Capella tilted her head at the man who had brandished his Blue Dragon Blade on a single arm and declared his challenge.
Long black braids spilled over her white shoulders, and as she crossed her arms, she leaned forward to accentuate her ample chest, casting a seductive gaze toward the armored man.
That alluring, bewitching stare was the sort of demonic pull that would stir a man's instincts even when he knew it was a trap.
Then again, how well that pull worked depended entirely on the target.
"Hey, I hate to interrupt your whole erotic pose thing, but if you're trying to seduce me, it ain't gonna work on this guy. I'm a lifelong, die-hard virgin-thinker… getting hot and bothered over some random hottie? The difficulty on that's so high it's laughable."
"Self-deprecating quips and just enough pushback to keep me on my toes… Whether that approach works on me or not, you definitely reek of a man who can't get any. Playing the fool to lull me into dropping my guard — then what, you gonna do something with that big thing of yours?"
"Can a woman stop with all the dirty talk? Honestly, it's a turn-off."
"————"
Capella's provocative stare went slack with astonishment at his response. The surprise vanished quickly, though, and she let out a throaty, thoroughly delighted laugh.
"Kyahahahaha! What was that? That look, that age, and those lines? The dreamy maiden of your fantasies doesn't live anywhere but inside your own chest. The only difference between you and those love-struck ditzes is your appearance and address — you're still a resident of Flower-Pick Land! Kyah, I'm gonna throw up!"
"Sorry to interrupt your little celebration, but I'm not gonna repeat myself. I'm not in the mood today. If you ask me when I ever am, I'd have trouble answering — but especially today."
Al's attitude toward Capella, who was now kicking her feet like a child in a display completely at odds with her current appearance, was thoroughly indifferent and irritated.
This wasn't an act. He genuinely seemed to resent the role he was playing. Noting how different he was from the other two upstairs, Capella's expression grew even more puzzled.
"So you're not in the mood, it's a hassle, but you won't give up this spot. Your words are full of contradictions. Then why are you playing along with this circus?"
"Who are you calling a circus?"
"Isn't it obvious? From where I stand, everything that happens in this world is one big time-killer. You're all, ultimately, mine. My love is generous and benevolent — I don't want anything other than your love for me… so everything else? Do whatever the hell you want with it."
Capella spread both arms wide, smiling radiantly with an expression as beautiful and poisonous as a toxic flower.
Seeing that smile, Al quietly lowered the tip of his Blue Dragon Blade. Cracking his neck and letting out a long "ahhh" sigh, he said: "You're… different from the Sin Archbishops I know."
"Oh? Were you acquainted with some of the other worthless scraps of flesh? A yandere perverted she-beast? A virgin so tight you could barely fit anything in? A lowborn, gluttonous little brat? Or maybe a deluded, self-pleasuring spirit? Either way, I'd say your social circle's a real disaster! Didn't your parents ever tell you? You can choose your friends."
"…As it happens, my friends were the type my parents told that to."
"My condolences. But even you — my grand love will embrace you! Just take off that helm, show me your true face, embrace me, love me, and devote yourself to me!"
No matter how coldly she was rebuffed, Capella's courtship remained unwavering — she was the ultimate love-obsessed romantic. Calling this extreme, one-sided, predatory obsession "love" was perhaps a stretch, but there was no denying its intensity.
Naturally, very few people would respond to a courtship so clumsy it practically stripped away her humanity.
Al raised his Blue Dragon Blade again and slowly shook his head.
"Sorry. I appreciate the sentiment, but we barely know each other. Besides, it'd be embarrassing if my friends found out and started gossiping."
"Oh my, you do have a cute side, caring about what others think! Am I really that bad? — Well, for a masochistic scumbag meat who gets off on being strung along by women, I don't think I'd be off the mark…"
"…Huh?"
"Self-assured, sharp eyes. Aggressively sexual build. Shorter than I am right now, and the type to show a lot of skin. Moody and talkative, but not mindlessly arrogant — intelligence and confidence backing every word. Delegates to subordinates often, but rarely leans on anyone herself. She's tough, but not someone you'd call unpleasant — that's the position, and that's the woman."
As Capella rattled off the description, her appearance began to shift and ripple like liquid.
Her voluptuous body remained, but her height shrank. Her outfit transformed into a dress that boldly exposed her shoulders and back. Her facial features shifted from droopy eyes to sharp ones, and an air of keen self-assurance radiated outward. What emerged was a beautiful woman with long golden hair cascading down.
