Even though she looks prim and delicate, like she wouldn’t hurt a fly—
“Could you kindly not get ahead of yourself?!”
This time, it was Leone’s turn to be lifted into the air. “Eeek!” She found herself thrown sideways, almost slammed into the wall of the evacuation route. If she let go, she might be freed, but she wasn’t sure that her Artifact, once its Gift dissipated, wouldn’t fall toward Tiffanyer’s side. If Tiffanyer picked it up, she would be without a weapon, unable to stop Tiffanyer. For a moment, she hesitated, unsure what to do.
Meanwhile, Rafinha made her move. “Leave Leone alone!” A single thick arrow of light was ready on Shiny Flow, which she’d held drawn forcefully and charged for a long time. Rafinha normally fired entire barrages of arrows of light, but she could also focus them into one which grew more and more massive the longer it took. Let loose, the extremely dense arrow of light struck Tiffanyer’s torso. It also lacked the power to punch through her armor, but it was able to knock her off her footing and send her flying backward.
“Ugh! You brat!” Tiffanyer jumped back up after being knocked back by the arrow of light, but she’d released her grip on the tip of Leone’s sword.
Leone managed to come to a stop before slamming into the wall, staying safe. “Rafinha! Thank you!”
“It’s all because you were able to hold her off for me! That was great!”
“I... I tried! I think we can do this! Let’s keep holding her back!”
“Yeah!”
This time, it was them who closed in on Tiffanyer.
“I suppose that special-class Rune does mean something, after all. Not taking it seriously has cost me time and effort.”
“I told you—look down on us, and you’d be sorry!” Rafinha replied.
“Don’t underestimate us!” Leone said.
Tiffanyer leaped up, high above them. Her jumping power was extraordinary, and she soon reached near the roof of the passage, shocking both of the girls.
“Wh—?!”
“Haah!” Spinning in midair, she kicked the roof and rocketed off in a different direction—to the right of Rafinha and Leone. Added to the force of her original jump, the force of the kick propelled her even faster. Then she kicked off the right wall to the left.
Then from the left to the ceiling, the floor, the right again, the left—
“Ah!”
“She’s so fast!”
Tiffanyer moved seemingly in all directions at once, harder and harder for the eye to follow. This might have been advantageous terrain for her. In the passage, the ceilings and walls allowed her perfect footholds, letting her make complex movements in three dimensions.
“I can’t keep up with her!” Rafinha cried, her head spinning.
“W-We must manage somehow!” Leone could only see a twisted image of Tiffanyer moving at high speed, but maybe she could catch her when she landed. If Tiffanyer accelerated any further, she would certainly win. She needed to be stopped, or at least slowed, right now.
“Yaaaah!” Leone’s greatsword was aimed straight for Tiffanyer’s shoulder at the moment she landed.
But again, the hieral menace seemed to twist and dissolve away. The blade passed her by and struck the ground.
“She disappeared?!” Leone gasped. That meant she hadn’t been able to catch her after all. Tiffanyer’s movements were so fast that Leone could only see afterimages. And when Leone missed, she’d be risking opening herself up to a counterattack. Leone reflexively extended her sword that had hit the ground, trying to carry herself backward and evade.
A voice came whispering in her ear. “And is that the one trick they’ve been able to teach you? It’s so simple.” Tiffanyer had gotten around Leone without her knowing.
I’ve been read like a book! “Gah?!” Leone cried as the world spun around her. Tiffanyer, who had caught her by the arm, had lifted her up and slammed her to the floor. She felt the impact hard on her back. Her breath hitched; her ribs hurt. “Koff... Agh...” As she looked up, she saw Tiffanyer’s bewitching smile.
The hieral menace giggled as she raised a foot, such that Leone could see the soles of her golden armored boots. In a flash, she brought it stomping down onto Leone’s right wrist as she lay sprawled on the floor.
Leone felt her bones creak—no, they definitely broke. A burning pain shot through her body. “Aaaaahhh!” She couldn’t help but shriek.
“Wonderful. What an adorable voice.” Tiffanyer smirked. “A bit early for you to get that special-class Rune, hmm?”
“Ugh...” As much as Leone hated to admit it, she agreed. She’d thought she’d managed to put up a little bit of a fight, but when the battle became serious, she hadn’t been able to keep up with Tiffanyer at all. She was sure Leon or Rafael wouldn’t have embarrassed themselves like this.
“Leone!”
