"She was already dead. She was in the way, so I just burned the whole shed down."
The snow-dusted street, which had seen little foot traffic, was already drawing crowds of onlookers at both ends of the passageway.
Everyone looked at Ceres, yet no one moved to stop her.
And I—
"Zell is my savior! He saved my life!"
I glared at Ceres.
I could feel warmth finally returning to my body, which had been paralyzed with fear.
When I gripped the Jewel tightly, the voice of the Fifth Generation echoed from within.
"Laiel, run! Run with everything you've got! Don't fight!"
Every one of them was shouting at me to avoid combat and flee.
This was a first.
The ancestors who had even told me to face Griffon with a grin had judged Ceres to be a threat beyond even that.
The Seventh Generation, no less.
"Laiel, I thought that thing was just a yellow stone. But Ceres called it a 'Jewel.' If it means that beings like us—the ones who bestow Skills—have their records kept inside—"
Ceres, too, could use multiple Skills.
But at the same time, a thought struck me.
(I can't leave Ceres unchecked like this!)
Having gone out into the wider world, I had come to recognize just how abnormal Ceres truly was.
If I left my sister—Ceres—as she was, something terrible would inevitably happen.
I tore the Jewel from my neck, ripping the chain apart, and it coiled around my arm, transforming into a greatsword.
Ceres watched it with an interested expression.
When the surrounding knights and soldiers began to draw their weapons, Ceres giggled and stopped them all with a gesture.
"Don't interfere with my fun."
Gripping the greatsword in my right hand and a short sword in my left, my ancestors tried to stop me.
The Third Generation was panicking.
'Lyle, run with everything you've got! That's not something you should fight!'
The Fourth Generation tried to persuade me.
'Just endure it for now. She's moody, so beg for your life or whatever it takes to get through this!'
The Fifth Generation said the same.
'Even if just for now. No, just endure this moment!'
The Sixth Generation yelled at me.
'Look at your opponent! There's no way you can win against that right now!'
And the Seventh Generation.
'Lyle, that is not your sister Ceres. It's a monster. It's an opponent you'd have no shame in losing to! Choose the path that lets you survive!'
Glancing over, I saw Eva sitting on the ground, cradling her broken arm.
Shannon had been thrown clear and seemed to be in pain all over.
"...I won't,"
said the Third Generation.
'Lyle...'
"Oh, to think you're cowering in fear of Celeste... even if you survive this way, having degraded everything you've obtained, you won't be able to forgive yourself."
Before my eyes, Celeste was grinning maliciously.
It was a repulsive smile of contempt, yet somehow tinged with an eerie allure.
"Who are you talking to? There seem to be seven people's memories in there... Ah, perhaps they're the heads of the household from past generations? They must truly regret choosing a good-for-nothing like you. But—"
I cut off Celeste's next words with a decisive step forward.
"—Since they chose you, they must not have been such remarkable individuals after all."
The greatsword I once needed two hands to wield, I could now swing with a single arm. My body felt incredibly light, thanks to the use of my Skills.
With [Full Burst], I dramatically strengthened my physical abilities.
Using [Field] and [Select], I assessed the surrounding situation and locked onto Celeste.
With [UpDown], I increased my own movement speed while reducing hers.
Using [Dimension], I grasped the three-dimensional space around me.
And with [Spec], I pinpointed the opponent's location and status.
Six Skills activated at once, and I lunged at Celeste.
But she was still smiling.
A faint smile on her lips, she caught my greatsword with her slender rapier.
"How interesting. So your weapon is special... Huh, so such rare metals exist. ...Is that all you can do?"
Celeste asked the question herself, as if answering her own query.
But I understood her intent.
"How many of you are there?!"
"What's wrong?"
"How many people's consciousnesses are recorded in that Jewel?!"
I pressed harder with the greatsword, trying to crush her.
I was planting my feet firmly in the snow that had piled on the ground, but Ceres didn't budge even slightly. When I tried to slash at her with the short blade, she caught the edge with her bare hand.
