by Fujino Omori
Arrows and spells shot from higher towers peppered the stone roof at her feet. Mikoto pushed on, the song of her spell dancing on the breeze.
Heat welled up as magic energy swirled within her body, splashing with every step and hit taken. Her skin was slick with sweat, droplets flying in her wake.
“—?”
“Hey! That’s no magic sword!”
An archer fired an arrow from below and managed to hit the longsword dead on. The blade snapped on impact.
Her ruse was over. The next wave of arrows ripped the camouflage clean off her back and exposed her lithe limbs. The attacks of her pursuers intensified; arrows buried themselves in her battle cloth and spells burned her tender skin. Fragments of stones flying through the air left cuts and bruises on her face and neck.
She almost fell countless times, but never did she stop conjuring her spell. Mikoto pressed forward at full speed.
“Bow to the blade of suppression, the mythical sword of subjugation.”
Every nerve on fire, Mikoto conducted a very unpolished Concurrent Casting. There was a very real danger of Ignis Fatuus—unstable magic energy exploding before release. Every attack that connected, every step she took made even more energy churn within her. She was already on the brink.
Keeping the magic energy under control through sheer willpower, a memory flashed within Mikoto’s eyes: the song of the “Gale Wind.”
The exquisite melody produced by that amazing warrior while engaged in fierce combat with a strong enemy was still ringing in her ears. Mikoto had seen the next level; she had sworn to do whatever it took to reach that plateau.
No matter how many arrows hit her, how many spells barred her path, she would grit her teeth and press on.
Conjure and run—that was all. That fairy warrior managed to attack, move, dodge, and cast her spell at the same time. But that was still a distant dream, one that she would never realize if she failed to complete her mission. What’s more, she would be unable to face her new allies should she come up short.
More and more enemies emerged from the castle. Mikoto forced her legs to move even faster.
“I summon you here now, by name.”
Mikoto raced across the stone roof. Knowing full well that she would be unable to finish her spell if drawn into combat, she made a hard turn and rushed toward the central tower, arriving at the castle’s inner courtyard.
Doing her best to evade incoming arrows and keeping her eyes focused on the looming tower, she jumped off the roof and into the air.
“Descend from the heavens, seize the earth—”
Enemy warriors appeared in the courtyard, emerged from the castle, jumped down from the roof in hot pursuit.
The threat of a magic sword had drawn them in. The adventurers in the courtyard looked up at the girl in the air as she focused her gaze toward the clouds.
Countless sets of eyes on her, Mikoto finished her incantation.
“—Shinbu Tousei!”
A wave of magic energy was released the moment Mikoto landed in the courtyard. Her enemies only gawked for an instant and threw their swords, spears, axes, or anything else on hand in a desperate attempt to silence her before she could flip the trigger, but it was too late.
The wave spread out fifty meders in every direction, maximum range.
A glimmering pillar of light in the shape of a sword appeared above Mikoto’s head—her Magic had been activated.
“Futsu no Tama!”
Many rings of light shot out from beneath her as the sword of violet light came crashing down to her feet.
An immense gravity field forced all of the airborne weapons straight to the ground before they could find their target. All adventurers within the outer ring, including Mikoto herself, fell to the ground under the tremendous weight.
“Gh-gahhhhhhh…?!”
The adventurers trapped underneath the violet dome generated from the top of the sword cried out in pain.
Apollo Familia members who had been lucky enough to be outside the ring launched arrows and threw even more blades at Mikoto, but all of them crashed to the ground the moment they hit the light purple barrier. “Ka-ting!” The sound of metal on stone echoed throughout the courtyard. Humans, elves, and animal people inside the outer ring fell to their knees, some on all fours as they fought to keep their heads upright under the insane pressure of Mikoto’s gravity magic.
The girl had her fists clenched, feet planted firmly on the ground as she endured the full brunt of her own spell.
“Are you freakin’ serious…?!”
Self-sacrifice.
By getting caught up in her own Magic, she had managed to capture every adventurer inside the courtyard and keep them there for as long as she could hold out.
Mikoto watched as more and more of the adventurers collapsed. However, she didn’t budge at all. Her eyes met the closest human’s gaze as he howled at her.
In the middle of this test of endurance, Mikoto responded in a resolute voice.
“You shall remain here with me for the time being…!”
“Stay strong, Mikoto…”
Takemikazuchi watched the battle from a mirror he’d summoned into his Familia’s home.
“Hang in there…”
“She plans to keep the enemies in the courtyard?”
Chigusa and Ouka were by his side, grimacing as they watched the sweat pouring down Mikoto’s face.
Twenty-two enemy combatants had been trapped inside Mikoto’s gravity cage. Anything that touched the outer layer of Futsu no Tama, be it physical or magical, instantly came crashing to the ground. Nothing was coming close to the magic user at its center, which meant that the spell would not be broken until she collapsed from exhaustion.
Including the group that had gone to engage Lyu during the magic-sword attack, Apollo Familia’s forces had been cut by almost 80 percent.
—At the same time on the thirtieth floor of Babel Tower…
Hermes spoke as he followed the tides of battle on the mirror in front of him. “Much too fast.”