Before Rafinha could come to help, Tiffanyer leaped again and began moving at high speed.
“Ah?! Again?!”
Her flying kick struck the side of Rafinha, who couldn’t follow her movement.
“Eeeeeek!” Rafinha crashed into a wall. “Argh... I won’t give up...” She tried to get back up, but maybe because of the shock, her feet were too unsteady.
“I wonder—maybe I should let one of you go. It’s so pleasant watching a friendship be destroyed.”
“Don’t give me that! Who would—?!” Rafinha again nocked an arrow of light.
“Then I suppose I’ll crush the one I like the least.” With her fist clenched, Tiffanyer turned to Rafinha and giggled. “I wonder what face that girl would make if you were to die. Isn’t that a fascinating thing to think about?”
“That’s so scary, I don’t even want to think about it. There’s no telling what Chris would do then.”
“Rafinha!”
Immediately, Rafinha disappeared from Tiffanyer’s sight. Leone had picked her up from the side and extended the blade of her greatsword to carry her first to Rafinha and then to safety. Somehow, her broken right hand was still able to direct her weapon.
“Leone!” Rafinha gasped.
“We need to keep our distance for now!”
“Okay! Then, I’ll heal you right away!” Rafinha brushed her fingers over Leone’s right hand, and activated her healing Gift.
“Thanks! It’s feeling better already!”
“But if she’s that fast, we can’t even hit her! If I shot a volley of arrows, it would hit, but they wouldn’t do anything!”
“Yeah, but there’s something I want to try!”
“Is there some trick you know?”
“I don’t know. But from talking with Inglis...there’s something she said that I just remembered. That dragon lore and mana become stronger when mixed together!”
“Yeah, that’s the dragon magic stuff she’s been into lately, right? The dragon lore is the dragons’ power, and the mana is the power of our Artifacts!”
“Yes, I’d tried doing something like that before we came here and nothing happened, but now...!” Leone didn’t really have much to base it on, but it’s not like she had many other options. It was her only choice. “I’ll stop her!” Leone stopped trying to keep her distance with rapid-fire extensions of her greatsword to intercept Tiffanyer, who was already on the move again, coming for them.
“Rafinha! Even if it’s just a distraction, give it everything you’ve got!”
“Got it!” The arrow Rafinha fired split into countless trails of light and shot toward Tiffanyer. By sheer force of numbers, even without aiming precisely some would inevitably strike home. However, they merely struck her armor, not doing anything to Tiffanyer herself. At best, they slowed her down a little.
“And I’ve got something for you too!” Phantasms shot forth from the blade of Leone’s dark greatsword—as many, and as forcefully, as she could manage. The path they took had to be as tightly bunched as possible.
Within her greatsword rested dragon lore, which produced the phantasms. Inglis had said that dragonslayers had gained dragon powers before, but in Leone’s case, this power came from butchering the gigantic tails the sword had severed. It wasn’t necessarily the most impressive way to obtain a dragon’s power, but in any case, it was inside Leone’s weapon rather than within herself that the power had come to lay, and thus she could not control it freely. All she could do was control the number of phantasms and their trajectory a little bit. To move them, she needed to move herself in concert with her plan.
“Blend into one!” Just after releasing the phantasms, she rushed forward as if chasing after the dragon lore, extending her greatsword forward as well. The blade shot forth, catching up with the phantasms before they struck Tiffanyer. When she’d tried earlier, the blade had merely struck the phantasms and scattered them, but now they took on the color of its steel, and they fused into one.
“The sword and the phantasms are fusing together?!” Rafinha exclaimed in disbelief.
The phantasms took on a draconic form in black iron. No longer just phantasms, these were darksteel dragons—a fusion of dragon lore and mana.
Before, Leone had been unable to accomplish this, but now that she had a special-class Rune, the mana infusing her greatsword’s blade had become stronger. It had reached the level where it could fuse with the phantasms and transform. The power of her previous Rune had simply not been enough to keep up with that of dragon lore. “All right! Keep going!”
“Gwoooooohhhhn!”
The darksteel dragons each let forth a tremendous shrieking roar as they rocketed toward Tiffanyer.
“Wh—?!” Tiffanyer’s movements suddenly changed. She began to twist and try to evade the oncoming darksteel dragons. The hieral menace had paid no heed to Rafinha’s arrows of light or Leone’s phantasms, but these darksteel dragons were obviously a different story. Even with her stout armor, they were not a thing she could take carelessly. It was obvious that their might was far beyond that of the phantasms. So if I can hit her, we have a chance! Leone thought.
