CHAPTER 1

Not Even the Courage to Hold On

1

The Imperial capital, Yunmelngen.

A transport aircraft roared as it landed in the center of the base. It slid over a thousand meters, sparks violently erupting beneath it until it came to a halt.

Clack, clack…

When the steps of the aircraft lowered, a blue-haired witch stepped out, her hands in restraints.

“…”

Wind swept past the runway, tussling her dazzling lapis lazuli hair. She didn’t bother to fix her stray locks as she continued to make her way down the stairs toward the man below her.

“Hello, Princess Mizerhyby. It’s been a few hours, but I hope you still remember who I am.”

“…”

Mizerhyby Hydra Nebulis IX glared at the man after he called her by name.

The man was lean, with noticeable stubble. This was Sir Karossos Newton, the laboratory chief of Omen—the only institution officially permitted to study astral power in the Empire—and the Saint Disciple of the tenth seat. He raised a hand as though he and the princess were old friends.

“Hmm. It seems our positions are reversed now… Oh, excuse me. I didn’t mean that sarcastically. I’m just stating the facts. And while we’re talking about the reality of the situation…”

Newton cast a conspicuous glance behind her.

A group of Imperial soldiers were transporting a partially transformed man and woman on stretchers. One of them was Talisman, the head of the Hydra household. The other was the witch Vichyssoise.

The two had been transfigured into grotesque monsters by the power of the calamity.

“Their Excellency has ordered me to oversee their treatment. What a dramatic turn of events, isn’t it?”

That single statement brought a hint of grimness to Princess Mizerhyby’s face.

“You want me to lick your boots?” she asked.

“Hmm?”

“Or would you rather I cry and apologize for the violence I inflicted when I invaded your lab? Or—?”

“How ridiculous!” Newton dramatically flung out his arms. His white lab coat flapped open. “The power of purebreds lived up to the stories! Plus, I got to see the power of the calamity transform people with my own two eyes! I shudder at the thought of how lucky I am to have witnessed such a thing!”

Before replying, Mizerhyby looked at the stretchers for a moment. “I know those two can be of value to the Empire—they have critical information on the calamity. Allow them to live.”

“There was never a question about that.” The Saint Disciple clad in white shrugged lightly. “Talisman and Vichyssoise are specimens of the calamity. I’ll keep them alive at whatever cost.”

“I beg that you will.”

“And I have something to ask of you as well.” The voice came from behind her.

As two new witches appeared on either side of Mizerhyby, Newton did not hide his chuckle.

“Well, well. Princess Aliceliese and Princess Kissing. It’s a magnificent sight indeed to see three of the Sovereignty’s princesses standing side by side. By the way, Your Highnesses…” He looked at Alice and Kissing in turn. “Didn’t you both propose subduing the Hydra when they infiltrated the Empire? Yet here you are, asking that we treat them kindly. Did you have a change of heart? Or were you perhaps motivated to save fellow members of the royal family?”

“The tides of battle changed,” Kissing answered immediately. She spoke mechanically, almost as though she were reciting the digits of a number. “The duo you are transporting, Lord Talisman in particular, will be essential leverage for making Mizerhyby do as we please. Isn’t that right, Aliceliese?”

“…Well, yes,” Alice reluctantly answered from across Mizerhyby. “I hate to admit it, but after seeing Lord Talisman, I realized we will need her power to fight the calamity.”

“Hmm, so you mean we might as well use her powers in the battle against the calamity if we were going to let her rot in a prison cell anyway?” Newton stroked his beard. People close to him would have recognized this gesture as evidence he was in a good mood. “All right. That’s more than enough reason for me to treat those two.”

He then turned and faced his former colleague, the ex-Saint Disciple Iska. “Well, then, go ahead and take Princess Mizerhyby, Iska.”

Newton turned back around. “Don’t worry, Princess Mizerhyby. I promise to treat your precious compatriots with the best medical care the Empire has to offer. As long as you behave, that is.”

Then he left, heading out with the Imperial unit carrying the stretchers.

Mizerhyby watched them leave in silence, as did Alice and Kissing beside her.

“Let’s go.” Iska nodded faintly at them.

They would be heading farther into the capital, past the central base where they currently stood.

“The Lord is waiting.”

2

The Lord’s offices.

The oldest building in the Imperial capital was composed of four five-story structures in one.

In its innermost level, Iska entered the Lord’s chambers.

“I was waiting for you, Iska! And Nene!” Captain Mismis turned to them, her face swollen.

She had taken off her Imperial uniform and stripped down to a tank top, revealing her painful-looking bandaged left arm.

“You won’t believe this! While you were out, we faced the biggest threat ever to the Lord’s offices! And then I protected the place by using my body as a shield and—”

“It’s just a flesh wound. Nothing happened to her,” Jhin muttered from behind Mismis. “Like I reported to you earlier, ex-Captain Shanorotte attempted a one-woman invasion. We lost mechanical soldiers on the first and second floors, along with some security cameras. Oh, and I guess the boss happened to get a little graze.”

“You ‘guess’?!” Captain Mismis pointed at her left arm, then at her face. “Look at my shoulder! I was shot!”

“You were grazed. Rub a little spit on it, and it’ll heal right up.”

“Look at my face! Noro punched me so many times!”

“And you hit her right back plenty of times. You even knocked her off guard with a headbutt.”

“Jhin, whose side are you on?!”

“Anyway, that’s what happened here,” Jhin responded lightheartedly, only to squint abruptly.

More people had followed Iska and Nene inside. First were Alice and Kissing. But the one who really grabbed his attention was in the middle of the two royals—a blue-haired princess.

“I heard the report. Looks like you got a good roundup.”

Mizerhyby of the Hydra. They’d had a run-in with her once at Snow and Sun. Little wonder, then, that Jhin gave her a scathing look, and Mismis gulped.

“…” In contrast, Mizerhyby remained silent.

She focused her eyes on the far side of the room, where dozens of tatami mats were laid out.

“Welcome back, everyone.”

A silvery beastperson propped an elbow against the legless chair they sat in and reclined.

Lord Yunmelngen.

“Normally, I would say I grew tired while waiting, but there’s a new face with you this time, so I’m wide-awake from the novelty. Princess Mizerhyby of the Hydra: Do you intend to become the Empire’s poison or our salvation?”

“…” Mizerhyby raised her head.

She brushed aside her bangs with her bound hands and glared hard enough at the silver beastperson to bore holes in them.

“Are you the Lord?”

“Hmm?”

The Lord opened a single eye upon hearing Mizerhyby murmur.

“You don’t seem surprised by my appearance.”

“Yes, unfortunately, I’m not.” Mizerhyby stared at the Lord. “I’ve seen enough people transfigured by the calamity’s power to last me a lifetime.”

“Ha-ha. I’m sure you’re glad your head of household didn’t end up like me.”

“You were watching?”

“This is the Empire. There is nothing that occurs within its bounds I do not know of. Now, then…”

Lord Yunmelngen shifted, raising a knee and cradling it to their chest.

“I have two or three questions. The Hydra are the mavericks of the Nebulis Sovereignty’s royal houses. Your interests in acquiring the calamity’s power aligned with those of the Eight Great Apostles, and you waited decades for the opportunity to strike. You wanted to make the entire Sovereignty your own. Am I correct?”

“I believe you are.” Mizerhyby’s voice stayed steady as she took in the Lord’s words.

The Hydra and the Eight Great Apostles had been the ones pulling the strings all along. Mizerhyby knew she was at Lord Yunmelngen’s mercy and that her life potentially hinged on her answer.

“Or you would be, if you were describing the previous generation,” Mizerhyby added.

“Oh?” The beastperson’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Are you claiming the current head of household, Lord Talisman, did not have those plans?”

“He had different aims.”

“Tell me them.”

“It was curiosity. My uncle was never compelled by conquest.”

While he had been transfigured into a sorcerer, Lord Talisman, the head of the Hydra, had said this to Alice and Kissing:

“A new age of knowledge is soon to come!”

“At least that’s how I saw things…” Mizerhyby bit her lip. “My uncle didn’t quite know what to do as the head of the household. He’s a researcher at heart.”

“But he still experimented on people, didn’t he?”

“He inherited those experiments from his predecessors. But my uncle was never interested in power. I asked him directly about it once, you know. About what he wanted to do with the calamity.”

And this was what Talisman had said:

“I’d just like to research it. I want to know everything there is about the most powerful thing on the planet.”

He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge.

Deep down, that was who he really was, and it was this quality that set him apart from the Eight Great Apostles.

The Apostles had wished to use the calamity.

Talisman simply wished to know everything about it.

“That’s how I know his goal was to study the calamity. Though he did want to use it, too. You may decide for yourself what that means.”

“Then what about you?”

Still holding their knee, the beastperson narrowed their eyes. They had the eyes of an animal—of a predator sizing up its prey and whetting its claws.

“What do you intend to do? I want to know how you currently feel about the calamity.”

“…”

The Hydra princess was silent. Lord Yunmelngen observed her from head to toe, watching every split second of subtle emotion that showed on her face.

“To be honest, it is Elletear who I truly detest, not the calamity.”

“Until now, right?”

“I suppose.”

When the Lord spoke up as though to test her, Mizerhyby let out a sigh.

“I never wanted to see my uncle in such a wretched state. If that was the power of the calamity, then I wish it would vanish from this planet forever.”

“Hmm… That works, then.”

The beastperson nodded and leisurely let their knee relax. They crossed their legs, making themself comfortable.

“That’s it for the bothersome questions. I’d like to move on to the main topic at hand. Do you need an explanation for why we’ve called you here?”

“No,” Mizerhyby said, without missing a beat.

She raised the restraints on her wrists, as though to show them off.

“You let me live because I’m valuable to you. You need my power in order to defeat Elletear and the calamity, correct?”

“Are you opposed to this?”

“You think I can afford to be picky?”

Everyone here knew Princess Mizerhyby had to do as the Lord told her. She had struck a deal with Newton for the Empire to heal Lord Talisman and Vichyssoise, but they were prisoners of war. And so Mizerhyby’s only option was to agree to everything. However…

“The issue is them, isn’t it?”

Mizerhyby whipped around. One at a time, she looked at Iska, Nene, Jhin, and Captain Mismis, who all stood in a line behind her, smiling coldly, as if appraising them.

“The Imperial forces consider me a dangerous witch. Can you really trust me? Will you really put your fates in my hands, Imperial soldiers? If the fight against Elletear goes sour, I may tuck tail and run—”

“We could say the same,” Iska interrupted Mizerhyby before she could finish. “I think we should be the ones asking if you can trust us, Mizerhyby. Did you ever consider that when we face Elletear and the calamity, we might just leave you behind and withdraw?”

“Tsk.”

“You haven’t said it, but you’re already prepared for it, aren’t you? You’ve decided not to run.”

“…”

A long, long silence followed.

As everyone continued to stare at Mizerhyby, the corners of her lips suddenly lifted.

“Well, that’s what the Imperial soldiers have said, but what about you? Do you think you can work with me?”

She looked at Alice and Kissing, holding the two princesses in her gaze and sneering almost provocatively at them.

“I don’t want any empty platitudes. While we are all royalty, the Hydra, Zoa, and Lou have not worked together a single time in the past century. We’ve only ever thought about how to defeat each other when deciding on the next queen. Can you trust me?”

“We don’t need to.”

The reply was prompt and clear. Kissing, who had been silent until that moment, had spoken up.

“We don’t need to work together closely or trust each other. The only reason you are here, Mizerhyby, is so you can use your astral power to strengthen Aliceliese and me.” She slowly shook her head. “Once you’ve served your purpose, we won’t need you anymore. You can hide after we’re done with you.”

“You truly speak everything on your mind,” the Hydra princess said.

“However…” The Zoa princess held out her hand, as though urging the Hydra princess to shake it. “If you truly wish to put forth a joint effort, I am in support. Just as we did when facing Lord Talisman.”

“……Ugh.”

“And I should add that even if we are enemies, it’s not as though we can’t work together. In fact, I—”

Kissing turned around.

At some point, a rough-looking female Imperial soldier—Mei, the Saint Disciple of the third seat—had come to stand in the entrance of the Lord’s chambers, her arms crossed.

“That Imperial soldier over there shot at me several thousand times,” Kissing said. “And though she’s my sworn enemy, and my heart was heavy at the prospect, I joined hands with her to aid the Empire.”

“What? You’re the one who came after me with your thorns, little witch,” Mei rebutted.

“And the Imperial forces were the ones who invaded the Sovereignty,” Kissing shot back.

“Like you can talk,” Mei replied. “You were happy as a clam when you came to fight us.”

“That may be true, but—”

“Oh? So you admit it.”

For whatever reason, they started to argue.

Meanwhile…

“Me too…” Alice let out a light sigh.

Her awkward smile was all the more conspicuous as she stood next to the bickering soldier and princess.

She continued, “I’m used to working with Imperial soldiers now, even though they were our enemies.”

The key word was were. It carried so much meaning.

Just as that thought came to Iska, another person spoke up.

“It truly does baffle me.” Mizerhyby looked up dramatically at the ceiling.

Then she stared at the restraints on her wrists. A forced smile broke out on her face.

“Since when were the Empire and Sovereignty so chummy?”

“You may find yourself in the same position.” The beastperson chuckled. “You don’t need to become our allies; we just ask that you work with us.”

“We can’t wait for that.”

Mizerhyby held up her hands. She seemed to be asking them to take off her restraints.

“We don’t have the time to strike up an alliance. Elletear is already headed to the planet’s core. We must get to her before that monster makes contact with the calamity.”

“Yes, that’s exactly right.”

The Lord folded their arms, staring at a wall. Everyone else likely knew what the Lord was staring at. They were looking in a specific direction.

“Will the Sovereignty make a move? The Empire may be ready to, but are they willing to make the call?”

They needed a ceasefire. The Imperial forces were going to dedicate all their resources to heading into the planet’s core, leaving the Imperial capital as good as defenseless. If the Sovereignty were to attack, it would all come to naught.

Because of that…

“Rin, my comm, please.”

As everyone watched, Alice took her communications device from her attendant, Rin.

“I will speak to Her Majesty. Attempting a complicated negotiation would waste time.”

The Nebulis Sovereignty, around the same time.

Nebulis IIX, current queen of the Nebulis Sovereignty, would need to make the greatest decision of her lifetime.

3

The Nebulis palace.

It was quiet and cool as the morning light flooded into the Queen’s Space.

Until just a moment ago, the palace had been in an uproar over a visitor.

“The Revered Founder seems like she’s rather busy. Could she not even stop for a spot of tea?”

There was a black fissure in the space. The queen looked up at the rift the Founder Nebulis had disappeared through and sighed.

Queen Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX was the matriarch of the Lou and the mother of Elletear, Alice, and Sisbell.

“Wh-what in the world was that?!” Sisbell came to her senses and shouted. “Mother, shouldn’t we go after her?! The Revered Founder took the Lord’s letter…the one I brought all the way here!”

“Yunmelngen. How far does he plan to pull me into this?”

“Give me that letter.”

That had all happened only minutes before.

Sisbell had finally returned to the Sovereignty after being escorted here by Unit 907 all the way from the independent state of Alsamira. She had been sent with a missive from Lord Yunmelngen.

It contained a world map.

Three vortexes had been noted on it.

One, the Planet’s Navel: the world’s oldest vortex, which had formed in the Imperial capital.

Two, the Gregorio: a gigantic vortex that had formed in the northernmost reaches of the continent.

Three, Eclipse: a vortex within the unexplored, polluted land of Katalisk.

If this map were to be believed, that is.

Only three vortexes reached the planet’s core. And Elletear would be waiting there.

“That letter was meant for you, Mother…”

“It’s all right, Sisbell. I’ve already memorized it.”

Queen Mirabella gave a large nod to her daughter, who went silent from dejection.

Actually…

It was significant that the Founder had taken the letter.

“So does that mean it was real?” the queen asked herself.

“What? Uh, um, Mother?”

“I’m sorry, Sisbell, but I’m unsure whether to believe in the missive the Lord gave you.”

The Empire had released Sisbell without conditions.

She had wondered if there was a trick behind this. As the queen, she needed to consider whether a scheme could be at play. Even the letter could have been a trap…

But the Founder’s reaction had nullified any and all doubts.

“The Revered Founder believed the letter to be real, and she detests the Empire more than anyone on the planet.”

That meant it was genuine.

The three vortexes that led to the planet’s core had to be the most classified information the Empire had. And the fact that they had told the Sovereignty about it meant…

“The Empire is seeking our help?”

“I believe so…,” Sisbell said as she weakly balled her hands into fists. Her eyes were sorrowful. “Elletear has become an actual monster. Lord Yunmelngen is wary of her, too…”

“I see.”

The queen finally understood.

The Lord had actually let Sisbell go free for this reason.

It hadn’t been in order to inform them of the location of the vortexes. It was to show the Empire had no intention—at the moment—of fighting the Sovereignty. The Lord had wanted her to hear this from her own daughter’s lips.

“But it feels so strange…” Mirabella furrowed her brows as her daughter looked up at her. “This is slightly different from the Empire I know. What happened to the barbaric, merciless Imperial forces…?”

They couldn’t allow Elletear to go unchecked. She knew that as both the queen and as Elletear’s mother. However…

The Sovereignty was in no position to send out its troops.

Supposedly, the Zoa’s elite forces had been annihilated in the battle against Elletear. If that was all true, then she couldn’t allow her kindred from the Sovereignty to be exposed to danger.

“The Empire’s troops will be invaluable for the fight…”

And so she was conflicted.

Considering the century-long strife between the Sovereignty and Empire, she wouldn’t be able to join hands with them, regardless of the situation. Or rather, she wouldn’t have been allowed to cooperate with them before.

“Right now, I could make the call to ally with them.”

Growley, head of the Zoa, and Lord Mask were unconscious.

Lord Talisman, head of the Hydra, and Mizerhyby were missing.

By some stroke of luck, there was no one around to oppose the queen’s decision.

“Do we work with the Empire or not…?”

There was one thing she was certain of: The people would never approve of her choosing to work with the Empire.

They would never believe her about the Planetary Calamity and Elletear.

……If I choose to work with the Empire, the people would despise me.

……It would put the House of Lou in a precarious position.

Alice and Sisbell would lose their place in the Sovereignty. She could easily picture it. She also couldn’t expose her daughters to such danger.

“…”

That meant she couldn’t work with the Empire. But just as she came to this conclusion, the comm in her hand began to ring.

“Your Majesty, it’s me, Alice.”

“Alice?!” Sisbell shouted.

“Greetings, Alice.” The queen did her best to maintain her composure as she spoke.

Alice was presently in the Empire. If they acted like mother and daughter, the Imperial forces would realize it.

“First, I am relieved you are safe. What happened to the Hydra who invaded the Empire?”

“We have captured Lord Talisman.”

“……Ah. I see.”

“We also have incapacitated Mizerhyby. She is beside me at the moment.”

“You did an excellent job.”

The Hydra had concocted countless schemes. They hadn’t only researched the calamity in secret. They had also set off an explosion in the Queen’s Space to target her life and had orchestrated Sisbell’s kidnapping.

All their meddling had finally come to an end.

“Mizerhyby corroborated the crimes we suspected the Hydra of.”

“Thank you, Alice. Now we’ll be able to nip the cause of all this chaos in the bud.”

“Your Majesty, I’m afraid that…”

On the other end of the comm, Alice’s voice was sharp.

“…the ones really behind this are still at large.”

“…”

She was referring to Elletear and the calamity itself.

The queen was presently in a torturous situation and the greatest dilemma of her lifetime because of them.

They had to stop it. But could she disregard the Sovereignty’s long history of conflict with the Empire and cooperate with them?

“Alice, please tell me something. I want to hear it from you.”

“As you wish.”

“Do you believe the people before you now are trustworthy?”

Alice was in the Empire. Likely so close to the Lord and the Imperial soldiers that they could overhear this conversation.

But the queen still needed to ask.

“I received a missive from Lord Yunmelngen through Sisbell. I interpret this as a request to help them defeat the calamity.”

“Yes…”

“However, I have yet to reach a decision on the matter.”

In order to defeat Elletear, both nations needed to come together and fight. But due to the Sovereignty’s history and the people’s animosity toward the Empire, that would be no easy task.

So which was the correct choice?

“I only know how they were in the past. But you have seen the Empire for yourself, Alice—tell me how much credence we should give them.”

“”

She heard silence on the other end of the line.

But that was fine enough for her. She didn’t expect an immediate answer to something so heavy. The queen wanted an answer that would require deliberation, hesitance, internal discord, and strife.

“Your Majesty…”

“Please tell me.”

“I am prepared to entrust my back to the Imperial forces. I have determined that the Imperial forces’ abilities will be indispensable for defeating Elletear.”

“Huh?!”

She hadn’t expected her daughter to go so far. She had expected this answer from Alice, but not the intensity of her response.

“It’s not enough, Aliceliese. You will get nowhere.”

“Hey! Hold on, Kissing, we’re not done talkin—!”

“Your Majesty,” someone else said through the comm.

It was a voice of someone younger than Alice, monotone and devoid of emotion. The voice belonged to…

“Princess Kissing?!”

“Yes. Though it may be forward of me, I would like to say something as well.”

“What is it?”

The queen doubted her own ears even as the girl answered.

This was Kissing, the Zoa princess who relied so heavily on Lord Mask that she couldn’t walk down a hallway alone.

“Your Majesty, are you still hesitant to join forces with the Empire?”

“Why do you say ‘still’?”

“Do you have a plan to defeat Elletear?”

“…No. Nothing concrete as of yet…”

“It’s no use. You won’t be able to come up with a plan. Even if you managed to gather astral mages from the Sovereignty to confront Elletear, not a single one of them would be fit to face her.”

“And why do you say that?”

“Because you have not seen how frightful Elletear is. Did you not hear about it? About the crushing defeat Uncle On and I suffered at her hands?”

“…”

The queen had.

And not only from Kissing.

She had heard what Elletear had done to the princesses.

“That’s why you have no knight beside you. And that’s the reason why you cannot win against me.”

She had made sport of Alice.

“I’m so sorry, Kissing. Don’t look at me with such fear in your eyes.”

She had horrified Kissing.

“If I can’t break your mind, then I suppose I have no choice but to break your body instead.”

She had trampled on Mizerhyby.

She had treated the Lou, the Zoa, and the Hydra the same.

Now that the queen considered it, Elletear had already defeated a princess from each royal household.

