When he opened his eyes, he had absolutely no idea what—or who—he was.
————— Where this was, when this was, who he was, what was happening—he knew nothing at all.
He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He couldn't move his hands or feet. His feet weren't touching the ground. He couldn't even breathe properly. It was excruciatingly constrictive, and yet, all he could perceive were "voices."
————— Despite his sight, his smell, his sense of touch and taste—and above all, his hearing—all being sealed off, "voices" reached him anyway.
Battered by countless, innumerable "voices" with no means of resistance, he was like a helpless infant tossed into a cradle of hell.
————— The storm of "voices" pelted him indiscriminately, chaotically.
Just as a baby left exposed to the rain would drown, so too was he on the verge of drowning in those "voices." Perhaps he should simply let go and drown right there— —"Young master! Young master, are you all right?! I'm coming to help you now!"
—There. A clear, powerful "voice" cut through the din.
Among the countless, innumerable voices, one that he could feel was aimed squarely at him. He couldn't do anything about it. But he could tell. A strong "voice," directed at him.
And so— —"Brother Otto, grit your teeth!"
Hearing that "voice," a sensation of floating came over him. Then came a tremendous sound—something other than "voices," something that made his eardrums tremble. His tightly shut eyes found their way to accepting light once more, and at last he could face the "voice" directed at him—and the ones who owned it.
"You're really sorry it took so long to get here. It's all my fault for being so weak."
"What are you talking about, Garf? If you and the others hadn't come, young master would still be hanging up there... Oh, young master, young master! Can you understand me?!"
There stood a blond boy and a massive ground dragon with pale blue scales. The "voices" he felt and the voices he heard overlapped—he was certain of it.
The ground dragon nestled close as he sat on the ground, and the boy gripped his shoulder firmly.
"Right now you don't understand a damn thing, right? But it's okay. We're all gonna help you get it back. I ain't strong enough on my own, so we're borrowing everyone's help, and... Got it?!"
"————"
"So that's why, Brother Otto, you need to stay here and..."
Rest, he wanted to say.
It seemed the boy before him knew about his emptiness and was trying to do something about it. He probably knew the reason for it, too.
He wanted to know. He wanted to find out. That impulse was certainly there.
It was—but— —"...Is there...anything I can do?"
He wasn't sure if the "voice" that escaped his lips had become a proper voice. But from the way both the boy and the ground dragon's eyes went wide, he understood it had reached them.
Honestly, he knew nothing at all. But there was one thing he could say: he was grateful to have been rescued from that hellish cradle.
More than anything— —"When people pour their whole hearts into reaching me like this... I'd want to answer them."
"Yeah, well..."
The boy and the ground dragon, who had been staring wide-eyed, spoke in unison—voices and "voices" overlapping.
"That's just like you, young master."
"That's so like you, Brother Otto."
Hearing that "voice," remembering who he'd been before becoming empty, a laugh spilled from his lips.
If someone out there had done this to him—he'd think, "Take that."
△▼△▼△▼△ "——Teyah!"
A high, silvery voice rang out, belied by the devastating power behind the deceptively light kick.
She had used ice platforms conjured by magic as both stepping stones and distractions, drawing the enemy's attention upward while she focused on supporting
Of course, she would have loved to settle things with the love-forged iron ball that Subaru had polished for her, but she couldn't afford to be greedy. Subaru had taken things step by step against her in the Empire, too. If he'd been impatient, pressing forward with his usual me-me-me attitude— "—then I might have broken not just his fingers, but his arms and legs as well."
Now that her memories had returned, the mere thought of treating Subaru so roughly was enough to make her swoon—but given Rem's state of mind back then, she couldn't deny she might have done exactly that.
That was precisely why procedure and pacing mattered. It was like cooking. Despite being decent at cooking itself, Rem had a bad habit of skipping steps when it came to anything else.
And speaking of bad habits, there was one more— "Don't jump to conclusions!"
Convinced an attack had landed before it actually had, and letting her guard down—that stemmed from a lack of imagination.
It was Priscilla, the one who had guided the empty Rem in establishing her mental resolve, who had taught her that thoughtlessness was the enemy. Even after Priscilla had passed on, that teaching lived on. As long as it sustained Rem, it would endure forever.
So— "—Wh-what?!"
Even when Emilia cried out in shock, Rem's thoughts did not grind to a halt.