Despite Leone’s onslaught, Tiffanyer’s movements were still swift. When she dodged, the dragons were unable to catch her and passed harmlessly by.
“Ugh...! Stop playing games and get hit!” Rafinha groaned.
“That’s one thing I won’t do!” Tiffanyer continued to evade the black iron fangs with nimble movements.
“I still have more for you!” Leone wasn’t beaten yet.
Even if Tiffanyer dodged some darksteel dragons, they would change their directions, cut back, and attack her again. Their movements followed Leone’s will. She was able to control them far, far better than the phantasms. It was a test of whose endurance would give out first—whether a darksteel dragon would catch Tiffanyer, or whether Leone would become exhausted and the darksteel dragons would stop.
This is our only chance!
“I see, so that’s how they work.” Tiffanyer dodged the dragons over and over but didn’t seem troubled. In fact, she turned to Leone and smiled. “Ready for what happens next?”
If they could see each other, that meant there was nothing between them. As the cycle of dodging and attacking continued, the straight line between Leone and Tiffanyer had emptied completely. Maybe she had calculated her evasion to create that positioning.
“Now!”
Leaping forth, the hieral menace made straight for Leone. She wanted to attack the darksteel dragons’ controller directly.
“Leone!” Rafinha fired arrows of light, trying to stop Tiffanyer. But without time to focus and build their strength, it came out as a barrage of the Artifact’s standard arrows.
“You’re wasting your time!” The arrows of light did nothing to Tiffanyer’s armor. She ignored them, racing straight forward.
“You don’t know that for sure!” Rafinha yelled. As she did, the arrows changed their target all at once. Just before hitting Tiffanyer, they snapped downward and crashed into the ground.
What had seemed meaningless at first clearly affected Tiffanyer.
“Ah?!” Losing her balance, the hieral menace tripped and fell. This normally never would have happened, but Rafinha carving a hole in the floor in front of the hieral menace with her arrows had swept her off her feet.
“All right!” That was the point of firing such a weak barrage, without letting it build in power. Rafinha had wanted Tiffanyer to think the attack was insignificant and keep charging ahead. Even if her attacks couldn’t hurt the hieral menace, if they slowed her down even for a moment, it was worth it.
“You’re so tiresome! But it’s still just a last resort—a weak, scrappy attack!”
“That’s what you get for calling someone a sideshow’s sideshow!” Rafinha stuck out her tongue as forcefully as she could.
The darksteel dragons caught up with Tiffanyer thanks to Rafinha wasting Tiffanyer’s time. That Tiffanyer had stumbled was a fatal error, and she was livid at it happening. She didn’t have much time to allow herself to be angry, though. The first darksteel dragon bit into the golden armor on Tiffanyer’s shoulder, clear from the squeals of strained metal. A single strike couldn’t destroy the armor, but it was enough to drive her to her knees. “Aghhh!”
“Gwooohhhhhhhh!”
The roar of a swarm of darksteel dragons drowned out Tiffanyer’s shriek. Tiffanyer disappeared beneath them. The shock waves from their strikes ate away at the ground, digging a hole deeper and deeper.
“It’s working! You’re awesome, Leone!” Rafinha cheered.
“Y-Yes! They’ve gotten so much stronger...” Leone couldn’t believe it. Her previous phantasms and slashes with her greatsword didn’t even compare. These were on a whole different level—one fitting of a special-class Rune.
She found herself overjoyed, though. She had grown. She was glad she had received the special-class Rune. It made her more able to protect her dear friend Rafinha right here—and Liselotte, Wilma, Myce, the Highlander civilians, everyone.
The darksteel dragons broke off their encirclement of the hieral menace and returned to her greatsword Artifact. Left behind was Tiffanyer after taking the full brunt of their attack, crumpled on the floor and motionless.
Leone counted her own breaths—one, two—but even watching closely, there was no sign that the hieral menace would get to her feet.
Leone and Rafinha nodded to each other and walked toward their fallen opponent.
As they did, more became obvious. Tiffanyer’s armor was damaged in places, but not completely destroyed. But below it, they could see her arms, her legs, and her face were a bloody mess. She was gravely injured, and she was completely still.
“Did... Did that finish her off?” Rafinha anxiously moved closer to Tiffanyer to check whether she was breathing.
