A Superhuman Dances with a Witch

She was Kissing, the astral mage of thorns, a direct descendant of the Founder Nebulis.

She moved her small mouth, looking almost exactly like an actual witch chanting a hex.

"Th-thorns... Th-thorns... Come to me..."

The air quavered audibly. If he had to describe it, it was like the unpleasant racket of

tens of thousands of insects taking flight at once. The thorns materialized into sight

around the girl, snaking into one piece—a whip embedded with needles like barbed

wire.

It was several dozen yards long.

"Captain Mismis, crouch down!"

The whip groaned, coiling in the air as if a twisted snake before unfurling its power on

a curved trajectory to assault Iska and Mismis on the ground.

…Its movements are almost slow.

…But trying to predict its irregular path is a real pain.

It drew an arc rather than a straight line, as with swords and arrows. It wasn't far off

the mark to say this writhing course was characteristic of whips alone.

And plus, he was dealing with an astral one.

Which meant it probably wouldn't move like a normal whip. That was why Iska leaped

back instead of meeting it with his sword. Or he thought he had—until the attack

changed paths to hunt him down.

"Ugh! I knew it!" Her whip closed the distance with the tip of his nose.

Seeing its appearance of barbed wire, he'd imagined it would be unpliable, but he

could observe up close that bending whip had elongated as if from its own will.

"Iska?!"

He didn't have time to respond as he bent down far enough for his face to nearly touch

the ground. With an eruption of strange sound, the collection of thorns grazed the top

of his head to the barricade behind Iska. The astral whip blasted through it to

dismantle its steel fencing—liquefying it before it disappeared completely.

"...Did I fail at my order? Did he dodge it?" The witch turned around.

In her right hand, she held her whip, touching the blindfold with her left as she tilted

her head in puzzlement.

"Were you supposed to do that? Wasn't that fence to protect your precious vortex?"

Iska readied his two swords, glaring at the thorny whip in Kissing's grip.

"Shanorotte," called out the witch to the subordinate behind her. "Kindred."

"Y-yes, Lady Kissing! I am here and ready for orders to—"

"You're in the way."

"What?"

"Get out of the way. With you here… I can't… broaden the range of my astral power."

The whip dispersed into thousands of tiny needles floating around Kissing.

"...…Become 'Stars.'"

The thorns shot up into the setting sky before freezing in place, hanging there for a

moment. And then, as though a dam was breaking, they rained down to the ground.

They were like shooting stars—zooming toward the ground at a terrific speed,

piercing through everything on ground level. The roofs of the carports dissolved as

though melting. Even the transport vehicles inside and walls of the carport liquefied.

"A sweeping assault, huh? Captain, get back!" He pointed away from the range of the

thorns before gripping his black astral sword and stepping forward. "—Hah!"

He breathed out and swiveled in place before dashing, weaving through the infinite

number of stars plunging down from above. Iska did not stop for a step as he headed

toward the purebred Kissing.

As he readied his sword and swiveled full circle, Iska obliterated the stars behind him,

catching the thorns that had bounced off the ground toward him.

To those that ricocheted and assaulted him, Iska swung his sword, smashing through

them.

"…Why, you?!" A shriek of fear and fury came from the witch Shanorotte.

There were two things she found incomprehensible.

First, she couldn't understand why Kissing's astral attack couldn't eliminate one

Imperial soldier, despite having enough power to literally disintegrate missiles—

much less why these thorns could be broken into smithereens.

And then there was the question of the unbelievable physical capabilities of the

Imperial soldier.

He was unstoppable.

He sped through the gaps among the thorns, continuing to swing his sword. If it were

for a single moment, Shanorotte would have been able to do the same. But any more

than ten seconds? She would be completely out of breath.

However, Iska seemed to accelerate.

He specialized in attacks against mages, training his body with the sole purpose of

defeating them.

"You brute!" Shanorotte unleashed a bolt of lightning, which shot after him.

But when he read her attack and mowed it down with his astral sword, the lightning

witch was at a loss for words. To see him sidestep the thorny attack of a purebred and

still sense something coming at him from behind… Even if Shanorotte had tried

shooting at him with the automatic handgun from the Empire tucked away in her

pocket, it would have been the same story.

"..." The witch with the blindfold scowled. "Who are you?" Her faint voice spilled from

her lips. "…Wh…? How?… Why won't my… attacks reach… you…?"

"That's your weak point."

When Kissing took a step back, Iska took two steps forward.

…Her defensive moves and power to hold back the missile's blast aren't undeveloped.

…I'm sure her astral power is unbelievable, but…

There was something that this young mage didn't have—something in the possession

of Alice and the Founder Nebulis.

"You made your mistake when you said she was 'in the way.'"

"…?"

