The Sorcerer and the Berserker

The Orelgan prison spire.

It was the detention center that stood in the thirteenth state, Alcatroz, tasked with

holding the most atrocious of criminals. Its grounds were currently engulfed in a

mixture of black and red—dense clouds of smoke and hot embers of the Empire's

incendiary weapons.

Hearing the crackling flames mingling with the snapping of Imperial gunshots and

shouts of the astral mage corps took no effort.

"…Imperial swordsman?" Alice's attendant had been hit hard by a powerful sound

wave, and it took her all just to stay conscious. Her lips barely moved. "Are you saying

that… knowing full well… who this sorcerer is…?! This is the man who turned on the

royal family…"

"If I don't, I can't go back to the Empire."

"…What?"

He could tell from Rin's reaction that Alice had been acting alone to hide the key in the

handkerchief. That decision must have caused Alice great anguish—to keep her

attendant in the dark about her covert plan.

"I want you to promise me something," Iska started.

How he had managed to get off the handcuffs was a secret between Alice and him. At

the moment, Iska needed to tell Rin something else.

"I'll defeat him. In exchange—as the condition for my release—you must promise that

you won't interfere while my unit and I return to the border. I don't see Alice anywhere,

but I'm guessing she's close by, right?"

Rin was silent.

"I assume we have an understanding."

"I—I haven't said anything yet…!"

"If you were against it, you would've said something."

"I don't get it," snarled the sorcerer, his booming tone disrupting the very air as Rin

fumbled to find her words. "An Imperial soldier? I don't understand why someone

from the Empire would protect a witch. And why are you challenging me? Answer

me…" He shook his head in irritation.

Illuminated by the blue moon, Salinger the Transcendental snapped his fingers.

"Never mind. There's no use in asking. Be gone."

The air around Rin and Iska contorted—the cause being the explosively widening

shock wave hurtling at Iska from behind. With the intensity of a gale, the wave dashed

everything it touched.

"A wave?"

It took only one sweep of Iska's astral blade to slice the incoming attack in two. The

wave split the same way that one would part the sea, crashing past them on either side

instead of swallowing Iska and Rin as intended.

"Hmm…"

He sliced through sound. The sorcerer did not move in the slightest, cocking his

eyebrow slightly.

"Roaring Song. Others have defended against it in the past, but I've never seen it

physically cut in two. You there, swordsman, what kind of trick did you use?"

"There's nothing special about me. It's the power of the astral swords."

"…Astral swords?" An eyebrow scrunched up. But he immediately shrugged in an

exaggerated manner and responded with a fearless smile. "Don't play dumb with me.

I'm not asking about the swords but you. Roaring Song is an invisible, destructive

energy, which means this outcome has nothing to do with your weapons. Wouldn't you

say it's all about skill?"

Humans couldn't see sound. Iska shouldn't have been able to hit it with his sword: That

was inconceivable. By the time he would have registered the sound, the shock wave

should have already blasted his whole body away.

"It's invisible, but right now, there's an exception to the rule."

"…Because of the swaying flames?!" The one who opened her eyes wide was the girl

on the ground.

Why hadn't she noticed it before? They were on the grounds of the prison spire,

surrounded by flames that the Imperial military had created. Motes of fire were

leaping from place to place.

And Iska had noticed the way they moved.

"The fire suddenly went out. I knew there had to be something there."

"…Imperial soldier… You have quite a talent for scanning your surroundings, huh? For

you to—"

"It wasn't as though I noticed it from the very start." Iska's swordsmanship had

nothing to do with talent. Or at the very least, it wasn't as though he was born gifted.

He had drilled himself until it was muscle memory. Over the years, he had spent

countless hours devoting himself to mastering his craft. It was his unrelenting focus

on the fundamentals that raised his abilities with the sword to levels where no one

could hope to equal him.

"Either you're an acrobat or it was a miracle. Either it's coincidence or talent." Salinger

was illuminated by the blue glow of the moon as he lifted one of his hands. It was his

right hand bearing the crest of Water Mirror. "In that case, it'll be fun to see what you

can do. Now, swordsman, how many more times can you survive? If you can get to

three, I'll acknowledge you are a miracle maker."

