Until We Settle This

"I don't mind a joke. But I have no intention of taking that as one."

"If it looked like I was kidding just now, I'm sorry. I mean it, Lottie."

"Hoh..."

Lottie's eyes narrowed like a serpent's, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wicked gleam sliding through them. It was the kind of look that asked whether I really had the nerve to talk about a spar.

A blood-red aura roared up from her without the slightest hesitation, and every nerve in my body lit up with a crawling, electric sting — even though I had wrapped myself, without exception, in mana charged at the full power of the 8th Circle.

I'd expected something like this. Even so, Lottie's power had clearly already grown past the ceiling I had originally set for her. Enough that even if I went at her in earnest, I might not be able to guarantee a complete victory. Which meant she had, at the very least, set foot in a realm comparable to my own.

That much, at least, is what you'd expect from the Blood Witch.

I twisted my mouth on purpose and bled the tension off. Being wrong in my prediction was a shame, but that and my confidence were two different things. I would concede that Lottie had, before I knew it, become one of the strongest people on this continent. That blood authority of hers had probably already left even my inborn talent for magic far behind. Perhaps in the not-so-distant future, her power would overtake even my full strength.

But.

A paltry gap in raw power, a mere advantage in rank — none of that was enough to decide a fight. Just like now. A single sweep of my hand drove her aura back.

"...What? How?"

The blood-red presence she had raised to claim the space was forced back onto Lottie herself. She threw up a barrier in a hurry, watching me with wary eyes. She clearly hadn't imagined for a second that her own power would bounce. I let a blatantly cold expression settle over my face and pressed down on her with it.

"...Ngh."

"Yes. This is as good a chance as any to settle who's above whom. Enough ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that a little reverence might actually find its way into the way you treat me."

I lifted my hand without much thought, and Lottie's eyes went wide. Then, before I could even deploy a spell, she exercised her authority first.

"Nngh...!"

She stomped the classroom floor hard enough to stain it blood-red. A narrow pool formed, and from beneath it, crimson magical creatures like piranhas bared their ghastly teeth at me. They circled, watching for an opening, looking ready to tear into me at any moment.

The students who had been watching up to that point went deathly pale. And the instant they fled beyond a certain range—

"Go on, then. Try me...!"

Lottie wiped away a cold sweat, a fair amount of wariness now written on her face. She snapped her fingers, and the magical creatures lunged. At the same time she flung her hand out and summoned blood-red thorns in a wild spray — red piranhas from below, sharp spines raining from above.

"—Hah."

I let out a leisurely breath and clenched my fist. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mana I had gathered burst free all at once, and the spell unfolded.

The classroom was swallowed in a flash of white, and then lightning swept through every direction. Bolts that struck as if to guard my body snapped every last blood-red thorn. The lightning essence soaked into the floor a moment later, and the magical creatures were wiped out as a matter of course.

"...Huh? Wh-what?"

It was the first time I had ever seen Lottie's face go that blank. She stared down at the blood pool at her feet in bewilderment — and even that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠scattered at a single interference from me. The classroom floor, which had been painted over in crimson, returned to its original color, and Lottie clutched her head.

The effect of a formula being forcibly dispelled. Put simply, the mana had flowed in reverse — a direct blow to the caster's brain. I could have surged in through that opening and finished it. There was no shortage of ways to neutralize Lottie right then, but...

"Adelaide."

I called to the woman behind me without leaving my spot. I didn't turn around, but I felt her flinch at the single word.

"Y-yes...?"

She answered, and I flicked a glance toward Elena as I went on.

"If that apology you gave me earlier was sincere — and if you want my forgiveness — there's a favor I need you to do."

"A-a favor?"

"That's right."

I answered offhandedly as I lifted every desk and chair around us. A simple telekinetic spell sent them floating into the air and shoved them all into the corners of the classroom.

"Keep anyone else from getting hurt. I don't know how well-versed you are in barrier magic."

