No one's POV

The war continues on for both sides. The Human Empire against the forces of darkness.

Fizel: Um, if you ask me, the left is looking a little dicey.

Fizel warned the commander, her voice slow. Her partner, Linel, bobbed her head, braid swaying. But the commander did not respond. Linel looked forward again, noting to herself just how silent he always was.

The apprentice knights Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight and Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine were situated at the front of the right wing of the Human Guardian Army's Second Regiment. Just a hundred mels ahead, the First Regiment was locked in a pitched battle, but no enemies were breaking through the defensive line. Deusolbert the veteran knight was putting up a very good fight so far.

Vice Commander Fanatio was also holding up in the center of the First Regiment. She was the kind of big-sister type who was anathema to Linel and Fizel, but her ability was unquestionable. And since she had taken off her helmet and shown her face to everyone, things hadn't been nearly as strained.
The problem was the left wing.

Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-One was a rookie, just seven months into his time as a knight, and while he had made great improvements lately, this grave duty seemed to be a bit too heavy a burden for him to bear. While it was his desire to lead on the front line, maybe it would have been better to leave it to one of the veterans...

Linel envisioned the layout of the battlefield and the placement of each Integrity Knight.

There were only seven elite knights at the battle. Eldrie was on the left wing of the First Regiment, Vice Commander Fanatio was in the center, and Deusolbert was on the right wing.

Young Renly was on the left wing of the Second Regiment, Commander Bercouli was in the center, and the silent lady knight was on the right wing.

Flying in the air above was Alice Synthesis Thirty.

Linel:...The left wing just looks weaker in general...

Linel muttered, and this time it was Fizel who nodded her head. As a matter of fact, it had been looking strange for several minutes already. There didn't seem to be any damage yet, but the sounds of confused shouting were audible over the heads of the center battalion. If she squinted, she could see what looked like thick smoke flickering amid the darkness of the ravine.

Of course, if Eldrie allowed the enemy to break through the First Regiment, there would still be Renly waiting to lead the Second Regiment...

Fizel: I wonder if he's up to the task.

Fizel contemplated. Linel nodded and leaned closer to her partner to whisper.

Linel: I didn't say anything, because I was sure Uncle Bercouli had good reason, but I still think right and left should be switched in the Second Regiment. It's too worrisome having Eldricchi and Renlicchi lined up together.

In an even more hushed voice, Fizel reply back.

Fizel: I've been thinking...I bet he just wants to minimize the chance that our unit has to fight at all...

Linel:...Ohhh...

Linel glanced over at the slender figure standing some distance away from them.

She had light armor, with a gray matte finish that was rare for an Integrity Knight. Her dark-gray hair was parted directly in the middle of her white forehead and was pulled into a ponytail at the back of her neck. She looked about twenty years old, her eyelids were long and had a single fold, and she put no rouge on her lips.

It was Sheyta Synthesis Twelve, often referred to as Sheyta the Silent, although the origin of that nickname was unknown. But the girls were painfully aware that she had to be much more dangerous than her unassuming appearance would suggest. This knight was deadly. When she drew the rapier from her left hip, they did not want to be anywhere near it.

Commander Bercouli probably didn't want Sheyta fighting, either, which was why he'd placed her in command behind veteran Deusolbert, rather than the youngster Eldrie. As long as the archer ahead did his job, she would not be called on to fight. But it was not solely because of this that Linel said to the silent superior officer.

Linel: Um, Miss Sheyta?

When the woman glanced back, she continued.

Linel: May we go and take a look at the rear?

The knight's narrow eyebrows rose about two milices. It seemed to be the equivalent of asking why, so she rushed to explain.

Linel: Um, it's just, we're worried...

The brows twitched again. It must have meant About what? It was very hard to admit the answer, so Linel struggled to say.

Linel: Um...it's the guy with the supply team—you know the one. The rebel...Zora.

Next to her, Fizel nodded rapidly. Fizel and Linel had fought with the rebels Zora and Eugeo on the great stairs of Central Cathedral seven months ago. Technically, they had used their hidden poisoned blades to paralyze the two and had intended to drag them to the vice commander before cutting their throats.

It should have been an easy job. But somehow, Zora the rebel chanted the antidote art, snatched away their daggers, and paralyzed them instead. When he lowered the paralyzing dagger toward them where they were lying on the floor, they felt no fear. At most, it was a bit of regret: Oh, darn, we were nearly out of apprenticeship and made full-fledged Integrity Knights. Linel awaited the moment that her life would end, hoping only that Zora would make a clean go of it and ensure she died without too much pain.

But the young man didn't kill them. He stabbed the dagger into the ground, turned his back on them, and faced Vice Commander Fanatio in combat. Then he proceeded to win a fight, ragged and wounded, that he had no business winning. Before he left, Zora's partner, the criminal Eugeo, said something that Fizel and Linel still remembered vividly.

Eugeo: Knowing you two, you might be tempted to think that Fanatio and Zora are as strong as they are because they have Divine Objects and Perfect Weapon Control at their disposal, but you'd be wrong. They're strong to begin with. Their hearts are strong, not their techniques or weapons, and that's how they can fight through such terrible pain and perform such incredible feats.

Even now, seven months later, they didn't entirely understand it. But it was simply fact that the rebels Zora and Eugeo had toppled Administrator, the pontifex of the Church. Eugeo had given up his life in the process, and Zora had lost his mind and an arm.

What was it that the rebels had sought? What made a heart "strong"? It was the search for those answers that had brought Fizel and Linel to take part in the Human Guardian Army, all the way here at the Eastern Gate.

She still didn't have the answers. But when she'd seen Alice pushing that wheelchair with Zora in it, Linel had felt an unfamiliar emotion cross her breast. It was the first time she had ever been unable to analyze what she was feeling and thinking.

The apprentice knights Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight and Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine were born in Central Cathedral. They were told that their parents were a holy man and woman of the Axiom Church, but they did not know their names or faces.

Their parents had had children on the order of the pontifex and placed the babies in a facility within the tower. There had been a total of thirty children from similar circumstances in that place, but only the two sisters were still alive today. The other twenty-eight had been unable to withstand the pontifex's "resurrection arts" experiment and died.

Fizel and Linel had survived because they'd studied extremely hard to discover the "best way to die" that caused the least mental and physical damage. They'd pierced each other's hearts as instructed, died, and been revived according to the sacred art. By the time the pontifex had given up on the experiment, they'd been able to kill each other virtually without pain.

To them, strength was the ability to kill efficiently. If the opponent was better, you had to run away. Run, then practice, and if you got better than the opponent, you could kill them next time. So facing a stronger opponent and standing there allowing yourself to be damaged and hurt was a pointless act according to their way of thinking.

The rebels Zora and Eugeo had been no better than lower knights in terms of sheer battle ability. But they'd given up body and life to fight the pontifex and won.

For what purpose?

What did it gain them?

Linel wanted to ask Zora on their reunion, but Integrity Knight Alice was at his side at every moment, and they couldn't make contact. She didn't know whether it was possible to have a conversation with him in his current state, but she didn't want him to die before she could try. As long as the Second Regiment didn't get breached, the supply team in the back should be safe, but that unrest on the left wing was concerning.

But they couldn't explain all of that to their commanding officer, Sheyta, so they kept it simple and waited for her answer on pins and needles. The "Silent" knight's gray eyes glanced to the left wing and paused for two seconds, and then she pointed behind them with her left hand.

Linel: Uh...y-you mean we can go?

Sheyta nodded to them, so Linel and Fizel gave her a compact knight's salute.

Linel: Thank you, ma'am! We will return at once if everything is well!

They turned and began to run along the line of troops.

