ULTRA SOUL!

"…"

Tiona discovered the body of an adventurer hidden among the ruins.

The adventurer was not dead—only unconscious.

As she looked at the human with blood running from both ears, she groped around

her waist.

"Damn, I don't have any potions with me," she said, realizing she'd forgotten to bring

her items.

"Tiona, hurry up!" her sister called. Reluctantly, she left the adventurer behind.

Without using her hands, she scaled the structure that surrounded the tunnel-like

passage where she'd been. At the top, she found her sister, Tione, who like Tiona had

been ordered to serve as both scout and guerrilla fighter. The Amazon was stamping

her bare feet and looking irritated.

"Ugh, this is so frustrating! We're doing what the captain said, but we're not finding

any monsters. Daedalus Street is so annoying. It's nothing but twists and turns and

dead ends."

Not to mention ups and downs.

The western section of the Labyrinth District, where the two sisters were, was so

complex they felt like they were walking through a trompe l'oeil painting. It was no

wonder Tione was irritated.

"Our opponent may be moving faster than Finn's commands," Tiona said.

"Are you suggesting the captain is falling behind? I'll kick your ass for saying that!" her

sister growled in defense of her beloved leader.

"You're pretty annoying yourself!" Tiona snapped back with a fed-up look on her face,

before mumbling that Tione was right. "But yeah, I think Finn's instructions are spoton. I bet the monsters passed near here."

"…Did you find something?"

Tiona remained silent for a moment, gazing into the distance before answering.

"I've been thinking, Tione. Those monsters that we're after—"

She did not complete the thought. The clanging of a bell broke the silence.

"The signal for a monster sighting…! Let's go, Tiona!"

"…Yeah!"

Watching her sister race off, Tiona seemed to change her attitude of a moment before.

She shouldered her double-edged sword and followed Tione.

Like a ferocious wave, the Xenos were barreling straight down the road in a single line.

They were in the western section of the Labyrinth District, near the center. After

emerging from the shortcut immediately in front of Loki Familia's formation, the

monsters were now running as fast as they could toward the underground passage to

Knossos.

"Thanks to Lillicchi, there aren't any adventurers around!" said Lido at the head of the

group.

"Don't let down your guard! They're coming!" Fels yelled up from the center of the line.

The mage was right: Loki Familia members were at that very moment rushing from

the center, northwest, and southwest to fill the gap in the formation.

"Archers, take your positions!" Loki Familia platoon leaders shouted.

The archers drew back their bows and aimed at the advancing group of monsters.

Positioned on buildings in front and to the left and right, they were about to unleash

a tri-directional rain of arrows on the Xenos.

But.

"?!"

"It's cooooold?!"

The elves and animal people who had been fitting their arrows to their bows were

suddenly half-frozen. A blizzard that materialized from thin air had blindsided the

girls. The bow, arm, shoulder, and half the face of each demi-human were covered in

an armor of ice. They cried out at the bitter cold.

"Sorry…!"

"Apologies for the surprise attack!"

Under their veils, Welf and Mikoto whispered their regrets. Their invisible hands

gripped the aqua-colored magic daggers they had drawn from their sheaths.

By running alongside the Xenos at a set distance and letting the noisy band of

advancing monsters draw the attention of their opponents, Welf and Mikoto had

managed to pull off the perfect sneak attack. Even the upper-class Loki Familia

adventurers were helpless against this bombardment from their blind side by an

invisible enemy. There was no escaping the blizzard from such close range as it swept

over a wide area the instant it was released; even those who attempted to defend

themselves from the aqua-blue wave of cold were imprisoned in ice.

The magic ice daggers were called Hiens.

Welf had worked without sleep or rest to forge the two blades for this day. Their

beauty, which recalled crystals carved from ice, belied their cruel icy waves that froze

anything in their way. Welf and Mikoto each carried one.

Flames or lightning would wound an adventurer, but ice—while painful—could be

reversed without seriously harming the enemy.

"With these, we can get by without damaging the city!"

Welf smiled half-heartedly, unable to fully give himself over to pride in his creation.

The Crozzo magic daggers and the original Sage's magic items made for a wicked

combination. Without revealing that Hestia Familia had sided with the monsters, they

were able to completely immobilize the targets of their surprise attacks.

Not only were the adventurers on the rooftops unable to pull back their bows, they

were also unable to move, because their feet and even the ground was frozen. As the

adventurers below looked up, dumbfounded at the frozen blocks of ice that their

companions had become, Welf and Mikoto leaped to the ground and unleashed

another attack.

"Aaaaaaahhh!"

The adventurers on the ground screamed as they were enveloped in the blizzard, and

the Xenos charged forward.

"Yaaaaaaaarrrr!"

Led by the lizardman and unicorn, the parade of monsters hurled themselves against

the frozen adventurers. Animal people flew through the air. Humans were thrown

against walls. Weapons and fragments of armor scattered. As they broke through the

enemy line, the Xenos let loose a chorus of monster bellows.

"Lady Haruhime! Tell me the way forward!" Mikoto screamed into her oculus.

"There's a road off to the right a little farther ahead!" Haruhime responded.

Leaving Welf to watch for enemy pursuers, Mikoto went to intercept adventurers

approaching from other streets. With the help of Hestia and Haruhime, she was able

to forestall them without getting lost herself, sending waves of cold over them as they

rushed toward the Xenos. The adventurers became her magic dagger's quarry as she

plastered herself to a wall above their heads and waited to ambush them. They cried

out as the ice forced them to halt.

The invisible Welf and Mikoto were able to hold the sporadic groups of Loki Familia

fighters entirely in check.

"Go, Welf and Mikoto! You get 'em…!"

Hestia pumped her fist into the air as she looked down at the magic map. She could

see the symbols for Welf and Mikoto moving frenetically around the Xenos, who were

advancing east straight through the central zone of the Labyrinth District. She cheered

on her familia members as they did their utmost to hold back the enemy's approach.

"Found ya!"

Unfortunately, the goddess's prayers were dashed.

"—!! Shit?!!"

"Gros!"

The gargoyle rearguard spun around as he sensed a flash of light flying toward him. A

knife had been hurled toward the group at high speed. It crashed into his stone right

wing—which he had spread to protect his brethren in the rear—and shattered it like

a hammer.

Rei, who had been singing as she flew along, looked back—and saw two Amazonian

women, their black hair flying behind them.

"I knew they were around here!" one shouted.

"We've caught up with them!" the other responded.

Rei and Gros widened their eyes simultaneously.

There was no way they could have forgotten those two Amazons.

They were the same extremely strong first-tier adventurers who had trampled the

Xenos in this very city several days before.

"OHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Gros let out a tremendous yell. His warning alerted Lido at the front and Fels in the

center to the threat, and Welf and Mikoto, too, instantly turned around.

"The Hyrute sisters!"

"So they're here…! Let's give 'em hell!"

"Yeah!"

Welf and Mikoto immediately dropped what they were doing and ran to intercept

Tiona and Tione, who were approaching with incredible speed. Dropping from the

front of the formation to the back, they lifted the Hiens. Welf was on one side of the

Xenos and Mikoto on the other, running on top of the buildings lining the street. They

aimed their daggers at their opponents and, at nearly the same moment, swung them

forward.

They were sure they had targeted the sisters' blind spots, as they had managed to do

with the other adventurers up till now—but the sisters dodged.

"?!"

Welf and Mikoto were too surprised to utter a word. The sisters had reacted with

incredible speed to the blizzard that materialized from thin air, evading it quite easily.

"What was that? Is there an ice bird around here or something?" Tione called out,

brushing a strand of long black hair from her face.

"Seems a little too powerful for that!" Tiona replied, glancing backward at the

enormous icy form that had risen up in the street. Returning her gaze to the front, the

Amazonian girl called out to her sister again as she ran.

"Hey, Tione. Someone's here, aren't they?"

"Yeah. I don't know if they're shape-shifting or they've made themselves invisible…but

there are two of them for sure."

The sisters looked up and directed their piercing gazes at two points ahead and above

them.

Welf and Mikoto shuddered. The sisters had accurately pinpointed their locations. For

all their invisibility and freezing blizzards, they both realized that one blow from the

sisters would crush them.

The twin warriors were she-devils incarnate.

The sight of the Level 6 first-tier adventurers bearing down on them was truly

petrifying. Yet even though the glint in the sisters' eyes filled them with a horror unlike

any they'd experienced before, they summoned their courage.

"Lady Hestia, is there any terrain coming up that we can use?!"