She didn't resemble anyone actually present in the city — but the aura she carried was unmistakably reminiscent of a certain woman close to Al.
"————"
"Oh, not blonde? In Lugunica, there should be more candidates who match that description than anyone… In that case — yo-ho-ho-ho — red… hmm, orange."
Watching Al's reactions with keen interest, Capella cycled through hair colors one after another. Black, brown, green, blue — but the moment she hit red, she paused, then shifted to orange.
And with that single change, her resemblance to that familiar woman grew strikingly stronger.
"That's creepy… Where did you see my lady?"
"Haven't seen her, talked to her, or even thought about her. I just inferred your ideal face and body from your reactions. I'm a devoted woman, after know? It's only natural to give it your all when you want to win over the one you love."
"Reactions or not, my face isn't worth—"
"Voice, gestures, speech patterns. The angle of your neck, your gaze, your demeanor. What your conversation reveals about your personality, your nature, your preferences."
"————"
"Every single gesture — I miss nothing. Devoting my entire soul to being loved — that's how I devote myself. And if I'm going this far… then look at me. Only at me. Don't even glance at anyone else. My face, my body, my voice, my attitude, my gestures — every last bit of me! You should be looking at the dead center of your preferences!"
As she spoke, Capella — now wearing the likeness of Priscilla — raised her voice. Her declaration was blissfully straightforward, but it was so direct it felt like it would skewer its target.
Al no longer shook his head or responded with words. Instead, he simply radiated fighting spirit from his entire body in silent answer. At that wordless response, Capella's expression soured with disappointment and loathing.
"You… ungrateful piece of scumbag meat! What exactly is it about me that you don't like?!"
"Don't get the wrong idea. I don't like you, I don't dislike you, I just don't care… Sorry, that was a lie. Yeah, you're gross. I hate you."
"You—! You cheating, rotting piece of scum meat—!!"
Capella stamped her foot, and her right arm transformed from the shoulder into a massive wolf's head. The savage beast lunged at the standing-still Al at tremendous speed. Rows of blade-like fangs were about to crush his entire upper body— —But at the last instant, Al's body slipped through the narrow gaps between the closing jaws, and he dove sideways to escape.
"Don't think you got away with that!"
"I don't think that! Left — next is behind!"
A colossal palm crashed down toward Al's rolling head. The five-fingered巨臂 had a single finger comparable in size to a human torso — being grabbed would be equivalent to being seized by a giant serpent.
Yet Al sidestepped this attack as well with leisurely ease. He then swung wide to avoid the wolf's fangs lunging to tear at his waist, and with the Blue Dragon Blade braced behind his back, he blocked the bite head-on.
"Hah — haaa! Dona!"
Unable to kill the beast's momentum, Al was driven forward with the Blue Dragon Blade still locked in the wolf's maw. But a wall of earth he'd cast midway erupted from the floor, jamming the beast-arm upward from below.
The wolf groaned as its jaw was knocked back, and the sheer mass of its right arm threw Capella's main body off balance. Seizing the opening, Al lunged forward to counter the left arm's assault.
"Dona! Over here too, Dona!"
"————!"
Al's rapid-fire Dona spells were the lowest-tier earth magic.
Both their power and their durability as walls were exactly what you'd expect from such a basic incantation. Yet Al wielded this magic as his best tactical option in life-or-death combat.
Creating obstacles, blocking sightlines, forming footholds — precisely like this very moment.
"Get out of the way!"
Earth walls rose to block the paths of both Capella's thrashing right arm and left arm. Another wall appeared directly in front of Capella herself, obscuring her line of sight.
And with that preparation complete, Al's body launched into midair — using the force and speed of the earth walls rising from the ground like a spring mechanism.
At the instant Capella looked up at the sky with a shout, his Blue Dragon Blade flashed in a single stroke, and her head was severed.
The face that resembled Priscilla tumbled through the air as an enormous spray of blood erupted from the wound. Capella's blood carried an unidentified, poison-like effect — the very thing that had been tormenting Crusch.
Naturally, there was an admonition not to touch the copiously spurting blood — but— "Fool me once, con artist!"
Al stepped mercilessly into the pool of blood and thrust his Blue Dragon Blade forward.