Tiffanyer was a vanquished foe, and definitely wasn’t a good person—quite the opposite given her depredations in Leclair, the city in Karelia’s northern neighbor Alcard. Still, Rafinha didn’t want her to die.
Even when Rafinha crouched close to her, she did not respond. Rafinha put her ear to Tiffanyer’s shapely armor-bound chest. A hieral menace was stronger—specifically more durable—than any normal human. Rafinha didn’t know if checking a hieral menace’s heart rate made sense, and in any case the armor prevented her from hearing a heartbeat, but it didn’t stop her.
“Hmm?”
“What’s wrong, Rafinha?” Leone approached Tiffanyer from her other side.
“I don’t know for sure. She’s definitely unconscious, though.”
“Wrong!” Tiffanyer’s eyes suddenly snapped open as she answered.
“Ack! You were playing dead?!” Rafinha squealed.
Tiffanyer’s hand wrapped around Leone’s ankle, and Leone let out a high-pitched shriek of surprise.
“Let’s see whether you really deserve a special-class Rune!”
“Leone!”
“Too slow!” A bright explosion overtook Tiffanyer’s words, enveloping both Rafinha and Leone.
“Eeeeeek!” Leone cried.
Rafinha had seen this before. “She’s transforming!”
When the blinding light dissipated, Leone, now clad in golden armor, stood before Rafinha. “Leone! Th-That’s a-amazing!” It was positively sublime. By transforming, the damage to the armor from before had completely disappeared. It shone brightly and beautifully. Rafinha almost found herself transfixed—but this was not a happy sight at all. She knew this well. “Leone, you can’t! Bring her back to normal! Hieral menaces, they—!”
They stole away the life force of their wielders. She could barely say it out loud.
Rafinha grabbed Leone’s shoulder and shook her.
Leone’s face went pale as she shook her head. “No, wait! I didn’t do this intentionally! I-I can’t change her back!”
“What?!” Rafinha gasped. This was like the time Tiffanyer had fought Inglis in Alcard. This time she had forcefully equipped herself to Leone, regardless of the latter’s opinions on the matter. Her plan was to drain Leone’s life away as the cost of wielding a hieral menace.
It was evil, and it was Tiffanyer’s last-ditch option.
“G-Got it! Calm down! I’ll get her off of you!” Rafinha gripped an edge of the golden armor and strained to pull it off her. “Hnnngghhhhh!” Even with all her strength, though, the armor’s plates did not move. She got the feeling so long as Tiffanyer refused, it wouldn’t budge.
As Rafinha struggled, a figure flitted over her head. “I’m back! What in the world is going on?!” It was Liselotte, with perfect timing.
“Liselotte! Sorry, help me out! Tiffanyer clamped onto Leone and won’t let go! If we don’t do something...! We need to get the armor off of her now!”
“What in the world?! U-Understood! Let’s hurry!”
The pair worked together, grabbing the straps of the armor and straining to make it shift at all. However, it still didn’t budge.
“It won’t come off!”
“If I put the handle in here and use it as a lever...!” Liselotte thrust the butt end of her halberd through a gap in the armor.
But her attempt went nowhere. Leone blocked it and then swung a fist at Liselotte.
“Augh! L-Leone?! What are you doing?!”
“No, it’s not me!”
“Tiffanyer’s doing this too!” Rafinha yelped. Tiffanyer had no concept of honor. Rafinha didn’t like her at all. In fact, she regretted having been worried for her.
“She was right—I shouldn’t have gotten this Rune this early! That’s why I can’t control a hieral menace!” Leone’s face was filled with sorrow even as she brandished her greatsword and swung it toward Rafinha.
“Leone!” Even Rafinha had no choice but to keep her distance and dodge, even though it seemed like Leone was holding Tiffanyer back and blunting her attacks.
“R-Run away, both of you! Staying here is dangerous!”
“We can’t! We can’t just leave you!”
“Indeed!”
“Then attack me! Stop me! I don’t know what I’ll do if this keeps going!”
Rafinha and Liselotte looked at each other and nodded.
“G-Got it!”
“It may hurt a little, do try to bear with us!”
Rafinha drew back her Artifact, and Liselotte aimed her dragon’s-jaw halberd squarely at Leone. Their shouts of exertion overlapped and compelled them forward.
Arrows of light and a dragon lore blizzard blended together as they converged on the golden-clad Leone. There was no holding back; the two girls had attacked at full force. Yet, a single swipe of Leone’s arm, controlled by Tiffanyer, brushed aside both the arrows of light and the blizzard.