Linel(mind): Thank you, indeed. We never even said those words to the pontifex.

Linel shared a look and a smirk with her partner and picked up her pace.

(Timeskip)

Renly:...It's begun...

Murmured the Integrity Knight Renly Synthesis Twenty- Seven as the sound of consecutive explosions boomed in the distance. Renly was one of the seven higher knights who'd declared his dedication to the defense of the realm. That made him one of the central figures of the defensive army, and he was responsible for a significant percentage of its total power.

But he was crouched, huddling over his knees, not at the front line of the Second Regiment's left wing but far behind it, in the corner of a darkened storage tent. He'd fled from his position.

Less than an hour ago, amid the rush to prepare for the battle, he'd slipped away and found an unoccupied tent to hide in, where he now hunkered down and listened.

The reason for this was the same as his motive for taking part in the defense at all: He was a failure.

Such had the holy pontifex labeled him, and thus he'd spent five years frozen, rather than carrying out any Integrity Knight duties. He had volunteered to fight in this war to repair his honor, but in the end, he could not overcome his fear.

Though Renly did not remember it, he'd once been a boy from Sothercrois Empire to the south who was considered an unparalleled genius with the sword. He'd arrived in Centoria at the age of thirteen, and the very next year, unbelievably, he was crowned champion of the Four-Empire Unification Tournament and ushered into the Integrity Knights.

The Synthesis Ritual robbed him of all his memories, but even after waking again, he showed remarkably keen ability with the sword. He was placed among the elite knights within a very short time and given a divine weapon from the pontifex herself.

When a divine weapon was granted from Central Cathedral's store of weaponry, it was not the pontifex or the knight who chose the weapon, but the opposite: The weapon chose its wielder. There was a kind of resonance that occurred between the soul of the knight and the memory of the holy object.

Renly did indeed resonate strongly with his Divine Objects, a pair of throwing weapons called the Double-Winged Blades. However, most improbably, he was unable to ever activate its Perfect Weapon Control form, the sign of an elite Integrity Knight.

That was all it took for the pontifex to lose interest in him. When Alice Synthesis Thirty entered the knighthood not long after, her incredible ability and potential made Renly's reason for existing questionable.

It would be cruel to lay all of the fault at Renly's feet. Alice's skill was so incredible that she leaped all the way to third among the ranks of the knighthood and received the Osmanthus Blade, the oldest and most powerful of all the divine weapons. Regardless, Renly was branded a failure and sent into a long, long sleep.

When the prime senator placed him under the Deep Freeze art, turning him into an ice sculpture, all that Renly felt was an overwhelming sense of loss and inadequacy.

He was missing something huge and important...and it was why he could resonate with the Double-Winged Blades but not control them.

After a very long time, Renly awoke.

It was, in fact, in the midst of the shocking rebellion that overturned Central Cathedral. All the stationed knights, up to Commander Bercouli himself, had lost in battle, and their secret weapon Alice was missing, dead or alive, so it was at Prime Senator Chudelkin's discretion that Renly was unfrozen.

But again, Renly failed at his duty. Chudelkin and Administrator were felled before he could fully awaken, and when he could move about at last, he found only other Integrity Knights, and they were in a state of utter chaos.

In the position of commander, without the pontifex to give orders, Bercouli asked the others to take part in the desperate, last-ditch attempt to stand up against an organized invasion from the Dark Territory.

Despite suffering recent defeat, the elite knights like Fanatio, Deusolbert, and Alice accepted this duty, and Renly thought them to be even more radiant than he'd remembered.

If he joined them, he might understand at last. He might find what he was missing and learn why the weapon would not respond to him.

Renly had stood up from the corner of the hall where he had huddled, and he timidly raised his hand. Bercouli had nodded with great satisfaction, placed his large hand upon Renly's shoulder, and said simply, I'm counting on you.

But now, in his first battle, his first combat, the pressure was more than he could handle. The acrid tang of all the fury, greed, and lethality of those armies just a thousand mels away hung thick over him, and before he knew what he was doing, Renly had run away.

Renly(mind): Stand up. Get back to your station. If you don't fight now, you'll be a failure for eternity.

He scolded himself over and over as he hid in the tent. But he couldn't even bring himself to undo the grip he had around his knees. Soon the rumbling charge and approaching roars told him that the battle was beginning.

Renly:...It's begun...

He repeated to himself. He thought he felt his weapons, one on either hip, vibrating with rebuke of their master.

Renly(mind): No...Even if I were there, I'd only get in the way...

How could he stand again before the commander and the soldiers who looked to him for help?

Renly(mind): It will make no difference whether I am there or not. An elite knight who cannot use Perfect Weapon Control is more of an impediment than a boon.

He told himself these excuses and more as he wriggled his face even farther between his knees—when a soft voice from the entrance to the tent caused him to start.

Ronie: What about this one, Tiese?

Renly(mind): Have they come looking for me?

Renly quaked, unbefitting of a knight, but then he heard another voice. They both sounded like young women.

Tiese: Yeah, this tent should work, Ronie. We'll hide him in here and stand guard at the door.

There was no time nor space for hiding. Renly simply huddled in the supply tent, clutching his legs, waiting for the approaching figures to find him. From what little light came through the round port in the canvas, he could see girls who looked to be maybe fifteen or sixteen years old. One had brilliant-red hair, while the other's was dark brown. They had on light armor over gray tunics and skirts, uniforms from some academy. They both had slender longswords on their left side. He did not recognize their faces, and based on the make of their equipment, he took them to be civilian fighters, not knights.

What was much odder was the metal chair that the brown-haired girl was pushing. Instead of legs, the chair had four wheels, and a black-haired young man sat slumped in it. Renly found his eyes drawn to the man's face.

He was about twenty and terribly thin, and he was missing his right arm from the shoulder down. At first glance, he seemed to be weaker than even the girls. But the two swords bundled in their sheaths that his good arm clutched were so incredibly powerful, exuding such force of presence, that it was clear to Renly at a glance that they might even be higher Divine Objects than his own Double-Winged Blades.

What did this mean? Just to carry them across his lap like that, to say nothing of having proper ownership of the weapons, required strength on the level of an Integrity Knight. But the haggard young man with the empty eyes seemed anything but strong.

Tiese: Is someone here?

At this point, the girls had noticed him; they sucked in sharp breaths and froze where they stood. The red-haired one put a hand on her sword hilt with somewhat alarming speed. Before they could draw their weapons on him, Renly rasped.

Renly: I'm not an enemy...Forgive me for startling you. May I stand up? I will show you my hands are empty.

Tiese:...Go ahead.

The girl said, her voice hard, and Renly slowly lifted himself up. He stepped forward, hands raised, until the light through the canopy revealed his top-level armor and dual weapons. The girls gasped and straightened up. They removed their hands from sword and chair handle and made their salutes across the left breast.

Tiese: S-Sir Knight! Forgive the impertinence!

Stammered the red-haired girl, her face pale, but Renly just shook his head.

Renly: No...it's my fault for startling you. And besides...I am no longer an Integrity Knight...

He said, his voice nearly vanishing by the end, to the surprise of the girls. They couldn't be blamed—the fringed white cape over his back and combined cross and circle of the Axiom Church gleaming on his breastplate marked him as none other than the highest of knights.

Renly moved his fingers to cover the symbol and wryly admitted.

Renly: I abandoned my post and fled to this tent. The battle's already begun at the front. I bet the squad I'm meant to command is in a panic now. People are dying already. And here I am, frozen with fear. I am no knight, and I can claim no integrity.