“What is?”
“Team Apollo’s movements. They’re reacting too quickly.”
His eyes jumped from person to person reflected in the mirror as he responded to Asfi’s question.
“How they responded as a group to the power of Crozzo’s Magic Swords, how they all ganged up to stop little Mikoto’s sneak attack—don’t you find it a little odd? It’s almost like…they’re being guided somehow.”
Asfi’s eyes went wide in recognition as Hermes looked away from the battle to enjoy the look on her face.
“Information is a weapon in war.”
“The better the quality, and the faster word comes in, it can be the ultimate trump card.”
“However, should a little bit of poison be mixed in with said information…it spreads much faster.”
Asfi exchanged words with her god before looking back at the mirror. Only one person was reflected inside: a prum with his head on a swivel as he ran through a hallway. Luan encountered no guards as he ran quietly to the fully intact west gate of the castle.
“Just one drop of poison can lead to unthinkable tragedy.”
Then the man opened the west gate by turning a wheel with his own hands—granting Bell and Welf entrance to the castle.
“A traitor—?!”
Townspeople all over Orario stood up, heads between their hands and jaws slack in surprise.
In the main streets, in front of the Guild, in Central Park, no one could believe what they were watching and yelled at the top of their lungs.
“That guy just betrayed Apollo Familia?!”
The many “windows” floating in midair showed two humans running side by side with the prum man. Everyone seemed to be drawn closer to the mirrors in shock.
An unthinkable betrayal—Bell and Welf entered the castle without any resistance whatsoever thanks to Luan. What was left of the fifty adventurers dispatched to take care of Lyu were still fighting in th
e east. Almost half of the castle’s remaining troops were currently trapped by Mikoto’s magic in the courtyard. The passages in the western part of the castle felt deserted. The guards who were originally stationed there must have gone to protect the heavily damaged north and east walls, creating this blind spot. One unlucky adventurer who happened to be passing through the hallway stared at the three for a moment before taking off and yelling at the top of his lungs. But he wasn’t fast enough to get away from the white rabbit and was knocked unconscious with one quick strike.
Absolutely floored by the turn of events, waves of excitement and anxiety passed through the spectators.
“Wha…Eh…Hah…?!”
A speechless Apollo was one of them.
He stood up from the table with such force that his chair flew backward, slamming to the floor behind him. Anger had boiled up inside him to the point that his face started to contort and change color as he opened and closed his mouth.
Yes…!
Hestia made sure to keep her celebration out of sight of the visibly shaking god as she silently pumped her fist beneath the table.
She gazed at all the members of her family with trusting eyes in the mirror in front of her.
“You get them goin’?”
The castle ruins, inside Apollo Familia’s castle. Welf ran up to Luan’s side.
“This is the only way Lilly can be useful.”
It was most definitely a man’s voice, but Luan’s tone was surprisingly feminine. His face was male, too, but the way he smiled at Welf was the spitting image of their young ally. Bell ran up along the other side and grinned at their unsung hero, their supporter.
Luan the traitor was actually Lilly in disguise using her magic.
The real Luan had been captured almost four days ago on the night that Apollo Familia first set out to the castle ruins. He was currently in a random shed outside the city wall—no doubt viewing the War Game under Miach’s watchful eyes. Lilly had taken his place, copying his voice and mannerisms to the point that no one noticed a difference. She’d been collecting information from inside the castle ever since.
She had an opportunity to reunite with Welf and the others the night before the War Game after being assigned to bring the last of the supplies into the castle. That’s when this plan all came together.
Being Level 4, Lyu would draw out half of the enemy’s forces and keep them busy while Mikoto cut the remaining forces in half yet again by restraining them inside the castle grounds.
Lilly would manipulate the commanders as well as anyone else from the inside to ensnare as many as possible in their trap. With their numbers reduced, she would then let Welf and Bell into the castle.
Lastly, Welf would escort Bell all the way to the throne room.
Everything was going exactly the way that Lilly and Hestia had drawn it up.
A traitor in their midst—Lilly in disguise had been the Trojan horse all along.
“I told you yesterday, but the enemy general is at the top of a strange-looking tower. In order to get there, you have to go through a long hallway connecting to the third floor.”
Returning to Luan’s speaking style, Lilly explained everything to Bell. Rakia had made some serious design changes, the largest of which was an enclosed bridge that connected the whitish main tower to the rest of the castle. She pointed to it through the window as they ran.
“We can’t break in from the outside?”
“No, there’s no entrance. The thing may look pretty but it’s sturdy as a rock. It’ll take time to get there and enemies will swarm in. But, once you get inside…”
“Straight shot to the throne room?”
The small man nodded and grinned at Bell’s words.
“There’ll be a ton of magic users in that hallway. Counting on you?”
“Yeah, I got this.”
The prum “man” asked Welf to watch Bell’s back and grinned.
Then he split off from the two humans. The only people who knew “Luan’s” true allegiance were the people watching the mirrors in Orario. Lilly could still stir up enough chaos inside the castle to keep the remaining enemies away from her allies.
“Let’s do this.”