"Guh!"
I hadn't expected her to answer my question. I hadn't expected her to tell the truth either.
I'd only meant it as a feint.
But Ceres wasn't rattled at all.
Rather than saying she wasn't rattled, it was more like she was completely letting her guard down against me.
"Hmm, so you don't know. As expected, your ancestors weren't all that impressive either."
She withdrew the short blade and sheathed it at her hip without another word.
I switched to a two-handed grip on the greatsword and poured my strength into it. But Ceres didn't flinch in the slightest.
"Your power has gone up. Your speed too. I'm just a little less mobile than before, I suppose? But is that all? Besides, it seems like you have a misunderstanding..."
I leaped backward to create distance from Ceres.
However, she closed in while maintaining the same gap between us. This time, she started pressing me down with her one-handed rapier.
(Where is she getting this kind of strength from...?)
"Only a single person's consciousness is recorded in my Jewel. Unlike that defective piece of yours, mine is the real thing."
The yellow gem activated a rear-guard-type Skill.
That meant Ceres at least had one Skill at her disposal.
It would be a different story if her rapier or accessories had Skills equipped on them, but gems and Jewels interfere with Skills.
Rear-guard types mostly consisted of magic-based offensive Skills. They tended to record spells with their own unique quirks.
The Fourth Generation speaks.
"Just one person? And at least one Skill? Two at most… Do you really possess that powerful a Skill?"
Every time I tried to put distance between us, she closed the gap by the same amount. I was fighting seriously, but Ceres looked like she was just playing around.
Since being kicked out of the house, I'd gained the ability to use Skills. I'd grown, gained experience. And yet, I was nothing but a plaything to Ceres.
"I'm getting bored with weapons too. Hey, let's play with magic instead. You've improved a little, haven't you?"
Ceres took her distance in an instant, looking thoroughly bored.
It was so fast I thought she'd teleported — I could barely confirm that she'd moved by activating my Skill.
I gritted my teeth and raised my left hand.
(If I can lock on —)
"Thunderclap!"
A thunderclap roared as lightning struck down from the overcast sky.
Ceres looked up at the sky and—
"Magic Shield."
She caught my attack with nothing more than a simple wall of magic power. She looked disappointed — had she gotten bored already?
"Is that woman behind you yours? Well, if not, my condolences. …Hey, if you can survive my attacks from now on, I'll let you go. Entertain me, okay, big brother?"
The sight of Ceres grinning from ear to ear as she called me "big brother" sent a chill down my spine. On top of the cold, knowing she was about to move had me bracing for impact.
—When the thunderclap roared, Novem confirmed Lyle's location.
Even though it was a back alley, the layout was complex, and Novem had been struggling to find Lyle. She checked his position.
Chasing after the hurrying Novem in her maid outfit was Monica.
"Pardon me for going ahead."
As she spoke, she sprinted past Novem.
Watching Monica run at a speed that was inhuman, Novem worried whether she would make it in time.
To Aria running behind her, Novem spoke up.
"Aria, can you use your Skills? Can you use them in succession to move to where the lightning struck earlier?"
When Novem asked, Aria looked troubled.
"It's not impossible, but it's hard to go long distances like Lyle does."
"That's fine. For instantaneous burst speed, you're superior to Lyle. Please use it repeatedly."
Aria gripped the Jewel hanging around her neck and surged ahead of Novem, accelerating with enough force to overtake Monica.
Watching from behind, Novem confirmed that Miranda and Clara were following and looked up at the sky.
Light from magic was erupting in rapid succession at the spot where the lightning had struck.
(… I can make it. I can still make it.)
Novem gripped the staff in her right hand—.
"AHAHAHA! Amazing! Is that also thanks to the blessing of her Skills?"
Ceres turned a smile toward me, but I was in tatters.
Ice walls had appeared to shield Shannon and Eva, and the surrounding earth and stone walls had been destroyed, leaving piles of rubble.
Out of breath, I was sweating despite the cold air outside.
Behind my back were Shannon and Eva.
