There was a full moon in the sky when Keith Claes finally emerged. Like an unblinking eye, it witnessed everything and silently judged every move made by the people below. It was unobstructed by clouds, which moved from south-west to north-east if Hachiman's sense of direction was right. He never really thought about what changing the weather would imply, but it occurred to him that maybe he should have paid more attention to the results on his way back to the Academy.
Regardless, the business at hand prevented him from too deep into that line of thought. To begin with, he was simply trying to distract himself before the inevitable clash with the younger Claes.
The weather was fine, yet Hachiman was sweating as if in the middle of a desert. He tried doing breathing exercises to calm his nerves, but it only helped slow down the creeping terror that climbed his back with every passing second. The reality of what was going to happen slowly screwed his perception of his surroundings.
If this was a dream, it was a very good time to wake up. This thought surprised Hachiman, who hadn't had it for several years already. Perhaps it was fear, knowing there was a whole other world somewhere in existence makes it easy to fall back on to think one is dreaming when things go wrong.
Of course, Hachiman quickly burrowed the thought. It was problematic, and opened a can of worms Hachiman thought dealt with for a long time now. And it helped nothing but to make Hachiman more nervous.
He didn't need an existential crisis at the moment. He decided that even if there was no proof Hikigaya Hachiman had ever existed, he would still go on as the person Hachiman thought he was. It was a complicated affair that worked only because the person himself had devoted so much time into convincing himself on how it worked. And as expected, the lines drawn became blurry when push came to shove.
But that wasn't important.
"Nicol-sama." Campbell took a handkerchief and offered it to Hachiman with a stern expression "Please calm down. It'll work out this time."
"Easier said than done." Hachiman released a wary sigh and accepted the piece of cloth.
Easier said than done. Thinking that if they just tried enough times it would work out was the height of foolishness. Hachiman almost wanted to scorn the blonde. She didn't know anything, she wasn't the one going forward to try and stop Keith from just bulldozing through the prince's guards and the handful of mages that were available.
It has him, Hachiman. The one that had already tried and failed to stall the guy out of using his magic. The one that fought and almost fell in front of that monster of magic.
His expectations shifted. It wasn't slow either. Keith was capable of creating automated kaijuu golems when he was but a child. There was something about absolute power that had a way of clearing out any misunderstanding, any delusion about the situation.
It wasn't just that the third prince couldn't come up with a better solution than to distract Keith enough to be restrained. It was that, from the beginning, the hopelessness of the situation was as clear as the sky the day Hachiman got his memories back in this world.
"Nicol-sama." They looked each other in the eyes, both held fear in equal amounts, but Campbell had a glint that made Hachiman stop thinking for a moment "This time… This time around…"
Easier said than done. And even then Campbell couldn't say it with enough confidence. It was such a situation. One that would have a motivational speech fell flat on itself, turning the moral boost that was desperately needed into more despair.
Hachiman wasn't a fighter, never had been. He was just some kid that liked feeling cool by working on magic and deluding himself that that made him special. Perhaps thinking himself peerless made him forget who he was at his core. But now he remembered, that deep down he had never been one for bravery.
"He's coming." Someone gave the signal, and the guards moved into the new formation their master cooked up.
Hachiman used that weird tracking spell to detect where exactly Keith was emerging (since the kitchen was long gone from previous encounters). He didn't have to search long, as the guy popped out in a rather visible way, almost right in the middle of the defenders.
The prince's forces had stopped him from resupplying a couple of times. This time around, he re-emerged the next night.
He was hungry, probably thirsty too. There was no other reason for him to stop hiding, since that seemed to be his thing. It shortened the time they had to wait for him, so the build up of dread wasn't as strong. But it was more immediate. It meant less time to plan, and for Campbell to recuperate. Half of the guards would be dead if it wasn't for her, after all. And that sort of thing left scars deep in the soul.
Earth walls surrounded the boy like a dome. Impossibly high and unnaturally thick for a construct made out of dirt. They stood proudly in the night sky before being forced out by an unseen force and fell straight towards the defenders.
Hachiman took Campbell in his arms and ran out of the way, magic aiding his steps to compensate where his body came short.
The golems came next, just as the last time. But they were smaller and more numerous. Fighting like this was rendered impossible in an instant.
The prince used his magic, infernal tongues of fire illuminated the clear night to reveal the ominous silhouettes of Keith's golems shambling across what was left of the kitchen and adjacent areas. The things looming in a way only monsters could.
"Campbell, hold on tight!" Hachiman's heart was already in his throat. He abandoned refinement in favor of power, and pushed his magic to allow him for greater speed in the face of the overwhelming giants.
His body protested. There was a reason why brute force wasn't his prefered method. As his magic allowed him to leap right out of the ridiculous reach of those monstrous constructs, and made carrying Campbell a non-factor in his movements.
The girl did as instructed, letting her magic seep through her hands to compensate for the punishment Hachiman's magic forced into his own body. And ran around the now-clear ground to avoid being hit at all cost.
They failed already.
Keith's power was too overwhelming, his advantage too big to compensate.
They didn't even know where the guy was. The prince's fire half helped, half crippled everyone's sight when darkness took over for a moment and he recasted his spells. And that only made the golem's presence all the more dangerous.