“Yeah!”
Bell, wearing brand-new, refurbished light armor, and Welf, greatsword balanced on his shoulder, raced up the nearest staircase toward the sky bridge.
“Tell me, what’s going on?! Out with it!”
Daphne yelled as she watched the tide of battle turn against them from her post at the base of the main tower.
“You don’t need to tell me the wall’s been destroyed, I can see that from here! Why is the castle so empty?!”
Eyes widened, a tinge of fear in her loud voice, Daphne shook her hair as she yelled.
Smoke was still rising from the north and east walls; she had a direct view from one of the many windows around her. She was trying to get a straight answer out of the messenger who had brought news from the front lines.
Daphne, along with only eight other adventurers, stood at the end of the sky bridge as the last line of defense.
“L-Luan said Hyacinthus ordered a direct attack…”
“HHAH?! That man ordered no such thing! I’ve been right here the whole time! I’d have been the first to know!”
Indeed, she had been ordered to stand guard in front of the only entrance to the main tower. No messenger carrying word from Hyacinthus would have reached the troops at the front line without her noticing.
The elf messenger shrank backward in the face of Daphne’s intimidating aura.
“Luan…betrayed us…?”
It was believable, especially considering that Daphne doubted most of her comrade’s allegiance to Apollo in the first place. She bit her lip before pressing the messenger for more information.
“What about Lissos and his troops?”
“E-eliminated, by the looks of it. The enemy used some kind of magic in the courtyard and trapped many of our warriors inside it. I don’t know how many are left who can still fight.”
She quickly reasoned that all of this had to be Luan’s handiwork; he had to be the reason that things fell out of hand so quickly. Not even an hour had passed since the start of the War Game, and the enemy had already made this much progress with almost no resistance.
Daphne cursed through her teeth. Not only was she angry at Hyacinthus’s way of looking down on their enemy since before the War Game, but also at herself for hesitating to act the moment the north wall collapsed.
“Daphne, they’re here! Two humans…The Little Rookie!”
“…This ends now. Alto, deliver a message to Hyacinthus for me: Bring reinforcements down from the throne room and we’ll crush Bell Cranell.”
One of the adventurers had spotted the two advancing up the outer tower and alerted Daphne to the danger. She issued her orders to the elf, who immediately bowed and disappeared into the main tower.
Daphne’s plan was to flood the sky bridge with so many warriors that it would be impossible for Bell and Welf to pass. The hallway in the sky was surprisingly wide—it would take more than ten large men in full body armor, standing shoulder to shoulder, to seal it off completely. She knew it would take several seconds for them to approach from the other side. Windows dotted the walls, a very solid ceiling above and a red carpet running down the full length of the floor. There were no obstacles in the way, no cover. Daphne ordered the mages to start casting.
Finally, the two humans appeared at the other end of the hallway.
“Archers to the front! They have nowhere to run—shoot everything you’ve got! Mages, fire on my command!”
Each archer and magic user had a straight shot to their target, a literal firing range. Magic with a decent blast radius would wipe out anything in this confined space. There would be no escape.
Daphne’s eyebrows sank, visions of these would-be attackers’ demise in her head. Withdrawing her shortsword from the hilt at her waist, she pointed it directly at th
eir oncoming enemies.
Archers nocked their arrows; magic users reached the final phrases of their trigger spells.
“—GO!”
At the same time, the man with the massive sword over his shoulder—Welf—yelled.
The white-haired boy beside him leaned forward for an instant before taking off in a mad dash.
“FIRE!”
Bow strings cracked as arrows hurtled forward. Magic users moved their lips to bring their magic to life. At that moment—
Welf thrust his right hand forward.
“Blasphemous Burn!”
A short-trigger spell.
Silver, murky mist silently flowed like mercury from the palm of his hand.
The mist overtook Bell and inundated the enemy ranks around Daphne.
“____”
She watched in horror as the bodies of each of the magic users started to glow, flickering like flames inside a furnace as the mist washed over them.
A heartbeat later, each of them flinched awkwardly as their bodies flashed from within.
KA-BOOM!
“Huh?!”
Sparks erupted like flower petals all around her.
Every single magic user in front of her had failed to cast—victims of Ignis Fatuus.
—He turned the mages into bombs?!
Welf’s anti-magic Magic. Archers caught up in the blasts were tossed like rag dolls left and right. The mages lay where they fell, black smoke steadily rising from their limp mouths. They would not be casting again anytime soon.
The series of explosions shook pieces of rock loose from the ceiling and walls of the hallway, the singed red carpet in shambles. Daphne managed to brace herself just before the explosion and kept her feet despite the raging winds howling inside the stone bridge.
A swirling cloud of black smoke in front of her, Daphne steadied herself as the white-haired boy burst through it.
“?!”
Bell bounded right by her like a rabbit on the loose, making a break for the staircase at the base of the main tower.
Dammit! Daphne turned to give chase when suddenly, “Ekkkk—!” A scream stopped her in her tracks.
Spinning on her heel, Daphne saw an archer bounce face-first off the floor and a red-haired man walk toward her over the remains of the carpet.