The blade entered without hesitation, piercing through the back of the decapitated Capella's body and erupting from the center of her chest, dealing a fatal wound to an enemy who should already be dead. But he didn't stop there.
"Take this! El Dona!"
Kicking the impaled body and sending it flying forward, Al shouted the incantation — one tier above Dona, the El-class spell detonated inside Capella's body using the Blue Dragon Blade as a focal point.
Naturally, Capella's flesh couldn't contain the mass swelling from within, and it burst apart.
With a comically flat "pop," Capella's body scattered in pieces. Arms and legs flew apart, pink organs and vivid red were splattered across the underground space, and the fragments steamed in the cold air — more than enough to make one look away.
"…How's that?! Hah — hah — that oughta do it!"
Panting, Al addressed the pieces that had been Capella.
There was no "how's that" to speak of. No living creature could survive being destroyed to that degree. There was no one left who could answer Al's victory claim. Or so it should have been.
"Aah, how awful. You really didn't need to go that far."
"Shit."
Al's irritated click of the tongue was directed at that same eerily nonchalant, wicked voice.
The voice wasn't coming from the scattered pieces of flesh, but from the direction where the head had been severed off first — namely, where Capella's head had fallen. There, lying on the ground, Capella's head was savoring Al's reaction with amusement.
"Cut off my head, blew up my heart, and it's still not enough? That's cheating…"
"My head can get cut off and my heart can get blown up and I'm perfectly fine, that's just how I am. But you've been awfully ruthless all of a sudden — that's unusual. I was sure I was offering you the face right at the center of your preferences. Could it be you're into expressing love through violence?"
Al let out a sigh of futility as Capella's severed neck rose from the ground.
The cross-section of the neck writhed, and from within, flesh far too voluminous to have fit there poured out. It formed a base for the neck, and the wobbling mass of flesh gradually grew limbs. The black surface was concealed beneath pale skin, and she was restored to her former state — no, the golden-haired girl was complete once more.
"…What about the rest of the scattered flesh?"
"It dissolves, since it's not needed."
With a resigned look, Al glanced at the pieces. The fragments of Capella's exploded body began dissolving with audible sizzling. Organs and limbs melted into sludgy black mud, bubbled, and vanished.
Even the way she disappeared felt like harassment.
"Setting that aside, you didn't hesitate to lop off my head. The one up there was a fake, I take it? But didn't you have a comrade who got incapacitated by my blood? You drenched yourself in it — aren't you scared?"
"Don't try to bluff me. I don't know what conditions are involved, but I've already confirmed that just getting splashed isn't a death sentence. Dodging that was a waste."
"——? I didn't see you dodging anything."
"That was before you showed up. Head, heart — neither worked. I guess the only thing left is to smash the severed head to pieces. Wonder how many tries that'll take."
The exhaustion in Al's sigh was heavier than it had been right before the fight started. The sheer difficulty of dealing with Capella certainly played a part, but there was more weight pressing on his shoulders than even that exchange warranted.
In any case, Capella had fully regenerated without a trace of the battle's damage remaining.
Shapeshifting, transformation, and regenerative power rivaling true immortality — if even decapitation and heart destruction couldn't kill her, she was nothing short of a monster.
But being hard to kill didn't mean she was invincible.
"You could seal me in a block of ice, or toss me into a massive waterfall — there are options, right?"
"When the opponent can't be killed, despair is supposed to be the natural response, but you really don't break, do you, you stubborn piece of scum meat? Still, confidence is nice and all — but can you actually pull it off? You seem to excel at running, hiding, and little tricks, but I seriously doubt you've got the firepower to kill me."
"Sure, even if I died a hundred times, it's debatable whether I could kill you. I'm actually at about half my limit already… but aren't you forgetting something?"
Tapping his shoulder with the flat of the Blue Dragon Blade, Al rattled the metal fittings on his helm. When Capella cocked her head, he pointed the blade's tip upward.
It indicated the city hall building — no, beyond that.
"You thought you caught us off guard, but I knew you'd leave the control tower open. Which means the group targeting the 'Lust' control tower is going to rush back in a panic. If I keep stalling here, you'll run out of room on your own."
"————"
"Just so you know, I'm damn good at stalling. I'll pull every trick in the book to keep you pinned right here. So if you're gonna run, now's the time."
Facing Capella alone, Al urged her to retreat under the pretext of reinforcements arriving. Capella furrowed her brow in suspicion, and that reaction made Al go "Hmm?"
