She declares.
As one who inherits, as one who forges a new path, she proclaims the inscription of magic.
With a young yet beautiful voice, her blue-green eyes gleaming with determination.
Liliana declared.
"Creation Magic —
Primal Inscription
!"
And so it manifests — a jade tablet inscribed with characters.
Liliana firmly clasps the ethereal tablet, its surface shimmering with otherworldly light.
"...Lady Lili!"
At that moment, her master's voice, laced with astonishment, reached her even as he fended off the incoming spell.
Having grasped his meaning precisely, Liliana continues.
"...I know,
Master
"
True, she had only just learned to activate the
Primal Inscription
on her own within these past few days—
Creating magic from scratch, let alone the kinds of modifications he performed with General-purpose Magic — she was nowhere near capable.
Even Ermes took five full years to reach this point. To think you could catch up in just a handful of days — how absurd. The path of magic is not so lenient.
—And yet.
Liliana had her own accumulation to draw upon.
She had dreamed of magic and trained herself for it. She had burned with longing for magic and pursued it to its limits.
If she combined that with the power her master had given her—
She wasn't sure it could even be called magic, but she would give shape to this small power.
If it would serve her master, there was no need to hesitate.
With that thought, Liliana focused — and at the same time, spoke.
◆
"...Master. I'm sorry if I'm speaking out of turn, but... would it be all right...?"
Liliana, who had suddenly activated Creation Magic and addressed him with a grave expression.
Seeing this, Ermes — without, of course, ceasing his defensive work — nodded. If she had something in mind, he wanted to hear it. He willed as much.
Seeing his response, Liliana's face softened with relief, and she went on.
"The '
Primal Inscription
' that Master gave me is a wonderful magic. Just by activating it like this, I can see the shapes of all sorts of magic."
"Yes."
"From there, I can analyze the composition of magic and reproduce it. That must be the true way to use this magic. I can't do that much yet. But — I had a thought."
"—Will you quit your yapping! Soldiers, crush them already!!"
Perhaps irritation at the master and disciple who had begun their conversation, or perhaps exasperation at being unable to break through Ermes beyond expectations.
The captain roared furiously at his soldiers, and the assault intensified.
"It's just the incompetent princess and one mage weighed down by deadweight — hurry up and finish them off! Could you people please just give up already? Stop sullying our grand debut with this pointless farce!"
But Ermes calmly held his magic, and in the process shut out even the grating voices from the other side.
It was around then that preparations finally appeared to be complete.
Liliana fixed her gaze on the approaching magic and took a breath.
"If you can see magic — then perhaps there's a way to use it like this."
That very instant.
The fire's convergent chant, its firing preparations now complete,
convergent chant—
was unleashed upon Ermes and the others—
—
but right before
,
it detonated on the spot
.
"—!!?"
"Guh—!"
"What the—!"
Naturally, the soldiers who had been about to unleash their magic didn't get off unscathed either.
At least they managed to avoid being incapacitated, but it left them wide open. The captain hastily directed the other soldiers to cover them, roaring in fury.
"Wh-What are you doing!? For magic to fail—!"
"...No."
Naturally, Ermes had noticed what just happened.
The soldiers hadn't done anything. It was Liliana who had acted.
Still, even he found it hard to believe, so he asked.
"Lily, just now—"
"It went well, didn't it? ......"
Disruption of Activation
"—that's what I've taken to calling it."
Sensing his gaze, Liliana answered. Her voice carried both relief and seriousness.
"I can't use magic. But I can manipulate magic power, and I can give that power a slight directionality. I can start a small fire, stir up a faint breeze—or interfere with other magic power."
Ermes' eyes widened. Liliana continued, admiration for her teacher's quick grasp of the answer evident on her face.
"Yes—"
To throw off their aim.
"That's what I do. By timing it with the activation of the spell, I use my own magic power to interfere with theirs."
"Of course, against users of Bloodline Magic, the effect is limited. At best, I can only nudge their aim slightly off course—but if it's this—"
That's right. Unlike Bloodline Magic, Focused Chanting was a magic that combined numerous small spells.
Naturally, to unleash its full power, every spell required equal directionality.
—Then,
she could disrupt all of it.
I'll Just Disrupt Them
?
Naturally, the spells would interfere with one another and diminish in power—no, if things went poorly, they might not even activate properly. That was the mechanism behind the earlier explosion.
On top of that, the
Primal Inscription
.
This magic was designed as a preliminary step for reproducing spells—it assisted in analyzing a target's magic.