"Imperial soldier!" Rin hollered. "Don't lose focus. He isn't a sound-type mage. That's

just one of the many powers he's stolen!"

"—Gh."

"He is actually a Water Mirr—…!"

The air shattered as an explosion blew the immobilized maid back.

"Rin?!"

"Don't get in the way, maid. I'm having my fun with the swordsman right now."

It wasn't a sound wave. The flames around them hadn't been disturbed at all, meaning

the air in front of her eyes had simply exploded.

"—Ngh." Iska had been ready to sprint toward her when he stopped in his tracks,

kicking off the ground sideways. A moment later, the air surrounding the area where

he had been detonated without warning.

"Stellar reflexes. How did you figure that one out?"

"By instinct."

"That's what I figured. But that has its limits. You can't hold out."

"Hold out? No, that's not what I need to do." Iska leaped.

It was Salinger's turn to freeze.

"It'll be over soon."

"…Why, you?!" Salinger balked.

Iska moved fast enough to leave an afterimage, tearing through the air streaming with

soot as he closed the two yards between them. He was a step and a swing of the sword

away. An instant more was all he needed to be in range to end it.

It was kill or be killed.

With an enemy that was as strong as a purebred, Iska didn't think he could handle all

the astral attacks the sorcerer could bring to bear—he'd be expecting to get away with

avoiding just two. Before the third could be unleashed, he needed to charge in and end

the battle.

"You're a beast in the skin of a swordsman!" Salinger shrieked.

The tip of Iska's sword grazed past the sorcerer's nose. Salinger had used a wind

barrier—a gale coming in from the side had pushed Iska back, knocking the

swordsman off-balance.

"Ha-ha, that nearly scared me to death."

"…Did you know it was coming?" Iska pulled back the sword and glared at the man

with white hair who leaped away.

A wind barrier.

What was surprising was the speed at which it had been invoked. Salinger definitely

wouldn't have been able to summon it in time if he'd waited until Iska stepped

forward. Iska's victory would have been assured the moment he got close enough to

deliver the death blow.

But this man had prepared that invocation beforehand.

…Though he acts with the confidence that he can use overwhelming astral power to

crush people, he's actually a tactician who thinks two or three steps ahead.

This man wasn't looking down on Iska.

Though he flaunted that he was above a mere swordsman, Iska could tell Salinger was

prudent and incredibly calculating.

"What terrifying physical strength. But you let the opportunity of a lifetime go by. Your

blade will not reach me a second time."

"I agree." Iska reversed the grip of his right, black astral sword.

He took a breath. Suddenly, the blades of grass started to whip around, and Iska once

again launched himself off the ground.

"I won't let you use the same trick. This time, I'll cut through the barrier."

"Crawl, you beast."

The ground under Iska's feet opened up, revealing something more than a crevice—it

was a rift. Centered around the swordsman, a gravitational field had appeared,

drawing in everything around him for a ten-yard radius and crushing it with incredible

force.

"It's a gravitational zone that would even bring down a dragon flying through the skies.

And as for humans—"

"There is no such thing as an astral attack that can't be cut."

Iska's sword glinted as it traced an arc through the air. Moments later, the gravitational

area was dispelled with a dry sound.

He hadn't just swung at random.

His long sword had cut through the seam of the attack with mechanical precision.

If he had been even a hairbreadth off target… if he had been a moment too late… he

would have been caught in the gravitational net and reduced to a stain on the ground.

"Seems you can even cut through an atmospheric cage." Salinger jumped back.

But there was something hard at his back stopping him from retreating any farther:

the wall of the prison spire. The sorcerer hadn't noticed it. He had been so

overwhelmed by Iska's pursuit that he didn't even notice he had been cornered.

"Earth explosion," Salinger the Transcendental hollered. "Rise. Scorch the earth with

your wrath."

