Volume 2 - CH 13

“…There’s one here, too.”

We had gone around searching the hallways for enemies; we would sometimes find students wandering about, and we would escort them back to their classrooms, asking the teacher to keep their classes inside and watch over their students.

It had happened a number of times now, and by now I had learned this wasn’t something I really wanted to do; as we continued searching the second floor, I muttered those thoughts quietly under my breath.

But this was something else; it was a small slip of paper emitting magical power — a spell tag.

A spell tag was a kind of magical tool, one that invoked magic by having anyone channel magical power through the formula written into it.

“I can detect traces of fire-aspected magical power on the formula; were the explosions from earlier because of these?”

Among the tags we found, this one was able to invoke fire-type spells.

“It most likely did.”

In other words, we have learned what caused the explosions we heard.

After looking closer at the formula, it seemed these spell tags were triggered to go off like they were a kind of trip line.

And someone had planted these things on the stairs leading to other floors.

It was like they wanted to cut off the escape routes… or, so I thought at first.

“…Then why did they miss some spots? I don’t understand what the enemy is trying to do.”

I hadn’t yet figured out their plan.

While checking the second floor, we discovered one staircase that had not been booby-trapped with these things; it was like they intentionally left that path for us to take.

“Let’s try going up the staircase from earlier again, the one that wasn’t trapped.”

“Should we not be disarming the spell tags first?”

There was something I needed to confirm.

And for that reason, I suggested that we leave this staircase behind and return to the one we had found, the one without spell tags on it.

Albert expressed his concern over leaving the traps we found untouched, but…

“It is unfortunate, but none of us know much about handling spell tags. It would take too much time disarming them, and besides…”

“‘Besides’ what?”

We didn’t have the time or luxury to try disarming every trap we found.

So the best thing for us to do was leave these alone for experts who would eventually be coming to deal with them.

I turned around to address Colette’s follow-up question.

“Nobody could possibly be stupid enough to fall for a trap this visible. It’s right in the open too, so no one in their right mind should be getting anywhere close.”

“True enough, you do have a point. Still, that does not mean a student cannot accidentally trigger it, say, while in a panic.”

“And if that were the case, there would be many more explosions happening across the Academy. I’m going by my instincts here, but I actually don’t think our enemy’s intention is setting off explosions.”

The spell tags were placed so obviously that even an amateur would notice them.

…it was as though they were warning signs to keep people away.

And only fools would risk their lives running into such obvious danger.

In other words, the weird feeling I was getting meant…

“Whoever put these up wanted us to get somewhere. We should find out where they want us to go and what’s waiting for us there.”

…they were indirectly telling us to come find them by following this trail.

If their aim had been to kill Academy students, there were easier and more efficient ways to do it.

But this whole setup — it was like they were making a game of this, completely different from how the cold-blooded, ruthless Pelmann operated.

There wasn’t actually another group just as much of a disturbing nuisance as the Gods of the Moon, was there?

…The questions I had just kept growing, but for now, if I wanted answers, the only thing I could do was follow the path that had been laid out before us.

“Let’s go.”

Taking care to avoid any traps along the way, we returned to the ‘safe’ staircase.

It was time to find out what was lying in wait ahead of us.

◆

“Somehow, I had expected something like this.”

I snorted in disgust as we followed the ‘safe’ paths and reached a certain destination.

After avoiding all the blocked and trapped paths, we arrived at the doors leading into the auditorium.

It was the building with the largest capacity here at the Academy.

WIth that fact in mind, it didn’t seem like our enemy or whatever had chosen this place by chance or as a coincidence.

“Did they intend to eventually gather every person at the Academy into the auditorium?”

I nodded in affirmation to Colette’s question.

But why were they leading anyone ‘evacuating’ to this place? Were they planning on blowing them up all at once? Or maybe they planned to use everyone as hostages?

…Whatever the reason was, it definitely wasn’t for anything good.

“So what now? Whatever is waiting inside is surely dangerous. It seems that thanks to our quick response, we arrived before anyone else, before anything happened, but…”

“Having come this far, we won’t be able to just sit around waiting. In fact, the longer we sit around, the more likely we’ll have people start coming here.”

While it was foolish for us to just walk right into an ambush that awaited us, worse still would be if we left it alone; eventually someone else would come along and fall right into it, and that would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Hmm, if I were the enemy then…

I held up my palm and created a sphere of magical power.

