"…Nina…-sama."
His academy friend, Nina von Frodit, had appeared beside his formidable enemy, Lucius.
Clearly standing in an extraordinary position, Ermes cautiously addressed her.
Nina, for her part, took a small step forward.
Despite being on the battlefield, she raised her hand in a casual, easygoing gesture.
As if rejoicing in their reunion, as if cherishing the moment. After forming a lovely smile—
"Hey, long time no see, El. —Sorry to jump right into this, but forgive me."
—Just like that, she activated her magic.
"!!"
His thoughts were captured. His consciousness was drawn in.
The same as back then… no, with even greater compulsion than before.
Her magic, her charm. Ruthlessly driven into Ermes, everything about him was being pulled toward the beautiful girl standing before him.
…This was the worst-case scenario he could imagine. From the very first move, she was giving him no say in the matter — in other words, she clearly had no intention of negotiating at this point.
But even so. —It was the worst, but within the bounds of what he had anticipated.
"—Lord Albert!"
With his body already beyond his own control — and with his very will on the verge of being captured as well — Ermes desperately mustered every ounce of his resolve and screamed.
In that instant, a tremendous gust of wind blew in from the side.
It seized Ermes's body and blew him into midair. And just like that, it forcibly pulled him out of the range of her magic.
The wind's effect wore off, and he landed on his feet. To the boy who had appeared at his side, Ermes delivered a brief message.
"Thanks for the help."
"No problem. But..."
Albert replied just as curtly, glancing toward the spot where Ermes had been standing moments ago. Just as if trading places with Ermes, someone was now standing there.
"...It's been a while, hasn't it, Niina."
"Niina... san..."
Katia and Sarah.
The two girls, who had finally caught up after leaving the mountain, had stepped forward to shield Ermes.
...No, rather than shielding him—
"——And? What a lovely greeting this is. Of all the things to do, right in front of me... You were trying to trap my El right before my eyes. What exactly are you thinking?"
"You don't need to be so tongue-tied about it, Lady Katia. ...But yeah, I'd be angry too."
Niina responded to Katia's already-bubbling pressure with a half-flustered, half-exasperated expression. Sarah, though more restrained in her expression, had positioned herself so that it was clear she would firmly not let anyone through toward where Ermes stood.
Seeing the two girls like that, Niina continued speaking while remaining cautious.
"...I see. You figured you'd prioritize getting rid of El-kun first, since my magic would be most effective against him, and then Albert-kun as well. ...They really did prepare properly, huh. ——But then..."
At that point, Niina recovered her faint, thin smile.
"Sorry about this. ——My magic works on girls too, you know."
"Wha—"
"!"
"So, long time no see, you two! To celebrate our reunion, I want to give you a big hug—"
Over here.
Come to me.
"?
At the same time, Niina spread her arms wide and stepped toward the two of them. Matching her movements — mercilessly, irresistibly — Katia and Sarah drifted closer as well. The moment Niina confirmed this, she moved with swift agility to capture them──
"Formula Replay──'
Spirit veil
'!"
That was when she was finally stopped by the recovering magic of Ermes' barrier.
She knew that a barrier's physical obstruction was an effective countermeasure against her magic. "Huh," Niina murmured, halting in her tracks.
At the same time, Liliana, who had come up from further back, moved to retrieve Katia and Sarah before they could be caught in the technique.
Just as she pulled the two of them away by their arms, Liliana's eyes met Niina's through the barrier. Niina smiled as ever,
"I don't think we've met. What a cute little princess. ...No, really, you're adorable. I'm practically falling for you already — want to try?"
At those words and the result playing out before her, Liliana felt something indefinable creep over her. Breaking into a cold sweat, she retreated with the two of them.
And so, a stalemate persisted across the barrier — no, it wasn't even a stalemate.
The only reason the situation had come to a standstill was that Lucius, for some reason, was not taking any initiative.
Above all — Niina.
As the current situation made clear — so long as she kept her magic active,
no one
could get
close to her
.
It was almost like something out of a joke.
Ermes, Katia, Sarah. These were warriors of overwhelming individual prowess, far beyond the scope of children and well beyond ordinary Bloodline Magic users altogether.
Yet against a single girl, they couldn't do a thing — captured without resistance, every last one.
Nina von Frodoit's Bloodline Magic —
"Dream Palace of the Fairy"
.
Its effect was enchantment. On top of that, it carried a unique trait: the more the caster liked the target, the stronger the effect became.
The restriction was steep. But precisely because of that, when the conditions were met, it produced an overwhelmingly powerful result.
In other words.
She was, without a doubt, the "natural enemy" of the four main fighters on the scene.
"...This is bad."
Ermes had already speculated quite a bit about Nina's magic. ...The fact that it worked on the same sex, for instance, was well within the realm of prediction.
But. The sheer strength of its effect had blown clean past the upper limit of those predictions.
