The Asterisk War, Vol. 10: Conquering Dragons and Knights

by Yuu Miyazaki

  And she was walking straight toward Priscilla.

  But as she stared back at her, what Priscilla saw wasn’t someone to cower away from, but rather an individual filled to bursting with sadness and resignation.

  And yet, Priscilla’s body was completely paralyzed, rendered immobile by an instinctive, inescapable sense of despair. Her flesh had turned numb all the way down to her fingers and toes, her throat choking with an unreleased scream.

  “Yo, Ereshkigal. Did you want something?” Irene said, stepping forward as if to shield her.

  Irene truly did live up to her ranking as Le Wolfe’s number three, Priscilla thought with wonder. Even exposed to Orphelia’s aura, she was still able to confront her on her feet.

  “…Yes. Can we talk?” In spite of her appearance, Orphelia’s voice was surprisingly girlish and sweet.

  So why… Why is it still so terrifying?

  “To talk? With us?”

  “Yes. It has to be you.”

  “Oh…?” Irene raised a doubtful eyebrow before pointing at the nearby air-window with her thumb. “Well, I guess that’s fine. Can we do it after the match?”

  “…? Ah, the Gryps.” Orphelia stared up at the huge air-window, as if she had only now realized what was going on.

  Both teams were about to enter the stage of the Sirius Dome.

  “All right. When it’s finished,” Orphelia replied before turning back in the direction from which she had come.

  “What? You aren’t watching it? Not even the final?”

  “…I’m not interested,” she said without so much as a backward glance.

  She did, however, pause for a brief moment, tilting her gaze ever so slightly toward the overhead air-window.

  Team Enfield had just entered the stage from the east gate.

  Meanwhile, in Allekant Académie’s research facility…

  “…She’s out again, is she?” Camilla Pareta sighed as she came to a stop in front of Ernesta Kühne’s lab. “What on earth could be more important than the match?”

  She had thought to invite Ernesta to watch the championship with her, but it looked like she had come in vain.

  In fact, Ernesta seemed to be away from the lab a lot lately—or rather, she seemed to be leaving Asterisk itself quite frequently. In the other schools, leaving the city normally required going through a maze of administrative procedures, but at Allekant, which had associated research facilities and factories all over the world, the process was comparatively straightforward. Camilla herself frequently left the city to visit contracted enterprises and research institutes.

  But lately, Ernesta’s absences had become conspicuous.

  Just as Camilla’s thoughts had reached this point, however, a woman dressed in a white lab coat and with a somewhat unsteady gait appeared down the corridor. “Oh my, what do we have here? If it isn’t our dear Ferrovius head.” Hilda Jane Rowlands—or as she was better known at Allekant, Magnum Opus—laughed.

  “Who would have thought I would bump into the head of Tenorio here? It’s been a while.” Camilla would have preferred that it be longer.

  Camilla’s dislike for Tenorio’s disregard for human life and dignity knew no bounds, but her hatred for the woman who represented their way of thinking ran deeper still.

  “It has, hasn’t it…? Are you here to see Ernesta Kühne as well?”

  “Indeed… And you?”

  The question hardly needed asking. It was clear enough from the way she had asked it that that had been her intention.

  “Oh, it isn’t anything major. She seems to be awfully busy these days.”

  “She does.”

  “I wonder what she could be doing?” Hilda goaded, breaking out into a dry, rasping laugh.

  “Who knows?” Camilla replied offhandedly.

  At that, Hilda leaned forward, her expression one of exaggerated surprise. “What’s that? Not even you know what your dear friend is up to?”

  “…She’s in Pygmalion. I’m in Ferrovius. There are things we don’t talk about.”

  Pygmalion and Ferrovius were currently in an alliance of sorts, but that didn’t mean they shared all their research. Strictly speaking, their cooperation really only involved Ferrovius’s continued development of Pygmalion’s puppet research to produce practical armaments.

  That said, Camilla’s relationship with Ernesta on a personal level was something else entirely.

