……He'd let his guard down.
Normally, when fighting intelligent beings, Ermes excelled at reading his opponent's moves and deploying a reactive counter-strategy.
That was partly due to the nature of his magic — but his current opponent, Clyde, had his intellect fundamentally broken in a sense, making that approach extraordinarily difficult.
On top of that, there was his weakness. Though it had improved to some degree, he was still fundamentally lacking in awareness of anyone other than himself.
All of those factors had been exploited in a single move — "targeting Sara." Not reading that was, without question, his own blunder.
……But self-reflection could come later.
Fortunately, he'd avoided the killing blow. Thanks to Sara's magic, he'd recovered enough to keep fighting. The situation wasn't over yet.
"Now then, let's think about this. — How do we take that monster down?"
He stood up and called out to her.
In principle, there was a method that could potentially turn this situation around.
But it was only a possibility. Turning it into reality — that was what he needed to do now.
Fortunately, the "stalling" measures he'd prepared were paying off. There would still be a brief reprieve before Clyde came for them.
So now was the time to think. With that resolve, he turned his gaze to the girl beside him.
But then —
"I'm sorry."
He saw an expression of absolute, irredeemable despair on her face.
"I can't be of any use anymore."
It was a face he'd never seen on her before. Tears streamed down, her eyelids drooped — as if something somewhere deep inside her had simply broken.
"I'm out of magic power. ...No, I suppose it wouldn't have mattered either way — with or without it."
As her expression suggested, she haltingly confessed her despair.
"The academy's barrier is gone. I couldn't protect everyone. I thought this time would be different, but I held you back again. I thought I'd change, but I repeated the same thing all over again, and all I managed was something even worse... I'm...!"
"......"
"Someone like me was hopeless from the very start...! I'm sorry. I'm useless, I can't do anything, I can't change a single thing. I'm sorry...!"
Hearing that, Ermes finally realized.
This girl... could not find any value in herself no matter what. She hated herself.
He had noticed that tendency from the very first time they met. But he had been convinced that this academy life had dispelled it.
However... the influence that fifteen years of being forced to live as a substitute, from the moment she was born, had on her was enormous.
When he thought about it, it was only natural.
Ermes, too, had experienced being treated cruelly by his family. But that had only been from the age of seven to ten—
Just
three
years.
That's all
it was.
Even so, when he considered how profoundly those few years had shaped who he was today, he simply could not bring himself to condemn her excessive self-denial.
More than anything.
At this academy, she had given so much to others. She had protected someone, healed someone, stayed by someone's side and continued to devote herself.
And yet—she had never once asked for anything in return.
Whenever she asked something of someone, it was always for someone other than herself. Even when she had stopped Ermes from leaving, it had been the same.
……He was, as ever, disgusted by how painfully slow his own awareness had been to catch on.
And at the same time—he thought, *I don't want this.* That she was still who she was now. That the innate Curse still held this girl in its chains.
So, he—
"…That's not true."
First, he denied it. That it wasn't so. That he wouldn't let anyone say what she had accomplished meant nothing.
Next, he would show her proof. Thinking that, he pressed his hand against a nearby black wall.
The instant he did—the wall warped grotesquely, and the scenery outside was revealed.
"!?"
"This magic is the same type as your
Spirit veil.
Since it was easier to analyze on that account, I can already do this much."
Incidentally, what was currently holding Clyde in place was also an application of this. While Clyde was being carried by Sarah, Ermes had wrapped him in layer upon layer of barriers. A borrowed technique from the original caster might be one thing, but there was no way he would lose in controlling borrowed magic.
But right now, none of that mattered.
What he wanted her to see—was what lay beyond the revealed scenery.
There, she could see the school building under attack by Monsters.
With her barrier no longer protecting it, the Monsters were rampaging through unopposed—
"…Eh?"
—No one was there.
"First, rest easy. …The academy hasn't died yet."
Having declared that with conviction, Ermes directed his awareness toward where his gaze was fixed—and further, used magic to pick up the voices echoing there.
◆
At the same time, in front of the school building.
"—I will protect them."
The first to ring out was her voice, commanding countless souls.
Just moments before, she had confirmed the barrier's disappearance.
But she did not believe that meant Sara's death. With Ermes there, she trusted that he would absolutely avert any fatal outcome.
If that was the case, then there was only one thing she needed to do.
"I will protect them. Not a single person at this academy will die—"
With the barrier gone, Monsters surged in from every direction. Defending against them would be an overwhelmingly more difficult battle than anything before.
But—so what.
She pushed her magic output even higher. What that required was her own powerful resolve. Her magic was designed to grow stronger in response to the intensity of her feelings.
And so she screamed—from the depths of her heart, with utter sincerity.
"No matter what, absolutely.—
The things
Sara wanted
to protect—
I will protect them!"
Her objective was to fulfill her duty as a noble. Holding this ground was an absolute necessity, and the feelings that came with it should, by rights, have been her own wish.
But now—just this once—
she recognized her defensive target not as "what she herself wanted to protect," but as "what Sara wanted to protect." Making that wish her most powerful emotion, she wielded her magic.
In other words, she cast her magic for Sara's sake.
The result was — arguably the highest magic output she had ever produced. The performance of the phantom soldiers streaking across the entire school building spoke volumes.
She screamed, to burn her feelings even brighter.
"As far as I'm concerned, people who shirk their duties as nobles are honestly infuriating! ……But you know what? That girl still reaches out her hand to those people! She tries to save them! — That was something she did entirely of her own will. It's her wish!"
She had been watching all along.
Ever since the girl enrolled, how she'd been like a puppet. The one connection she nonetheless kept up with someone. And then…… how she'd become more vibrant, more wonderful once the second term began.
