Episode 2

A fierce exchange of magic.

Innate talent and years of accumulated experience. It would not be an exaggeration to call Glanz Fort the strongest mage in history, possessing it all.

The magic unleashed by the supreme mage hailed as the Sage was on an entirely different level from what ordinary people could wield. He created wind, kindled fire, and summoned lightning. Multi-Cast, deploying many different elemental spells at the same time. And every spell he used was high-level magic.

His overwhelming performance looked almost like overkill, as though he were fighting an enemy nation alone on a battlefield—but even that was not enough, because the power of the one he faced was just that overwhelming.

“Thousand Swords.”

Thick clouds covered the sky, and a blizzard stole away their vision. A thousand cold blades, containing not a natural phenomenon but unmistakable killing intent, descended on Glanz and the others. From inside the sacred-arts barrier, Glanz shot them down with magic, but his opponent likewise deployed Multi-Cast just as he did.

Magic even stronger than the Sage’s.

“Icicle Berg.”

Towering glaciers manifested on both sides of the barrier. Seeing the frozen masses bearing down with enough force to crush the silver sanctuary, Glanz met them with another spell.

“Rising Sun!”

He hurled a condensed mass of flame into the approaching icebergs. Fire and ice. Extreme heat and bitter cold. The powerful magics collided, and with a thunderous crash, the world before them turned white.

“Damn it, is he a monster or what! We can’t get out of the barrier!”

“This isn’t a swordsman’s moment to step in. Don’t do anything.”

Van, unable to suppress his impatience, and Selen, calmly judging the tide of battle. Ciel focused on maintaining the barrier.

“Like hell I won’t! I’m absolutely going to avenge him! Eris, give me a buff. With your support magic, I can rush straight to him in one go… Eris?”

Support magic that would normally be cast on him immediately even without him asking. Buffs suited to the situation were a reassuring presence for Van. They had proven invaluable even on the journey to find the basilisk.

“…It’s pointless. Glanz-san, about how much longer until that bastard’s—Zeke’s—mana runs out?”

“…For a normal mage, I would say that exchange just now would have burned through several weeks’ worth. I had a fair bit of confidence in my own mana reserves, but he is on an entirely different level. …He really has become stronger. I did not want to learn that in a form like this.”

Glanz repeatedly activated spells while replenishing himself with potions. Potions were certainly effective for recovering mana, but naturally, there was a limit. They also had to account for the exhaustion from the battle with Pariaach before arriving here. A prolonged battle was clearly to their disadvantage.

“We’ve got the numbers on our side. We’ll have to stall for time.”

“Stall for time? What are you talking about, Selen? I can still—”

“!? From above… it’s coming!”

What spread through their vision as the white haze cleared was still the raging blizzard. Tearing through that white storm were star-stones falling from space. Ice meteors containing cold destruction were closing in above Glanz and the others.

“This is… Icicle Meteor. A ritual spell cast by a single person.”

The instant they spotted it, they felt the violent tremor. Had they failed to notice the meteors approaching with enough force to shake the atmosphere because the sound of the blizzard drowned it out? Of course, even if they had realized it sooner, their options would still have been few.

“Hey, Glanz. Is that so-called ritual spell something there’s that much of?”

“Normally, the limit should be one meteor at most… but this is—”

There were multiple icy comets flying in. The number of meteors covering the heavens exceeded ten.

Zeke stood at the center of the storm. Their vision was obscured by the snow, but if they looked carefully, something glittering had gathered around him.

“I see… I understand the principle.”

Glanz, who had been chanting magic, lowered the staff he had raised.

“He is gathering the mana existing in the atmosphere and making it his own power.”

There was a limit to how much mana a person could possess. Bloodline and talent played a role, and training could increase it, but it would never become infinite. Even a superior mage like Glanz had limits. The same should have applied to Zeke, another human being.

“That kind of thing… can a human even do it?”

“One of the Dragon Formation arts—the technique of the Divine Dragon, called the ruler of the world. At the very least, I cannot do it.”

The meteor swarm summoned from afar was drawing closer and closer to the ground where Glanz and the others stood. The size they appeared to be growing larger by the moment.

“Van. Even after seeing that, are you still going to fight Zeke?”

“Are you saying buffs are pointless because I can’t win, Eris? If it’s with a sword, I—”

Van gripped the sword in his hand hard. Even if his head understood it, he could not honestly accept it. Complex emotions surfaced in him.

“I’ll deploy multiple barriers. Glanz-san and the others, please use magic to shave those down as much as possible.”

“That looks like our only option.”

Ciel and Selen gathered their mana. Even in this hopeless situation, they had not given up. They had reasons they could not die.

“Everyone, please don’t move recklessly.”