He bit his lip and finally looked up. He saw his own face reflected in the large orange eyes of the red-haired girl. Gray-colored hair tufting briefly over his forehead. Rounded cheeks. And big, girlish eyes with long lashes and none of the proud fierceness of his position—a young failure of a knight, just fifteen years old. He wanted to tear his eyes away from that appearance he hated so much— but the red-haired girl covered her mouth, reeling from some fresh shock.

Renly:...?

He stared at her, puzzlement on his face, and this time it was the girl who averted her eyes and shook her head.

Tiese: N-nothing, sir. I-I'm sorry...

She would not look up again, so the previously silent girl with the burnt- brown hair and eyes said, in a faint but firm voice.

Ronie: Forgive our late introduction. We are Primary Trainee Ronie Arabel and Primary Trainee Tiese Schtrinen of the supply team. And this...is Elite Disciple Zora.

Renly: Zora? The one who defeated the Pontifex?

Recognition of that name brought a gasp to Renly's throat. He knew that name. It belonged to one of the two rebels who'd laid siege to Central Cathedral half a year earlier. The very person whom Renly had been unfrozen to fight, only to fail to reach the battle in time.

This withered young swordsman was responsible for felling the almighty Administrator? Was his missing right arm a scar from the battle?

So intimidated by the presence of this empty-eyed young man was Renly that he drew back his foot. The petite young woman named Ronie did not seem to notice. She pleaded.

Ronie: Please, Sir Knight...we have no right to comment on your circumstances. We are members of the guardian army, too, but hang in the rear, rather than fighting at the line of battle. But...that is our duty for now. Miss Alice instructed us to dedicate ourselves to his protection...

Renly(mind): Alice.

Alice Synthesis Thirty.

The young genius knight who was a foil for Renly in every way. Even in this moment, she would be standing alone at the front line, preparing a mammoth sacred art that would prove to be the linchpin of the guardian army's strategy. As if to put even more pressure on Renly and his feelings of inferiority, Primary Trainee Arabel desperately insisted.

Ronie: Sir Knight, I'm afraid to be so rude...but will you please help us? Even the two of us are not certain we can fight off a single goblin. Please...please, we must protect Zora-senpai!

Renly squinted at the pureness of the look in Ronie's eyes. It was the kind of thing found only in those whose duty was carved into their souls and whose determination to achieve said duty would be stopped by nothing, even the loss of their own lives.

Renly(mind): If they are primary trainees, then they haven't even graduated yet. And yet, even these girls have something I've misplaced. Or maybe I've been missing it from the moment I awoke in this world as an Integrity Knight...

He heard his own voice issuing from a cracked throat as though it belonged to someone else.

Renly: You'll be safe here...I think. Commander Bercouli himself is leading the Second Regiment, and if they break past his guard, then the entire world is done for anyway; the end will come sooner or later. I'm going to sit here until the battle is over. If you want to stay here, too, then I won't bother you...

His voice was nothing more than warm air by the end. He returned to the back, where he had been, and plopped down again. Right about that time was when Kosogi and his mountain goblins' smoke bombs began to erupt on the left wing of Eldrie's line. With thick smoke hanging heavy over the battlefield, a swarm of goblins slipped past the defensive barricade like water through a coarsely woven net.

But neither Renly nor the girls could have known that they were plotting to wipe out the supply team at the rear line of the Human Guardian Army.

Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven was about to sink to his knees in the back of the supply tent when he heard multiple shouts and breath being drawn sharply from a surprisingly close distance.

Renly(Mind): Could it be? Had the enemy broken through the ravine's defenses so quickly? No, that was impossible. Less than twenty minutes had passed since the fighting had started.

He was just overagitated, he decided. It was making him hear distant sounds very clearly—that was all. But the reactions of the two girls who had already evacuated to this tent told him that the approaching voices of soldiers were not figments of his imagination.

Tiese: No way...Are they already this far back?!

The red-haired student named Tiese Schtrinen looked up and rushed quickly to the entrance of the tent. She lifted the flap and checked outside. Her whisper came back sharp and quick.

Tiese: Smoke...!

Ronie Arabel stiffened.

Ronie: Wha...? You can see fire, Tiese?! Are the tents on fire?!

Tiese: No, it's just really dark smoke...No, hang on. I can see...a bunch of people coming from the...

Tiese's words seemed to be swallowed up by the heavy canvas flap as she peered through the gap. In the tense silence that followed, Renly hovered above a crouch, listening intently.

He suddenly realized he could no longer hear the shouting. But while it was quieter now, he sensed that someone was coming closer. There were damp footsteps outside, slapping on firm ground.

Suddenly and awkwardly, Tiese pulled back from the doorway to the center of the tent. Her trembling hand reached across her body to her waist. No sooner did Renly realize that she was trying to draw her weapon than the hanging door was violently ripped loose.

It was night outside, the only source of light the campfires lit here and there, dim and red, against which stood a figure. It was short and hunched but with unusually thick arms, clutching a crude weapon that looked as if it had been cut straight out of metal plate.

A stench wafted in with the air from the doorway, stinging Renly's nose. Primary Trainee Schtrinen pulled her sword loose, rattling the sheath as she did so. Next to the wheelchair, Primary Trainee Arabel gasped.

Ronie: A goblin?!

The alien intruder spoke, its voice hissing and raspy.

Goblin: Ooh...Little Ium girls...You will be my prey...

Tiese backed away, repelled by the open, ugly greed in its voice. Though he was an elite Integrity Knight, this was the first time Renly had ever laid eyes on a nonhuman from the Dark Territory. He had been frozen in storage before he could earn the dragon that would have taken him over the End Mountains in the first place.

Renly(mind): It's...completely different.

He thought, in dull shock. Through lectures from the older knights and the cathedral's documents, he'd thought he'd learned a fair bit about the four nonhuman races of the Dark Territory. But the goblins he'd imagined to be some mischievous fairies out of legends were nothing at all like the hideous creature standing not eight mels away.

He felt his fingers going numb. The goblin took one heavy step forward. Light gleamed off his dirty armor plates as if they were fish scales.

Tiese held her sword up toward the goblin with both hands, but her knees shook so badly, the tip wouldn't stay still. The faint sound of chattering Renly could pick up must have been her teeth.

Ronie: T...Tiese...

Ronie whimpered. She stood before Zora's wheelchair, protecting it, with her hand on her sword hilt, but her legs were shivering, too. He had to stand. He had to get to his feet, draw his Double-Winged Blades, and fight the goblin warrior.

And yet, Renly's body was as unresponsive to commands as if it were made of stone. It was just one nonhuman enemy. The Integrity Knight was worth a thousand soldiers; he had been given enough power to take on a thousand such goblins and win.

Goblin: Gffh...How tasty you look...

The goblin crowed, licking its lips, only to drool a large, sticky glob of saliva.

Tiese: S-stay back! Or else I'll...

Tiese warned, summoning all her courage, but that only enticed the goblin further. The grinning demi-human took another step forward, not even brandishing its weapon yet. Thuk. There was a soft, dry sound inside the tent.

The goblin soldier's yellow eyes stared with wonder at its own chest. A piece of sharp, smooth metal jutted out from the crude slab of armor there. Fresh blood gleamed and ran down the surface of the sharp metal object: a sword point. Someone had pierced the goblin's heart from behind.

Goblin:...What...is this...?

They were the goblin's final words. The strength drained from its powerful body, and it fell limp to the floor of the tent. Standing on the other side was a warrior, or perhaps a priestess, about half a head shorter than even the young students. Her brown hair was tied into a braid, and she wore a silver breastplate over a black habit. The sword in her right hand was short for her size but very fine. She looked no older than a child, but even though she had just slaughtered the fearsome nonhuman soldier, her little face showed no sign of intimidation.

