The Girl With the Sword (1)
The man stood with his back to the chapel’s main doors. Shadow-like energy dripped from Raoul’s body, fouling the pure white sanctuary. The moment those tendrils touched the altar’s light and sacred patterns they writhed and hissed. Sizzle…!
“Drive back the monsters!”
“Swordsmanship Department, advance!”
“Holy knights, form ranks!”
“Damn it, even the Inquisitor’s own men have betrayed us?!”
A flying monster swept past behind Raoul. Screeches tore through the endless chaos.
“Kyaaaak!”
“Shaaaaak—!”
In the midst of it all he muttered like a lunatic.
“Everything… is heresy. Therefore I must cleanse it. Every heretic that dirties this world—my world…”
His eyes burned crimson. Each ragged breath carried the stench of the underworld.
“!”
The first to roar in genuine fury was Edrian. It was a rare sight; his clenched fists trembled with real anger. He thrust a finger at Raoul.
“Raoul—!”
“…”
“Have you truly lost your mind? Have you forgotten the ground you are meant to stand upon?! Your hands are drenched in blood and you have cast aside even the sun in your heart—!!”
“Heh heh… Edrian. You are mistaken.”
“What…?”
“Where there is sunlight, there are always shadows.”
Raoul smirked. It was the smile of a white slit opening inside darkness.
“The Sun God does not punish the shadow.”
“What are you—!”
“Therefore I shall simply affirm it… my true desire.”
He stretched out his hand and forced the corners of his mouth upward into the smile he once wore. Yet the old smile would no longer come. There was no pride left inside it.
“Aria, come to me. That boy is a fake. I am your true fated one. The kind uncle who found you in the forest ten years ago and helped you become human again?”
“Raoul… Uncle…”
“Yes! I am your uncle. The man who will become the true hero of the Theocracy, who will one day stand as its only Sword Master and come to claim you. You, the Saintess. I, the Holy Knight! What a perfect pair, don’t you think?”
“…”
Aria looked at him with nothing but pity. She felt no revulsion. At last she saw his true face.
“…”
Who… are you…?
Don’t worry, little one. Uncle will protect you.
Ten years ago, that smile had held no desire.
“…”
The holy knight who once smiled like sunlight was now leaking filthy shadows.
So the gentle Sir Raoul… the uncle from that time… is truly gone.
It was an ugly, absolute fall. A farewell to her childhood.
“…”
Aria steeled her heart. She did not walk toward Raoul. Instead she stood beside Arty, silver holy relic clutched in one hand, ready for battle.
Arty gripped the blue Holy Sword Danan and took his place at her side with quiet resolve.
Raoul screamed.
“Aria! You would leave me—?!”
“Yes. I will walk the path I have chosen.”
“You betray me!”
“No. Our roads have simply diverged.”
“Aria—!!”
Unable to watch any longer, Edrian strode toward the inquisitor. Rage boiled in every step.
“Raoul—!! As a priest of the sun, I must stop you!!”
“Shut up—!! Shut up, shut up—!!”
"O wooden relic of the sun!"
"Ten branches of judgment, descend!"
⟨ Heavenly Lightning ⟩
The wooden relic in the prayer priest’s hand blazed. Ten blinding bolts of lightning slammed into Raoul. The shadow-wreathed inquisitor swung his sword and shattered every bolt.
Kwaaaang—!
The chapel’s main doors exploded. White sacred debris surged inward.
“Prayer Priest!” Arty shouted.
Through the swirling dust Raoul charged, sword aimed at Edrian’s heart. The strike was a black flash.
“Die—!!”
“…!”
Edrian never flinched from death.
So the time has come…
If this was the end, he would simply confess to the Sun God the sin of failing to recognize an apostate.
…Please, do not forgive me to the last.
But the traitor’s blade was stopped mid-thrust.
Clang!
Sparks flew; blue sword-light flashed.
“?!”
It was Arty who had blocked him.
“Prayer Priest! Get back!”
“…Understood!”