"What's with that look? Got a problem with my airtight retreat offer?"
"You think I, who charged into enemy territory single-handedly, wouldn't have taken measures to hold back whatever forces you people sent?"
"…Hm?"
"The muscle dummy and the female swordsman — I left them on the way here. Two of the finest puppets in my collection… You think your reinforcements can break free quickly?"
"Guuh!"
At the unexpected development, Al groaned, his face tilted up toward the hole in the ceiling. As if reading his expression through the helm, Capella continued: "As a matter of fact, I went ahead and jammed your Communication Mirrors. So even if you tried to contact someone in a panic, you wouldn't be able to reach anyone."
"How the hell did you pull that off?!"
"Those magical devices were made by the '
Al's strategy hit a dead end against Capella's meticulous harassment.
He had no way to verify whether Capella was telling the truth or lying, but in fact, outside the city hall, the two who had gone to deal with 'Lust' — Wilhelm and Garfiel — were both currently engaged with her forces. The odds of them returning in the middle of a battle against a monster and an oddball were, frankly, low.
Which meant— "If you've got no cards left to play, I think it's about time to wrap this up."
"…I wouldn't say I'm completely out of options."
At Al's halfhearted response, Capella's lips curved into a faint smile.
And in the instant after that smile, it melted away. The girl's form shifted once more into an amorphous mass of flesh, and Capella's mass swelled explosively.
Grrrrrr — shedding the very constraint of a humanoid shape, she grew enormous.
The petite girl, the voluptuous woman, the handsome young man, the hulking warrior — her previous transformations were nothing compared to the sheer rate at which her body ballooned, filling the underground space with a deafening roar.
And what appeared after that single blink was a black dragon whose dark hide merged with the shadows.
"…Right. Forgot you could turn into a dragon too."
Without partition walls to contain it, the underground space was somewhat wider than the floors above in the city hall. But even so, the black dragon's colossal body hardly fit.
At Al's murmur, the dragon's golden eyes narrowed. In response, Capella opened her maw. From within, a merciless blast of scorching breath was unleashed.
"————!"
The blast scorched the underground air, and Al sprinted through the blindingly lit space.
His incantation, drowned out by the roar, raised an earth wall within the breath's range. But it was obliterated instantly before the overwhelming heat — however, that wasn't Al's real aim.
"Guuh — gah—!"
The black dragon's jaw, mid-breath, was struck once again by a rising earth wall. Its mouth was forced shut mid-exhalation, and the dragon reeled backward, its own flames scorching its nose and throat.
But the breath that had already been released before the interruption was still in effect. As Al scrambled to escape its range, green flames latched onto his back— "Damn it! Dona! Buhh—?!"
In desperation, he cast a Dona spell that shot out an earth wall, which he used to slam into his own side. The impact sent him flying. His backside singed by flame, he plunged into a waterway. But the moment his back touched the channel's bottom, another incantation raised a vertical earth wall that launched him out of the water.
"Shit—!"
Drenched, Al burst from the water. In that same instant, the black dragon's sharp claws gouged the bottom of the channel. Water sprayed upward, and the earth wall that had launched Al was torn apart underwater. A narrow escape — but the relentless assault continued. Al dodged, dodged, dodged every single one.
He slipped through impossibly tight gaps, took attacks coming from angles that should have been blind spots, compensated for insufficient physical ability with magical self-inflicted propulsion, and avoided fatal wounds at every turn.
"Giiiii—!"
"D-D-D-D-Dona—!!"
The black dragon, pushed to its limit, swung its massive body around. A sweeping tail strike was launched.
The blow carved an arc and kicked up a gale. Al deployed five earth walls simultaneously with a multi-cast to reduce the impact to its absolute minimum, then leaped far backward, caught the blow on his Blue Dragon Blade, and was sent tumbling across the ground.
He rolled extensively to disperse the impact, then tried to use the Blue Dragon Blade as a crutch to stand. But the damage hadn't been fully absorbed.
Hurriedly tilting his helm, he vomited profusely from the gap at his neck.
"Guh — cghhh… Damn it. This time the victim's… actually getting unlucky for real…"
"I don't think that's it. For someone of your abilities, to be this unlucky suggests you're operating on a level where you can't even tell what's helping you…"
The black dragon Capella offered bewildered praise to Al as he lamented his predicament.