It was a simple ball of light, but it held destructive energy primed to explode.

…If I were the enemy, and I had setup obvious traps that triggered on something like movement, I would most likely leave one trap at the very end that triggered on contact instead.

After all, if my plan was to lure people over, there was no better way to take advantage of their reduced sense of danger.

To be honest, I still couldn’t read the enemy’s personality, but after a ‘game’ like this? It sure as hell wasn’t a surprise party for the good boys and girls who played along to the end.

…And if getting people to gather here wasn’t the entire goal, it was even stranger that there was still nothing happening now.

Besides, I doubted whoever was inside would appreciate having just three people crash the show, not when a stage this grand had been prepared.

…Then again, anyone launching an attack on an Academy for nobles couldn’t be the least bit right in the head. No matter how hard I thought about it, there was nothing I could think of that could explain it; I could only conclude that our ways of thinking were too vastly different.

“You guys ready?”

I gave a quick check, and the two nodded.

The details would come later. For now, we should push through with brute force!

“Oraa!”

I threw my ball of energy.

It flew straight into the heavy iron doors and… blasted them wide open.

“…Huh, nothing happened?”

“I guess there actually wasn’t anything waiting to surprise us at the door.”

In other words, there hadn’t been a trap — at least, not on the door.

My prediction was wrong, it seemed.

Then, did that mean their goal wasn’t simply to massacre all who came here?

“Tch…”

I didn’t understand a damn thing about what they were pulling here.

Frustrated with guessing wrong, I strode forward without another care.

“Lady Mylene..?!”

Albert suddenly raised his voice, surprised by my behavior that completely contradicted the caution I was following before.

But there was a reason why I did this now — because nothing had happened to us yet. And if they went to all the trouble of directing us here, without trapping the door, I doubted there was anything else prepared that could instantly kill us.

And sure enough, I entered the auditorium without any incident.

“Oh wow, you’re even more beautiful than how they’d described you. Good for you, Iltania’s Hound!”

As I crossed the threshold, a loud voice called out to me, echoing through the auditorium.

It was a well-defined tenor of a man’s voice, with something of a raised pitch warble.

When I heard the voice, I glared angrily toward the mainstage, where the voice had come from.

Standing there was a tall man wearing a hooded robe.

…To no surprise at all, the robe was one the Gods of the Moon wore.

“So according to my script, I should’ve had a big audience ready and waiting on your arrival, but maybe you’re more used to this kinda thing, Miss Hound? Or, would you prefer if I called you Miss Mylene Petyul?”

“The hell do I care what you bastards call me.”

If he knew to call me by that title, it all but confirmed what he was.

This guy was part of the Gods of the Moon, and though his methods differed greatly from Pelmann’s, there was no doubting he was on the same level.

The magical power coming off him was unnaturally suppressed, and the lack of an opening in his stance made it clear his familiarity with the battlefield.

“There is just one thing though: what was the point of all this? Whether you were aiming for me or someone else at this Academy, there were surely better ways to do it.”

“Pffft, ahaha! That’s what you wanna know? You’re one funny character, a real interesting one, y’know that? I bet you’d fit real well in one of those rough-style dramas, the ones with the facepaint and thick costumes.”

Funny character’? The hell was that supposed to mean? But all the man did was hold his arms over his stomach, doubled over in a fit of uncontrolled laughter.

I, for one, didn’t find any of this at all interesting, let alone funny.

“Ahh, you’re so much better than what I’d hoped for! There’s that face of yours — so beautiful I’d almost believe was beyond what was possible for humans — and then there’s that heroic, dignified attitude… Ah, how marvelously beautiful you are, with those two side-by-side. Never before have I seen any as beautiful as you!”

“…Thanks, I guess…”

“And since you’re so beautiful, I’ll answer your question.”

But like Pelmann, this guy seemed more than happy to just jabber away.

Really, these religious nutjobs talked so much it seemed more like they were talkers than cultists.

“…Well, not that your beauty means anything. See, I came to this school of yours because I was told to bring you back — your body, anyway. But y’know, I just happened to see you all had a very interesting little event going on, and I thought to myself, ‘Hey, maybe I should give these good little noble boys and girls a real show to remember’”

But while they spoke words, most of it wasn’t anything that made sense.