"Can't unfurl your power to the fullest extent unless your subordinate moves? It's

because she'd end up caught in it, right? You just admitted that you don't have a good

handle on your astral power. You can't even aim correctly."

She didn't have accuracy.

He had been convinced once he saw her bring down a rain of thorns on the carport

and structures to make them all disappear.

"Ice Calamity—Blizzard of a Thousand Thorns."

"A thousand swords coming from all directions. Dodge them if you can."

In their past interactions, Alice had brought forth ice blades that aimed straight for

Iska—but Kissing's attacks were different.

This young witch was still growing. She couldn't aim the thorns at Iska, meaning

bringing them down in his vicinity was all she could manage.

"Th-th-th… that was unexpected… A formidable opponent. Are you a Saint Disciple…?"

She looked at the point of his astral sword, spreading her arms wide.

"Ability release."

"What?!"

"Reform."

A black shadow formed above their heads.

When Iska snapped his head up, he saw the short-range missile that had been dissolved

by the thorns.

"You can reform the things you disintegrated?!"

"…Imperial soldier… Disappear."

Those were the witch's words.

Above Iska's head, the missile exploded in an enormous blaze.

The ground was frozen solid. On the Imperial campgrounds, the top layer of the russet

dirt was being pushed from below to reveal a layer of glittering ice, where a front

column jutted out of the earth.

Alice brought the surrounding temperature down below freezing before anyone could

so much as blink, and the moisture in the ground frosted over. The chill subdued the

area in all directions for several hundred yards.

"Prepare yourself, Imperial dog."

"Shut up, witch. I'm disgusted, just breathing the same air as you."

"…I'll freeze you right with your arrogance." Alice brought her arm up and leveled it.

It didn't matter whether she was battling a Saint Disciple.

But she noticed something, just when she was about to order her astral energy to

encase the campground in ice without allowing anyone to put up any resistance.

Her astral power was slow.

"This is…" A beautiful, glittering wall of ice rose up.

Before she could command it, the astral energy had prioritized forming the ice wall in

front of Alice.

Why?

Her doubts were almost immediately dispelled, as the moment the ice wall had been

erected, it collided with a monumental mass.

"…An automatic defense, huh? I was hoping to smash in your skull."

Alice saw it before her eyes. The man who wore reactive camouflage all over his body

had slammed his fist against the wall.

She heard something rupturing.

Could this be the sound of a human fist?

This was no joking matter. It sounded almost as if a large-scale Imperial tank shell had

directly hit against it. She felt a bead of sweat trickle down her face. She knew he would

be more powerful than usual, and when directly threatening her, this man had

approached her with such speed that Alice hadn't been able to react.

"The astral power of ice needs to lower the temperature of the air around it before it can

be invoked."

Crack. A fissure formed in the ice wall in front of Alice's eyes. The wall wouldn't have

been harmed even if something with the force of an automatic handgun had shot at it,

but now it was breaking.

This can't be happening from just a punch, can it?

"The astral power of ice is too slow. Even if it functions as a sudden automatic defense,

this is all you seem able to manage." The Saint Disciple's fist smashed Alice's ice wall to

shards.

"It's over." Nameless's fingertip touched the base of Alice's neck.

He tried to grip her neck to crush her delicate windpipe, but she couldn't allow that.

Before Nameless could crush the witch's neck, his fingertips were frozen in ice, all the

way down to the wrist of his right hand.

"Whose energy did you call slow?"

She didn't fall behind. If the Saint Disciple Nameless was superhuman, the Ice Calamity

Witch Alice was a superior astral mage.

"Please don't think all ice energies are the same."

"…Oh, what do we have here?" Pulling his arm back, Nameless laughed.

He easily crushed the ice restraining the freedom of his fingers and once again turned

to Alice as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

"So you're the Ice Calamity Witch."

"Weren't you the one telling me to shut up?"

"I've changed my mind," the former assassin replied jovially.

Starting up his active camouflage suit, the Saint Disciple's form seemed to melt and

disappear into the sunset.

"A direct descendant of the Founder. I wonder how long your sense of loftiness will last

you."

"I don't intend to battle you with words." Before he completely disappeared, Alice

snapped her fingers. "Take that."

The red-dyed ground cracked. Pushing up the hard surface, ice needles crawled out

from its depths, and the ice pillars all over the ground sharpened their ends. If he had

been wearing leather boots, the pillars would have pierced right through them easily.

If his shoes had contained an iron sole, he would have been frozen down to the ground.

"Tch." The half-transparent Saint Disciple leaped, escaping from both his feet freezing

to the ground.

Though that in itself was a miracle of reactionary speed, it was within Alice's

expectations.

…He's a Saint Disciple just like Iska.

…Of course he would be able to evade this.

"Ice Calamity—Blizzard of a Thousand Thorns."

