further.
A mage interacted with the world using mana stored up inside themselves by manipulating their gate. A spirit mage borrowed the strength of spirits, using the mana in the air around them to interact with the world.
So there was a certain option available to Emilia, who had a firm grounding in both those traditions. There was a limit on how much water could come out of a faucet, but by storing it in a barrel, it was possible to use even more water. Emilia manifested that concept using her own body and the world around her.
Storing the mana overflowing from her outside herself, she could react with a massive amount of magic that ignored the limits of her gate…
“Absolute Zero.”
That was what Subaru had called it. It was a theory, an idea that they had decided would be difficult to actually perform.
Ironically, at the same time that Subaru was shouting about not being able to trust himself in a one-shot match on the highest stage, Emilia was testing her luck with something she had never once succeeded at, either.
—And she would have to make it succeed.
If Emilia’s natural magic power was at a level one, then the force of the magic that she was manifesting with her overflowing power now was at a level ten or maybe even a level one hundred.
In an instant, the sweeping white sky overlooking the world froze, not just as a metaphor but with a force that almost seemed to freeze the unstoppable passage of time.
Even the inescapable death that should have been the dragon’s breath was no exception.
The blue light and absolute zero crashed into each other, giving rise to an emptiness that filled the world.
“ ”
In an instant, those two extreme powers negated each other, without even a struggle.
It was truly astounding, a negation without sound or impact, and what set the frozen time back in motion was Emilia leaping forward, ice spear in hand.
“Teeeeyaaaaaa!!!!”
Raising her voice, she charged at Volcanica.
So much strength had left her body, leaving her feeling terribly heavy. Even though the mana she had used had come from outside of her body, it was a massive effort for her to control it.
“But I can’t just stop now!”
“—Satellaaaaa!!!”
Volcanica roared at its breath having been stopped and swung its front leg and tail.
An impact from beyond her perception, Emilia protected herself by relying on the feel of the ice crystals all around her—the seven ice soldiers she had created splintered even as they supported her charge.
Leaping to the side to evade the attack swinging down from above, stopping the following swipe with the ice soldiers’ bodies, Emilia stepped on their shoulders and leaped high into the air. The tail swipe aimed at her in midair was slowed by two soldiers carried piggyback sacrificing themselves—and in that opening, she slipped in close to the dragon.
“That white scale…”
Emilia looked up to see if she could touch it, if she could land a blow. And her eyes widened.
It was shock. That white scale wasn’t the Holy Dragon’s weak point. It was a large white scar that looked like a scale.
“An old wound…”
The wound had long since closed, and there was no reason it should hurt if it was touched.
But the Holy Dragon had reacted so strongly to a simple touch, had writhed that much. Realizing it was connected to the old memories that Volcanica couldn’t forget, Emilia gasped.
And in that moment’s hesitation, Volcanica flapped its wings.
“Ah!”
Its massive body ascended in an instant, leaving Emilia’s outstretched hand behind.
“No!!!”
As she put her hand on the ground, ice swelled beneath her feet.
The on-the-spot ice footing reached into the sky, and Emilia desperately stretched out her hand toward the flying Holy Dragon. As fast as she rose, though, she couldn’t reach.
“—Everyone! Please!!!”
Responding to her shout, the ice soldiers rushed up the footholds she had made.
Running up, first one leaped from the top, then another leaped off the first, and on this went until Emilia leaped off the back of the last one.
“Sorry!”
The ice soldiers’ backs crumpled as she firmly planted a foot on them. But all seven of them smiled and gave a thumbs-up as they fell. With their support, Emilia reached her hand toward Volcanica’s tail…
“—Foolish.”
The tail was withdrawn, leaving Emilia’s fingers grasping air.
And as her eyes widened, the withdrawn tail returned at high speed.
There was no escape in the middle of the air. Even if she tried to make a shield of ice, the force of the impact even through that would still be enough to kill her immediately.
“—Ah.”
Thoughts of failure and concern about what to do all swirled in Emilia’s mind.
Feeling time seem to slow around her, she desperately searched for a way out, using every bit of her mind and body to discover something. Giving up was the only thing she couldn’t do.