Even from her perspective, there was a strange incongruity clinging to Al's desperate defense. Attacks that shouldn't have been readable, follow-ups that couldn't be predicted — Al had survived every one by maximizing every ounce of his ability. It was almost as if he'd understood those choices in advance.
But neither of them had time to dwell on it.
Because— "…Did I maybe go a little too far here?"
Capella looked upward and murmured as she felt a faint vibration transmitted through the ground — and, beyond that, a fatal sound emanating from the battered city hall building.
The repeated battles had inflicted catastrophic damage to the building's foundation, and the fighting in its underground base had delivered the final blow. As a result, the first-floor hole that had been made to drop Capella through began expanding rapidly, cracks spreading not just through the floor but throughout the entire structure.
What awaited at the end of those cracks was a conclusion even a child could grasp — total collapse.
"You gotta be kidding me! If the domain falls apart, we're dead!"
Seeing chunks of floor raining down from above, Al forced himself to stand through the pain. On unsteady legs, he threw himself into the flowing waterway.
A splash of water, and his body was carried away by the subterranean current, disappearing from sight. Watching him go, Capella — still in dragon form — gazed up at the crumbling ceiling.
"Hmm. I'm bored now. Played too long. Whatever."
With a disinterested murmur, the dragon yawned.
The wondrous spectacle of a yawn from a black dragon went unseen by anyone, swallowed by the building's collapse that poured down like a landslide and swept it all away.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ "—Ugh."
At the site of the collapse, a faint groan rose.
The sound of rubble being pushed aside accompanied the voice, and a slightly oversized stone slab rolled down the debris heap. The impact caused the pile to crumble, and from the gap that formed, a pale arm peeked out.
The slender arm flailed desperately, clawing at the rubble and breaking the pile apart from the edge.
Several minutes later, the one who finally crawled from the mountain of wreckage was
"Cough — cough!"
He retched, spitting out the copious amounts of dust and blood that had filled his mouth.
Whether the grit packed between his tongue and teeth was gravel or blood, Ferris couldn't tell. It didn't matter much either way. He wanted to rinse his mouth, but— "I never expected the whole building to collapse. That was one wasted near-death experience…!"
Wiping the blood from his face with the inner lining of his filthy clothes, Ferris cleaned off enough grime to reveal an impeccably pretty face beneath.
He looked nothing like a person who, just minutes ago, had been helplessly crushed in the collapse of a five-story building.
"That doesn't matter… Right — Lady Anastasia!"
Ferris's cat ears flattened as he spoke the name and looked around.
Anastasia, who had volunteered to stand in as Crusch's body double and cooperated with the dangerous decoy operation. They had successfully responded to the 'Lust' attack as predicted, but the result had been nothing short of catastrophic. Still, an ally was an ally.
He needed to confirm whether she was alive or dead — partly out of obligation to Julius.
"If she's like me, crushed under rubble…"
He peered under nearby debris. The moment the building had begun to collapse, Anastasia had been in the same room as Ferris.
When the floor gave way, she'd been caught in it just as he had. As long as she hadn't died instantly, Ferris's healing magic should be more than enough to pull her free.
"If you could just make some noise, finding you would be so much easier!"
Disaster relief was not something Ferris's slender arms could accomplish.
Saving the injured was his specialty, but everything up to that point was hardly suited to him. On top of failing to extract information from 'Lust,' the mounting frustration of helplessness was reaching a breaking point — and then— "Oh, Ferris-san, you're safe too, huh."
"——!"
Hearing footsteps shifting rubble, Ferris spun around with a start — and there, in his field of vision, was the person he'd been looking for. Hair dyed green, slightly disheveled, wearing that familiar gentle smile — it was Anastasia.
She shuffled toward Ferris on unsteady feet, her kimono hem swaying.
"Lady Anastasia — you're alive?!"
"Obviously, aren't I? But that's actually my line. Ferris-san, it's amazing you survived that collapse."
"That's…"
Strictly speaking, he hadn't been unscathed, but Ferris dodged the question. He had no obligation to explain, and it wouldn't be a pleasant conversation anyway. Without pressing the silent Ferris, Anastasia instead looked down at the rubble beneath their feet and the destroyed city hall beyond.
"Thank goodness we evacuated everyone in time. This is going to be a big deal."
"A big deal…"
Anastasia frowned in concern, and Ferris echoed the expression with a tilt of his head.