“The Sovereignty’s elite forces won’t comprehend what a terrifying force Elletear is. They’ll write her off as the daughter of the House of Lou, thinking she’s just a slightly more powerful version of the princess who could only mimic voices. That’s as far as they’ll understand it. And though it is a discourtesy to say this, Your Majesty, that is true of you as well.”

“Hmm.”

“If you truly believe the Sovereignty is capable of stopping Elletear without the Empire’s help, then you must still see her as just being your daughter, Your Majesty.”

She felt a stab through her chest. It was sharp and painful. There was no doubt about what she was feeling.

“But the people who are gathered here think differently.”

The Zoa princess’s voice came through clear over the comm.

“The Lord, the Saint Disciples, even Alice and me. And Mizerhyby, too. We all fear Elletear’s power, as should be the case. That is why we are fit to face her. That is what makes us different from the Sovereignty’s elite forces.”

“Princess Kissing…”

“Yes.”

“You’ve started to resemble Lord Mask in his youth.”

“I have…?” The girl seemed surprised. For a fleeting moment, her eloquence disappeared. Her childlike voice came from the comm.

“Whatever do you mean, Your Majesty?”

“I look forward to watching you grow.”

She couldn’t help but smile bitterly. She had remembered it despite herself.

The Lord Mask of her youth—a man not fixated on destroying the Empire but who spoke with fervor about bringing glory to the Sovereignty.

“If he hadn’t become so obsessed with destroying the Empire, he might have been speaking as you are now.”

“I wouldn’t know about that…”

“Thank you for your valuable points. Now, will you give the comm back to Alic—?”

“Pardon me, Your Majesty.”

This voice didn’t belong to Alice or Kissing.

The queen’s eyes opened wide when she heard this third person over the comm.

“Princess Mizerhyby…”

She wasn’t shocked by the princess’s voice so much as by her insolence in addressing the queen.

It wasn’t as though the Hydra’s crimes had disappeared. They had kidnapped the queen’s daughter. Mizerhyby was smart enough to know how incensed the queen would be if she addressed her.

“I do not plan to beg for your forgiveness.”

This was the first thing she said.

“I plan to help Aliceliese. Even if you object, I do not intend to change my mind.”

“Because you hate Elletear?”

“Yes, and I will join forces with anyone to defeat her. Be it the Lou, the Zoa, or the Empire.”

“Even you…”

“No, not ‘even’ me.”

“What?”

What did she mean?

Just as Mirabella was about to question her, Mizerhyby said over the comm, “The princesses have all made up their minds. Don’t you see, Your Majesty? You are the only one who hasn’t.”

“!”

A cry slipped from the back of her throat.

The Lou, the Zoa, and the Hydra princesses who would carry the next generation had all decided to work with the Empire. Only the queen had yet to make up her mind.

She had finally been made to realize that.

“You truly held nothing back by saying that…”

“Um, Mother?”

“She hung up.”

Mizerhyby had ended the call. As she held the silent comm, Queen Mirabella shook her head.

“I will need to think over how to punish the Hydra.”

“A-about that!”

Sisbell pointed at the door of the Queen’s Space. It had been destroyed beyond all recognition in a blast caused by an unidentified group.

“The Hydra were behind the explosion. And I could determine exactly who did it with my astral power.”

“Thank you, Sisbell. Fortunately, we are not at that point yet.”

The Hydra had already been driven into a corner.

She would use her authority as queen to investigate every member of the Hydra family. Since Lord Talisman, their head of house, was absent, the Hydra’s secrets would likely come to light on their own. However…

This was not the end.

There was someone else she needed to face.

“…”

The queen let out a long sigh.

She bit her lip and looked up at the ceiling of the Queen’s Space for a while.

“I am the only one who is undecided. I’m held back by the past. I don’t even have the courage to hang on.”

“Mother?”

“I’m one to talk…”

She looked at her daughter again.

“Instead of re-creating the incident caused by the Hydra, would you summon a different scene for me, Sisbell?”

“Of course I will!” Thumping her chest, Sisbell gave her mother a vigorous nod. “That’s exactly why I came back. My Illumination power can re-create anything that has occurred within a radius of two hundred seventy-four meters up to twenty years ago and—”

“Please re-create what transpired here thirty years ago.”

“Th-thirty?!” Sisbell’s voice cracked.

That was only natural. She had told her mother she could re-create anything within twenty years, so going ten years beyond that was a tall order.

“Mother?! Um…my powers are able to re-create…”

“You can do it, can’t you?”

The queen smiled as her daughter looked up at her, as though to say she had seen through Sisbell’s ruse.

“I believe Illumination is able to summon scenes much older and much more distant than you claim.”

“…I—I…”

“A mother should know.”

“You don’t normally say things like this, Mother.”

Sisbell pouted unhappily. She seemed slightly peeved the queen had seen through the trick hidden up her sleeve.

“How did you know?” Sisbell asked her.

“Because I was just like you.”

Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t had such an unagitated conversation with her daughter in a while.

“And I suppose children like to hide things from their parents.”

Children took after their parents. In the end, that was really why she knew.

……But…

……I hope she doesn’t take after me from the incident thirty years ago.

She was the only one who needed to face this.

Not her time as the queen or her time as a mother.

But her past as a young astral mage.

“I was the same, Sisbell. I had secrets I could tell no one. I wanted to ignore what happened and turned away from the past.”

“……Huh?”

“I was a coward.”

She had been too afraid to look back at the past.

If…

If the past as she understood it wasn’t the whole truth, what then?

I…

What could I even say to him?

Sisbell’s astral power of Illumination glowed.

The truth of thirty years ago played out before the eyes of Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX.

CHAPTER 2

Illumination: I, the Princess Called the Battle Automata

1

The witch’s paradise, Nebulis Sovereignty.

In just a few decades, the nation all astral mages called paradise had obtained the power to rival the Empire, the world’s largest nation. They boasted the disciplined astral corps and three powerful royal families, who had the blood of the Founder Nebulis running through their veins.

Everyone expected that the conflict between the Sovereignty and the Empire would grow, drawing in the neighboring countries even further.

And so the people of the Sovereignty expected something from their queen: overwhelming power.

They sought a queen who could lead them against the Imperial forces. Thus, what they required from their queen was the power to lead by example.

The Nebulis palace was made up of four towers of gleaming, radiant white.

Three were called thus: the Star Spire, the Moon Spire, and the Solar Spire. And at their center stood the Queen’s Palace.

“Thank you all for gathering during this crisis.”

The grim and powerful voice of a woman echoed throughout the assembly room.

Over thirty men and women had gathered at the roundtable. They were ministers who governed over the Sovereignty and representatives of the Astral Power Institute, which commanded the astral corps.

At their center was the seventh queen, who wore purple as she stood before them.

“We have spotted what we believe to be a covert unit from the Imperial forces in proximity of the thirteenth state of Alcatroz’s border. Alcatroz has only recently been incorporated into the Sovereignty, making it the perfect place for Imperial soldiers to hide, should they get through the checkpoint. We shall need to fortify our personnel in the region and provide them with more equipment.”

She surveyed everyone at the roundtable.

“We don’t have time to discuss assigning this to someone. I will use my authority as queen to appoint a commanding officer. Does anyone object?”

Not a single person dared to say anything.

The queen’s eyes were filled with a force to be reckoned with.

Her name was Cassandra Zoa Nebulis VII, and she also served as the current head of the Zoa. Famed as the strongest head of house for her flame astral power, she had earned many victories in battles against the Imperial forces during her days as a princess.

“Then it’s settled. As I have received everyone’s consent, I declare the matter to be—”

“Th-though it may be forward, I have something to say, Your Majesty.”

Someone along the wall of the meeting room had spoken up.

An attendant clad in a black suit addressed her hesitantly, attempting to ascertain the queen’s mood.

“Not everyone is here…,” he said.

“What?”

“I am afraid…Princess Mirabella is absent…”

The attendant pointed at a seat in front of him.

It was empty.

Yes. Though the meeting had long since started, the plate reading MIRABELLA LOU NEBULIS IIX had never been flipped upright to signal the princess’s presence.

“What?!”

Cassandra’s voice was tinged with indignation.

The reigning queen was of the Zoa bloodline. And the princess missing from the meeting was from the Lou bloodline. Naturally, the queen was upset that another royal household was obstructing political affairs.

“Schwartz! Again?! Mirabella has dared to run off again?!”

“I—I am so very sorry! She absconded right before we entered the meeting room… We are doing all we can to find her…”

The middle-aged Schwartz bowed deep and low. Then he fled from the meeting room. Several Lou attendants stood in wait for him.

“Where is the princess?! Everyone, please help!”

“Haah… Again?”

“Lady Mirabella is so difficult to find once she disappears.”

“Don’t give up! Find her!” Schwartz reprimanded the slower attendants as he ran down the halls. “Based on two years of data, she’s most likely in the courtyard taking a nap. And don’t forget she may be on the roof sunbathing. There is a chance that she’s escaped from the castle, too, and we can’t forget the other possibilities!”

“You just don’t get it…”

“This is why I always say we should put a bell around her neck…”

“Just get running! But if she hears you, she’ll flee. When you go to catch her, you need to surround her quietly!”

The hallway grew even noisier. The echoes of the running attendants, Schwartz included, reverberated throughout the halls.

“Quiet down.”

There was a whisper.

No one noticed the youthful voice.

It had come from the hallway that Schwartz had just run past. There, using the beautifully glittering chandelier as a hammock…

“I hate meetings…”

…was Mira, murmuring as she yawned.

Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX, firstborn daughter of the house of Lou, still had a youthfulness about her, as she was only fourteen. She was also known as the royal family’s troublemaker.

Her short, golden hair was a mess from her bedhead and showed no signs of having ever been acquainted with a comb. Perhaps that was because she hadn’t bathed in three days.

Though she was an adolescent, she was a strange one. She despised makeup and glitzy dresses, favoring garments suited to battle.

“Hwaaah…”

She let out a big yawn again.

Mira settled back into the chandelier and closed her eyes.

“Lady Mirabella!”

“Princess Mirabella, where are you?!”

She didn’t reply, of course.

“Don’t call me that…”

She hated her full name. She thought it was difficult to pronounce and not very pretty. She much preferred to be called Mira. But since she was a princess, few were willing to use nicknames around her.

“That’s enough…”

She let out a third, also large, yawn.

Mira decided she would nap until her afternoon self-training session. Atop the chandelier, she rolled over to sleep.

At around the same time…

“Schwartz? How is my daughter’s education coming along?”

The Nebulis palace, Star Spire.

The Lou head of family’s personal chambers, the Stardust Skyscraper.

The Lou family’s apartment had a glass ceiling that boasted a full view of the stars at night, giving them a planetarium-like quality.

“I heard Mira skipped yet another meeting.”

The middle-aged woman reclining on a bed sighed from concern as she looked up at the clear blue sky.

This was the head of the Lou family, Liliel Lou Nebulis VII. She was none other than Princess Mirabella’s mother.

“Did you find Mira?” Liliel asked.

“Unfortunately…” Schwartz stood at attention as he answered.

His suit was in disarray, and his forehead was dotted with giant beads of sweat because he had been running around in search of Mira until just that very moment.

“Every last attendant is searching for her, but we haven’t found her in the courtyard or on the roof. I believe she has discovered a new hiding place…”

“The meeting will end, at this rate.”

“…My deepest apologies.”

No other princess had ever been truant for a meeting before. And Mirabella only skipped them in order to nap.

She had been branded a failure of a princess. Even the soldiers and ministers would crack jokes about one of the princesses already dropping out of the conclave.

“Schwartz.” Liliel let out a heavy sigh. “Has it already been more than a decade since I lost in the conclave against Cassandra of the Zoa?”

“Yes…”

“I’d like my daughter to fulfill my lifelong wish by retaking the queen’s throne from the Zoa.”

“I will dedicate that to mind.”

Schwartz, too, wanted nothing more.

Among the three royal households, the Lou and the Zoa had long fought over the queen’s throne. They equally coveted it.

But nevertheless…

Princess Mirabella, the one capable of actually taking back the throne, acted as though she could not care less about it.

“Schwartz, why do you think my daughter ended up this way?”

“This may be difficult to hear, but to borrow her words, ‘princess education’ leaves her feeling ‘unsatisfied’…”

“Unsatisfied?”

“Yes. Consider those books, for example.” Schwartz gazed at the bookshelves next to the head of house’s bed, packed with tomes of all sorts. “Law, economics, sociology, history, world geography—the princess finds nothing of interest in the areas of study a girl of her station ought to know.”

“Are you saying that she has no ambition for education?”

“……Yes. Though I can understand why she insists so. Learning solely through rote memorization in a classroom environment is difficult even for an adult. I attempted to get her initiated by fostering in her an appreciation for the arts.”

Believing Mirabella would take to her studies through hands-on education, Schwartz had called for the finest tutors in the fields of painting, song, and dance.

“But she ran from her lessons. She dislikes how paintings and songs are up to the interpretation of the people experiencing them. Apparently, she prefers things that can be evaluated objectively, no matter who is viewing.”

“And what would that be?”

“Tree climbing and hide-and-seek… As your daughter says, there is a clear winner or a loser in those pursuits.”

If someone found her, then she lost. The winner or loser was clear from anyone’s viewpoint. There was nothing subjective about who won at that game, unlike with the arts or her studies.

The only thing she needed was to be powerful.

So she was fine with just that.

“Can you believe it? During a game of hide-and-seek the other day, she even went as far as to remodel her room. She made a trench just large enough for her to hide in under the carpet, then stayed there for five hours… We had no idea until she ran out of air and jumped out from below on her own.”

“…”

“And before that, she hid in a tree. And she painted her entire body green to camouflage herself.”

It was fresh in his mind that the Lou attendants had been running all over the palace in search of her. Even Schwartz, in all his years working as a tutor, had never met a princess who was more of a handful.

“Well, this is a problem.”

The head of the family, who had listened silently until then, closed her eyes.

She couldn’t hide the concern in her voice.

“My daughter has neither the cultural refinement nor the character to gain the trust of the ministers. We can only pray she’s been bestowed with strong astral power.”

“I do not disagree.”

The Founder Nebulis’s bloodlines had passed along mighty astral powers from generation to generation.

To differentiate themselves from other astral mages, they called themselves purebreds. Princess Mirabella should have also inherited the same blood.

“Her astral crest is of the Wind variety.”

The crest was on the back of her neck.

It was a shade of blue they knew corresponded to the Wind astral power, but strangely, no one knew exactly what type of power she had.

“She’s already fourteen. She should be able to use astral power soon.”

They were unsure whether Mirabella had awakened to her abilities yet, as she hadn’t shown them to anyone, not even to her mother.

“Schwartz.” Liliel’s voice was firm. “I would like you to start training her in astral techniques for combat.”

“I beg your pardon?!” Schwartz couldn’t help but exclaim.

Though he knew it wasn’t his place as a servant, he questioned his mistress. “But we’re unsure if she’s able to even use astral power. Shouldn’t we start with the fundamentals first?”

Using astral power was incredibly dangerous, like playing with fire. Training a girl who was still developing in body and mind would be akin to letting her light herself on fire. Teaching her how to fight before she knew how to control her astral power was out of the question.

“That’s skipping far too many steps. We coul—”

“It’s already too late to take things slow and steady.”

Though Schwartz was ready to beg Liliel to reconsider, the head of house dismissed anything before he could say it.

“The ministers have lost all faith in her. We cannot allow this to continue.”

“…—I…”

“We must restart. We seek our queens to be cultured and of good character, yes, but since the time of our Revered Founder, the true measure by which the conclave is judged has been on—”

“—strength, yes.”

“And that is what I want for my daughter.”

The head of house nodded on her sickbed.

“I will leave the details of her combat training to you, Schwartz.”

“……Very well.”

This was an order. He could not disobey.

But he knew it was too early to teach Princess Mirabella how to fight. They didn’t even know whether her powers had awakened.

“I am afraid I cannot guarantee she will be dedicated to her training…”

Wouldn’t she just run away from the outset?

He was anxious.

But three days later, all of Schwartz’s concerns were blown away in a manner he never could have imagined.

2

Nebulis Sovereignty, central state.

Outside the city, in a place commanding full view of a snowy valley stretching into the horizon.

“Schwartz.”

The tranquil countryside and forest passed by the car windows.

As Mira absentmindedly watched the lush greenery, she spoke to her attendant in the driver’s seat.

“Where are we going?”

“To the Lou Erz mansion. The villa you once visited in the spring of your fifth year.”

“I see.”

Her reply was indifferent.

Mira glanced at the driver’s seat out of the corner of her eyes.

“Also, Schwartz, you’re dressed differently today.”

“Hmm…?”

He was wearing a suit, just as he always did. His clothes had not a single wrinkle, and a faint cologne hung about him, though not enough to offend the nose.

“Ah, yes. I wore a gray suit yesterday. If you are referring to my black sui—”

“What are you wearing under the suit?”

“Wha?!”

The tires of the vehicle screeched. Schwartz had frozen with his foot still on the accelerator.

“You look slightly thicker than usual.”

“My lady…”

“There’s something under your shirt and over your undergarments. And you’re wearing a blue shirt to prevent it from showing through.”

She pointed at his chest.

He gripped the steering wheel as she stared at him.

“You have on a thin body armor. The type that’s used to protect oneself from Wind and Wave astral power.”

“I’m surprised…”

The attendant gulped.

“You have an extraordinary eye for detail. We have canceled your lecture on law today so you may study astral power.”

“You mean spar with astral power, not study it.”

“!”

“If we were simply doing a lesson on astral power, we wouldn’t have to leave the palace. And if we’re heading to the villa, then we must be doing something we need to hide from the Zoa and the Hydra. In other words, you’re going to secretly train me in astral combat.”

“…”

He was at a loss for words.

As he drove, Mirabella addressed Schwartz, who stared at her in shock.

“Unfortunately, Schwartz,” Mira murmured, “it will not be what you expect.”

The Lou Erz mansion.

The lawn on the grounds of this venerable castle was enclosed entirely by stone walls. The outdoor space was so expansive, one would not be remiss for thinking it a golf green.

“I suppose I do not need to explain.” Schwartz walked not toward the castle but in the direction of the woods past it. “We will train you in astral powers here at the villa.”

“…”

“The head of household is worried about you. She is concerned you do not want to become a fine princess. Your pickiness about your studies is one thing, but your frequent skipping of meetings is a major issue. Your mother is concerned you will not be able to earn the ministers’ trust at this rate.”

“…”

“The House of Lou has lost to the House of Zoa for two generations in the conclave. We would like to address what has long anguished us. In order to make you the queen, the head of house and I have determined that we must be tougher on you!”

“…”

“Your only route to becoming queen is military conquest. You must attain the glorious fruits of battle against the Imperial forces. That will surely be a great boon in the conclave. However, the battlefield always carries with it the danger of death. Though I could overlook your willfulness in your studies, when it comes to combat… Hmm?”

There was no reply.

When Schwartz turned around, he realized Mira, who had been walking behind him, had taken off in a different direction.

“I hate long speeches!” she yelled.

“My lady?!”

Mira leaped into the undergrowth without hesitation.

Schwartz also leaped into the bushes after her.

Twenty minutes passed.

“Haah… Haah… N-now, my lady… These woods are like my own backyard… Haah, whew… It seems I had the locational advantage…”

Schwartz was covered in leaves.

He was holding a very disappointed-looking Mira by the arm.

But she wasn’t disappointed because she had been caught. She was annoyed that her attendant was so focused on catching his breath, he hadn’t noticed anything.

“You’re so dense.”

“Haah… Haah… Huh? What was that, my lady?”

“Nothing at all.”

He hadn’t seemed to noticed she wasn’t out of breath in the slightest.

This was enough.

From the start, she had been uninterested in going along with the astral power training.

“Let’s go, my lady. Our route here was quite circuitous, thanks to all that running around, but our destination is just ahead.”

“…”

The attendant began to walk.

But Mira made no effort to move away from the trees.

“Schwartz, I don’t intend to participate in astral power training. Because—”

“Oh, please, my lady. Just wait. You don’t need to tell me any more.”

Her attendant turned around. Resignation was written all over his face, and it was clear he believed he had guessed what she was going to say.

“I know. I do not expect you to enthusiastically dive into training. I’m sure you’ll dismiss it at first, just as you did economics and sociology. But astral power is unlike any other field of study, my lady!”

“What I want to say is…”

“Astral power is our pride as astral mages. And you are an honorable Lou princess! Even if you’re not able to use your abilities yet—”

Creak.

A strange sound came from over Schwartz’s head.

“Hmm…?”

Creak.

Creak, creak, creak…

Instead of stopping, the sound grew louder and started coming from all around them.

“Wh-what is this?! Insects? But this noise is too loud for that…”

“It’s the atmosphere,” Mira said.

“Wha?!”

“My astral power is Ballistic. It allows me to interfere with the atmosphere and create shifts in the air.”

Mira was surrounded by trees. Schwartz doubted his ears and eyes as Mira seemed to waver, as though in the middle of a heat haze. He never could have imagined this.

“Is this what you would call an astral attack?”

Snap.

Mira snapped her fingers.

Like a tempest, the air swirling around her began to spin in the opposite direction.

As the wind violently twisted like a tornado, the gigantic tree trunks in the vicinity ripped in half like straws.

“I would crouch down if I were you,” Mira said.

“Wh-what?!”

Schwartz cautiously raised his head from where he had been lying on the ground to see the woods had been cleared in a radius of some nine meters around them.

The trees had been twisted apart halfway up their trunks. Mira had made a section of the woods disappear entirely.

“M-my lady…”

He was still on his knees, unable to stand.

Schwartz could only look up at the princess before him in shock, as though he had been bludgeoned over the head.

“You trained…your astral power…? But when…?”

No, that wasn’t it.

What he should have been focused on was the power and precision of the ability she had used to destroy the woods.

She had wielded the atmosphere as a blade to decimate the trees around them. But the meter or so of woods where Mira and Schwartz stood was completely untouched, as though nothing had occurred at all.

It was a miracle.

That was the only word that captured her deadly accurate precision.

If…

If the princess was driven by curiosity to try doing this in the Nebulis palace…

It would have been a terrible tragedy. Few purebred types or elites from the astral corps could have escaped this invisible scythe.

“My lady… Who…?”

“Hmm?”

“Who taught you to use your astral powers? The type of astral technique you just used is beyond someone as young as you. Someone must have taught you this.”

“I learned to do this while passing the time.”

“……Come again?”

“I was messing around between naps.”

The princess said this dispassionately, and Schwartz was at a loss for words.