If the four former students present charged in without a plan—
Most likely—
Nina
alone
would face
every last one of them
and completely shut them
down.
.
She would halt his movements with her charm, and then bind him without recourse using her fearsome close-combat abilities.
Her magic was that powerful, that merciless. Confronting her head-on, becoming her enemy — he had learned that the hard way.
……And to make matters even worse. On their side stood Lucius — the monster who had just crushed Ermes head-on.
To top it all off, the Northern Alliance's enemy soldiers were still multiplying. The situation was deteriorating at an accelerating pace.
"……!"
Even so — surely there had to be a way. Ermes turned the problem over in his mind, searching for some means of dealing with Nyina and Lucius with this team, of somehow driving them back from here.
But while his mind raced, on the other side of the barrier — Nyina, who had sprung lightly away from it, exchanged words with Lucius.
"Are you done already?"
"……Yeah. It's fine, Big Brother."
"I see. Then—"
With that brief exchange, Lucius stepped forward in her place and drew a breath.
"——Now you understand, Third Princess faction elites! ……Your intervention in the Northern conflict, even your coming to this area — it was all predicted!"
"……I suppose so."
He could accept that. Otherwise, there was no way the strongest enemy and Ermes's natural nemesis would have coincidentally gathered in this one place.
Their movements had been leaked. From the very beginning.
Lucius continued.
"Therefore — to shatter the arrogance and hubris that you could handle this yourselves, and to crush the hope of the Northern heretics!
——
Our
The Alliance Leader
—
shall
deliver judgment.
Behold!"
The Alliance Leader.
Guided by the echo of those words and Lucius's resonant voice.
Everyone present turned their gaze in the same direction, focusing atop the small hill Lucius had pointed to.
"——"
There, a single man stood.
He appeared to be approaching early old age. Yet the impression he gave was less one of age's decline and more one of dignity earned through the years.
White hair that gave an inscrutable impression, and eyes that gleamed a vivid copper-red. His attire, adorned with religious motifs here and there, radiated a solemn authority, and the sash designating his rank—
—
was of the highest purple.
The moment the man's figure was recognized, the scene erupted in commotion. One of the soldiers murmured:
"...Archbishop Johann..."
But Ermes had no familiarity with that title.
As he tried to assess what sort of person the man before him truly was, a voice rang out from beside him.
"...Johann von Kantabel."
It was Sarah. Apparently she knew of him, and she proceeded to explain to Ermes.
"One of the four key officials serving under the Archbishop. Among them, the one who achieved the greatest results and wielded the most power — the most famous Archbishop, in both name and reality."
In other words — she summarized succinctly.
"—
The Church's
number two
."
"Well, well…"
An utterly colossal figure had appeared out of nowhere.
He had anticipated the Church's involvement in the current rebellion — but this exceeded all expectations. Not merely involved, they were leading it. The fact that Lucius had called him the alliance leader made that abundantly clear.
The full picture of the northern rebellion was gradually coming into focus. Ermes observed the shifting situation while locking his gaze on the man standing atop the hill — Archbishop Johann.
And then — the man opened his mouth.
"…How lamentable."
Not loud. But it resonated.
A weighty voice, one that sank deep into the gut. The voice of a powerful man who had moved others with his words.
"No matter how many times I explain, no matter how many times I urge you to understand — you never learn, and you continue to defy the word of God. Why do you resist? Why do you persist in futile rebellion? As beings created in God's likeness, as creatures endowed with intellect, where has your dignity gone? You are no different from apes."
Truly, as though looking down upon them all.
Archbishop Johann gazed down upon everyone gathered here and continued.
"…But guiding them is precisely our calling. And since ancient times, there has existed one means to eliminate those who defy God and to efficiently make the foolish and misled hear His word.
— Pain."
With that, the Archbishop raised his hand.
His mask-like expression shifted. The corners of his mouth curled upward in a sadistic grin.
He declared.
"—And therefore. I shall bestow upon you the 'Divine Punishment.' Bear witness, endure it, and die."
In that very instant.
Magic power surged in the sky overhead. At the same moment, Ermes sensed it.
Ermes, Katia, Sara, Albert, Liliana, Yurugen. The air surrounding the six mages shifted.
The magic power above converged. The glow grew ever brighter, unfurling above their heads—as though it might be unleashed at any moment.
"...I-Impossible."
—The deployment of that magic was something he recognized.
It was one of the spells he himself wielded, and one of the ones most intimately familiar to him.
It was also his master's magic—a Bloodline Magic that should have been passed down exclusively through the royal family.
Bloodline Magic, one of the mightiest. Its name was—
"...'
Meteor Throne
'—?"
As though swallowing both doubt and astonishment in a single breath.
The light of the Divine Punishment hurtled down upon Ermes and the others.
//Author's note: Due to the story's natural break, I'm releasing two chapters this time...!