Ermes had used it the same way, for the purpose of reproduction. He had only ever employed it to "enhance his own magic." Since "creating magic" was his goal, that was where all his attention had been directed.
—But.
Liliana believed it could do more than that.
At least when it came to battle, there were other applications for a spell-analysis magic like this.
If you could understand a spell's structure, then beyond simply enhancing your own magic—there was also the practical approach of "interfering with your opponent's magic." And she had just put that into action.
But of course, to put it mildly, this was an outrageous technique—a brutal feat made possible only by her extraordinary command of magic power.
"...Well, the truth is..."
What she made of Ermes's silence—brought on by such contemplation while he fended off her spells—
Liliana spoke, with a hint of self-mockery in her voice.
"This technique... I originally developed it to escape from other tutors."
"Huh?"
"They could use magic, and I couldn't. I was envious, jealous... and I came up with this trying to find some way to compensate."
"I didn't want to show my master something so negative, and I figured it was best to simply do as he said—so I've been hiding it until now, but..."
After revealing her origin — more negative than she expected — Liliana lifted her face. "But," she said.
"...Even so. If I keep hiding, keeping my distance, and just doing as I'm told... I'll lose everything again. That's why..."
And so, the young girl declared with resolve.
"I'm done just clinging to you."
"——"
"...Please watch me, Master!"
With that, she took another step forward.
The technique from before —
Activation Disruption
She used it once again. Drawing on the information she had obtained from Creation Magic, she channeled interference magic power with drastically improved precision, inducing magical malfunction.
"Ngh, again —!"
"What do we do about this —!"
The effect was immediate.
Activation Disruption was an especially potent method against focused magic.
Moreover, having one's magic fail not only hindered practical firepower but also dealt significant mental damage. No one wanted a repeat of what had just happened — being defeated by their own magic — and that fear bred hesitation and confusion.
The captain shouted once more.
Factoring in Liliana as a threat, he restructured his tactics —
"What are you hesitating for!! Even if she uses some incomprehensible technique, there are only two of them! If the one disrupting the magic is the princess,
then take out the princess
first!"
"If you'd crushed her,
it would've been fine,
wouldn't it
!"
──And then, they finally made a fatal mistake.
They left the single most important person to keep an eye on completely unattended for a few seconds.
"Wh—who gave the order to ease up on Ermes—!!"
"Surely that compromise is out of the question."
They realized it immediately, but it was already too late.
A few seconds — more than enough to chant a single Bloodline Magic.
And with one Bloodline Magic, more than enough to turn this situation around.
"Lady Lili, thank you for your help. And now — pardon me."
"Wha— hyah!?"
With heartfelt gratitude, Ermes lifted Liliana into his arms.
At the same time, he declared the trump-card magic that would turn the tables.
"Formula Replay —'
Seamless Great Eagle
'!"
And so, the two of them took flight.
To an altitude so high that none of the soldiers' magic could reach.
"!?"
Liliana let out a soundless cry of shock.
The soldiers all had their eyes wide, their panicked shouts faintly audible from the ground below.
Ignoring this, Ermes once again spoke to Liliana in his arms.
"Liliana-sama, once again, I'm grateful. Thanks to you, we were able to escape that troublesome situation."
"Eh, th-that is... this is—!?"
Aiming at Liliana, who still seemed confused by the situation, Ermes gave a wry smile.
"This is magic, too. Or rather... if you could do something that impressive, couldn't you have shown it to me sooner?"
"Th-that is because Master wouldn't let me use it! Since Master didn't use magic during our game of tag, I never had the chance!"
—That was certainly true.
If Liliana were to use an interference ability, it would have been during that previous game of tag, and at that time, Ermes had also been playing along by cornering her without using magic.
After that, it had mostly been book learning, so it was true to say there hadn't been an opportunity.
As Ermes nodded in understanding, Liliana, who had finally calmed down, fell silent for a few moments... then, as if savoring Ermes's earlier words, she looked down.
"...Master."
"Yes?"
"I... was I of use to you?"
The answer didn't require even a moment's hesitation.
"Yes, of course."
"B-but! Surely someone like you, Master, who treasures magic so much, would dislike such a technique! Besides, it originally came from my own jealousy, something like this—"
...Indeed, it was a technique born from a line of thought Ermes himself did not possess.
Whether it could even be called magic was debatable, and the emotions at its foundation were certainly not good ones — that much was probably true.
Still. This was without question a new step forward for his apprentice. If so, as her teacher, there was nothing but joy to feel and no reason to lament. New ideas should be welcomed.
