Declaration of War
Rustle, rustle!
The once-silent mountain came alive with sudden commotion. Foxes, deer, and rabbits jolted awake, ears pricked, scanning their surroundings — then scrambled for cover at the sight of the black-clad figures surging toward them like a flood.
"That's... a lot of them."
"No kidding. They're going all in."
Fortuna and Jun watched the mountain swarm with assassins, their faces drawn. Nearly a thousand, by the look of it. Most of them felt like chaff based on the auras they gave off, but underestimating them would be a mistake. Beyond sheer numbers, the mana rolling off them was viciously violent — something close to the berserk state that old orc had shown in Jun's first real fight, yet somehow artificial. Nothing about them was normal.
"Will you be all right?"
Jun reported what he was seeing through the communication crystal, then asked. Leonard's voice came back almost at once, sounding faintly relieved.
"With the magic scrolls and potions we stocked up, we should just barely manage."
"Good thing you bought them like I told you, right?"
"I had to empty every last coin of my personal fortune and sell off everything I'd earned or used as an adventurer... but yes. It was the right call."
The grudging agreement came through loud and clear. He'd taken a hit dumping everything in a rush, and it still clearly rankled. He looked like a bandit chief and fretted like a household budget expert — the mismatch never stopped being funny.
"By the way, nobody's carrying anything fire-related."
"Must have been a feint. Keep your eyes open just in case."
"Understood."
"I'm cutting the link. A troublesome opponent seems to have come looking for me."
With that, the connection to Leonard went dead.
And a moment later —
BOOM! CRASH!
Thunderous detonations shook the mountain. Steel clashed across the slopes, and battle cries raw with fury rang out. The final battle of this place had begun in earnest.
"Kihihihit! Die, die!"
"What the hell is wrong with these guys? Did they all take something?"
The fighting was ferocious, neither side holding a clear edge. Allied forces had the advantage in quality and equipment, but the assassins closed the gap with nearly triple the numbers and minds half-gone to frenzy. Leonard might have tipped the scales, but he was locked down by Matthew, the First Prince's knight, with no attention to spare. Robin was covering Leonard's share of the work and just barely keeping the advantage on their side.
If Jun joined in, they could lock down a decisive lead — but something felt wrong.
This doesn't sit right.
A nameless unease kept him from throwing himself into the fray. He wasn't stalling on gut feeling alone. When he'd first met Ehiri and Matthew, three lead assassins had stood behind them — and those three were nowhere to be seen. Killers that bloodthirsty would never sit out the final battle. Jun planned to hold his strength in reserve and intercept them the moment they appeared. Each one was roughly Robin's equal; if they hit the battlefield, the advantage would swing to the enemy in a heartbeat.
"Jun."
"Misfortune is building up?"
"Yeah. Exactly."
"So this side really was a diversion."
Misfortune wouldn't be accumulating on a battlefield they were barely winning. Jun snatched up the communication crystal and tried to reach the place he suspected was the source. Given the situation, someone should have answered within seconds — but no one did. They weren't in any condition to take a call.
"Fortuna, we're going."
"Just the two of us?"
"It's too close here. There's no one else who can leave."
"Well, you and I are the strongest, so it's fine. Let's go — gogo!"
Whirr—
All three cores roared to life. Towering cognitive power painted the destination in crystalline detail. And then —
Magic — Teleport
The world, space, mana itself answered his will. In the next instant he stood in the sky above Primuri Village.
Thud!
He formed a shield beneath his feet to catch the fall. At the same time, data from his radar flooded into his mind.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Aaaah!
Fire! Watch out!
Waaah! Mama!
A village swallowed in flame. People screaming. A fire as hot as the blaze itself kindled in Jun's chest.
"Jun. Heart hot."
Mind Control
"...Head cold."
The fire blazing in Jun's eyes sank into something ice-cold. The heat in his chest, though, remained.
Crack! Crack!
His entire body answered his will and prepared for combat.
"Jun, where do we help first?"
"The church."