How revolting. I’d be grateful if they just stayed quiet.

“…Nobody asked for nor wanted it. And don’t go leaving this trash you called a show for someone else to clean up.”

“Now, now, don’t be like that! Didn’t you know I was a pretty famous playwright? …Wait, come to think of it, I never introduced myself, did I?”

A breathy, derisive snicker escaped from the man’s nose.

As I continued frowning, the man drew back his hood, and from the darkness of the cloth emerged a handsome face.

“The name’s Viktor, Viktor Ludrand. You may know me from my time as a playwright, or maybe as an actor, but right now, I’m a High Priest of the Gods of the Moon.”

He introduced himself and named his affiliation.

“Quite the list. Am I supposed to be impressed?”

“Ahaha! You interested?”

But despite his introduction, I still wasn’t getting a read on him. The most I could tell was how twisted he was as a person.

“Did you say ‘Viktor Ludrand’..?”

…But something unexpected came up.

Albert suddenly muttered in disbelief.

“You know him?”

“…I have heard of him. As he said, he was a famous playwright — some say he was a real genius — but…”

Albert hesitated in explaining, but it was clear to me that Viktor wasn’t just making up empty claims.

Not that it mattered; I couldn’t say I cared even a little that this crazy bastard used to be a playwright.

“…at the height of his career, Viktor Ludrand was arrested for suddenly committing mass murder during one of his plays. I believe that infamy as a killer has overshadowed his fame as a playwright.”

“Oof, it’s kinda hard to listen when you say it like that, but I have to say, I’m honored the Crown Prince of Iltania knows about me.”

So an actual killer now, huh? Compared to a certain teacher, we’d gotten a real monster on our hands this time.

Huh, but did Albert say he was arrested? If he was here now, did that mean he escaped at some point? Was it with help from the cult? …No, never mind, I don’t have enough information to try and guess what happened.

“…I get it now. I was wondering why you’d done things in such a roundabout way, but that’s just how you playwrights do things, huh?”

“Correct! I’m impressed; you at least seem to understand how this all works! I gotta give you credit: you got the brains to go with those looks!”

“Hmph. Sorry to disappoint, but I’m actually quite bad with the arts. It’s one thing to see why you did things a certain way, but that doesn’t mean I understand any of the garbage coming from your mouth.”

I didn’t know what Viktor was grinning about, but I didn’t want him thinking I understood him in the least.

…Still, he did seem different from the other Gods of the Moon guys.

I couldn’t feel any of the usual hatred or disgust… Well, not that either were anything to be happy about — he clearly said he wanted to kill me, so I had no choice but to send him to a place he belonged.

And whether that place was rotting behind the bars of a cell or in the abyss of hell would depend on his attitude.

“…Tch, whatever. You just want me, right? Let’s get this over with then.”

I wreathed myself in magic, causing the surrounding air to violently swirl about.

I didn’t want this to be any longer or more complicated than it needed to be; I would get this over with as fast as possible.

If only I had a weapon on me… I wasn’t expecting to need one on the day I would be playing at being a server, so there wasn’t anything I could do about it now.

“Woah, no fear at all, like one of those warrior maidens from the stories! Heh, looks like I wasn’t wrong about you!”

“…Aren’t you going to call on that god of yours? I won’t be holding anything back.”

I clenched my fists and shifted my footing, readying myself to spring into action.

“Hey now, don’tcha think it’s a bit soon? Well, I guess it’s fine. It wouldn’t be funny if I pulled my punches and lost for it.”

Viktor gave a troubled smile as he raised his arms.

Just when I thought he would use magic… he gave a loud snap with his fingers.

It wasn’t magic but a signal.

Another guy entered from a side wing — a muscular man with a shaved head.

So he brought a friend along… From his looks alone, this baldy was pretty good, too.

But as I sized up this new enemy, I saw something else that gave me a shock.

“…Mylene…”

That Gods of the Moon baldy had dragged in with him a girl…

…That is, a certain petite girl with soft, fluffy hair.

“Melissa..?! The hell are you… what are you doing here?!”

“Y’know, I remembered hearing that this girl was rather close to you, and wouldn’tcha know — she just happened to be walkin’ around the hallways! Seeing as how she seemed to be looking for you, I figured I would have her be the star of our little show here!”