"Uh, um…Sorry, Welf, there's nothing! No turnoffs and no obstacles! The road just gets

wider and wider. Looks like the only thing is a downward slope…"

The wind was so strong that it nearly blew Welf's veil off and drowned out his

questions as he spoke into the oculus. The answer sounded like a screech. He could

sense that the invisible Mikoto was growing anxious as well. He looked up, startled.

"A slope…!"

Far in the distance down the arrow-straight road, he could see a hill that appeared to

lead into a basin.

The young smith spoke once more into the blue crystal in his hand.

"Lady Hestia, please connect me with those two."

Hestia understood immediately who he meant by "those two." Working with the

flustered Haruhime, she pushed Mikoto's and Fels's crystals together with Welf's so

they could hear him.

Mikoto and Fels paused for a moment after hearing the gamble Welf proposed, then

agreed. Fels spoke first.

"We have no other choice. We're betting on your magic daggers, Welf Crozzo. Lido, run

as fast as you can!"

"I'll try, too, Sir Welf!" Mikoto said.

"I'm counting on you!"

The Xenos mustered their strength and ran even faster.

Having given up on aiming directly at the approaching sisters, Welf and Mikoto now

attempted to stop them by freezing the road, throwing up dozens of ice walls and

knife-sharp ice mountains to block their progress. But Tiona and Tione crushed each

one in the space of a single breath, slashing them down with the double-edged sword,

kukri knives, and even their bare feet. Mikoto grimaced at the sight of the

extraordinary woman warriors in savage pursuit of the Xenos amid a blizzard of

shattered ice chunks.

"Run! Run!" the lizardman shouted to his brethren again and again in the howling

language only the other monsters could understand. They had to take full advantage

of every second Welf and Mikoto gained for them.

Wiene gasped for breath as she ran, and the flat-footed troll flapped its arms even

more clumsily than usual as they tried to keep up. Lido and Fels took on the other Loki

Familia members who Welf and Mikoto—now fully focused on the Amazons—were

no longer able to hold back. Lido's longsword and scimitar mowed down all who tried

to block their progress forward, while Fels's jet-black gloves sent out invisible shock

waves that kept others from approaching.

Rei, who was flying above the party, dropped back to Gros's position to protect Wiene

and the other Xenos at the rear, as well as Welf and Mikoto. With feather projectiles

from her wings, she somehow managed to intercept the knives that Tione threw and

send them to the ground before they reached their intended targets. But again and

again, the white blades made their way through her defense and ripped into the siren's

body.

As the parade of monsters grew increasingly ferocious and the fighting verged on

spinning out of control, the narrow road began to widen as Hestia had said it would.

Soon they were running down an avenue more than eight meders wide.

"This is annoying! Tiona, you throw something, too!" Tione shouted, clicking her

tongue in irritation at her inability to draw closer to the Xenos.

"Okay, but Urga is all I've got!" Tiona called back before hurling the double-edged

sword.

The massive hunk of metal was impossible to fend off. Welf, Mikoto, and Gros gaped

at it, and Rei shrieked shrilly for her kin to get out of the way.

With no time even to glance backward, Wiene and the others in the rear rushed away.

In the next instant, the huge double-edged sword hit the ground.

"?!"

The stone pavement buckled at the tremendous impact, sending the Xenos flying.

Avoiding a direct hit by a mere hairbreadth, they tumbled down a slope paved in black

bricks.

It was the hill Hestia had told them about.

"Tiona, let's kill them he—"

Tione stopped mid-sentence. She had just begun to descend the slope with her sister,

who had retrieved her sword from the ground before running on. She sensed that the

invisible sources of the bombardment had stopped in the middle of the road at the

bottom of the hill.

"They've stopped!"

"So they think they can cut us off?!"

Tiona and Tione knew their opponents were facing them, poised for battle.

Instantly, they realized they were facing the fiercest attack yet. In the distance, they

could see the monsters falling back into formation as they escaped, but they

nevertheless made their decision without an instant's hesitation.

"I'll shield you. Kill them, Tiona!"

"Okay!"

Rather than retreat from the wide avenue, the sisters had chosen to charge the enemy.

Tiona stood directly behind Tione, hiding in her shadow; her older sister would take

the fire while she brought down the enemy. Their target was clear.

As Mikoto braced herself for a direct attack from the warrior sisters who were ready

to risk their lives in the fight, sweat trickled beneath her veil.

But her heart was as clear and quiet as a perfectly still pool of water.

If they lost the upper hand here, everything was over.

If the enemy caught up with the Xenos, they would be destroyed—and she could not

let that happen.

The girl from the Far East met the gazes of the approaching first-class adventurers

with her invisible eyes and brought her hand to the hilt of her magic dagger.

"!"

Welf swung his dagger from his position diagonally below them in a final attempt to

stop the advance. Unfazed, Tiona and Tione positioned themselves firmly in the

middle of the slope. Whether their opponents tried to freeze them or burn them, the

sisters were confident they could withstand the attacks. No matter how terribly they

were wounded, they would not back down from their enemy. They flew through the

air toward the invisible presences.

The instant before they made contact, the sisters heard a metallic shing.

"—"

The sound was neither ice crystals forming nor raging flames.

It was the sound of a glittering metal blade sliding along its sheath—and a sword being

loosened from its scabbard.

Mikoto, crouched low to the ground, had two weapons at her hip. One was her thirdtier adventurer's weapon, Kotetsu. The other was a sword with a magic blade.

As the first-class adventurers gaped, Mikoto's eyes flashed with determination. She

waited for just the right moment, then drew the weapon.

Welf smiled as he watched.

"Go get 'em, Fubu."

"—!!"

The jade-colored blade sparkled as it was freed from its confines with a single swift,

silent movement.

As it flashed before the eyes of Tione and Tiona, the blade released a hurricane-force

gale.

"Wha—?"

"You're kidding me!"

The sisters literally flew backward in the gust.

There was no fighting against the bombardment. The twins were blown high into the

air and far away into the distance, completely unable to "withstand" anything.

Their hair whipping around them, Tiona and Tione disappeared from the battlefield.

"We did it…Oops!" Mikoto said, struggling to hold down her Reverse Veil as the

powerful back draft pushed it up.

The Xenos cheered.

"Hurry up, they're not knocked out of the fight! They'll be back before you know it!"

Welf shouted to them.

Like the Hien, the Fubu could not kill or wound. It simply created a strong wind. It

lacked even the power to lacerate its victims, and so long as it was used correctly, it

would inflict no wounds. The instant Tione and Tiona hit the ground, they would most

likely rush back toward their opponents in a fit of fury.

But Fels couldn't help letting out a shout, even as Welf urged the Xenos along.

"Down with the first-class adventurers!"

Mikoto may have made ample use of the magic blade and veil, but she had nevertheless

driven off the sisters, and Fels was praising her for it.

And now…!

As the Xenos continued moving forward, the mage felt confident of their position.

The fact that Amazon the Slasher and Jormungand had intercepted them was likely

the result of a miscalculation on Loki Familia's part. With guards posted throughout

the Labyrinth District as well as at the doors to Knossos, few troops were free to move

unhindered—let alone the Sword Princess, who was glued to Bell, and Finn, who was

tied up commanding the operation.

The underground path to Knossos was close now. If things continued like this, Fels

believed they would be victorious. But just at that moment—

"—"

The black-clad mage saw a lone shadow cross the sky.

"I am sorry, Captain!"

It was earlier in the night, and at Loki Familia headquarters, Raul Nord was bowing

obsequiously. Finn kept his back to Raul as he gazed out at the western section of

Daedalus Street, which was now a battlefield.

"B-because of me, th' battle formation was destroyed…! But th' phony captain looked

just like you! I mean he coulda been your twin. Two peas in a pod! That's why I didn't

see through him…! Oh geez, I am so, so sorry!"

"There's nothing to be done about it now, and I don't have the time to hold you to

account. Just answer my questions, Raul."

With that, Finn began to calmly question his pale, quivering underling.

"Did my imposter ask you anything?"

"Huh?"

The question confused Raul. He searched his memory.

"Uh…he said monsters had been sighted in th' south and told me to move the unit…and

then, I'm fairly sure that after that he asked me where th' guards were positioned in

Knossos."

"I see…Good work, Raul. You've confirmed my suspicions."

Ignoring the bewildered Raul, Finn continued as if reciting a monologue.

"Our opponents went so far as to impersonate me in order to find out where the

guards were positioned in Knossos…I don't want to believe it, but there's no other

explanation. They must have Daedalus's Notebook."

If that was the case, then all they had to do once they knew the locations guarded by

Loki Familia was follow the plan of Knossos to one of the unguarded entrances,

avoiding all contact with Loki Familia.

