by Fujino Omori
Her shirt gone, only the fabric wrapped around her chest protected Mikoto’s dignity as she struggled to climb to her feet. However, her fighting spirit hadn’t left her eyes despite all the injuries she’d sustained. That got the attention of all the Berbera.
“…Ge-ge-ge-ge-geh. Quite the fighter, aren’t you.”
Mikoto scanned the ring, shoulders going up and down as she waited for her next opponent.
“Such a waaaste.”
“…?”
Mikoto turned to look at the possessor of the deep, croaking voice: the Amazon commander, Phryne.
The large face grinned. Aisha, who had been silent up to this point, opened her mouth to speak. But just before she could…
“This ain’t over.”
From behind.
More specifically, from below.
“”
A cold chill ran down Mikoto’s spine as she slowly looked over her shoulder.
The tan body on the ground had both hands up where its head should be. Muscles flexed, causing a loud pop. Suddenly, the body had a head.
The Amazon briefly looked up through the dust and debris on her face while on all fours. Shaking her head like a wet dog, she jumped to her feet.
“Definitely felt that one…Very nice.”
Jerking her head from side to side to crack her neck, Samira’s eyes narrowed as a grin returned to her lips.
Mikoto’s spirit fell into a dark despair. She’d exhausted all options, thrown everything she had at the Amazon, but it hadn’t even fazed her opponent.
That was the true meaning of Level, a barrier not so easily overturned.
“Come on, next round!”
“GAHhh!”
Samira’s fist collided with Mikoto’s cheek before she could react.
Mikoto had inflicted damage, but it wasn’t enough. Her normally beautiful white skin was dotted with black and blue craters and streaks of blood all over her body. She just couldn’t compete.
“AAahh…!”
Haruhime couldn’t watch, tears rolling off her chin as Samira vented her frustration on her breathing punching bag.
One girl locked in torment as the sound of fist to flesh created a melody of pain in the background. Phryne watched everything unfold with glee…when another Amazon appeared from the stone bridge with a message. The newcomer came right up to Phryne and whispered in her ear.
“Ahhnn……The bunny’s on the looose?”
“Y-yes.”
“GE-GE-GE-GE-GE-GEH! Looks like Lady Ishtar ain’t so tough.”
Phryne couldn’t contain her laughter at the news. Her voice grew so loud that Samira’s barrage was little more than background noise.
Insulting her goddess over and over, she opened her wide mouth and took in a deep breath.
“—Little Rookie, you’re watchin’ us right now, aren’t you? Better hurry up, your precious friend can’t take much morrre!”
The surrounding Amazons had to shield their ears as Phryne’s voice erupted like a volcano. The massive woman’s eyes went from tower to tower, searching every corner of the Floating Garden.
Phryne was absolutely sure that the boy would come to rescue Haruhime after escaping from Ishtar’s grasp.
“…”
—And she was right.
Five minutes after Mikoto, Bell had finally arrived at the Floating Garden.
He’d given up on finding a safe route inside the tower that connected to the stone bridge, opting instead to take advantage of the ziggurat’s intricate carvings to scale the outside wall all the way to the top.
Bell hid himself behind one of the towers surrounding the Floating Garden. Mikoto was following their plan to the letter, drawing the attention of as many Amazons as possible to give him an opening to destroy the Killing Stone—but he couldn’t ignore her once he got a glimpse of her horrible condition. He stood at another crossroads, hands tightening into fists.
I can’t take it! His mind was set. Just when he was about to jump in…
“SIR BELL!”
Mikoto’s scream stopped him in his tracks.
He wasn’t the only one. Every set of eyes in the garden was suddenly locked on the bloodied human. Arms limp at her sides, Mikoto stood up to her full height and took a step forward. Slowly but surely, her hands made fists.
Mikoto’s voice echoed throughout the garden long after she fell silent, as if searching for the boy she knew had to be here. Resolute eyes burning, she turned her shoulders to face Samira once again.
“Ohh…But what are we gonna do about this now?”
Samira kicked high, the heel of her foot colliding with Mikoto’s collarbone. She bent backward but didn’t lose her balance.
Gritting her teeth, Mikoto prepared for the next merciless attack.
“There ain’t no time left!”
The girl’s eyes shot open as the Amazon’s fist dug into her gut.
Indeed, the tips of soft blue light emanating from the stones beneath their feet were starting to get a red tint.
The altar at the center of the Floating Garden was also changing. The lunatic light in the stone was reacting to the full moon almost directly above, pulsing as if calling out to a long-lost brother. Streaks of red light leaped out from the blue and toward the sky.
It wasn’t long before Haruhime was chained inside the eye of a crimson vortex reaching out toward the moon far above.
“Sharay. When the time is right, do herrr.”
Phryne’s eyes narrowed in anticipation before issuing the order to an Amazon standing at the base of the altar.
The warrior named Sharay nodded, the ceremonial longsword in her grip. The Killing Stone glowed with the same ominous light emitting from the altar.
Aisha saw all this transpire and turned her right foot toward Haruhime.
“You stay right therrre.”