Edrian retreated beside the Sun God’s altar. Arty’s body had accelerated explosively thanks to the Holy Sword’s healing surge. It felt as though he had stopped a rolling boulder with his bare hands. Every muscle screamed. The hand gripping his sword had already broken and re-knitted. The counterattack had been that reckless.
Yet Raoul’s blade slowly pushed Arty back.
Grind—!
“Out of my way…!”
“Ugh…?!”
So this is the Ignition realm…?
“You— You stole my Aria!!”
“The Saintess was never yours—!!”
“Shut your mouth. I’ll show you the Ignition realm…!”
Holy Sword Art — Heavenly Punishment
Raoul’s sword flashed, spewing shadow energy. Lightning-like judgment raced along the Holy Sword and into Arty’s hand.
“Uaaaagh—!”
“Hero—!”
Aria lifted her relic in panic and prayed. Edrian joined her.
“O Sun! Grant him the will to endure this pain—!”
“The Sun God declares, ‘Pain is the reverse side of life…!’”
Arty’s body blazed gold. He barely regained his senses, but the instant of respite had been too long.
“Too late!”
“!”
“A worm who is nothing without the holy sword—!”
“?!”
Raoul charged to bat the blade aside. The two swords clashed once, then snapped apart like dry twigs. The blue sword spun uselessly through the air and left Arty’s grip.
The difference in raw power was overwhelming.
Clang—!
The tip of Raoul’s sword filled Arty’s vision.
Die—! Heretic—!
“…!”
Was this the end?
Far from the chapel, the shopping district outside the academy was equally hellish.
A merchant tripped in an alley. The passage that had always been open was now sealed by a wooden barricade.
Damn it! Why is there a barricade here?!
Footsteps approached.
“?!”
He looked back. The mad holy knight was coming. A Black Stake protruded from the knight’s body, dripping shadow energy.
“Eek?! S-save me!”
“…”
The merchant begged as the corrupted knight drew near.
“P-please! I’ll give you money—just don’t kill me!”
“It is Captain Raoul’s order to cut down all heretics. Die.”
“Hiiik—?!”
The moment the corrupted knight’s sword gleamed coldly in the alley—
Clang!
A single elegant blade stopped the swing that would have slaughtered an innocent.
The knight flinched. When did she—?!
The one who had blocked him was a graceful girl with golden hair.
“!”
It was unbelievable. Such a slender girl had stopped his sword. Her blade felt both impossibly heavy and impossibly light at the same time. The knight who had reached the Fluid realm could not comprehend it.
I can’t… pull my sword free…?
The trapped blade trembled pitifully.
Lydia spoke, voice icy.
“How unsightly. Not one of you doubts whether this path is wrong. You have crossed the line by far more than a mile, yet none of you notice.”
“…?!”
“That useless head of yours will no longer be required.”
“…What?”
“Die. You are the last.”
“L-last…?”
The entangled sword was lightly flicked away. At the same instant, Lydia’s elegant blade drew a perfect line through the air.
Swish—!
The knight never understood what had happened. Why is my body… suddenly…
He stood frozen, sword still raised.
Silence.
Lydia turned her back on him. At the same moment, the knight’s head slid from his shoulders and fell to the ground with a wet thud. The headless corpse crumpled.
Lydia walked on. The merchant, still sprawled on the ground, stammered.
“Y-Your Highness the Princess?”
“Flee to the central plaza of the shopping district. Every alley is blocked.”
“Huh…?”
“See? The people have gathered there like a fortress. You will be safe. The Holy Department students will heal the wounded.”
“!”
Once a destination formed in his panicked mind, the merchant bolted as if by magic, shouting over his shoulder.
“Th-thank you, Your Highness—!”
“…Call me Cadet Lydia.”
At that moment a voice rang from the rooftop of the building sealing the alley.
It was Morgan.
"Scattering energies,"
"O blue winds,"
"cut them asunder—!"
⟨ Gale Severance ⟩
A storm howled between cliffs. Fierce wind roared. Bat-shaped monsters rained down onto the alley Lydia walked, every neck sliced clean.