"It's meaningless for us to guard the underground doors. Raul, I've already called back

half the guard units and told them to wait aboveground. Take this message to them."

"Yes, sir!"

Finn stared straight down onto the battlefield as he spoke.

"Send Gareth on a sortie."

Back in the present, the shadow that Fels had seen approaching lifted the weapon in

its hand skyward.

"—"

It was a huge battle-ax.

The figure holding it was a mighty dwarf warrior, his mantle flapping in the chill night

air that had descended after the rain.

As Fels watched the aged warrior plunge downward, eyes bulging ferociously, the

mage tossed appearances to the wind and let out a piercing scream.

"Run!!"

An instant later, the warrior landed.

"Yaaaah!"

He swung his battle-ax downward, shattering the black brick pavement.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrhhhhh!"

Gareth's blow bounced high and fell like a meteorite, exploding in the center of the

line of Xenos.

Immediately Fels released a shock wave. The Xenos were not injured, but the

combined force of the blow and the shock wave was strong enough to crumble the

earth and throw them back. Not one was left standing—not Welf, not Mikoto, not

Wiene. The sound of the rumbling earth mixed with the cries of the monsters, most of

whom had been hurled against the walls.

Cracks split the stone pavement and fissures ran up the sides of the buildings, sending

walls thundering down.

"Guess I got carried away. I'll have to pay for those," Gareth said, readjusting his

helmet. Swinging his battle-ax up onto his shoulder, he broke into a run.

He was closing in on Fels, who was plastered to a wall.

"?!"

Gareth had guessed that the figure in black was a commander of sorts for the monsters

and prudently set his sights on the head of the group. The dwarf's merciless ax cut

through the air toward Fels. The instant before it struck, a longsword and scimitar

knocked it away.

"Yaarrhh!"

"Huh?"

The side of the sword slashed into the ax, driving it off course and sending it crashing

into the wall directly next to Fels.

Even as he pressed his own wounds, Lido had swooped down on Gareth, and now he

immediately raised his weapon to mow him down with a second blow. But Gareth

pulled his ax back first and, eyes narrowed, drove the pommel into the lizardman's

breastplate.

"Ooof!"

The monster's massive body flew back as easily as if it were a feather, rolling onto the

cracked stone pavement. Fels thrust out both hands and released a shock wave from

point-blank range, but the dwarf warrior swiftly leaped to the side, successfully

avoiding it.

"OHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

The gargoyle's command echoed through the air, and the next instant the Xenos were

flying at Gareth in unison. They had realized they had to deal with this demi-human if

they were going to escape. Coughing violently from all the dust, Welf and Mikoto

checked that they were still invisible and watched the battle in terror.

More than ten Xenos surrounded the dwarf, but still he managed to keep them at bay,

overwhelming his opponents with his sheer strength. Using his ax, he sliced off the

jabbing horn of the unicorn and the flailing tail of the lamia, before sending the troll

flying with a fierce punch from his gauntlet-clad fist. Even the lizardman and the

gargoyle, who were the strongest of the bunch, were dispensed within a matter of

seconds.

The scene was an exact replay of the one that had unfolded five days earlier in the

Labyrinth District. The overwhelmingly powerful Level 6 adventurer was trouncing

the monsters. The most terrifying thing of all was the intense presence of the dwarf

who stood in front of them, more frightening even than that of the Amazonian sisters

or the werewolf.

"—Aaah!"

With all her might, Rei released a wave of sound.

The strange shriek caught Gareth off guard. For the first time, his notably un-dwarflike

mental agility dulled for an instant. Welf and Mikoto, who had been standing stockstill until that moment, realized this could be their only chance to act.

"!"

Gareth sidestepped the blizzard that Welf's Hien drew from thin air, but the wave of

frigid air that Mikoto released a moment later froze one of his legs. Standing their

ground, Welf and Mikoto unleashed a second attack on the trapped dwarf.

The first-class adventurer was imprisoned in a world of freezing winds, ice, and frost.

But in the next moment, he rendered Mikoto speechless.

What?!

Welf couldn't believe his eyes.

Is this some kind of joke?!

"Uwaaaaaaaaaa—!!"

The mighty dwarf warrior was determined to fight, whatever the consequences.

His body still frozen, he burst through the armor of ice with sheer will, raised his ax in

his fist, and swung it wildly around him. The Xenos flew at him, mouths agape, but

were hurled back.

Welf and Mikoto edged around to his blind side and released wave after wave of cold.

He did not stop. No matter that half his body was frozen solid and covered with

frostbite. He was one lone adventurer, but they could not stop him.

A moment later, a cracking sound split the air.

"…?!"

As if defeated in their battle of wills with the dwarf, the magic blades crumbled to

pieces. Overuse had destroyed them. Welf and Mikoto were speechless as they

watched the shards of the aquamarine blades crumble through their fingers.

"Mr. Gareth!"

"Get 'em! Bring 'em down!"

As if to drive home their misfortune, Loki Familia's reinforcements had arrived. Upperclass male and female adventurers flooded in from the alleyways feeding into the main

street, from the rooftops of the buildings, and from all four directions.

"Time to use these!"

From the sleeve of Fels's black cloak appeared a number of black spheres, which the

mage scattered across the road.

As the spheres cracked, black smoke billowed into the broad avenue. It was the same

smoky veil Fels had used five days ago to help the Xenos escape: the black mist, a magic

item. It was a last-ditch strategy to prevent the adventurers from communicating with

one another. The black mist instantly turned the street into a tangle of adventurers

and monsters blindly fighting any moving body, the air filled with their confused

screams.

Shit, this is bad. What do I do?!

Spears and claws materialized from the depths of the mist and besieged Welf, his

invisibility no protection from the chaos. He was at the mercy of his own wildly

pounding heart.

The word annihilation swam through his mind, stirring his thoughts into chaos. It

would be nearly impossible for the Xenos to pull themselves together and escape from

this insane melee. At the very least, he had to do something about Gareth.

Welf had lost the Hien. Mikoto still had the Fubu, but if she were to use it to blow away

this black mist, both enemies and allies alike would be blown away with it, and when

the air cleared, Gareth would be waiting once again to trample them. If the other Loki

Familia members were to join in, the fate of the Xenos would be to end then and there.

And Lilly probably couldn't come to their rescue, either.

What if I use this…?! But if I use it now…!

Welf looked at his waist.

In place of his usual longsword, his belt held a magic one. As he gazed at the naked

blade, which was a deeper aquamarine than the Hien, a ferocious inner struggle

tormented him.

He had already wasted a few precious seconds on this mental conflict when he heard

a familiar voice.

"Ha-ha! This is a real party!"

Chunks of ice rained down from the sky onto the street.

"Huh?!"

Welf could hear the crackle of the street freezing and the screams of the dwarf and the

other adventurers, and through the mist, he was sure he could see a powerful gust of

snow.

As he stood there bewildered, a figure landed with a thud directly in front of him.

"Uh…Tsubaki?"

"Huh? Is that Welfy I hear?"

The girl had brown skin, black hair knotted behind her head, and a patch over her left

eye like the one her patron deity wore. Dressed in a bright-red hakama and combat

clothing, she brought to mind a fencer from the Far East. Her attractive but somehow

peculiar features indicated a mix of dwarf and human blood.

Tsubaki Collbrande, captain of Hephaistos Familia. At the sight of this unexpected

intruder, Welf pulled off his veil and revealed himself.

"What are you doing here?!"

"My patron deity begged me to help you guys out. I heard about the Zenoes or

whatever you call them, too. Looks like you've got yourself wrapped up in something

pretty interesting, Welf!" the half-dwarf explained simply with a smug smile. Like

Nahza of the Miach familia, she had come to help Welf and his familia members in their

attempt to save the Xenos.

Welf wasn't entirely thrilled that Hephaistos had told Tsubaki about the Xenos, even

though he could imagine why. From the perspective of Hephaistos, whom Tsubaki

venerated, telling the girl must have seemed unproblematic. But Welf hated the idea

that this pleasure-seeking adventurer knew about their situation.

Totally unaware of Welf's thoughts, Tsubaki held up her magic blade.

"Looks like we both had the same idea, eh, Welf? Anyway, leave it to me. I'll stay out of

view and let them have it with this magic blade. Ha-ha, I've got weapons coming out

of my ears!"

Welf found the sight of Tsubaki with her bundle of weapons slung carelessly over her

shoulder revolting.

"You just want to try out your magic blades!" he shouted, forgetting where he was in

his anger at the master smith's ulterior motives.