"Imperial soldier! Get out of the way!" As an earth-type, Rin had sensed something

coming from beneath Iska's feet.

Blistering energy was welling up from deep underground, heralding the most powerful

of natural phenomena that was about to break through the earth's crust.

"You'll get swallowed by magma!"

There was an eruption—the ground below glimmered a brilliant red as chunks of

molten earth and flares blasted outward.

This was unmistakably magma drawn from natural pools that lay deep within the

planet.

There was no point in trying to cut it with his astral sword.

"—Gah…!" Iska leaped far back from the prison-spire wall.

Any point where the outer wall of the prison made contact with the approaching lava

immediately liquefied. The nearby grass ignited from just the ambient heat as the

molten rock continued pouring into the area around the spire.

"You saved me," Iska said.

"You were the lesser of two evils. That's all this is." Blood trailing from the corners of

her mouth, Rin got up, panting for breath. "We're going to box him in, Imperial soldier.

I hate to say it, but having you here is a miracle. I don't know how many aces he has

up his sleeve, but this is where it ends."

"Hmm? Is that some kind of joke?" Salinger had alighted on the second-floor rooftop

of the gnarled prison spire, enjoying the view as the wind ruffled his white hair. He

narrowed his eyes and sneered at them. "You're making it seem as though I've shown

you any of my tricks."

"…What's so odd about that?" The girl with brown hair returned his gaze. "In the end,

you're nothing but a thief. You can't steal all of someone's astral powers—half is the

best you can do. That means your power can't be greater than the attacks you've

already shown us."

Ultimately, Salinger possessed only a fragment of the real thing.

Whether it be Nebulis's divine staffs, Alice's great Ice Calamity, or Kissing's Dragon of

Thorns, a first-rate astral mage always had a trump card. But this man, a Water

Mirror–type, didn't have anything like that to begin with.

"You're going to show us all the cards you have in your hand."

"My hand, huh? I see…" Salinger sighed. "That's my problem. I never intended to go

easy on you, but I unconsciously held back. During the battle at the royal palace thirty

years ago, I was too reluctant about showing it off, but because of that, I missed my

chance."

"…What?"

"You think I have other cards left ? I never even showed any of my cards, even thirty

years ago. Watch closely, maid, Imperial swordsman."

The Transcendental…

The origin of the name that the sorcerer had chosen for himself.

"It's deep. The core of astral power runs deeper than you know. Why don't I wipe you

out by showing you just a peek into that abyss?"

An instant later, Iska and Rin saw a devastating blast of astral light come into being

right before their eyes.

The Orelgan prison spire.

The grass of the eastern side of the grounds had been engulfed by red due to the

Imperial military's firebombs and the free-flying embers that had been carried by the

wind, ravishing other buildings.

"The suppression squads will continue to look for Salinger! The police will rescue the

injured. And I will stop this fire!" Alice yelled inside the roaring flames.

As sweat beaded on her face, Alice raised her voice higher to be heard. "All prison

guards are to help search for Salinger. We can't let him leave Alcatroz! Pay attention

for any traces of him with—"

"It's no use." From behind Alice, a shadowy silhouette came out from the red flames

and raised a fist, aiming for the Sovereign princess. "He can't be stopped. Because

there is no one who can stop him."

"…Who do you think you're talking to?" A pillar of ice grew out of the ground, stopping

the assassin's fist. Crunch. The ice creaked, shattering into thousands of fragments.

They were both unharmed.

Though it had been only a few minutes since this man had appeared, he had already

conducted a nigh countless number of attacks and defenses.

"Your leadership is impressive. Just when I thought you were nothing more than the

daughter of the sitting queen, it turns out you're quite the commanding officer. If you

hadn't been here, this place would have already fallen."

"What an honor to receive your praise."

"My praise? I was just being sarcastic."

"Yes, I'm sure you were."

It was a strange electronic voice that seemed to worm its way into her eardrums,

coiling itself around her heart. Alice gritted her teeth every time she heard it.

"Saint Disciple Nameless… this is my country. Leave this place, you lowly assassin."