She had taught herself? She had achieved this great feat without relying on the knowledge of great trailblazers of the past? At this young an age?

“You’re a prodigy, my lady!”

Schwartz stood up.

He forgot to even dust himself off as his voice rang throughout the woods.

“I was blind. Your great wit is the Sovereignty’s greatest asset. If you use this, the conclave will—”

“No.”

“…………Excuse me?”

“I’m tired of playing with my astral powers.”

What Mira meant was she had finished amusing herself. Since Schwartz had been her tutor for so long, he knew what Mira’s statement implied and shuddered at the thought.

Now their bouts of hide-and-seek and tag made sense, along with why Mira had disappeared so frequently.

She had been playing with her astral power on her own.

While the other princesses dedicated their time and efforts to their studies to become queen…

…Mira was playing with her astral power like it was a toy.

And now she said she was bored of it.

“But, my lady! What of your talents—?!”

His voice cut off.

For a knife had appeared at Schwartz’s throat.

A knife Mira was holding.

“M-my lady?”

“Schwartz, I’ve taken an interest in combat techniques.”

Mira pulled the blade from his throat.

Despite her claim, there was no emotion in her eyes, which glittered like jewels. They were the eyes of a doll.

“That’s a close-combat move. No one was around to teach me astral techniques, so I taught myself. But to learn combat, you need someone who knows more than you. Please make the arrangements for me.”

“…”

Schwartz couldn’t agree right away.

Princess Mirabella was interested in something. As her tutor, he should have been over the moon. On the other hand…

Was this really the right thing to do?

Mira wasn’t morally upright or possessed of good character; she lacked the fundamentals of what made a good person. Could he really only teach her astral techniques and combat when she lacked those qualities? Would she be able to grow into a decent person after everything was said and done?

Though Schwartz shivered…

…just half a year would pass before his decision bore fruit.

3

Nebulis Sovereignty, Queen’s Palace.

The meeting room was filled with distress.

“We’ve received a report from the eleventh dispatch squad. An Imperial tank destroyed their base. They’ve retreated and are defending the second base.”

After they finished reading the report to that point, the manager of the Astral Power Institute, which supervised the astral corps, frowned.

“What do you think, Your Majesty?”

“So, in summary, they’re having a difficult time in battle.” The tone of Nebulis VII was heavy. She looked upset, almost as though she were glaring at the air itself. “Captain Balfor, I was under the impression Growley of the Zoa had headed for the front line.”

At that time, Growley was next in line for the head of the Zoa.

He was a purebred with a counteroffensive astral power called “Vice.” As long as the conditions for his astral power were met, he should have had the power to command the battlefield.

However…

“I am afraid that the weapon the Imperial forces used was incompatible with Lord Growley’s powers, and he was not able to cultivate them to the point they could be used.”

“Your Majesty.”

Another officer next to them spoke in a hushed tone.

“This information is unconfirmed, but we’ve received a report stating a second group has been dispatched by air from the Imperial capital. I believe we should consider sending reinforcements.”

“Reinforcements…”

She didn’t like the sound of that.

Nebulis VII rarely reacted in this manner.

“If we had the ability to send reinforcements, we would have already…”

The Sovereignty’s martial power rested chiefly in its astral corps. But it took time to train astral mages to the point that they were able to join.

Unlike the Imperial soldiers, who wielded powerful weaponry that granted them equal fighting power, mages varied greatly in their abilities, due to their differences in their astral powers.

Training them took time.

And Nebulis VII had already sent out all the astral corps members she could to various stations.

Any more reinforcements would…

“My lady! Please wait, my lady!”

They heard a man shout.

The meeting room door burst open, and everyone at the roundtable turned to the entrance.

“Excuse me.”

A princess in a ragged battle uniform entered.

“Mira…?”

The queen, the ministers, the soldiers, and all else in the room stared at her in disbelief.

They hadn’t seen the princess for nearly half a year.

During that stretch of time, she had skipped every important meeting.

“It seems that the House of Lou has heard we require reinforcements. I have something to speak with Your Majesty about.”

The princess took long, brazen strides into the room. Everyone at the table sucked in their breath at the sight of her, lit from above by the chandelier.

Why was she wearing such filthy clothes?

She looked like a feral child; the arms of her royal garb had been slashed away, revealing both her sunburned shoulders.

Even her elegant skirt, which should have hovered over the carpet, had been torn off at her thighs.

“Princess Mirabella!” A minister stood from his seat. “H-how can you appear here while dressed so inappropriately?! Especially at a cabinet meeting in front of Her Majesty!”

“…” Mira didn’t offer a rebuttal.

She passed the ministers as though she hadn’t even heard their protests.

“Your Majesty.”

She came right up to Nebulis VII. She stared down at the seated queen.

“Unfortunately, the House of Lou will not send reinforcements.”

“…Oh?”

Queen Cassandra’s eyebrow twitched at what Mira had said. She couldn’t believe the girl’s haughty tone and attitude.

But most of all, she couldn’t stand the girl’s eyes, which appeared inhuman and robotic.

“Mirabella, do you understand the present situation? Many kindred of the Zoa and Hydra families have volunteered to protect our country. Only the Lou have—”

“They’re in the way.”

“…What?”

“You only need me.”

What was the meaning of this?

The queen and the ministers were all taken aback by her absurd statement.

“Now, if you will excuse me.”

The princess turned around. Just then, a pair of large knives appeared in her previously empty hands.

“…”

As she watched the girl turn around, Queen Cassandra broke into a cold sweat, for reasons she couldn’t understand herself. Normally, she would have scolded Mira for lacking common sense.

But now, though her throat quivered, she couldn’t get any sound out.

……It doesn’t feel like I’m facing a person.

The princess’s eyes were empty. They were more dreadful than those of an insect or a predator, lacking all emotion. It was as though the only thing that motivated her was a desire to take to the battlefield.

“Is that girl just an Automata made to fight?”

The queen’s voice rasped.

No one at the roundtable understood the true meaning of what she had said.

4

The southwestern part of the Delta Mountain Belt.

Imperial forces, eighth survey facility.

From the cliff, which boasted a beautiful view, one had a full command of a row of white-capped peaks. When viewed through a pair of binoculars, however, the mountains were currently covered in a dense cloud of dust.

“Looking good.”

The captain tossed the binoculars to a soldier.

Captain Magnacasa nodded, his face serious, as though to encourage the soldier to take a look as well.

The director of headquarters, Captain Magnacasa Gunfight. He had demonstrated a rare aptitude for proposing directives even during his days in the Second Division. The man was a natural strategist.

“The Siren acoustic weapon. Dedicating all that money to the Imperial capital’s laboratory was worthwhile. Look, the astral corps below the cliff have already cleared out.”

“Yes, they’re probably panicking right now.”

The enemy’s astral-power automatic defenses wouldn’t activate.

Astral powers would intervene in order to protect their human hosts. Some of the enemy mages had astral powers that activated upon the firing of a machine gun.

However, Siren could nullify that ability.

In truth, the weapon was just noise. Sounds were a part of the natural world and were divorced entirely from the concept of battle. As such, astral powers didn’t register it as danger.

Though the astral powers’ automatic defenses could protect their hosts from clear attacks involving gunpowder, lasers, or bullets, they didn’t register acoustic weapons as potential threats.

“Three Siren-equipped tanks, advance.”

They had already gained control of the battlefield.

The witches fell to the ground one after another as they were assaulted by a wave of sound they could not even see.

“Continue forward from the south to the north. We’ll recapture the vortex ahead and—”

“Captain! We have an emergency report from the front lines!”

Just then, a message came in.

“We’ve lost contact with Second Division units 011 to 019… We’re only getting dead air!”

“What?!” Magnacasa couldn’t register what had just come over his comm.

The frontline units had gone silent? What was going on?

He was sure the astral corps had been fully neutralized. Had the Sovereignty brought reinforcements?

“Impossible… Siren is always on. Its invisible acoustic waves should be ravaging the entire front line!”

Even if the Sovereignty had brought reinforcements, how had they crossed through the storm of sounds?

Meanwhile, something far beyond the imagination of even the astral corps was occurring.

The southwestern part of the Delta Mountain Belt.

The astral corps had long since begun to withdraw from the base they had set up after being overwhelmed by the Imperial forces’ blitz.

As the Imperial tanks approached…

“We failed!”

A man in a wheelchair fell to the ground with a crash.

Growley was the second in line for the head of the Zoa.

His disability had prevented him from escaping Siren’s range in time, and even his Vice astral power wasn’t registering the weapon’s noise as a threat it could counter.

“Has it not been long enough? Has it not cultivated enough to engage?!”

In the shadow of the wheelchair, a faint purple astral light flickered. Growley’s astral power finally awakened, the light condensing to create a six-legged hunting dog.

But it was small.

Normally, the avatars his astral power created would be so large, one would have to crane their neck to see them.

“This isn’t enough…”

The creature wouldn’t even be enough to protect him from the tank’s volley shots.

At that moment, a tremor shook the earth.

The tanks rattled the ground as they advanced.

“Guh!”

The battery of tanks was headed his way. His avatar wouldn’t be able to protect him. The moment Growley accepted his defeat…

…the impact of the Divine Wind Barrier Mandala fell.

Creak.

The atmosphere gave way, and dozens of violent gales swept past Growley’s vision.

The gusts, which created a geometric pattern, brought all the enemy shells to a halt and swept away the tanks, as though they were scraps of paper.

“What?!”

What was this violent tempest?!

It had to be some form of astral power. But who could do that in this situation?

“So I made it in time.”

Beyond the cloud of dust, a petite girl leaped into the battlefield, her short golden locks fluttering violently in the wind. She wore a short-sleeved garment that hardly looked like it was appropriate on the battlefield.

“The Lou girl?”

Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX.

The girl branded a failure as a princess emerged from the cloud of dust.

“The reinforcements have arrived,” she said.

“Huh?! B-but where are the others?!”

“Why would you need anyone else when you’ve got me?”

She stepped on the fallen wheelchair and heaved Growley onto her back.

Or so Growley thought…

“Hold on tight, please,” Mira told him.

“Agh?!”

All of a sudden, she shot off. Princess Mira began to run toward the precipitous cliff that had been behind them.

“Surely you’re not about to do that, girl?!”

She didn’t respond to Growley.

Just as he had feared, Mira leaped off the steep cliff.

Was she trying to kill them?

They fell dozens of meters below toward the chasm.

But while she was still in the air, Mira began to fly to the side. She wedged her foot into divots on the rock face, using them to propel herself deeper. She ran down the rock face like a wild goat.

“Ah?! Are you even human?!”

Growley couldn’t believe it, even as he rode on her back.

She was carrying an entire adult with her, after all. Regardless of how strong or how athletic she could have been, this was a miracle in acrobatics.

They landed.

The cliff Mira had just run down transitioned into a valley surrounded by a rock face.

The Imperial forces were above the cliff. Here, they were safe from both the tanks and the meddlesome noise produced by the Siren. Growley started to let his guard down.

“You’ll die like that,” Mira told him.

“Wha?!”

“Keep your eyes to the front.”

As Mira said those words, she threw Growley to the ground. Something frighteningly fast grazed his cheek.

“A sniper?!”

He scowled as he flipped around.

He saw them. Behind a boulder in the valley, there were some Imperial soldiers toting guns while wearing camouflage.

“They even infiltrated this godforsaken place?!”

“I discovered them earlier. Their headquarters are in this valley.”

“What…?”

He didn’t follow.

As Growley readied himself to accept that the Imperial forces were a step ahead of them, the golden-haired girl unsheathed a large knife, as if doing so were the most natural thing in the world.

“Girl, don’t tell me you’re…”

“You’ll slow me down, so go hide somewhere.”

Mira began to run toward the gun-toting Imperial soldiers.

Yes, the princess hadn’t run down the cliff face to escape the Imperials. She had planned on annihilating the Imperial forces’ base from the very start.

It was pure coincidence she’d rescued Growley.

“…”

Growley lay on the ground and watched…

…as the Lou princess single-handedly took down the Imperial forces.

“It’s done.”

Mira looked down at the guns scattered around the valley.

She had forced the Imperial units, who had been equipped with cutting-edge weaponry, to retreat. Growley had gotten a firsthand view of her spectacular show of force.

“…Is this it for the Zoa’s chances?”

Growley’s entire face broke into a cold sweat, from forehead to chin.

The House of Zoa would lose.

Did Mirabella have the education befitting a princess? The character? The knowledge? No. She had trampled on all those requirements and demonstrated her power with overwhelming success.

If I let the princess live…

…the throne will undoubtedly be hers in the next conclave.

To secure the Zoa’s future, he needed to eliminate this girl. Fortunately, they were on a battlefield shared with the Imperial forces. He could pretend the Empire had taken her out.

“…”

He silently summoned his avatar from earlier.

Princess Mirabella had her back toward him to collect the Imperial soldiers’ discarded guns.

“O Vice, my astral power.”

Growley commanded his avatar to attack her defenseless back…

“Are you blind?”

Crunch.

He felt something cold and hard against his neck.

It was the blade of a knife.

“—?!”

Before he could even process what was going on, the princess had gotten so close that even he could feel her breath. Her emotionless eyes bore into him.

“There are no Imperial soldiers that way. Just me.”

“Wha?!”

“You attempted to attack with your astral power. Who were you after?”

“…Hrk!”

With a shudder, Growley broke into a cold sweat.

“This is a battlefield. I could tell everyone that you were shot by an Imperial,” Mira said.

“I give in…”

He called back the avatar.

Now defenseless, Growley raised both his hands.

“Once we return, I’ll make sure to tell everyone else of your feats. I’m positive that will help you in the next conclave. Let’s call it even.”

“It’s good you know how to do what’s best for yourself.”

Princess Mirabella sheathed her knife. Or so he thought—instead, she headed forward.

“I’m going after the Imperial forces deeper in before I go back. You’ll only get in the way, so please return ahead of me.”

“…”

Growley watched in a daze until the princess vanished into the distance.

“Amazing.”

All of a sudden, an ill-fitting round of applause resounded across the battlefield.

It was unclear where or when he had arrived. Behind Growley, a blond boy elegantly lingered.

“Princess Mirabella of the House of Lou. No princess has ever been like you. Finally, an aberrant in the royal family. What deadly combat abilities.”

He smiled like an actor from a movie.

The boy was hardly acting like he was on a battlefield. He was even wearing a stylish white suit one might wear on a picnic.

“It’s been a while, Lord Growley,” the boy said.

“Talisman?”

“I came to assist, but it seems I did that for nothing. Then again, perhaps I’m lucky to have witnessed her power from up close.”

His suit fluttered as he flipped around.

“I must hurry back to my research.”

Research?

Growley didn’t even have time to question the young heir to the House of Hydra about his utterance, as the young man gallantly walked deeper into the valley, heading in the opposite direction from Mira.

“The Zoa rescue unit will get here soon. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Lord Growley.”

“…”

The next day.

Thanks to Growley’s report following his return, Princess Mirabella’s reputation did an about-face.

She went from being a failure as a princess to being the strongest candidate for the throne in history.

Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX was quickly acknowledged for her skills.

But as for the princess herself…

“My lady! What did you say?!”

“I’m bored.”

She lay on the lawn in the courtyard, absentmindedly staring at the trail of clouds in the ultramarine sky.

The sky was nice.

She tired of gazing at it.

“I’m bored of fighting the Imperial forces. Schwartz, please inform Her Majesty I will no longer be going out to the battlefield.”

“Wh-what?! But with your abilities, we…”

“The Imperial forces are a snooze.”

Things were either fun or not fun.

It was no exaggeration to say that was Mira’s value system.

A good 99 percent of the Imperial soldiers were weaklings.

Bullets were a threat to most astral mages, but once the soldiers realized they would not work on Mira, they were surprisingly quick to surrender, much to her disappointment.

They were so unimpressive.

“The Empire’s weapons are powerful, but their soldiers are anything but. So I’ve lost interest.”

“B-but, my lady… The Imperial forces have people called Saint Disciples…”

“They’re just exceptions.”

The Saint Disciples were the highest-ranked Imperial soldiers. But since they served the Lord, they rarely left the Empire. It would be close to a miracle for her to run into one of them on the battlefield.

“It’s so boring… The world is so boring…”

She rolled over to sleep.

Then she pouted as she murmured something.

I want a rival.

Wasn’t there anyone out there for her?

Someone who was endlessly interesting, someone with whom she could enjoy herself?

She offered her childish prayer to the stars.

A few days passed.

Then Mira heard tales of Sorcerer Salinger that shook the Sovereignty.

CHAPTER 3

Illumination: I, the One Called the Sorcerer

1

Salinger.

He had been born with the lowliest of astral powers and was fated to be a sinner.

The Water Mirror astral power.

By placing the astral crest on his palms on another person for more than a minute, he could split up their power and take half of it.

……A lowly thief.

……Bearing cursed astral power that would be nothing without others.

But Salinger was not afraid.

He was alone in the Sovereignty, for people resented his ability to steal astral powers, but this did not frighten him.

He had his ideals.

He would eventually stand above all other astral mages.

For this reason, he had been branded a criminal who would disturb the peace in the Sovereignty. Countless people had set their sights on him in an attempt to bring him to justice, such as the military police and the astral corps.

He had turned the tables on every single one of them and taken their astral powers as a matter of course.

The transcendental sorcerer.

Though he had gained a moniker that made the Sovereignty quiver in its boots, Salinger understood something.

It didn’t matter how many mages from the military police or astral corps he defeated.

What he needed to transcend was the peak.

He needed to face someone from the royal family, someone who shared blood with the Founder Nebulis. He had to transcend the purebreds, an astral mage’s most powerful opponent.

Nebulis Sovereignty, central state.

The terminal station, Saclaris Nebulica, was known for its white dome that resembled a cap of snow.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers passed through it.

Wanted criminal Salinger disappeared into the remarkably large crowd and passed through the ticket gates of the station.

“…”

It was six PM.

The dazzling, fiery sun was dipping behind the horizon.

As most of the travelers crisscrossed through, heading home, Salinger silently sat at a bench in the plaza, still as a statue.

He had stiff white hair, and his eyes were sharp. His dignified, chiseled face gave him a movie star–like handsomeness, but his attire was what truly set him apart.

He was wearing a coat over his bare chest.

The intense glow of the sunset illuminated him, putting the beauty of his defined muscles on display. The women in the plaza stole glances at him as they passed by.

“The time seems right…,” Salinger said to himself.

There was a reason why the most feared man in the Sovereignty had appeared right below the Nebulis palace’s noses out in the open at the station.

He was declaring war.

Salinger was afraid of nothing.

Not the military police nor the astral corps, including the descendants of the Founder who ruled over the Sovereignty. The way he had appeared so boldly out in the open communicated his intentions loud and clear.

“Descendants of the Founder, you scoundrels have no qualifications to crown yourselves the royal family of the nation.”

The Sovereignty called itself the “astral mages’ paradise.”

But Salinger did not acknowledge the Nebulis royal family.

They acted as if having the luck of being born into the royal bloodline was an achievement in itself, and they rested on the laurels of the strong astral powers they had been born with. They had no idea what it meant to work your way up in this world.

Salinger didn’t intend to let them look down on him. That was because…

True nobility lay not in blood but in one’s ideals.

Salinger had abandoned his own surname.

He was the only one who decided who he was, and he didn’t need a last name to put his bloodline on display.

He would transcend them—

—the arrogant royal family.

“The time is right…”

He stood from the bench and turned.

The burning sunset had reached the gaps between the buildings, and a curtain of black had begun to descend from overhead. That made the Nebulis palace all the more conspicuous as it towered over him, dazzlingly bright.

It was the twinkle of astral power.

For the grandest stage, he would need the grandest plot.

“It would be artless of me to go after the queen in the prologue.”

First, he would take down the three royal families.

Once he took out the bloodlines of the Zoa, the Lou, and the Hydra, he would finally defeat the queen—that would make for the most beautiful story.

So who would he target first?

……Going after the first family I see after sneaking into the palace would be one method, but that would be a fool’s errand.

……Even if I challenge them on my own, I would end up outnumbered and surrounded.

Purebreds were the strongest of the astral mages. That was the truth.

Plus, the palace security was tight. If anything seemed amiss within the castle, their top guards would immediately come running.

“So I’ll start outside of the castle.”

Salinger turned away from the curiously sparkling Nebulis palace and walked away down the nighttime road.

He meandered on and on…

As the cold winds buffeted him, stealing his body warmth in the blink of an eye and making him break out in goose bumps, a smile played on Salinger’s lips.

“I’m looking forward to this.”

The stage had been set.

The grand plot to transcend the royal family had been written. And for the stage of the opening act, Salinger had chosen a glittering gray skyscraper.

It was the Hydra’s research institute, the cutting-edge astral power engineering and research facility better known as Snow and Sun.

This building was the center of the Hydra’s research pursuits.

They had constructed the facility to investigate methods of kicking off a fourth energy revolution by taking the astral energy that surged from the planet’s core and using it in place of gas and electricity.

“Or at least, that’s how it looks from the outside.”

Salinger was across the street from the institute.

Standing atop the edge of the roof of a large building, he stared at the front gate of the facility.

It was surrounded by a concrete wall that was much too thick. The guards standing at either side of the entrance gate were also armed to the teeth. They carried riot shields that no other facilities had.

“That must actually be where the Hydra gather their personal guards.”

The Zoa and the Lou had their own personal troops, too.

Each royal family had their own legitimate agents who were publicly known to carry out their missions.

However…

The Hydra had been rapidly building up their private army.

And they hadn’t recruited agents but military troops.

“They must be scheming something.”

Salinger had chosen this location because he had heard that bigwigs were frequenting Snow and Sun.

“If that’s true, then I just need to wait…”

Twilight turned to night. Then the night deepened.

As the wind whipped around him, Salinger watched the gate of Snow and Sun.

In this darkness, one would think the guards would be unable to spot him, but that wasn’t necessarily true, due to astral power.

……They could have high-perception astral power that’s more precise than any security camera.

……Or astral power that can detect sound.

Or possibly both.

He held his breath as he bore through the freezing wind.

“Ngh. That man is…”

A man in a suit had approached the front gate.

When the light spilled over the man and revealed the identity of the VIP, Salinger let out a slight gasp.

“…Janess, the palace Astral Guard?”

Salinger caught a glimpse of the old scar on Janess’s right eye.

Everyone in the Sovereignty knew him.

He was the right-hand man and guard of Arken, the current head of the Hydra family. What was he doing out here in the middle of the night, when he should have been at his master’s side? And why was he alone?

A man in his position couldn’t simply act on his own.