Tsubaki was such a pure and eccentric craftswoman that she sometimes descended to

the Deep Zone of the Dungeon just to see how well her creations worked. This insane

passion also explained her skill as a smith and her genuine battle prowess, which had

earned her the nickname "Cyclops."

"Don't be stupid. Didn't I rush to your aid knowing full well Loki Familia would hate

me for it? Ha-ha! I'm off! Here I go!"

"Just like I thought; you're enjoying this! By the way, if you go crazy with your attacks,

Loki Familia's gonna—"

"Ha-ha-ha!! You think that dwarf is gonna roll over because of this? Loki Familia

leaders are all monsters!"

Accurately speaking, she seemed to be after Gareth alone. Taking advantage of the veil

of smoke, Tsubaki slashed her magic blade randomly through the air. The chaotic

battlefield made Welf uneasy, and he had an excruciating headache. After a few

minutes, Tsubaki came across his crumbled magic blade.

"Eh, looks like this one reached its limit. Still room for improvement, I'd say," she said,

tossing away the empty hilt.

The next moment, her mood shifted, and she glanced sidelong at Welf through her

narrowed right eye.

"And? What are you standing there dreaming about? Is that longsword at your waist a

decoration?"

"…!"

"Why did you even bring it, silly boy? Put that thing to use!"

The senior smith seemed to be ridiculing Welf, or perhaps scolding him.

"Didn't you come here to save those Zenoes guys? While you stand there dithering, the

monsters are gonna turn into a pile of smoking ash!"

"…If I use this, even a first-tier adventurer would—"

"Idiot!"

Tsubaki brushed away Welf's needless worries with a smile.

"I told you before, those guys are monsters. A little baby magic blade like that isn't

gonna knock them down so easily."

Tsubaki directed her single eye at Welf as if to say he didn't have time to waste

worrying about his opponents' well-being. He couldn't find anything to say in

response.

Instead, he frowned and gripped the hilt of his longsword, bracing himself for the fight.

"…It's hard to find the enemy in all this mist."

"I'll be your eyes. Get ready."

Tsubaki was not only a master smith but also a Level 5 adventurer. She could hold her

own against any first-tier. Welf frowned at this superwoman who could sense her

opponent's presence especially well in the current chaos, drew his sword, and took a

fighting stance.

"Two o'clock. Yeah, right there. They're on guard, but nothing to worry about—not

with your silly old magic blade."

"Any Xenos in the line of fire?"

"Nope, nothing to worry about. Now is the time—do it," Tsubaki said, sidling behind

him and pushing her finger into his spine.

"Asshole," Welf mumbled.

Then he swung the deep-aqua blade down from above his head.

"Hiyo!"

With a high-pitched, birdlike screech, a wave of ice and wind materialized.

The aqua-blue ice floe swept through the black mist like the outstretched wings of

some giant bird of prey. Instantaneously freezing the pavement below, its sharp beak

searched for victims. The raging blizzard unleashed by the Hiyo far surpassed

anything the Hien had produced. Even Gareth stared wide-eyed at the blizzard and

pulled his shield from beneath his mantle, forced for the first time to take a defensive

stance.

Standing protectively in front of the adventurers near him, the dwarf bore the full

brunt of the raging snow and crackling ice.

"M-Mr. Gareth?!"

"…Feels about the same strength as Riveria's magic. That did a bit of damage."

Gareth's entire left side, including the shield he thrust before him, was frozen solid.

His beard was encrusted in ice and his face was frostbitten, but still the mighty dwarf

warrior laughed fearlessly.

"You guys step back!" he told the other adventurers, hiding them behind his back as

he made his body into a wall against the second bombardment of ice and snow.

"Hey, look, he's alive!" Tsubaki laughed.

"Shut up. Lady Hestia, can you hear me?" Welf retorted, taking out his oculus.

"Yes, I'm here. What is it, Welf?"

"We'll hold them here somehow! Tell the Xenos to move forward!"

The black mist lingered stubbornly despite the repeated blizzards. Welf had decided

that he could turn it to his advantage by using it to hide his presence as he fought, and

that was why he asked Hestia to send his message to Fels. Mikoto must have heard

him, because her voice came back through the oculus.

"Got it!"

Presently, he heard the lizardman's roar. Welf could sense the monsters scattered

around him responding to the command to move forward. And then, the adventurers

pursuing them. Cursing his inability to hold them back, Welf continued to swing his

magic blade in the direction Tsubaki told him to.

We've just gotta keep that dwarf pinned here!

The road where Gareth stood had turned into a river of ice. They had stopped the firsttier adventurer.

On the outskirts of southwestern Daedalus Street, Hestia dripped with nervous sweat.

Next to her, Haruhime had turned white.

"Oh, this is bad. This is really bad…!"

"Yes! It's awful!"

In the aftermath of the fierce attack from Loki Familia, the names of the Xenos were

scattered across the magic map. The enemy had ruined their prospects of reaching the

central zone of the Labyrinth District.

As if to drive home the dismal message, Hestia saw a lone symbol moving away from

the group.

"No, Wiene! You can't go that way!"

The dragon girl was striking out on her own.

Wiene was running.

Some of her scales had been torn off, and crimson blood was seeping from the gaps.

She gripped her wounded left arm and plunged into the black mist.

Fels's smoke had overflowed the main avenue and filled the alleys that surrounded it

like a spiderweb. The thick fog that blotted out the stars was probably visible from

anywhere in Daedalus Street.

If Wiene stopped in the mist, the adventurers would surround her. She knew that. And

she knew that even now she was running farther and farther from the other Xenos.

But she could not stop her feet.

They're…coming…!

Arrows flew at her ceaselessly, grazing the hood of her robe and her pointy ears. Loki

Familia archers. Terrified of the bolts flying to kill her, she turned a corner. The dragon

girl's diabolical pursuers were drawing closer.

"Huff, puff…"

Wiene struggled to find her way through the Labyrinth District. She didn't have an

oculus with her, so she could not turn to the goddess for help. The black brick buildings

stretched up as far as she could see, turning the streets into canyons. Countless side

alleys branched off like fissures, beckoning the girl into the abyss of mist.

At last, Wiene broke out of the dense, still fog that blocked her vision.

"!"

She emerged into a scene of ruin. The black bricks had given way to ancient

cobblestones surrounded by clusters of the strangely shaped, crumbling buildings

Daedalus had designed ages ago. Every few minutes, the tremors and rumbling from

the battlefield shook loose a rain of sand and stone fragments.

The scene suggested that in her confusion, Wiene had crossed the border of the

Labyrinth District's western region and entered the northwestern section. She paused

for a moment and looked around at the wider and slightly less complicated roads.

"There it is! I found it!"

"!"

At the sound of the adventurers' shouts, Wiene took off running again. Evading the

rain of arrows, she turned a corner. Her bluish-white skin and scales covered in sweat

and her silver-blue hair tangled beneath her robe, Wiene plunged desperately

forward, clinging to an invisible hope.

But.

"—"

As if to crush the monster's wish, the starlight illuminated a figure far in the distance.

Wiene stopped breathing.

I've made it this far somehow, but…

The brown-skinned woman's bare feet were planted firmly on the roof of a building,

and she had an unbelievably huge double-edged sword over her shoulder—an

Amazon.

It was Tiona Hyrute.

Why—?

Wiene recognized her as a threat. She could not understand how one of the pair

Mikoto had blown away earlier could be standing before her now.

"Well, I guess since I've happened across one, I better do something about it," the

Amazon muttered to herself.

Tiona didn't really know why she'd ended up in this place. If she had to say, it was

probably because she'd seen the black mist creeping to the northwest.

Once she had finally landed on the ground after Mikoto's tornado, she'd headed back

toward the battlefield with Tione, who was insane with rage. But when she saw the

jet-black mist spreading northwest, Tiona had changed directions.

The south side was still okay. The only ones down there were adventurers. But she'd

heard that there were still some townsfolk on the northern side of the Labyrinth

District who hadn't managed to evacuate. Her instincts told her that things could get

nasty if they tried to head to the outskirts through the mist, and that had led her to

follow the cloud to the northwest.

"I'll take this one down," she said to herself.

When Wiene saw Tiona toss her double-edged sword to one hand, she sped off in the

opposite direction.

For all her youth and inexperience, the dragon girl could sense that she was in a

desperate situation. As she collided with Loki Familia pursuers, all hope drained from

her face. She leaped into an intersection as the adventurers and Tiona closed in on her

from both sides.

Huh?

A little boy was standing near her.

A human…child…?

It was a pale, young half-elf, hugging a kitten to his chest.

