Part 3
“Can we seriously not get out yet?”
Claire heaves a sigh in the academy classroom. Her surroundings are shrouded in white fog, and there’s nobody else around.
“Just a little longer.”
“You’ve been saying that for ages.”
“Yes, because it keeps being a little longer. I’m trying to widen the crack, but you have so little magic it’s taking me forever.”
“Oh gee, my bad. Sorry for having so little magic. I’ll have you know, I’ve got more magic than almost anyone at school.”
“Small fish, small pond.”
“I swear, it’s like you’re trying to offend me.”
“Oops, did I say that out loud?”
“Also, what were you saying about a crack?”
“There’s a crack you can pass through to get back to your original world.”
“My original world? What world is this, then?”
“Oh, a lady never tells.”
Claire lets out another sigh. There’s so much she doesn’t understand, she doesn’t even know where to start.
She sits down at a desk. Right as she’s about to cross her legs, though, she senses that something is off.
“Huh?”
There’s something touching her leg.
On further inspection, she discovers that it’s a translucent human arm. It’s drenched in blood and grabbing on to her.
“Wh-what is that thing?!”
She leaps to her feet, gives the arm a fierce kick, and backs away.
As the arm goes flying, the rest of a blood-soaked human appears attached to it. Their skin is ashen, their eyes are sunken, and their chest has a massive wound in it. It’s pretty clear they aren’t alive.
“Be careful. That’s a spirit.”
“A what?”
“A hero of old who’s been chained to this land. They’re bound by profane magic and forced to wander for all eternity. Go on and put it out of its misery.”
“Okay, sure, but…how exactly do I do that?”
“Oh, hitting them will probably do the trick.”
“Hrah!”
When the spirit tries to get back up, Claire wallops them with a magically imbued punch. The spirit bursts and fades away.
“That felt nasty.”
“If spirits are showing up, then the seal must be weakening… This could be bad.”
“What seal?”
“Don’t mind me. Just talking to myself. Ah, I messed up. I need to make sure she can’t hear me. I guess what she lacks in magic, she makes up for in hearing.”
“I can still hear you, you know.”
From then on, Aurora is silent.
Another spirit appears, and Claire kicks them away.
“It really sucks, not having a sword.”
Sadly, she left her sword back on the other side.
Spirits continue popping up every so often, and Claire dispatches them as she waits for Aurora to finish working. The spirits are coming more frequently now, and the fog is getting denser.
“Are you almost done yet, Aurora?”
“Just a little longer.”
“For real this time?”
“For real. But unfortunately…we have company.”
“Huh?”
Sensing someone behind her, Claire whirls around. A man in a black robe has been standing there since who-knows-when. His face is hidden beneath a dark mask.
“When did he—?”
Claire assumes a combat stance, but without a sword, she looks a little silly.
In contrast, the robed man does have a sword, and he brandishes it with a practiced hand before closing in on Claire in a flash.
“How’s he so fast?!”
Claire dodges his initial strike by the skin of her teeth, then backs off and puts some distance between them. However, the robed man has no intention of letting her get away. He circles around her and strikes her with his sword.
“Rgh!”
Claire gets sent flying, but she then totters back to her feet. That was a powerful blow he dealt with the flat of his sword, but she’s not out yet. The man doesn’t seem to be going for the kill. He must be planning on capturing her.
Aurora’s voice echoes in her head. “Looks like you’re outmatched.”
“Shut up, will you? In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m in the middle of something here.”
“Well, yes. In the middle of losing.”
“Oh, be quiet! If I just had a sword…”
“It wouldn’t make a difference.”
“I said shut up!”
“Here he comes.”
The robed man takes a running start and bears down on Claire.
“I’ll lend you my strength.”
“…Huh?”
It happens in the blink of an eye. The man is right in front of her, ready to strike, when all of a sudden, a red tendril swats him away. The tendril is coming out of Claire’s foot, and it undulates like it has a mind of its own.
“Wh-what is that thing?”
“Blood.”
“Blood?!”
“If you work hard, you’ll be able to use this technique, too. After all, you’re…”
“I’m what?”
“…It’s nothing. The fight isn’t over yet.”
Claire looks up and finds the robed man standing before her. There’s blood dripping down his cheek, and his dark mask has fallen off.
“I know you… You’re from the Knight Order.”
Claire saw him during her internship there.
The man grins and gives her a bow. “We meet again, Claire.”