Glanz, who had lowered his staff, began chanting a spell. Combining an intricate, bizarre incantation with a magic formula, he constructed a special spell.

“Facing it head-on is not the only correct answer. —We’re moving.”

A floating sensation wrapped around Glanz and the others. For a moment, light blocked their vision, but what they saw after that was different from before.

“We moved about one kilometer. …The shock is coming.”

From the sky in the direction where Van and the others had just been, the meteor swarm rained down upon the earth. The violent eruption of freezing air and the impacts that shattered the ground. Layering over one another, they shook the world. Before them spread a sight like the end of the world.

“Even from this far away, it still has this much force. With this barrier…”

The winter sky had given way to a cloudless night sky. Perhaps the influence of Zeke’s mana had only been local; the air here was comparatively calm.

“For now, this should— ‘Did you think you escaped?’ —!?”

As though nothing had happened, Zeke appeared before Van and the others once more.

To move instantly across a distance of one kilometer. No matter how exceptional Zeke’s speed was, covering that distance in this short a time was close to impossible. Which meant Zeke had used the same kind of power as Glanz.

“Zeke-san. So you really can use teleportation magic…”

“It was a mistake to show that to me back then.”

Glanz and Zeke were both consuming mana intensely. Even so, the states of the two men stood in stark contrast.

“An application of spatial transfer, hm. By narrowing the target, you drastically reduce the mana cost. A clever little trick—but it seems your mana is nearly exhausted now.”

Those blue-glowing eyes stared at Glanz. It felt as though he were seeing through everything. And yet, there was no emotion in that gaze. It was the look one would turn toward something inanimate.

“Sage, you’re the only one here who can actually fight. The rest are nothing but trash. —The moment you wasted mana, the outcome was decided.”

“Zeke-san…”

“Why didn’t you leave them behind? If you had ignored that trash and transferred away by yourself, there would still have been options available to you.”

“It is the duty of this old soldier to protect the young who will bear the next age.”

Large beads of sweat stood out on Glanz’s forehead. He did not show it on his face, but it was clear he was forcing himself.

“Is this what the Sword Saint left behind? That defective thing over there?”

Van bristled at Zeke’s words. He tried to charge forward on pure emotion, but Selen stopped him.

“I’m sure… that is not all. Zeke-san. Among the young I wished to protect as those who will carry the next age… you are included as well.”

“You really have gone senile. And you… woman of the ducal house. What are you doing?”

“This is your fault, Zeke-san. Because you won’t talk to us properly. So… we’re going to make you sit down and talk.”

A magic circle spread from beneath Ciel’s feet. The densely constructed geometric formulas were each formed with highly advanced technique, radiating silver light.

“It is a pseudo-recreation of the royal capital’s barrier. You can no longer lay a hand on us while we are inside this.”

A gigantic palace manifested, enveloping Ciel and the others. The highest-class sacred barrier, rejecting all attacks from outside. In addition, it carried Ciel’s original effect, healing the injuries of those within its range and restoring their mana.

“Those without qualification cannot even enter. Even if they possess the power to transcend space.”

“So what? What do you intend to do by hiding inside?”

“If we do it now, we can talk calmly. Please… tell us what happened.”

“Like the Sage, you too wield an absurd power.”

The manifested silver palace. Thanks to the maximum-level sacred art that rejected enemies and healed allies, Van’s wounds were healed, and Glanz’s mana recovered.

“It is thanks to you, Zeke-san. Because you were there, I— ‘But…’”

“Can that barrier… withstand the spear that slew the Divine Dragon?”

“!? This is resentment…”

Ciel caught her breath, and Selen’s eyes widened.

Black miasma gathered around Zeke’s right arm. The resentment, filled with intense emotion, took the form of armor and wrapped around his arm. It was the equipment of the Yaksha, which Selen knew well.

“Zeke! Why do you have that, that power!?”

“All of you… how many times do I have to say it before you understand? Don’t measure me by your standards.”

The miasma became armor and completely covered Zeke’s right arm. And in that hand rested a rainbow-colored spear formed from an unholy blend of blackness and cold air.

“That light… Unison Link? How can you use Unison Link alone!?”

“Are you an idiot? Unison Link cannot be done by one person. —Who decided that?”

Unison Link was a rainbow miracle brought about by perfectly synchronizing different wavelengths of mana. Zeke had reproduced that advanced technique, one difficult even to activate in the first place, all by himself.

“Extinction Ice Gungnir.”

The god-dragon-slaying spear, tracing a rainbow miracle, closed in on the silver palace. The spear, containing freezing air compressed to the utmost limit, collided with Ciel’s barrier. At first, the two opposing forces appeared evenly matched, but the victor was decided almost immediately.