“…”
No matter how much of a genius heroine she is, to wield such difficult and tedious magic with that speed and precision…
Impressed, Lydia leapt at once.
She soared, met Morgan’s eyes on the rooftop.
“Lydia!”
“Impressive.”
“…?”
“To cast magic so calmly amid this madness…”
“Hmph. Well… I am a genius.”
Morgan glanced around casually. The shopping district was still in uproar; countless civilians were fleeing for their lives.
Screams echoed. People reflexively confirmed the alleys were blocked and streamed back toward the central plaza.
“This place is safe…!”
“We’re alive…”
At the heart of the plaza the academy students had formed a circular makeshift fortress. They moved under the upperclassmen’s orders.
“Holy and Magic Department students, prepare interception and support from inside the fortress!”
“Yes! Understood, Sir Lucian!”
“Swordsmanship second- and third-years, take the front line! Those who have reached the Fluid realm, follow me! All Gallian nobles, draw your swords!”
“Yes, Sir Lucian!”
The freshmen ran with the instructors, rescuing civilians.
“All helpless women, come this way! I, Dominic de Montrang, shall protect you!”
“Dominic’s playing knight! No one’s going to fall behind someone who loses to girls—!”
“Why are you saying that right now?!”
It was pure pandemonium. To Morgan, however, it looked no different from any other day. Her daily life had always been pain and chaos.
…Still, Instructor Jacques has a decent head on his shoulders. Patrolling normally and preparing to seal every alley in an emergency… The panicked people are gathering at the central fortress quickly.
An astonishingly efficient defense system. Yet the instructor himself was nowhere in sight.
Morgan tilted her head.
“Lydia.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s head down.”
“…All right.”
Morgan entrusted herself to Lydia’s arms. Lydia lifted her gently. With a single leap the two descended to the ground.
Mave approached, black hair matted with monster blood.
“Lady Lydia! You were here.”
“Mm. I was eliminating the corrupted holy knights.”
“Ugh! Those vile bastards… Using the chaos to slaughter civilians…! They are no knights!”
“Correct. Mave, stay with me and help exterminate the monsters.”
“!”
At the reasonable order Mave snapped to attention and saluted.
“Yes! It is an honor!”
Morgan, still cradled in Lydia’s arms, pouted and quietly clutched the hem of Lydia’s uniform.
“…Hmph. Those boorish Gallian knights.”
Even so, she clearly understood the honor of standing at Lydia’s side. Of course she would.
Just then, a bone-chilling roar erupted from a corner of the plaza.
Mave’s face hardened.
It was the roar of the Skeleton Rider that had once defeated her.
“No way…!”
Beyond the plaza fortress, familiar blue ghost-flames appeared. Two Black Stakes protruded from the undead knight as it charged straight toward them.
Lydia watched calmly.
“The one we have been waiting for is that creature.”
*
“Hmm.”
Ember Swordsmanship — Echo of Karmic Fire
Black Knight Jacques smashed the clustered monsters with his iron fists. The creatures burst into flame and crumbled to ash.
The academy’s rear garden fell silent.
Jacques spoke to the old man hiding behind a tree.
“…Cardinal Albert. Come out. There are no monsters left.”
“Oh? Ooh! Instructor Jacques! Thank you!”
Jacques, helmet pressed down tightly, looked intimidating. Yet Albert patted his chest in genuine relief.
“I-I was suddenly shoved by Brother Raoul and threatened with a sword, so I fled. Wh-what in the world is happening at the academy? Are the Saintess and all our students safe?”
The black knight gave no answer. He simply turned and led the way.
“…Follow. Our past relations are poor, but for now I will protect you.”
“Ooh, thank you. Truly…”
Thank you, Jacques…
A sly smile crept across Albert’s lips. His innocence would now be vouched for by this ignorant brute.
Farewell, Brother Raoul. For the sake of the Black Temple’s cause, I must continue my research on the Black Stake here. Therefore, accept a meaningful death.
The Saintess’s soul, which is no longer needed, I shall send to your side one day as well.
“Hehe…”
The black knight glanced sideways at the old man, making sure he could not flee.