Below—from directly beneath Al's blind spot—Emilia had delivered a kick. Clad in boots of ice, her strike should have been powerful enough to snap a spine.
But Al had blocked it. By enclosing them both in a box of stone.
"That must be what Lord
She judged it to be the effect of "Temporal Regression."
As a split-second defensive measure, what he'd done was overkill. Magic required both a mental image of the result and the construction of a formula. Without either component, magic couldn't be cast—and the more complex the attempt, the longer the image took to form.
Al's response had been far too precisely formed for a surprise attack from his blind spot.
"————"
Though she understood the principle in her head, Rem bit the inside of her cheek at the sheer unfairness of it.
After all, Al's authority had been proven capable of evading even Reinhard. A negative thought crept in—wouldn't all their attacks just be dodged if they kept this up?
"——Rem!!"
That spiraling thought was shattered by Emilia's call.
Through the stone box hanging in midair, Rem's and Emilia's gazes locked. Unlike Rem, who was being overwhelmed by the threat of Al's authority, the light in Emilia's violet eyes burned strong. It gave her courage.
"————"
Her eyes blazed back to life. The activation of her horns through demonification surged vitality through Rem's entire body.
Continuing to plummet, thirty seconds had already elapsed since the battle began—she could measure this precisely thanks to the marks carved into the enormous cliff face visible far behind them.
A colossal geological feature within the
"Not yet—!"
"—This is where it starts!"
Emilia's and Rem's voices overlapped. Drawing on the courage she'd been given and the power that surged within, Rem renewed her attack.
Rem arched her body back while Emilia twisted hers, generating a pair of ice hammers in both hands. In the same instant, the morningstar hurtled forward like a cannonball and an ice hammer trailed a lateral gale—both struck the stone box containing Al and Yae simultaneously, shattering it with a thunderous roar. Amid the scattering rock fragments, the enemies split upper and lower and lunged ferociously at Rem and Emilia.
Al headed for Emilia. The red-haired shinobi toward Rem— "No, you too."
"Yes, I'm Yae—Al-sama's all-purpose, ever-helpful maid!"
"That's the title Rem reserves for her Subaru-kun!"
Rem cut off the self-proclaimed introduction of this woman who was decidedly not a shinobi but called herself Yae. As she reeled in the morningstar with her right hand, she swung her left iron arm at the incoming Yae.
But Yae decelerated unnaturally in midair and dodged.
Looking closer, she'd thrown a thread behind her, connecting herself to Al. By adjusting its tension and slack, she controlled her movement. From her other hand, a glinting projectile flew toward Rem's neck.
"Huma!"
Feeling the approaching threat in her skin, Rem conjured an ice collar on instinct to guard her vitals. The instant the thread caught the collar, she yanked her head free, narrowly avoiding decapitation. Having snatched her life back with a split-second decision, Rem targeted Yae's exposed back with the reeled-in morningstar.
Yet Yae dodged the morningstar bearing down from behind with the precision of someone who had eyes in the back of her head. Then, in the moment they passed, as Rem caught the returning morningstar in her hand, Yae stuck out her tongue.
"It's all reflected in your eyes, you know?"
Rem nearly lost her temper at the provocation, but the imaginary Kachua in her heart reprimanded her. *Idiot, idiot—that's exactly what she wants!* the cat-like, shrieking Kachua seemed to say, and Rem nodded back inwardly. She praised the enemy's skill at reading the light reflected in an opponent's eyes— "Then by all means—take a good, hard look!"
Saying that, she encased the morningstar's iron ball in ice, wrapped it again, wrapped it again, then doubled the mass, doubled it, doubled it once more—hurling the resulting ten-meter-class ice block crashing downward.
"Might've overdone the provocation a bit?!"
As the ice block descended with lethal intent, killing the wind, Yae's voice cracked with strain. She raised both hands and carved into the morningstar-ice-chunk, whittling it, whittling it, whittling it—dispersing the mass, dispersing it, dispersing it until she'd killed every last shred.
Having stripped it down to nothing but a bare, round iron ball, she caught it against threads strung across her chest, absorbing the impact, then bounced it forcefully downward.
And where it fell— "This time—unlike the
"Just try that—and I win by default! Obviously!"