"For a witch to call me lowly… How absurd." The man was covered in a dark-gray

photochemical suit from head to toe.

His physique was unknown. His voice was masked by electronics. It was rumored what

lay under the suit was not a human but an autonomous mechanical soldier.

The Saint Disciple of the eighth seat, Nameless.

It hadn't even been two weeks since the scramble for the vortex. Alice would never

have guessed that he would have infiltrated the Sovereign domain in the short time

since then.

"I was surprised when you appeared. May I ask how you got past the borders?"

"By force, naturally."

"Liar. There is no way I wouldn't have been informed if you had."

The Imperial assassin was playing dumb. She didn't know how many of his subordinates

were lurking nearby, but she was sure the Empire's military had concocted some

scheme to infiltrate the country.

"Did you suggest this? Were you the one who came up with the plan to attack the

prison and free Salinger?"

"Do you really need to know? What is in front of your eyes is the reality. The prison

spire has been burned down, and Salinger the Transcendental will once again attack

the royal palace. That's all you need to know."

"I'll stop him."

"When you're in this state?"

The air around them froze over, coalescing into dozens of ice arrows that shot at

Nameless. But before they could reach him, the Imperial assassin disappeared into the

flames.

…He hid again.

…Where will he come out of this time?!

The dust. The swaying flames. The leaping embers. This was certainly the most

suitable environment for Nameless to hide in. Alice needed to know the direction of

his approach to attack reliably—the only other option was to indiscriminately freeze

everything in her vicinity.

But this situation would not allow her to do that.

"You thought you had an advantage battling in the Sovereignty?" The voice mingled

with the roaring flames. "Your subordinates, your kin, your people. Now, why don't

you try showing them your powers?"

"Ugh! Shut your mouth!"

If she unleashed her powers now, her allies would be caught up in the area of effect.

And Nameless knew that Alice was aware of that more than anyone.

"Saint Disciple Nameless, where did your fervor go? Come at me with all you have!"

"With all I have? Sure. Once Salinger has left this place."

"—Gh."

He was so irritating.

But it was probably the perfect strategy.

…Rin, I'm counting on you.

…You're my last hope. As long as the Imperial military has its eyes on me, hunting down

that sorcerer is up to you!

Alice was aware that Salinger's discovery and pursuit were dangerous endeavors. She

didn't want to order her beloved attendant to fulfill that role.

…There's only one other person.

…If only he was here… No, Alice, don't go there. You can't wish for that.

She couldn't hope for something that convenient—though she had wanted the

Imperial swordsman to help her deal with the sorcerer in exchange for a promise to

let him safely leave the country.

But she hadn't been able to say it.

It would be too easy. It would be too impure. Her feelings toward her rival—toward

Iska—would have been tainted. She could never allow that to happen.

"Nameless!" She gritted her teeth as she glared at the raging flames. "Hurry up and

come out. If you don't, and if I have to ignore you—"

A pillar of fire leaped into the air.

And it wasn't part of the inferno that had been charring Alice's surroundings.

Right in front of the prison spire, flames mixed with lava blotted out the night sky with

hot red, as though a volcano had erupted.

The violent upheaval lit up a shadowy figure—a man standing on the second-floor

roof of the prison spire… a man with white hair whose coat billowed in the air.

"…Salinger?!"

That was when Alice saw the figure of the black-haired swordsman challenging him.

Water Mirror allowed its user to steal another's power, making it the most dangerous

and abhorred of astral energies.

Salinger could transfer 50 percent of another person's astral power into himself by

holding their crests together.

"A misunderstanding. You're delusional. You think that's stealing? Ha! Only someone

with no knowledge of astral power would say that." On the second floor of the Orelgan

prison spire with the outer wall to the ground floor under him, the captivating man

with white hair made a bold declaration. "This power allows me to divide astral power

in half."

"…Nonsense!" Rin screamed at him from the ground. "You're spinning the truth. You're

reducing the power of the mages by half. What makes you any different from a

common thief?"