The girl was none other than Melissa Tulio. The Oracle of Iltania, after growing closer to me, had fallen into enemy hands because of it.

“Cowards! That your kind would stoop to taking a hostage..!”

Colette shouted, enraged.

But her anger didn’t seem to faze Viktor at all, who now opened his arms up in welcome.

“Oh come on now, don’t be so quick to judge! Do you really think I’d write such a crappy script? One with this contrived twist of a plot hole? Please, I deserve more credit than that.”

Viktor eyed me like he was seeing my reaction, and I silently returned his gaze.

I clicked my tongue without answering.

“See you get it. It’s like I said: this was just a happy little accident. But y’know, this little lady here has a pretty good head on her shoulders — she knows being a hostage doesn’t actually guarantee anything about the safety of her friends. In other words, she knows she’s worth nothing as a hostage.”

…What Viktor said was correct.

Even if he had Melissa as a hostage, following Viktor’s demands wouldn’t guarantee the lives of Colette, Albert, or Melissa.

In other words, the only option for me was to abandon Melissa in order to beat the life out of this guy to ensure the safety of Colette and Albert.

“You get it, don’t you? I shan’t have this little girl simply be an abandoned set piece… I shall have her take a role in my play!”

Viktor beckoned to the baldy, who brought Melissa over to him.

Once they drew closer, Viktor reached his hand out toward Melissa; magical power sparked and crackled from it — likely lightning attribute magic.

Melissa’s eyes widened in terror.

“Don’t you dare!”

…It was true that I would prioritize my own life if it came down to that; I wasn’t about to deny that.

But that didn’t mean I would so easily abandon anyone close to me to do so.

I gathered magical power into my arm and leapt at Viktor, still on the stage.

“Aahh….AAAAAHHHHHH!?”

But it was too late; Viktor’s hand pulsed with a violent glow, and Melissa screamed before suddenly falling over like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

These bastards had gone too far… I clicked my tongue and threw my magically-charged fist at Viktor.

“Woah, careful there!”

But Viktor kicked off the ground, stepping back as he shoved Melissa’s unmoving body away.

Now without a target, my fist drove straight into the ground as though trying to find a new target, shattering the wooden floor.

And without another pause, I continued with a roundhouse kick. Viktor easily dodged with a casual roll.

“I won’t let you get away with that, you rat bastard!”

I didn’t even try to hide my rage and glared at the infuriating man before me.

Still, I knew nothing good would come out of losing myself in anger during battle, but it wasn’t like anger was only a disadvantage; it was said magical power grew with heightened emotions. But that just made it a raging storm — unnecessarily destructive and uncontrollable.

So I forced myself to temper my rage; there would be time later to feel anger… and grief.

After all, if I didn’t first kill this guy, these feelings wouldn’t mean anything.

“Oooh, how scary! But are you sure it’s okay to act like this? You must be pretty close to her if you got this angry about it.”

Viktor taunted with a smirk, directing his eyes to the unconscious Melissa at his feet.

Though her eyes were closed, now that I was closer, I could see her chest rising and falling in rhythm as she breathed.

She was still alive! I instinctively crouched down to pick her up.

“I’d pegged you to be more of the aloof sort, but you actually care a lot about your friends.”

I ignored his cheap taunt but stayed careful not to take my eyes off Viktor and his friend as I confirmed Melissa’s safety.

It was probably that lightning magic that did this to her; I couldn’t tell how badly hurt she was, but since she was still breathing, it didn’t seem to have been anything fatal.

…But that just left me wondering: why did Viktor let her live? He had called himself a High Priest, meaning he should be as strong as Pelmann. Killing Melissa should have been easy enough for him.

“I’m liking you more and more by the moment, Mylene; now, before you start saying something about how us from the Gods of the Moon make you sick, let me tell you something good: me, I’m just a playwright at heart, y’know? And I just love people like you! After all… this trick works best on you heroic-types!”

“Trick..? The hell are you talking abou– ?!”

I should have already noticed…

…noticed that Viktor had purposely kept Melissa alive and given her up so freely.

“Aaa, AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

A certain girl’s piercing shriek suddenly hit my ear.

“Mylene!”

“Lady Mylene!”

At the same time, I heard the other two calling out to me.

Both of these things happening at the same time triggered something in me, and I was instantly on alert.