“Aaaah!” Caught up in it, both Rafinha and Liselotte were swept back and slammed into the wall.
“I-It’s not working at all!” Rafinha said.
“This is what it’s like when a hieral menace transforms...” Liselotte said.
“Rafinha! Liselotte! Are you okay?” Leone looked at them worriedly.
Meanwhile, Tiffanyer laughed. “You’re worthy of a special-class Rune, but you received it too soon... I’ll put your life and your body both to good use.”
Rafinha and Liselotte could only assume Tiffanyer’s voice was somehow emanating from her armor. “We won’t—!” Rafinha began.
“—Allow you to do that!” Liselotte finished.
They stumbled to their feet, but Leone ignored them, rushing back up the passage to the shelter where Wilma was. Tiffanyer no longer saw them as a threat. Thanks to the hieral menace equipped to her, Leone was far faster than her limits before, faster even than Tiffanyer’s high-speed maneuvering when they had just fought.
“Sh-She’s so quick! We can’t keep up with her!”
“Yes, we can! Hold on tight!” Liselotte held Rafinha tight as they gave chase. She made sure to allow Rafinha access to her Artifact as she said, “Now, while you can! Build up an arrow!”
“Okay...!” But no matter how much power she built up, Rafinha didn’t think it would work on Leone as she was now. Even when Tiffanyer had been fighting alone, she had barely been able to make the hieral menace stumble. Now that she had transformed for a wielder with a special-class Rune, whether or not the wielder wanted it...
Rafinha thought that she might not be able to stop Leone. The gap between upper-class and special-class Runes was too great. Maybe Liselotte could do it. With her aptitude for becoming a hieral menace, she still had potential.
But where, Rafinha asked herself, was her own? After receiving Shiny Flow from Ambassador Theodore with a healing Gift attached, she felt like she’d made no notable progress at all. She was trying her hardest, but those efforts didn’t make up for what she lacked.
A moment of sudden realization struck, and she shook her head, brushing away her insecurities. Now was not the time for such thoughts. She had to do what she could. When Leone had unleashed the black iron dragons on Tiffanyer, she had been able to think on her feet and help out.
As she thought, Leone disappeared from her sight. The passage connected to the hole the faceless giant had torn open. Leone must have made it there. Only a little bit later, Rafinha, carried by Liselotte, flew into the hole as well.
“Wait! Stop!” Rafinha heard Wilma say.
“R-Run away! Please!” Leone called out in what was nearly a shriek.
Rafinha saw the dark greatsword Artifact swing down toward a mechanical dragon that had leaped from the shelters into the hole.
“Oh no!”
If the dragon were cut down, the evacuees it carried would plummet to the bottom of the hole. There was no way they’d all be okay from that. From the dragon’s arm, Myce looked toward her.
No! Not like this! If Leone were not stopped, not only would Myce and the others lose their lives, but no matter if it was under Tiffanyer’s control, and not by her own will, Leone would blame herself for it happening. Her heart wouldn’t be able to take it. She was the young lady who, even though she had been attacked on vacation to Ahlemin by locals turned into undying, had been in tears over the idea that she had killed her guests. Even before entering the knights’ academy, her older brother Leon had abandoned being a holy knight to join the Steelblood Front, and she had been harassed for her family’s traitorous connections.
Leone’s life had been harder than Rafinha could even begin to comprehend, yet still—no, maybe because of that—Leone was so kind. And Rafinha didn’t want to let such a dear friend or such a kind soul suffer any more. Only she and her arrow could prevent it.
No matter what, I absolutely need to stop her!
“I’m here, Leone!” Rafinha’s focus, sharpened to its limits, brought forth a strange feeling in her hands. Energy she didn’t understand welled up from within her, like it was forcefully reassuring her, giving her a push forward. She’d never felt this pumped up before; even onlookers could tell from a glance how ready she felt.
Fwoosh!
The arrow Rafinha shot glowed a pale blue, just like Inglis’s Aether Strike.
“Huh... What?!” Rafinha didn’t know what had just happened, but the arrow bore down on Leone, faster than Rafinha could comprehend. And just before Leone’s sword struck the mechanical dragon, Rafinha’s arrow found its target.
“Eeeeeek?!”
“Ahhhhhh?!”
An overpowering force crashed into Leone’s golden-armored form, striking her down toward the depths.