  “I see, I see. Do forgive my ignorance,” Hilda said in feigned apology, but it was clear from her bearing and expression that her words didn’t even run skin-deep.

  Camilla should have left it at that, but her frustration boiling over, she found herself remembering something she had heard a short while ago from one of Ferrovius’s many intelligence agents. In the end, her curiosity got the better of her.

  “…Right, Magnum Opus,” she began. “I heard that you tried to use the Murakumo for your own ends, but he gave you the cold shoulder.”

  “My, you are well informed. But you shouldn’t talk about it like that. It was only ever going to be a fair trade between equals.”

  “Oh? My apologies. But it is true that he turned you down?”

  At this, Hilda shrugged her shoulders, a weird, unnaturally innocent smile plastered on her face. “He did. But that was then.”

  “…So you haven’t given up, I take it?”

  Hilda broke out into a fit of laughter. “Why give up now? The main event is only just getting started, after all. He won’t have even satisfied the first condition until he wins the tournament.”

  “So you think Seidoukan will win?”

  “Of course,” she answered without hesitation.

  Camilla could only frown in response. Given their circumstances and the current variables, it would be all but impossible for Team Enfield to defeat Team Lancelot. Camilla had nothing against them personally, but that was an objective fact.

  And yet…

  “Is there any particular reasoning behind that?”

  “No. Just my intuition.”

  “Hmm…” Camilla fell silent.

  “This seems like a good opportunity to let you in on a little secret,” Hilda continued, her eyes narrowing like a cat’s. “It’s that sense of intuition that sets people like Ernesta Kühne and me apart from the likes of you, Camilla Pareto. All great scientists are gifted with intuition. We have it. Mediocre researchers like yourself don’t.”

  “…How dare you?!” Camilla scowled back at her, but Hilda didn’t seem to pay her any heed.

  Camilla was well aware that her own talents didn’t reach the level of those belonging to Ernesta or Hilda, but that was just too blunt.

  “Ah, the match is about to start. I’m looking forward to it!” Hilda said over her shoulder with a backward wave.

  Camilla could do no more than grit her teeth in frustration as she watched her leave.

  Finally, at the Sirius Dome—

  “Team Enfield and Team Lancelot are making their way onto the stage! Two hundred and fifty teams have fought to reach this final stage in this year’s Gryps, but now only these two remain! Here we are at last—the championship!”

  CHAPTER 7

  TEAM LANCELOT

  The confident aura emanating from the members of Team Lancelot across the stage was nothing short of overwhelming. And it made sense: Taking into account no more than their individual abilities, it seemed all but impossible for Team Enfield to prevail.

  As they faced their five opponents, standing across from them in a row, Ayato couldn’t help but feel as if a towering mountain were about to come crashing down upon him.

  “Hey, Ayato.” At the sound of Julis’s whisper, he snapped back to his surroundings.

  Amid the thunderous roar of cheering voices, Ernest stepped forth, holding out a hand toward him.

  “It’s a shame you’re one short, but I’m afraid we won’t go easy on you.”

  “I know,” Ayato replied, handshake firm.

  “Let’s give them all a
fitting performance,” he said with his usual fresh, invigorated voice.

  Next, it was Laetitia who stepped forward.

  Her gaze was directed not at Ayato, but at Claudia, standing beside him.

  “The time has finally come, Claudia. Today’s the day I finally pay you back for everything that’s happened over the years!” she called out with her typical confidence.

  “I’m looking forward to it,” Claudia replied with a gentle laugh.

  It was clear to Ayato that she was putting her heart and soul into this match in a way she hadn’t just a few days prior.

  But it wasn’t just her. The same went for Saya and Julis, too, not to mention himself.

  That was the only interaction between the two teams before the match.

  There was nothing more they needed to say. It was a team battle, and they would be facing one another as a group. That was all.

  The only thing left to do was wait.

  And then—

  “Gryps Championship Match—battle start!”