I gave Adelaide the order as if it were nothing. Creating a barrier was something I could have left to Elena anyway, but those blue eyes of hers that I had caught just a moment ago had been bothering me for no good reason. If giving her this much of a role would get that lifeless, hollow look out of my sight, there was no reason I couldn't leave it to her.

"Y-yes...! I'll do it. I will."

Adelaide began murmuring a quiet incantation, and a bluish aura slowly started to swallow the entire classroom. Well, Elena would pitch in if it came to that. I didn't need to worry about the strength of it.

Which was another way of saying... right.

"It means we don't have to worry about collateral damage anymore."

"So you don't have to hold back either."

I muttered it flatly and released my presence again. Vivid sea-blue mana sharpened itself and locked onto Charlotte.

"...You're serious, Oppa."

She let out a voice gone cold. A small sound — the sound of her biting down hard on her lip — and then a blood-red tide crashed in again, with a noise that scraped the ears, like a flood rushing in or a tide rushing out.

In form it didn't look all that different from the blood pool just now. But this time, at least, the power was on a completely different level. The difference, to put it simply, between a puddle and the sea.

Lottie swept her bangs back with a thoroughly cynical air, and the blood that had completely occupied the inside of the barrier began to affect me as well.

"If you're really going to come at me like this, I'm not going to hold back either. Once we've started, I'm going all the way. Until we settle this."

She growled, more than a little angry. Apparently the sight of me getting this worked up on purpose was that unfamiliar to her. As if reflecting that emotion, the blood that had risen to my ankles bound me in a sticky grip. It hindered my movement, of course — and even interfered with the exercise of my mana.

In a way, it was a technique I knew well. It was the signature move of the final boss of the ninth chapter — the Blood Witch. I almost felt a strange sort of nostalgia. I let out a light scoff.

"You're... laughing?"

That laugh apparently hadn't sat well with my little sister. What of it? Lottie's face twisted savagely, but my own head was running hot by now. I agreed with her completely. Once we'd started, I had no intention of wrapping this sibling fight up in some half-hearted way either.

"Tsk...!"

The moment I deliberately switched how I addressed her to provoke her, a violent reaction burst out. Lottie clicked her tongue loud enough for me to hear and kicked off the ground. She leapt straight at me, sharpened nails thrusting forward — an attack that could have shredded an ordinary mage's shield like a pane of glass.

But it wasn't an attack that applied to me. The barrier I had fully deployed didn't so much as tremble. If anything, the blood-red aura coating Lottie's nails scattered. Her face crumpled as she spun her body around, and using that momentum, she kicked the barrier I had raised.

Did she not realize she was wearing a school uniform skirt? The gazes of a few male students watching from a distance were irritating, but once a fight had started, petty issues like that didn't make the priority list.

At a single gesture from me, white chains burst out from every direction. Lottie was properly caught for a moment by the restraints that had suddenly bound her, but the hold itself didn't last long.

An incredulous sound slipped out of me on its own. Chains that would have held even if a large monster thrashed with everything it had were being forced apart by raw physical strength — the result of Lottie moving both arms with bloodshot eyes. I never thought those delicate hands, which looked like they'd never so much as touched a drop of dishwater, would tear through iron chains. An utterly brute-force method, and because of that, simple and effective.

At this point I was going to have to revise my earlier assessment yet again. My eyes narrowed as I took in the ghastly presence Lottie was radiating.

...With that kind of strength, she could go toe-to-toe with the Sword Saint.

And not just that. She could probably beat down most of the Wings, too. At this rate, I had to wonder if there was even a reason to keep hiding things about Sephirot from her. But that was only a passing thought. This was a separate matter.

I silently cooled my gaze, then immediately triggered the large-scale magic I had laid down from the very beginning.

It was right around when Lottie had almost finished breaking the Chains of Subjugation. Beneath her feet, the blood was swept away in an instant, revealing a razor-sharp magic circle.

"...Mages are often called 'those who prepare.' Your mistake was failing to account for how a mage actually fights."