“The head of house must have ordered him to come here…”

Salinger suspected as much because of the black bag in the man’s possession.

The bag blended into the darkness; the man must have come here at night on purpose.

Salinger was on to something.

The moment that thought occurred to him, he leaped off the roof of the building.

“O Wind…”

The astral crests on his palms glowed.

The Wind astral technique he had stolen enveloped Salinger like a cocoon and slowed his descent, guiding him to the correct point to land.

He dropped right over Janess’s head.

He used the momentum to bring his foot down on the man, aiming for the crown of Janess’s head.

“Huh?!”

At that moment, Janess swung his head up.

He had noticed.

Perhaps the sound of the wind as Salinger had dived off the building had alerted the man, or perhaps he had an astral power that allowed him to detect other astral powers being activated in his vicinity. However…

“Is this your first time on a stage?” As Salinger fell, he sneered at Janess, who looked up at him. “A bit player will never know what it’s like to be in the spotlight.”

“Ugh?!”

As the light burned into his retinas, the Astral Guard let out a strangled cry and flinched.

The light was intense. The glow of the skyscrapers and streetlamps had blinded him as he had looked up.

It was all going according to plan.

That was why Salinger had chosen to wait on the roof. Even if his would-be victims noticed him during his descent, they would be momentarily blinded by the light of the building if they looked up.

He had adjusted his fall perfectly to account for that.

“It seems the royal family and their guards are dull.”

Salinger’s heel made contact with Janess’s shoulder.

“Ah!”

His shoulder made a muffled noise.

Janess collapsed from acute pain, and Salinger took this opportunity to bring down his fist.

“Good night.”

“Uh… Ah…?!” Janess cried out too late.

After Salinger’s fist connected with the back of the man’s head, the Astral Guard stumbled forward and collapsed. He also let go of the black bag he was carrying.

Do I steal his astral power?

Should I look inside the bag?

He was in an urban area right in front of Snow and Sun.

He didn’t have time to do both.

After a moment of hesitation, Salinger reached for the bag on the ground.

“It’ll be exciting if there are classified documents in here. Let’s see…”

He used a low-intensity Ballistic astral power to destroy the lock.

The suitcase opened with disappointing ease. The inside was covered with some sort of cushioning material to protect its contents from damage. All it held was a brooch in the shape of the sun.

As he picked it up, he heard a quiet, crisp rattling sound come from it.

“Oh? What’s inside here?”

It seemed it wasn’t just any brooch.

If it contained the royal family’s confidential information, the Hydra would likely come after him in full force.

“Put another way, I’ll never lack for opponents.”

He put the brooch in his pocket and leisurely strolled away.

Someone shouted from behind him.

The guards must have discovered Janess, but Salinger had gotten a great distance away from Snow and Sun.

……It’s possible the security cameras caught my face.

……I don’t look forward to being pursued by a crowd.

He left the inner city and walked toward a woodland path. The nighttime road was completely devoid of people. No one saw him as he used the light of the streetlamps to guide himself.

“…”

Just then, however, he noticed a small silhouette.

He could make out a petite person in a raincoat off in the distance, toward where he was headed. Had they come walking from the opposite direction as him?

Both individuals walked on the road between the fields—just two meters across—and passed by each other.

“…”

“…”

As they passed, they both slowed down.

“I smell blood.”

“I smell it on you, too.”

Suddenly, Salinger couldn’t help but laugh.

The woman appeared to have no intention of hiding how suspicious she looked.

Beneath the cloudless night sky, she was hiding her body and face with a hooded raincoat. Had the girl not said anything, he never would have known her gender.

Who was she?

“Are you…?!” Salinger’s voice was lost in a severe change in wind pressure.

The girl in the raincoat jumped up wordlessly. She was frighteningly quick.

She made an impressive display of acrobatics as she leaped to the height of Salinger’s head and spun like a top to roundhouse kick him.

“…Huh!”

Salinger bent back instantly, and the tip of his bangs were sheared away.

He had seen the quick glint of a knife.

The woman had hidden a sharp, thin razor-like blade at the end of her shoe. If he had tried to stop her foot with his hands, his fingers would have been bleeding by now.

As he leaped back, Salinger roared into the night, “Lady!”

The smell of blood.

He hadn’t been mistaken about the whiff of iron he had caught as they passed each other.

“What are you hiding under that ridiculous getup?!”

He used an astral power that glowed with red flames.

The fireball he threw at the girl landed on her raincoat. Like a sparkler, bright red sparks showered down on her and burst into flames.

“What?!” he yelled.

The flames had disappeared.

They had extinguished unnaturally, as though the atmosphere itself had smothered them. It must have been the work of this girl’s astral power.

“You…”

“You’re the one who called me out here,” she said.

She threw her charred raincoat to the ground. Under the light of the streetlamp, he saw a delicate girl whose golden hair was cut into a bob.

She was very young. She couldn’t have been older than thirteen or fourteen.

“In Saclaris Nebulica’s station plaza. You intentionally exposed yourself to the security cameras. They showed you heading east, as though you wanted us to see. There were no sightings of you in the city central, so I thought you would be somewhere in this direction.”

“…”

Salinger didn’t respond to the girl’s questioning.

He thought his display would lure someone from the royal family out soon enough. But he hadn’t expected someone so notable, even among the royal family, to come to him.

“Princess Mirabella of the House of Lou!”

His entire body quivered with excitement.

Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX.

A purebred he would have killed for the chance to meet. And on top of that, she was a queen candidate.

“Ha-ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha! I was waiting for a member of the royal family to take my stage!” Salinger shouted.

Meanwhile, the girl stared back at him without expression.

“I’d like to be certain of your crimes. I’ve heard you’ve stolen people’s astral powers,” she said.

“And what if I did?”

“I suppose I would be grateful.”

“Huh?”

“The thing is, your crimes gave me an excuse to skip a meeting. Everyone is anxious because you appeared in the central state, so they sent me out to apprehend you. You saved me from boredom.”

“…”

In the silence, Salinger furrowed his brows slightly.

……What’s with this girl?

……She confronted me alone and isn’t even nervous?

She was too calm.

He had thought it was just the characteristic arrogance of a purebred, but he sensed no haughtiness in her. They were in a beautiful part of the countryside. As far as he could tell, she hadn’t brought a retinue that was lying in wait, either.

“You act like this doesn’t concern you.”

“It doesn’t.” The girl’s lips moved, but she spoke like a doll whose mouth was being manipulated by a puppeteer. “The way I see it, everyone else is a weakling.”

“They’re—”

“And I include you in that group, of course.”

The ground burst.

The girl holding the knife had kicked the ground with a force anyone would find surprising.

She charged at Salinger to attack.

……She’s coming at me with two knives, without any concern about the difference in our physical strength?

……Is she trying to preserve her astral powers?

If she had Lightning astral power, he could see her needing to get into close proximity of him.

But Salinger instantly dismissed that possibility. The evidence didn’t support it.

……She smothered my flames, so it can’t be Lightning.

……It must be Wind, Ice, or a barrier-type power. I bet she’s getting close because she has a barrier that can’t be used offensively!

In that case, he would use Lightning.

In a close-combat situation, it made sense for him to use the astral power known for being the fastest of them all: Lightning. Just as Salinger came up with this idea, the girl was nearly on top of him.

She leaped right at him.

She was fast.

He saw the glint of her blade.

She thrust her knives at him. The moment he saw that, he was too late to defend himself with astral power.

“You cheeky little…!”

Salinger gritted his teeth as he filled with shame and held his arm out to protect his face.

The pain was intense. As he felt the sharp jab of his flesh being slashed open, he let out a cry.

“Now you’ve done it!”

She dashed, leaped at him, and brandished her knife.

Her movements were eerily fluid. She acted as though she were a doll that had been programmed to use those exact maneuvers.

However…

The next moment, Salinger was genuinely struck with terror.

“…”

The girl said nothing as she held out the palm of her hand.

Dauntlessly, she attempted to make contact with him. The instant Salinger saw her close in, he understood fear for the first time in his life.

……What’s wrong with her eyes?

……There’s nothing in them. They’re empty!

They were dull and robotic, as though lacking all life.

It was as though she had been given instructions on how to reap destruction and was following a manual to take apart a machine. And in this case, he was the object the princess was to disassemble.

“Guh…!”

He wrenched himself away. His ribs creaked with a sudden jerk, but that was better than allowing her to touch him.

The girl’s hand passed by his side and ended up cutting through the air.

Bang.

The air swelled and burst like a hand grenade had gone off. The diffusing wind swept over him like a tsunami and sent him flying into the fields.

“How dare you?!”

He wiped his mouth as he stood up.

His entire body was shooting with the pain of being caught up in the shock wave. If she had touched him directly, he knew he would have been torn apart, beginning from wherever her hand made contact with him.

“O Earth!”

The ground beneath Salinger began to writhe.

The farmland around him swelled, and hundreds, then thousands of clumps of dirt and stone flew at the princess.

“Catch her! Restrain her limbs!” Salinger shouted.

“Is this a game to you?”

The pebbles and clods of dirt stopped midair.

It was as though an invisible wall had stopped his projectiles right before they hit Princess Mirabella. They lost momentum one after another and bounced away.

……I knew it.

……She has Wind astral power or a Wind subtype.

He saw a way through. In that case…

“You think having multiple astral powers puts you at an advantage?” the princess asked.

“……Huh?!”

“Using them one at a time is a mistake.”

She was right in front of him in a flash. Again. She was just too fast.

The princess didn’t hesitate. She flipped the knife in her left hand to hold it the other way around and swiped it at Salinger’s abdomen.

Zoosh…

He felt the heat of the knife slicing through him.

But the blade stopped before it could reach his internal organs.

“Uh?”

The princess’s eyes went wide.

She had been certain her knife would slice him up, but it had stopped. His muscles couldn’t have done that. She couldn’t even pull her knife out. This had to be…

“A Wave astral technique,” the princess remarked. “Did you activate it earlier?”

“I have you now…,” Salinger replied.

Sweating from the intense pain he was in, Salinger flashed her a gruesome smile.

He couldn’t hesitate for a moment against her.

“O Terra Burst astral power.”

A raging stream of heat burst up from deep within the earth. The most powerful naturally occurring energy on the planet split the ground as he summoned magma itself to the surface.

“Spout from below! Use your rage to scorch the earth!”

A shower of sparks seemed to burn through the air.

As the magma bathed the fields red, it consumed everything around it, but the golden-haired girl was nowhere to be found. Her animallike instincts and reflexes had urged her to abandon the knife in her hand and leap back.

“Impossible!”

She had avoided one of his deadliest moves.

Salinger watched the girl’s godlike evasive maneuver under the glow of the magma.

……Was I mistaken? Is the royal family not a group of children who are dependent on their astral powers?!

……What is this girl? How does she move like that?

It wasn’t just her astral power that was strong.

She was like an Automata that had been made for combat and combat alone. What could he do? Could he continue to fight with his arm and abdomen in this state?

“……Tsk.”

After what felt like an endless moment of hesitation, Salinger clutched his arm and turned away.

His arm and abdomen were bleeding too much. It also didn’t help that it was currently night. The darkness made the princess’s superhuman close-combat skills even more of a threat.

“Are you running away?” she asked.

“…”

“You’re surprisingly clever. But the next time I find you, I’ll kill you.”

On the other side of the magma and sparks, Salinger didn’t bother to respond to the girl’s mechanical voice, fleeing into the dark of night.

Internally, he gritted his teeth as he seethed with shame.

But at the same time…

“That’s exactly what I want.”

He cackled with glee.

Running down the lightless path, he tried to stanch his bleeding as he rushed forward like his life depended on it.

He arrived at an abandoned cabin on the outskirts of the city. He had bought a house here under a fake name a year and a half ago.

“That’s right…”

He opened the door with one arm and collapsed as soon as he got inside.

The rusted outer walls of the small structure belied the hygienic and organized room inside. There was a bed and a closet. It was perfect for a man to hide out in.

“She’s still got the Founder’s blood…”

He pulled out antiseptic and emptied the entire bottle over his wounds. Then he tossed several painkillers into his mouth, without heeding the dosage instructions, and began to chew on them.

“That girl…”

He thought back to the battle.

Princess Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX—there was no mistaking it. That girl had the Ballistic subtype of Wind astral power.

Supposedly, people with this power could control the atmosphere directly, but so few mages of that type existed that its intricacies were unknown.

……She seemed confident she could defend herself.

……That’s why she uses close-combat techniques. But I still can’t believe she’s mastered it to that extent.

It wasn’t just her astral powers. She was also practically an expert in hand-to-hand combat.

She wasn’t anything like the weak-kneed royal he had imagined. He would at least acknowledge that, but…he had more tricks up his sleeves when it came to astral power.

No matter how mighty her ability was, he had more than enough cards to take her on.

“That’s right…”

He balled his hands into fists, not even caring that he was about to reopen his wounds.

He was certain.

“If I can just steal her astral powers…”

…then he would transcend even the queen.

Nebulis Sovereignty, Star Spire.

Most of the royal family members and retainers were asleep that night. In the dead quiet hallway, Schwartz’s loud voice echoed.

“My lady?! What happened to you?!”

“I’m back.”

Mira held unsheathed knives in her hands. Her battle garments were covered with still-wet bloodstains.

“My lady! Wh-where did you go?! Even Her Majesty was worried…”

“I’m going to bed.”

She yawned widely, then passed her knives off to her attendant.

“Please wash these for me.”

They were covered in blood. Schwartz took them in both hands and gulped.

“What kind of blood is this…?”

“It’s just paint.”

“No jokes, my lady!”

“It’s human.”

She spoke as though she was presenting the weather for the day.

Schwartz stared timidly at the knives after hearing Mira’s blunt tone.

“May I ask whose blood this is?”

“Schwartz.”

The princess turned around, running her bloodstained fingers right through her messy golden hair.

“I’m going to be absent from my official duties starting tomorrow.”

“I beg your pardon?!”

Had he not been on the princess’s floor of the spire, Schwartz’s shout might have woken all the sleeping attendants and soldiers.

She wanted to be excused from all her official duties.

But Schwartz wasn’t shocked because she was skipping out on her duties. She always did that, after all.

Normally, however, she didn’t ask for permission to do so.

“What has caused you such a change of heart? Why would you report that you are going to be absent ahead of time…?”

This was no trivial matter.

Her declaration had been unusual, but then again, it wasn’t normal of her to come home in the middle of the night covered in blood, either.

“Please tell me,” Schwartz urged her.

“…”

“My lady?”

The bloodstained princess refused to answer.

She paid him no mind and refused to stop looking up at the palace ceiling.

The transcendental sorcerer, Salinger.

He had sensed the clear difference in abilities between them, but he had still cackled despite that. He wasn’t like the Imperial soldiers, who retreated the moment they saw her face.

Her eyes shone like those of a thirsty stray dog.

“Is he going to show up again, I wonder…?”

She knew—he would steal countless astral powers, then appear again once he had perfected his countermeasures against her Ballistic astral power.

“…”

And she was ever so looking forward to it.

Mira didn’t realize that she was smiling just slightly.

Her eyes were filled with self-confidence, a belligerence for battle.

Just recalling their encounter warmed her.

He hadn’t broken down after a single blow, and he had come back stronger for the next one.

“Drop by soon…”

The strongest princess in history had found a clear enemy who would push her to evolve even further.

2

“My wounds have healed…”

Salinger was in the small cabin, where he was hiding out.

Illuminated by the morning light coming through the gap in the curtains, Salinger flexed his right arm.

It didn’t bleed.

But it had only healed to the point that a scab had formed over the laceration. His arm was red and angry from the elbow down, and his abdomen—where he had been stabbed by the knife—hurt horribly every time he breathed.

“But this is good enough…”

He got off the bed.

That shocking night had only occurred four days ago. Even as he groaned in pain from his wounds, Salinger had been playing out simulations in his mind of fighting Princess Mirabella for nearly one hundred hours.

One hundred eighteen defeats and ninety-nine victories.

Though there was a slight difference, the odds were about fifty-fifty.

If only he could figure out the commonality that tied those ninety-nine victories together…

“Playtime is over, girl.”

The curtain on the second stage was opening.

After that humiliating night, their positions had reversed.

“I’ll take your astral power.”

The Nebulis palace, market in front of the gates.

The skies were clear and the weather pleasant. Normally, the cafés and restaurants would be bustling with people on an afternoon like this, but at that moment, the main road was unbelievably quiet.

Few passed through the streets, and everyone walked quickly, speaking only in hushed whispers.

The civilians were frightened.

Word had gotten around that the sorcerer Salinger had finally appeared in the central state.

“Thank you for accompanying us, Princess Mirabella.”

Four people traveled down the main thoroughfare. A girl wearing a coat and hood to hide her face was at their center. Ahead of her were three security police.

“Four days ago, Janess of the Hydra Astral Guard was attacked by Salinger. He’s probably hiding out in this area. The general public is so frightened out of their wits, they won’t even come out during midday.”

“We also do our patrols every day…”

“We haven’t been able to catch his trail. According to our intel, some of his stolen astral powers are useful for hiding.”

She looked up at the three burly men, who were twice as large as she was.

Useless.

Mira murmured to herself in her head.

The security police were rugged and had impressive astral powers.

But they were utterly dense.

They lacked attention to detail. The weak had the ability to sense danger, much like a child could sense when their parent was in a bad mood from the look on their face. However, these men lacked that ability.

For instance, they hadn’t noticed that Salinger had already started tailing them.

“Well, it’s fine, as long as I’ve noticed.”

She wouldn’t tell the security police. If she did, they would show it on their faces or begin looking around in a panic.

……But why hasn’t Salinger attacked yet?

……Because it’s the afternoon? Because there are civilians around, even if there aren’t many?

She felt Salinger’s gaze.

The fact he hadn’t attacked them yet was throwing Mira off. The transcendental sorcerer wasn’t quite the man she imagined.

“Let’s wrap it up now,” she said.

“Y-Your Highness?”

“I’m famished. This is as far as I plan to walk.” Mira looked up at the three men, not slowing in the slightest as she asked them, “May we return to the palace?”

Night wore on.

Central state, city outskirts.

The curtain of night had lowered, and the lights of the shopping district flickered out one by one. The people had gone to sleep, and the quiet of night was disturbed only by the calls of insects in the countryside.

Salinger stood on a path bordering the farm fields.

He felt something.

In the near-lightless night, he saw a delicate silhouette of a person approaching him and heard the sound of their footsteps.

“A proper stage demands good lighting.”

There was a roar.

Salinger threw a fireball into the air and threw out both his arms.

“I’m impressed a princess like you can find a way out of the palace at night.”

“I try to act like a good royal on occasion.”

“Oh?”

“I happened to overhear the minister in the hallways, and do you know how they described you? ‘Garbage that needs to be cleaned up.’ That’s how the Sovereignty sees you.”

Illuminated by the vivid orange flames, Princess Mirabella pulled off the raincoat she wore and tossed it aside.

Under it was her old and disheveled battle uniform.

Though the garment was ill-befitting of a princess, as it exposed her thighs and shoulders, Salinger could feel in his bones that she had chosen the garment to have maximum mobility.

“But I was slightly surprised.”

Her arms hung loosely at her sides, and she cocked her head.

“Do you actually have morals?”

“What are you talking about?”

“This afternoon. If you had attacked me on the road, I might have hesitated slightly to use my astral powers because there were people around.”

“Ha! Of all the things you could have said!” Salinger held a hand to his forehead as he snorted. “The people are the audience for my performance. An actor who cannot respect their audience is second-rate!”

“I see.”

The girl reached around her back.

She looked dead serious as she unsheathed two knives attached to her belt.

“I’ll make sure to have that engraved on your tombstone. That the savage had some morals.”

Then she disappeared.

Or rather, she ran in a straight line so quickly, it appeared as though she had vanished into thin air.

……She’s staying so close to the ground, she’s practically kissing it!

……So this is why I couldn’t track her movements last time!

But he could follow her now.

That was because the fireball he had thrown into the air illuminated the entire area.

“This won’t be an encore of last time,” he told her.

“‘An encore’? No, this is the finale.”

A cloud of dust rose.

Princess Mirabella jumped, lit by the fireball that acted like a tiny sun.

“Ha! You’re incompetent if you think you can try the same trick as last time!”

In response to the girl hurtling toward him, Salinger raised an arm to the heavens.

His Water Mirror crest glowed blue.

“Ice blade!”

Crack.

A column of frost erupted from Salinger’s feet and covered the surrounding fields. Ice spears burst from the newly formed frost and trained on the aerial princess.

“Fire!”

“Turn.”

As the sorcerer bellowed, the witch whispered.

Though they were enemies and polar opposites…

…their voices harmonized as though they were singing a duet on a stage.

The ice was swept away by an invisible wind borne from the atmosphere.

There was a power difference between them, plain and simple. Salinger could only ever steal half of another person’s astral power, so he could never match a purebred in force.

“Guh!”

Salinger leaped back.

He retreated several meters before the princess could land. Princess Mirabella jumped off the ground when she touched it to close the distance between them again.

“Guh.”

She twisted as she ran.

Though it may have looked like she had lost her balance, she hadn’t. Salinger felt something cold drip from his forehead.

“You dodged it?!”

“I saw through it.”

They were referring to a compressed pocket of air lying in wait like an invisible land mine. This hadn’t been the princess’s astral power, however.

Salinger had set up the trap ahead of time. He had assumed that, as a master of the Ballistic astral power, the princess would never guess a trap identical to her own powers would be lying in wait.

He had attempted to catch her off guard, but she had seen right through his ruse.

“That layer of the atmosphere was distorted, just like a heat haze.”

“Tch! How can you see that?!”

He understood now.

The princess wasn’t powerful because she was a purebred. She was strong as a person regardless.

……She’s getting closer.

……Soon we’ll be in point-blank range of each other. I’ll meet her with Lightning astral pow—

He heard the air snap.

As he felt a sharp pain race through his shoulder, Salinger’s train of thought came to a halt.

“Are you already done?”

The princess had swung the knife in her right hand.

Had she been a step closer, she would have likely severed Salinger’s entire left arm from his shoulder.

“I gave you four whole days. Is that all you can manage?”

“Hnngh!”

Are you a monster?

Salinger didn’t even have time to yell that as he balled his hands into fists.

This was his last resort.

After all the fights he had simulated in his head, this was the final bizarre strategy he had been left with.

“Swell.”

“Huh?”

Salinger snapped his fingers.

He did that right in front of her. Princess Mirabella unconsciously stopped as she was in the middle of bringing up her knife.