"There are things I can do specifically with half power. That's what I'm saying." Two

different lights flickered from the sorcerer's hands: red from his right hand and blue

from his left. "'Sublimate.' 'Ruin and rise.'"

"…Ugh. Impossible!" Rin was at a loss for words. The two colors indicated that he was

controlling two powers at the same time.

Other than the Founder Nebulis, no one could use two powers at once.

"Fire and water. Earth and wind. Yin and yang—" As though he was casting a spell, his

words melded with the stirring wind. "Two opposites rise to a higher dimension to

unify: a refinement that no lone astral power can attain. See for yourself."

Using two powers at half their strength at the same time, he could unify the incomplete

components into one.

That was the essence of Water Mirror.

"And this is the planet's will."

It was the sanctus of fire and water, a Gradual among stars: "A fire marked the start of

humankind. Rise beyond the banks of the frozen river."

Salinger called forward an ice floe accompanied by burning hellfire.

Iska had seen both of those astral attacks before, except… the "flames" that were

falling from the sky had iced over, turning them bright blue.

It was frozen fire—a searing cold heat.

Iska's mind ground to a halt as he tried to process this incomprehensible situation that

seemed to defy the laws of physics. Could this phenomenon that surpassed human

comprehension be cut by a sword?

…I don't know what kind of power this is, but if it reaches the ground, it'll be a disaster.

That I know for sure.

"Get away, Rin!" He kicked off the prison spire, twirling into the air. With a triple jump,

Iska built up enough momentum to go past the second floor, slashing toward the

sanctus of fire and water.

Iska brought down his sword on the frozen fire. "Hah!"

The outer ice wall that surrounded the flames broke apart—revealing the glittering

source of the fire that abruptly flared, radiating like a beam of pure sunlight.

"Ugh! So this ice is like a coffin that seals away the flame…!"

"Looks like you've destroyed its balance." While manipulating two powers at once,

Salinger pronounced his victory. "That was your mistake. Be gone."

Iska had quite literally smashed the equilibrium between the two powers, disrupting

its harmony. The power of the remaining fire expanded uncontrollably, inevitably

surging outward in an explosion.

"Iskaaaaaaaa?!" Rin screamed. She watched everything as the swordsman disappeared

into the blast, unable to do anything.

As if it was the grandest fireworks display of all time, the red ball of fire burst, setting

loose a thousand—no, tens of thousands of flaring embers that spread across the night

sky.

"...Salinger… Are you saying this is the reason why you collected all those astral

powers?!"

"This wasn't my reason. This was just a happy little accident. "

"Huh?"

"This is what I've achieved so far, but it isn't the destination." Only the man's voice

could be heard inside the curtain of pouring embers. "This is the true nature of Water

Mirror. I can combine two great powers and bring them to an even higher plane. But

this is still only the second stage."

"…Are you saying you haven't stolen enough yet? How many powers are you going to

poach and plunder?!"

"You just don't understand, do you?" The sorcerer's expression showed his utter

contempt for Rin. "Combining and mixing astral powers is work fit for a mage. I aim

for a level of existence that goes beyond that. In other words, it is…"

The third stage. The unification of humans and astral power.

"…What… are you saying?" It took all Rin had to get that out. Her throat was parched

from the fire, to the point that even speaking was agonizingly painful. "Unifying

humans and astral power…?"

"Like the Founder Nebulis."

"…You're saying that happened to the Revered Founder?!"

"On this planet, there have been only two people who have been able to attain that

state by their own power. Both are true monsters. However, I will inevitably have the

same one day. I shall follow in their footsteps."

Rin understood.

She understood why he called himself the Transcendental.

It wasn't pride or hubris. He wanted to completely surpass astral mages. And he

certainly had the power and mindset to make such a grandiose declaration.

"…Then I really can't let you leave this place, Salinger." Rin drew out daggers from

behind her.

This man was dangerous. He had threatened the royal palace once before already.

There was no doubt he would try to bring down the Sovereignty, which was a danger

she couldn't overlook as a citizen who sought peace.

