I wanted to fly through the sky.
That was the origin from which this magic was born—the pure wish poured into it.
And so the magic that was born was inherited through Bloodline Magic—and as a result, it came to be regarded as the most exalted among the many Bloodline Magics, even rarer among those passed down within the royal family, a phantom-grade Bloodline Magic whose bearers are exceedingly limited.
—Why did it turn out that way?
The reason lay in a certain uniqueness this magic possessed. A certain extraordinary trait that set it apart from all other Bloodline Magic.
It was this:
This magic is exceedingly rare even among Bloodline Magic—
It is a magic that came to possess performance beyond the wish poured into it.
"[In the beginning of the world there was a giant; it shattered the towers, melted the wings; arms that separated heaven and earth]"
To restate: the wish poured into this magic is "I want to fly through the sky."
It is humanity's universal wish. The symbol of the impossible. That is precisely what makes it worth encoding into magic.
And yet, because of its very fame, giving that wish actual form proved extremely difficult.
All things fall to the ground. That is an immutable truth, and overturning it is no simple matter.
One could use wind or fire to simulate the appearance of flying through the sky, but that was not the creator's true intent. Rather than something indirect that acted upon something else, he wished for something more direct—something that could let one fly purely, without relying on anything.
Of course, it was not easy. But he wanted to grant that wish no matter what.
Caught in this dilemma, he thought, and thought, and thought, and thought—
"[No art touches the palm; no path lets one see the form; and yet guilt exists in reality]"
After all that thinking, he arrived at this realization:
All things fall to the ground. That is the immutable truth in the normal state of affairs.
But rather—
What if the state of all things being bound to the ground was itself the unnatural one?
A preposterous, sophistry-laden reversal of perspective. And yet, he found his way forward precisely through this impossible line of reasoning.
"[Then let us deceive the world—the art of drowning away the crime of arrogance, if only our wings were not made of wax]"
Building hypothesis upon conjecture, he produced this theory:
—In this world, an "invisible giant" exists.
—It cannot be seen or touched from our side.
—The giant exists to bind all things—ourselves included—to the ground, and it alone can reach out and touch us unilaterally.
The argument held a certain logic, and indeed, based on it, various phenomena in the world—including falling—could be given a coherent explanation.
"[Grant me the power of innocence; name these wings of the yoke; let true freedom fill the earth]"
If that were the case, then there was only one thing left to do.
Make it so that one could touch the invisible giant. Make it so that one could interfere with its power.
Unlike before, when he had no idea what to do in order to fly, now there was a reasonably coherent framework. A concrete path, not vague aspiration, had come into view.
Not merely flying in some abstract sense, but recognizing the invisible giant and interfering with it.
—If that were the goal, then magic could reach it.
And so, at last, this magic was completed.
"[I define wings—upon the invisible giant, place the yoke of wisdom; unbind it to the very edge of the world]"
It was a great monstrous bird bearing wings unbound by any force.
A divine eagle so supreme that even the giant's arm—which casts all things to the ground—could not reach it. Nay, one that could subdue the giant in turn.
The masterpiece of magic that had transcended even the original desire bore this name:
"[Seamless Great Eagle]—Magic Inscription Liberation"
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"Seamless Great Eagle's... Magic Inscription Liberation, you say?"
An incantation she never expected, and a release of magic she could never have imagined.
Seeing it with her own eyes, Orthesia cried out in disbelief.
"—Impossible! That is one of the realms lost since the founding of the nation, something no one among all the successive generations of the royal family has ever achieved! It shouldn't be possible—and besides, you—!"
"That's right. The me from before... the me who was still in the Royal Capital couldn't get this far."
So the implication was simple.
"Since leaving the Royal Capital... more precisely, since taking on a disciple—and because of that—I was able to reach this realm. I've changed too, you know. Just like you."
"!"
"...Besides."
At Orthesia's distorted expression, Rose continued coolly.
"Weren't you the one who saw me as some kind of 'God'? If I'm a 'God,' then wouldn't it be natural for me to reach a realm beyond your imagination? What is there to be angry about?"
And then, quietly, as if driving a blade in:
"—What you were really seeking from me... was it truly a 'God,' after all?"
"—"
She understood that this question had struck deep into Orthesia's core.
"Well, that's enough lecturing. ...If you don't believe me, then just come at me. With that magic of yours—the one you trained to surpass me."
"Ro—Rose...!!"
A clean response to the provocation.
Orthesia unleashed her black lightning.
It was a spell that traded a target restriction—essentially limited to Rose alone—for overwhelming power and homing capability. The kind of thing you couldn't even escape by flying. It bore down on Rose just as mercilessly as before—
—and was deflected.
"—What?"
Something impossible had happened.
Her lightning was supposed to home in on Rose with absolute precision, never letting her escape.
There was no way it would curve to avoid Rose the way it just had.
Had Rose stepped outside the conditions? No, that couldn't be it. She had baked unbreakable conditions into the magic to prevent exactly that; the probability was negligible. If so, the black lightning should still have been locked onto Rose.
Then the only remaining possibility was—
—Rose had bent it. She had added some tremendous force to the spell, enough to disregard even the homing of Orthesia's magic entirely—
"...No way."
Ironic, one might say.
Orthesia, obsessed with Rose, had researched Rose's Bloodline Magic as thoroughly as she possibly could.
That was precisely why she realized—from the phenomenon she had just witnessed—what the effect of Seamless Great Eagle's Magic Inscription Liberation actually was.
"There's this concept of an 'invisible giant,'" Rose said, noticing that Orthesia had figured it out.
Quietly, as if confirming the conjecture, she wove her words.
"The guy who made this magic apparently believed that the reason we're all bound to the ground right now is because of that thing. He theorized that by breaking free of that dominion, we could take to the sky. And based on that idea, he created the magic—"
Yes. And what came next was what made this magic special.
"—It seems it turned out a little too well. Even when inherited as a Bloodline Magic, it retained enough of the 'originally intended effect' that the wish could persist without Magic Inscription Liberation."
That was the crux of it.
Magic Inscription Liberation was meant to unleash the original effects of a magic that had to be sealed when passed down through bloodlines. In principle, the magic's original wish—the "let it be so" encoded into it—should only manifest upon Magic Inscription Liberation.
And yet, Seamless Great Eagle already retained the wished-for effect of "flying through the sky" even in its normal state. That, in turn, was proof that the magic possessed an unintended "beyond" in its released form.
And that effect, beyond the original—
It surpassed the original wish of "breaking free" from the invisible giant—
"Control—!"
"Precisely."
Rose smiled quietly and succinctly at the answer Orthesia had reached.
More precisely: complete control of the invisible giant within a certain area.
That power existed solely to bind things to the ground—but once placed under one's control, those bonds dissolved. And conversely, one could launch things skyward, shift them left or right, freely and at will.
There was, of course, a range limitation. So in theory, if one fled beyond that range, a reset was possible. But still—
"Then here comes the real me you've been dying to see, Orthesia."
Rose, floating in midair, raised her right hand.
And at that same moment, she sensed something move behind her.
She couldn't see it. But that was surely it.
"The invisible giant. A primordial force that has existed since the beginning of the world, binding every existence in this world—humans included—every last thing without exception.
If you can resist it—if you can escape it—then try."
And so—the true power of the "Sky Witch" saw the light of day.