Colette and Albert’s agitated stares weren’t at our enemy but at the one in my arms: Melissa.

That same Melissa flared with magical power and brandished it in her hand like a claw.

“Gh..?!”

I instinctively let her go and turned away. A blade of pure magical power coming from her arm passed by where my head had just been.

It drew a crimson line across my cheek.

I had let my guard down. If I had been even a moment late, she would have taken out my eyes.

Melissa fell onto the floor without trying to recover, catching herself with her arms and swaying unsteadily where she was. There was no indication of her caring about her surroundings.

“Haa..! Haa..!”

But slowly, she got to her feet, baring her teeth and breathing heavily as though letting something out.

There was an expression of unbridled fury on her face, like that of an enraged animal. No, rather, it was more like she was far beyond any sense of reason and was more beast than animal.

“She’s..?!”

“Ahaha! Do you like it?! That’s my ‘Mind Thread’ at work! Not only does it make you act on your basest instincts, it’ll also draw out your hidden potential! Hehe… You’ve got the resolve to abandon your friends, but what about hurting them yourself?!”

…I could hardly believe it, but it seemed Viktor’s magic was causing Melissa to act this way.

I had never heard of a spell like that before though.

“AAAAHH!”

“Tch…!”

And yet I could not deny what was happening before me, of Melissa attacking me with the intent to kill. There was nothing I could do but accept reality.

Melissa swung her magically-enchanted arm again with great force. That bastard Viktor was serious about what he said his magic did with potential; the current Melissa moved faster and controlled much more magical power than what she was usually able to do during practice.

On the other hand, her actions had become extremely basic. Her attacks were straightforward, simply charging straight for the ‘enemy’ in front of her, so dodging her attacks was as simple as breathing…

“Ugh…!?”

…at least, it would be if nothing got in my way!

A sharp, prickling pain suddenly hit my leg like a pinpoint stab, and a burning sensation grew from that point of contact, spreading across my body like wildfire.

I knew what this was: the aftereffects of being struck by lightning magic.

“You bastard..!”

“Heh, did you forget I was still here, too? You’re making me a little jealous, giving all your attention to the little lady over there. Well… I’m not surprised that you started ignoring me; the magical power from Oracle of Iltania is quite something, right?”

Naturally, a certain nuisance wouldn’t leave me undisturbed while I was dealing with Melissa.

So while Melissa came at me with all of her power, Viktor added to the attack by launching his own electrified needles.

“Mylene!”

“We shall take care of Miss Melissa –!”

The easiest way to get out of this was to leave Melissa to those two, but…

“Did you believe I would allow that?”

…there was still one more enemy in play.

Viktor’s muscular companion stood before Albert and Colette, blocking their path.

I’d thought he was some hanger-on at first, but from his appearance and the look in his eyes, he had to be capable of being more than just that.

The situation was so bad I could almost laugh about it, damn it all!

“Damn it! Snap out of it already..! Ugh!”

Melissa’s powerful attacks were something I couldn’t just shrug them off.

But though she was easy enough to avoid, Viktor would use that opportunity to strike with his magic.

“…”

“Tch, what strength..! Watch yourself, Albert! Do not overextend!”

And I couldn’t expect any support to come from the others.

There was, however, one good thing out of this: Albert and Colette cooperated quite well. It was a fortunate miscalculation that I had thought otherwise, and now they were able to put up a good fight together.

The muscular man had swung his sword at them, and Colette, having blocked it, was trembling under the sheer force of the attack. Albert, who had less magical power, would have struggled much more with defending, and it seemed in light of that, the two had swapped roles: Colette was now on the defense while Albert was on the offense.

I needed to do something to get us out of this mess…

“You’d better not hold a grudge for this!”

…and to do that, first I had to subdue Melissa.

Having planned out what to do, I carefully adjusted the power in my fist to deliver a punch to her jaw, one whose impact should rattle her brain enough to knock her out.

However…

“Damn it, why won’t you stay down..!”

“Pfft, haha, you thought it’d be that easy?! How about I remind you: my Mind Thread really gets people going! Simply trying to knock them out isn’t going to stop them!”

A voice called out in twisted joy, making a mockery of me as I dodged another round of lightning needles.