"You haven't lost your will to fight yet? You just watched that swordsman meet his

end."

"His end? You think that was an end?" With her brown hair whipping around, the witch

snorted. "Ha! Finally. This time, it's my turn to laugh at you."

"…?"

"You don't know a thing about Iska." With the back of her hand, she wiped away the

blood still seeping from her mouth, pointing the tips of her daggers at the sorcerer,

whose face contorted dubiously. "That Imperial swordsman is the one and only rival

that my lady Aliceliese has ever acknowledged. And more importantly, he's the man

who drove away the very Revered Founder who you dared to call a monster."

"What?" Salinger knit his eyebrows.

To one who knew nothing of the mortal struggle that had taken place in the neutral

city of Ain, Rin must have sounded as though she was recalling a fever dream.

"He drove away the Founder? Out of all the things you could claim. Is that a joke?"

"There's no way Iska would be finished after your measly attack. I'm just glad I could

buy some time by going along with your idiotic speech."

"…Enough. I'm sick of your face. Be gone." He invoked the sanctus of flame and water—

the culmination of Salinger's quest for power…

"Where do you think you're looking, sorcerer?"

From the blazing column that engulfed the prison spire burst out a single swordsman

in a shower of sparkling embers.

"Impossible?!" Salinger yelped in a strained voice.

He had been certain that his trump card eliminated that boy—what else could have

happened when the swordsman pierced through the ice and unleashed an explosive

torrent of searing fire. It had enough power to hurt even the dragons that lived in the

unexplored frontiers of the planet, which was why the sorcerer felt a chill along his

spine for the first time in his life.

"What… What did you do, swordsman?!" Salinger bounded from the second floor to

the fourth, using the power of astral wind to soar into the sky above. In pursuit, Iska

leaped from the roof on the second floor to the third. "That was one of my strongest

creations! Not something a mortal could withstand!"

"…These two astral swords form one."

As the sorcerer leaped to the highest floor of the spire, Iska jumped past the third.

"The black steel astral sword can cut through any astral attack, and the white can

invoke the power of the last thing cut."

"Huh…?! You couldn't have."

"I cut the outer wall—the ice that was sealing away the fire. Then I called that ice back."

The injuries on Iska's body were not from burns but from frostbite, which could mean

only one thing…

"You're saying you wore the ice that you called back on your own body?!"

With some quick thinking, Iska had fashioned himself a kind of ice armor to protect

himself from the fire blast. However, what really made Salinger's eyes open wide in

disbelief was the reckless idea that Iska had to don the astral ice.

"Ridiculous. That would have frozen your entire body! Even if you had protected

yourself from the fire, you should have ended up an ice sculpture and suffocated!"

"That's right. That's why it took a while to melt it. "

"...Huh?"

This time Salinger was undoubtedly at a loss for words. What had Iska done? After he

had frozen his body to protect himself from the fire blast, how had he revived himself?

That was when Salinger the Transcendental realized something: It had to be the blaze

engulfing the prison spire, burning far enough to reach the roof on the second floor.

Those fires had been started with incendiary devices that the Imperial army had

deployed. They wouldn't go out simply because some time had passed.

"So you jumped into the fire?!"

To protect himself from the astral fire, he had frozen himself by wearing the astral ice.

To melt that ice, he had thrown himself into the wildfire that the Empire had created.

If he hadn't revived himself fast enough, he would have frozen to death. But even if he

had managed to thaw himself out, if he had been even a few moments late in his escape

from the fire, he would have burned to death.

"You're insane. You're saying you thought up that nonsense in the moment—without

hesitation?!"

"I had no reason to hesitate."

"—NGH?! " The sorcerer staggered at the swordsman's overwhelming presence.

Salinger had never witnessed an enemy as strange as this one. He shuddered with

unprecedented fear. Not even during the battle at the royal palace thirty years ago had

he felt this way—not even when he faced Queen Nebulis VII. And yet, he found this

swordsman deeply unsettling.

"You're saying that… you broke through my secret technique with that idiocy?!"

"Where there's a will."

