At that same moment. Deep underground in the heart of the Royal Capital.
"........................."
Chrono von Feibrad.
The Boss of "the Organization" — and one of the masterminds behind this kingdom's destruction.
After a long — a very long, long silence.
"............Hoh."
That was all he murmured.
With a straight face.
.
To repeat — with a straight face. ...Until now, ever since meeting Ermes and the others, his expression had never once broken from that gentle smile.
For the first time, he showed something else entirely.
No emotion could be read from it.
He probably wasn't suppressing his anger. Not to say it was entirely absent, but rather — wearing a stony expression that harbored something far more complex within, he spoke curtly.
And at the same moment, Chrono noticed.
Someone with tremendous magic power was heading his way as well. ...Of course. If they were going to target him, now — with the Genesis Magic collapsed — was the only chance.
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind, barely a heartbeat after he sensed the magic power, at a speed that was nothing short of astonishing — a figure shattered through the ceiling and descended into the underground chamber.
"……I see. So it's you."
Short blue hair, and golden eyes gleaming through the darkness, fixing him with a piercing gaze.
And behind that figure stood a lovely girl with pale golden hair.
"Lucius von Frodite. And Sara von Hartmann... Are you two the only assassins sent after me?"
"That's right. Even with the threat of the undead gone, our fighting force that can be properly deployed is limited. ...And if I may add one more thing—"
With that, Lucius grinned — feral, almost savage.
"It's a
rematch.
Don't you dare forget what happened at the Hidden Sanctuary.
No more words are needed. —Let's go, Lady Sara."
"Yes!"
Perhaps it was simply because there was no time to spare. With barely a word, Lucius launched his charge.
His speed was everything you'd expect from the kingdom's strongest swordsman — a level at which an ordinary person wouldn't even be able to react. But—
Chrono was the head of the "Organization," a Bloodline Magic user with Dual aptitude. He possessed abilities far beyond what ordinary people — or even typical magic users — could hope to match.
Moreover, he was extremely quick-thinking. Even as the undead kingdom crumbled, he had anticipated this much despite his emotional turmoil, and just before Lucius's sword could reach him—
He activated his other spell, one he had prepped with a prior Chant.
"Bloodline Magic — 'Midnight Sun's
Destiny
'"
It was another of Chrono's Bloodline Magic spells — one he had briefly revealed at the Hidden Sanctuary as well.
It was the spell that had brutally demonstrated his true power as a pure magic user, instantly incapacitating Lucius and Sara during their charge and driving them into a corner.
And now it came for the two of them once more, without a shred of mercy—
"I told you. It's a rematch."
──Deflected.
A spell he hadn't even been able to react to the first time—he deflected it, for certain.
Lucius came to an abrupt halt, then spun vertically on the spot. Sweeping his sword in coordination, he struck "something" out of the air above with a heavy impact.
Looking over, Sara too. She had likewise deployed a
Spirit veil
above herself, blocking that something's attack.
After confirming the result, Lucius paused with wariness and spoke.
"After taking 'that spell' in the Secret Sanctum, Ermes and I also conducted a verification of the magic."
"..."
"As expected of him. He deduced everything from nothing more than my verbal description and sensory impressions.
According to him, that magic is—a spell that generates something like a 'force field.'"
A force field—essentially, a region where a specific "force" acts upon a particular point in a particular direction.
As it happened, both of Chrono's spells concerned pure force. Perhaps magic users with multiple aptitudes naturally shared overlapping magical systems to some degree.
In the Secret Sanctum, the trick had been to apply that "force field" directly above Lucius and the others, catching them off guard and robbing them of their ability to act.
What made this magic terrifying was its stealth. The "force field" was colorless and transparent, producing neither sound nor scent. Detecting it was extremely difficult—but.
"Magic power fluctuations are the one thing it cannot deceive. If you push magic power detection to its limit, a mage of Sara's level or my own can just barely perceive it. And..."