She called it a big deal, but was this really the kind of situation where that tone was appropriate? It was certainly a major incident, but there was something lacking in her seriousness.
The cause of this collapse in the first place— "It was the battle underground between Al and 'Lust,' I think…"
"————"
"It's all completely buried now. Digging through this is going to be a nightmare. If they made it into the underground waterways, there's a chance they survived…"
Of course, that scenario meant they'd have to consider the possibility of Capella surviving too.
From what Ferris had seen, Capella's regenerative ability was beyond human comprehension. Having her face half-blown off by Anastasia's magic and still remaining unfazed was beyond abnormal. Ferris's life-force overdose had worked on her, so it wasn't a natural condition — but still.
"Come to think of it, Lady Anastasia — where did you learn that magic?"
"…Does that have any bearing on the current situation?"
"I heard you couldn't fight, so I was a little surprised."
She was the one who had declared herself combat-incapable during the strategy meeting. Neither she nor the artificial spirit she carried had any fighting power.
But if that was true, then what was the magic that had scorched Capella's face?
"That's something I'd like to hear about too."
"————"
At Ferris's question, Anastasia fell silent — and a third voice cut in.
The two turned to look, and through the rubble strode a thoroughly soaked Al. Tilting his head and wringing water from his helm, he made his way back.
"Glad to see you're in one piece. Did you manage to jump into the waterway?"
"
As Anastasia welcomed back their returning hero, Al drew his Blue Dragon Blade. Its tip was aimed at Anastasia, and she furrowed her elegant brows.
Al and Anastasia faced each other. Ferris stood at a midpoint between the two, their positions forming a triangle.
"What exactly are you doing? If this is a joke, it isn't funny."
"I'm not trying to make a joke either. The cat-ear guy I can overlook, but the fact that you made it out alive doesn't add up. And besides…"
"I just had a hidden card up my sleeve. I feel bad about keeping quiet, but I can't exactly lay all my cards on the table…"
"That's one answer, sure. But the real problem is your attitude. You barely survived a collapsing building, and here you are making small talk in a ruin with an acquaintance. Your expression and your emotions don't match that attitude at all. You know what we call people who talk like that?"
"————"
Al fired off rapid questions, and Anastasia's words halted. But her expression remained fixed in an ambiguous smile.
And as Ferris watched, Al finished what he'd started.
"We call them 'Witches.' That's exactly the word."
"…My, my. What a harsh thing to say."
The voice that replied was detached, startlingly devoid of emotion.
The gentle smile peeled away, replaced by a listless, self-mocking smirk. Though that mockery seemed directed not at others, but at herself.
"Last I checked, 'Witch' was never a term used as a compliment."
"You think I said that to be cordial? It means exactly what it sounds like, you fraudulent fox."
"What's going on here?"
Glaring at the two who seemed to understand each other — the changed Anastasia and Al — Ferris demanded room for his own input in the conversation. At that, Al shrugged his armless left shoulder while keeping his gaze locked on Anastasia.
"Simple. This young lady's got the same shell but different contents. The nasty little fox hanging around her neck —
"I prioritized Ana's survival, and this is the result. I resent the implication that my actions were somehow malicious."
Al's hostile words were met with Echidna's exasperated reply from behind Anastasia's face. Al snorted through his helm.
"Don't get high and mighty when you were the one trying to take over her body."
"That's a misunderstanding. When did I ever show signs of that?"
"Your half-assed
"Oh, enough already! This conversation isn't going anywhere!"
Every time Echidna spoke, Al would snap back, and Ferris had finally had enough.
Al clearly had some inside knowledge, but what mattered right now was Anastasia. The vessel was currently under Echidna's control — that much was clear.
"First — is Lady Anastasia actually all right? You didn't just protect her body while her consciousness got ejected somewhere, did you?"
"She's fine. I need Ana to be physically and mentally intact — otherwise, resorting to a forbidden measure would have been pointless."
"A forbidden measure…?"
"My current state. Ana's gate is rather complicated. She can't control it herself. I can, but the strain is considerable. That's all there is to it."
Echidna touched her slender chest, and Anastasia's expression clouded over.
Al still hadn't lowered his sword, looking unconvinced — but Ferris stepped between the blade and Echidna and continued speaking.
"Then why did you approach us pretending to be Lady Anastasia?"