What did he mean?

She already had Salinger right in front of her. She could have simply thrust her knife at him. Instead of finishing him off, the princess turned around to look behind her.

Her instincts were screaming at her to do so.

“Huh!”

Her eyes widened.

It was the fireball that had burned like the sun.

The orb Salinger had thrown to provide light had grown tens of times larger than before.

“Did you think it was just a chandelier or something?” Salinger bellowed in triumph as he looked down at the princess.

For a first-rate stage, a chandelier couldn’t just give off light. No, it also had to provide the spectacle of dropping from the ceiling.

“This is the explosive Flame astral power, Red Emperor.”

This astral power had to be developed over time.

The fireball would swell according to the amount of time it hovered in midair, and once it fully matured, it would attain strength comparable to purebred astral powers.

“The fire…!”

“Have you put two and two together? You can’t protect yourself against it using the atmosphere!”

The heat from the flames would travel through the air.

Salinger had realized that if the astral power of Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX controlled the atmosphere, then she wouldn’t be able to protect herself against the flames at such a close range.

“Burst!” he cried.

A sun was born in the night.

It singed the air, the fields, and the trees surrounding them, rendering everything into black charcoal in an instant.

The light swelled to cover the entire area.

The world went silent.

After the heat wave rescinded…

“………You monster.”

Salinger was lying face up on the singed ground. He had been pinned down.

“How…are you…unharmed…? Didn’t you have Atmosphere astral power…?”

“Yes, I do.”

The girl held Salinger’s neck in her left hand.

Though her arm was slender, it felt as heavy and firm as a vise as she pressed her fingers into Salinger’s neck.

“Think you can figure it out?”

“! You used a vacuum?!”

Heat couldn’t travel in a vacuum.

Salinger had made a mistake. He hadn’t realized Mirabella could manipulate the atmosphere to create a vacuum.

“You’re done resisting, aren’t you?”

As she used her left hand to hold Salinger’s neck in a viselike grip, she readied her knife again in her right.

She raised the blade in an underhanded grip. Her eyes were frighteningly unemotional and inhuman. As she spoke, it was as though she were addressing a straw dummy.

“This is it.”

She brought her raised hand down, aimed straight at Salinger’s neck.

…Splat.

A drop of blood splattered.

But it wasn’t Salinger’s.

“…”

The girl stopped.

She paused, her knife hovering over Salinger’s windpipe. She stared at the blood on Salinger’s cheek.

“…Is that mine?”

It had come from a cut on her cheek. While they had scuffled, Salinger had struggled for his life and grazed her with his hand.

“…”

“What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”

Salinger looked up at her.

She was straddling and strangling him with a grip like steel. Even as he gasped for breath, he searched for an opening to counter her.

“Would you feel humiliated if I stopped here?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?”

This was what he didn’t like about the girl.

Since her face was devoid of expression, he couldn’t figure out why she had blurted out that ridiculous question.

“You would be humiliated, wouldn’t you? It would be humiliating if I didn’t stab you now. So that’s what I’ll do.”

“……What did you say?”

“I’d like to use you as a toy.”

“How dare you?!”

Salinger opened wide his bloodshot eyes and gritted his teeth.

Was she trying to make a mockery of him?

“Don’t screw with me, little girl!”

“Please don’t struggle. I have my hand around your windpipe. If you squirm too much, you’ll break your neck.”

She tightened her grip even further.

She was telling him to shut up. It was as though she were training him through brute force.

“Salinger, you’re going to become a means for me to train.”

“Don’t be so arrogant. What happens if you let me live and I steal the astral powers of another royal family member?”

“Good. Steal as many as you can.”

“What?!”

“I am part of the Lou bloodline. We are in a battle for the throne with the Zoa and the Hydra. If you steal their astral powers, you’ll weaken them. That makes my prospects of becoming queen all the higher. Even if I am a terrible ruler, I want to make my mother’s and vassals’ wishes come true.”

“…”

He had miscalculated.

In Salinger’s mind, there was no distinction between the individual members of the royal family. To him, they were all simply powerful astral mages.

……Is that not true?

……Are the Founder’s descendants not united?

Even the young princess was saying that.

The family feud must have raged since her birth.

“That’s a hard truth to swallow. You dare call yourselves royalty?”

“You have no right to judge us. Especially since I, one of those terrible royals, am letting you live.”

“Don’t think you’ll be able to keep that haughty attitude forever.”

His lips were turning blue. Even as Salinger struggled to breathe while she strangled him, he spat out those words.

“…You damn doll…”

“Don’t bore me. I’ll let you live so I can use you.”

This was the greatest humiliation of his life.

He had simulated every possible outcome of this day in his head, yet he had still lost. Their skills were so unmatched that it would be no simple task for him to catch up. His wrath at his own weakness compelled him.

Salinger’s challenge had begun.

Two days had passed since the day of his humiliation.

It was his third attempt.

Salinger lay face up on the ground, a bloody mess.

“Are you an idiot, Salinger?”

The girl looked down on him.

Though he couldn’t see her face because the sun was at her back, he knew that no emotion was in her eyes.

“Your shoulder…”

“Ugh…”

Princess Mirabella stepped on his shoulder with her steel-soled shoes.

Salinger let out a cry of agony.

It was the same wound from two days prior. The injury had reopened, and his shoulder was rapidly turning red with blood.

“You should have waited to challenge me until your shoulder wound was healed up. You’ve underestimated me if you thought you could take me by surprise while you were still recovering…”

She sighed.

In the dark alleyway where sunlight hardly reached, the princess’s sigh echoed.

“Did you think you could catch me off guard? Oh, but I didn’t think you would attempt such a shortsighted strategy, so I did doubt my eyes despite myself. So in that sense, I suppose your attack did succeed at surprising me.”

“You…damn…doll… Guh!”

She pressed deeper into his shoulder.

“If you don’t do a better job next time, I’ll hunt you down. I’m only going to let you live as long as you’re powerful enough to satisfy me. Don’t forget that.”

Then she left.

In the alleyway, Salinger lay on the ground next to a spat-out piece of gum. Incensed, he balled his hands into fists.

“Next time…!”

When they next met, he would win.

He would have plenty of chances to fight her. The princess made at least one outing from the palace each week.

He wouldn’t suffer the same mistake.

He needed to analyze the situation. Why had he lost?

……It’s not because of the difference in our astral powers.

……The third time, it was her superhuman combat skills that overcame me.

The princess was well-versed in hand-to-hand combat, something astral mages ordinarily did not learn.

He had assumed every member of the royal family had been blessed from birth, but he had to admit the princess had flipped that idea upside its head. He had to admit it.

“I need to stop her from being able to use her combat skills… Would it make sense for me to fight her in the forest?”

The trees would add a level of complexity, and the ground would be uneven from the trees, which would hinder her.

In the woods, the princess would have less mobility. But she had always performed better than he could imagine in their fights. He needed to be certain.

“The rain!”

If she was wet, she would be heavier. If the ground in the forest was muddy, she would have a harder time finding her footing.

Princess Mirabella’s style was using physical force to overpower her opponents, so his style would be to diminish her strength in that regard.

“Just you wait. Next time, I’ll make you exit the stage for the finale!”

This was Salinger’s plan.

The Divine Wind Barrier Mandala.

Mirabella’s whirlwind sent him flying away.

Deep in the forest, the storm the golden-haired princess summoned twisted away the trees dozens of meters around her, breaking them in half.

“I’m starting to get bored of seeing this happen over and over.”

“Y-you brat…”

Salinger was lying on the ground.

There were red welts all over his body, as though he had been hit by a whip. A whirlwind had sucked him up, the gusts whipping him several hundred or thousand times until he felt like he was on the verge of being torn apart.

“You faked it…”

The forest was gone.

Princess Mirabella had let loose an astral attack on an order of magnitude more powerful than before.

“You were being evasive about your skills… You acted like you preferred hand-to-hand combat, but you were actually hiding the true might of your astral power…”

“Salinger.”

She bent down.

As Salinger raised his head from his facedown position, Mirabella stared at him insultingly.

“You’re not using your astral power. You’re letting it use you.”

What did that mean?

Her wording was so odd, he couldn’t follow. He only intuitively knew she was looking down on him.

“All you’re doing is collecting astral techniques. You think just using them willy-nilly makes you powerful.”

“But it does…”

“But they’re not your own.”

That was obvious.

All his Water Mirror astral power could do was copy the power of someone else at half strength. His every technique had been stolen from another astral mage.

“Salinger.” She said his name again. “You hate your astral power, don’t you?”

“Ngh?!”

His entire body quivered.

His eyes opened so wide, they seemed like they would split apart, and he glared at the girl despite the fact he couldn’t move.

“You wench!”

“You want to stand at the top of all astral mages. That’s why you want to transcend even the royal family. But despite your lofty ambitions, you use borrowed astral power. That’s where your problem is.”

“…”

No. But he couldn’t deny it.

Because deep down, he had never faced that fact.

“You need to face yourself. If you reconcile with your astral power, you might be able to come up with new techniques.”

“What do you know?!”

“Plenty.”

“Uh?”

“The technique I just used was something I came up with just a few days ago.”

“What…?”

She stared at him. Then she blinked a few times.

“I came up with this astral attack specifically for you.”

“Huh?!”

“I thought that you’d choose the woods as the site of our next battle. And that it would be raining. So I came up with a way of blowing away both the forest and the rain.”

She had made him dance on the palm of her hand.

But certain words prickled at Salinger’s heart more than those last ones.

……She came up with it for me?

……Just to beat me?

His mind went blank; he was at a loss for words.

So this hadn’t been a one-sided affair. Even the princess was pouring herself into these battles. That was…

Now that he really thought about it, wasn’t it absurd?

But just as that thought struck him…

“That’s it, Salinger.”

…she stroked his head. She was tender and affectionate, as though she were petting a dog.

“Challenge me again with that attitude, my little toy.”

“Hrngh!”

“You should get up before night falls. Wild dogs like to come by these parts.”

Then she left him as he was.

The Battle Automata, Mirabella, carefully chose her steps as she left the woods.

The Nebulis palace, Star Spire.

The Lou head of family’s personal chambers, the Stardust Skyscraper.

As Liliel lay on her sickbed, she exchanged glances with Schwartz.

“How has my daughter been lately?”

“I apologize, my lady. I have no idea how this happened to her…”

Mirabella had been acting strangely for some time.

There was something slightly off about her—something only her mother and tutor could have noticed.

She had started growing more animated.

Day in and day out, she would pass the time silently honing her knives. Though she refused to use makeup, she had begun bathing at least every other day, and when she left the palace, she would command her attendants to iron her battle uniform.

It almost seemed…

…as if she were dressing up to see a lover.

She began to act fussier about her clothes. Though in this case, that meant her battle uniform rather than her royal garb.

“She has told me that she’s going on self-directed training sessions. But she seems too secretive. She never tells me when or where she’s going.”

“Schwartz, can’t you figure out where she’s headed, at least?”

“I’m afraid…even when I tail her, she jumps out of the palace windows to go out.”

He couldn’t catch her leaving even if he watched the front gate.

The Nebulis palace had several hundred windows. Mirabella would jump out of one at random, so they would need to monitor all of them to follow her out. Naturally, that was an impossible endeavor.

“She said she was enjoying herself…”

“Her training, you mean?”

“Yes. If we are to believe what she says. She told me her sessions are ‘meeting her expectations,’ which is why she has been enjoying herself…”

“What expectations?”

The head of house knit her brows dubiously.

“Who does she mean?”

“W-well… What I do know is she must have a sparring partner.”

But who was it?

Mirabella was the strongest queen candidate, so if she said that about her opponent, then that meant…

The pair lapsed into thought for some time.

Mirabella’s mother and Schwartz could hardly even imagine who this person might be.

“That brat!”

Central state, city outskirts.

Shut inside a small, old cabin few people would come upon, Salinger trembled as he sat on his bed.

“How is she such a monster?!”

Princess Mirabella was too powerful.

She knew how to use her astral power, how to fight at close quarters, and even how to take advantage of psychological warfare.

……So she’s the strongest queen candidate in history.

……Of course. She’s obviously different. She’s an aberration.

He didn’t feel like he was fighting a person.

Mirabella didn’t even seem like a beast, or a living thing at all, for that matter. She was like a war machine that someone had programmed for slaughter.

“A living doll…”

She would try to gut him with her knives and strangle him with her hands. She had nearly torn him apart with her Ballistic astral power dozens of times.

And through it all, her expression never changed.

……It’s like nothing is holding her back.

……If I were anyone else, she would have killed me thirty times over by now.

However…

“I’m still alive.”

He balled his red and swollen hand into a fist.

That was right. Even though they had fought time and time again, he had survived each clash.

He had survived because he was himself.

I’m the only one. I’m the only opponent fit for her.

At some point, Salinger’s fixation on facing the royal family had disappeared, though this fact had escaped his notice.

He just wanted to win. He just wanted to beat the princess.

If you could put his resentment on a scale, his hatred for that single girl would outweigh that for the entire royal family.

“Speaking of the royal family… How is that analysis going?”

He still had the brooch he had stolen from the Hydra. There had been a strange memory chip inside. He had gathered a large amount of funds in order to have an engineer analyze it.

……The analysis should be long done by now.

……Did the guy take the money and run?

He didn’t care about it anymore.

Now his mind was solely dedicated to his fight against that Battle Automata.

“Next time, I’ll— Tsk.”

He opened his cupboards to find he was out of food. His obsession had so wholly overtaken him that he had forgotten to replenish his provisions.

But perhaps there was a silver lining to this? Because he was so obsessed with Mirabella, rumors had started going around that he had disappeared.

……The people think the transcendental sorcerer tucked tail and fled from the central state?

……They can believe what they want.

He would have to walk the market streets out in the open. The military police’s surveillance was lax. Even if they did happen to see him, he would figure it out.

However, his faith that things would be okay resulted in the biggest humiliation of his life.

For he crossed paths with her.

“…Oh.”

In the broad daylight, an incognito Salinger ran into Mirabella, disguised in her usual raincoat.

Both parties had assumed it would be implausible for their opponent to walk down the market street out in the open.

“Salinger?”

“You…!” Salinger had forgotten they were in public and gave a shout.

He had suffered a crushing defeat just the other day. His wounds had not healed, but he didn’t care. Now that they had run into each other, they could not simply exchange greetings and be on their way. That wasn’t their relationship.

Or so he thought.

“Ah…… Ah-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa!”

He couldn’t have imagined his archrival would start to guffaw out of nowhere, clutching her stomach as she did.

She was really laughing?

Where had the Battle Automata gone? Why wasn’t she trying to stab him with a knife without hesitation?

“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Wh-what are you doing, Salinger? W-were……you planning on making me laugh to death?! Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“……What did you say?”

“I—I mean, you—the Salinger—are walking around carrying a shopping bag from the grocery store! You must have blended in with the civilians, checking out the vegetables and meats and lining up at the register, right?”

“…”

What was so wrong with that?

He did indeed have shopping bags in his hands. He would be hiding out in his cabin again, so he was stocking up.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Just imagining the man who had the gall to tell me, ‘Mira, today is the day I’ll make you kneel on the ground,’ lining up at the register with the housewives at the grocery store…… Ah-ha-ha, ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa! I can’t stand it anymore! You got me!”

She started to roll around on the road. She didn’t even care that she was in the middle of a crosswalk and that people were staring.

“Wh-what a terrifying scheme! I can’t believe you’ve immobilized me!”

“C’mon…”

“And there’s even a reduced-price sticker on that pack of meat you bought! I presume you had to heroically fend off a gang of housewives to get your hands on that!”

“Shut up!”

She could see the sale stickers through the transparent grocery store bag. As she pointed at it and laughed with tears in her eyes, Salinger felt there had to be a limit to how far her imagination could go.

He hadn’t thought about the price—he had just picked up the meat automatically. It was a total coincidence it was on sale.

“How foolish…”

He turned away and finished crossing the street.

His interest had died. He was confused by the princess, who had started rolling around on the ground, laughing. Besides, if they continued to attract attention, the military police would surely come running.

“Oh, please wait.”

He had just been on the verge of cutting through an alleyway.

From behind, the princess got a handle on herself and hurried over to him at a slight trot.

“I suppose we’re having a ceasefire today, then?”

“You’re the one who started rolling around on the ground, laughing gracelessly. Consider it as me sparing your life.”

“Yes. I was so close to really dying of laughter.”

“…”

“Oh, but please wait. Putting this all aside, could you please keep it a secret from the royal family that I was hanging out around town?”

How would he even tell the royal family in the first place?

Even joking about it would be too much of a bother, so he kept silent. Then the princess looked up at him with her usual expressionless eyes.

“I got in trouble with a minister for falling asleep during a meeting, and I got so angry, I just left the palace. That’s what I always do, though.”

“……You do?”

He stared at the small princess.

“So you bolted out of the palace and walked all the way here?”

“Conferences are prime locations for naps. My duty is to fight, so of course I need to rest in meetings to regain my strength after going to the battlefield.”

That was unexpected. Salinger only knew Mirabella for her bloodcurdling aptitude for battle. He had always assumed she performed her duties as a princess perfectly, too.

Precise like a machine. Indifferent like a machine.

But she was sleeping in meetings? She had sulked and run off after getting scolded by her vassals?

“It’s like you’re human, after all,” he said.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying, but I’m counting on you.”

Then she left.

Her footsteps were just as silent as usual, and there was no one who could have been as quick to turn their back on him as she was.

“……That combat doll can laugh?”

It had been his first time seeing her do that.

……Normally, she doesn’t even react when my blood splatters on her.

……But just now, she was cackling so hard that she had to hold her belly, fighting for breath.

“Ngh. It’s silly.”

Salinger shook his head.

He felt as though the sight of her laughing would bake itself into his head if he did not shake it away. She had looked cute while doing it.

He’d only thought of her as some war machine. But…

“Am I an idiot?!”

He ran into a wall.

“Today was an exception. Don’t think I’ll let you off next time.”

This was a first.

It was the first time they had met and parted ways without spilling blood.

Something about it was off, but strangely, he didn’t feel unsatisfied. But that itself irritated him. Salinger gritted his teeth.

Now that he thought about it…

The moment the so-called combat doll laughed, something between them had begun to change.

A few days passed.

Salinger went back to challenging the princess like usual and suffered his usual crushing defeats.

She had her normal pick of comments.

“Salinger, what’s going to become of you if I keep outmatching you in strength?”

“Salinger, you wield your astral power so crudely.”

“Salinger, is that really the best sneak attack you could come up with?”

She met him not with pity but with disdain. The princess would always look down on him like that as she made her remarks.

“Salinger.”

And now this time.

“You’re not using the astral power but letting it use you, the same as always. All you do is cycle through the techniques you’ve stolen. With those tactics, you’ll never be able to defeat an astral mage who has perfected their abilities.”

“Have you run out of things to say?”

“What?”

“I’m saying you’ve given me this lecture before.”

Blood dripped from a cut in his forehead.

Salinger leaned on a tree trunk for support as he stood up. His entire body quivered.

“You’ve finally run out of material for those emotionless lectures of yours… You’re a little girl… Don’t you ever say things that are appropriate for your age?”

“I wouldn’t have to keep telling you the same thing if you actually improved.”

Central state, city outskirts.

They were on a hill that commanded a view of the Nebulis palace. The princess combed her slightly sweat-dampened hair with her fingers.

That motion was a first for Salinger. The first time she had acted like a person around him. He hesitated to mention it out loud.

“Also, I know you’ve been calling me that for a while now, but I’m not a ‘little girl,’” the princess insisted.

A breeze blew by the verdant hill, causing her bangs to flutter.

“Please call me Mira.”

“……What?”

“I call you Salinger, but all you call me is ‘brat’ and the like. That’s not equal.”

He thought he had misheard her at first.

Salinger had looked into all of the royal family’s names and appearances—Princess Mirabella Lou Nebulis IIX included.

“Are you lying? I know your name is Mirabell—”

“It’s Mira.”

“Huh?”

“Mirabella doesn’t feel right, so I don’t like it. Please just call me Mira for short.”

“Ha! You think I’d take orders from you?”

He smiled, then laughed.

There was nothing more embarrassing in the world than following someone else’s commands.

“The only authority in this universe I follow is my own. I won’t bow to anyone. You want me to call you Mira? I get to decide what I call you—”

“If you call me by my whole name, I’ll never fight you again.”

“…………”

That was no fair.

That was all Salinger could think, but he couldn’t get a word out.

At the same time, he also realized just how much he had come to rely on her.

“My name is Mira.”

She didn’t even blink. If an outside observer had seen her clear eyes, they would have thought she was asking for the favor of a lifetime.

“Please, Salinger.”

“…”

After a long and harrowing silence, Salinger was the one to sigh, out of resignation.

“Mira… Is that what you want?”

“Thank you,” she answered expressionlessly, then turned around and sheathed her knife.

“Oh!” Mira let out a small cry.

A red cut had formed on her hand. She must have grazed the blade of her knife.

“Why would this affect me so much…?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Nothing at all. Now, if you’ll excuse me. Don’t disappoint me next time.”

She nonchalantly hid her cut with her other hand.

Then Mira quickly ran down the hill.

In their next battle, Salinger dutifully began to call the firstborn princess of the Lou “Mira.” He still had no idea why he was doing it or what feelings lay behind it.

Even so, he felt comfortable with their relationship, somewhere deep down.

But despite their expectations, the stage would soon be set for a curtain call.

CHAPTER 4

Illumination: Too Young to Understand a Crusade

1

“Are you awake, my lady?!”

The Nebulis palace, Star Spire.

The sky was still gloomy, and dawn had only broken enough to color the sky in a blush. Schwartz, who had arrived to wake the princess, couldn’t believe his eyes.

She was awake.

Sometimes, the princess did wake early on her own, of course, such as when she was hungry or when she had taken too long a nap the day before. These things did happen.

But this time…

“What in the world are you doing, my lady?”

She was sitting at her desk with a history book cracked open. She was even taking notes.

He couldn’t believe it.

“I’m studying.”

“You’re what?!”

These words, which would be the last thing the princess would say, made Schwartz drop the tea set in his hands.

“Oh?! P-pardon me! I can’t believe I did that…”

Mira didn’t respond.

She was too busy trying to get used to studying. She didn’t have the time to react to tea spilling on the floor or cups breaking on the ground.

“Schwartz, please leave my meal on the table.”

“A-as you wish… Um…” Schwartz peeked at her history textbook. “What has gotten into you, my lady? I thought you hated studying…”

“No reason in particular.”