“Th-That was incredible, Rafinha! It was completely different from before! I-I’m amazed!” Liselotte said.
“Huh?” Rafinha asked. “Well...” She was in total agreement that it was completely different—and also just as flabbergasted. She had no idea what she had just done, or if she had even been the one who’d done it.
Wilma’s face lit up. “Well done! That was too close for comfort—for us, and for her!”
“Rafinha! Thank you!” That voice was unmistakably Myce’s, as he called from the lifeboat that the dragon cradled.
It wasn’t just him. Other Highlander evacuees were singing their praises for their savior. “Thank you!”
“You saved us! What an incredible young lady!”
“Oh, u-uh... Ah ha ha ha, you’re welcome!” It had been a power even she didn’t realize she had, so it was a bit embarrassing being thanked like that.
And anyway—Leone! How is she doing? I hope it was only Tiffanyer who took the hit, but...
“Liselotte, take us down! We’ve gotta check on Leone!”
“Yes, descending now!”
“Wilma, evacuate while you can!”
“Understood! Mechanical dragons, escape through the passage!”
But just as Wilma hopped onto a mechanical dragon and gave the order, above their heads, a red gleam swelled in the tremendous block of ice that Inglis had made into a lid.
“Wh—?!”
Kaboom!
By the time they heard the boom, shards of ice were already raining down the hole. Along with them came a hail of debris from the ground. It seemed a large explosion had occurred on the surface where Inglis was.
“Oh no! Mechanical dragons, fall back!” Wilma ordered. The mechanical dragons returned to the front of the shelter and managed to take cover from the hail of rubble.
“But what about Leone?!” Rafinha gasped.
Leone, who had fallen to the bottom of the hole, still wasn’t moving. At this rate, the falling debris might crush her. Liselotte descended at full speed straight to her. “I’ll fly you in close!”
“Right! I’ll get her!”
It was a swift moment—Rafinha extended her arms and grabbed hold of Leone, still in the golden armor, and Liselotte abruptly did an about-face to slip into a hollow adjoining the hole. A moment later, a gigantic boulder fell where Leone had been.
“Phew... We did it.” It had been just in the nick of time. If they hadn’t picked her up, the boulder probably would have crushed Leone.
“Yes, but this is...” Liselotte looked around. It was a calm, tranquil grotto, with outcroppings of the natural bedrock. And close to Rafinha and Liselotte loomed a gigantic stone box.
“The Greyfrier sarcophagus?!”
“Yes, Wilma did say it was just below.”
“Eris and that princess from Venefic are inside...”
Rafinha would’ve loved to have Eris around right now—if they could get Eris out. And they needed to secure Princess Meltina’s safety as soon as possible.
Rrrrrrrumble!
More loud noises from above. On the other side of the hole, the evacuation passage collapsed, digging the hole even wider. And along with countless chunks of rubble, a gigantic figure descended.
“Ha ha HA HA HA ha ha ha! Did you see that, you rotten little brat?!”
That was Maxwell’s laughter. Rafinha could see a faceless giant getting closer. And it was wielding a golden halberd scaled up to an appropriate size. Was that Charlotte? She noticed Maxwell embedded in its chest.
“Wh-What the heck is that?” Rafinha sputtered.
“I don’t know! But it’s ominous!”
Liselotte was right. She and Rafinha didn’t know what had happened, but it was definitely a breathtaking—if terrifying—sight in a lot of ways.
A much more relieving sight appeared in front of their eyes: a small girl landed with all the controlled grace of a dancer before the ominous giant.
“Chris!” Just seeing her was an incredible relief for Rafinha. Her own face lit up as she called her name.
“Rani! Sorry, are you okay?!” Inglis dashed to Rafinha’s side in worry.
From what Inglis had seen, the giant’s golden halberd had created a massive explosion, destroying the chunk of ice which had blocked access to below. Not only that, the surface around the hole had been blown away, widening it even more. The force of the explosion had been able to pierce both her Aether Shell and dragon ice armor-enhanced defenses and strong enough to punch through her physical armor. Her arms were covered with scrapes.
But even more importantly than that, just before the giant had created the explosion, she had sensed a burst of aether from below. She’d initially worried that the black-masked leader of the Steelblood Front had joined in, so she was relieved to find only Rafinha, Liselotte, and Leone when she descended.
“What just happened? Is the black-masked man here?”