Wiene saw her own reflection in the child's pupils. Her two amber eyes peering out

from the dark hood and, above them, like a drop of blood on her forehead, her

sparkling third eye. The sight of her monster's face wreathed in darkness would surely

be enough to petrify any small child.

Wiene hesitated for a moment as she faced the terrified boy. Just then, she heard a

loud explosion from the direction of the battlefield that shook the ground.

An instant later, it gave way to a powerful roar.

Suddenly, one of the buildings looming above the child's head pitched forward and

began to crumble.

"Ruu?!"

Screams exploded from the mouths of Lai, Fina, and Maria as if their chests were

bursting open.

"Ouka?!"

"It's coming—!"

As they saw the building tipping forward on the west side of the intersection, Chigusa

and Ouka dashed into the street, their weapons in hand.

They had arrived at the corner just a minute earlier, still searching for the little boy

who had run back to the orphanage all alone. They had felt a flood of relief when they

caught sight of the half-elf on the east side of the intersection. That was immediately

before the explosion.

"Miss Tiona?!"

"Oh no!"

Ouka saw the monster in the torn robe racing with frightening speed into the

intersection, the little boy frozen in place, and the astounded Loki Familia members.

Then he noticed the dilapidated building falling toward the intersection.

I won't make it!!

Within his heart, Ouka screamed silently at the horrifying disaster about to occur.

Ah…

It was a familiar scene for Wiene.

The mountain of bricks falling above the boy's head. Back then, it had been packages

falling from a horse-drawn cart.

You should just leave him there, Wiene's fearful heart whispered to her.

The people will scream and throw rocks at you. They will all hate you, and sadness will

overwhelm you, and your heart will wear thin, and your days will pass in miserable tears.

But—

Wiene asked her heart a question.

But even so, Bell saved me, didn't he?

She had heard from her brethren about the boy's plight. It was her fault that even now

he faced hostility and malice on all sides. When Wiene learned that, she had burst into

tears and felt a tightness in her heart.

Bell had saved Wiene even though he knew people would throw rocks at him.

Wiene's fearful heart had nothing to say in response. Instead, it gently urged her

onward.

The next moment, the heat in the finger pushing her forward burst through her skin

and her robe and grew into a new wing.

"—!!"

The potential of a dragon turned Wiene's body into a bluish-silver arrow speeding

toward the child.

She spread her wing out to block the mountain of falling brick, using her body to press

the half-elf boy to the ground.

"Ruu!!"

The collapsing rubble drowned out the screams of the other children.

The sound of avalanching debris enveloped the intersection as a waterfall of stone

descended.

By the time the rush had subsided, an enormous cloud of dust had ballooned from the

wreckage, and the entire area was littered with jagged hunks of stone.

"…Ah."

Wiene and the boy were in the center of this collapsed building.

The boy was lying faceup on the ground, and the vouivre was pressing her hands

against his face as she peered down into his eyes.

Her outstretched wing had not been able to block all the rubble. Blood dripped from

her head onto the boy's cheek.

"—Shoot it!"

"?!"

An arrow bounced off Wiene's wing.

How had this scene appeared to those who watched it unfold? At least to Maria, the

children, and Loki Familia's members, it looked as if the monster had attacked the

child with its dreadful wing, and by chance the rubble had fallen onto its head.

Wiene looked down as a band of angry adventurers approached from beyond the

settling dust. She rose from the boy's side and began running. A moment later, Maria

and the children and other Loki Familia members rushed to take her place next to the

boy.

"I'll go after her! You guys protect the children!" Tiona shouted to the adventurers,

raising her sword as she ran after the monster.

"Got it!"

Maria, Lai, and Fina hugged the dazed Ruu, who was gripping the kitten tightly.

"Oh, Ruu! Ruu!"

"You dummy! What were you doing?!"

"Ruu, are you okay?"

Maria, Lai, and Fina were all crying.

"No, you're all wrong…Mother, Lai, Fina," he whispered faintly as they held him close.

A drop of the monster's blood trickled down his cheek like a tear.

"Big brother…was right all along."

The half-elf child stared up at the deep-blue night sky as his foster mother held him.

His lips trembled as he made out the faintly shining moon beyond the settling dust.

The child's sobs echoed through the ruins.

A few steps away, Ouka and Chigusa were standing stock-still.

"Ouka…what just happened?"

"The monster protected him? Protected a child…?"

The two had been standing immediately beside Wiene as the scene unfolded, and they

had seen all the details that Maria, the children, and Loki Familia members had missed

from their position behind the vouivre. Now they exchanged puzzled whispers about

what they had witnessed.

Their words trailed off, and they gazed toward the street where Wiene had

disappeared.

A short distance from the intersection, two pairs of footsteps echoed down a narrow

alleyway illuminated by timeworn magic-stone lanterns.

It had taken only a few moments for Tiona to catch up with the fleeing Wiene.

"Here we go!"

"?!"

The Amazon handily swung her double-edged sword down, blocking Wiene's path of

retreat.

Although the sword did not hit the dragon girl, her thin legs collapsed from the force

of the impact and the gust of wind from the rapidly swing of her weapon. Tiona did

not waste this chance to lift her sword in preparation for another thrust.

Ah…

Wiene didn't even have time to shield her body with her single wing. Even if she had,

the sword would have skewered her, wing and all. In the last instant, as the Amazon

closed in on her, she squeezed her eyes shut.

"…?"

She waited and waited, but the piercing thrust of the sword did not come.

Very timidly, she opened her eyes. The huge double-edged sword was suspended in

front of her chest. When she looked up, Tiona was standing there silently with a deeply

conflicted expression on her face.

"Uhhh, errrrr, mmmm…yeah!"

After groaning and grumbling for a minute, Tiona nodded and pulled back her

weapon.

"I just couldn't do it after all!!"

She tossed the sword over her shoulder. The massive weapon rolled across the ground

with a grating crash.

"Huh…?" the vouivre whispered hoarsely from her bluish-white lips.

The best word to describe her expression would be "stunned."

"You…you saved him, didn't you? That little boy."

Wiene reacted with surprise.

"I don't know if you can understand what I'm saying…but you'd better get out of here

fast."

"Ah…"

"Not everyone is a softhearted idiot like me, you know."

Tiona stared down at the monster. Wiene didn't know what to do, but very timidly, she

stood up. She opened her mouth slightly as if to speak, but at that moment the booms

of the battle echoed down the alleyway, and she hurried away.

Just once, she turned to look back at Tiona, then disappeared.

The magic-stone lamps flickered in the alleyway. Left alone, Tiona picked up the sword

she'd tossed away and slowly raised her eyes to the heavens.

"…This is how the Argonaut must have felt…"

Her words faded into the cloudy night sky.

"Tiona!"

"Oh, hey, Tione."

When she left the alleyway, Tiona bumped into her twin. Tione frowned angrily and

pressed in close to Tiona.

"Why'd you run off without telling me? I was looking for you!"

"You came after me? I figured you'd be busy fighting over on the main street."

"The captain told us to stick together! I'm not going to disobey him, am I? And…what

about the monster? I heard you chased one over here."

Tiona considered lying to her sister but decided against it.

"Yeah, I let it go."

"What?! It didn't escape; you purposely let it go?! Are you crazy?"

"But—!"

"'But' my ass! These are unique circumstances. Didn't you hear what the captain said?"

"But, Tione, even you know those monsters are more than just smart…"

"Hmph."

"I think they're different from regular monsters. I don't get a negative feeling from

them," she told her sister frankly, thinking back to the adventurer she'd found who was

unconscious but not dead.

For a moment, Tione was silent, as if she knew Tiona had hit on the truth. But her

anger quickly resurfaced.

"Shut up! I'm going to get that black minotaur no matter what! I'm out of here!"

"You just want revenge!"

The sisters ran off side by side, bickering as they went.

"Goddess Hestia, where is Wiene?!"

Fels's voice was coming through the oculus.

"She's in the northwest, heading farther and farther away!" Hestia screamed back.

She was at her post in the southwestern outskirts of Daedalus Street. As she looked

down at the dragon girl's name moving steadily northward across the magic map,

Hestia could feel her heart thumping faster and faster.

"Can't anyone go rescue her?" she asked.

"It's impossible. The adventurers are fighting hard…! If Lido or anyone else left, we'd

be done for!"

Through the blue crystal, Hestia could hear the monsters howling in a furious battle.

Frowning, she frantically thought about what else they could do.

If Fels can't help, then the closest ones to Wiene are Welf and Mikoto…No, that's

impossible, too; they're holding off the adventurers! And Lilly and Bell are too far!