A sound like glass shattering rang out. Zeke’s spear pierced Ciel’s barrier and shot far into the distance. The place where it landed seemed to have changed the terrain itself.

“Did it… blow away a mountain?”

“No… that barrier had strength on the level of the royal capital’s barrier…”

“So what of it? …Is that all?”

The armor on Zeke’s right arm had vanished. The sinister miasma had gone quiet as well.

“Have you got anything else? Show me someone who can stop me.”

An overwhelming gap in ability. Even if all of them came at him together, they would not even buy time. —If they were not prepared to kill him, they could never stop him.

“Atri. How long are you going to stay dazed? Stand up.”

“…I can’t hear anything anymore.”

Atri hugged her knees and buried her face. Despite the middle of a battle, she remained seated on the ground.

“We need your power if we’re going to stop Zeke.”

“…No. I don’t want to hurt Zeke.”

With hollow eyes, Atri rejected Selen’s request. Her expression looked like that of a dead thing from which emotion had drained away.

“I don’t know what happened in your past with him. But if this keeps up, it’ll end with no one ever understanding him. Are you really okay with that?”

“…”

“No matter what we do, we need to talk first. To do that, we have to make Zeke settle down. …Right now, he’s acting out of desperation.”

Atri turned her face toward Zeke. He was still standing there, unmoving. Looking at them with eyes as though he were observing an inanimate object. —And at the same time, to Atri, those eyes looked unbearably sad.

“You only need to lend me your mana.”

“…Zeke will get hurt.”

“That’s why Ciel is here. She can heal him.”

Atri quietly stood up.

Ciel’s sacred arts were certainly powerful. But Atri already knew they could not heal the dead.

“It’ll be fine. You know how skilled I am, don’t you?”

Selen raised her magic gun and winked. She smiled gently, as if to reassure Atri.

Selen stood at the front with her magic gun raised. Behind her came Atri, and then Glanz.

“Sorry, Glanz. For dragging you into this. …I’m the one who’ll pull the trigger.”

From Glanz and the others’ position, they could not see what expression Selen wore. She looked resolute, and yet her magic gun seemed to tremble just a little, only a very little.

“Selen-san. You do not have to carry everything alone.”

Glanz spun a rainbow miracle upon Selen and Atri. Their different wavelengths of mana intertwined in complex ways and carved out a single five-line score.

“So that’s your next move?”

“Oh? Did you wait for us? Thank you.”

(I swear, you always do whatever you want. You probably have no idea what I’m thinking.)

Zeke showed no sign of fleeing. He formed an ice wall around himself.

(You save people however you please, then wound yourself and stay alone. But because you’re like that, I…)

Though she usually handled two magic guns, now she held just one in both hands. This shot absolutely could not miss.

(You think you’re hiding it, but I can still tell.)

The attack aimed at Atri, the ritual magic, the Unison Link—every one of them, despite carrying real killing intent, had left an escape route. If he had truly wanted to, he could have finished it all in an instant. Zeke could have.

(To borrow Atri’s words—you’re just camouflaging yourself with harsh language.)

She remembered the time she had spent with Zeke as Yaksha. Thinking back now, he had been like that even then.

He always denied others with harsh words, looking down on them and rejecting them. To some, it might have seemed like a sort of elitism, but Selen had never seen it that way.

It had felt more like he was distancing himself so that no one would get hurt, because he feared hurting someone. And he had been resisting something.

(I’m sorry. That unconditional trust must have been painful for you. Whenever something happened, we always ended up relying on you.)

Because she had fought him seriously while the resentment ran wild, she had sensed Zeke’s weakness. Even if he never said it aloud, his heart had been screaming. He had been asking someone for help, for salvation.

(I don’t know what burdens you’re carrying. That’s why… from now on, I want you to let me carry them with you.)

A life that had once ended. Deep darkness. Zeke had dragged her out from there. He had been forceful, but he had saved Selen and shown her a path. And surely that was true not only for Selen, but for Ciel and the others as well. That was why each and every one of them looked so painfully strained. …Though Van alone was of a somewhat different sort.

(That’s why, just for now, you need to stay quiet. So… bear with it.)

The left hand supporting the magic gun trembled. She could no longer feel the finger resting on the trigger.

She emptied her mind and fired the bullet. It seemed she would not be able to keep the lesson she was taught as a child. She found herself inwardly grumbling that she used to be colder than this.

(It’s all your fault. And all thanks to you, Zeke. —Once everything is settled, surely all of us will be able to smile together.)

As if the preparations were complete, Selen’s magic gun shone with rainbow light. A brilliance unlike anything before, which meant it held that much power.

(Prepare yourself, Zeke. I’m persistent.)

“““Seventh Magnum.”””

The seven-colored bullet shattered the ice wall and pierced Zeke.