The Rampaging Fake
"And now it's your turn to come out, is it?"
Serne gave a faint, velvety smile. Lorraine brushed her off with a dismissive glance and turned back to Simon.
"Are you okay, Simon?"
At her question, Simon quickly gathered himself and answered.
"Ah, yeah. Thanks to the protective suit..."
"I don't mean your body. What about your mind?"
Lorraine knew exactly what Serne's unique ability was.
"I only brushed against a feather or two. It's nothing."
Lorraine nodded, then fixed a frosty stare straight ahead. There stood Serne, hands resting on her hips, leaning lazily to one side.
"What is the meaning of all this, Serne?"
"Whatever do you mean? I'm simply taking a test."
When Serne shrugged with perfect nonchalance, Lorraine's expression turned ugly.
"If this is just a test, why did you throw up a barrier to blind the Observers?"
"My, my- listen to that. Someone's forgotten her manners."
Serne lifted her chin.
"Are you interrogating me? We're both students here. What right do you think you have? My, my. Have you already made yourself Kizen's Student Council President?"
"Stop dodging the question and answer it."
"And if I refuse?"
Lorraine lowered her stance.
"Then, as you said, we'll just have to settle this with a test."
"How delightful."
"Stand back, Simon."
Simon obediently retreated. Getting caught between those two in a fight seemed like a good way to lose every one of his nine lives.
Lorraine spread her hands open. The Jet-Black flowing from her palms wove four magic circles in the empty air.
Black arrows came bursting from the circles a moment later, and Serne let out a silvery giggle.
"Jet-Black Arrows? How adorable~ There's no need for pretense between the two of us—"
In an instant, Serne's eyes narrowed and darted behind her.
Lorraine had appeared at her back without her ever noticing, her fist drawn back to full extension.
KWAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
A single punch detonated into a colossal shockwave that radiated out in every direction.
A crater dozens of meters wide opened up around the radius of Lorraine's outstretched fist.
"How frightening."
Serne, flung into the air, smiled serenely.
Then a shadow fell over her — darkness gathering like an eclipse. Down on the ground, Lorraine had hurled a boulder the size of a house.
"Hmph."
At Serne's gesture, the feathers around her stirred.
Srrrrrrring!
The feathers traced a countless web of curves, and the boulder sheared apart into shards large and small, raining down.
Hands clasped behind her back, Serne wove freely through the debris and slipped past it all.
"Come down here."
Lorraine flexed her fist open and shut as she spoke.
"You said you wanted a test, you damned piece of—"
"Such a foul mouth for a lady of exalted blood."
Lorraine glanced back at Simon.
"Looks like I need to teach that girl a lesson. Simon — run far away and stay there."
That had been his plan anyway, with or without the instruction. As Simon turned and put distance between them, Serne smiled as if she'd lost something precious.
"Why send him away like that? He should stay close and watch you at your finest."
"That snide little tone of yours."
Savage Jet-Black began pouring off Lorraine's body.
"You're getting on my nerves."
"Mmm."
Serne crossed her arms.
"Could it be, I wonder... that you simply can't bear to show the boy you fancy your ugly, monstrous side?"
Lorraine's crimson eyes flashed.
A long line slashed open in the empty air, warping into a jagged beast's maw as it yawned wide with a rending shriek.
Inside was a space of nothing but absolute darkness — and within that darkness, countless pairs of red eyes glinted.
Every one of them was identical to Lorraine's. As if her eyes existed by the dozens.
"That sends a chill down my spine."
Serne said.
"A power that could tear the Demon Realm wide open. If the world ever learned what madness you and your mother are plotting, it would turn upside down overnight..."
Serne cut herself off and accelerated hard through the air. From the gaping wound in space, showers of crimson flashes were spewing out in every direction.
Pressing feathers to her body, Serne flew with double and triple layers of acceleration.
"Haaah!"
Her body spun, twisted, shot upward at blistering speed, then dove back down again.
The scarlet flashes were destructively painting the sky red.
-Prrrrt!
Lorraine drew a Skeleton Horse from her sub-dimension. When she breathed Jet-Black into it, the steed was cloaked in dark crimson mana and shifted its form.
Whup!
The moment Lorraine vaulted into the saddle, the Skeleton Horse kicked off the ground and soared into the sky. Before long, the two faced each other in midair.
"I do think it's rather unbecoming, the two of us fighting like this."
As Serne spread her arms, the feathers began to dance through the air around her.
"But weren't we fated to fight eventually? One day we'll be the rulers of Kizen and the Ivory Tower respectively."
"And on that day, millions of innocent lives will bleed for it."
Lorraine yanked hard on the reins she'd formed of Jet-Black.
"So maybe the answer is to settle it now — while we're still at student level."
"You and your mother, honestly."
Serne raised both arms and crossed them before her.
"Hypocrites to a degree that's almost nauseating."
White trajectories and crimson flashes crossed and clashed across the heavens like madness.
From the perspective of the general students taking their exam on the central island, it might as well have been a natural disaster. Everyone ran for their lives, desperately dodging the wreckage of attacks raining down from the sky.
Simon, who was likewise staring up at the heavens, let out a hollow laugh.
'...What on earth kind of fight is that?'
Monsters beyond every scale.
They had long since transcended anything that could be measured by an exam, or an evaluation, or any of it.
[Kheheheh! There's nothing worth gaping at in a little display like that!]
Pier's avatar laughed, its jaw hanging open.
[Ruler of Kizen? Master of the Ivory Tower? Empty titles! You are a Legion Commander yourself! It won't be long before you too reach that sky!]