It was at this point that Renly finally snapped to attention. This girl was no swordswoman, nor was she a holy woman. She was a knight, an apprentice Integrity Knight by the name of Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight. She was one of the Terrible Twins, the girl who had dueled and killed the previous twenty-eighth knight and taken the number for herself.

Linel's expression did not change upon seeing Renly and his pathetic posture. She checked on the two students, saw that Kirito was safe where he sat, and turned on her heel. Then another apprentice knight appeared at the doorway of the tent. Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine, her short hair the same color as Linel's, murmured to her partner.

Fizel: Nel, I cleaned up all the goblins around here, but more will come. Maybe we should move.

Linel: Mm. Got it, Zel.

Linel agreed. She stuck the toe of her boot under the body of the goblin that blocked the floor near the entrance and flipped it out of the way. Not much blood spilled in the process, a sign that the blow from behind had been so quick and precise that there hadn't even been time for the goblin to bleed. She turned back to the speechless trainees.

Linel: I am Linel, and this is Fizel. We're apprentice knights.

Tiese: Y-yes, I know. I saw you during exercises. We're Primary Trainees Tiese Schtrinen and Ronie Arabel. Th...thank you for saving us.

Tiese said, her voice still trembling a bit. Ronie bowed her head. Linel just shrugged, in a very mature way.

Linel: You might be getting ahead of yourself. Over a hundred goblins broke through the defensive line along the left wing of the First and Second Regiments thanks to the smoke screen they set up.

She paused then and finally looked right at Renly. Her purplish-gray eyes narrowed.

Linel: What is the elite knight who is supposed to be in command of the Second Regiment's left wing doing in here? Your subordinates are running around in a panic within the smoke.

Renly looked away, avoiding the piercing gaze of the apprentice knight, and grunted.

Renly: It has nothing to do with you. Take these two and their sick patient to a safe place.

He was keenly aware of an abrupt change in Linel's manner. A chill brushed his cheek, something no child would be capable of emitting. The little blade gleamed and flickered in the orange campfire light, reflecting off the goblin blood. Was she going to kill him, as she had the previous Twenty-Eight?

Then let it be quick. He was meant to be stored away as a failure of a knight. It had been a mistake to put him into a real battle in the first place. He couldn't go back to the Second Regiment, and there was no place for him back at the cathedral if he fled there. Being executed by an apprentice knight like Linel was a fitting end for a coward like him.

Renly turned his head away, awaiting the finality of the blade. But what he heard was not approaching footsteps but a soft voice.

Linel: You might be a terrible coward...but you are an elite knight, which means you possess some kind of strength. You ought to be grateful to the swordsman you called a 'sick patient.'

Renly(mind): What does that mean?

Renly wondered. By the time he raised his head, he saw only the back of Linel's habit.

Linel: Trainees, bring Zora and follow me.

Linel ordered at the same time that Fizel reported.

Fizel: Nel, they're here! Eight...no, ten of them!

There were indeed multiple sets of footsteps approaching from the east. Tiese and Ronie were rooted to the spot, so Linel turned to them.

Linel: Ignore that command. Stay here for a while. We will go clean up the goblins.

Tiese: Y-yes, Miss Knight.

Tiese said. Linel slid out of the tent and disappeared with Fizel. Immediately, they heard a goblin yell "There! Ium younglings!" and fading footsteps. They were going to put some distance between them and the tent before they killed their targets. Facing ten goblins without fear was a bold act, one that seemed out of place for apprentices. But they clearly had the strength to achieve this.

Renly(mind): Strength.

Linel had identified Renly as a coward but also said that he had "some kind of strength." And also that he should be grateful to the very rebel, Zora, who had once been their opponent.

He didn't know what that meant, and he didn't feel the tiniest bit of this strength he supposedly had. He had been within eyesight of the enemy and couldn't even find the bravery to get to his feet. Renly hung his head, unable to even look up at Tiese and Ronie.

But that lasted for only a few seconds. Just to the left of Renly, the thick hemp wall of the tent tore in a straight line. This time, he was startled into lifting off the ground and leaping away from the disturbance.

Standing on the other side of the rip was a goblin in finer armor than the one before, though it was a bit shorter. This leather armor was well crafted and dyed black. Assuming it had slipped past the twins, this one seemed to be an advance scout adept at clandestine actions.

Without realizing it, Renly was reaching for his throwing weapons. But he couldn't draw them; as with the first goblin, the terror that bubbled up from his gut seemed to freeze his fingers.

Renly wasn't clearly aware of this, but the source of his fear was not the sight of his first close-up nonhuman enemy. It was fear of fighting itself. To be precise, fear arising from the knowledge that if he fought with this goblin, it would continue until one of them died.

He was afraid of being killed. And even more afraid of doing the killing.

More feet marched closer as he stood there. This must be a separate unit from the ones Linel and Fizel were drawing away from the tent. More than just ten or twenty goblins had slipped through the defensive line.

The scout saw Renly's fear in the way he stood still, so it grinned and turned to Tiese and Ronie. The girls stepped in front of Zora and bravely raised their swords. But their faces soon turned to despair—more figures were approaching behind the scout, silhouetted against the smoke. The scout raised the scythe-like weapon it held and crept closer to the girls.

Tiese: S-stop right there! Come any closer, and I'll attack!

The redhead bravely warned. But her voice was thin and wavering.

Goblin:...

The goblin closed the distance. It was clear from the way it kept in motion, rather than wasting time with threats and gloating, that it was a well- trained elite soldier. But Tiese held her ground and pulled back the sword, her face resolute.

Renly(mind): You can't. Run away.

But Renly's lips wouldn't move. Even now, his body—his soul—refused to fight. Then he heard some faint sound, like creaking. His eyes flitted to the right. In the darkness at the back of the tent, the black-haired young man sat lifeless in his chair, expression blank. The sound was coming from his left hand. A vein rose on the skin where he clutched the two swords, the tendons bulging. There was great strength being expended there.

As though furious that he had no right hand with which to wield a sword.

Renly: Are you...?

Renly whispered, all air and no voice.

Renly(mind): Are you trying to save them? When you cannot stand or use your sword or even speak? And yet... I'm...

All at once, he understood. The strength that Linel and Fizel spoke of—it was not about technique or sacred arts or divine weapons or Perfect Control arts. It was that simple power that everyone, Integrity Knight or common folk alike, possessed but could lose so easily.

Bravery.

Renly's right hand began to move, ever so slowly. His numb fingers brushed the Double-Winged Blades at his waist. All of a sudden, the feeling returned to them. The Divine Objects were saying something to him. The goblin pulled back its wicked scythe, preparing to swing it at Tiese. All at once, there was a swift swishing of air being split, and a pale shine flashed briefly, reflecting throughout the tent.

The light curved from Renly's hand on upward, brushing the roof of the tent before plunging. It swept through the goblin's body, changed angles, and snapped back right between the index and middle fingers of Renly's outstretched right hand.

Goblin:...Gr...hg...?

The goblin's growl sounded more confused than anything. A pale-red line appeared, running through the middle of its face. Then the top half of the goblin's head slid wetly off the bottom and plopped onto the ground.

The Double-Winged Blades were very thin steel throwing blades that curved at the center. There was no hilt or handle to hold the forty-cen blades. Both ends had sharp tips, which he gripped between his fingers to throw the blades. They then flew, rotating rapidly, changing angles on the fly, before returning to their master for him to catch them between his fingers again.

In other words, even in ordinary use, they required far more concentration than a simple sword did. If he lost any bit of focus, he would fail to catch the returning blade and could easily lose a finger or two.