Fels and the Xenos were fighting in the western sector, just on the edge of the central

zone, and Mikoto and Welf were very close by. Lilly was due east, and Bell was heading

southeast, stirring up trouble with adventurers. It would be hard for them to reach

Wiene as she fled to the northwest.

It was clear the adventurers were pursuing Wiene as she headed north through the

Labyrinth District. Hestia felt like every tick of the hands on her broken watch shaved

off more minutes of the girl's life. She was at a loss for what to do, when—

"Aaah!"

"Haruhime?!"

The girl, who had been on the tower rooftop with Hestia, had leaped off the edge.

Just as her golden hair and crimson kimono disappeared into the darkness of the

Labyrinth District, the loud crack of something breaking rang through the air.

Panicked, Hestia peered over the edge of the roof. Far below, she could make out a hole

in the roof of a barrack and, below it, the renart's form stumbling forward as if she had

rolled onto the ground.

"—!!"

Haruhime had abandoned all trace of logic or reason at the thought of Wiene in peril,

and she literally jumped into the night to find her. Hestia, too, threw aside her

indecision, grabbed one of the oculi, and shouted into it at the top of her lungs.

"Bell! Help!"

"Wiene has run off from the Xenos! And now Haruhime has gone after her!"

Hidden under my veil, I panic at first when the goddess's voice unexpectedly comes

through the oculus. But as I listen to her desperate plea, the blood drains from my face.

"Wiene's by herself?!"

Burning with anxiety, I slip into a back alley to get away from the shouts of the

adventurers.

Wiene is all alone? And no one can get there to rescue her? The vision of the girl crying

by herself is deeply upsetting. As I pull up a map of Orario in my mind's eye, I know

that we are in an awful situation.

I am in the southeast. Wiene is in the northwest. We're as far as we can be from each

other. If I take the most direct route to her, I'll run straight into Loki Familia's

encampment in the center of the Labyrinth District. It's impossible for me to get

through without a hitch, invisible or not. But a detour around their encampment

would take forever. No matter how I think about it, I know I can't make it in time on

my own two feet!

Well, maybe not with the feet I have right now…

The second that thought crosses my mind, I yell into the oculus.

"To Haruhime!"

"Huh?"

"Please tell me where Haruhime is!!"

I start running even before the goddess has answered me.

Realizing what I plan to do, she gasps, and then—as if she's made a decision—relays

the information on the magic map.

I forget all about clandestine actions and rush headlong down the street. My body heat

is building up inside my veil, but I don't even have time to wipe away the sweat.

Forsaking my role as a decoy, I leap and run across the uneven rooftops.

Faster, faster! Hurry!!

The goddess's voice guides me as I cross the southern section of the Labyrinth District

from east to west.

"Haruhime!"

"Eeek!! Oh—Master Bell?!"

Haruhime has been running as fast as she can through the back alleys as the goddess

guides her. I catch up with her and grab her hand, forgetting to take off my veil. As I

pull her into an abandoned old house, she guesses my identity, and her surprise gives

way to tears.

"Master Bell! Lady Wiene, Lady Wiene has…!"

Her trembling hand grips my clothes. I try to support her as she collapses, and we both

sink to our knees. As the tears spill from her green eyes onto her kimono, I take her

hand again and squeeze it.

"Haruhime—"

She looks up at me, and I ask her to do what would be impossible on my own.

"—please help me."

We will save Wiene together.

Surprised by the urgency in my eyes, Haruhime dries her tears and nods. My right

hand grasps her left, and her right hand takes my left.

The beautiful renart begins to chant a song of illusion.

—Grow.

Her voice is clear and pure as crystal.

She closes her eyes and continues to sing in her sonorous voice.

That power and that vessel. Breadth of wealth and breadth of wishes. Until the bell tolls,

bring forth glory and illusion.

As the spell builds, a golden light begins to glow in the dim room, illuminating my

tense face.

"—Grow."

From this point on, I—no, we—will be in great danger.

Perhaps because Haruhime, too, realizes this, her hands shake despite her smooth,

flowing singing voice.

"Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed from above. Into

the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good fortune upon you."

Her hands cling to mine as they rest on my knees, revealing her fear for Wiene.

I answer with a squeeze. Trembling under her kimono, she forcefully utters the final

line.

"—Grow."

Haruhime opens her eyes and looks into mine. She says the name of the spell.

"Uchide no Kozuchi."

The room is filled with a brilliant light. At the same time, a swirl of sparkles surrounds

my body.

She has given me a level boost, raising me one level with the strongest of sorcery. The

thrill of reaching Level 4 buzzes through my whole body, and I let out a cry of joy.

I pull the veil around me again, stand up—and lift Haruhime off her feet.

"Huh?!"

There's no way one level boost will be enough. I still need Haruhime's help, and I have

no intention of leaving her behind. I'm sure she knew that, but her cheeks flush pink

all the same—maybe because she wasn't expecting me to sling her under my arm like

this.

I feel bad, but there's no other choice. She'll just have to endure it. I check to make sure

both Haruhime and my sparkling body are completely covered by the veil, then bring

my mouth to the fox ears at my chest.

"Please hold the veil down."

She nods. Since both my hands are holding on to her, she reaches her arms around my

neck and grabs on to the Reverse Veil for me. Through the fabric, the objects of the

outside world appear transparent. I peer around and steel myself for what is to come.

"—We're off."

A single bead of sweat trickles down my cheek, and I take off running.

"Ack?!"

Haruhime gulps back a shocked yelp at my extreme Level 4 speed.

I fly through the wide-open door of the old house, leap down the street with stonecrushing strides, and soar into the night sky.

Below me sprawls the Labyrinth District. There are the blinking magic-stone lamps of

Loki Familia's encampment. There's the western sector cloaked in black mist. And

there's the northwestern part, where Wiene has been left all alone.

I take one last glance, then let gravity pull me down to the rooftop of a building—and

start running again at full speed.

"?!"

"What's that?!"

Despite our invisibility, people are bound to notice us passing by. We're unbelievably

fast, and we're stirring up a wind that makes a ferocious roar, and my feet are

pounding across rooftops and walls. The adventurers in the area look up as they sense

me speeding past above their heads.

But it doesn't matter. All I can do is ignore it. I don't have time for anything else.

I have to get to Wiene as fast as I possibly can!

"—!!"

Haruhime grips my neck tight as I run even faster, desperately trying to hold down the

veil as the wind pulls it up.

Leaping like an actual rabbit across the uneven roofs, I rush through the streets,

sometimes even scaling lofty towers in a single breath.

"Yes, keep going straight ahead just like that!"

The sound of the wind rushing past me almost drowns out the goddess's voice, but I

manage to follow her instructions and blast through town via the shortest route.

The risk of Loki Familia detecting us is extremely high. First-tier members of their

familia will definitely be able to sense my movements.

But my only option is to continue.

As I run with a speed unthinkable without Haruhime's level boost, I feel like an allpowerful god. But there's no time to get drunk on the glorious sensation of her

beautiful sparks of light. I just run as fast as I can.

"—Pardon me, Master Bell! Despite my current strange position, I am deeply happy!!"

the shivering renart says, as if she can't help herself.

"I feel like I've heard those words before!" I shout in response, without thinking.

"What? Those are my lines, Haruhime! I'm going to come take your place!!" the

goddess says for some reason, and things get a bit chaotic for a moment.

Even as the three of us shout at one another, I continue to tear through the night air.

With all my energy focused on becoming the wind itself, I blow across the Labyrinth

District from southwest to northwest.

Wiene was advancing through the alleyways.

"Huff, puff…"

Her ragged breath was a sign of just how worn out she had become. She had no sense

of where she was. She walked forlornly through the backstreets, her new wing hidden

and her hand against the walls, confused by the darkness.

Her pursuers seemed to have disappeared, but she could not calm her terror of the

phantom adventurers who her fear drew from thin air. More than anything, an

overwhelming loneliness tormented her.

"..."

She desperately tried to keep her lips from uttering that one name.

She didn't want to worry him. If she cried, he would start worrying about her again.

She wanted to reassure him. That was why she was trying so hard to control her

feelings.

But the dim Labyrinth District eroded her determination. At last, the pitiful fear that

shook her reedy body got the better of her, and she sought the shadow of the past, that

irreplaceable warmth.

"Bell…"

She whispered his name so faintly it seemed to melt into the darkness.

And something happened.

"—Wiene!!"

He answered her prayer.

"!"

"Lady Wiene!!"

As the vouivre looked up in shock, Bell and Haruhime threw off their veil and

materialized from nowhere, floating down from the dark-blue sky.