Fwhst. She could hear ice condense to form blades.

From the frozen ground, from the surrounding atmosphere, and even from the

military tents which were covered in frost, all kinds of small and large blades formed

one after another.

"You'll either be skewered on the ice blades or frozen to death. Choose your own

adventure."

"Hah." As he landed on the ground, the Saint Disciple laughed, glancing around at the

ice blades that surrounded him from all directions and, instead of being intimidated,

dashed toward Alice. "You think you can stop me with your little tricks?"

"…Bore through!" She swung her arms up. At her command, the ice blades came

crashing down indiscriminately at the feet of the Saint Disciple Nameless, from above

his head and at his back.

"You're slow." They whizzed past his side by less than an inch as he tilted his head.

He went as far as raising his foot and kicking away a blade from the ground, using the

momentum to flip in the air and punching those hounding him from behind and up

top.

"And these are frail." The icicles shattered into a thousand pieces.

It was an unbelievable scene for Alice. "…No way."

She created ice that was stronger than steel. Of course, this all depended on the scale

of her attack, but something as thin and sharp as her blades couldn't be broken by a

mere human fist.

She knew right from the moment he had destroyed her ice wall earlier.

But just how—?

Just how much stronger was this ex-assassin compared to a normal person?

"But it's all for naught!"

Blood gushed out of Nameless's shoulder. He could snap a dozen blades—even several

dozen—but he wouldn't be able to escape them all. Even Iska hadn't been able to

completely defend himself from this astral attack.

"You can't move when you're in checkmate."

In her arsenal was one larger than the rest—the length of a javelin—flying toward

Nameless's undefended back.

…This piece of ice is stronger than steel.

…Try to see if you can break that apart!

All he could do was straightforwardly dodge it. But when he would jump to get away

from it, the blade would change aim and follow Nameless.

The distance between Nameless and Alice hadn't closed at all. Even if he threw a glass

dagger at her, her automatic astral defenses would trigger in time to protect her.

"This is my victory—," she started.

"If you'd have been facing anyone other than me."

Alice was the one who ended up speechless.

Nameless turned around, stretching his arm toward the ice javelin that came at him

with the speed of a bullet.

"How about I send it back at you?" He gripped the javelin, twirling it in his hand until

he turned the point toward Alice. It was almost as though he was saying he had the

perfect projectile to aim at her.

…He anticipated the moment of a piece of ice flying at the same speed as a bullet and

stopped it.

…He's insane. No, worse… He's a monster!

If he was acting like Iska, holding his ground with his swords, she would have found it

reasonable. But this man was using his bare hands. She had never met anyone up until

this point who had been able to take on her astral attacks through martial arts—not

from the Empire or the Sovereignty.

"…Saint Disciple Nameless." Alice chewed her lip.

She didn't want to recognize his power, but this man was clearly the real deal.

"Gah!" Alice jumped aside, biting her lip out of disgrace. A Nebulis princess withdrawing?

Shameful. She went back to Rin, who waited behind her back.

…This is bad.

…I don't mind Imperial handguns or missiles, but this… This is the only thing that would

be bad!

"Disappear, you witch." Nameless hurled the ice javelin at her. The lethal weapon

floated to a stop right before it would have pierced through Alice.

"I'm sorry. I went too far."

"No, Rin. You saved me." Alice thanked the attendant, who had protected her.

Rin had spread out her skirt like a cape in order to stop the projectile that Nameless

had propelled at them. The cloth had been made from anti-blade fibers. It had no

trouble stopping the icicles.

The only problem was that Alice had made Rin promise to be hands-off when it came

to battle.

That Rin had broken that principle meant that Alice had been in that much danger.

"..."

"What's wrong? Where's your energy?"

"…I apologize for my rudeness. Saint Disciple of the eighth seat, I doubted your

strength." She pinched the hem of her dress with her right hand and brought it up very

slightly.

It was common etiquette in every corner of the world. In aristocratic society, it was

known as the greeting that a young lady would give to a gentleman in a standing above

her.

"This is just a slight expression of my apology."

"Laughable." He chortled with scorn until his shoulders shook. "A witch? A witch acting

like a human aristocrat?"

"Yes, that's right. But it seems that my intent hasn't gotten through. Let me break it

down for you. This isn't a hello; it's a good-bye."

"…What?"

"I'll show you what I've really got in me." She displayed cold hostility with a gaze that

could have frozen anything, glaring at the superhuman.

…Unfortunately for you…

…You've convinced me to go all out.

By the time Nameless realized the meaning of the piercing look in her eyes, it was too

late.

"Good-bye, Saint Disciple."

"Great Ice Calamity—"

It was a world of frost.

From the ground to the sky. The military tents and vehicles in the campgrounds and

the missile launchers and everything else were covered in white fog as if in a dream.