She was copying vocabulary words from the textbook.

“I’m a princess, after all. I decided that I should be cultured to a minimum degree. Someone teased me for not being able to recite the names of the previous queens.”

“You were teased? By whom?”

“…”

Oh no.

Though she thought that in her head, Mira didn’t show it on her face.

“You’ve heard of them before.”

“Is it one of the palace’s vassals?”

“I’ll leave that to your imagination. As you can see, I’m busy. Now, if that’s all you’re here to talk about—”

“No, I had a very important report for you!” Schwartz hurried to straighten himself. “It is as follows: The parade in the vicinity of the palace has been canceled.”

“All right,” she replied, without looking at Schwartz.

She had no interest. Salinger would come to challenge her again within a few days. That was all she cared about.

However…

“More and more of the sorcerer Salinger’s victims have emerged by the day. The Fourth Division suffered a large case of arson, so we had to cancel the parade.”

“……Huh?”

Almost unconsciously, Mira stopped writing. Because she hadn’t been listening, she had only caught half of what the attendant had said. But she was sure she’d heard Schwartz say Salinger’s name.

“Schwartz, give me a more detailed report.”

“Yes. Since two weeks back or so, the central state has been plagued by frequent arson cases, resulting in injury. In every case, eyewitnesses claimed Salinger was responsible for the fires.”

Since two weeks ago?

That was strange. She and Salinger had been battling each other for weeks.

……He always ends up close to death after I defeat him.

……And he’s committing arson in that condition? While injured? That’s not possible.

She also couldn’t think of why he would do so.

Salinger was only after mages with the greatest astral powers. He wouldn’t go after civilians.

But most importantly…

“The people are the audience for my performance. An actor who cannot respect their audience is second-rate!”

Salinger adhered to a moral code. Though it was twisted, he had an unshakable aesthetic. Would the man who would choose death over betraying his ideals attack normal people?

“Schwartz, those reports can’t be true.”

“P-pardon me?! My lady, what makes you think that?”

“Just a hunch.”

That was because she had fought him two weeks ago. She considered simply saying that, but there was something she wanted to confirm first.

“Schwartz, where did this testimony come from?”

“The victims. At present, the Hydra are managing the investigation, as Sir Janess from the Astral Guard is one of the people who was attacked.”

Yes, she knew about the issue with the Astral Guard.

She had met Salinger on the day of the crime.

……That incident left a strong impression.

……Is that why everyone is blaming all the crimes that have occurred since on Salinger?

She could understand why they suspected him. But all these accusations were false.

Mira was conflicted. They hadn’t even bothered to get to know him, yet they looked down on him all the same. She didn’t like it.

She was the only one with the right to look down on him—since she was the only one who truly knew him.

“I see,” she murmured, as though she were trying to convince herself.

She let out a long breath, then shut her thick textbook with a thump.

“Schwartz, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

2

Nebulis Sovereignty, western mountain range.

The place took five hours to reach by limited-express train from Saclaris Nebulica.

Had he been in the cheap seats, the journey would have been wearisome, but fortunately, Salinger was sitting in a first-class booth.

He had enough space to stretch his legs and had been offered cheese and sparkling wine during the journey.

“…So? Mira, did you think this would satisfy me?”

“Are you dissatisfied?”

“You’re wasting my time.”

It was a four-seat booth.

Salinger didn’t even bother to hide his irritation as he sat across from the princess.

Unusually, Mira had chosen the location of their next match. He had felt dubious when she had told him to come to the station in the evening, then brought him onto a train for a trip.

“Why did you change the location of our fight?”

“I’ll explain once we arrive.”

The golden-haired girl who replied was focused on reading a history textbook, for whatever reason. She wasn’t even looking at him.

Salinger, who had reached the limits of his boredom, started to stand.

“Actually…,” the girl murmured. She turned the page of her thick book. “Salinger, do you dislike the Sovereignty?”

The question was incredibly vague.

Salinger hesitated for a moment but decided to answer, as she apparently wanted him to.

“Not really.”

“So you just dislike the royal family?”

“That’s right.”

“What do you think of the Sovereignty’s civilians?”

“They’re the audience for my performance.”

“Yes, that’s right. You did say that.”

The conversation ended there.

He assumed silence had permanently settled around them until she spoke again.

“We’re headed to the rocky ridge of the Evess Mountain Range.”

“You mean that remote region?!”

For the first time in a while, Salinger raised his voice.

He had heard of the place before. Supposedly, even first-rate climbers steered clear of the region’s rocky areas, and many would-be adventurers had fallen or slipped there, never to be seen again.

“Interesting. So even you were growing bored of the normal battles we were having. Going to a secluded region ordinary people couldn’t even think of approaching is the perfect arena for our battle!”

“Yes. A band of thieves is hiding out in that area. Apparently, they’re all armed and have astral powers, so please be careful.”

“How ridiculous. Why would I…? Hmm?”

He stared at the girl across from him.

Then he narrowed his eyes.

“Mira, what did you just say?”

“I’d like help taking down the bandits. That is why we’re on this excursion.”

“You’re kidding me! Why would I—?”

“I can’t fight you until I finish this up. Despite how I may look, I am still a princess. I must fulfill my duties.”

She pushed the textbook to him, dead serious.

“I’ve memorized it. Please quiz me.”

“Hmm?”

“You claimed I was uncultured for being a princess, as I didn’t know the names of the previous queens. Thanks to your provocation, I decided to memorize them all.”

Mira didn’t even blink.

He wondered if maybe she really was just a doll, but Salinger couldn’t find it in himself to turn away when he saw her dewy eyes staring at him.

“Then how about this? If I get the answers right, will you help me?” she asked.

Evess Mountain Range, rocky ridge.

The mountainous region was filled with gigantic boulders weighing several tons.

Black smoke puffed up into the air.

“How foolish…”

Men and firearms lay scattered on the ground.

Though he and Mira had cleared out the band of thieves who had set up their roost in the secluded region, Salinger didn’t sound the least bit satisfied by the accomplishment.

“Me, wiping out bandits? What kind of third-rate script is this? Spit it out, Mira. Why did you really bring me all the way here?”

“I’m glad you’re quick on the uptake.”

The golden-haired princess climbed the rocks. They had split up to capture the bandits and, naturally, she had come out unscathed.

“You’ve helped a lot, Salinger. This was much easier, thanks to you taking the other side.”

“Enough with the preamble. Tell me.”

“Then I’ll begin the questioning, Salinger.”

“What do you mean?”

“Seventeen days ago, someone set fire to a private house on the main street. Five days ago, three military police were attacked with Flame astral power from behind at the station.”

“……?”

“And finally, for the icing on the cake, someone attacked the previous head of the Zoa, Lord Logias, along with his attendants Harley and Gauch. The three of them are still unconscious and in critical condition.”

Mira recited these things mechanically.

It seemed that these events had occurred in the central state, but this was the first Salinger was learning of them. He had never been interested in what went on within society.

“Stop screwing with me. Are you asking me to help you find the person who committed those crimes?”

“You are the suspect. The royal family is conducting an investigation to determine whether you were the perpetrator of these incidents.”

“…Hunh?”

The next moment, Salinger’s anger at these groundless accusations was overpowered by his scorn of the royal family for their incorrect suspicions.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! You think I committed those crimes when I knew nothing about them?! I can’t believe the incompetent royal family could pursue such an outrageous investigation!”

“So you’re saying it wasn’t you?”

“Think what you want. There’s no value in explaining myself.”

He was saying it had not been him.

He wasn’t even going to humor her by explaining himself. Evidently, he found it too idiotic. There was no reason for him to indiscriminately attack strangers.

“You’re the only one I have my eyes on!” he shouted.

“Uhhh!”

The golden-haired girl leaped.

For some reason, Mira widened her eyes in front of Salinger, seeming restless as she gazed at him.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Y-you didn’t mean that in a strange way, did you…?”

She was acting like a malfunctioning machine. She awkwardly jerked her face, turning it away from him so he could only see her profile.

“Can you say that again…?”

“You’re the only one I have my eyes on!”

“Uhhh!”

She flinched.

Salinger couldn’t understand why she was behaving like this, even as he watched her do it.

“Are you trying to make a fool of me?”

“N-no… I’m not at all.” The princess cleared her throat. “Don’t you think that’s enough, Schwartz?”

The air wavered like a heat haze. Behind Mira, a gentleman in a gray suit appeared.

That had likely been a form of Fog astral power. Salinger had noticed someone was watching them this whole time.

“Who is he?” he asked.

“This is Schwartz, my attendant and tutor. And just as you heard…” Mira turned to Schwartz. “Salinger has nothing to do with the incidents he’s suspected of. And you can see from how he helped me route those thieves that he isn’t a villain at his core.”

“My lady…” The attendant frowned with discomfort. “It’s quite alarming for a queen candidate to be openly associating with an infamous sorcerer… What transpired between you and him?”

“He’s my enemy, of course.” The princess didn’t hesitate to respond.

Schwartz was shocked by how nonchalantly she said this.

“Salinger is a criminal. As a princess, I plan to capture him,” she explained.

“Th-then we should do so right away—”

“But not yet.”

“Wha?!”

“I will not arrest him for the incidents that he’s been suspected of. Those accusations are unfounded.”

“B-but, my lady! You can’t let this man go free!”

“Weren’t you listening, Schwartz?”

The princess turned around.

She pointed her delicate fingertip—or rather, her rough and calloused fingertip she used to handle knives—straight at Salinger.

“This man only has eyes for me. He’s a beast consumed by obsession. As long as I’m around to keep him in check, he won’t go after anyone else. Isn’t that right?”

“…”

“I’m asking you a question, Salinger.”

“……Ugh.”

He couldn’t admit it.

Owning up to what he had said just a few moments ago would be tantamount to surrendering to her.

“I won’t repeat myself…”

“You just did earlier. You can’t say it a third time?”

“Enough.”

This was no fun for him. He was embarrassed that he had been looking forward to fighting her in these remote lands.

He turned around to leave as quickly as he could.

“Oh, please wait, Salinger. I’d like to take a picture to prove that we took down the bandit gang.”

“You already took some earlier.”

“I’d like one with you. As proof that you only have eyes for me.”

“……What?”

“Schwartz, we can, can’t we?”

Salinger turned around and saw the attendant reluctantly accept the camera.

Reflexively, he objected to having his picture taken. Salinger turned his face away.

“You’re kidding me!”

“Oh…”

The princess stared straight ahead as the sorcerer stood next to her while looking away. Mira took hold of the unlikely picture.

“I can’t believe you’d object to having your photo taken. You’re like a child.”

Mira sighed.

Despite her lament, she carefully put the picture into her pocket.

“Don’t slip up now, Salinger. I found you first, so you must be a fitting enemy for me and only me.”

The girl leaped off the cliff. He watched her pale-faced attendant climb down the rocky tract in silence.

“To think I’d allow myself to be pulled into a third-rate performance…”

He clicked his tongue.

He was about to leap off the mountain in a different direction from where Mira had come, when his comm rang at his chest.

“Who could that be?”

There were only a handful of people who contacted Salinger.

He looked at the name on the LCD screen and uncharacteristically furrowed his brows.

“So he didn’t run off on me…”

It was the engineer he had hired to analyze the chip in the sun brooch he had stolen from the Hydra. Salinger had asked the engineer to extract the chip’s contents.

The princess had left at the perfect time.

“It’s me. Took you long enough to finish the analysis.”

“……”

“Hello?”

The other end of the comm was silent. Salinger strained his ears and heard someone breathing. He could tell the engineer was listening to him.

“It’s me. If the analysis is going to take longer, then—”

“This is bad…”

“Hmm?”

“It’s bad—really, really, really, really bad! It’s bad news! I shouldn’t have looked! I—I never should have learned about this!”

The person on the other end was yelling.

“Salinger, how could you have shown this to me?!”

“What do you mean?”

He didn’t understand what was going on.

The engineer had taken an oddly long time to analyze the chip, and now he was accosting Salinger when he finally called back. Why was the man panicking?

“I paid you. Tell me how the analysis went.”

“It’s that chip! I’m taking off. To the Sovereignty’s… No, I can’t go anywhere here. I’m defecting to the Empire!”

“What are you talking about?”

Defecting? To the Empire?

The voice on the other end of the comm quivered. Was the engineer scared?

“What’s wrong? If you finished analyzing the chip, then you must have seen what was on it, yes?”

“……A monster.”

“A monster?”

It sounded like a metaphor rather than a joke.

Sometimes, purebreds were referred to as monsters, for their inordinate power. In fact, that word probably was a good description for someone he knew well—Mira.

However…

Why would the engineer be scared of a “monster” like that?

“A-anyway, I’m out!”

“Wait! Are you forgetting how much I paid you?”

“Th-then I’ll send you a digital report later! Bye!”

The comm cut off.

Should he call the engineer back? No, based on what had just happened, the man probably wouldn’t pick up.

……This is strange. He was so agitated.

……If he wanted to just run off with the money, he could have left without contacting me.

In other words, the engineer had been telling the truth.

He was scared of whatever was on the chip.

“Hmm? The report came through.”

He got a message on his comm.

It was a list of names—not even full sentences.

“Seventh Queen, Mirabella, On, Logias, Growley, Shaklek, Kospital…Schwartz, Harley, Gauch. These are all members of the royal family. But they’re Zoa and Lou names, not any of the Hydra.”

They were all powerful members of the Zoa and Lou, Mira included.

……Is it a list of people to watch in the conclave?

……Or could they be influential people the Hydra are trying to keep an eye on?

But that didn’t explain why the engineer was so frightened.

And then…

“‘Subject F’? What does that mean?”

On the list of royal family members and their attendants was one name he didn’t recognize.

What was a “subject”?

The message was only a text. He had the feeling, however, that there were originally images to go along with the names.

……Think about it the other way. Why didn’t he send me the photos?

……Was he afraid?

He must have determined that the images were too dangerous to send.

The engineer had seen something. But if he was too scared to even send the images, then…

“Huh?! Harley and Logias?!”

He looked at the screen again.

Salinger repeated the list of names again in his head.

“…someone attacked the previous head of the Zoa, Lord Logias, along with his attendants Harley and Gauch.”

“…to determine whether you were the perpetrator of these incidents.”

They had been attacked.

Several people on the list had been attacked and were now in critical condition. If this wasn’t a coincidence…

“No way. The Hydra couldn’t have…”

In the empty rocky ridge, a chilling wind tickled his back.

“This isn’t a list of people to watch. It’s a list of targets!”

3

The Nebulis palace.

The royal family and its vassals had gathered in a meeting room.

They all stared at the documents in their hands, their mouths pulled taut.

“I will give testimony. The culprit is none other than the sorcerer Salinger!”

A man with a large build shouted, his voice trembling with rage.

This was the Hydra Astral Guard Janess. Salinger’s attack had left him seriously wounded, though he had since recovered.

“The coward hid in the shadows to attack me. You can even see it on the security cameras! Your Majesty! These violent incidents have dragged on for three weeks, resulting in many civilian victims. We must dedicate all our resources to resolving them!”

“Janess, thank you for your counsel.”

The queen leaned both her elbows against the table.

Though her eyes were as sharp and piercing as always, her tone was hesitant.

“We agree on the point that he attacked you. However…we only have inconclusive witness reports to corroborate the other incidents you’ve accused him of perpetrating. Is it necessary for the queen to order the arrest of a single criminal?”

“I believe this is more than enough reason to.”

The man’s low voice was so calm, it seemed almost out of place as it reverberated through the space.

He sat three seats down from the queen. The man wore a crimson suit over his impressive build, sitting in perfect tranquility.

The head of the Hydra, Arken.

With his lustrous blond hair, parted in a perfect seven-to-three ratio, and his slight mustache, he projected an air of elegance.

“Your Majesty, Janess is not simply asking you to be wary of a single criminal. These incidents could shake the entire nation.”

“And what makes you think that, Lord Arken?”

“Because Salinger’s crime spree has continued. As far as we are aware, he started by stealing astral powers from the astral corps and military police.”

He was stocking up on astral powers. And after arriving in the central state, he had attacked Janess.

“Do you think this is enough to satisfy him? No. He’s set his sights on the astral powers of the Revered Founder’s direct descendants. Your Majesty, you are his true target.”

“……Tsk.” The queen narrowed her eyes. “Lord Arken, I’m sure you are only issuing this warning out of your own anxiety. However, do you truly believe a common criminal of unknown origin could defeat me?”

“Everyone knows that Cassandra Zoa Nebulis VII possesses the astral power of Inferno.”

Fwoom.

Arken produced a lighter from his pocket and flicked it on.

He showed off the flame to everyone.

“Flame astral power is strong, but as you can see here, it falls behind Ice and Wind types in defense.”

He tilted his glass of water over the flame.

The water fell onto it, and the fire extinguished.

Though even children were aware that water put out fires, the same concept applied to astral powers. It was well-known that Flame astral power was at a disadvantage against Water and Ice types.

Additionally, flames couldn’t protect one from bullets or a knife wielded at close distance.

In other words, it had many weaknesses.

“Flame astral power is susceptible to surprise attacks. And the sorcerer Salinger is a craven individual who would stoop to any level. As long as he’s at large, Your Majesty, you can’t ever afford to let your guard down, even when you sleep or bathe. He seems to have a great many tricks up his sleeve, so I am sure it would be easy for him to infiltrate the castle.”

“…”

“Please understand, my queen. Janess and I have made this proposal out of concern for your welfare.”

“Lord Arken, I appreciate your counsel…” The queen sighed. “I believe there is no merit to my involvement in the matter of a lowly criminal… However, in light of your concerns, I shall place an order for the sorcerer Salinger’s arrest.”

This was bad.

As Mira watched the event unfold before her, she couldn’t help but feel internal discord.

The queen had designated Salinger a top criminal.

He wouldn’t be able to go to public establishments like stations or airports, and with the military police on patrol, he wouldn’t even be able to step out under the light of the sun.

……How could the Hydra do this?

……To my Salinger?!

In her eyes, they had gotten everything wrong from the start. Salinger wasn’t even behind these mysterious attacks.

However…

There was one thing she couldn’t deny.

……Salinger wouldn’t attack the general populace.

……But I could see him going after the queen.

“Salinger, do you dislike the Sovereignty?”

“Not really.”

“So you just dislike the royal family?”

“That’s right.”

He hated the purebreds with a vengeance.

Mira couldn’t deny that the queen could be in Salinger’s sights.

“Now, Your Majesty, I have a proposal to make.”

The head of the Hydra produced a handkerchief. He wiped away the water he had spilled on the table.

“Allow each of the royal families to guard you with members of our personal forces until the capture of Salinger. You are the leader of the Zoa, after all. I am sure you believe Lou and Hydra guards to be unnecessary, but that may place you in danger.”

“Are you suggesting this in case Salinger has compromised the Zoa guards?”

“Indeed. He may hypnotize people or send a puppet into the guards. He has a command over many astral powers, so we should assume that he has one or two capable of such a feat.”

The queen would be left open to attack if she relied on the Zoa guards alone. The argument was sound for having the Lou and Hydra guards protect her as well.

Mira couldn’t get a word in. She couldn’t help but fixate on the fact that Arken’s proposal seemed a bit too well prepared.

“So, Your Majesty, we recommend Francoise from the House of Hydra.”

“Y-yes…!”

The doors of the meeting room opened.

A small, black-haired girl timidly gave a rushed bow in front of the roundtable.

Francoise Alek Hydra.

She had been adopted into the Hydra family. If Mira’s memory was correct, the girl had a special astral power called “Silhouette.”

“P-please leave it to me, Your Majesty! I will protect you with my life if I must!”

“Rest assured, Your Majesty. Francoise may be somewhat shy, but her skills are undeniable.”

The head of the Hydra gave a smile that showed his confidence in her.

“And she knows how to act as an attendant as well. She will be able to serve you as a guard and as a servant as you bathe.”

“Very well…” The queen reluctantly acquiesced. It seemed she was still hesitant to accept the proposal. “I will put out the order for Salinger’s arrest. And we will increase security measures in the central state posthaste. We’ll place a bounty on Salinger’s head and solicit witness reports.”

“Yes, right away!”

The head of the military police saluted.

Now there was no place more dangerous for Salinger to be than the central state. The moment Mira realized this, her legs began to move on their own.

She couldn’t stop the flow now. Not even as a princess.

“Schwartz, I leave the rest of the meeting to you.”

“M-my lady?!”

The meeting had not ended yet. Though everyone stared at her, she abandoned the table and left the room. She didn’t have a moment to spare.

“……Salinger.”

She balled her hands into fists.

She was impatient. She was feeling sick. If she had stayed for longer, she likely would have pulled out her knives and started a scene.

……They’re all after Salinger.

……They’re trying to steal the only person who knows how to entertain me!

She couldn’t let them.

Especially if they were falsely accusing him of crimes someone else had committed. She refused to give him up to anyone in the palace.

“……Salinger, you are my enemy and mine alone.”

Don’t go to the palace.

Leave the central state right away. Go to the deepest reaches of the Sovereignty.

Even the woods or mountains would do. If he lay low for a few months, even the queen would forget a criminal like him.

……He doesn’t need to be in the central state. I’ll go to him.

……No matter where in the Sovereignty you are, I’ll go to fight you!

So don’t come now.

If he stayed in the central state, he would be captured in the blink of an eye.

“This is no joke.”

She pulled a notebook from her pocket and tore out a blank sheet.

4

Central state, city outskirts.

The sound of insects shook the air of the countryside. The red light entering from the curtains informed him it was sunset.

“…………”

In his small cabin he had refashioned into his base, Salinger stared at his comm while sitting on the edge of his bed.

Seventh Queen, Mirabella, On, Logias, Growley, Shaklek, Kospital…Schwartz, Harley, Gauch.

It had all only happened the day before.

Shaklek of the Lou’s Astral Guard had been attacked. Members of the Zoa and Lou were being attacked one after the other and put into comas.

……The Hydra are behind this.

……But they can pretend to be victims by pinning everything on me.

The Hydra were likely celebrating the fact that Salinger had attacked one of their own. Now that a precedent had been established, the truth that only the Zoa and Lou were being targeted would be observed.

Or…

What if they had lured him into this situation?

Had the Hydra intentionally allowed him to attack one of their own, knowing they could use him as a scapegoat?

……And there’s not enough information on the chip.

……If I release the data, it won’t be conclusive evidence of the Hydra’s secret activities.

The Hydra had been waiting for the most suitable scapegoat to enter the stage.

“There’s only so much you can do to disrespect me, Hydra! You think you can bring me into your game as a sacrifice?!”