  No sooner did it sound than the mechanical voice was drowned out by an excited roar.

  Team Lancelot immediately moved into battle formation, their movements perfectly synchronized.

  Ernest and Lionel took point in the vanguard, with Laetitia and Kevin falling back to the middle of the stage, and Percival acting as support in the rear—the same formation that they always employed.

  On Team Enfield’s side, Ayato and Claudia took the vanguard, with Julis slightly behind them as support, while Saya, in the rear, began to charge her Waldenholt Mark II.

  “Let’s get started!” Laetitia was the first to activate her abilities, summoning a pair of gigantic, semi-translucent wings of light from her back. They unfurled like amber spider’s legs as she lunged toward Ayato and Claudia.

  “Burst into bloom—Primrose!” Next up was Julis, casting nine separate fireballs, each resembling graceful blossoms in a dance-like volley over the top of their heads.

  Laetitia’s wings swung downward from above, the fireballs unfurling like beautiful flowers as they collided with them, while underneath, Ayato and Ernest, and Claudia and Lionel, rushed to meet one another.

  “I’ve been looking forward to crossing swords with you! And to think we’ve been given such a grand stage as this! We truly should thank the gods!” Ernest’s Lei-Glems clanged against Ayato’s Ser Veresta, each impact throwing off sparks in every direction.

  While the Lei-Glems had the ability to make physical contact with only that which its user wanted to strike, and the Ser Veresta was capable of burning through everything it touched, when they came together like this, those abilities essentially canceled each other out.

  “I hope I can live up to your expectations…!”

  In a duel, victory inevitably went to whichever party possessed the greater swordsmanship, and in that area, Ernest was practically flawless.

  It only took a brief moment for Ayato to realize what exactly he was up against.

  Gallardworth’s particular style of swordsmanship was characterized by wide arcing moves and quick flicks of the wrist, but unlike, say, Elliot’s, Ernest’s was a larger two-handed weapon. That meant he wasn’t as fast, but he more than made up for that with technique.

  “Urg…” Just as Ayato found himself being pushed back, another volley of Julis’s primroses fluttered down from above.

  Ernest brushed the flames aside, his expression unflinching.

  Ayato, taking advantage of that momentary opportunity, rallied himself, dashing forward.

  But of course, these were the kinds of moments when a team’s support would step in. Just as he was approaching Ernest, three of Laetitia’s luminescent wings descended upon him.

  He sliced through one of them with the Ser Veresta, the remaining two all but diving onto each other to escape his counterattack, when he heard Claudia’s voice, crying out as she parried Lionel’s spear.

  “Ayato, above!”

  “—!”

  Ernest, using the two wings that had dived to the ground as a foothold, had leaped high into the air to attack from overhead.

  Ayato managed to repel the attack not a moment too late, but only to have Saya call out: “It’s coming!”

  Glancing across the stage at her warning, he caught sight of Percival at the opposing team’s rear, one hand lifted into the air as she intoned solemnly: “A halo of mercy and atonement I give to thee.”

  Almost instantaneously, the huge chalice-shaped Orga Lux floating above her began to emanate a golden light.

  After a short moment, a brilliant current burst out of it as if to sweep away the entire stage, wide and fast enough to engulf everyone in its path, comparable in force even with Saya’s most powerful Luxes.

  That band of light, the Holy Grail’s signature ability, was capable of robbing its targets of consciousness not through brute force, but rather by psychological shock and awe, making it all but impossible to defend against.

  In other words, Team Lancelot had two supposedly invulnerable weapons: Ernest’s Lei-Glems and Percival’s Amalthean Goat.

  What was even more astonishing was that each member of Team Lancelot successfully evaded the oncoming wave without even the slightest hint of needing to communicate their actions.

  Rather, they had taken advantage of their opponents’ momentary lapse in concentration to increase the fervor of their own attacks.

