—And so, the future the Archbishop had envisioned was completed.
That night, at the same time the brainwashing was complete—
The constraint
was also abolished, and he was now able to issue the kill order to Nina.
From there, he gazed once more into the future, deepening his conviction in the dream as the scene unfolded exactly as he had imagined, and set his plan into motion.
First, he predicted Liliana's actions—the only one he couldn't read—as best he could from the people around her and past experience, and determined that putting the Northern Alliance into play as per theory was the best option, while at the same time separating Liliana and Ermes as much as possible and arranging his forces so that no irregular could intervene.
Liliana's magic was certainly surprising, but it had largely gone according to his predictions.
The situation continued without deviating from the Archbishop's expectations, and at last—
Just as he had foreseen, Ermes recklessly charged toward him—and there, the brainwashed Nina arrived to stop him.
(—I've won.)
Johann was certain of it.
Ermes had... barely managed to break free before the charm fully took effect, but it was pointless.
Nina would not let prey in that state escape. Ermes surely knew that too—operating on the premise that he would eventually be captured by Nina, he would desperately try to land a shot on the Archbishop, but—
(That, too, I have foreseen.)
That as well was futile—the Archbishop had already foreseen it.
The reason was a magical tool the Archbishop carried with him at all times, which had also just blocked Ermes's "Magic Bullet Archer."
The same type of magical tool that Rose had once brought to the Trachea household—
An ancient magical tool.
It was.
Its advantage lies in generating a barrier instantly, without the chanting lag that Bloodline Magic requires. As long as one stays alert, any strike can be easily deflected.
Assassination attempts—one would expect them, given his position—had been repelled time and again with this.
So now, all that remained was to watch the other side exhaust itself.
Even so, Ermes desperately resisted, searching for whatever way out he could find. The Archbishop watched the foolish boy's struggles with mockery and murmured to himself.
"I'll grant that you don't give up easily—but it's futile. ...Ah, how much effort you must have poured in to reach this point, how many people you must have moved to your cause."
Ermes's path—he had traced it from the moment the boy became a person of concern, understood it through his foresight. Just how much Ermes had built up to arrive here.
...But ironically, the stronger he grew, the more firmly he sat in the Archbishop's palm.
Truly, it was almost laughable how everything had unfolded exactly as predicted.
Johan does not believe in goodwill.
And that Ermes had accumulated such feelings—that people followed him, that people placed their trust in him, and──
──all of this was perfectly clear from the sheer strength of the charm magic Ermes was now under.
"Then,
let goodwill
be what kills you."
The Archbishop spoke the final word.
Everything you have accumulated until now, everything you have built—it has all become the very power of the spell that binds you.
The fragility and impermanence of goodwill, as the Archbishop believes in it—demonstrated through the greatest irony and the highest pleasure. That was the final reason the Archbishop had chosen this method of killing.
Know this: everything you believed in existed for this very purpose.
As he watched over the scene, whispering that message to himself—
At last, before him who could no longer move, his body locked down by restrictions and exhaustion, Nina closed in without mercy, raising her sword.
She pierced Ermes's chest without a moment's hesitation.
"......Ha."
The Archbishop laughed. There was no surprise—only the arrogant certainty that this was exactly as it should be, as he watched the scene unfold.
Because he had known.
From that day—from the moment he had restructured his plans.
—Because this scene alone had never wavered, standing firm at the heart of all his visions.
The sword was pulled free. Blood spilled forth. Ermes collapsed limply to the ground, and Nina stood motionless where she was.
"Ha—ha ha ha ha ha!"
The scene of resolution he had confirmed time and again. The ultimate outcome, exactly as he had foreseen.
That it had now been reproduced before his very eyes without the slightest discrepancy—that every vision up to this point had come true down to the last detail—the Archbishop let out another roar of laughter.
—Failing to divine what lay beyond that point had been his greatest undoing.
"
Now's the time,
,
El.
"
Before Nina's voice—infused with unwavering resolve—could reach the Archbishop.
Ermes... the man who should have been lying motionless, raised one hand from where he lay and aimed his fingertips at the Archbishop.
—"
Meteor Throne
'"
Bloodline Magic.
—Unleashing the spell that Nina had been chanting even as she was stabbed through.
A rain of light cascades down upon the Archbishop.
"G-ah...!?"
Perhaps it was to be expected—Johan, reacting in a split second, attempts to deploy a barrier.
