Operation Commences
“At last, is it starting?”
“Yes. Once all the planted pendants are blown, the magic I inscribed will spread across the entire arena.”
“Right. Then I just need to place an Absolute Constraint on you, and that’s that?”
“Correct.”
“Good.”
Martin focused and unleashed his power.
Everyone in the arena will be unable to release or control their abilities for 10 hours, except for Cassian.
“Ghhk?!”
As the ability took hold, an immense pain surged through Martin’s body.
“It really is possible, that constraint?”
“Yes. If I don’t exact an equivalent price, my power won’t work. The strain on the user’s body is severe, too.”
“Then...”
“A constraint of this scale should be impossible under normal circumstances. The activation ought to fail. But...”
[Contract term 1]
[Contract term 2]
[Penalty for breach]
“If you’re willing to pay that kind of price, things change a little.”
Martin turned away as he continued speaking quietly with Cassian.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but hurry up and let’s go home.”
There stood Rosy, looking perfectly unconcerned.
“Huh?”
Rosy sensed something was wrong for an instant.
The effect of the constraint registered in her mind almost unconsciously.
For some reason, she felt a murderous intent and the sense that her own life was suddenly in danger.
“Yeah, let’s finish this and go.”
But then—
Thud.
“You won’t be going back, though.”
“Urk?!”
By the time she understood the content of the constraint, it was already too late.
“W-what?!“
Seria, who had witnessed the scene from the side, looked flustered.
“What is this...”
“Hnn...”
Martin was still sweating coldly, his face twisted with discomfort.
“Is it not enough yet?”
Cassian seemed to realize what was happening and looked at Martin.
“Yeah. Feels like it’s still a little short.”
“Hmm... I see.”
Cassian nodded as if he understood.
Then he raised a finger and pointed at Seria.
“Use mine.”
“Right. We’ll do that.”
“W-wait... wh-what did you say?”
“......”
“C-Cassian! Save—”
Thunk.
Martin stabbed Seria with practiced ease.
Seria staggered and collapsed to the ground.
“Hah... hahk?!”
With a pleading expression, Seria reached out toward Cassian.
But Cassian didn’t even spare her a glance, his attitude utterly cold.
“Phew... that should do it.”
Martin wiped the blood from both nostrils.
“This should be enough. Limiting the constraint to around ten hours was the right call.”
“Hmm... ten hours, then. Not short, not long.”
“Long enough to drag the Emperor out and kill him.”
“......”
Wooooong.
Cassian moved his hand.
“Then I’ll begin.”
“Do it.”
Bang.
Pop, pop, pop.
Small explosions echoed around them.
The pendants Martin and Rosy had planted earlier began detonating one after another.
At the same time, the mana sealed inside them burst forth.
The mana carried Cassian’s spell with it.
“Good. Very good.”
Cassian cast his magic over everyone except his collaborator.
“Hoo... the pendants are functioning beautifully. I think they can hold for two days.”
Everyone in the arena froze in place, as though time itself had stopped. Their thoughts seemed to grind to a halt.
“Good! Now find him! Find the Emperor! There’s no need to call him here. Just tell me where he is!”
“Yes.”
Wooooong.
Cassian concentrated.
He began sensing the mana of everyone nearby in minute detail.
“You know what to look for, right?”
“Yes. I’ll find the mana of the Emperor’s guards, and of everyone who follows him around. If I know their appearances, I can usually work it out once I start mind-control. It’s a spell derived from the mind-reading school, after all. Unfortunately, it can’t read thoughts in detail, though.”
Cassian focused hard, following the terms of the contract.
But all the while, without Martin noticing, he was searching for someone else as well.
Where are you, Rubelia?
He searched the entire arena with intense concentration.
And yet the one he sought was nowhere to be seen.
“Tch! Did she leave the arena?”
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Shut up! I’m concentrating!”
At last, Cassian clicked his tongue and hurried to finish the urgent business first.
“Second floor. There’s a hidden room in Sector 13 on the second floor.”
“How do we get there?”
“I’ll have the people around us open the way.”
“Good! Keep me updated through teleportation magic!”
Martin immediately broke into a run.
He pushed through the crowd, frozen like dolls, and raced forward without hesitation.
“Is it over there?”
Cassian used the people around him to gesture which direction Martin should go, making sure he didn’t lose his way.
And so Martin reached his destination.
A passing bystander pulled open a door that looked exactly like the wall beside it.
“Oh? If I’d just walked past, I never would’ve noticed.”
The arena had a total of ten VIP rooms, and this was where the Emperor stayed.
In fact, a special barrier had originally been cast over this place.
“Heh. Looks like that man took care of things ahead of schedule.”
But there was another collaborator, one who remained hidden.
Because Martin’s client had already made preparations, the barriers in every Emperor VIP room within the arena had vanished.
You have entered the room....