“You’re Viscount Jean, captain of the third Knight Order’s fourth company.”
“That was just a cover identity. I’m a Named Child—Jean, the Wicked Smile.”
What sort of stupid name is that? Claire wonders. However, she decides not to voice that thought out loud. “I don’t know what a Named Child is, but I didn’t take you for the kind of guy with a sketchy side hustle.”
“Nor did I ever imagine you harbored such power. How fascinating… We didn’t find anything of the sort the last time we studied you.”
“I’m sorry—the last time you what?”
“Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about. At any rate, it looks like we ought to run those tests again.”
With that, he readies his sword.
Claire’s red tendril tries to get ready for battle as well, but for whatever reason, it goes limp and dissolves instead.
“This is bad, Claire.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re out of magic.”
Claire’s lip twitches. “You useless little…”
True to his name, a wicked smile spreads across the Wicked Smile’s face. “Lucky me. I get to bring a present to the big man.”
Kshhh.
All of a sudden, there’s a sound like glass shattering, and a chunk of the world of white fog fractures.
“Huh?!”
Then a figure falls out of the fracture.
The newcomer is a beautiful therianthrope girl with a golden tail and ears, dressed in a jet-black bodysuit, and as soon she lands in front of Claire, a strange black mist swats the Wicked Smile’s sword away.
“Rrgh!”
The Wicked Smile gets sent flying with incredible force.
It looked like little more than a light tap. How could a blow that minor have carried such tremendous force?
The therianthrope girl shrouded in black mist stands silently. Her eyes are cold and composed.
“Who are you…?” Claire asks.
“Zeta,” the girl replies icily.
Claire hears Aurora in her head. “Get back, Claire. I can’t get a read on the limits of that girl’s strength.”
There’s a rare hint of tension in Aurora’s voice, which surprises Claire. She backs up a step, then poses a question to Zeta. “Would I be right to assume that you rescued me just now?”
“Can’t let the Cult have you. Not now, at least.”
“Huh?”
The black mist flickers, and the next thing Claire knows, Zeta is behind her.
“Bye-bye.”
After grabbing Claire by the collar, Zeta hurls her through the fracture.
“Wait—what do you think you’re doooooooo—?!”
Claire’s cry grows distant as she gets swallowed up by the fracture and disappears.
Now Zeta and Jean, the Wicked Smile, are alone in the world of white fog.
“Tch… How dare you get in my way?” the Wicked Smile says as he squares off against Zeta.
“Mm. Nice to meet you.”
“I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised the Shadow Garden decided to show up.”
With that, the Wicked Smile holds his sword at the ready.
As he carefully gauges the distance between them, he notices Zeta giving him a bored look.
“You seem awfully confident,” he says. “What’re you, a member of Shadow Garden leadership?”
“Did you find out?”
Zeta completely ignores his question. The absolute confidence she has in her abilities lets her do things like that.
“Find out what?”
“Her secret.”
“You mean that power she has? What about—?!”
Before he even finishes his sentence, Zeta’s magic surges.
The Wicked Smile’s knees rattle as the sheer force of the magic threatens to squish him flat.
“Wh-what the…? What’s with all that magic? How were you hiding it?”
“If you hadn’t found out, I could have left you at large.”
“Wh-what are you—?”
“But you know, so good-bye.”
“What’s going on…? GAHHHHHHHH?!”
All of a sudden, the Wicked Smile sheds a black tear. Then black mist erupts from every pore he has, and his body explodes into tiny bits.
Zeta shoots a glance at his corpse. “Mm. This new technique isn’t bad.”
Then she turns and addresses the empty room.
“All done.”
As if in response, a girl appears from the rift. This one is wearing a black bodysuit, too, but her hair is strawberry blond. It’s Victoria.
She kneels before Zeta.
“Understood, ma’am.”
“I confirmed Aurora is inside Claire.”
“So it’s as we suspected…”
“Mm. It’s all connected. That’s why Master did what he did…”
“Has the Cult noticed?”
“Not yet.”
“What do we do, then?”
“Shift to plan C.”
“Claire will be the key to our strategy. However, it’s the one that leads to the most desirable outcome.”
“Master said to fix my gaze on the future.”
“So this is Master Shadow’s will…” Victoria folds her hands in front of her chest in prayer.
“She needs to know, too,” Zeta orders her. “Tell her the plan’s changed.”
With that, she turns into black mist and vanishes. Victoria watches her go with a thin smile.
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