That bastard was just playing around now; damn him…

If he wanted to, he could just finish me off in one fatal blow. The fact that he had yet to do so meant…

“If you wanna stop her, you gotta kill her, so be quick about it! Or maybe you could try smashing her legs to bits? I mean, it’s not like she can feel pain or anything right now!”

…he really was trying to make a play out of this — no, he wanted to make a comedy out of me killing Melissa with my own hands.

But knowing that was what he wanted made me stubbornly refuse to go along with it. But at the same time, what if his goal was to take advantage of my stubbornness in the first place…

“Ugh…!”

He continued to shower me in needles; considering their potency, it seemed he wanted to continue this charade of his for a while longer.

…but this wasn’t good at all, and I still couldn’t figure out how to get us out of this situation.

If this continued, the damage coming from the needles would eventually become something I couldn’t ignore, and at that point, I would be at Viktor’s complete mercy.

Was there nothing else I could do? Was there really no choice but to settle for the final solution?

“MYLEEEENE!”

As I winced from the pain from another barrage of needles, an angry roar cut across the auditorium.

I focused on who had called out to me — Colette — and split my attention to hear her words.

“There is a way out of this! And we will find a way to get through! So believe in us! Even if you do not, just say you believe in us, and endure!”

“…!”

Amidst the sound of clanging steel was a heartfelt request to persevere.

And she’d said it so confidently too, despite having to put everything they had to stay alive.

But… ‘believe in us’, was it? Not bad, princess; not bad at all…

“…Tch, ‘endure’? Fine, but know it will not do to keep a lady waiting for long!”

“If you can still joke around like that, then that is good enough!”

Back in the history I remembered, there had been times where I worked together with other mercenaries. As I thought about those times, I suddenly realized there wasn’t ever a time where I really ‘trusted’ any of them.

That was because the only one I could ever depend on back then was myself, and in the end, that was how I lived, up until my final moments… In this current life of mine, with this second chance, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to try this — something different.

I swatted away another of Melissa’s wild swings and used the momentum to deflect some more incoming needles.

Though I was protecting my hands with a coating of magical power, I could feel my arms beginning to grow numb after having to fend off this constant barrage of magical then electrical attacks.

Things would have been easier I had a sword on me; I could feel the corners of my mouth turn up as I kept my complaints in thought.

That being said, I had always believed I had no patience for waiting around, but it seemed I was better at it than I thought.

“Oh? Is that what you’re planning? How exciting! I knew you’d make this even better, exactly like I wanted! It’s exactly the kind of unpredictable chaos the best stories have!”

“Shut your damn mouth, freak. Your third-rate play isn’t worth anything.”

Right, that was the way; no need to be angry, no need to be impatient. As long as I stayed level-headed enough to return retorts in the middle of the fight, then I could keep going.

I tapped into my past experiences to preempt Melissa while, at the same time, focused harder on reading the direction of Viktor’s magical onslaught.

I had to eliminate all wasted movement, flowing seamlessly from one motion to the next to dodge every incoming attack.

By no coincidence, this was…

“Beautiful..! This was exactly what I wanted to see, this beautiful dance, this perfect waltz that has cut away the excess! Ah..!”

…like I was dancing.

It was getting to be a real pain hearing that sick bastard croon on and on all on his own, but I could bear at least this much of it.

“More… show me more! Aah, I can’t believe what I’m seeing; it’s like a whole new world..! I know what this is! The pinnacle artform! The sublimation of theatre and ensemble..!”

I could hear the crackle of electricity as I moved, as though the sounds punctuated my every step.

It must have been the result of Viktor’s euphoria, but his spells came in louder and louder booms, like a hammer smashing into nails.

And it was the worst kind of accompaniment to my dance; if this were the main stage of a dance hall, those booms were the sounds of the stones the audience was throwing at us.

Though his spells didn’t land, my heightened senses felt his magical power graze past my body. I was so in tune with avoiding his attacks that it felt as though my body were moving on its own.

…Suddenly I could see it; I understood how it all worked.

This formless, flowing dance was similar to the Beast Style I knew. But unlike the Beast Style, which was a technique to efficiently kill enemies, this dance was a technique for defense — that is, to efficiently evade attacks.

Even so, this would all end if Viktor lost his good mood; regardless of my dodging, he still had enough power to destroy this entire building if he wanted.

Before that happened… I looked over to see how the others were managing.

Colette was still staving off the muscular man’s attacks while Albert had clad himself in wind magic to attack.