“…”
Phryne’s massive frame blocked Aisha’s path.
Two Amazons glaring daggers at each other and one white-haired boy—his eyes filled with disbelief.
Just out of their view was Mikoto, still absorbing punch after punch from Samira.
“…Go beyond…”
Mikoto whispered with a spark of determination in her dark-purple eyes.
“…the enemy’s…”
Samira was enjoying the rush of her assured victory so much that Mikoto’s voice never reached her ears.
“…expectations.”
Mikoto let her voice fade out.
Slipping past one of Samira’s punches, Mikoto wrapped her limp arms around her opponent’s chest and held on with everything she had left.
“Haah?”
The Amazon sounded vaguely annoyed that her toy wanted a hug rather than to try to fight back.
Mikoto didn’t pay attention to her and started casting.
“Fear, strong and winding—”
Samira smirked at the human girl, who was trying to cast magic while draped over her shoulder.
“I get it, I know how you feel. But don’cha think using magic now is a bit, I don’t know, amateurish?”
Magic—an ace in the hole that could turn the tables of battle and bring anyone back from the brink of demise.
However, Mikoto’s choice under the circumstances disappointed Samira to no end.
“You know, I saw your magic in the War Game. It’s a kick-ass spell, but the trigger takes forever!”
“GAH!”
Samira drilled her elbow into Mikoto’s defenseless ribs in an effort to show her how pointless the attempt really was.
“I call upon the god…the destroyer of any, and all for…”
Even still, Mikoto did not stop casting her spell between grunts of pain and staggered breaths.
“Enough of this, you’re boring me. Just cut it out, will you?”
“GuWAH!”
A second hit, a third. Samira’s elbow hit harder and harder each time.
Mikoto made no attempt to pull away or dodge the blows as she continu
ed to push her magical energy forward.
The Amazons watching the pitiful spectacle just laughed or shook their heads in discontent. Samira had to find some way to enjoy the rest of this fight as the blue cloud beneath her feet became redder with each passing moment. She decided to see how many blows it would take to knock the human off her—when something clicked in her mind.
“H-hey…You wouldn’t seriously…”
Mikoto’s magical energy was beginning to overflow.
Like a bowl that couldn’t hold any more water, like a flooded river that wouldn’t obey its banks, a storm had been let loose.
The small body could no longer handle the surging magical energy coursing through it.
“Guidance from…the heavens…”
Mikoto’s mind drifted further and further into darkness even as the trigger spell continued to pass through her lips.
“—Watch your opponent, learn their habits, their expectations. And then go beyond them. All ninjas must think this way to succeed.”
Takemikazuchi’s voice came to her as her blood-caked body went beyond its physical limit, her consciousness on the verge of shutting down.
He had told her that all the techniques were just for show.
“Grant this trivial body…”
He had tried to convey one truth through his teachings:
The reason why he, as a god, considered ninjutsu to be dirty.
“A ninja learns the way the enemy thinks—and goes a step further.”
Betray the enemy’s expectations, an unthinkable sneak attack.
“…divine, power beyond power…!!”
The God of Combat’s words ringing through her heart, Mikoto pushed her magical energy even harder.
“No, you wouldn’t dare—!”
Samira’s shrill voice was laced with unmistakable fear.
But it was too late. The energy was free.
It coursed through her muscles, desperately searching for an exit, like too much water in a thin pipe.
“O-OFF!! GET OFF MEEEEEEEEEE!”
Mikoto had converted all her Mind into magical energy without completing the trigger spell. This caused a chain reaction that would inevitably lead to an explosion.
Desperation overtook Samira as she assaulted the girl hanging onto her chest with all her might, panic in her bloodshot eyes.
More of Mikoto’s vulnerable ribs cracked with each hit, but her grip didn’t falter.
Quite the opposite. Despite her searing headache and the most physical pain she’d ever experienced, a bloody smile appeared on Mikoto’s lips.
“All of you! Get this thing OFF MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
No matter how many times she struck her, no matter how hard she thrashed around, Samira couldn’t break free and finally sought help. The Berbera responded immediately, charging in with weapons drawn—all too late.
The magical energy had found its exit and started to squeal like a boiling teapot.
Mikoto’s body became the epicenter of a deafening explosion that enveloped the entirety of the Floating Garden.
Samira, Phryne, Aisha, the Berbera, Haruhime, and Bell.
All sets of eyes flew open as rampaging magical energy overtook them.
“Protect, purifying light!!”
—Ignis Fatuus.
“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!”
An explosion of pure magical energy.
Sparkles of it reflected in all the awestruck eyes just moments before everyone was caught up in the shock wave. The Berbera who’d charged in took the brunt of it, getting blown off their feet and crashing to the stone floor.
This was how one smith’s anti-magic Magic worked—an explosion caused by an overloading energy within a body rather than using chemicals from without.
It could happen by mistake when young adventurers were still learning how to control their magical energy, an outcome that most avoided at all costs. Mikoto, on the other hand, lost control on purpose and used it to turn herself into a bomb.