Lucius repeated what Ermes had told him.
"The magic's mechanism is far simpler than one might expect. What you need to be wary of is its particular nature—once you understand the trick, countermeasures are entirely feasible.
In other words—it won't work a second time."
Chrono showed not the slightest reaction.
However, from the slight movement of his meager magic power, he was convinced it was the truth, and pressed on.
"Furthermore. From our exchange just now, several things have become clear."
Smiling. Not from information he'd heard from Ermes — Lucius continued with his own insights.
"First — right now,
you can't use
Genesis Magic,
can you?"
"—"
"A backlash, perhaps. Having your necromantic magic forcibly cut off seems to have had a considerable impact on you. Furthermore... it appears to have weakened your normal Bloodline Magic as well. The pressure of your magic just now — it was a notch below what I sensed in the Sanctum of the Hidden."
He laid it bare. His vast combat experience, and the insight cultivated through it. Carefully, methodically, he put it all into words — leaving no room for doubt.
In response, Chrono eventually regained his usual faint smile.
"...The eldest son of the Frodait family is quite the talkative intellectual, isn't he? From what I'd heard, I had more the image of a reckless, headstrong boar warrior."
"You're not wrong. That's exactly what I was not long ago, in fact — my sister scolded me for it more times than I can count."
"Ha ha ha!" he laughed heartily.
"However—"
And with that, he declared.
"I came to understand during the Northern Rebellion that it wouldn't do. If I stayed as I was before, I wouldn't be able to handle it if the same thing happened again. More importantly, I wouldn't be able to surpass you, Ermes."
"...Is that so."
"Yes. So lately, I've been making sure to use my head — and my words, too. To properly convey my instincts to others — the ones that have earned me remarks like 'I can't make sense of what he's doing' and 'Only you could pull something like that off.' So that someday, everyone will be able to use the gift I've been given."
That was—
That was precisely the ideal Liliana envisioned for the king. And Lucius, too, began to change — starting with learning to properly convey himself, so as to embody that ideal.
Yes, the world was changing. Evolving — with Hermès at its center, the talent to reshape the world. It spread like a contagion, passing from those he had changed to others beyond them.
This, too, was a form of the "ideal" that Chrono held dear.
With that fact firmly in mind, Chrono — even so, remained unchanged.
"Allow me to correct just one thing."
Raising his magic power.
"My—"
**White Night's Destiny**
"—once you understand how it works, it can be countered. It won't work twice."
—*FWOOSH.*
In an instant, he deployed over a dozen force fields around himself.
Every single one of them could inflict devastating damage on a direct hit. Even for Lucius, the sheer volume was at a level impossible to handle all at once.
"That's really too careless of you. I'm reluctant to frame things in this country's terms, but... with Dual aptitude—"
**Magic Inscription Liberation**
"—a Bloodline Magic user who's mastered even that. You do realize what you're dealing with, don't you?"
"...I just came to fully understand that, yes."
True to his words, Lucius revised his assessment.
In fact, the workings of—
**White Night's Destiny**
—were simpler than he had expected. And being simple meant... all the more difficult to counter, even with full understanding.
"I knew this, but even weakened, he's no easy opponent."
That said, things were mostly proceeding as he had predicted.
If that was the case, from here on out, it would be a straight contest of their own strength.
"Then, Sara. Let's follow the plan we drew up in advance."
"Yes, Lord Lucius. ...Go wild however you like. I will follow you, no matter what."
Sara, who had come in a support role, nodded with an expression holding a firm light of determination she had never worn before.
Lucius was surprised by this, but smiled, finding her reassuring, and resumed his charge.
And so, at the same moment as Ermes versus Laplace—
here as well, a fierce battle to settle another karmic bond had begun.
The remaining major enemies number two. Though still shrouded in unfathomable mystery, the decisive battle finally enters its climactic phase.
This battle races toward its conclusion—I hope you'll keep watching from here on out!