The fact that he could capably use such a weapon was proof enough of Renly's considerable skill—but he was completely unaware of this. The lack of Perfect Weapon Control was a huge weight on his shoulders, an inadequacy that softened his resolve.

So a single attack that instantly killed its goblin target did not suddenly bring Renly back to his senses, ready to fight. Cold metal rang faintly in his outstretched fingers. He breathed in and out, shallow and quick.

Renly(mind): I killed. I killed it.

He repeated in his head, over and over.

Tiese:...Sir Knight.

It was Tiese who broke the silence. There were little tears in her maple-red eyes.

Tiese: Thank...thank you so much! You...you saved us!

The words were a warm balm on the icy fear that enveloped Renly's heart. But he didn't have the wherewithal to respond. Multiple figures were approaching from the smoke screen. It looked like more than ten, in fact.

Renly(mind): I can't. I can't fight anymore. A single goblin was already too terrifying.

The meager bravery he had summoned from his every fiber was already fleeing him. His breath was quick. His legs felt weak. His eyes swam around, looking for an escape. Once again, they were drawn to the two longswords clutched under the black-haired youth's arm.

One of them, a sword with a beautiful, finely carved rose on its hilt, seemed to be faintly glowing in the gloom. The light was blue but seemed almost warm somehow. It pulsed, beating like a heart. He felt the chilly fear that enveloped him gradually melt. Renly sucked in a deep breath.

Renly: I want you two to stay here and protect Zora.

Tiese and Ronie: W-we will!

Tiese and Ronie replied. He nodded to them and left the tent through the rip the goblin scout had made. Two goblins at the head of the approaching group instantly noticed him and bared their fangs.

His right hand flicked, and the light shot through the air again. The blade returned to his fingertips at the same moment that two heads fell to the ground. But Renly didn't even register it, his eyes already searching for the next target, at which point he threw the blade from his left side. Two more goblins perished instantly, their bodies crumpling.

In just four seconds, Renly had eliminated four goblins, but more of them approached.

Goblin: A knight...

Goblin 2: It's a leader!

Goblins: Kill him! Kill him!!

They screeched. Renly began running toward the front line to draw them away from the tent. The goblins pursued, their armor rattling as they scrambled after him. Eventually, the rows of supply tents petered out. Just to the left was a vertical rock face, and the visibility ahead was reduced by the thick smoke screen, out of which charged goblin after goblin. Then there were the ten or so following him from behind.

Having charged to his potential death, Renly now stopped and held out his arms, a curved blade in each hand, and shouted.

Renly: My name is Renly!! The Integrity Knight Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven!! If you want my head, you will have to give your life to take it!

The goblins greeted his speech—containing every last ounce of boldness he had—with ferocious roars. They brandished their crude knives and raced for him, front and back. Renly hurled his two blades. The one from his right hand went right, and the left blade went left. Each line of approaching goblins was met with a flying, curving projectile.

Renly(mind): I can do this!

Numerous heads left their shoulders and toppled to the ground. A second later, filthy black blood spurted from their necks as the bodies flopped over. Rather than pinching the blades as they returned, Renly caught them spinning around his index fingers, keeping the rotation alive, and hurled them again without pause.

Renly(mind): If I can hold out a little longer, reinforcements should arrive from the front lines, where the smokescreen's thinned out.

The exact same effect resulted. In a head-to-head comparison of regular attack power, this was more powerful than even Deusolbert's Conflagration Bow and Fanatio's Heaven-Piercing Blade. The Double-Winged Blades were thinner than paper and spun with such incredible speed that anything less than the finest armor might as well not even exist.

Two tosses of the pair of blades offed more than ten goblins, and even the fearless goblins' mad charge slowed a bit, as they were stunned by the sudden deaths of their fellows.

He could do this. If he just held out a bit longer, reinforcements would soon come through the line ahead, where the smoke would be thinning out. Stifling the fear he felt toward his own mass slaughter, Renly threw the blades for a third time.

But this time, he did not hear that familiar sound, like a machete slicing through a small branch. Instead, it was a high-pitched clash: Kshiiing!

Renly reached out as far as he could to catch the blades, which just barely managed to return, despite being knocked fiercely off their trajectory. He couldn't nimbly catch them on one finger this time and had to gingerly receive the lethal blades on the fly. Through gaping eyes, he saw a single goblin appear through the hazy smoke.

It was large. In height, it was not far off from Renly, whose physical frame was that of a fifteen-year-old. But the rippling muscles that covered its body and the malevolent look pouring like fire from its yellow eyes were not at all like the other goblins. It wore light armor of studded leather, perhaps for better mobility, and a thick cleaver hung from its right hand.

Renly:...Are you the captain?

Renly asked, his voice low.

Kosogi: I am. Kosogi, chief of the mountain goblins.

The creature replied and made a show of looking around.

Kosogi: Well, well, you've done quite a number here. I didn't think there would be an Integrity Knight stationed back here. So much for my guess.

In addition to its stature, this goblin did not speak like the others, either. While it was just as malicious and hostile, the brutishness was held in check by what was clearly much higher intelligence. That doesn't matter. Just because it was lucky enough to deflect the Double-Winged Blades once doesn't mean it can keep it up, Renly told himself. He crossed his arms before him and shouted.

Renly: Your war ends here!!

He threw his blades as hard and fast as he could. The right blade swept down at an angle from above, while the left skimmed the ground and leaped upward, both aiming right for Kosogi's neck. But again, Renly's attack resulted in a loud, clear ringing noise. With speed that reduced his weapon to a gray blur, Kosogi had swung it and blocked the attacks coming from both sides in one capable motion. The deflected blades barely made it back to Renly's grasp.

Renly(Mind): Why?! The blades should be able to slice through any goblin weapon!

He thought, scarcely believing it. His eyes were drawn to Kosogi's cleaver. It was the same crude style of knife that the other goblins carried, but the color of the blade was different. That was not primitive cast iron; it was refined steel that had been forged over a long period of time to increase its quality. Sensing Renly's shock, Kosogi hefted the blade up close to his face and chuckled.

Kosogi: This? It's a test model. Pretty good, isn't it? Much blood was shed to steal the materials and methods from the dark knighthood. But...this isn't the only reason I was able to block you, boy knight.

Renly:...How about this, then?

Renly hurled his hands upward. The blades vanished out of sight into the darkness of the night sky, then swooped down to attack Kosogi from behind. Surely that would be impossible to stop—

Renly:...!!

But Renly's certainty was proven wrong immediately. To his disbelief, Kosogi swung the cleaver behind his back and struck the high-speed blades that he couldn't possibly see for himself. The weapons wobbled their way unsteadily back, and Renly just barely failed to catch one of them, cutting the middle finger on his left hand. He didn't have time to register the pain, however.

Kosogi: They're too light, boy. And they make sound.

Kosogi explained simply. He had perfectly identified the weakness of the Double-Winged Blades. The weight of each blade was almost impossibly light for the weapons known as Divine Objects. It was an inevitable consequence of prioritizing only sharpness and rotation power, and it meant that any enemy with armor of a sufficient priority level who could react in time could not be simply overpowered.

Also, a blade that flew and spun at a high rate of rotation produced a characteristic slicing sound. Someone with good ears listening for that sort of anomaly could predict where it was going if they were skilled enough.

The intelligence that Kosogi showed in identifying and reacting to his attacks after only a handful of chances sent a chill down Renly's spine. How a crude, lesser being like a goblin could be capable of such cleverness was—

Kosogi: The look on your says, "But your just a Goblin!" Boy. But this is what I have to say about it. "You call yourself an esteemed knight?" A single Integrity Knight is a match for thousands. That's what I was told. But it looks like that's not the case for you, huh? That's why you've been hiding all the way back here. Am I right?