"Dammit. Dammit it all!" Hachiman kicked more of his magic in motion, pushing the royal guards further back without warning.
It messed up their footing and stances, but it was clear they were overwhelmed by Keith's constructs and had suffered in the couple of seconds the creatures had come to life.
Hachiman pulled more people out of the way and brought Campbell to them for healing.
His brain was a mess. Pain, confusion, anger, and fear mixed together in an incoherent soup that didn't even let him string words properly.
The golems followed after them, and Hachiman could only yell as a warning before pulling the people further back with his magic. The golems were too big, too heavy to be moved around like this. And even if they weren't, they were far too numerous for Hachiman.
But Keith wasn't.
"Nicol-sama?!"
Hachiman pushed his magic and he leapt towards the golems. He dodged their clumsy movements and flowed with the wind while he murmured the detection spell he more or less recalled learning.
The third prince was right behind him, the coldness of his eyes only overshadowed by the perfect flow of his movements.
Their eyes met for a moment. Nods were exchanged. Gerald-sama rolled out of the way and pummeled as many golems as he could with his magic.
He might have been outpowered by the magic constructs and their numbers, but this was still the genius prince Gerald Stuart. The same prince that enjoyed the best tutors and the best opportunities to nourish his skills.
His sword flowed with hand-traced arcs, blade imbued with his fire magic. He seemed to dance around the clumsy yet deadly movements of the magic constructs, elegant yet focused, and chipped away at their dirt hide. Hitting in important spots to weaken the things slowly but steadily.
He couldn't win, but he didn't need to. He only needed to take as much heat from Hachiman as possible. The rest was simply a race against the clock.
"Heh, 'simply'." Hachiman raised his hand upon detecting something and pulled. The imagery helped, and in this situation he would use as much help as he could.
The younger Claes was yanked from his hiding spot and into the open field. Confusion written on his face when the invisible force simply allowed him to come to a halt on his own.
This didn't work before. The boy had been smart, and used the terrain to deny most of Hachiman's advantage. But now he relied on his golems, now that he grew desperate he became simpler in the way to defend himself.
This time… This time around…!
"Stop!" Keith smashed his hands on the ground, and it answered.
A dome of earth emerged from the ground, a solid birdcage meant to keep Hachiman trapped.
The eldest Ascart chipped away at the edges before the dome could complete. He pushed through with his magic to make a hole just big enough for him to fly through and into the open air.
Keith was waiting, earth hands already formed and ready to smack Hachiman like a fly.
He traced the air. Understanding that the wind was always present was important. It allowed Hachiman to twist and mold most of his magic, and this time was no different.
Keith was yanked away from his spot again, at the same time Hachiman was forcefully ejected from his. They traced a rough elliptic-shape, and landed on each other's position when Hachiman's magic finished its work.
Keith stopped his magic before crushing himself, just barely in time to rain earth on Hachiman by making the hands explode.
Hachiman wheezed before pushing his magic again. He pulled himself horizontally, away from the falling debris and closer to the golems without intending.
He pulled again, and Keith smacked through the falling debris and on Hachiman's waiting palm. His neck was smaller than Hachiman thought.
"Stop this!" Hachiman roared, muscles screaming from the effort the wind put them through "That's enough, Claes!"
That was the wrong thing to say. Keith's bloodshot eyes focused intently on him, as if he hadn't been aware of who it was before.
Keith smashed Hachiman on the jaw, making the reincarnated noble's sight to swim as he was released from the sudden attack.
Hachiman kicked the ground and went into the air, twin pillars sprouting horizontally from the ground to crush the place he had been moments ago.
He almost didn't catch himself in time, but forced his body to endure more wind magic pushing it without mercy to stay airborne.
This wasn't Keith, he was clearly out of his mind. And that meant this whole tirade would never stop if they didn't get him to Campbell now.
Hachiman roared, pushing himself back into the fray.
He pushed back a golem with a compressed wind explosion and pulled Keith towards himself before he could dig himself into the ground again.
The younger Claes kicked and bashed, but Hachiman merely pushed him back and further amidst the golems.
Hachiman released the both of them, and forced his legs to let him roll among the earth constructs while his magic kept the mind washed noble within reach.
A golem turned and raised its hand, but Gerald-sama was there a heartbeat later, and started hacking at it to get its attention away from Hachiman.
Keith raged, the earth answering his furious roars, but Hachiman got himself and the guy back in the air.
He softened up the impact with one of the walls and clung to it for dear life for a couple of seconds, his vision swimming again before he pushed through and kept pushing himself forward.
"Campbell!" He yanked Keith high in the air, golems right behind Hachiman as he approached the people that were being treated.
Wind and water spells were casted, letting the noble fall safely in the reach of a very confused light mage.
Hachiman looked back, golems still loomed towards him. They wouldn't go away until Keith dispelled them. But that didn't mean Hachiman had to (or could) face them. The guards were healed and the mages were ready, they could buy the couple of seconds needed to stop this madness.
"..." Hachiman blinked away the drowsiness, looking at the fires the prince had started in his way to keep some of the earth monsters at bay.
He didn't know, but his power had kept Hachiman from smacking into the golems more than once. Giving precious seconds of sight to help him focus his magic on movement alone.
Hachiman gave the guards his back and jumped right back into the fray.