These had been the terms of his exchange with the Nebulis princess: He had accepted

the key hidden in the handkerchief, which bound him in a promise with his rival, Alice.

…How could I… turn my back on our promise?

Iska couldn't allow himself to reach his limit before he settled things with the Ice

Calamity Witch, after all.

"A will? What an asinine thing to say!" Salinger howled, a ball of rage and fear. "You

repulsive berserker! Don't you dare think you can use that trick a second time!"

The sorcerer was determined to not allow him to pull off the same tactic twice and live

to tell about it. Salinger fought back the roaring flames in his heart, keeping his mind

ice-cold.

Salinger's strength didn't reside in his astral power. His bold yet cautious nature were

the dual parts of his character that defined his true worth.

"This is a secret technique derived from the Founder's bloodline. Be proud that you

have laid eyes on it!"

This time, it was the sanctus of wind and lightning. Astral light shot from Salinger's

raised right hand only to be drawn in by a swirling cloud that raged in the dead of

night.

"Air and lightning. Dance! Go wild!"

The atmosphere warped as a sandstorm swallowed the prison spire and started to

blow away everything in the area. The outer wall of the spire peeled off and crashed

to the ground, extinguishing the flames in the immediate vicinity. It enveloped Iska

and Rin before they could bat an eye.

"A sandstorm!" They weren't threatened by the wind itself: The raging storm had

started to kick up and fling pebbles into the air, small stones about the size of the tip

of a person's pinkie finger. Once lifted by wind of this speed, those tiny fragments hit

with the strength of a bullet, transforming the storm into a wind-powered machine

gun.

However, they didn't hit Iska.

"…Earth, gather!" The ground reared up, clustering into a humanoid golem that acted

as a protective shield for Iska against the pelts of pebbles.

"Rin?"

"…Don't worry about me. Just destroy him!" Rin had only a small earthen shield in her

own hand. She had reached the limits of her astral power. The witch hadn't been able

to recover from the earlier attack, choosing to form a single golem for Iska. "The golem

won't last long… Go! "

"Maid! The curtain has long since fallen on your act. You're an eyesore!"

Claps of thunder boomed in the eye of the storm, parting swirling clouds as lightning

came crashing down, aiming straight for the ground—where the girl with brown hair

had fallen to her knees, far past her physical limit.

The lightning arced toward Rin. In that moment…

…the lightning froze in place.

The air became still.

The storm halted.

A subarctic chill iced over the injuries across Rin's body—a frost that could even stop

lightning itself.

"What are you doing to my Rin?"

Ice was everywhere. With just one attack, the astral mage cut straight to the heart of

the matter. Cloaked in the chilled air, the girl calmly walked toward Rin, strolling with

refined elegance.

"…Lady Alice!"

"Thank you for your hard work, Rin. Good job holding out against him." Alice didn't

even give the sorcerer above her as much as a passing glance as she held Rin in her

arms.

She presented her opponent with plenty of opportunities to attack her. The princess

of the Nebulis Sovereignty was so certain that the match had been settled that she saw

no reason to be on guard.

"Iska…" Clutching onto Rin, the girl with golden hair quietly crooned his name. "So you

really did answer my call."

With his eyes pinned on the sorcerer at the spire's top, Iska kicked off the fourth floor

into the heart of the raging sandstorm.

Higher… Higher. Higher. High as the tallest buildings of the thirteenth state.

"I win, sorcerer."

"Don't growl at me, mongrel! You're only a common swordsman—thinking you could

stand at my level is a dream beyond a dream. You're nothing to me!"

Beams of light leaped from the sorcerer's hands, condensing in his palms to take on

the shape of a pair of swords.

This was the sanctus of light and dark, Gradual among stars. "My majesty, may your

unending light subdue this abyss."

Light and shadow.

One sword radiated a multicolored luminance, while the other sword was ink black,

absorbing all light. It was impossible to imagine the power they possessed. Speculation

was meaningless.

But…

"You lose, Salinger!"

…in the end, it didn't matter whether their powers were to be feared or not. The

wielder was a sorcerer.