In the next moment, the whole area of the canyon that included the campgrounds was

encased in ice that gleamed a bright blue.

Shhhk. The sludge squished underfoot.

"Rin, are you okay?"

"If I weren't, that would be a matter of serious concern."

Only Alice and Rin stood atop the hill of ice. This astral attack was the mark of the

menace—of Aliceliese the Ice Calamity Witch.

It was indiscriminate and hit in all directions.

Her opponent could be people, or tanks, or missiles, and she could still envelop them

in the maximum chill and encase them in ice—no questions asked. Even the Saint

Disciple Nameless had no way of protecting himself against it, encased in the ice.

…Well, the issue with this technique is that it's the only one I can't fine-tune.

…I can't use it when my own kin are around.

If she made one wrong move, she would freeze her own friends.

On top of that, Alice herself couldn't even automatically dispel the attack. It would

likely take the whole frozen canyon area several days to melt.

"Let's head back, Rin. I wanted to actually capture him and go home, but it'd be a pain

to try to dig him up."

"It would have been better if we could have made him into an actual prisoner, though."

"That's—"

If luck allows for it. Alice heard a tiny sound before she could finish her sentence.

Were they footsteps? She turned around to see a sharp fragment of ice graze past her.

"Ugh!"

"Lady Alice?!"

"No… I'm fine, Rin. Just a little scratch." She put her hand to her cheek, where she drew

a little blood onto her fingertips.

It had been a fragment of ice. She could think of only one person who could have

thrown it.

"…Huh. Guess I wasn't thorough enough." Looking down at the blood on her hand, Alice

let a wry smile slip onto her mouth.

Nameless. The superhuman performance of the man finally sunk in. Nonetheless, she

had made a mistake by giving him an unnecessary hint.

"I'll show you what I've really got in me," she had said.

The Saint Disciple had probably gathered her next astral attack from her declaration.

Because he had realized she would release the bold technique she was known for as

the Ice Calamity Witch, she had given him a moment to prepare.

"Lady Alice, let's go back to the Nebulis camp as quickly as possible. We must disinfect

the wound on your cheek."

"This is nothing." She wiped away the blood on her cheek with her fingertips.

The cut itself was nothing. The real problem was entirely separate.

"…Rin."

"Yes?"

"Do you think he found us out?"

"I'm willing to bet on it, especially considering he went out of his way to hurl broken

shards of ice instead of his own daggers."

"...I see."

The cut on her cheek. If it had been an Imperial knife, Alice's astral energy would have

sensed the threat and gone into auto-defense mode. But this time, it hadn't reacted, all

because Nameless had thrown a piece of ice. And her energy couldn't distinguish the

danger it posed, because it had been created from her own astral power.

"You win this one, Alice.

"But I've seen your weak spot. I'll stop you next time."

It was as though she could hear Nameless laughing as he escaped.

"Lady Alice."

"…There's no issue."

It wasn't as though she had shown him her entire arsenal of weapons.

"Let's get back. I'm afraid we were running a fool's errand coming to this place."

Shanorotte's subordinates had probably been transported to a different campground.

And she still hadn't seen Iska.

…I wonder if I was just mistaken.

…Maybe only Mismis was dispatched, and her subordinates stayed at the Imperial capital?

Though she couldn't think that was the case, it wasn't as though Alice had a firm grasp

on their army regulations.

Where in the world could Iska have been?

"Ugh. This was all useless. I don't know if it was because of that astrologer or whatever,

but I did things believing in it… like that he was actually nearby!" Alice hollered as she

kicked the ice at her feet as hard as she could.

"Where are you, Iska?!"

The blast of flaming air made the canyon tremble as soot blew up in a dense cloud.

The heat wave from the missile that had exploded in the Nebulis base reflected off the

cliffs and rushed on, as though it were echoing toward the bottom of the canyon.

The whole area was covered in fine ash. The only constant was the vortex, which

continued to emit a faint glow.

"Elimination completed," muttered the girl with black hair and a blindfold.

She was the purebred Kissing Zoa Nebulis.

Using her astral power of thorns, she'd reformed the short-range missile and made it

detonate over Iska's head.

"..."The one thing that piqued Kissing's interest was the pair of swords that swordsman

carried.

It was the first time she had encountered anything that wasn't affected by the thorns,

which had even been able to erase the blast of the missile. But by now, the swords had

been blown to smithereens on impact. There was no way for an Imperial soldier—not

even a mage—to avoid the bombardment from the missile at such a close distance.

"Ha… ha-ha-ha… Wow!" the blond mage yelled, turning away from the dusty scene.

"That was spectacular, Lady Kissing! Just when I thought you were cornered by the

Imperial soldier, you'd already created another trap to ensnare him, all in the realm of

your calculations. To put down that detestable soldier with a loathsome Imperial

weapon! Amusing!"

