"...Hey, wait."
Laplace broke into a cold sweat immediately.
Because he'd realized it. Beneath the place where he currently stood — in other words, the place where his boss Chrono and Yurugen, the key to the current catastrophe, were both located... an existence that absolutely must not be allowed to reach them was heading there at a terrifying speed.
He hadn't been careless.
For one thing, this confirmation was a necessary task, and under normal circumstances "she" shouldn't have had any leeway to come this way. Even if the Third Princess's faction mobilized to the fullest extent — they should have been busy enough just defending the Royal Capital, their top priority.
So, if one were to insist on pinning down Laplace's shortcomings, there were two.
The nobles at the Royal Capital — those spineless lords managing to put up a better fight than expected, which from his perspective was so far outside predictions that he'd been caught off guard for less than a heartbeat.
And — failing to fully account for "her."
"!"
But Laplace was no slouch.
He changed direction instantly, using his Bloodline Magic to its fullest for a supersonic dash back underground. At the same time, without a shred of restraint,
Magic Inscription Liberation
— he activated it. Without flinching at the risk, he deployed allies into the Refusal Zone to maximize their safety.
"Boss, I hate to bother you when you're swamped with Genesis Magic, but you'll have to hold on. Right here and now—"
The very instant he finished delivering that bare-minimum warning — it came.
A deafening roar.
The ceiling was blown to smithereens by a bombardment from above, and through the settling dust, there — hovering serenely in midair—
"...I know you have no obligation to answer, but let me ask one thing."
Meeting those blue eyes that looked down upon them with cold disdain, Laplace spoke through his cold sweat.
Laplace called out toward the figure that had appeared.
"—How did you get here? Sky Witch."
With an element of buying time, he began with dialogue.
In the meantime,
Magic Inscription Liberation—
Laplace was using the spell to maximize the reinforcement of his rejection domain, but Rose paid that no mind, answering with a quiet, fearless smile.
"You can tell just by looking, right? I flew here."
"This is underground. Besides, you had Bloodline Magic users specialized in anti-air defense deployed here in droves—thoroughly, without holding back. I didn't think even you could reach this place this quickly."
Indeed, Laplace had not been caught off guard—far from it, he had been on maximum alert regarding this witch.
Her abilities as he had witnessed before, the combat power and breakthrough potential extrapolated from them. Factoring in a generous buffer on top of that, he should have deployed personnel with enough fighting strength to ensure she couldn't simply break through—or so it should have been.
She was the strongest, but not invincible. Having understood that, he had stationed more than enough delaying forces—so why?
"Relax. Your assessment was correct."
As if to laugh off Laplace's doubts, yet with a measure of respect in her tone, Rose declared.
"Honestly, if you'd stacked the deck with that many magic users, even I'd have my work cut out breaking through. ……But too bad—right now, I'm not alone."
"—!"
"But your assessment itself wasn't bad. That countermeasure is something only someone who truly understood that I'm no god could have devised. In that respect, I actually give you credit? At least—"
And after stating that frankly, she let her gaze drift to the side.
"—You're miles ahead of that traitor over there and the lunatic you're desperately holding back. At least you've got your head screwed on straight, which makes you far more interesting."
Yurugen, whose eyes still betrayed no emotion, continued generating specters while fixing his gaze on Rose.
True to her words, she pointed at Ortensia—who was straining to lunge at Rose the instant she caught sight of her.
Just as you see. Truly, she was the one person I least wanted showing up here.
The reason went without saying: Ortensia, being held in check by Laplace's magic. She was supposed to be the trump card against Rose, which only made her power—and by extension, her danger—the greatest of all. Letting her run wild here, where Genesis Magic existed, was absolutely out of the question. With Rose standing right in front of her, this woman wouldn't spare a single thought for anyone else, which made it all the worse.
As if it weren't already dangerous enough to use his own
Magic Inscription Liberation
here of all places—he would not tolerate any further risk.
And as though she saw straight through Laplace's inner conflict—
—so, here's the deal, Laplace.
Still wearing that leisurely smile, Rose delivered her proposition.
"You get what you want—
Ortensia—
I'll
take her on
for you.
So in return—
Yurugen—
hand him
over to me.
"
—Huh?
A proposal he couldn't have wished for more—and one that was absolutely unacceptable.
Rose turned to Laplace, who'd been blindsided by having both pieces of news delivered at once.
"Well, to put it bluntly, you don't have the right to refuse. —Because I'm going to make you do it anyway."
With that, as if to signal the end of the discussion, she swelled her magic power.
"!"
"Did you think you were the only ones buying time with all that talking?"
And then, just as Laplace had—
She unleashed the magic she'd been quietly preparing behind the scenes.
"'
Seamless Great Eagle
'—"
Another of her signature spells, and—
"—[
Invisible Giant
]"
—accompanied by a Chant that no one had ever heard before.
Sorry this chapter is a bit short due to the chapter break!
Next time, the matchup will finally be revealed. Look forward to it!