He answered Fortuna without hesitation — the product of cold priority calculation. His heart screamed to save people and put out the fire right now. Fortunately the village damage wasn't catastrophic yet; if he used the water stored in his subspace, he could end it there. But cold reason stopped him. At that very moment, the children of the church were under threat from assassins. The villagers mattered — but the lives of the church children he'd grown up with like family mattered more to him. He wanted to follow his heart and save the villagers, but he was no god. There was a limit to what he could do.
What a pathetic excuse.
Jun bit down on his lip. Guilt toward the villagers and self-loathing tore through him. The roar of the fire sounded like laughter; the people's screams sounded like curses. He was about to scrub it all away with Mind Control when —
"We'll apologize together later. Then we'll help with everything we've got."
"...Yeah. Let's do that."
His one and only angel soothed his heart. And then —
Twitch! Twitch!
Sprout sent a thought from inside the subspace. Jun was puzzled by the message, but he opened the subspace as she asked.
Flutter-flutter!
Tiny birds woven from soft pink light spilled out through the opening into the world.
"What are these?"
"Divine Beast spirits! Once a Divine Beast grows to a certain size, it creates messengers like these — they can handle all kinds of elemental power! I think she wants us to leave the firefighting to them!"
Twitch! Twitch!
Sprout confirmed exactly that and issued orders to her spirits.
Flutter-flutter!
The birds rose as one and spread across the entire village. Thick raindrops fell along the paths they flew. Soon the fire's dying shrieks mixed with the sound of rain soaking the earth.
"Now you can fight with a clear conscience, right, Jun?"
"Yeah. So get inside the Stigma, Fortuna. You'll get electrocuted."
The emotional turmoil had lasted only a moment, but it had left Jun thoroughly rotten inside. He intended to vent that rage without a shred of mercy. They wouldn't have any right to complain — this was cause and effect for what they'd done.
Fortuna slipped into the Stigma and laid a buff on him. Jun cast his own buffs through magic, then pulled a spear from his subspace and flooded it with aura and electricity.
Crack! Crackle!
A spear of lightning spitting dangerous sparks. Jun hurled it with everything he had at an assassin about to land a killing blow on Leon. A long tail of blue current streamed behind it — like a dragon descending to earth.
"Damn—! Grrraaaah!"
The assassin somehow sensed the throw and twisted aside, but he couldn't fully dodge. He avoided a fatal hit and death in a single strike, but a hole punched clean through his side, and his whole body locked up from the shock so he couldn't even scream properly. Jun was about to throw again and finish him when a nearby assassin cracked a whip and hauled the wounded man clear. Jun clicked his tongue and moved to the spear planted in the ground.
"Jun?"
Leon's dazed voice came from behind him. Jun tossed him a potion.
"Fall back and protect the children."
"It's too dangerous alone! We'll fight together!"
Jun shook his head, pulled the spear free, and let electricity pour from his entire body as he spoke in a voice cold enough to kill any further argument.
"Defense."
"...Got it."
Leon looked like he had plenty more to say, but in the end he withdrew as ordered. Once the distance was clear, Jun made a show of scanning his surroundings. With the radar he didn't need to — but the gesture alone pulled the already-focused enemy attention even tighter onto him. A few assassins actually stepped back, unnerved by the figure who had appeared out of nowhere with a bolt of lightning.
Holding their eyes, buying his allies a breath of rest, Jun thought:
They held out better than I expected.
The enemy detachment's quality and numbers were far more impressive than he'd guessed. Thirty total: three Green-rank fighters — the lead assassins — twenty Blue-rank, and seven Navy-rank. Against them, the church defenders numbered fifteen, with Kate as the only Green-rank and everyone else Blue or below. That they'd held at all was almost certainly thanks to —
"Hah! Hah!"
"Harry!"
— Harry, pouring out brilliant holy power even as he looked ready to collapse from exhaustion.
"Blue Flash."
"You can just call me normally, Sister Kate. Actually, please call me normally. It's embarrassing."
"Pardon me. So then, Mr. Embarrassed-by-His-Alias Jun — do you have a plan?"
"Not really. So let's keep it simple."
"Which is?"
"You defend, Sister. I..."
Jun flung the things already in his hands skyward. Magic scrolls saturated with mana fluttered and scattered on the wind.
"...attack."
ZIIING!!!
"D-Dodge!"
Assassins screamed. And right after —
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Deafening explosions tore through the air.