Emilia and Al clashed, trading words and weapons. Around each of them, weapons of ice and stone floated freely. They grabbed whatever was at hand—friend or foe alike—and swung wildly, clashing continuously.
"Hiyah! Take that! Hah! Hyah! There—ow ow ow ow ow!"
Despite her cute battle cries, Emilia's offense was relentless, giving no quarter. Yet Al parried the swords, spears, and axes raining down on him with axes, spears, and swords of his own, enduring.
While Emilia attacked with acrobatic body movements, Al placed his weapons at the shortest possible distance to intercept and block. That, too, was likely the fruit of "Temporal Regression." He would let an attack land, rewind to before it hit, and position a weapon at the point of impact. Over and over.
"——Al-sama!"
As their stalemate continued, Yae—shot down by Rem earlier—caught up. *Damn it,* Rem thought as the two-on-one situation reformed. She tried to accelerate their fall by conjuring a foothold—but no— "Emilia!"
In a split-second decision, rather than catching up herself, Rem adjusted the angle of the morningstar she'd sent crashing down.
The morningstar—which Yae had dispersed but which continued falling at the same speed—flew toward Emilia as though bearing the very spirit of love Subaru had polished into it. Before Al and Yae's simultaneous attack could reach her, it gave Emilia a chain to grab.
"U-tyaaahhhh!!"
Using the ice platform she'd created moments before—not as a springboard but as a brace—Rem yanked Emilia up with the chain, reeling her in like a catch on a line. Pulling Emilia through the gap between the converging Al and Yae, the two groups split apart—up and down—as each pair reunited.
"Thanks! They're really, really tough!"
"You're welcome! I feel the same!"
Clasping hands with Emilia at the same elevation, Rem marveled at the enemy's combat strength.
Originally, their assignment was supposed to be Al alone—but Yae's addition was problematic. Not only did it split their fighting force, but her individual skill was far from ordinary. And her strength, combined with Al's, wasn't additive—it was multiplicative.
"Yes, it's just like me and that person were..."
"Hm? Did you just mention Subaru?"
"My apologies—that can wait until after!"
As she responded to the wide-eyed Emilia, Rem noted they had passed yet another mark on the cliff face—confirming sixty seconds until the canyon floor—and clenched her teeth hard.
Her earlier idea had been correct. Yae was formidable, and with Al she was even more so. To deal with that— "I'm splitting them up. Emilia!"
"Yes, do it!"
Still holding hands, they aimed their free hands—Emilia's empty one, Rem's weapon-bearing one—at the two enemies below.
"Al—"
"—Huma!!"
Two types of Huma magic intermixed. With the groaning of strained atmosphere, ice materialized in midair. Of course, simply hurling projectiles would only repeat their previous failures. So instead of changing *how* the ice was deployed, they changed *where* it appeared.
"—!"
"Ck."
Blocked by the spreading ice, the click of a tongue from within a helmet went unheard. But judging from the outcome alone, Rem was certain it had happened.
The ice Rem and Emilia had created—thin, flat panels—wedge themselves between Al and Yae, who had been vertically separated, blocking their reunion. The panels maintained structural integrity while expanding to their maximum extent: a disc thirty meters in diameter. Pursuing it through the fall, passing beneath to reunite, was nearly impossible. Moreover, their flat shape meant the threads couldn't cut through them.
"Al—"
"——Yae, hold on for a while."
Through the ice panel, the two faced each other. Below the ice, Al gave the order to Yae above. Rem understood with perfect clarity the resolve Yae had reached upon receiving it.
Just as Rem fought this battle for Subaru, so too did Yae— "When someone you care about puts their faith in you, it really gets you going."
"That's not it."
Rem's understanding was met with a flat denial. Yae folded her knees in a swift turn, spinning to stand barefoot.
The massive ice panel caught wind resistance commensurate with its size, dramatically slowing its descent. Yae landed on it, and both Rem and Emilia descended to stand before and behind her.
Barefoot, Yae wore ten rings on the toes of her white feet— "By the way, magic really is troublesome, isn't it? I have my village's elder to thank for his teachings."
"I appreciate the compliment. My instructor was a truly remarkable person."
"So was mine. Lia told me to just live freely."
"That's actually the same educational philosophy my village taught me—so Emilia, you're a natural genius too."