Her opponent’s assumption was the magic couldn’t trigger if she couldn’t finish casting. The fire of life burning within her went beyond that expectation.
“GAH”
The explosion launched Samira’s body skyward. She landed in a heap and slid all the way to the edge of the garden. Burned to a crisp and leaking blood, the Amazon showed no signs of trying to stand up. More than half the Berbera who were caught up in the blast lay motionless on the floor. The ones who had managed to avoid a direct hit—Phryne, Aisha, and the rest of the Berbera who were lucky enough to be outside the blast radius—still felt the intense burst of energy wash over them. Even Haruhime, still chained to the altar, felt the heat on her skin.
Echoes of the blast kept bouncing around the wide-open garden.
“ah.”
Mikoto was falling.
Her Ignis Fatuus explosion sent her flying in the opposite direction of Samira and off the edge of the Floating Garden. Arcing through the air like a limp spear, she plummeted headfirst toward the ground.
The wind whipped the smoke emerging from her body into a frenzy as she fell. Mikoto’s skin was black, charred from the inside.
There was no pain, no feeling at all. Her eyes clouded as the last bits of physical and mental energy she had were whisked away by the howling wind.
“Sir Bell…!”
The very last drop of strength in her body went into yelling his name.
Her words did not reach Haruhime.
She could not save Haruhime.
Just like in that memory of a moonlit night, she could not become Haruhime’s hero.
Misty eyes started to close. All her sadness, pain, and a wish that went beyond all of it gathered in the back of her throat.
Somehow, somehow.
That girl’s curse.
Her ruin.
Her tears—get rid of them all!
Somehow, somehow!
Bring back her smile once again!
Reach—please reach!!
“SIR BELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!”
He ran.
The moment the explosion of life went off, he ran faster than anyone.
He heard.
The words of the girl who’d put her life on the line, and the yearning within them, reached him.
Bell emerged from his hiding place the instant the shock wave blew past and committed every muscle, every tendon, to reaching the altar one heartbeat sooner.
He had to break through the line of Amazons in his way.
“!!”
Bell tore through the hanging smoke so quickly that the Amazons couldn’t respond.
His speed wouldn’t allow any to give chase. The white rabbit was on a direct line straight for the altar. The Berbera he passed couldn’t even follow his movements, only watch the smoke twist in his wake. Even Aisha couldn’t make a move.
No one could keep up.
“—GE-GE-GE-GE-GE-GE-GE-GEH!”
Except for her.
“I don’t think soooooooooooo!”
“!!”
The frog-like Amazonian queen suddenly entered Bell’s line of sight with unbelievable speed.
It was a reaction that only top-class adventurers were capable of.
She had withstood the explosion and overtaken Bell at full charge. Now she stood as an insurmountable wall in his way.
The corners of Phryne’s lips curled up as she arched her back, pulled back her right fist, and braced for impact.
“IT’S OVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!”
She focused all her strength into this one punch.
Less than a heartbeat was left between the incredible force and vicious object, presenting Bell with very little time to make an important choice.
Left, right, or stop.
Or perhaps up.
Bell could already see the crimson altar and the girl chained to it just behind the behemoth obstacle.
It was the moment of truth.
Bell’s ruby
-red eyes flashed.
He lowered his shoulder—and kept going forward.
“?!”
Faster.
Slivers of glowing stone sprang into the air as his feet kicked off the ground. Bell was determined to go through the wall.
Riding this simple train of thought, Bell collided into Phryne.
A direct attack was the last thing the huge Amazon thought would happen. Her fist changed course at the last instant to adjust to Bell’s trajectory.
However, Bell managed to get beneath the overly showy punch and didn’t slow down even as his shoulder collided with her exposed flank. WHAM! Twisting ever so slightly, his momentum bounced him into the air with minimal damage and knocked Phryne off her feet.
“GUH!”
An airborne Bell, a reeling Phryne.
He had safely cleared the deadly attack.
Phryne’s grunt of surprise behind him, Bell landed directly at the base of the altar.
The Amazon looked up from her seat on the floor and yelled at the top of her lungs:
“Sharay! DO HARUHIME, NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!”
Phryne’s scream hit the Amazon like a wrecking ball. But she did as told and lifted the longsword high into the air.
Blade forward, she aimed the tip directly at Haruhime’s chest like a javelin. The moon was in perfect position, the now crimson altar pulsing like a beating heart.
Haruhime sat motionless, her gaze following the shining Killing Stone until dropping to the base of the altar the moment the boy touched down.
Bell fought through an awkward landing. One foot, second foot—and he jumped.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Bell launched himself skyward like an arrow fired from an overstressed bow.
A set of blank green eyes. The ceremonial longsword held high. The resonating Killing Stone.
Gaze locked on the stone, Bell withdrew the Hestia Knife from its sheath.
The Amazon’s back threatening to overtake him, Bell made his move.
A dark violet streak arced through the air the moment Bell tackled the Amazonian guard from behind.
“YAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”
The tip of the jet-black blade pierced the Killing Stone—and shattered it.
Pieces of the stone fell to the floor as the yells of the blade’s owner filled the night.