Renly:...Yeah, that's right.

It was a mistake for him to have looked down on this foe as a mere goblin. Renly decided to abandon his pride and admit the truth.

Renly: I am a failure of a knight. But don't take the wrong meaning from that. I'm the failure...not these.

He held up the silver blades near his face. The only way to eliminate the inherent weakness of the Double-Winged Blades was the special technique of the Integrity Knight itself: Perfect Weapon Control.

These weapons had once been a pair of holy birds that had each lost a wing, one right and one left. Unable to fly with just one wing each, they'd connected their bodies and risen to a height that other birds could only dream of. They'd flown distances that were nearly infinite.

This legend had inflicted a sharp but tiny wound in his heart, so deep that he did not even realize it was there.

It regarded his loved one, the person removed from his memory by the Synthesis Ritual. It was his best friend growing up, someone whose life he'd taken in an accident during the extreme combat between them in the final of the Four-Empire Unification Tournament.

He and Renly had truly been like a pair of birds. They'd competed with each other from the moment they were self-aware, and after leaving home to travel to Centoria, they became support for one another in their quest to overcome all challenges and reach the very heights of their craft.

But that was where their wings gave way.

Even losing his memory and being made an Integrity Knight did not fill the gaping hole left in Renly's heart. Without the bravery to take his sword and fight, and the joy of having his heart connected to another's, there was no way for Renly to summon the mental image of the holy birds flapping together with one wing each.

However, he had just met this young black-haired man who seemed more damaged than anyone had ever been yet still clutched those two precious swords in his only arm. The faint light that one of those swords emitted seemed to speak to Renly, silently telling him that there was one thing in this world that was never lost, even after death.

It was memory.

Life was passed on from one soul to the next, through personal bonds and connections, in perpetuity, for as long as the world itself existed.

Renly looked away from the approaching goblin chief, who was smiling with the certainty of victory, and closed his eyes. From the body of the boy knight who seemed to have given up all hope, a burst of sword energy like a searing wind suddenly issued forth. His eyes shot open. He crossed his arms in front with the steel blades, hiding the bottom half of his face from view.

Renly: Double Wings, take flight!!

He flung his arms sideways. Two strips of light leaped upward, arcing, and plunged toward Kosogi from the sides.

Kosogi: Keep trying it...and you'll only get the same result!!

The goblin chief readied his cleaver and forcefully knocked the blades aside. Red sparks flew along with metallic screeches. The two flying blades were easily deflected, but they rose into the air again, rather than falling to the ground. Like a pair of birds soaring together, they swept into a spiral formation, growing closer and closer. The moment that the blades touched, Renly shouted.

Renly: Release... Recollection!!

It was not simply Perfect Weapon Control, but the ultimate secret technique beyond it, the command to unleash the weapon's memories. Pure, blinding brilliance lit the ravine. The steel blades drew into the center of that light, where they connected and fused.

It was the unleashed true form of the Double-Winged Blades: a cross- shaped construction that gleamed blue, like the stars of the distant night sky, as it slowly rotated. Renly lifted a hand toward his counterpart glowing in the far heights.

Renly: It's beautiful. Just like me and...

Then he clenched his raised hand. The cross-shaped blade began to spin with tremendous force. The wind-whistling sound that it normally made rose in pitch until it passed out of the range of hearing and became silent. With a soft, easy motion, Renly swung his hand downward. The Double- Winged Blades, now just a disc of light, sliced silently toward the goblin.

Kosogi: This is a waste of time!!

Roared Kosogi, swinging his cleaver at the weapon as it descended upon him. But right when the thick steel was about to hit the ultrathin blade, the divine weapon abruptly changed course, bouncing vertically to cause the cleaver to miss, then accelerating straight down once again. There was a faint, dry sound: kahk.

Then a pale shine rippled through the median line of Kosogi's well- muscled body.

Goblins: Gaaaaah!!

The goblin bellowed, trying to leap onto Renly. But his left half seemed unable to keep up with his right. After a step or two, the two halves separated entirely and fell heavily to the ground.

When Renly caught the returning Double-Winged Blades, they silently separated into two parts and assumed their former shapes. He stared at the twin blades, which were utterly spotless.

His hidden memories had not returned. In fact, Renly was not aware that some of his own memories had been taken out of his reach at all. But he was certain now that somewhere within him were faint traces of someone whom he'd once been very close to, whose heart had been connected to his own. For the moment, that was enough for him.

He closed his eyes briefly, then lifted his head. Many goblin warriors waited behind Kosogi, the enemy leader. But it was strangely quiet all around. Through the layer of smoke, which was gradually clearing up, Renly saw that there were hundreds of bodies piled in heaps. They were enemy soldiers who had been alive just minutes before this. He was shocked; who had done this—and when?

Linel: Renlicchi?

Fizel:...Well, I suppose you've gotten the tiniest bit more knightly.

He turned, startled, toward the source of the voice. Approaching from the right was the apprentice knight Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight. Nearby was Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine. Clearly, these two were responsible for cleaning up all the enemy troops.

He stood there, dumbfounded. Eventually Linel, the one with the braids, snorted and gave him what seemed like a very forced knight's salute.

Fizel and Linel: Elder Knight, we beseech thee for orders.

They said, probably mostly out of sarcasm, but it beat open derision. Renly cleared his throat.

Renly: Are he and the other girls all right?

Fizel: Yeah. We sent them back to the supply team.

Fizel reported. He sighed in relief.

Renly: And the infiltrating enemy soldiers?

Linel: Entirely wiped out.

Renly: Then I'm returning to my unit. You should do the same.

Fizel: Fine.

Linel: Yes, sir.

The girls turned and ran off, not seeming fatigued in any way by the battle. Renly watched them go, then glanced back at the supply tents behind him.

Renly:...Thank you...

He said to the two trainee girls and the young swordsman. Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven, elite knight, began running east to rejoin the left wing of the Second Regiment, where he belonged.

(Elsewhere)

The very back of the secondary formation of the Dark Territory troops sat about five hundred mels from the ravine, where the fighting was pitched. On the second level of a deluxe four-wheeled carriage (if still inferior to Emperor Vecta's tank) stood a tall woman, arms crossed, with plenty of bare skin showing. It was one of the dark lords, the chancellor of the dark mages guild, Dee Eye Ell.

A messenger mage dressed in black looked up at her master from the side and reported, "Sigurosig, Shibori, and Kosogi have been struck down." Dee's lips instantly twisted with scorn.

Dee: Useless vermin...I shouldn't have expected a nonhuman to do anything right.

She looked down at the necklace charm draped over the skin of her ample breasts. The silver circle with twelve precious stones set around it was a special Divine Object that told time by the changing color of the stones. The six o'clock stone glowed orange, but the seven o'clock stone was still dark. That meant that only about twenty minutes had passed since the start of the hostilities at six o'clock.

Dee: Have you located the Integrity Knights?

She snapped, clearly irritated. The messenger mage uttered a quick command and waited to hear the response of her counterpart lurking somewhere on the battlefield.

Dark Mage: Three sighted on the front line have been targeted. Two others in the rear have been sighted, but their locations are not quite ready.

Dee: Still only five? Perhaps that is all the number they have.

Dee snarled to herself, a far cry from the coquettish display she put on in the presence of the emperor.

Dee: In either case, we must eliminate those five without fail...

She thought it over, then ordered,

Dee: Send in the minions. My command is...

She narrowed her eyes, judging the distance to the crumbled gate and the battlefield near it.

Dee: Fly seven hundred mels, descend to the ground, and lay waste to the enemy.