If I ran, the two of them would die.
"Lyle, stop running!"
Eva too.
"I have to run... but how do I get out of this situation..."
I desperately search for a way to escape.
"If I run from here, I'm going to get an earful..."
As I pant out excuses, Ceres—
"Why not try Ice Arrow next time!"
She thrust out her left hand and snapped her fingers, and hundreds of ice-formed arrows materialized around Shannon. These weren't arrows merely shaped like ice.
Every last one was crafted down to the finest detail, all of them aimed squarely at me.
"Tch!"
I transformed the greatsword I was holding into a bow and drew a bead on every single Ice Arrow.
"Oh? You still have tricks like that? You're keeping me entertained!"
Delighted, Ceres swept her left arm to the side.
The next instant, the arrows hurtled toward me all at once.
I conjured a wall of earth with magic, fortifying both flanks, then destroyed the incoming ice arrows with arrows of light.
Dozens to hundreds of arrows drove into the earthen wall. The thick barrier I had built was being pierced through as easily as if it were nothing.
When I glanced at Ceres, she was wielding an enormous ice arrow—no, at this point that thing was a spear—and smiling at me.
"I wonder if you can shoot this one down!"
She let it fly with pure enjoyment, but this was no ordinary ice arrow. The space it passed through carried a cold intense enough to freeze the very air.
I enlarged my bow, drew back hard, and released. Midair, the arrow I fired collided with hers and detonated, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet in an instant.
Where the explosion had been, crystals of ice bloomed into existence, glittering brilliantly.
Ceres watched the sight with undisguised awe.
"How pretty. It's just like me."
The crowd was applauding too, and I felt like I'd wandered into a different world from everyone else.
I drew back my bow and loosed an arrow.
Of course, I aimed it right at Ceres.
But Ceres didn't panic.
"That's a Skill too, right? It looks like it's homing in on me once you've locked on… so that means—"
Ceres thrust her rapier forward, then whipped the tip like a lash, cleaving the arrow of light clean in two.
It detonated, but Ceres didn't have a single scratch on her.
"Oh well. That was my favorite coat, and now it's got dirt all over it. Who should I give it to next? Maybe I'll gift it to a knight who's planning to get married and make him sleep cuddling the coat instead of his bride. That'd be funny, wouldn't it?"
With an innocent smile, Ceres spun around on the spot, twirling round and round.
The onlookers were so taken by her that knights were actually volunteering to have her coat.
The Sixth Generation watched the scene and—
"What in the world is going on!"
—unable to make heads or tails of it.
Then the Fifth Generation spoke.
"She's beyond anything I imagined. It's not that I took the First Generation's words lightly… but no, even the First Generation probably never imagined something like this."
The monster that was a beauty capable of toppling a kingdom had appeared more than fifty years before the First Generation was even born.
Even if stories had been passed down, he would never have experienced it firsthand.
No one alive today remembered what that was like.
As if she'd grown bored of spinning, Ceres stopped and looked my way.
"Ahh, that was fun. But this is where it ends. I enjoyed myself… Well then, bye-bye."
Ceres thrust her rapier forward, and I caught it with my bow.
I immediately switched to my greatsword and continued to spar with Ceres— but.
"You're slow. I went through the trouble of lowering your movement speed with Skills, and yet this isn't fun at all."
My right shoulder was split open, and as a sharp pain shot through my left thigh, I realized her rapier had already pierced me.
I deflected a few strikes, but I couldn't catch them all.
I cast a spell at the ground with one arm, sending snow swirling into the air to block her line of sight, but even within that blinding flurry Ceres wielded her rapier with complete freedom.
The snow around me was beginning to stain red with my blood.
"You trying to blind me? I can tell where you are even with my eyes closed. Your breathing, your heartbeat, the creaking of your muscles… Even the flow of the air tells me you're right there."
The Third Generation appeared to be watching Ceres with a deeply contemplative expression.
And then the Seventh Generation spoke.
"That's not Ceres. Could someone really grow this much just from holding the Jewel? No— what kind of Skills does she even have?!"