Tears overflowed from Wiene's amber eyes, and in the next instant she was running

toward them. She flew into the arms of the boy and girl who had landed in front of her.

"Bell! Haruhime!"

Their outstretched arms encircled her.

"Oh, Lady Wiene, Lady Wiene!"

"Wiene, it's so good to see you…!"

"I'm sorry, so sorry, Bell and Haruhime…! Thank you, I love you…!"

All three could hardly form a sentence for all their tears. They simply held one another

in a warm embrace. Wiene buried her face in Haruhime's chest, and Bell wrapped

himself around both of them—Wiene's new wing and all.

"You came looking for me…?"

"The goddess told us where you were!"

"So you're okay, Wiene? I'm so glad you haven't been hurt!"

Bell smiled at Wiene's upturned, tear-covered face.

"…Thank you, Goddess!" she said.

They heard sniffling from the sparkling blue oculus on Bell's gauntlet, and Wiene's

expression blossomed into a smile.

After they had hugged for a few minutes, Bell stepped back from Wiene and Haruhime.

"Come on, there's no time to waste. We have to meet up with Lido and the others

somehow."

"Right!"

Wiene and Haruhime nodded, and they set out.

By now, more than five minutes had passed since Bell met up with Haruhime. He

wanted to find a place to renew the level boost. They were currently in the northnorthwest of the Labyrinth District. He knew full well that heading south to meet up

with the Xenos while dodging Loki Familia along the way would be next to impossible.

In the worst-case scenario, he would have to serve as a decoy. Still, he brought the

oculus to his lips.

"Goddess, please tell us the w—"

Bell's sixth sense suddenly set internal alarm bells clanging.

"Uh-oh!!"

"Huh?"

It was practically a miracle that he was able to pull Wiene and Haruhime close and

throw the Reverse Veil over all three of them. The instant he had retreated into the

darkness of an alleyway—thwack! A pair of silver metal boots crashed onto the

ground.

The figure wearing them had a coat of wind-ruffled gray fur and an intimidating blue

tattoo on one side of his face.

Bell, Haruhime, and Wiene all gasped at the young werewolf who had descended from

the sky.

It's Bete…!

As Bell had feared, they'd been detected.

Bete Loga had sensed Bell and Haruhime's reckless trip through town. Defying Finn's

orders, the first-tier adventurer had left Loki Familia's encampment to pursue them.

Bell was horrified by the werewolf's incredible speed, which nullified all chance of his

getting another level boost from Haruhime.

"…"

Bete stood in the open area at the end of the alleyway where Bell, Haruhime, and

Wiene were hiding. As he slowly scanned his surroundings, all three held their breath

and followed his eyes. The thunderous pounding of their hearts blended together so

loudly that they feared he might hear them. On the other side of the oculus, Hestia

blanched and tried to keep completely silent.

A drop of Bell's sweat dripped onto Wiene's hair.

"—Come out!"

Accurately and mercilessly, Bete had scanned the many alleys branching off the plaza

and determined the one where Bell and the others were hiding.

They froze beneath his gaze, which pierced them despite their invisibility. The minute

it had taken him to find them had felt like an eternity, and now their hopes crumbled

like sand.

Wiene's shoulders shook as Bete pointed his feet in their direction. Bell squeezed

them and prepared to do the only thing he could: walk out to Bete. He would act as a

decoy while Haruhime and Wiene escaped.

But Haruhime's next move prevented him from doing that.

Haruhime…?

Wiene looked up when she felt someone stroking a lock of her hair, and she saw the

renart smiling down at her. Haruhime gently extracted herself from the dragon girl's

embrace and sent a fleeting smile at the dumbfounded Bell.

His outstretched arm met air as Haruhime pushed aside the veil and stepped into the

darkness.

"Huh?"

"…"

As the astonished Bell and Wiene watched, she stood facing Bete directly, illuminated

by the starry sky.

Her fox's tail quivered as the werewolf eyed her dubiously. But she hid it behind her

back and returned his stare resolutely.

"You can't be here alone. Come out, all of you!"

"I am alone."

"Let's stop the jo—"

"—I am alone!!" she shouted.

Wiene jumped—she'd never heard Haruhime speak so loudly.

Her gracefully arched eyebrows and determined green eyes showed no sign of

yielding to the boy's dangerous glare. She pressed her hands to her voluptuous chest

and shouted at the young werewolf again.

"Please move!"

Bell understood that she was speaking not to Bete but to him. The weak young girl he

had rescued from such depraved surroundings was nowhere to be seen. Standing

guard with her back to them, she was like a Shinto maiden bravely confronting

calamity, a sister protecting her dragon-girl sibling, a mother.

She howled. The girl who had always needed rescuing cried out now to save the ones

she loved. Bell was amazed.

"Now!!"

Haruhime's yell, along with the sight of her resolute back, urged Bell forward.

He couldn't let her determination go to waste.

He shook off his distress and pulled his hand back from Wiene's shoulder. Gritting his

teeth with determination, Bell tugged the dragon girl along as she glanced tearfully

back, then took off running in the opposite direction from Bete and Haruhime.

"…You won't even fight, so stop lording it over me!" the werewolf growled.

Bete could sense the two invisible forms beyond Haruhime disappearing into the

distance. He pawed the ground, his foot scraping over the cobblestones. As he did,

fragments of broken stone shot like bullets toward Haruhime, tearing into her cheeks

and kimono. She threw her arm in front of her face and stumbled but caught herself

before she fell. Still, she did not move aside.

"Tch. Get out of my way," Bete said.

"I will not."

"I'll crush you."

"I will not move!"

As Bete strode toward her, she threw both arms out. He narrowed his eyes at the

renart, who still refused to budge, and kicked the ground. He moved with such

incredible speed that she could not even track him with her eyes. In an instant, the

werewolf's shadow was at her feet. As she stood frozen, Bete raised his left hand as if

to brush away a trivial speck of dust. He was about to bring it down on her when—

"—!!"

His hand stopped in midair. He was looking at Haruhime's steadfast green eyes below

her golden bangs.

"…"

His gaze was fixed on Haruhime, silently taking in this girl who refused to look away

even on the verge of a direct blow.

Quiet fell over the pair. In the distance, the two animal people could hear the faint

sound of battle cries. The odd scene continued until Bete broke the silence.

"—You small-fry!"

A brutal smile played over the werewolf's lips.

"You're totally helpless—but you've still made up your mind, eh?"

"?!"

The werewolf's thirst for blood was out of control. Haruhime's animal-person

instincts trembled before the overwhelming presence of this starving wolf. He was

about to devour her on the principal that the strong must consume the weak.

Still, she did not retreat.

She looked back at him as a humiliating trembling finally overtook her, her arms still

thrown out.

"Got a little carried away, didn't you?"

Instead of his lowered fist, his left metal boot came crashing down on the ground.

His foot struck the stone with a splintering sound and a shockwave that launched

Haruhime backward. She doubled over in pain and groaned as her back was slammed

against the wall at the entrance to the alley.

Bete's smile contrasted with his harsh words. It was half mocking condescension

toward the "small-fry" and half enjoyment.

He had accepted Haruhime as an enemy. He recognized that she was not just another

nonentity hardly worth sneering at but an opponent he was meeting on the battlefield.

He smiled because he recognized the renart's determination.

"Don't stand there all pleased with yourself like a little minx! You're all show!"

"!!"

Haruhime, who had been suffering under Bete's stream of abuse, raised her face. She

glared as hard as she could at the werewolf smiling wickedly down at her and thrust

both hands out in front of her chest as if she was presenting an offering.

"—Grow."

She began to chant.

"That power and that vessel. Breadth of wealth and breadth of wishes. Until the bell tolls,

bring forth glory and illusion."

It was the only magic Haruhime knew, and it had no use as a weapon. She was well

aware that it could not harm the mighty adventurer standing before her, but still, she

chanted.

"—Grow."

She needed an interval of around ten minutes between level boosts. By the time her

strange exchange with Bete was over, almost ten minutes had elapsed, and as she

began to chant, the magic drew forth her powers even more.

"Confine divine offerings within this body. This golden light bestowed from above. Into

the hammer and into the ground, may it bestow good fortune upon you."

Bete remained facing her at a slight distance, waiting silently until she finished

chanting. Did he wait out of pride? No. He waited because he respected the girl's

determination—this weak girl's roar toward the strong.

The instant she finished, the werewolf would set upon her without hesitation or

mercy. Just before he did so, he clapped his hands.

"—Grow."

Uchide no Kozuchi. Even though Haruhime hadn't formed a magic circle, golden light

beamed out before the spell took effect, signaling its peculiar nature. As the chanting

continued, the faint mist of magical power gathered into a cloud of light, announcing

the presence of a magic so potent even the goddess Ishtar had groaned under its force.