Dark Mage: At that distance, the nonhuman troops fighting at the front will get caught up in the attack.

Dee: No matter.

She replied, unbothered. The messenger showed no emotion of her own as she nodded her understanding, then asked.

Dark Mage: And what number, my lady? All eight hundred currently hatched are at your disposal.

Dee: Let's see...

Dee considered the question. Minions required considerable resources and time to generate, and they were a far more valuable tool to her than the goblin soldiers. She wished she could be sparing with them, but if her plan to wipe out the enemy's main force with a concentrated dark-arts barrage from a distance failed to do the job, the emperor would be very displeased with her.

Dee:...All eight hundred.

She ordered, a cruel smile on her lips. Dee's secret ambition was to help Dark God Vecta triumph in this battle so he could capture the so-called Priestess of Light and return to the depths of the earth—and then gain the emperor's mantle from him and rule the entire Underworld in the aftermath.

On the day she became empress of the world, she could make thousands upon thousands of minions. Her greatest obstacle, General Shasta, was dead now, and the only power players after him were the merchant who only had interest in money and the pugilist who only had interest in fighting. Ultimate success was nearly at her doorstep.

Once Dee had conquered the entire world, which even the half-god Administrator couldn't do, she would gain the sacred art of everlasting life that was supposedly hidden in the headquarters of the Axiom Church.

Immortality. Eternal youth.

Sweet chills of pleasure ran up Dee's spine at the thought. A red tongue licked over her blue-painted lips.

Just then, the messenger mage's orders reached the brigade of dark mages at the front, and the man-made black monsters took flight all at once, like darkness itself gaining wings. Eight hundred minions rose on command, campfire light reflecting off their shining skin, and flew right for the ravine.

(Elsewhere)

Bercouli(mind): Here they come.

Commander Bercouli's lips, which had been closed as tightly as a statue's since the battle had begun, finally split into a wide grin. He sensed that a large number of flying enemy troops were entering the boundaries of his Perfect Weapon Control power, which he was maintaining in the air over the gate.
These were not dragons bearing dark knights. They were soulless minions, cold as clay.

But he did not activate the art yet. There were plenty more of them yet to be drawn within his giant web of cuts before they were all there.

Bercouli's finely honed senses already told him about the valiant efforts of Fanatio and Deusolbert—and even of Renly's initial escape and subsequent awakening into his power. If they had struck down three of the invading army's advance-line generals, there was no danger of the front line being pushed back upon them at this point.

If they could simply have Alice, waiting high above, use all the resources acquired thus far to nullify the enemy's long-distance sacred arts as planned, then the unharmed Second Regiment of the guardian army would be free to fight with the enemy's main force, which was made up of dark knights and pugilists.
He suspected that his own true part to play would come after that. And not in a one-on-one fight against his rival, Dark General Shasta.

Bercouli was already aware that Shasta's presence was gone from the enemy's camp. Most likely, the snuffing out of the great presence in the far east several days ago had been the final moment of that worthy warrior's life.

As the eldest of the Integrity Knights, Bercouli had lived countless months and years, and he no longer mourned the death of those whose lives met their natural end. But the death of Shasta brought him nothing but bitter disappointment—he was a man who Bercouli had once hoped would one day help draw the land of darkness and the human realm into a peaceful coexistence free of bloodshed.

Now the one out there who'd ended Shasta's life, the owner of that vast, freezing emptiness—whoever he was—likely commanded the entire army of the Dark Territory, and only by cutting that foe down could Bercouli properly mourn his rival.

Or perhaps it would finally be the end of his own life, he sensed. But there was no longer even a shred of him that still clung to living on. If the time had finally come for him to die, then so be it.

When Fanatio's lower knight unleashed her Incarnate power in that final desperate moment, Bercouli was both impressed and even a little jealous. But of course, now was not that time for him. At last, the swarm of minions that tore through the darkness overhead was entirely contained within the prison of his sword's slashes.

Bercouli's eyes flashed, and he slowly, easily lifted the Time-Splitting Sword from its resting point, with the tip against the ground, to an overhead position.

Bercouli: Time Splitting Sword! Air Slash!

His cry cut forth, a naked blade through the void. At the same time, in the air up ahead, a multitude of white lines formed a three-dimensional lattice pattern and flashed brightly. There was a great chorus of screeching death wails, and filthy black blood poured down on the nonhuman enemy army in torrents.

Minion blood was mildly poisonous, and it only brought further chaos to the troops that were already without their commanding officers.

(Elsewhere)

The messenger mage, who had been utterly emotionless the entire time, now let a faint note of fear creep into her voice, giving Dee an ill premonition. That feeling quickly became reality in just a single second.

Dark Mage: My lady, I am afraid...that all eight hundred minions have been eliminated just before they were set to descend.

Dee: Wha—?

Silence. A crystal goblet screamed its last as it shattered against the carriage floor.

Dee: But how?! No one told me of any large mage division among the enemy!

And more importantly, it was nearly impossible to dispatch eight hundred minions with an art command alone. Because they were made mostly of clay, they were highly resistant to burning and freezing. Sharp-bladed attacks were the most effective counter, but the minions were still in the air, far from the soldiers on the ground.

Dee:...And the enemy dragons have not yet made an appearance?

Dee asked, finally controlling her anger somewhat. The messenger mage hung her head.

Dark Mage: Correct. Not a single dragon has been confirmed in the air over the battlefield from the start until now.

Dee: Which would make this...that special bit of Integrity Knight trickery... Perfect Weapon Control arts. But...can they truly have this much...?

She swallowed the final word of the sentence and let her bared fangs gnash with frustration. Like Dark General Shasta, Dee had attempted to collect information on the secret technique of the Integrity Knights. But it had been nearly impossible to witness it in action for herself. The only thing she had unveiled was that it combined and amplified the power of the Divine Object and of the knight him- or herself.

Dee: But using the weapon that way should devour a great amount of life. It cannot be utilized in such rapid sequence...

She muttered, her mind racing. Then the messenger mage, who had been listening to reports from the front, shot upward and said in a voice slightly more composed.

Dark Mage: Chancellor, location of two rear Integrity Knights has been found. Identifying all five knights' targets.

Dee:...Good.

Dee said, pondering. Should she send in the dark knights and pugilists, who made up the bulk of the Second Army, to force the Integrity Knights to consume more of their Perfect Weapon Control power, the greatest unknown variable on the other side? Or should she use the dark mages guild, her best weapon, and try to finish it all right now?

Dee was normally a very cautious person who plotted obsessively and removed all room for doubt or concern before she finally acted. But the instantaneous destruction of her eight hundred precious minions left her at a loss and filled her with a panic and haste that she wasn't aware she was feeling. She filled a new crystal glass with more dark-purple liquid and told herself.

Dee(mind): I am calm. This is the moment when I seize my first true glory.

Dee Eye Ell downed the drink in one go, then held the glass high and commanded.

Dee: Ogre archers, dark mages, advance! Proceed into the ravine, then begin preparing the cast of the wide-range incineration projectiles!!

(Elsewhere)

Amayori: Krururu...

Crooned a lonely voice. Amayori was concerned about its master. Alice the Integrity Knight managed her best attempt at a smile and whispered.

Alice: It's all right. Don't be worried.

But as a matter of fact, she was not all right at all. Her vision was strangely warped, her breathing ragged, and her limbs felt as cold as ice. She might pass out at any moment.

It was not the massive sacred art that Alice had been weaving since before the fighting started—and that even now placed so much pressure on her insides that she felt as if she might explode—that had her so fatigued.