...If anything, he reflected that he had probably been too lenient.
And so, he spoke.
"—I was happy to hear that."
"Eh?"
"Whatever it was, it was something you came up with through sheer desperation and effort, Lily-sama. If that's the case, there isn't a single element in it I could resent."
"!"
"And besides — you used it properly just now to help me, didn't you? Then there's no problem at all."
Lilyana raised her face timidly, and Ermes smiled.
"—That technique. Please teach it to me as well, next time."
"...Ah."
That was when the knot in her heart finally came undone.
Overcome with emotion, Lilyana threw her arms around Ermes.
As he gently stroked her back, Ermes spoke.
"Then, with this opportunity gained thanks to you, Lily-sama, I'm going to push forward to the final stage. ...If you wouldn't mind, I'd like you to watch as well this time."
"...F-what?"
Lilyana, whose face had been buried against his chest, let out a sound.
"My apprentice's growth has me personally feeling quite fired up. —Given the situation, I'm going all-out with maximum firepower. ...Please witness everything I have now."
Lilyana raised her face completely at that, and Ermes drew a breath toward the soldiers crying out below them.
"
Heavens and earth,
all surveyed — eyes are a spring,
Skulls
are the sacrifice — know that my rank is supreme!]
Before Lilyana, whose eyes had gone wide once more with fresh wonder atop the earlier display of magic.
To settle things in an instant, Ermes raised his hand and declared:
"Formula Replay —
Meteor Throne!
"
And so, a rain of light came pouring down.
There was no escape, and no way to withstand its power. In the blink of an eye, the soldiers were hammered by the light, rendered combat-incapable.
"...Incredible."
Lilyana's voice, brimming with awe, was the last to sound.
Once the magic had stopped, all that spread was the silence of a decisive end.
"Wh-what — what just happened!?"
...Correction. It seemed that only the inexplicably tough captain had barely managed to hold on to consciousness.
Unable to accept the scene before his eyes, the captain screamed.
"I-Impossible! Why — today was supposed to be our beginning! There's no way this ends with something like this, something nobody can make sense of! How could anyone accept this —!!"
"— You're free not to accept it. But keep the noise down; you're being a nuisance to the neighbors."
Ermes alighted behind them in an instant, driving a full-body high kick into the temple with explosive force.
This time, she claimed every last shred of consciousness, and at last silence settled over the surroundings.
◆
……And so, the immediate crisis was averted.
But the situation engulfing the Royal Capital as a whole still left no room for easy optimism. If anything—
"……Lady Lily. Please listen carefully."
Loud shouts could still be heard from all directions within the Royal Capital.
Meeting Liliana's gaze, Ermes spoke with a serious expression.
"House Trakia has also come under a fierce assault. And beyond that… every major institution in the Royal Capital has likely already fallen into the hands of the First Prince's faction. Right now, we are far too short on both manpower and fighting strength to retake the capital."
"……Yes."
Liliana gave a firm nod, though a trace of pain crossed her face.
She had likely understood as much already. No matter what Ermes might be capable of, there was simply nothing that could be done right away, now that things had come to this.
Acknowledging that Liliana had nonetheless nodded her agreement without hesitation, Ermes continued.
"Therefore, our first priority is to escape the Royal Capital."
"……Agreed."
"Once we are out, we can devise a proper strategy for reclaiming it. So first, we need to regroup with Lady Katia and the rest of House Trakia to lend them our—"
But then.
Ermes' brow twitched, and she rose to her feet.
"…Before we do that. It seems there's one more job that needs doing, so please bear with me a little longer."
"What—"
The very moment Liliana was about to press her with a question—
"…Oh, you've gotta be kidding me."
A familiar voice, from the other side.
"I mean, I didn't think you'd win or anything… but I figured you'd at least hold out until I got here. Guess that guy was even more useless than I imagined—or maybe—"
The voice's owner came walking over with a steady, unhurried gait.
He stopped at a distance where his figure came into view, and fixed them with piercing dark-blue eyes.
"Seeing this mess, you've gone and hidden something else again, haven't you? …Seriously, what even are you?"
"…Lord Laplace."
Ermes spoke the name of the man—one who was undoubtedly deeply entangled in this situation.
There was no need to ask why Laplace had come here.
…In an ironic twist, the situation was the complete opposite of when they had confronted each other at the academy.
To escape the Royal Capital together with Liliana, it seemed one more job would be necessary—just as he had declared.
Ermes steeled her resolve once more and set her sights on the final hurdle.
Chapter 3 Prologue — the climax. Look forward to next time!