"Kindred Shanorotte."

With the triumphant subordinate behind her, the black-haired purebred didn't even

turn around. She said only one more thing: "Report it."

"Yes, ma'am. At once! I'll tell them that you defeated the Imperial assassin and—"

"Who were you supposed to have defeated?"

Rising out of a cloud of dust was a human silhouette. Eventually, they could hear the

faint tapping of footsteps coming from beyond the veil of soot.

"…Impossible! How did you survive that explosion?" Shanorotte screamed, anger and

fear apparent in her voice.

As even the purebred stood stock-still in amazement, the Imperial soldier emerged

from the ashy dust with a pair of swords in hand. Iska had once again come to stand

before the vortex.

"Mismis's subordinate. What are you? How did you come out of that explosion

unharmed—?"

"Unharmed? As if." Iska used the back of his hand to wipe away the blood from the

corner of his mouth.

He'd probably easily been thrown back several dozen yards from the impact. His

whole body had slammed into the rock surface, but Iska had managed to stay conscious,

and that was the luckiest thing out of his bout of misfortune.

"Iska—"

"Captain, stay behind me." When the captain squeaked out with a quiet voice, Iska kept

his back facing her as he nodded.

Kissing observed them from beginning to end. She didn't say anything out loud, but

Iska was sure he saw the moment her expression turned grim behind her blindfold.

"You look like you're out of the loop. Didn't Alice tell you? I thought you were from the

Nebulis bloodline."

"... Ali… ce…? You mean Aliceliese…," Kissing muttered.

Up until this point, she hadn't had an interest in any of Iska's comments. She reacted

to Iska for the first time.

"These swords each have their own power," Iska started, talking about the one black

and one white blade in his two hands.

He had been prepared to believe the powers of the swords would be common

knowledge to the Nebulis Sovereignty, but the purebred in front of him seemed

uninformed by Alice about its powers.

"The white astral sword can release what the black one intercepts."

"…?"

"I'm sure you know, Kissing. There's a reason why you didn't hesitate to launch the

missile—even though we were at the same spot with the potential to die from the

blast—"

At that time, this purebred had invoked two astral attacks at once, even though Iska

was right in front of her.

"First, you reformed the missile for it to explode. But that would be suicide. You would

have been caught in the blast, too."

"..."

"Which is why you commanded the thorns to dissolve the blast coming in your

direction."

Kissing and Shanorotte had avoided the blast.

As a result, only the Imperial soldiers would have been caught in its fiery fury. That

was the certain victory that this witch had thought up.

…Which is why I used the same defense.

…I released the thorns with my white astral sword and erased the explosion.

But when he'd scrambled to find this method of defense, he wasn't overcome by

relief—but fear.

"Kissing." He turned to face the black-haired girl, boring into the eyes covered by the

blindfold. "I told you about my astral swords, so I'd like you to answer a question."

"…?"

"Who taught you how to do that?"

"…gh." The witch shook.

"Reusing an Imperial missile wasn't something you could think of on the spot. Even if

you had, you never would have been able to go through with it. If you were late with

your astral attack by a second or even a tenth of a second, you would have also been

caught up in the blast."

But Kissing hadn't hesitated to execute it. She'd tried to defeat her foe using that selfdestructive method—absolutely confident that she would be able to evade the blast.

"You trained, didn't you? To learn that suicidal behavior?"

"..."

"Who trained you in that atrocious way and when?"

It was a demonic idea. There had to be someone who had gone as far as to teach this

teenage girl that merciless technique.

"...Y... Yo... Yo..."

There was a sudden change in her. Until that point, Kissing had been unshakable, but

now she bent over, clutching her blindfold in both hands.

"Y… Y… You've…"

"What?"

"You've touched on classified information." She yanked down her blindfold. "And I

must eliminate all those who ask and find this out."

Her eyelids were bare to the world—where her astral crest had manifested. Which

was when Iska saw the crest move as though it were alive.

"What?!"

It was writhing, looking like a pattern of tangled snakes—coiling and slithering.

"Th… Th… Thorns… Thorns... My… All my thorns…!" She turned to the heavens.

Between the cliffs, thorns buzzed around the crown of her head as though a black

cloud. They obstructed the view of the sunlight before their eyes.

"That wasn't all you had?"

More importantly, there were too many thorns built up over his head to be aimed at

him. If they were going to be pouring down, they would undoubtedly hit her

subordinate Shanorotte in the exchange.

"Is that what you want, Kissing?!"

"Release—Dragon of Thorns."

Her silver thorns compressed into a gigantic snake, groaning and dipping toward the

ground. Or it might have been suitable to call it a serpentine dragon made entirely of

thorns.