"That girl is fighting desperately to change right now. Her progress, her results — I will absolutely not let anyone take those away. If someone tries to trample over them, then I, Katia von Trackia, will drop everything and kill them myself. — Come at me if you've got the resolve!"
Whether the monsters felt fear, she couldn't know.
But…… her ferocity did cause even the weaker among them to falter slightly in their charges.
Meanwhile, at another point in the defensive line.
"On your feet! Bite back! Squeeze out every last drop of magic power, every last bit of fighting spirit! Do NOT let a single monster reach the school building!"
The sharp voice of Albert von Yelk rang out across the battlefield.
It was a rallying cry to himself — and equally a rallying cry to the allies fighting alongside him.
"So what if the barrier is gone! There shouldn't be anyone among us who gives up over something like that. Her will, the fruits of what she's built up defending this place — don't you dare let it all go to waste!"
As the defensive battle intensified, they — lacking Katia's overwhelming power — were the first to be pushed into desperate straits.
And yet they held firm through sheer force of will. Every last one of them, thinking of a single girl who was their classmate.
"From the day she enrolled until now, how much has she held us together! She kept everything connected, and that's why we're here. If that's the case — then now is the time to pay it back! Repay the debt, hold off the monsters! This time, we become her shield!"
At his rallying cry, the Class B students raised their voices one after another. There wasn't a single person among them who couldn't resonate with his words, who hadn't drawn strength from her devotion.
And so.
The defensive battle that had seemed on the verge of collapsing with the barrier's disappearance was, barely, still holding its balance.
The primary cause of this was, without question, the fierce fighting of Katia and the Class B students.
And at the foundation of that was the will of a single girl who had bound them all together.
Without her, Katia never could have drawn out this much power. The Class B students never could have united as one and fought this hard, either.
That much was undeniable to anyone who looked. It was, without question, her achievement.
◆
"...Ah..."
"...Even after seeing this, do you still believe you 'can't do anything'?"
The faintly visible scene, and the words that reached her through magic.
And with that, the quality of her tears changed. Her eyes regained their light.
The meaning of the scene spun by the gentlest girl of all — someone as brilliant as her could not possibly fail to understand it.
...And yet, surely.
Even now, she still couldn't fully affirm herself. The fifteen-year Curse clinging to a girl who had never been able to hold onto anything certain — it was that heavy.
And so, he would bestow upon her one more extraordinary gift.
With that thought, he spoke to her gently, from the depths of his heart.
"Your feelings are beautiful."
He told her this, filled with both his own pride and his admiration for the girl.
"So — all that remains...
...is to turn them...
...into magic...
...and that is all there is to it."
" (closing quote from previous speech)
"……Eh?"
Sarah looked up, puzzled. As though answering her unspoken question, he drew in a breath and raised his magic power.
"——[Await. Lend ear. Here I speak of the Twelve Mysteries.]"
He began to chant.
Before her widening eyes, he performed a grand chant spanning seven tiers. Without a single hesitation, he reached the end—and sealed it with an oath.
"[
Thus
was the world created.
Infallible
truth, inscribed here.
Without distinction of heaven or earth, for the sake of one sole miracle.]
'
Primal Inscription
'——
Magic Inscription Liberation
"
The full power of Creation Magic was unleashed.
The jade tablet shattered into countless shards that flew about as fragments of magic.
And on top of that—Ermes extended his hand toward Sarah.
"May I have your hand?"
"Wha—"
Sarah took his hand, just as he asked.
In that instant—countless streams of information poured into Sarah through Ermes.
"!"
"Rest assured, there is nothing harmful. I have also limited the volume of information to a safe range on my end."
Originally, the
Primal Inscription
possessed a function of "inheritance." Ermes had once used this function on his brother Chris, allowing Chris to use the same magic as well.
So then—what if
it were performed
at the time of
Magic Inscription Liberation?
"My thanks. The fact that I arrived at this idea is partly thanks to you.—Because until now, magic has always been something I used entirely for my own sake."
But since enrolling in this academy, he had learned.
Between people. It was precisely between himself and someone else that feelings could be born.
If so, then that, too—he came to believe that there must be magic which blossoms when entrusted to someone.
And—
Magic Inscription Liberation
was precisely the possibility of reversal that could turn everything around for Ermes.
...At first, as planned, he had intended to use this himself. He figured his only option was to take a gamble and give shape to one of the several ideas he had for breaking through Clyde's semi-immortality.
But none of them quite clicked. He couldn't muster the same intensity of feeling he'd had when he created magic before, and honestly, he thought the chances of failure were higher.
——Then, to someone other than himself.
Now, he had found that idea.
He would entrust it to her — she who had worked harder than anyone for the sake of everyone at the academy, and who had continued to hold such powerful feelings toward someone within it.
In this place, that would surely produce the most wonderful magic of all... and more than anything, Ermes himself genuinely wanted to see it.
"...It's all right. You've given so much to so many people until now."
Seeing that she still harbored some hesitation, Ermes continued with words of affirmation.
"That's exactly why it's perfectly fine for you to receive something from someone else. You more than deserve it.
...So, if you'll permit my presumption — let me be the first to offer you a means to turn those feelings into power. A technique to help you gain something real."
More than anything,
he felt it would be a waste for such beautiful feelings
to never take
shape.
So then — the path from feelings to power. The missing piece needed to break through this situation — he would fill it with the expertise he had painstakingly built.
While processing the magical information, Ermes smiled at Sarah once more.
"Show me something beautiful."
With that, he gently posed the fundamental question that would mark the beginning.
"——What do you think of when you use magic?"
Next time — the Awakening Chapter. Look forward to it!