Though he had mastered using astral powers, he wasn't a swordsman.

And because of that…

…Iska's astral swords plowed through the sorcerer's.

* * *

The sorcerer collapsed after he was hit.

At the top of the Orelgan prison spire, the criminal who tried to surpass royalty had

been struck on his arm.

"…Ha. Ha. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" he roared in delight.

"Salinger?"

"Isn't it amusing? Just as I reach my peak as an astral mage, the planet casts a

troublesome foe in my direction. A test! My trial!" Salinger plummeted from the fifth

floor of the spire. Though he fell backward toward the earth, his expression was one

of exaltation. "Heed me. Nothing can keep me contained!"

His pronouncement echoed as if a curse.

The transcendental sorcerer fell headfirst down the prison spire to the grounds below.

Day had broken on Alcatroz.

As the night pulled back its dark screen hanging over the city, it became clear that the

prison spire had been reduced to a burned-out husk: The soil was charred, the ground

scorched by the firebombs and astral fire, black soot still rising from the area.

"Lady Alice, we have finished checking on the prisoners. No one has seen any escapees."

"I see. That's good." Alice slowly rounded the grounds. She glanced at the outer wall of

the spire that had been slightly liquefied and turned to the attendant next to her. "Rin,

what about your injuries?"

"They do not bother me."

"Really? Then is this scrape here fine, too?"

"Yow! Lady Alice, why would you do that?!"

"Because you're acting tough." Alice was half-worried and half-joking. She burst into

laughter. "It's just you and me. Be honest."

"It doesn't hurt."

"..."

"Just kidding! Kidding! It really does hurt! Please don't smile while jabbing my injuries!"

The girl wrapped in bandages scuttled away in a fluster. "M-more importantly, Lady

Alice, about that sorcerer…"

"I'll think of a place to hold him. We need to keep him somewhere better built."

"No, what I would like to tell you is…" Ahem , Rin coughed. "A message just came from

the Sovereignty. The queen has praised you for stopping Salinger's escape at a critical

moment."

"Right. I think my mother must feel relieved."

The transcendental sorcerer.

Alice hadn't fought him directly. Now that she'd heard Rin's stories and seen her

wounds, it wasn't weird to hear that the queen was relieved.

…But the one who brought him down wasn't Rin or me.

…If I told my mother that it was an Imperial swordsman, I wonder what kind of expression

she'd make.

He was no longer there.

Just around that time, he must have been approaching the border.

"I fulfilled my promise. We're good now, right?"

It had been just before daybreak. He had said that at this exact spot before they had

parted.

The promise was that he would help capture Salinger in exchange for removing his

handcuffs. However, Alice hadn't said anything about that. She had hesitated to say

anything and, in the end, never mentioned it at all.

But he had realized it.

…Iska could have immediately run away after taking off the handcuffs.

…But he came here.

He had fought in her place and even saved Rin's life. Just thinking back on it, she could

feel her expression start to soften. She felt like skipping with joy right where she stood.

Ahhh. This is bad.

Alice didn't even understand what was wrong, but she felt that way nevertheless.

"…No, but that's not it, either!"

"Lady Alice?"

"I was almost going to thank him, but that's not right. Because everything that

happened was all according to our agreement! It was proper for Iska to go. That's how

I should see it!"

Her intuition hadn't been wrong.

He was her archrival.

That was why she wouldn't tell anyone in the Sovereignty about him.

The Imperial swordsman is mine and mine alone.

…Yes, that's right.

…This is how it is when it comes to Iska. I won't thank him.

Iska was a long-standing foe who Princess Aliceliese would fully dedicate her being

and will toward fighting.

It was only natural for things to turn out this way.

"This is a good thing, Rin. There is no reason at all for us to be grateful toward him."

"R-right!"

"What we should be doing is returning to the Sovereignty. Let's go home. There's a

whole slew of things we need to report to my mother, after all."

The report would keep him a secret, of course.

With this promise in mind, Alice started walking with her attendant in tow.