"It would have been suspicious not to check on an ally's safety, wouldn't it? I pretended to be Ana herself so I wouldn't reveal our weakness to you. As I just explained, Ana's body is unstable. I wanted to hide the fact that we're merged. …Though I was found out."
"Julius doesn't know about this power of yours… He doesn't even know about your existence, does he? What are you going to do about that?"
"That's a matter between Ana, Julius, and the '
The logic held. The odd feeling Ferris had sensed about Anastasia atop the rubble was explained by the disconnect between the persona and the different person who had actually been responding.
Her magic had saved him, and she had protected Anastasia's body through the building's collapse — those two facts cleared most of Ferris's suspicions.
"But you still aren't going to put the sword down?"
"…Tch."
At Ferris's question, Al clicked his tongue and reluctantly sheathed the Blue Dragon Blade. Once that was confirmed, Ferris took a proper look at his battered state.
Burns, abrasions — quite the collection of injuries.
"Here, let me heal you real quick. Wow, this gouge is deep…! Eek — what is this cut? How did you not die from this?"
"At my level, turning a fatal wound into just a serious one is about my limit. Would've gone better if I hadn't lost that bet, but… oh well."
"…Huh?"
Ferris's palm healed every one of Al's injuries.
The pale blue light of his healing magic was as impressive as ever — in an instant, the countless wounds across Al's body were mended. Confirming this, Al gave a brief word of thanks.
"Same goes for me, but you girls survived too. That 'Lust' bastard is definitely still alive. Being buried under rubble isn't going to be enough to finish someone like that."
"About that."
At Al's warning, Echidna raised her hand. In it she held a Communication Mirror, and with a light tap on its surface from her other hand— "Actually, right up until the building collapsed, the Communication Mirror had stopped responding entirely."
"I heard. 'Lust' — or rather, the Witch Cult? Apparently the Witch Cult has inherited ways to jam magical devices. They've been disrupting our communication channels…"
"That would appear to be the case. However, if the one responsible was the Sin Archbishop, it seems we've escaped that particular predicament for now."
"…Get to the point."
"My apologies, it's a habit. In short, the Communication Mirror's functions have been restored."
Both Al and Ferris reacted with surprise.
Al, at the prospect of being able to contact the others who carried Communication Mirrors. Ferris, at the possibility that whatever had been blocking the mirror had been eliminated.
"What do you mean? 'Lust' stopped jamming it… Did she die?"
It seemed far too implausible that the monster with that regenerative power had been killed under rubble. As Al had pointed out, the three of them here had survived.
An immortal monster specialized in life force — it was hard to believe it was over. If there was another possible explanation— "She sustained too much damage to continue the interference. Or, by stopping, she's luring us into a false sense of security while lying low and waiting for an opening…"
"That doesn't seem like her personality."
"I agree. Rather than hiding, she'd be bolder about it — what if, for example, she's disguised as one of the three people here? The real one is already dead, and she's slipped in seamlessly. Wouldn't that be exactly 'Lust's' style?"
A chill ran through Ferris at Echidna's speculation.
He remembered the monster that had taken Crusch's form right before the collapse. At the time, it had been exposed right in front of them, so there was no doubt it was a fake. If it were Crusch's form, Ferris was confident he could tell — but with these two, he wasn't sure.
The thought was unsettling. But— "Making up complicated theories for fun, are we, you nasty piece of work? If there's no reaction, the answer's simple. She tucked tail and ran. She got bored and went home. That's the kind of opponent she is."
"You're making such baseless and reductive claims…"
"Before getting crushed, that monster had a completely dead look on her face. That's my reason."
Al had been the last one to face Capella.
If it were anyone else, those words would invite mockery — but coming from a Sin Archbishop, all bets were off. He wasn't saying to drop their guard, of course.
"More importantly, if the Communication Mirror's working again, I can contact my lady, right? That's priority one. Get me a line."
The ones who had left city hall with Communication Mirrors were the Wilhelm-Garfiel pair and the Priscilla-Lilliana pair. Al, who had originally been assigned to Priscilla's group, had reluctantly joined this stay-behind group at his master's command — but the desire to confirm her safety was painfully understandable.
"I know. No need to rush — hm?"
Crowded by Al, Echidna furrowed her brow as she held the mirror.
Noticing her reaction, Ferris turned to look — and in Echidna's hand, the Communication Mirror began to glow faintly. — A call from another mirror.
And reflected on the luminous surface was—