He stood up.

Based on the red light that entered the gap in the curtains, the sun would be disappearing soon.

……Come to think of it.

……It’s evening. What happened to Mira’s plans for our next fight?

They hadn’t made arrangements for a battle. If this kept up for a few months, they would both grow antsy. He knew that, but…

“How irritating…”

…he did not feel like fighting.

This was the first time he was not looking forward to one of their battles.

……Mira was on the Hydra’s list.

……So she’s also being targeted.

A foreboding feeling took hold of him and dampened his enthusiasm.

Though he knew that Mira would be able to handle any would-be assassins, he couldn’t help but fixate on what the Hydra were doing—it seemed too unnatural.

And what was the “subject” at the end of their list?

He had started to walk, unable to come up with an answer.

“Mira?”

Just then, the countryside air swirled around him. However, he didn’t find the girl who would always appear in her raincoat when this happened. Instead…

“A message…?”

He found a scrap of notebook paper held down by a rock in the middle of the road.

A single sentence had been scrawled on the piece of paper.

Leave the central state. Whatever you do, steer clear of the palace.

What a joke.

Though the person who had written the note should have at least signed it with their initials, he didn’t see any signature. And yet he knew that it was from her.

……It has to be from you.

……After all, you’re the only one in the entire world who gives me commands, Mira.

She had the arrogance to boss him around.

He couldn’t tell it was her based on the handwriting, but the content of the note was pure Mira.

……She wants me to stay away from the palace.

……Just as planned, then. The Hydra are trying to capture me and make me into a scapegoat.

Mira was trying to help him get away.

However…

This wasn’t right.

“The Hydra aren’t actually after me. They’re after you, Mira.”

Mira was the favorite to win in the conclave. She was the one the Hydra were after.

“But how do you Hydra scum plan on targeting her?”

She was the most powerful queen candidate in all of history. Unless they sent several purebreds after her, Mira would be able to turn the tables on almost any assassin.

……The Hydra won’t attack her directly.

……It’ll be poison. Or they’ll strike while she’s asleep or in the bath. Or they might use a special hypnotic type of astral power.

He could not determine how they would do it.

No matter how much he thought about it, Salinger couldn’t come up with an answer. The moment he realized that, his legs began moving as though they had a mind of their own.

If he could not find the answer, he could simply ask someone who knew.

He waited for night to fall.

The Nebulis palace, market in front of the gates.

The night wore on, and the lights of the shopping district flickered off one by one. The once-bustling road was now peppered by a few stragglers trying to make their way home.

And in that quiet…

“! You!”

“Salingeeer!”

Out in the open, in the middle of the main road, Salinger took down two patrolling officers.

The pair fell face up on the ground.

He hadn’t been on the winning side in so long, he had almost forgotten what it felt like. These days, it had always been him on the ground and Mira looming over him.

“……Salinger! So you’ve finally shown yourself!”

“So this is how you’ve been assaulting people…”

“You say some funny things,” he said.

He held one officer beneath his foot as he crouched toward the other, getting close enough to nearly touch foreheads with him.

“Do you have buttons for eyes? Can you not question the plot? Are you just third-rate actors who can only faithfully follow the script?”

“What are you talking about?”

“What if someone else is behind these attacks you’ve accused me of?”

“Ha!” The man he stepped on snorted. “Are you finally afraid, Salinger? Everyone knows you’re after the queen. You won’t be able to take advantage of the party!”

“What?”

Something was wrong.

Normally, he would have ignored the nonsense rattled off by weaklings.

……I’m after the queen?

……How is he so certain?

Since he had a history of stealing astral powers, it would be reasonable to assume he would target the royal family.

But why had they concluded he was after the queen, out of the entire royal family?

……I’m after the astral powers of the strongest members of the royal family.

……That’s why I’ve been fighting Mira.

It was almost as though…

Almost as though someone had convinced the police officers that Salinger was specifically after the queen.

……And the party? Do they mean a banquet or a ball at the palace?

……Why are they so sure I’d come during a party?

So that was it.

The Hydra’s plan was to go after the queen during the next party.

They were going to frame Salinger for the attempt on her life.

And they had already spread false intelligence around the castle—that he would strike during the next party.

“Aren’t the Hydra clever…?”

So what would he do now?

The first option he had was likely to leave the central state, just as Mira had warned him to.

He didn’t care whether the queen’s life was in danger.

But…

What would happen to Mira if she was at the palace?

The queen was not the only one they were after.

Mira probably had not even considered the possibility.

“But she’s just a little girl…”

Mira was too young.

Though she had survived many battles, she was too innocent to comprehend the dark politics surrounding the throne. And she had no way of knowing about this.

“So then, Hydra…”

He gritted his teeth and turned around. The two collapsed guards at his feet were completely gone from his mind.

He looked up at the glittering palace.

Then Salinger howled into the night, “Who gave you the permission to lay a hand on Mira?!”

CHAPTER 5

Illumination: Even on the Stage of Tragic Love

1

Evening soiree, royal ball.

The Nebulis queen herself had thrown a ball, inviting foreign guests from all over. The men wore swallowtail coats for the occasion, and the girls, evening gowns.

Five days had passed since that night. It was ten PM.

Disappointingly for Salinger, the time and date of the ball were all too easy to ascertain.

……Your trap is utterly transparent, Hydra.

……You made sure I’d find out when the ball was, didn’t you?

They would use this party to eliminate the queen, Mira, and other people of influence.

And the “culprit” would be the sorcerer Salinger.

He was sure the Hydra had already prepared false evidence to prove it, too.

……Normally, I wouldn’t care.

……I wouldn’t care that they killed the queen or that they pinned the blame on me.

Or at least, he shouldn’t have cared.

If it were not for Mira…

If only Mira had not been the tragic heroine on this bloody stage.

……What a rough script I’ve been given.

……An amateurish, indulgent, and drab performance.

However…

He would take the stage. If he would have to be a spectator for the moment Mira became a tragic heroine…

“Just this once. Hydra, I’ll perform on your manufactured stage.”

Day of the soiree, noon.

Salinger stared at the glittering sun and walked resolutely forward, belting out like a performer. “You will welcome me with cheers and applause!”

2

“The sorcerer Salinger will show up. No question about it.”

Day of the soiree, five PM.

The stunning sky had started to run with a madder red.

“The guards are in place as we planned. I, Arken, will take full responsibility of the entire chain of command. You have nothing to worry about.”

Queen’s Palace, Second Great Hall.

The man in the crimson suit belted out in his bass voice as though he was singing.

Arken, head of the Hydra, was the commander behind the plan to throw a sham ball to subdue Salinger.

This great hall was evidence of his meticulous strategy.

The performers playing light music were all astral corps members pretending to be musicians. Even the waiters preparing drinks for the venue were all guards from the royal family.

“Your Majesty, we have another two hours or so until the soiree begins.”

Arken sipped a glass of red wine.

Though he was also likely tasting the wine for poison, his calm demeanor earned him the confidence of the guards working for him.

In contrast…

“Lord Arken.”

Nebulis VII wasn’t even trying to hide her moodiness.

“Though half of the guests are plants, half are real dignitaries from foreign countries. And we gathered the vassals while they were already so busy. After doing all this—”

“Salinger will come.”

Arken held up a screen.

On the monitor was footage from a security camera in the shopping district. A man with a face so handsome that it could put an actor’s to shame strode down the streets.

“He’s in the central state. We endeavored to feed him the schedule of the soiree as well. He will come, I assure you. He’s after your astral power.”

“I don’t mind, but…”

The queen looked at the guests from neighboring countries, who were conversing with one another.

“If Salinger attacks all these guests indiscriminately, will you be able to handle him?”

“That would be convenient, actually. It would give us just cause to subdue him.”

“…”

“We still have time until the curtains open on the plan. Why don’t we take the final stage?”

The head of the Hydra, Arken, slowly pulled his white gloves from his fingertips.

He exposed the back of his hand.

The astral crest of his power, Afterworld, glowed faintly.

“If you will excuse me, Your Majesty.”

He tapped her shoulder. Everyone in the grand hall watched as the queen split in two.

“The clone of me will lure Salinger out to the venue…”

“…while the real me will remain hidden in the Queen’s Space.”

Both queens spoke together but not in exactly the same manner. Though the queen’s two halves used the same voice, they had said different parts of the phrase.

“Indeed, Your Majesty.” Arken nodded.

His Afterworld astral power could create copies of whomever he touched. The doubles were identical in body and scent to the original, such that dogs and machines alike could not distinguish them. Even more impressively, the copies also had the same mind as their original and could operate on their own.

The sorcerer Salinger will never know.

Because he won’t be able to tell that the queen at the ball is the duplicate.

However, the original’s astral power hadn’t been copied.

Once Salinger realized that the queen had no astral power, he would already be surrounded by the Sovereignty’s elite forces.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, let us proceed as planned.”

The head of the Hydra clapped his hands.

“I will remain in the grand hall and intercept Salinger. Until then, Her Majesty will take refuge within the Queen’s Space. Isn’t that right, Francoise?”

“Y-yes…!” The black-haired girl bowed in a panic in front of the head of the family. “I, Francoise, shall accompany the original queen wherever she goes!”

The Zoa, Lou, and Hydra were in formation.

The Lou’s elite forces would confront the sorcerer Salinger at the ball. Francoise, the Hydra’s elite guard, would accompany the queen. And then the person charged with transferring communications between the great hall and the Queen’s Space would be…

“On.” Arken said his name.

“I am prepared, Your Majesty.”

A boy wearing a children’s swallowtail coat bowed. Though he still seemed youthful, his purple eyes were bright with an astuteness that belied his years.

“Nothing is amiss in the Queen’s Space. Your Majesty, I will take you there now.”

On instantly disappeared.

At the same time, Nebulis VII and her guard, Francoise, also seemed to melt into the air.

On had a space-time type astral power called “Gate.” It was a rare power, even among the purebreds.

As that scene played out, Mira watched in a corner of the hall, holding her breath.

……Do you get it, Salinger?

……I warned you. Please heed my message.

Don’t come to the palace.

The royals now considered Salinger a criminal of the worst sort. If he appeared here, she wouldn’t be able to protect him.

“Please… Stay away…”

She let out a raspy plea, almost as quiet as her breath.

Only she could hear herself.

That was when she realized what her own voice—her own heart—wanted her to know.

……Did I…

……really want to have a connection with him this badly?

Don’t come.

Please, let this end without incident.

It was nine thirty PM.

Mira prayed as she watched the short and long hands of the clock on the wall.

At eight PM, the soiree would start.

At midnight, the soiree would wind down.

By one AM, the party would be fully over.

She would normally be asleep by this time. She hadn’t even had a cup of coffee that day, and yet she did not feel the slightest bit drowsy, thanks to her racing mind.

……The soiree is going to end.

……Good. It’s over.

In the end, despite Mira’s anxieties, Salinger did not appear.

Even the guards, who had waited all this time at the ball that would serve as Salinger’s execution site, seemed let down.

They began to file out. As the ball ended, the attendees left one after another.

Not a single person had noticed something was amiss within the Queen’s Space.

It was one AM.

Queen Cassandra pried her eyes away from the ticking clock as she turned, when she noticed someone behind her.

There knelt On, the liaison.

“Your Majesty, the ball has ended,” he said. “Salinger did not show.”

“Yes, of course. I figured as much.”

The queen let out a sigh of resignation.

“I grow weary of this charade. Let us return to the hall.”

“As you wish. However, there are still some guests remaining. Because we cannot dismiss the possibility that Salinger may be disguised as a guest, I will come back to accompany you once all the guests have vacated. How would you like to proceed?”

“That will do.”

“Well, if you’ll excuse me.”

The Zoa boy disappeared.

Only two individuals remained in the Queen’s Space.

Queen Cassandra and the Hydra guard Francoise, who stood ready at her side.

“Um, if I may, Your Majesty… I believe it would be best to stay vigilant!” The black-haired girl spoke timidly. “Salinger wants us to believe he will not appear and get us to drop our guards. Perhaps that is the very moment he hopes to strike…”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?”

The queen glared at the guard.

She hadn’t liked the girl from the start. Why did a seasoned astral mage like herself need an upstart as a guard?

“I am the queen. Do you have any idea how many near-death experiences and bullets I have dodged on the front lines against the Imperial forces? You dare speak out of turn without even looking into my history?”

“I—I am so very sorry!”

The girl prostrated herself in a panic.

Queen Cassandra ignored her and stared at the far rear door.

She heard the faint sound of footsteps.

“Who is it?!”

Was it finally Salinger?

“May I, Your Majesty?”

The door of the Queen’s Space opened. A man in a crimson suit appeared before the slightly on edge queen and gave her an exaggerated bow.

“It’s just you, Lord Arken?”

“I am here to make a report.”

The lord of the Hydra solemnly entered the room.

“I will provide my report starting with the conclusion. This evening, Salinger failed to make an appearance.”

“I’ve heard. On was a step ahead of you in reporting that information.”

“Oh? And where is that boy now?”

“He returned to the great hall. Is there an issue?”

“No. That will simply make this much faster.”

Make what faster?

Arken spoke so fluidly that Queen Cassandra did not immediately question it.

In that moment…

“Your Majesty, do you truly believe that Salinger was responsible for the chain of incidents?”

“Hmm?”

“Have you perhaps considered this? That the plot on your life came not from Salinger, but from within the palace itself?”

The man in the crimson suit held a hand to his breast as he looked up at the ceiling.

He was like an actor waiting for the spotlight.

“However, if an incident were to occur within the palace, anyone would suspect the royal family, to start. In which case, one must simply find an appropriate culprit outside the palace. A scapegoat, if you will. Salinger, who had publicly declared his intention to go after the royal family’s astral power, was a perfect fit for the role.”

“Lord Arken?”

“Now.”

“Hngh?!”

Queen Cassandra soared into the air. She had jumped off the ground and somersaulted backward, landing farther away. Right after she landed, she staggered.

“Gah… Hah… I see…”

A drop of red blood fell to the ground.

“Francoise!”

“I—I am sorry. Your Majesty, I just couldn’t…!”

Her guard started to panic.

Though the girl’s voice came out like the whine of a timid dog, there was a broad smile on her face and a look in her eyes like that of a predator toying with her prey.

“You left yourself wide open, Your Majesty… I did warn you, didn’t I? Not to let your guard down.”

“Yes, and it was a painful lesson to learn…”

Queen Cassandra let out a labored breath.

The Hydra were behind everything.

Now that she thought about it, it was odd the House of Hydra had not only predicted the threat from Salinger but also had set up the entire plan to capture him at the soiree.

“It has been seventy years since the time of our Revered Founder. This is the first case of treason in our nation’s history, you curs!”

“This isn’t treason.”

Clank…

Francoise threw aside the dagger she had used to stab the queen’s side.

“This was all Salinger’s fault, after all. No one would think that the Hydra would do such a thing to the queen.”

“Do you really believe your testimony would hold up against mine?”

Queen Cassandra let go of her flank and glared at the two.

The wound wasn’t deep.

Francoise’s sneak attack had been weak.

Had Mirabella from the Lou done the same, the queen would have been dead before she knew she had been stabbed.

“This isn’t nearly enough to kill someone like me, Lord Arken. Not when your guard is so feeble, and you lack the ability to fight.”

Arken’s Afterworld astral power could only make human copies. Though it was a powerful tool to control information, it had no combat utility.

In contrast, the queen’s astral power was specialized for offense.

Even while wounded, she was assured of her victory.

“Alas, Your Majesty…”

The man in the crimson suit suddenly smiled. He seemed to pity her.

“I am also just a double. The real me must remain at the ball for my alibi, after all.”

“What?!”

“Francoise will suffice on her own.”

Arken disappeared.

But not before leaving an order.

“Finish this in eight minutes, Francoise.”

“Y-yes…!”

The black-haired girl bowed deeply.

She was acting like a student who had been told to clean her room by her teacher. Put another way…

“You’re beyond saving, Hydra scum.” Queen Cassandra doubted they had underestimated her. “You think I would fall for the same trick twice?”

This was most certainly a trap, too.

A wise man like Arken wouldn’t leave such a fragile underling to kill the queen on her own. There must have been another assassin hiding somewhere.

“Um… I’m afraid it’s really just me…”

“I grow weary of this conversation. There must be an assassin hiding somewhere in this room. And I will find and dispatch them—”

A laugh interrupted the queen. It was off-kilter, as though the person it came from wasn’t quite right.

Wicked star mutant Subject F.

Francoise erupted in flames.

Violet fire consumed her form, burning away even her clothes.

What was this?

She had combusted so suddenly, the queen couldn’t believe it. Was this also astral power? But what was the nature of these bright violet flames?

“Wha?!”

The queen’s voice cracked.

She saw something in the column of fire that had erupted up to the ceiling—something unbelievable.

The girl was transforming. Her black hair rose, stood on end, and coagulated into a transparent, crystalline material. Even the rest of her body became colorless and transparent. The queen could see right through the girl, as though she had turned into a jellyfish.

She had no bones nor internal organs.

She wasn’t human.

The thing that had appeared in the flames was clearly a monster, no longer human.

“I—I am sorry for the discourtesy, Your Majesty!” Within the fire, the monster sneered as she bowed. “I am so very honored to have the opportunity to crush the highest authority in our nation… Ha-ha. I just had to laugh. I wonder how your screams will sound.”

“You’re a monster…”

Was she seeing things?

At first, the queen wondered if she was being shown an illusion.

A human couldn’t turn into a monster like this. Perhaps Francoise’s astral power was not Silhouette but some other type of hypnosis power.

“Excuse me, Your Majesty.”

Snap.

She heard a sound like something rupturing. The moment Queen Cassandra realized it had come from below her, a spike appeared from her own shadow and shot at her back.

“Guh?!”

She twisted her entire body to avoid being skewered.

A spike had appeared from her shadow.

If she hadn’t remembered just now that Francoise had the Silhouette astral power, she would have been pierced through by her own shadow.

“Is this…your astral power?”

So it wasn’t in her head.

Francoise was a Silhouette astral mage. Then the monster in front of her…

“Who are you?”

“What?” The monster hopped out of the violet flames. “It’s me, Francoise. Gaze upon me, Your Majesty. Drink in the sight of a weak astral mage turned powerful. The sight of a witch!”

A witch.

There were two meanings of the word.

The first was an insult levied on mages by the Empire.

The second was a term the Sovereignty levied on its worst criminals.

But this girl fit neither of those definitions.

When Francoise called herself a witch, she meant she was a repulsive, sinister monster. That was what the queen felt to her bones.

“I can’t tell what you are, to be frank.”

She had no idea what her foe was.

And she had already suffered wounds to her side and back because she had been taken by surprise. But so what if she had?

“Who do you think I am?!”

The astral crest on Queen Cassandra’s neck burned as red as fresh blood.

The Inferno astral power.

If she used it at full strength, it could burn away the heavens themselves.

She was the most powerful Flame astral mage in her generation. She was Cassandra Zoa Nebulis VII.

“An unknown foe? With unknown tactics? The Imperial forces have given me plenty of training in that area! O heat wave, burn her away!” the queen howled.

She swept her right hand across the area, and a crimson line appeared. After a moment, an explosive heat wave violently swept over the hall.

The heat wave shot out across the floor, vaporizing the dagger on the ground.

The wave approached Francoise.

“E-eek!”

Splish.

She screamed as her monstrous, jewel-like form disappeared into her own shadow. She had left before being hit by the heat wave that could melt metal.

“Ahh, I knew you’d be fierce!”

Her jubilant voice echoed throughout the area.

Francoise had disappeared into her own shadow, so she was nowhere to be seen.

“Our great queen, who has protected the nation with those raging flames. I guess it’s sad, though. Because everyone knows about your astral power!”

“…”

“That’s how I could dodge it. Now, allow me to make a prediction. The fact that you failed to stop me in my tracks with that initial flame you built will be your undoing.”

“So you dodged it.”

“What?”

“You dodged my flame. So that means you needed to dodge it.”

As the witch smiled at her in pity, Nebulis VII boldly sneered at Francoise in a way unbecoming of a queen.

“That hideous form of yours may be eerie, but it seems I don’t need to be particularly frightened by it. Once I broil you over my fire, that will be it for you.”

“…Hee-hee.” The witch’s pitying laughter echoed throughout the space. “That’s only if you can get me!”

The queen’s shadow burst into flames.

Francoise had used her shadow to dive under the floor and was now reappearing from the queen’s shadow.

“Good-bye, Quee—huh?”

When Francoise emerged from the queen’s shadow, she was sure she had come out from behind the queen. But as she leaped out of the floor, she found that the queen was facing her and waiting.

“Why did I show up here……?”

“Astral mages with the Silhouette power can only travel through other people’s shadows. Did you think I didn’t know?”

The chandelier glowed brightly from the ceiling.

It was the only source of light in the large hall. The queen’s shadow had been directly behind her before. Francoise should have been able to appear behind the queen.

However…

The queen could make her own light.

“Did you forget what type of astral mage I am?”

A flame burned behind the queen.

By creating a stronger light source behind her, she had moved her shadow to her front. Then it had been as simple as waiting for Francoise to appear before her.

“You called yourself a witch earlier.” A flame appeared at the queen’s hand. “But you’re a weak one.”

“Hssk?!”

Spectacular Blaze.

The monster screamed as she was engulfed in flames that could melt a tank.

At the same time…

One person noticed the incident in the Queen’s Space.

On Hydra Nebulis.

The boy with the rare Gate astral power was at a loss for words.

The Queen’s Space burned.

The entire area had burst into flames. Like a wall obscuring his vision, the fire approached him from all directions, tens of thousands of embers flitting around him.

These flames weren’t the work of a simple candle being knocked over.

This was the queen’s astral power.

“What happened?!”

Just a half hour earlier, everything had been fine. What had happened in that short span of time?

“Your Majesty! Are you safe—? Urgh!”

He yelled so loudly, he became hoarse.

But his voice disappeared into the roaring conflagration. The heat was so intense that just breathing was enough to send him into a coughing fit, his lungs burning.

“Is that you, On?!”

She was on the other side of the wall of flames.

On felt instant relief upon hearing Queen Cassandra’s reassuring voice.

“Yes! What happened, Your Majesty?!”

He knew that there was a fight. The queen was battling someone on the other side.

And then…

On only knew of one person it could have been.

“Is it Salinger?! Your Majesty, I will get reinforcements now!”

“On!” the queen cried out. “It’s the…”

But then her voice cut off.