But he's a fraction too slow. The beams reach him before the barrier can form, striking Johan with tremendous force—even if not a fatal blow.
More than that... it was exactly on target. One beam strikes the magical tool that triggers his barrier head-on, utterly destroying every means of Johan's defense.
...Of course, under normal circumstances, this wouldn't happen. Before an Archbishop on high alert, all long-range attacks would be blocked by his magical tools.
But at this very moment—the ultimate prophecy realized, certain of victory, and therefore off his guard—Johan was struck true. No.
This moment—
—alone—
—when Johan—
—lets his guard down—
—
—
—that Nina's—
'—
prophecy—
—
had been doing.
it was.
"Wh—what—impossible—"
Johann, who had barely managed to block what remained, still rose to his feet despite his grievous wounds. An unbelievable sight... he murmured at the completely unexpected turn of events.
What had happened.
He quickly pieced together the situation. The magic that had just attacked him was'
Meteor Throne
'. Why Ermes could use that witch's magic was unclear... no, that wasn't it. There was something far more significant and self-evident—namely.
"Ermes is—alive—!?"
He staggered to his feet and fixed his gaze straight ahead.
There... despite bearing a near-fatal stab wound to the chest, Ermes stood. His emerald eyes, unwavering, were fixed upon the High Priest.
He spoke calmly, blood flowing from his mouth. With a voice that held clear conviction, in a single breath.
"—I thought it would come to this."
◆
(—
to guide
the High Priest's
movements
)
That was, toward the decisive battle.
Ermes had envisioned this in his heart—a final move to settle everything, one he couldn't tell anyone about since he had to be wary of their precognition.
The original objective they'd been discussing—'delivering a future that can't be avoided even with precognition'—was certainly viable, but with the information advantage so overwhelmingly on the other side, there was no denying the instability.
And so, to close things out with certainty, this was what Ermes had been quietly working on.
The way the Archbishop navigated the situation—
A board game.
That was the impression it evoked.
It was likely a consequence of being able to see the future—the determination to force them into moving as planned no matter what. Having actually been on the receiving end of it, Ermes understood that all too well.
And—
Board games—
Those, at least, Ermes knew well. During his training days, he and his master Rose had often played them as mental exercises.
Drawing on that experience and his knowledge of magic, he began to construct his strategy.
(...First, determine their objective. What is their ultimate goal?)
That much was clear without a second thought.
To kill Ermes. They had made that their foremost objective in this Northern Rebellion. Given everything that had transpired, there was no doubting it.
Then, next—what means would they employ to achieve it?
Their initial strategy—using overwhelming numbers and sowing distrust to wear Ermes down—had already fallen apart. And if they intended to kill Ermes in his current, fully prepared state... the options were not many.
First, not a numbers advantage but individuals—people with the personal capability to kill Ermes.
That narrowed their possible moves to two.
One of those involved Lucius. It wasn't impossible, but since he was the main card, Ermes was already maintaining maximum vigilance against him. And if Ermes structured his approach in the final battle specifically to avoid that confrontation, the probability of the other side throwing Lucius at him directly could be made virtually nil.
That left one move.
——"Have Nina kill me." Almost certainly, that was the move they would make.
Of course, under normal circumstances, that would be unthinkable.
But Ermes had already seen through the fact that their Brainwashing Bloodline Magic was far from ordinary. ...He had likewise seen through the possibility of breaking through the first law of mind-altering magic — "it doesn't work on those who possess the same type of magic" — which the Archbishop believed he hadn't noticed.
They would use that to manipulate Nina and set her upon Ermes. If successful, it would without doubt catch him off guard, and if she fell within the range of her charm, his odds of winning would be even lower than against Lucius.
Moreover, given the Archbishop's tendency to ruthlessly destroy bonds and compassion on the opposing side... the likelihood of him doing precisely this was extremely high.
Through the above process, the Archbishop's hand had been read.
——If so, what remained to be done was simple.
(Break Nina's brainwashing. Or make it appear as though she were brainwashed when she wasn't.)
This was the path Ermes chose.
Because if he could pull it off, the board would be overturned in an instant.
The opponent's move would not only be rendered meaningless — it would transform into a fatal blunder. Rather than merely a situation of complete victory, it would permit no further resistance, driving things all the way to checkmate on their side in one decisive stroke.
And above all.
The moment one is convinced of victory and plays the finishing move — that was when one's guard was down the most.