  Unlike the Lei-Glems, the Amalthean Goat wasn’t capable of directing its abilities at a particular target. Even so, should anyone in its path make a mistake, there was no way that they would be able to properly defend themselves.

  Fortunately, thanks to Saya’s swift support, Ayato was able to leap to safety, but he knew now not to let down his guard.

  I guess I’m going to need to rely on shiki here…

  Using the Amagiri Shinmei style’s perception-expanding technique, he would be able to have a faster, more accurate grasp of everything happening on the stage.

  The downside, as pointed out by his homeroom teacher, Kyouko, during their special training sessions over the past months, was that by shifting his attention to his surroundings, he might not be able to react properly to what was happening directly in front of him.

  This could be a bad idea against him…

  Ernest’s swordsmanship was so faultless, revealing not a single opening or weakness, that, to the outside observer, it must have resembled a graceful dance more than it did fierce combat.

  Ayato caught his breath as he prepared himself to meet him head-on.

  “Boom.”

  No sooner had Percival unleashed her wide-range attack with the Amalthean Goat than Saya unleashed a volley from her Waldenholt Mark II homing blaster.

  Each burst homed in precisely on the school crests of Team Lancelot’s five members, and each was then casually brushed aside by their target’s weapon of choice.

  But that didn’t matter, because Saya’s role this time was twofold.

  Her first responsibility was to support the other three members of the team and to prevent the vanguard from collapsing under the opposing team’s attacks.

  The second was to monitor Percival in Team Lancelot’s rearguard—or rather, to monitor the Amalthean Goat—and to make sure that the others knew when she was about to use it.

  Based on her calculations using the available data, the Orga Lux’s charging time was ninety-nine seconds—significantly longer than her own Waldenholt. That meant she should have little difficulty covering those attacks.

  During that charging time, Saya pulled her two favorite handgun-shaped Luxes from the Waldenholt’s oversized back unit. She didn’t have a second to waste.

  She quickly adjusted the Waldenholt’s recoil-control vernier, using it to unleash a volley of covering fire toward Ayato and Claudia.

  Percival, meanwhile, had activated a revolver-shaped Lux of her own.

  They each lifted their weapons as their gazes locked.

  “—!”

&nbs
p; “…!”

  Bullets of light passed in front of her at high speed, just as her own cross fire forced Percival to dive to the ground.

  The two glared at each other in silence before simultaneously shifting their attention to their respective teams.

  Phew… She’s got good aim.

  Saya couldn’t help but be impressed. Her opponent’s skill with a gun was of the highest class. Even without her Orga Lux, she would no doubt make a formidable opponent. On top of that, she had the objectivity, quick decision-making aptitude, and above all, composure necessary for someone in the rearguard.

  Saya couldn’t help but be reminded of Rimcy, but in a way, it was Percival who was the more puppetlike of the two.

  It was as if she had freed herself of all redundant thoughts and emotions, becoming a cold, inanimate weapon in and of herself.

  “—Hah…!”

  At that moment, Laetitia’s brilliant wings dashed toward her, forcing her to quickly adjust the trajectory of her homing attacks.

  Unlike Team Yellow Dragon, whose members tended to engage their chosen targets individually, Team Lancelot operated as a cohesive unit, meaning that, barring some kind of unexpected development, the rearguard was unlikely to come under fire from the opposing vanguard.

  Which meant that she could focus on keeping Laetitia at bay while also exchanging fire with Percival.

  However, that was easier said than done.

  How long can I keep this up…?

  Even putting aside Kirin’s absence, their combined strength as a team still didn’t quite match that of their opponents.

  They had been able to hold out thus far, but the longer the match drew out, the closer they came to losing control.

  On top of that, she couldn’t keep using the Waldenholt indefinitely. Her Luxes resembled Meteor Arts in more than a few ways, chief among them being that they consumed a lot of prana.

  She paused there, glancing up in a hurry.

  “—The second wave! Watch out!” she called out, just as another flood of golden light began to spill out of the Amalthean Goat.