It disappeared into the roaring flames, and the rest of the message never reached On. No matter how much he strained his ears, he never heard the queen’s voice again.

Was she focused on the battle at hand?

If the sorcerer Salinger really was that powerful, then she really would need reinforcements. Luckily, the best of their forces was still at the ball venue.

However…

Something didn’t sit right with On.

“How did he know?”

Given the situation, Salinger must have been behind the attack. But he should have shown up at the ball. That was where the queen’s double that Lord Arken had made was.

How had he known that the real queen was in the Queen’s Space?

“…”

Something was off.

But the boy had no time to dwell on it. His duty was to bring someone to help as soon as possible. There was no time to hesitate.

3

The Queen’s Space was engulfed in flames.

The strongest flames came from the barrier, Spectacular Blaze.

It was one of Queen Cassandra’s secret weapons. The super-hot flames, which were concentrated in the smallest area possible, could melt a tank in twenty seconds.

“It’s been seventy seconds…”

Her shoulders heaved.

She was out of breath. Queen Cassandra forgot to even wipe her forehead of the sweat cascading from her brow as she watched the red barrier.

“No living creature could survive after being exposed to such intense heat for so long.”

The light from Spectacular Blaze swelled.

The ball of flame that had been just large enough to hold a single person began to expand.

“Disappear, monster.”

Then it burst.

Like an overfilled balloon, it ruptured into thousands of embers that scattered and dispersed.

“I can’t believe the Hydra had such a monster among them…”

“Ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha…”

Fwoosh.

A chill ran down the queen’s spine as she heard that craven, maniacal laugh.

“It can’t be?!”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty!”

The crystal monster leaped out from the wall of flames.

It was Francoise, entirely unscathed. She shouldn’t have been able to survive that. The queen hesitated for a moment, shocked to realize that the creature had so easily thwarted the attack that had secured her countless unconditional victories.

“I’m invincible.”

Francoise grabbed the queen’s neck. As she tightened her grip with inhuman strength, the queen’s neck began to twist in an unnatural direction.

The queen had no wherewithal to think about her surroundings. She focused on releasing an astral attack that would set ablaze everything around her.

…Prick.

She felt something stab her neck.

She couldn’t move because she was in a vise grip. The queen desperately moved just her eyes to see what it was.

“What…is that needle?”

A glass needle was in her neck.

Francoise injected the purple liquid into an artery in the queen’s neck, which then coursed through her veins. The queen’s entire body began to quiver before she could wrap her head around what was happening.

What was that? What had she been injected with? Why was she cold? In pain? Shivering? Frightened?

“Ah…ah…aaaah!”

“I’m making more of my own kind. You can become just like me, Your Majesty… Oh?”

“Hrngh!”

The queen shrieked.

She spat out blood and fell to the hard ground.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Your Majesty!”

The witch ran over to the queen. Though she apologized, her eyes were filled with glee.

“The stronger someone’s astral power, the more intensely they’ll reject the concoction, but I thought you would be able to withstand it. That’s too bad, Your Majesty… Your Majesty? Oh, are you already unconscious? Oh, Your Majesty…you look so endearing right now!”

Queen Cassandra was unconscious.

She was facedown on the floor, twitching. The flames and heat filling the space had disappeared as the queen had collapsed.

“Ahh, I feel so excited, I could swoon. I defeated the queen!”

The witch’s gleeful laugh rang out in the space where the queen had collapsed.

“I’m stronger than the queen. That means in the Sovereignty, I’m the top of—”

“Is this your first time on a stage?”

The witch had been so engrossed with what she had been doing that she hadn’t noticed.

While she had been in the heights of glee, someone had entered the Queen’s Space.

“You’re amusing, monster.”

The sound of footfalls echoed throughout the area.

A handsome man with a coat hanging from his shoulders strode forward majestically, as though he were onstage.

“Are you such a narcissist that simply standing on the stage gives you glee? You really are a monster. Let me fill you in on something: You’re nothing more than a bit player.”

He looked from the queen on the ground, who had coughed up blood, to the monstrous witch.

“Out of the way. You’re not fit for the lead role.”

Salinger’s voice echoed throughout the bloodstained hall.

4

Upon further reflection, this tragedy’s shocking lack of merit became abundantly clear to Salinger from the moment he realized the Nebulis palace was practically unguarded.

……I thought they were trying to lure me into the palace?

……Did they intentionally draw back the guards to do that?

The Hydra planned to use the soiree in order to eliminate the queen and the future candidates for the throne.

If they needed to draw Salinger to their stage in order to be their scapegoat, they would create an opening in their defenses to allow him to sneak into the palace.

In that case, he would simply walk right in.

He would make a grand entrance for them.

One hour prior.

Salinger melted into the darkness and looked up at the Queen’s Palace from the courtyard.

“I will rise to the stage. Hear me, Hydra: I’m rewriting your amateurish script.”

The explanation was simple.

All he had to do was obstruct the Hydra from coming after the queen and Mira.

……I doubt they’ll both be attacked at the same time.

……Even if the Hydra is using every resource at their disposal, attacking both the queen and Mira together would be difficult.

They would need to prioritize.

He was sure that the current queen would be their primary target, with Mira being less of a priority, since she was just a queen candidate.

They would eliminate the queen first.

He believed they would then use the chaos that would ensue to pursue Mira.

“Then it’s the queen…”

He didn’t care what happened to the queen, but if he had the Hydra by the neck when they attacked her, it would allow him to save Mira.

So where would they attack her?

The stage for the tragedy was unlikely to be the venue of the ball.

……If they want to pin the attack on me, the real culprit can’t afford to be caught.

……The Hydra will have isolated the queen somewhere.

And if they needed to isolate her, they would have naturally chosen one of three options:

One: the queen’s chambers.

Two: the Queen’s Space.

Three: a hidden room only the queen knew about.

Option three wasn’t possible.

The queen would need to be assassinated in a place Salinger was aware of.

……So she must be in her chambers or the Queen’s Space.

……Both are plausible, but the Queen’s Space seems more likely.

After all, more people had visited the Queen’s Space than her personal chambers.

He felt there was some credence to a script claiming Salinger had hidden there to attack the queen.

And now he was here.

“This was more or less what I expected.”

Salinger had waltzed into the Queen’s Space.

None of the guards he should have needed to look out for were around. Owing to the lack of protection, he was certain it would be the stage of the tragedy.

“Most of the royal family is at the ball, so a majority of the guards must be stationed there, too. Or rather, the Hydra intentionally put them there. It makes sense this area would have no personnel.”

He stepped into the Queen’s Space.

The ceiling and walls were scorched. The carpet had been turned to charcoal.

And the queen was bloody.

She showed no sign of rising and merely twitched on the ground. Normally, he would have been shocked to see the leader of the astral mages in such a tragic state.

……Where is Mira?

……There’s a chance she’s been ambushed somewhere else, but she’s not here.

That gave him a measure of relief, at least.

He was glad he had found only the queen on the ground. That meant there was still time.

“Tell me who you are, monster.”

“I-I’m…”

The monster’s shoulders twitched. She acted like a scared kitten. It was difficult to believe she had been the one to reduce the queen to a bloody mess.

“I am a witch.”

“‘A witch,’ you say?”

“Salinger, you really came… I was going to go through with the plot as though you weren’t showing up. I’m sorry!” The monster calling herself a witch scrambled to bow. “I—I need to hurt you now. I need you to be on the ground here alongside the queen… I’m sorry…”

“Do you think your act is working?”

“What?”

“You’re actually a cold-blooded killer on the inside.”

He pointed a finger and addressed the cowardly monster…or rather, the atrocity pretending to be cowardly.

“You enjoy tormenting others. You have a compulsion to hurt them. You feel a sense of superiority over people for being able to hide your evil, twisted cravings, don’t you?”

“…”

“Honestly, I have no interest in a monster like you. I don’t care what the Hydra are plotting.”

The witch furrowed her brows.

She couldn’t understand. Then why had Salinger shown up? Who would admit something like that?

But how could he reveal that he had risen to this bloody stage to save a tragic heroine from her fate?

“Unfortunately, I’m rewriting this plot,” he said instead.

Salinger’s footfalls echoed as he walked through the Queen’s Space.

“Nothing happened tonight. For the terrible monster that attacked the queen will have been exterminated.”

“Pfft!”

The monster laughed.

She cackled dramatically, as though she couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Ahhh-ha-ha-ha-ha! P-please don’t make me laugh, human. Have you really deluded yourself into thinking you’re the star of this performance?!”

“I am the star.”

“…Hunh?”

“Just once, I will rise to perform on another’s stage…”

He spread his arms.

He would humor the hackneyed, irredeemable script set on this bloody stage. He would show them what a real star was.

“So welcome me with cheers and applause.”

5

It was one thirty AM.

The ball had ended at one AM, and only a few people remained in the venue, Mira included.

The guests had gone to their rooms.

But the Lou, the Zoa, and the Hydra stayed behind, as did their guards. Their expressions suggested they were disappointed.

Because Salinger hadn’t made an appearance.

“Good…”

“My lady.”

“Huh! Wh-what is it, Schwartz?”

Had he noticed her mind wandering? Schwartz was looking at her with curiosity.

“You look very tired. The guests have left, so why don’t you return to your room to rest?”

“Yes, I will…”

The ball had left her exhausted.

And she wasn’t used to wearing a dress or these shoes or accessories. And her makeup… She truly was exhausted after greeting guests from all over the world.

……I didn’t want to be involved in this.

……If I hadn’t been worried about Salinger coming, I wouldn’t have attended.

She hadn’t needed to be worried.

Because nothing happened in the grand hall, despite the fact she had stayed up all night.

“Let’s go back, Schwartz. It’s time for bed—”

“Intruder! In the Queen’s Space!”

Tense shouts echoed throughout the grand hall.

There were few people left in the venue. Just the servants who had been hauling out things from the space, two people from the royal family who had been tasked with sending off the guests, and the guards.

They all turned to the boy who had teleported in.

“The Queen’s Space is on fire!”

It was On, a purebred of the Zoa.

His face was covered with black soot, and even his child’s swallowtail coat had been singed. Just by looking at him, the intensity of the flames was plain to see.

“The queen is currently engaged in battle. Someone is in the Queen’s Space!”

“Is it Salinger?!” A commotion ran through the hall when Lord Arken of the Hydra asked this. “So he has made an appearance. Isn’t that right, On?!”

“No……”

A lengthy silence followed.

It lasted a strangely long time, considering they were in a state of emergency. The potential next head of the Zoa shook his head.

“I didn’t see who it was. We can determine who it is by saving the queen. We don’t need to figure it out now. More importantly… Huh?”

On stopped.

The grand hall, which should have been entirely still, suddenly filled with a large raging gust of wind. It seemed to follow the people in the venue.

“Wind… Is that you, Mirabella?!”

“I should be powerful enough to handle this on my own.”

The girl’s voice carried crisply.

“I’ll go help the queen. Everyone, please stay here. Though I don’t think you could move if you wanted to.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

“You’d be in the way.”

The golden-haired girl daringly raised her skirt, unsheathing two daggers strapped to her thighs with belts.

“I’m all the help the queen needs. Everyone else, wait here in the hall.”

“But…”

“Otherwise, I might hurt you on accident.”

Nobody questioned her beyond that. When the Battle Automata—the strongest queen candidate in history—was serious, no one could object.

Actually, one person could.

And the Battle Automata herself was panicking because she knew that.

“Schwartz, please come with me.”

“Y-yes, my lady!”

“You will keep up correspondences. I will leave you in charge of every message coming to me and every message I have that needs to be relayed.”

She didn’t wait for him to answer.

Mira did not have the composure to wait any longer.

……I told him not to come.

……Please, Salinger. I pray you are not the one in the Queen’s Space.

She gritted her teeth.

When had this all started? When had she begun to hope she would never lose him?

She wasn’t ready to part ways with him yet.

Mira scowled as she ran down the hall. The Battle Automata had a doll’s face no more.

6

The Queen’s Space was scorched through. The bloody queen lay facedown as the sorcerer and the self-proclaimed witch faced off.

“Ha-ha-ha… Ha-ha-ha…” The witch snickered under her breath.

Below her feet, her shadow bubbled.

“Me? A cold-blooded killer? What a terrible thing to say… You think I derive joy from hurting others…? You really think that…? Well…it’s true!”

Her shadow burst.

The black silhouette split open in a spray, and a triangular black spike shot out of it.

“O Wind…”

Salinger also engaged his astral power.

A gust swept through the area, twisting and condensing into a shield to protect him. The shadow spike and shield of wind clashed. With a bang, his shield gave out.

“Tsk!”

Salinger twisted as he was blown back.

The spike grazed his cheek and embedded itself in the wall behind him.

She had beaten him.

“You’re all bark and no bite. That’s a cute little astral power you’ve got. Shame your techniques are only half as powerful as they should be.”

Salinger had stolen all his astral powers with Water Mirror, his original astral power. But the techniques he had gathered were only half as strong as their original counterparts. There was no getting around the fact that his individual powers were inferior.

“I will show you even more conclusively the difference in our strengths. Let’s see how much your face will twist.”

“I could say the same to you.”

Despite his reply, Salinger wasn’t looking at the witch.

Crack.

Behind the jubilant witch, the base of a pillar holding up the ceiling cracked. Several tons of weight were now aimed right at her head.

“The only thing that’s cute here is your thoughtlessness.”

“No way?!”

“That pillar was my target, naturally.”

He had used a Wave astral technique.

It was similar to Wind in that the power was invisible, but instead of channeling gusts of air to attack, the technique manipulated matter with waves.

“Be crushed, monster.”

The stone pillar let out an intense groan as it collapsed on the witch.

The palace rumbled.

The Queen’s Space instantly filled with a cloud of dust.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?!”

A hand shot out from the dust and latched onto Salinger’s neck. Though her arm appeared so delicate as to lack the strength to crush even an egg, the witch was in fact a monster with inhuman abilities, and so she easily lifted Salinger with one hand.

“Did I surprise you? I’m invincible. You can’t crush me with a little rock.”

“You fiend!”

She was about to break his neck.

The moment he realized that, Salinger grabbed the monster’s arm. He had no time. The fastest astral power he had was…

“O Lightning!”

Salinger’s arm lit up.

The crackling electricity traveled through the witch’s hand and surged throughout her body.

“Heeagh?!”

She let out a strangled scream as she was sent flying away.

Though the witch had been flung to the floor, she gave Salinger no time to rest. The crystal monster immediately rose again, unscathed.

“Your astral power really is adorable. Oh, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you again?”

“Tsk.”

She hadn’t been kidding when she said she was invincible.

Even after being crushed by a pillar that weighed several tons and being struck point-blank by lightning, the witch looked no worse for wear.

……I was confused as to how she defeated the queen at first.

……It seems like human rules don’t apply to her. She’s an actual monster, just like how she looks.

No.

That was just what she wanted him to think. He had been able to hurt her.

“You really are a monster, but you’re a useless one.” He brushed off the dust on his shoulder. “You’re extremely resistant to any physical attacks. But my astral powers aren’t ineffective. Your left shoulder is cracked.”

A small fissure stretched along her body.

The wound wasn’t from the pillar. Rather, when Salinger had struck her directly with lightning in their tussle, he had heard a faint cracking sound and watched her body start to break.

However…

“……I’m sorry.” The witch apologized, the corners of her lips curling in a wicked grin. “You didn’t cause this injury. I got it when Her Majesty doused me with her flames. It’s mostly healed, but your lightning just reopened it.”

“…”

“Sorry for getting your hopes up. Here’s my apology.”

Her shadow split.

A black spray splattered around it as a gigantic black spike shot out of it. But Salinger had seen this astral power before.

……It’s an order of magnitude larger and sturdier than before.

……But her attacks are boring and dull.

He could dodge it.

He could sidestep it, with time to spare. But the moment he calculated the ideal movements in his mind, his eyes fell on her.

The queen is still lying on the ground.

If I move, then it’ll pierce her while she’s defenseless.

His opponent was unscathed.

Before, he would have challenged the queen to a duel.

“Out of the way!”

He grabbed the queen by the arm and threw her as far as he could toward the wall.

She would be out of range of the spike.

At the same time, an intense pain racked his body, as though he had been struck by a spear.

“Guh…”

“H-how wonderful!” the witch cried out in glee.

As Salinger bled from his back, the witch’s eyes glittered.

“I misunderstood you! You’re not a villain pretending to be the star but someone fashioning himself out to be a hero who protects the Sovereignty!”

“The queen is my witness.” Though he was close to passing out from the pain, his expression didn’t change at all. “She can testify to you being a monster. That’s all there is to it.”

“The queen’s not going to wake up.” The witch snickered. “I injected her with something stronger than astral power. Anyone who can’t withstand it will slumber for eternity.”

“……?”

Instead of the fact that the queen would never wake, what caught Salinger’s attention was the sentence before. Nothing on this planet was stronger than astral power.

Or actually…

“Is that what transformed you?”

“You have no right to know. Besides, you and the queen will both—”

“Thundering Song, roar and cleave!”

Salinger blasted away the witch’s words.

Though it was technically a Sound astral power, Thundering Song was more similar to Wind. Invisible sound waves assaulted the witch, not even allowing her to put up resistance.

“Guh?!”

The monster crashed into a corner of the great hall.

The impact broke the wall, creating a fissure. Salinger knew only too well this wouldn’t stop her, either.

“I told you it’s no use. I-I’m—”

“O Terra Burst astral power.”

“Wha?!”

The witch’s eyes opened wide. She realized that the ground below her feet had started to become thick and sludgy. A powerful heat wave gushed up from below her.

Salinger had summoned magma from the depths of the earth.

“Spout upward and scorch the earth with your rage!”

This was Salinger’s most powerful trick, a technique where he made the magma that had forged the very planet itself spout upward toward the heavens.

It glowed crimson.

The gushing magma engulfed the witch. Its spray melted the walls and even blew off the ceiling.

“What a fool…”

It was over.

Salinger let out a sigh as he wiped away the sweat gathering on his brow. Fatigue assaulted his entire body, and the pain at his back was close to knocking him unconscious.

He wished he could lie down right there and rest, but he was unfortunately in enemy territory.

……That rumble will have alerted the guards.

……They could arrive at the Queen’s Space any moment. I don’t have time to slip out of the hall.

In any case, he couldn’t run while injured.

The second-floor glass windows were broken, so he could leap out of those to get outside.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

Bright violet flames surrounded Salinger in all directions.

The door to the Queen’s Space was blocked, along with the windows he had been planning to use.

The violet flames were separating the Queen’s Space from the outside world.

“What?!”

“I’m sorry.”

Before he could confirm who had spoken to him, Salinger felt an intense pain shoot through his right thigh. He fell to his knee.

A black spike had gone through his leg.

“You!”

“Ah, you should see the look on your face right now. I love it.”

The witch watched him with rapture in her eyes.

Though her entire body was cracked, it seemed she couldn’t feel pain.

“The Zoa and Lou should be here at any moment. I wanted to finish everything tonight, but it seems that I’ll be fully satisfied this evening.”

The witch smiled ecstatically. Even as she smiled, the cracks in her body began to stitch themselves back together.

“I thought you were just a philistine. Who knew the sorcerer Salinger was such a fine man…? You’ve gotten me so excited!”

She took one step toward him and then another.

She looked at him as though he were an animal in a trap as the spike held him in place.

“Yes, please struggle in vain until the very end. You might be able to win against me. Don’t abandon hope that you might be able to still wound me!”

“Who’s the real philistine here…?”

He gritted his teeth.

Though it was clear from his expression he had no intention of backing down, his pierced thigh wouldn’t budge, no matter how he willed it. The open wound on his back was still oozing blood, too.

He felt vertigo from the blood loss.

No matter how strong his will was, his mind would dim with sufficient blood loss. And once that happened, he would be in checkmate.

Even his Terra Burst had not harmed the witch.

She was his natural enemy.

Francoise’s durability made her practically invincible. If even the Nebulis queen couldn’t stop her, then there was no hope for Salinger, with his half-powered astral techniques.

“Was that really the most powerful astral attack you have?” Her voice was threaded with cold, murderous hostility. “That’s too bad. It seems this is over, then.”

The witch Francoise spread her arms. Her shadow swelled, and dozens of black spikes appeared from below her feet. There was no way Salinger’s astral powers could counter a single one of them.

“…Tsk. For a bit player, you sure love running your mouth!”

What would he do? How would he fight this?

His eyes were blurring from the blood loss, and he was losing focus from the pain in his back and legs.

……You’ve got to be kidding me.

……Do you think some scratches from a bit player are enough to stop me?

He couldn’t let himself exhaust all he had at this juncture.

If he was going to let the curtain fall on his life, it would be while fighting her.

All of a sudden, the witch spurted jewellike blood and collapsed.

“What?!”

As Salinger lost consciousness and his vision blurred, the witch said, “Ngh. Is it already time? I know the head of household told me I had eight minutes to have my fun, but I can’t believe it was so short…”

Francoise staggered as she tried to stand.

Crystalline drops of blood trailed behind her.

……Is she in pain?

……The monster claiming to be invincible?

Had all astral power attacks she sustained finally added up? Or was it because of something else?

Either way…

“Ha! This is great!”

Salinger cheered from the bottom of his heart. This was his moment to rewrite the script.

Who truly ruled the stage?

It was the audience. The spectator called “fate” had watched this hackneyed plot and turned it on its head. The true star wasn’t the Hydra.

No, the real main character was…

“Me.”

Even as he sweated from the pain wracking his body, he filled with joy.

He hadn’t fully grasped it before.

If the fate of the stars had chosen him as the lead, then there had to be a reason he had been saddled with the Water Mirror astral power, which he believed had never suited him.

“Salinger, you hate your own astral power, don’t you?”

Now that he thought about it, when the Battle Automata herself had rudely said that to him, he hadn’t been able to reply.

Because she was right.

“All you’re doing is collecting astral power techniques. You think that just using them willy-nilly makes you powerful. But they’re not your own.”

That was exactly right.

All his Water Mirror astral power could do was copy half of someone else’s technique. The astral powers he could use were borrowed from others, not his own. Though he raved about transcending the royal family, he could only boast about having other people’s powers.

But was there really no way to turn this problem on its head?

Was this really all the power he had?

No.

Who had decided that would be the story?

I decide.

“On my stage, there are no such things as limits!”

He flexed his knees.

He supported his impaled right leg with his left, which could barely move. Though he was injured to the point that he couldn’t even hide his ragged breathing, Salinger rose to his feet.

“You buffoon.”

He beckoned the witch still crawling along the ground.