It was the source of the sacred power that the art itself was consuming: all those deaths. Knights. Guards. Priests. And the enemies: goblins, orcs, giants. So many lives being lost at such an astounding speed—and the fear, sadness, and despair they felt in those final moments all plagued Alice without end.

The old Alice would never have paid any heed to the lives or deaths of the common people of the Human Empire, much less of any who lived in the Dark Territory.

Through half a year of living in Rulid, she understood the divinity of the humble lives of the villagers and realized that it was worth protecting, but she did not find herself caring about the lives of those who dwelled in the dark world. In fact, when the goblins and orcs had attacked Rulid just ten days ago, Alice had slaughtered them without hesitation.

The forces of darkness were pillagers without mercy or compassion and ought to be killed to the very last one, she had always believed without a shred of doubt, until the mission Bercouli had given her.

To her shock...the sacred power that arose from the spilled lives of the soldiers on either side of the battlefield below, whether human or nonhuman, was of the exact same nature. They were all warm and vivid and pure, and it was absolutely impossible for her to distinguish which side either of these souls fought on.

At first it shook Alice to her core. But if the people of the human realm and the monsters of the Dark Territory had, in essence, the same souls and differed only in which side of the mountains they were born on...then why were they fighting in the first place?

Alice(Mind): Why are we fighting in the first place?

Alice:...Zora. If you are still alive and well...

Alice(Mind): You might have found another way.

She did not say aloud. She had to focus on the sacred art she was still preparing. At the military council before the battle, Alice had expressed her reservations to Vice Commander Fanatio. Who would actually perform such a massive sacred art that it would devour all the spatial resources that existed within the battlefield—narrow for a ravine but a vast space nonetheless?

Fanatio: It is you, Alice Synthesis Thirty. You might not realize it yet, but your present power surpasses the bounds of the Integrity Knight itself. I believe that you are capable of true godly power that splits the heavens and tears the earth asunder.

At the time, she thought it was an exaggeration, a misunderstanding. But she also felt, in that moment, that it was a duty she needed to give her own life to fulfill, if need be. It was her responsibility, for having turned her sword on the pontifex and shaken the Axiom Church's very power structure.

She stopped thinking about this and tried to focus on nothing but gathering the necessary sacred power and converting it to the sacred words that would further weave the great art.

But the screams never stopped echoing across the ravine, and Alice could not prevent them from affecting her. They were dying. Someone's father or brother or sister or child.

Alice(mind):...Hurry.

A voice said from deep within her consciousness. If only that moment would come even a second sooner. The moment that would invite many times more death, all in one awful instance, to bring this entire atrocity to an end that much sooner...

Alice(mind): No. This is my duty. My responsibility as the one who turned her sword on the pontifex...

Amayori gurgled again. However, this time it was not a worried croon but a sharper sound, wary and full of warning. Alice summoned her wits, whipping her dazed mind back into shape, and gazed through the darkness to the far distance ahead.

Alice(Mind): Here they come!!

Beyond the nonhuman enemies, which still fought with the guardian army below, a new army was approaching with care. She did not see the glint of any metallic armor. This would likely be a long-range regiment—the dark mages guild of the Dark Territory. They were the ones Bercouli was most careful about, the ones with the potential power to wipe out the entire Human Guardian Army. But the same could be said about Alice herself.

Alice(mind): On my own, I'm no match for the capacity of thousands of dark mages to maintain elements.

The genesis of the large-scale sacred art she had been preparing this entire time had been an idea from the fight between Vice Commander Fanatio and Zora, as it was told to others. It might as well be called a "reflective cohesion beam" art.

Using the spatial sacred power released by the countless lives that had been lost in this battle, Alice first generated an enormous glass ball measuring three mels across by transforming crystal elements.

Next, she built a thick silver film out of steel elements and covered the entirety of the glass sphere with it. This created a "locked mirror," as she thought of it. The sphere was kept in a little hollow in Amayori's back, right between its wings. Alice kept her hands pressed to it, locking in the light elements that she continually created with the endless flow of spatial power.

Maintaining elements was a basic but incredibly powerful technique that had tormented greater-arts wielders for generations.

If you didn't keep your focus on whatever flame or ice or wind element you generated, the orbs would float freely, eventually expending the heat or chill they contained, and vanish. The upper limit of elements that could be simultaneously maintained was locked to the number of "terminals" the caster could use—meaning the number of fingers on their hands.

Alice(mind): Not only that, but merely converging sacred power into Thermal or Cryogenic Elements wouldn't be so potent enough Sacred Art to deplete the spatial resources in the Ravine.

Prime Senator Chudelkin had utilized his unique body type to do a headstand that allowed him to use his toes as output points as well, so he could maintain twenty elements at once. And through some technique known only to her, Administrator had turned her own silver hair into endings, enabling her to maintain over a hundred elements all at once.

But Alice could mimic neither of these things. And neither ten nor a hundred were even close to enough in this situation. The enemy's dark mages guild boasted three thousand members; assuming each one averaged five elements at once, that meant there would likely be over fifteen thousand in total.

Alice(mind): But...if I were to trap Luminous Elementals inside a mirror and reflect then infinitely...

So Alice had tried to come up with a method that would allow her to save the elements she generated, even after letting them drift away from her mind's control. The first idea she'd had was some kind of container. The problem was that the heat and ice elements used in typical attack arts simply affected the temperature of whatever they touched, and then they disappeared.

But in the fight on the fiftieth floor of Central Cathedral, Zora had used a mirror he'd fashioned from a few steel elements and crystal elements to reflect the light of Fanatio's Heaven-Piercing Blade. When Alice heard that story, she had a flash of inspiration.

Alice(mind): The Burden of the sin of taking countless lives for the sake of one, I shall carry it on my shoulders.

If light simply reflected off a mirror, rather than affecting it in any way, and if she could create a mirror that was perfectly closed with no exits and she could generate light elements inside it...theoretically, until the life of the mirror itself ran out, she could maintain an infinite number of light elements inside it.

The time had come. Alice closed her eyes briefly and prayed. She would accept upon her own shoulders the sin of taking countless lives for the sake of just one. The silver sphere three mels across resting on Amayori's powerful back was as packed and pressured as it could be on the inside. She pulled her hands off the surface and drew her sword.

Alice: Bloom, my flowers! Enhance Armament!

She called, splitting the Osmanthus Blade into countless tiny pieces, a golden swarm that she could control.

Alice: Lower your head, Amayori!

The dragon obeyed, inclining its body forward. The silver ball rolled silently forth, and by the time it had rotated one full time, it passed the dragon's head and plunged into the void. The little swarm formed by Alice's weapon carefully caught it, cradling the ball and adjusting it so that a particular spot on its surface pointed forward and down.

Alice(mind): Aim...steady.

She inhaled until her lungs were full, and she whispered.

Alice:...Burst Element.

It was such a short and simple activation for a sacred art that contained such tremendous power. The silver sphere was fashioned to be thinner in just one spot. The searing luminosity and heat of unlimited light elements focused on that point, melting the layers of silver and glass until they were bright red... Pow! It burst forth into the outer world.

Fanatio stood in mute shock as she looked up from the surface of the earth at a light beam whose power was thousands of times more potent than what the Heaven-Piercing Blade could create with Perfect Weapon Control.

The other knights and guards simply quaked in fear of what they believed to be the power of Solus and Lunaria themselves.

A pillar of light five mels across descended from the sky to the earth at ultra-high speed, plunging into the midst of the demi-human soldiers. Then it changed directions, caressing the ground as it continued farther through the ravine.

With the roar of thousands of bells ringing all at once, waves of heat and light billowed throughout the entire breadth of the ravine. Then the space erupted into a pillar of fire nearly as tall as the End Mountains themselves, lighting the entire night sky red.