“Hmm? Cassian? Can you hear me?”
As they passed through the dark corridor, the sound from Cassian’s telepathic artifact grew faint.
“Tch! Could there be another barrier?”
Swish, swish.
But when he saw the servant gesturing in front of him, it was clear Cassian’s mind-control magic was still working.
That meant even if the teleportation magic was blocked, the other barrier in this VIP room could not stop Cassian’s spell, which relied on the pendants.
“Heh-heh. These are the pendants provided by House Cromwell. Their effect is certainly real.”
And so Martin slowly stepped into the VIP room, then—
Creak.
Quietly opened the door.
There’s someone there! The Emperor and the guards are inside!
Martin drew his favored weapon.
His curved sword.
“I’ll finish this!”
Then he immediately charged in and—
Thunk.
—thrust his blade.
“Huh?”
But.
“W-what?”
What he had stabbed was just a cushion.
“What... is this? I can clearly sense their presence.”
Martin, thrown into confusion, looked around the room.
He could feel at least ten presences inside.
But none of them were people.
“What?”
“D-did you mistake them for actual people?”
“Huh?”
At that moment, Martin whirled around, startled by the two presences he felt behind him.
“You’re...”
One of them was someone Martin didn’t know.
But the other—he knew all too well.
“Selene...”
There stood Viera Nebul.
And Selene, Selene, Selene.
“You bastards... wait. How are you resisting Cassian’s magic?”
Martin stumbled back in alarm.
Come to think of it.
Martin looked at Viera, who was still releasing mana from her hand.
The ability that made the presence from a cushion feel like a person had to be her doing.
I heard there wasn’t a single casualty in the guard incident.
A highly skilled mage from the mana therapy branch had stopped that incident, or so he’d heard.
That slightly sinister-looking woman was probably the culprit.
“Tch! Where’s the Emperor?”
“I-I don’t think I have any reason to tell you that.”
Martin tensed.
Selene, on the other hand, had nothing to worry about.
There was an Absolute Constraint etched onto Selene in the arena.
[When fighting me, you will not move more than three steps, and you will use only physical attacks.]
[I will not use any attack other than physical thrusts.]
With that constraint in place, Selene could not move.
She could not use magic.
Which meant that if he could just suppress Viera somehow, he’d be able to escape this situation.
Damn it! These women smuggled the Emperor away! Did the plan fail?
And indeed, his plan had failed.
From the moment his scheme to become the sword of the Empire and meet the Emperor in person had gone awry, everything had become uncertain.
I could have become the Empire’s sword!
Grinding his teeth, Martin decided that escaping this situation came first.
“S-start surrendering right now...”
“Not a chance!”
[Contract term 1]
[Contract term 2]
[Penalty for breach]
[Contract term 1]
[Contract term 2]
[Penalty for breach]
Martin placed a very simple, very clear Absolute Constraint on Viera—one that had always saved his life.
“Kgh!”
“Huh?!”
Feeling a slight strain on his body, Martin immediately ran.
“W-wait!”
Ignoring Viera’s cry, he slipped past Selene.
He dashed to a point just beyond the little girl’s three-step range.
Tap.
But at that instant—
“Ghk?!”
Something caught his leg, and—
Crash.
Martin tumbled.
“Kek!”
He rolled and was knocked clear out of the VIP room’s hidden doorway.
It hadn’t felt like merely tripping over his own foot. It had felt as though someone had kicked him hard.
“Wh-what?”
Martin, panicking, sprang to his feet and turned back.
“D-don’t come here!”
Then, seeing the figure stepping out from inside the hidden room, he screamed in terror.
“Three steps! I said don’t move more than three steps!”
And yet Selene, despite the constraint surely laid upon her, slowly walked out, utterly ignoring Martin’s own Absolute Constraint.
“I-iik!”
In a frenzy, Martin moved again.
“Then like this!”
He pulled out every usable magical tool from his robes.
“Die!”
The instant he cast magic through the tools—
“Ugh?!”
—a familiar sensation brought Martin to a halt.
“Th-this is?”
At the same time, he remembered a constraint he himself had imposed long ago.
[We will duel with swordsmanship alone, without magic.]
[If you win the duel against me, I will spare your comrade’s life.]
“Don’t tell me... this constraint?”
As Martin, no longer able to flee because of the constraint, turned around in alarm—
“So it was you. That day you appeared before me wearing a mask, but I remember your voice clearly.”
—there stood the one praised as the Empire’s sword, blocking his escape route.
“Leonia.”
“Professor Selene.”
Selene had already moved to Leonia’s side and murmured softly to her.
“...Habit. Be careful.”
“......”
After exchanging a few simple words, Leonia slowly walked toward Martin.
“Draw your sword, my enemy.”
Leonia drew her blade and leveled it at Martin.
“In the name of Valteria, I will bring you down!”