As its tail squirmed and scraped against the cliff, its rocky surface began to melt into

nothing.

"—" Holding onto his astral swords, Iska dashed toward the witch.

And as if anticipating his next moves, the thorny dragon reared its head, standing in

front of Kissing as though to protect her—as though it was its master's guardian.

If it was a gathering of the astral thorns, then anything that touched the colossal

dragon would probably be annihilated. It was too large for one person to face alone.

"I shouldn't have expected any less from Nebulis's bloodline…"

Those who were called witches were ones to fear. Make no mistake: The Empire was

wrong to have persecuted and treated them inhumanely. But if this was the extent of

their power, Iska could sympathize with the feelings of those who feared them.

"A normal human would never be able to win against a mage. That's true for me, too.

I'm not going to just arm wrestle with you. I need to use another method, a different

way of defeating you that isn't through force—" Iska leaped not toward Kissing but to

the cliff that caught her eye.

"All I can do is fight for my life."

His feet reached the rock formation and leaped again, landing on the boulder behind

her.

"...…Huh?" A scowl formed on Kissing's closed eyes.

Just when she had thought he would attack, he had hid behind the shadow of a gigantic

rock. She certainly couldn't see Iska, but he also wouldn't be able to attack her from

this position.

On the other side of things, Kissing's dragon could eliminate his hiding spot just by

touching it. If she did that, he would have nowhere to run.

"Eliminate it," the witch ordered.

He was aiming right for that moment.

"Awaken!" Iska yelled from beyond the rock, using his white astral sword.

He'd ordered it to regenerate Kissing's thorns.

"And then make it disappear!"

A silver light pierced through the boulder. The white astral sword had regenerated

Kissing's attack, releasing thorns to pierce and hollow out the rock until it constructed

a tunnel only a single person could get through.

He'd made a direct line to Kissing.

He'd hid behind the rock as a decoy to make Kissing believe he couldn't attack from

that spot. However, Iska could go straight through this tunnel.

Just by running a few yards, he would be able to jump right at the witch's chest.

"Ah!"

The defenseless purebred stood frozen in place. Iska passed through the tunnel and

closed the distance between them as the witch pointed at him and ordered the astral

energy to counterattack—

"...…Huh?!"

"It's useless." He ran through the boulder, launching right into the shocked witch's

chest, whispering to her.

The astral power of thorns could not move. That was because Kissing herself had

already told it to erase the boulder that Iska was hiding behind.

Once she had issued an order, she had to cancel it.

By the time Kissing had realized that, Iska had already reached her.

"You don't have astral energy to protect you anymore."

She'd already depleted all her thorns by creating the gigantic snake. Because she had

shifted all her astral powers to attacking, she had none left to automatically guard her.

…Your energy is amazing. I'll give you that.

…But that's why humans resort to methods other than force.

He'd used the natural features of the canyon against the astral power and fully

reversed the situation—all while facing a witch of immense power.

Iska had used wisdom and finesse to outdo her.

"—"

"You're strong. It's true that you can flaunt your power and most humans will cower

in fear and do whatever you want… But you know…" He brought up his astral sword.

"You can't use that power and expect to easily win at everything."

The loud sound of the sword's fall echoed.

The girl with black hair slowly collapsed to the ground.

She had fainted.

And the lightning witch must have realized their loss—or scrambled to escape from

the snake—but she'd already made her exit.

Only three of them were left—Iska, Captain Mismis, and the unconscious purebred,

Kissing.

"…So that's it. Now we just need to deal with the vortex."

It was a spring bubbling with astral energy, gathering light at the hole in the canyon

as if a hot spring. The spray from it even now floated up like bubbles into the sky.

"Iska!" Captain Mismis staggered as she jogged to him. "I'm glad you're okay! I believed

you would all come!"

"Don't get too worked up, Captain. It's rocky around here, so if you run—"

"Auuuhhh?!"

"You'll trip… Welp, you fell before I could even warn you. Okay, look, please get ahold

of yourself." He took the hand of his captain, who had shrieked so cutely, and pulled

her up to her feet. "Are you hurt?"

"…N-no. I'm fine, but the other units are still held as prisoners. What happened to Jhin

and Nene?"

"They should come to meet us soon. Even if it's just us, we need to hide somewhere."

At that moment, there weren't any astral corps around the vortex.

In fear of the Imperial missiles, the Nebulis soldiers had temporarily evacuated for the

most part, but Iska was wary of the lightning witch Shanorotte, who had disappeared

somewhere out of sight when Kissing the purebred had been defeated.

…She was hyper-obsessed with Captain Mismis before.

…Will she really give it up?

There was the possibility for her to bring the others in the base to them and come back

for a counterattack. If that happened, that would mean trouble.