The outcome of this fight had been decided the moment Adelaide put up the barrier. I muttered it plainly, and only then did Lottie's face flash with a look of oh, crap as she gathered a volume of blood-flow into both arms that dwarfed anything from before. If she released it, it wouldn't have been strange for the entire building to go, never mind the classroom. Even now she seemed ready to go all-out, aiming that power at me, but—

The magic circle activated a step faster. A sea-blue pillar surged up without warning, punched through the classroom ceiling, and Lottie — standing right on top of it — was caught in it as well. At the very least, she was no longer visible to the naked eye.

A ringing filled my ears along with the grand explosion. I frowned slightly, but it wasn't enough to actually bother me. The dust cloud that had risen began to settle. I walked toward Lottie as if nothing had happened.

"...Hhk. Ngh. Cough."

She coughed, her complexion a little pale. Her pupils were shaking freely, but her actual physical condition looked reasonably intact. She had apparently managed, just before the spell went off, to coat her bare body in time. Of course, that was as far as she had been able to go.

Then the blood-red aura scattered with a pop. At the same time Lottie slumped down where she stood, and I reeled my mana back in as well.

A heavy silence settled over the room. At the center of it, Lottie and I both kept our mouths shut — though the meaning of that silence was surely different for each of us.

"...Why..."

It was Lottie who broke it first. In a trembling voice, she shouted as if she couldn't understand.

"Why, why...! What's the reason?! Why do you keep looking at other women — and treat me this coldly while you're at it...!"

"Oppa — Oppa, do you hate me? I love you this much, and all you ever do is refuse when I say we should get married — why, just why?!"

It was a desperate cry that carried a hint of madness. She jerked her head up, her pupils trembling dangerously as they clung to me. Then she suddenly reached out and seized me by the collar. In raw physical strength I was no match for her, and I was yanked forward at once.

"...Tell me, Oppa."

"Do you hate me? You're all I have..."

Lottie asked with a look of such pain she seemed ready to collapse at a single word. Her eyes were an abyss so deep I suddenly had the intuition that, depending on my answer, her entire path might fork.

The me of before would probably have been careful with my answer here.

"Lottie."

Not now. I called her name softly and stroked her cheek.

"...Mmph?!"

And then, without the slightest hesitation, I pressed my lips to hers. I had no intention of giving her time to react. I immediately pushed her upper lip open, slid my tongue in, and thoroughly explored the inside. I paid no mind to the surrounding gazes, nor to Lottie's trembling shoulders.

I had been focused on that deep kiss for about thirty seconds when—

"...Eh. Uh. Hweh?"

Charlotte, who had been wearing an expression like a vengeful spirit just moments ago, instantly went scarlet like a girl in love. I didn't miss that reaction, and immediately followed up with another blow.

"...Hahk?!"

Lottie's body jerked hard. Still sitting where she had slumped, she looked up at me in a daze. A face flushed deep red. Breath running hot. Pupils trembling as if she couldn't believe it. And yet, encompassing all of that — occupying a full hundred percent of her expression — was joy.

Then she carefully cupped both her own cheeks and lowered her head. With the tips of her ears gone pink, she asked me:

"W-w-what is this, all of a sudden. Why would you say something you never say — why now, of all times..."

"More than that — if you like me, then why do you keep fooling around with other women every single time...?"

Perhaps expectation. Perhaps tension. Or an honest desire, with those two feelings mixed in just the right amounts, for my answer to give her that thrill again. Lottie looked at me with eyes gone completely melted, and I set my expression.

The decision I made here mattered more than anything. And I had already made that decision a long time ago.

"...Lottie. I'm truly sorry, but."

The brief silence ended, and I delivered the answer to her question with the most serious face in the world. A line that, however slim the odds, could drive this situation even further off a cliff.

That kind of dangerously reckless challenge of a sentence.

Lottie's entire body froze like a statue with a crack. She looked up at me with her mouth half-open, creaking, but... there was only one thing I could give my thoroughly shocked little sister in return.

"...The problem is you're just too pathetic, Lottie."

"...?!!"

That day, I learned a method of petrifying someone even more effective than a petrification spell.