"It feels awfully far off from where I'm standing."
Simon shot back with a grin. In any case, he beat a swift retreat from the battlefield and sank into thought.
'Focus on my own task again. Sound and vibration, at this scale...'
Simon arrived at the cliff at the gorge's edge. From this vantage point, the open vista of the island spread out below him. He began releasing Jet-Black in every direction.
'If Big Kroom reacted to this and came close...'
GUUUUUGUGUGUGU!
The corner of Simon's mouth curled up.
'There it is!'
KWAKWAKWABOOM!
Simon twisted his body. The ground heaved upward as a monster's arm, wrapped in bandages, burst through it.
—Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!
The monster's full body emerged next.
Every inch of it was wrapped in living bandages, but its eye sockets remained clearly exposed.
'Smaller than the first time I saw it.'
Big Kroom was said to grow with its rage. When it fought Meilin, it had been tall enough to plant both feet on the ground and press its face against the gorge walls — but now it could barely cling to the gorge itself.
THUD!
Big Kroom pressed a knee against the cliff's edge and hauled itself up.
—Uuuuuuuuh!
He had to move first, before it attacked again. Simon hurled the object in his hand with all his strength toward Big Kroom's head.
[BIG KROOM!!!]
BONK! BONK!
The thing Simon had thrown was Pier's avatar. Big Kroom froze mid-motion and stared at it.
[It's me! Pier, Manager of the Legion!]
—Pi... er?
It can understand speech!
Simon quickly cast his eyes upward. Far above, a single Observer was visible. At this distance, it should still be safe.
'One or two minutes should be fine!'
[Coming out!]
Simon opened his sub-dimension, and Pier burst through immediately.
Pier hid himself slantwise behind a tree, just inside the Observer's blind spot, and spoke.
[What are you doing here, Big Kroom! The Legion has risen anew! Join the Legion at once!]
—Le... gion?
Big Kroom tilted its massive head.
—Le... gion.
As it cocked its head back and forth, Big Kroom's head began to swell.
—Le... gion! Le... gion! Le... gion!
Before long, not just its head but its entire body began ballooning like an inflatable.
[Blast it all!]
As Big Kroom swelled larger and larger, Pier's avatar was forced loose and fell away. Simon sprinted and caught it.
—Legion! It hurts! Legion! It hurts! Legion! It hurts!
"Why is it doing that, Pier?!"
[Now I know for certain! That thing is not Big Kroom!]
Pier said, his voice deadly serious.
[It's an elaborate fake! A copy — a replica of Big Kroom!]
As Big Kroom began growing without end, even the Observers flying overhead drifted closer to get a look at the situation.
"Pier! Get inside for now!"
—It huuuuuuurts!
The bloated Big Kroom craned its neck straight down and fixed its gaze on Simon.
A chill crawled up Simon's spine.
—It's the Legion! The Legion hurts! I hate it when it hurts!
BWOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The giant slammed a massive fist into the ground. With a deafening roar, the entire cliff face collapsed in one piece.
Simon scrambled into the forest, escaping Big Kroom's line of sight.
"But why is the replica attacking us?!"
[How in the world would I know!]
Big Kroom swiveled around, scanning its surroundings for Simon.
—Uuuuuuuuuuuuh!
The moment Simon vanished from view, Big Kroom began savagely obliterating the ground with its enormous fists.
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Wh-what's going on?!"
Screams erupted from students all around.
Big Kroom turned toward the sound, raised one colossal leg, and delivered a kick.
CRASH!
The entire terrain caved in and collapsed, and two students were flung into the air. Luckily, their teammate bound them both with Jet-Black Threads and dragged them to safety.
—Uuuuuuuuuuuuh!
Big Kroom was growing larger by the second.
[It's gone berserk!]
Pier's avatar shouted.
[Leave it alone and it'll just keep growing!]
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Big Kroom began advancing — not toward the gorge, but in the opposite direction.
That thing was already beyond anyone's control. And the entire island was in the middle of an exam.
If this went on, something far worse could happen.
'Damn it!'
Simon spun on his heel and ran. He needed a plan, and he needed it now.
Waiting for the professors to call off the exam would take too long. He'd felt it during the Cyclops evaluation as well — unless it was some truly enormous variable, Kizen's policy was to interfere with the students' affairs as little as possible.
[Where are you going, boy? That's the opposite direction from it!]
"I have to go persuade the one person who can stop that thing!"
Simon ran straight back to the battlefield.
The one place no one dared set foot — the place where Lorraine and Serne were locked in combat.
The two of them, absorbed in their ferocious exchange, had no idea what was unfolding around them.
"LORRAINE!!"
Simon shouted.
"We've got a problem!!"
He worried whether his voice would carry from the ground, but Lorraine broke off the engagement instantly and brought the Skeleton Horse gliding down toward him.
"Simon! What is it?"
"A colossal monster's gone berserk and it's heading straight for the students right now! We have to stop it immediately!"
Lorraine's face hardened.
"Which way?"
"If I had to say — toward the southern island. I'll guide you."
"How amusing."
Arms crossed, Serne descended from the sky.
"And who exactly was it that said they'd escort him?"
She held a feather up in her hand.
"Berserk or not, wrangling runaway monsters is the organizers' job. I refuse to accept our fight ending in such a whimper—"
"Oh, right. You were here too, Serne."
Simon smiled as if this were a stroke of luck.
"Sorry, but could you give us a hand?"
"...I beg your pardon?"
Serne's face went slack with disbelief.