I had used too much magic power and could no longer maintain the greatsword.
I drew a short sword and returned the Jewel to its original form as a necklace.
If I lost consciousness, she would surely kill me right then and there.
I was bleeding so much that the world was spinning, but I raised my short sword and glared at Ceres.
"It's rare for a human to resist this much. But I do need you to put up a fight like this once in a while— otherwise there's no fun in it. Hmm, as I thought… with no real opponent, it's just boring. Once I crush Laiel, who should I play with next? Oh, that's right— there was still that Fonbeau mongrel clinging to Rufus. The neighboring nations that would protest… the domestic nobles who refuse to obey me… Ahaha! Ahahahaha! How should I have my fun?"
I spoke toward Ceres, blood streaming from my body.
"You've lost your mind…"
"Hm? What was that?"
Ceres turned a smile toward me.
"That's not you. You're not Ceres."
Memories of my former sister are hazy. The memories from after I turned ten are too strong, so I can't recall.
But the sister in front of me shouldn't be like this.
"I am Ceres… Ceres Walt. Even Novem knows that."
At the mention of Novem's name, I almost asked why her name was coming up.
But it seemed unrelated to Ceres.
"I'm bored now. Here, it's over."
As she said that, the tip of the thrust rapier was glowing red from heat.
She might have used magic.
*(I won't make it in time!)*
Reacting slowly to Ceres' thrust, I thought I wouldn't be able to dodge the attack.
But—
Thud…
A ball of snow fell on top of Ceres' head.
It looked like Shannon had thrown it.
Ceres glared at Shannon, and as she withdrew her rapier, her attention shifted there.
Gathering my strength, I quickly created earth walls around Shannon and Eva, then stepped in front of Ceres.
Ceres had no expression, but her eyes lacked their usual light, looking flat.
"I'll kill you. For a brat whose only talent is good eyesight… do you have any idea what you've done to me?"
The target of Ceres’ attempt to blow away both me and the earth walls with her magic wasn’t me, but Shannon behind me.
It seemed she didn’t consider me worth her attention.
If this continued, I was going to die.
That was the thought that struck me at that very instant.
The short sword in my hand glowed faintly, activating its Skill.
(This is the Skill that Lord Rondo chose…)
It was a simple Skill, one that blocked magic—a Skill to protect one’s comrades, something I felt was perfectly in line with Lord Rondo’s character.
I had thought I couldn’t use it due to the Jewel’s influence, but here it was, activating.
It generated a wall of magic around me, blocking the spell Ceres had unleashed.
The storm of flames melted the surrounding snow, causing the temperature to rise. The magic, [Fire Storm], was more powerful than the one Ceres had used before.
Perhaps because I was using the sword’s Skill, the voices of my ancestors from the Jewel were only reaching me in fragments.
Even as my own magic power was being steadily drained, I managed to withstand the full force of Ceres’ spell.
(But if this goes on, I won’t be able to do anything… At least for the last part…)
I looked at the snow on the ground.
After the storm of flames had passed, I looked at Ceres before me.
Having exceeded its limits, the short sword snapped.
I collapsed to my knees, lacking the will to stand, and simply stared at Ceres.
Looking down at me, Ceres spoke with an air of boredom.
“…How boring. So this is all you’ve accomplished, even after growing stronger? Before I even left home, it was more entertaining than this.”
My strength, technique, and speed had all improved since before, but the same was true for Ceres. She was definitely stronger than the last time we fought.
But――.
A snow ball I'd made fell onto Ceres's head once more.
The soft thud echoed quietly through the area, and I twisted my lips.
I forced myself to laugh, putting on a brave face.
I'd aimed with Skills at the last moment and thrown it so it would drop down on her from above.
It really was my final desperate gamble.
"What's wrong? Are you weak against attacks from above?"
As I said that to provoke her, Ceres stared down at me expressionless, her rapier poised to thrust.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion, and all I could think was that at the very least, I wanted to protect the two behind me.