With a half-smile, Yae shrugged her shoulders. She glanced alternately at Rem and Emilia before her, prefaced with "You see—"
"The moment I'm here, all of your plans have already failed... Lord Vol will be arriving shortly as well, so wouldn't it save everyone some trouble if you surrendered?"
"No, it wouldn't. I mean, I was absolutely shocked that you were with him, but—"
"We're not here to play around, either. Besides, the Divine Dragon you're counting on won't be coming. Our master is dealing with him."
"...Dealing with the Divine Dragon? Isn't that a bit much to expect?"
"Then again—aren't you expecting something of Al?"
Emilia's question pierced clean through the head-tilting Yae. "Hmph." Yae held her breath, then exhaled, curling her white fingers and toes into a ready stance.
Rem pulled her morningstar to hand. Emilia grasped a pair of beautiful ice swords. Glancing below the ice panel, Rem saw the distance widening rapidly between them and Al, who was falling freely without wind resistance.
And Al had bought Yae this time for a reason.
"Emilia—Al is—"
"Yes, I know. We need to hurry—really, really fast."
Their brief exchange of understanding struck Rem with an incongruous thought.
That she and Emilia could be so in sync—she never could have imagined it before.
—That was the thought.
Unaware of Rem's inner musings, the three on the ice raised their fighting spirit in silence— "——'Crimson Sakura,'
"——'The Icebound
"——'The Hero's Attendant,' Rem."
Having announced themselves, Rem and Emilia shattered the ice simultaneously and surged toward Yae.
From Yae's crouched stance, twenty threads erupted like dancing serpents. Rem beat them back with chain and magic, fighting through to reach Al below by overcoming the Crimson Sakura standing in her way.
"I won't lose!!"
Rem roared as she charged—and it was neither bravado nor posturing. She believed it with all her heart.
The others were handling the Gluttony remnants. Roswaal and the rest were dealing with the greatest threat—the Divine Dragon. Everyone was fulfilling their role.
For their sake, she had to defeat Yae and reach Al. They passed another mark—fifty seconds until the canyon floor— —Al, falling below the ice, fixed his gaze on that beautiful, ferocious clash above— "I don't think you'll lose... but don't forget, Alter. There's something I need you to do."
Those words, muttered under his breath, never reached the surface of the ice.
△▼△▼△▼△ —Aldebaran, who had betrayed the sun, and his accomplices.
The battles against those villains who could trigger the world's destruction—against the Gluttony remnants in the mountains, against Aldebaran in the Agzad Canyon—had all moved to the next stage.
Naturally, the third battle, predicted to be the most brutal of all, was no exception.
Thanks to the authority of the newly born Witch of Melancholy in this world, the battlefield had shifted to a rocky wasteland where collateral damage need not be considered. There, the guardian of the kingdom known as the Divine Dragon,
Both wielded tremendous power. Their battle drove the already barren rocky plain, which had consisted of nothing but rock and sand, into an increasingly desolate hellscape that pushed all human presence further and further away.
It was, without question, the devastation foreseen in a battle against the Divine Dragon.
And yet— "——Ugh."
His vision blurred. Consciousness grew hazy. The ringing in his ears passed the threshold of "noisy" and became absolute silence. His powerless limbs might not even be properly connected to his torso anymore.
With each shallow breath, a lightning-like pain lanced from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes—likely proof that broken bones were lacerating his insides in multiple places.
Even through all of that, he realized he was lying face-down on hard, rocky ground.
"——!"
Once he grasped his own condition, other realizations followed.
The violent trembling of the earth, the bursting sensation in the sky, the subtle shift in the smell of the air—all proof of a dramatic environmental change. Not much time had passed since he'd collapsed. A minute? Thirty seconds?
"Five seconds, my lord. Reporting."
The answer to his unspoken question was delivered with precision, but he lacked even the strength to twist his lips into a bitter smile.
The other party hadn't expected a response—or rather, was not in a position to expect one. The trembling earth, the bursting sky, the violent upheaval of the atmosphere—all of it originated from that opponent and their counterpart.
The battle between "the Dragon" and the dragon person was reshaping the world with cataclysmic, brute force—like a natural disaster unfolding in real time. And there, beside that battle, he lay at a ratio of roughly nine parts dead to one part alive.
"————"
He couldn't even hear voices properly anymore.
—Roswaal L. Meissner's life was a candle flickering in the wind.