“Huh?” Rafinha said. “I don’t think so. Tiffanyer had possessed Leone, so I shot an arrow of light from Shiny Flow trying to stop her...and something about it felt different.”
“It was bluish and glowed brightly, like the light you shoot, Inglis,” Liselotte added.
“Oh! So that was you, Rani?”
“Well, it was...me, but not me? It was so powerful.”
Inglis fell silent for a moment. What happened? How did Rafinha use aether?
Perhaps it had something to do with Rafinha more quickly recovering from the Artifact accident which had turned them into little children.
Normally, one would think that if Inglis and Rafinha were exposed to the same effect at the same time, there would be no way that a divine knight—a practical demigod swathed in aether—would be the one more strongly affected. Even if Inglis had been unlucky, it wasn’t plausible.
But what if Rafinha had some degree of latent aether and had acquired magical resistances that were approaching, and not matching, Inglis’s? Then it could just be a question of who had borne the brunt, and it was possible that Rafinha could recover first.
But how could Rafinha have become like that? Inglis asked herself, only to come to a single possible answer.
It was thanks to herself. That was her own influence.
Just as Inglis had acquired dragon lore from the ancient dragon Fufailbane by eating large quantities of his meat, Rafinha, who had grown up with Inglis, had been exposed to Inglis’s aether all her life. It could have permeated her and come to rest inside her. Inglis wasn’t sure that aether could undergo the same process as dragon lore, but looking back on her past life, there was no other person with whom she had spent as much time as Rafinha. She’d had comrades in arms who shared sorrow and joy, vassals who served from the founding of the Silvare Kingdom, and many more, but none had been constant companions, present even when she slept.
“I see... Rafinha, I think we’ve spent so long together that some of my power might have rubbed off.”
The depth and intensity of their bond had given Rafinha some of Inglis’s power. And that’s why Inglis hadn’t noticed what was changing in her. Even if her own aether was near her, it was her own aether—something which didn’t merit a thought.
And the burst of aether Inglis had just felt was very familiar. The black-masked leader of the Steelblood Front was an expert at manipulating aether and could control aether which was much like her own, hence her suspicion of his presence.
“Some of your power rubbed off? Can that even happen?”
“It looks like it. I didn’t know it was possible, but...I guess it’s like with Fufailbane? With how we got dragon lore.”
“Like with Mr. Dragon? But I haven’t eaten any of you.”
Inglis laughed. “If you want to, you’re more than welcome.” Inglis’s knowledge, her experience, her time, her aether... If those would be absorbed, she welcomed being consumed. If it would be helpful, she was more than fine with it—she would be pleased. She’d do anything for this girl. Such was her parental—well, grandparental—love.
Rrruuuumble!
Suddenly, she heard the sound of rushing water from far away. It approached rapidly, and flowed into the bottom of the hole, rapidly building up around their feet.
“Oh no! That must have tilted the island and plunged the end of the passage into the sea!” Rafinha said.
“Hurry and get Leone!” Inglis said.
Liselotte soared to Leone and picked her up. She was still wearing the armor that was Tiffanyer’s transformation, but she didn’t seem to be resisting.
“Chris!” Rafinha said. “If this keeps up, the Greyfrier sarcophagus will sink! And Eris and Meltina are still in there!”
“Okay, I need to lift it up!” If she could do that, it would be relatively safe above.
“Well, isn’t that interesting! How about this, then!” Maxwell yelled from the faceless giant. “Try and dodge this!” It thrust its halberd toward the Greyfrier sarcophagus, knowing that Inglis would be forced to place herself in the way.
Inglis was fully aware of his plan, but she had no choice but to intervene. “Haaaa!” She got ahead of the halberd’s gigantic point, and reached out a hand, stopping it. “I’d rather meet you head-on!”
“Grrr! You’re so damn strong!”
“Chris!”
“I’ll be fine! Rani, go with Liselotte!”
“O-Okay!” Rafinha ran after Liselotte.
Then, suddenly, the rock below Inglis’s feet crumbled as something pushed Rafinha away.
“Ngh!” Unable to keep her footing, Inglis leaned heavily to the side.
Now back in the form of a young woman, Tiffanyer had been the one to push Rafinha. She had caught Inglis by surprise, leaving no openings.
“You’re the most inconvenient one here, so don’t blame me for this!” Tiffanyer slammed her foot into Inglis.
With both Aether Shell and the dragon ice armor active, it wasn’t a significant blow. Tiffanyer must have known that. But as Inglis was already unsteady on her feet, the strike sent her flying.