"Let's hide behind one of those buildings or something. After that, we'll need to

negotiate with the Sovereignty to trade the captured captains. That's not in my

domain, so I'll leave that to you, Captain Mismis."

"A—a trade? But a deal needs… Oh! Right!" Mismis raised her voice when she

understood the look that Iska flashed her.

She redirected her attention to the purebred on the ground—a witch from the

bloodline of Nebulis, more than enough to establish an exchange for the Imperial units

and then some.

"I got it; leave it to me!"

"Please. I'll take that purebred on my back and—"

"That would be annoying."

He heard a voice, sensed a presence, and then felt a sharp pain run through his back.

"…Ugh... Guh…!"

"Iska?!"

Even as he collapsed on the ground, Iska unsheathed his astral sword, softening the

landing on his knee. He flipped around to see a strange man in all-black formal wear

holding a knife smeared with blood. His face was concealed by a metal mask.

"In accordance with Shanorotte's report, I see. I'm surprised—twofold." The masked

man gazed intently at his knife, which he wielded with a reverse grip. "I was planning

on giving you one good stab in the back, but you twisted your body out of the way—

all in the span of a single instant. Terrific reflexes. Good range of movement, too."

"…Who are you?" Anguish leaked into his question as Iska bit his lip in severe pain.

If he had been a second too late, he would have been skewered. He was lucky to have

been able to detect the presence of the man and dodge his attack. Iska had narrowly

avoided being horrifically stabbed.

But when had the man appeared?

It was almost as though he hadn't made a sound as he had overtaken Iska's back.

"Two. I didn't think you would be able to overpower Kissing to this magnitude. I'll have

to take this as a lesson to be wary of dangers other than the Saint Disciples." The man

held the purebred in one of his hands. "But that's all for today—because I haven't

finished tinkering around with this girl. When she's 'complete,' you can come by again

to have some more fun."

"…You think we'll let you get away?"

The man was holding Kissing. He was an unidentified sorcerer, but it wasn't as though

they could let him run off with the girl.

"We'll settle things here and—"

"Maybe you should be more worried about your captain?" he suggested before his

entire silhouette wobbled—slipping out of sight before Iska's eyes.

When he reappeared, the masked man was far from him, materializing right next to

the captain.

"Captain Mismis!"

"…What?"

"And now I will take my leave. I hope we meet again, Imperial warrior of unknown

name."

There was a dull thump when the masked man kicked Mismis. Her body flew into the

air as it slung back into a gaping, glowing hole. In other words, he kicked her into the

vortex.

"You—?!" Iska shouted.

The masked man and Kissing vanished as the unconscious captain sank into the spring

overflowing with astral energy—as though flung into a volcanic opening brimming

with lava.

She plunged—pitching back into the core under the mantle. Once she sank down to

that point, there would be no way of saving her. Because of that, Iska didn't take a

moment to hesitate.

"Captain!" He dove into the torrent of astral energy, throwing himself into the vortex.

His vision filled with light.

As the inside raged with the intensity of a storm, he managed to make out the voices

of the others in his unit.

"Iska?! Hold up…!"

"Iska!"

And right before everything was covered in an astral glow…

…Iska saw someone watching him tumble into the vortex.

The Ice Calamity Witch Alice.

"…Alice?!"

Why? Why was she here—yelling something unintelligible at him, backlit by the

sunset?!

Leaving behind her attendant, Rin, Alice sprinted and stretched her hand out to him.

"—"

At the same time, Iska tumbled into the vortex.

"Iska?!" Alice had bellowed his name when she came to her senses, forgetting that she

was in the base camp for the House of Zoa.

…What happened?

…What kind of battle are you telling me occurred here?

The camp stood in black soot. The roofs of buildings had melted. Even the barricade

that had originally closed off the vortex had disappeared.

And Alice witnessed the young female captain and Iska fall directly into the exposed

fountain.

The vortex was a hole that reached down tens of thousands of yards underground into

the mantle of the planet. Iska probably could have clung to its walls and clambered up

the hole.

But with the captain?

Iska wasn't the type to leave behind his superior and return alive by himself.

But in the storming vortex, Alice couldn't say with conviction that he could climb up

to the surface with another person on his back. They were heading to the core of the

planet, from which they would never return.

If they had experienced astral energy, they might have been able to surf its currents,

but if they hadn't, they would sink into the depths of the planet—and never rise back

up again.

What if Iska disappeared forever? She didn't want that. She hadn't settled things with

him yet.

"…You've got to be kidding me. Wait right there, Iska!"

"Lady Alice, what are you doing?!"

She ran on impulse, leaving behind Rin standing next to her. Alice kicked off the

ground, then launched herself into the vortex.

And down she went, chasing after Iska.

The current glistened.

…A transparent green.