If they could settle their fight quickly — before Viktor ran out of patience — they could take the pressure of Melissa off me.

Still, it was possible that Viktor intervened to stop them from defeating his companion…

“High Priest..! I cannot… hold them off for much longer! Please finish this… at once!”

“…Hey, seriously, keep it down. Who do you think you are, trying to get in the way of a genius? I’m in the middle of something! In fact, I’m on the verge of a breakthrough, ready to transcend the stage of a performance!”

…but it seemed that wasn’t something to worry about.

I knew those Gods of the Moon guys were weird in different ways, but Viktor went even further than that — I would have said he was just plainly insane, but that was already something those cultists all had in common.

Still, I was beginning to see how they worked… at least, in a small way.

So for now, I would continue playing along with this game of his.

“Ugh…!”

“Oh no no no, not like that, Mylene! I need you to be more graceful, more clever than that!”

Though I knew what I had to do, doing it wasn’t so easy, and I couldn’t perfectly dodge every attack that came at these speeds.

Occasionally, a bolt of thunder would find its mark, striking me like a fierce hammer.

But I could still endure. So long as I knew the possibility still remained, I could endure.

..I knew very well the meaning of ‘wasted effort’. Because I knew it, I could continue to wait.

Because past it all, the flower called possibility would eventually bear fruit.

“Guh… High Priest Viktor!”

“Are you kidding me? I said shut up! And you call yourself a member of the Gods of the Moon? You should be able to handle at least that much! What happened to your devotion to chaos? Isn’t an unpredicted development like this the kind of thing you want?!”

Colette and Albert must be close to overwhelming him now that the muscular man sounded panicked.

I knew the two of them had become stronger, but it seemed they had grown beyond what I expected.

Meanwhile, Viktor was still enraptured with our fight here, and he paid no attention to his subordinate’s plight.

“Hey now, was that really fine? Aren’t the two of you friends?”

“Pfft, are you kidding? Do I even look like a religious guy to you? You wanna know why I’m with these guys? It’s because I want to see only the beautiful things in life, the most beautiful things! And you know, this moment, between us? Nothing could compare to the beauty in this very moment between us!”

“Viktor! You wretch! How dare you! A High Priest, and you would dare parley with Iltania’s Hound?!”

And just like that, the cooperation of these two Gods of the Moon cultists broke down. The muscular man spat a vile denouncement of Viktor, but the playwright didn’t seem to care.

It was obvious now to me that Viktor only joined with the cult because there was some overlap between each of their goals. Still, that didn’t make him any better of a person, especially since their goals were similar.

“Argh, damn it all! And you, you blasted coward of a prince! Have you no shame, hiding behind a woman?!”

“Coward? Shame? Such words from one who would take a lady hostage mean nothing!”

“Know your place, knave; you stand before we who are rulers to be! Choosing what is most wise is our very duty!”

“And the wisest choice is to use every card available in hand! Exactly as Lady Mylene has taught us!”

Albert and Colette answered the man’s cursing without hesitation.

The sound of a sword crashing against a magical shell intensified, until finally…

“Argh, how can this be?! Damn you, Iltania! And you, Viktor! I pray hell take you all!”

…at long last, his end had come.

Unfortunately, all I could make out were the sounds and voices.

One such voice was the final lamentation of a defeated man, following a gust of wind.

They had settled their fight.

“Lady Mylene!”

“The matter is settled, Mylene! Now, leave Melissa to us!”

“It’s about time..!”

As I raised a fist in triumph, Colette and Albert quickly ran past me from each side to confront Melissa.

Numerous injuries scarred their bodies, and they were breathing heavily with ragged exhaustion.

The fight they finished had been that difficult. But that was the kind of story I would have loved to hear retold, to go with a drink in my hand… Well, not that I could since this country was rather strict with an age limit for drinking.

But before doing that, so that my drink at the end could taste even better, I still had my work to finish.

I turned to face Viktor.

The playwright, towering above us from his raised stage, leered at us with a twisted smile on his face.

“Truly… wonderful. What a beautiful story. Dear me, it seems to have even brought a tear to my eye”

Viktor slowly applauded. His eyes appeared moistened, just as he claimed.

For him, it was different. For him, this was all part of observing the very play he himself wrote.

…And he would continue to do so.