A cloud of light and a swirl of golden sparkles rose up above the heads of Haruhime

and Bete. Like the black mist spreading through the Labyrinth District's western

region, a faint glittering enveloped the north-northwest area where they were. Anyone

who saw it likely recognized it as a sign that the hammerhead made of light was being

summoned.

Just as Haruhime finished chanting and Bete leaned toward her, the one who had

heard the girl's prayers rushed toward them.

"!!"

Bete turned to look behind him and saw a beautiful woman with coal-black hair land

firmly on the ground.

It was an Amazon armed with a huge broadsword: Aisha Belka had arrived as backup.

"Uchide no Kozuchi," Haruhime pronounced.

Instantly, the sparks of light flowed over Bete and gathered around Aisha, and the

shaftless hammer of light fell onto her.

"You…"

Before Bete's narrowed gaze, the level boost was completed.

Wrapped in a torrent of light, the Amazon brandished her sword and pointed it at Bete,

sparks of light rising from its tip.

"Hey, asshole. You were about to lay your dirty paws on my little sister, weren't you? I

think you were. In fact, in my eyes, you already did."

"Hey now."

"—I don't let anyone mess with my sweet little sister. I just won't feel right unless I

kick your ass right here and now."

Aisha was picking a fight with a smile on her face.

This had nothing to do with the Xenos. Aisha had turned it into a personal grudge. As

Haruhime watched her confront Bete and his glare, she shivered with emotion.

"Lady Aisha…!"

"Useless little fox, don't be so reckless. I told you not to use your magic so freely…but

I like the look in your eyes today, so I'll forgive you," Aisha replied with a shrug. She

seemed secretly pleased that Haruhime had called on her for help.

Bete snorted at the two women.

"Worthless girl, leaving all your hard work to someone else," he said, despite smiling

in recognition of Haruhime's tactics.

He was raring for a fight.

"Get over here and take me on, crazy woman. I'll stomp you into the ground, idiotic

head and all."

"I'm ready for you!!"

As Haruhime looked on, the two began their battle.

"Bell, Haruhime will be…!"

"…!"

Bell was pulling Wiene through the alleyways, a deeply troubled look on his face.

Would Bete hurt Haruhime? He didn't know. But he was willing to bet he wouldn't kill

her. For now, he had to focus on getting as far away as he could before Bete came after

them.

Bell's mind was a tangle of worries and doubts and things he had to do. Even as he

silently apologized to Haruhime for his incompetence, he kept moving forward so her

determination wouldn't go to waste—and for Wiene's sake.

"Bell, you don't have much time…! If you don't hurry, you won't be able to meet up with

Fels!"

Spurred on by Hestia's anxious voice, Bell and Wiene hurried ahead even faster.

The sparks of light from the level boost were already gone. Bell was wearing the veil

and taking care not to draw the attention of adventurers or Loki Familia members, but

the streets were so empty there was hardly need for those precautions. Instead of

seeing this as good fortune, however, Bell sensed a threat in the air. Glancing from side

to side, he headed south toward their destination.

South, south, ever farther south…eventually, Bell's feet could move no more.

"…Bell?" Wiene asked, confused that their progress had stopped.

"…"

Gripping her thin hand, Bell was drenched in what seemed like every last drop of

sweat in his body. His breath came in ragged gasps, and the deafening sound of his

own heartbeat thundered in his ears. He stood in the middle of a backstreet,

surrounded by narrow side streets and steps leading up and down. His red eyes stared

into the blackness ahead.

Southeast Orario.

In a corner of an alleyway where the ongoing chaos and shouts of the adventurers did

not reach, a form lay twitching.

An arm moved slightly in the dim light as the figure peeled its back from the cracked

brick wall and coughed weakly.

"Five years, is it? She's left me in the dust…"

Three minutes.

That's how long the fight had lasted.

As consciousness returned, the figure sluggishly lifted its head and looked up at the

sky.

Forgetting to wipe the blood from her lip, she pressed her hands against her stomach,

where she'd been hit with the back of her opponent's sword.

"I'm sorry, Bell Cranell…" Lyu Leon whispered.

"—"

The ruffled clouds covering the sky had dissipated, and the moonlight chased away

the darkness below.

Its beams illuminated long hair that shone like gold dust, glinting faintly off silver-andblue clothing and the hilt of a sheathed sword. Bell and Wiene blinked at the brilliance.

To Wiene, time seemed to stand still as the girl stared down on them.

"Miss…Aiz…"

Golden hair and golden eyes.

At the sight of the swordswoman standing in the middle of the backstreet, Bell gasped

out a single cough.

"…So the vouivre is alive."

The word vouivre—there was no doubt Aiz had said that word—shot through Bell like

a shock wave. In the same moment, he realized belatedly that Aiz had probably gotten

past Lyu with ease and started following him again quite a while ago.

He hadn't noticed her because she hadn't actually been looking at him. She knew he

was unusually sensitive to gazes directed his way, so she had avoided looking straight

at him; instead, she had followed not so much his physical form as his presence, so

skillfully he hadn't detected her.

After losing track of him once because of Lyu's interference, she had picked up the trail

again when he crossed from the southeast to the southwest. She'd watched as he met

up with Haruhime and again when he was reunited with Wiene. She'd been watching

the whole time.

In other words, Bell hadn't succeeded in shaking off Aiz. Bete had shown up first only

because she'd been unable to make up her mind.

"Come out…"

With a trace of sadness, Aiz ordered Bell to take off the Reverse Veil.

Silently, he pushed aside the veil.

"…"

"…"

Aiz lowered her eyes as Bell and Wiene, with her single new wing, appeared.

"I've been thinking about…why you asked me that," Aiz said.

Five days earlier, immediately before the mission had been issued to the entire city,

Bell had asked Aiz a question.

If the monsters had a reason for living…had feelings just like you or me, what would you

do? If you met monsters who could smile just like people, worry about things, shed tears

just like people—could you still draw your sword against them?

"So this is what you meant…" she said, slowly raising her gaze from the ground to look

at Wiene.

Bell saw something dangerous in that gaze.

Her expression was as emotionless as always, yet something in her eyes was distinctly

different from the Aiz he knew. His heart trembled at those eyes.

Why here? How could she? Stop looking at us like that!

Desperately pushing down the grief that was rising up from his chest, Bell shielded

Wiene from that gaze and pleaded with Aiz.

"Miss Aiz!! This girl—"

"My answer," Aiz said, interrupting him emphatically, "has not changed."

With that, she brought her hand to the hilt of her sword.

"If anyone is crying because of a monster—then I will kill that monster."

Bell froze at the words of the Sword Princess—and the sight of her silver blade.

Aiz's boot came down with a resounding thud as she took one step forward.

"Wait…please wait, Miss Aiz! This girl hasn't done any harm! She would never hurt

anyone!! This girl—Wiene—is different!!" Bell shouted.

His voice was ragged and tinged with tears as he hid the terrified Wiene behind his

back.

"Will you be able to say the same thing if she goes on another rampage?" Aiz asked.

"—"

The ruby embedded in Wiene's forehead glittered as if it were shaking.

"I would not be able to, myself," Aiz said.

She was fundamentally different from the naive Amazonian girl who poked fun at

herself and others in equal measure. Her expression was cold, her daggerlike words

final. Bell did not know what made her so cold-blooded. He did not want to know.

All he knew was that negotiations had broken down.

He understood at that moment that the girl he admired and yearned for was now his

opponent.

"Uh, ah…"

Finally, the despair and resignation raging within him led his hand to the hilt of his

knife.

Like the swordswoman he faced, Bell had already arrived at an answer he could never

reverse.

He'd do it for the monster girl he'd promised to protect.

As Aiz narrowed her eyes at him sadly, he pulled two knives—one black and one

crimson—from their hilts.

"Bell…" Wiene whispered, sounding like she was about to cry.

"…"

Hestia, on her side of the crystal, was at a loss for words.

"…Why?" Bell whispered, his lips trembling uncontrollably. "Why…?"

Aiz leaned forward and lunged toward him.

"—Crap!!"

Bell, too, lunged forward, swinging his black knife at the silver sword that bore down

on him.

The first clash of blades threw off a shower of countless sparks.

Aiz was of course overwhelmingly stronger than Bell. But he knew that from the start

and compensated by turning the brunt of her blow into centrifugal force that sent him

spinning.

"Wiene, run!!" he screamed as he slashed the Hestia Knife in a reverse grip in his right

hand toward Aiz once again.