…Beautifully radiant.

He was falling into the depths of the vortex as it surged with light coming from the

mantle deep below. Iska lost his senses as he took in the glittering spectacle. The

particles of light were about the size of embers—tens of thousands, millions of them

had gathered in a gush of wind and trembled as they headed to the surface.

This was astral energy. Somewhere in this vortex was the astral spirit—the power that

the Nebulis Sovereignty and the Empire were desperate to obtain.

But he didn't have time to search for it.

"Captain!"

She was on the other side of the current, farther down than Iska.

She didn't respond. From the pain of the masked man's kick and the jolt of falling into

the vortex, Mismis had lost consciousness. Because of that, she was pulled into the

deep hole by gravity.

"Gah…!" Iska stretched out his hand and yanked Mismis by the belted strap on her

back with one hand, piercing the wall with the blade of his astral sword. He clung to

the wall.

…I need to climb to the surface.

…Which would be tough under the perfect circumstances. What a task.

The stab wound on his back throbbed in pain—on top of this turbulence.

With Mismis on his back, clinging to the wall took everything he had. If he made one

wrong move, his hand would slip, and he would plunge down the wrong way again.

"…I shouldn't have gone to the casino… This is what happens after using up all your

luck…!" With his fingers locked in a dimple in the wall, Iska pulled himself up.

When he strained his shoulders, Iska could feel the wound on his back gaping wider.

"…Iska!" Someone was calling his name.

Had Captain Mismis woken up? But there was no change in the captain on his back.

Had the rushing current caused him to hear an auditory hallucination? He reasoned

with himself.

That's when he heard the dignified voice of a young woman being blown around in the

vortex. "Answer me!"

"Alice?!"

The princess of the Nebulis Sovereignty, Aliceliese sank into the current as though

underwater.

She wasn't a mirage.

Right before his eyes was Alice—the one he swore he'd seen right before falling into

this hole.

"…You. Where have you been?" yelled the girl with blond hair, whipped around by the

raging torrent. "I was looking for you! I knew you were here, and I went all the way to

the Imperial camp trying to find you! But you weren't there! I was hoping we would

run into each other on the way back! But I couldn't spot you anywhere… and of all

things, that astrologer said you were close by, so…"

"An astrologer?"

"…It's nothing." Alice's face flushed red—but only for a moment. With her entire body

thrashed by the current, Alice wore a desperate expression as she offered her hand.

"Hang on tight."

"…What?"

"Hurry! Even I… You have to understand that humans cannot control the energy in this

vortex. We need to get back aboveground before the wind picks up!"

What was happening?

This was a battlefield. If it was a neutral city, he could understand that they couldn't

fight, but in this place, they were enemies.

"I have one condition. As soon as we get to the surface, we continue our battle. I've

been searching for you high and low to finish what we started."

"—"

"Well, what do you say?"

"If that's the condition, I have no objections." He nodded without pause.

Their fight had been put on hold by the Founder Nebulis. It was one that Iska would

not have been able to avoid.

"Promise?" Alice asked, offering her hand to him.

He took it in his, feeling her warmth as they touched.

What he noticed most was the softness of her skin—supple and lithe to the point that

he worried it might vanish if he gripped it too firmly.

She was the strongest class of mage, feared as the Ice Calamity Witch, and yet somehow

so delicate to the touch.

"..."

They hadn't noticed during their intense fight against the Founder Nebulis, focusing

every fiber of their being on each other. And for a brief moment, Iska and Alice were

both at a loss for words upon contact.

Iska was left speechless by the soft hands that Alice had from growing up as a princess.

Alice was tongue-tied by the ruggedness of Iska's palms, which were forged by his

training as a swordsman.

They were holding hands out of necessity. Which begged the question: Why were they

blanking out?

"Uh—"

"Um—"

In that moment, when they opened their mouths…

So E lu emne xel noi Es—Accept me.

The current burst as if by volcanic eruption. The stream of astral energy spurted with

a volatile force that increased like a giant storm as it surged to the surface.

"This power. The astral spirit is close... Oh no! I don't think I can control it!"

"Alice?!"

With her hand stretched out to him, Alice was blasted up to the surface with an

immense power that even a mage couldn't control. What was this raging wind? What

possessed enough power to release this much energy? Was it close? Was it coming

closer?

In that case, it had to be…

"It can't be the astral spirit—!"

At his feet was a colossal cluster of light that sent shivers down his spine.

And before he could confirm its identity, Iska and Mismis were both rushed to the

surface.

"Iska, you good?!"

"Iska! Captain Mismis!"

Jhin and Nene drove over to where Iska had been blown onto the surface.

A few minutes ticked by.

Far beyond Unit 907 of the Third Division, the vortex and its illusory glow were

extinguished by the Empire's next missile.