That he was still so calm and composed despite the changing tide meant he still had a plan.

After all, he hadn’t gotten serious yet; everything until now was like the first act.

“O great Zuri Dien! I beseech thee! Grant me the power — the power with which we shall write the final chapter of this greatest story!”

This was the second act: with the power of a god behind him, he would trample over everything.

Viktor closed his eyes as he held up a medal — I faintly made out the figure of a bird-headed man carved into its surface — and thorns of electricity wrapped around his body.

Once the raging storm subsided, Viktor still stood frozen in place, seemingly unchanged. He slowly reopened his eyes.

…The only difference I noticed was how his hair now stood on end. Compared to the crimson-eyed Pelmann who ran wild after invoking his god, Viktor seemed far more docile.

“Let us continue with the second act then. As I said, I only want to see the most beautiful things. And what could be more an overwhelmingly beautiful reality than a sudden, unexpected death?”

Viktor held out his hand, as though to take an invisible escort’s own.

As I felt the pressure of his nascent magical power bear down on me, I wiped away a speck of blood on my cheek.

“So you can also call upon some god of yours for power? Doesn’t look like you had to give up anything to do it though.”

“Ah, you must be referring to Pelmann. Well, the difference between us is how close we are to our god. For me, I’m on pretty good terms with Zuri Dien, if I do say so myself. He’s a pretty good guy, and we’re pretty close, so he’s willing to lend a hand if I just ask.”

…So that was it: a better affinity with their chosen god meant it was easier to invoke their powers.

I bet Pelmann would be upset if he knew. After all, he had to gouge out his own eyes as sacrifice before his god granted him power. Meanwhile, Viktor only had to ask for it.

“Huh, that so?”

But none of that mattered to me.

I had only asked to check one thing, but chatterbox that he was, Viktor went ahead and explained more than he needed to… not that it mattered that he did in the first place.

“…Hmm, you’re pretty calm still. I’m sure you can tell, right? The difference in power between us now? Will you give up? I doubt it… You couldn’t possibly be the type of person who would quit from something like that.”

“Huh, you seem to understand me quite well.”

“So? What have you got then? Is there something that will help you win?”

“Nope, nothing of the sort. Just…”

“…Just what?”

It might have been because he had taken in the power of a god, but Viktor’s tone had calmed down compared to before.

And like he said: I did understand our difference in power, but I wouldn’t just give up.

After all, it didn’t matter who or what my enemy was.

The answer was always simple: all I had to do was hit them as hard as I could.

Nothing he did would change that; it was enough if I just put everything I had to drive this fist of mine into that smug face and twisted smile.

And that was the plan I decided on .

It was a simple conclusion.

“Just that I’m not letting you get away with what you’ve done, you bastard! No matter what happens, no matter what you, I’m not stopping until I’m satisfied!”

I would pay him back for taking a hostage, for taking a perverse joy out of making me fight Melissa, and for the incessant needling of his!

And then there was that smug face of his, his pretentious theatrics, and most of all, that abhorrent ‘script’ of this play he made!

I felt anger rise through my head, hot enough that it was like it would boil out the top.

“You’ve really pissed me off!”

…I burned with an unchained rage.

Did it matter what kind of enemy I now faced? No, not in the least. What mattered was crushing them, beating them to a point where they would never dare mouth off again.

I clenched my fist tight, channeling my fury like it was magical power!

And my power answered, flaring up in the form of a white flame whose tip burned fiery crimson.

It looked just like…

“…Magic colored like the Sulberia! Hey now, what’s with this? Did you really just perform a Divine Possession just like that? Wonderful… How absolutely marvelous!”

…the colors of the flower of Sulberia.

It had happened in response to my anger… but that wasn’t all that changed. I could feel a different sort of power flow through my veins and surge across my body, welling up and rejuvinating my fatigue.

As I wondered to myself what this power was, I tried clenching and unclenching my fist to test it.

Viktor had gotten excited and said some things just now, something like… ‘Divine Possession’? I didn’t know that meant or what it did, but with this newfound power, it might just be enough.

“…You’d better be ready for this, you rotten bastard.”

“Ahaha! Wonderful! Truly fitting now! Shall we ascend to the very pinnacle of beauty together then?”

Viktor opened his arms in a wide spread as he cried out in excited joy.

I quietly answered with just a cold glare.