Board games
were no exception. In every conceivable situation, this principle held true — and Ermes had learned as much from his experience with his master.
◆
——And so, the future Ermes had envisioned was complete.
Trusting Nina... and more than anything, from the experience of having crossed swords with her countless times at the academy, he instantly recognized that her attacks harbored no killing intent, and had her miss his vital points by a margin so slight that the Archbishop wouldn't be able to detect it.
As predicted, he struck the fully off-guard Archbishop with his mightiest blow, inflicting grave wounds while simultaneously destroying the opponent's greatest means of protection.
A magic or magical tool that makes future prescience possible.
Certainly a threat. Tremendous power. Without a doubt, it would be a power that even Bloodline Magic cannot achieve.
But— Ermes declared. With pride in his own convictions and path, in having overwritten the impossible through learning and evolution, he spoke this answer in his heart.
Fundamentally—
magic—
things like that—
even without
any of it—
seeing the future
is possible.
—He declared.
This power is not a privilege reserved for you alone.
He proved it by perfectly reading every move of the man who had been arrogant with an extraordinary magical tool.
...Archbishop Johan must have moved countless people with that power of prescience and his position. Must have denied countless feelings.
This time as well. He had viewed the battlefield as a game board, absolutely, fanatically. He had been steering the battle as he pleased... fully believing himself to be "the one who moves the pieces."
And so, Ermes— the boy whom the Archbishop had regarded as the most pliable piece, the easiest to manipulate, one who would simply move as commanded. Yet even from that position, he had wielded everything at his disposal, and though he was merely a piece on the board, he ultimately succeeded in guiding the Archbishop's every move—
With the signal for his counterattack, he spoke.
"—
The feeling
of being moved
by a pawn
"How about that, Archbishop?"
"Y-You—!"
Archbishop Johann, too, with that keen mind of his, must have noticed it in an instant—or rather, he could not help but notice.
He had been maneuvered toward this outcome. Led along... it was he himself who had been sitting in the palm of someone's hand all along.
But... Johann faltered.
Even understanding the backdrop to all of this, there remained a colossal, inconceivable mystery.
Undoing Nina's brainwashing.
Yes, it had no doubt actually been accomplished. Now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to admit it—and there was no question it was an exceedingly effective measure under the current circumstances.
However.
There was one simple reason he had not anticipated it—had not needed to anticipate it.
"How did you do it!?"
—It should have been impossible.
His brainwashing—the technique that combined Bloodline Magic with conventional methods. It had never been broken before; even that Lucius he had managed to keep under his control nine times out of ten.
And yet to expect—for that powerless little girl, who had no strength whatsoever and whose will to accomplish anything was feeble, to resist it, to undo it? Impossible. Which meant Ermes must have done something—but even if Ermes had, it still should have been impossible, and so he was utterly at a loss.
"What did you do, when did you do it, how did you do it—and above all!"
Yes, and above all.
If Ermes—Ermes himself—had actually done something—
"Then why couldn't I foresee it—!?"
Faced with the greatest mystery of all, the Archbishop could do nothing but stand there in stunned disbelief.
"I have no obligation to tell you. It would take too long to explain—"
Ermes replied flatly, then... crumpled to one knee.
It couldn't be helped — it was necessary to catch the Archbishop off guard — but the sword had pierced dangerously close to a vital point. There was no way he could move properly, and casting further magic would be nearly impossible. Sara, the only one capable of healing wounds this severe, was currently out of action.
...But there was no problem.
Because right now, on their side, there was someone exquisitely lovely and dependable.
"Do not attack the Archbishop."
The restriction.
Freed from it — Nina was here.
"— Please."
"Sure."
As if retracing the very beginning of how this whole situation started.
Ermes called out to her, and Nina answered. But her voice was nothing like when she had answered the Archbishop — it was brimming with joy and warm affection. Compared to when she'd been brainwashed... no, compared to even before that, it sounded like it belonged to an entirely different person.
At the Archbishop, frozen once more in shock at the realization that something had happened entirely beyond his knowledge — she turned a fearless gaze.
And so, to finally strike down the mastermind behind the Northern Rebellion —
The girl most suited to settling this matter raised her sword high and charged forward to bring it crashing down upon Archbishop Johann.
This is what happens when Ermes puts his own NDK into play.
Next time: Nina's chapter. There's one more secret to be revealed — so look forward to it!