Inglis’s breath caught in her chest as she saw the outline of the Greyfrier sarcophagus rushing closer—or rather, she was flying toward it.
It’s a bit rude to such a divine relic, but I can find my footing on it and regroup! Thinking so, Inglis twisted in midair, aiming her tiny feet toward the wall of the sarcophagus—
“Academician Wilkin!”
“Now!” Charlotte had transformed back from her halberd form, and joined in the call.
“Do it!” Maxwell’s gaze turned to Chief Academician Wilkin, who had suddenly appeared on the faceless giant’s shoulder.
“Sure, sure! All right, open sesame! ♪”
With the snap of Wilkin’s fingers, the stone wall Inglis had planned to land on disappeared, and a gap to the interior opened.
“Ah?!” Inglis couldn’t stop her momentum. Her tiny form went flying into the Greyfrier sarcophagus. And before she could fly out again, the entrance to the sarcophagus silently closed. Inglis was trapped inside.
“Chris?! Chris!” Rafinha yelled.
“It can clearly be opened—there must be a way to do so from the inside!” Liselotte said, panicked.
Chief Academician Wilkin had indicated as much, and Inglis might come jumping out regardless, or so they hoped... But still, they could not remain silent.
“Open it! Let Chris out, Academician Wilkin!” Rafinha yelled, only to be answered with a kick from Tiffanyer.
“Aaaah!”
“Do be quiet. We don’t have time to play with you.”
“U-Ugh! Get out of my way! I’m not talking to you! Chris is—!”
To make matters worse, the cracks in the rock that had opened below Inglis’s feet began to spread throughout the grotto where the Greyfrier sarcophagus was enshrined. Seawater began flooding in from the walls. In only a moment, it was past Rafinha’s knees.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! All right, finish her off!” Maxwell commanded.
Blammmmmm!
The faceless giant smashed the rock at the foot of the Greyfrier sarcophagus. This was the decisive blow, and the bedrock collapsed completely. The Greyfrier sarcophagus tilted and sank into the sea.
“Begone into the depths!” Maxwell laughed in self-satisfaction.
“No way! No, no, no! This can’t be happening! Hold on, Chris! I’ll help you!” Rafinha prepared to dive into the sea, following Inglis.
“No! Rafinha!” Liselotte stopped her, plucking her from her dive and pulling up with the power of her Gift’s pale wings.
“L-Liselotte?! Why did you stop me?! Chris is—! We need to hurry or Chris will sink!”
“C-Calm down! If you just jump in without preparing, you’ll endanger yourself as well!”
It hurt Liselotte to hold back Rafinha, who was in tears. She felt like she was doing something very wrong, but if she let Rafinha go, she didn’t know what would happen to her—no, she had all too good of an idea.
Inglis defied common sense. She might just turn up again with a smile on her face. But if Rafinha drowned chasing after her, there would be no joy in that reunion.
The Greyfrier sarcophagus sank headlong into the depths. As it disappeared, they could see it pass by complex glowing glyphs. Were those pieces of the Floating Circle that held up pieces of Highland? Those were holding their position, so it seemed this land could still stay afloat. But the Greyfrier sarcophagus quickly sank to a hopeless depth. The beautiful, clear water made it easy to see what was happening.
“Ah! Chris! Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiis!” Tears streamed from Rafinha’s eyes as Liselotte hardened her heart and held her back. Meanwhile, Leone, held in her other arm, was still unconscious.
“Ga ha ha ha ha! This! Is! Patriotism! Those who fight for a cause win in the end! That’s how the world works!” Maxwell gloated.
“Good grief... I can’t agree with that. You’re being a bit too boisterous for anyone to take you seriously anyway,” Tiffanyer spat in disgust. “But dear cousin Eris was in there... And it’s better if she can finally rest. Besides, that child will make a good sacrifice to accompany her to the afterlife.” Tiffanyer looked off into the distance, her eyes just a little sad.
Charlotte remained silent.
“Ugh...!” With such powerful enemies, and the condition her side was in, what could be done? Liselotte felt herself fall into despair.
“I recommend you surrender. If Chief Academician Wilkin’s daughter comes with us, we promise to cease our attacks,” Charlotte said from the shoulder of the faceless giant.
“I will accept your offer—as long as those who wish to are allowed to accompany me,” replied Wilma, having stood by on the sidelines.
Liselotte lacked the power to object.
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