Because all of the people she cared so much for, none of them had ever chosen to give up.
So…
“I won’t give up, either!”
But there was no salvation in just finding new resolve. And as if intending to point out her inadequacy, the ancient Holy Dragon’s tail hurtled toward Emilia…
“—Lady Emilia!!!”
In that moment, a powerful wind blew up straight from below, giving Emilia just a little bit of a boost in her ascent.
The Holy Dragon’s tail was aimed at her head.
Because she had accelerated, the tail’s target was shifted from her head to her torso. Understanding that at an instinctive level, Emilia raised her knees. She made herself as small as possible to evade the attack. That allowed the tail to brush past, just barely grazing her toes, though the incredible force did send her spinning at high speed.
Emilia’s body flew upward, still holding her knees. Overwhelmed by a feeling that threatened to make her insides spill out, Emilia clenched her teeth and created an ice platform in the sky, forcibly stopping herself.
There was a loud thud, and Emilia looked down with watery eyes. She felt that impact with her entire body.
She used the ceiling of ice in the sky as a foothold and as a vantage point to scan the upside-down world. Emilia saw Volcanica’s head and also a figure that had emerged from the stairs onto the first floor far down below.
Or rather, not a figure. A person and a ground dragon.
“Ram and…!”
Ram’s outstretched hand was what had summoned the gust of wind that had aided Emilia’s ascent.
Even at this distance, she was obviously exhausted and battered. Emilia couldn’t hide her amazement that she came running in her condition. But thanks to her help, Emilia had avoided dying from a tail to the head.
Emilia poured her strength into her legs once again. She would use the ice ceiling to charge at Volcanica again in one fell swoop. But in response, Volcanica behaved strangely.
Its tail still in the follow-through from its swing, Volcanica was looking not at Emilia but down below.
The ancient Holy Dragon was looking at Ram…no, not at her, but…
“—Patrasche?”
“Hiiyaaaaaaah!!!”
Emilia screamed, firing off through the sky.
A split second later, Volcanica looked up, smashing the ceiling of ice overhead. But it was too late. Emilia was no longer there. Leaping with all her might, she was closing in on the dragon’s throat.
“Cheyaaaaaaa!!!”
With a beautiful kick, like a shooting star, Emilia dodged the swipe and approached Volcanica’s white scar. She got closer and closer—until she finally reached it.
“ GGHHHHH!!!”
Volcanica let out another cry as Emilia’s white shoe landed on its throat.
Emilia shouted and covered her ears as a sky-splitting sound resounded, falling in the rebound from the kick. Falling and falling and…
“Kyah! …Whah, thank you!”
As she fell, the ice soldiers that had served as her footholds caught her.
Saved by a soft landing, Emilia stood up. And then she confirmed she had landed on the highest floor, while Volcanica was still writhing in the sky above.
She ran to the monolith at the center of the pillar and searched for a familiar handprint…
“It is!!!”
Reaching out, she pressed her hand against the monolith this time before anything could stop her.
The monolith shuddered from the force of the impact, but Emilia’s hand fit perfectly in the mystifying handprint. She didn’t know how many people there were in the world with perfectly matching hands, but at the very least, the person who left this handprint in the monolith matched her.
And…
“—Thou who hath reached the tower’s peak, petitioner of omnipotence who treads upon the first floor.”
“Ah…”
The Holy Dragon descended when Emilia put her hand on the monolith.
Still flying in the sky, Volcanica, who had seemingly returned to its senses, at least a bit, repeated that same line.
But the words felt different from before, when it sounded like it had forgotten everything—it felt like Volcanica was actually asking a question this time.
“—I am Volcanica. By ancient oath, I ask thy will.”
They were the same words she had heard so many times.
Ask the will of thou who hath reached the peak. In other words, it wanted to know the thoughts of the person who had made it to the top.
What was their wish, their hope, why had they come here?
“ ”
Emilia had a lot of answers to that question.
What she wanted to do, what she hoped, what she came here for, there were a lot of things.
However, in this moment, in a huge rush, what Emilia wanted was—
“—I ask thy will!”
Hearing the repeated question, Emilia opened her eyes, and in a loud voice, she said:
“I want everyone to get along!!!”
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