Heine Istari
'Man, today was quite the circus.'
Misora griped as they left that large hall. 'It helps that we know in advance that this is nothing but shit.'
'We can't openly talk about that.' Velvet-sensei scolded her. 'All we can do is play along and legally survive this mess.' he scoffed. 'Besides, you'll obtain what we need later, that they have no intention of ever giving, correct?'
'Of course~' Misora smirked. 'We can sell that technique to Reines or to Melvin for a good sum or a favor we might need in the future. I'll start tonight, shall I?' she grinned in sheer mischief.
'Eh? Alone?' Gray asked her worriedly.
'Of course. Magi operate alone...its rare for most magi to work together unless necessary or ordered to because magi are overprotective of their secrets.' Misora piped up.
'And secrets is everything as the more who know and use the same technique, the weaker it becomes. Hence why we needed different incantations for any spell to somehow mitigate that.' said Velvet-sensei. 'Once Misora obtained it, we just need to survive this afterward.'
'O-OK...'
Velvet-sensei sighed.
Four debts even if he's forever chained for knowing too much. But that chain also protects him as many lecturers resent him for bruising their ego, or for being forced to pay respect to a trashy magus, forced to call him lord while being regent for the actual El-Melloi Successor.
Monetarial Debts, cleared.
Tutor work, in progress.
Fixing Crest, on the way there.
Regent Lord, not done yet.
The El-Melloi Source Crest.
It was ruined that a tuner managed to repair only a tenth of it, but has trouble with the rest of it as Kayneth, his circuits and the crest was mangled up good somehow and no expert the elders hired could do a thing about it...until Misora happened.
She had to touch the crest to gain familiarity with what she must look for, before gathering the fragments out of Kayneth's corpse, some of which too too small it was easily missed. And she assembled the messy pieces nobody could, amazing the family and Melvin with her ability. Melvin is now at work fixing the whole thing for the El-Mellois, but...
'The fuck happened to him in the Fourth Holy Grail War? Whoever this is knows how to ruin a magus!' he would tell them in horror as he looked at the crest he was working on which was in utter pieces, one hell of a jigsaw puzzle he had to work on. Misora got the answer.
She found fragments of a conceptual weapon in Kayneth's body.
A weaponized dual origin of Severing and Binding in the form of a bullet and the stuff found was 'some gunpowder and magically-treated powdered bone' to weaponize said origins.
'It's like a cut piece of rope that people would try to make one again by tying it into a knot. That's what happened to all the circuits.' she would tell them. 'Flow prana in that...boom. But since I extracted everything, the crest can be repaired normally now without the origin getting in the way.'
Reines kept the powder as 'a precautionary trump card' in the future.' they pity whoever pisses her off to earn that someday.
For making his life easier, Melvin adored Misora that from a tenth, now to a 45th. The rest was too tiny and 'needs dedication' to work on.
So while they're aware this farce of a job was to kill those who are invited, their real purpose was to steal Ashbourne's Skill, and legally get away alive that Faculty of Law has nothing to say about it.
So Misora explored on her own...with her spell alone, after activating her switch.
All magi had different methods.
Some people had an image of dropping a firing hammer, and others something more like piercing their own heart. An unexpectedly large number of magi relied on sexual excitement, and among them many were forced to rely on drugs. Regardless of the method, these images were switches to turn the nerves inside the magus' body into Magic Circuits.
By activating these Magic Circuits, the magus connected themselves to the Great Magic Formula that served as a foundation, and turned the magus themselves into a 'system for realizing mysteries'.
For Misora, that switch was another thing to be jealous of. Her switch was 'the sensation of melting chocolate in the mouth by body heat and saliva'. Then swallow the melted chocolate to flip her switch.
And 'Be Enlightened' is her personal spell that holds a deep meaning for her indeed, making it powerful to gain information and assimilate it to herself. Touching objects, buildings, knowing its history and what was said around them, when and where and what happened too. There's a reason Waver Velvet called it 'a cheat'.
However, there are limitations...on herself, which she must overcome over time by training herself. Her body to catch up with her mind and spirit as some traps can be faster than her...and veteran magi faster than her too, combined with experience.
Waver would tell his students that 'Power isn't always everything. There is always a way for a weaker person to win, as long as you have the right information and ideal conditions that both are met, and exploit the golden chance that showed itself.' a golden chance that will come only once, and never again after.
So even if she faces a magus inferior to her, as long as they have their own tricks and experience, she cannot bring her guard down.
There are two types of Magi.
Literal Caster-types, and those who combine martial arts with magic in combat.
Geryon Ashbourne was one such man of the former.
To compensate for that, his castle is a formidable fortress. Even his barriers are powerful, relying on mana than his own Od. He would normally be a Cause, if not for his well-respected skills that made him a Fes.
The rank of Cause is most often the limit for magi whose lineage reaches five hundred years, even with hard work. They also must have 'created some sort of magical foundation and stabilized it' for the Clock Tower to recognize them as sufficiently talented.
She herself is a Fes. But if she dares openly say WHY she's a Fes, a lotta people will want her dead, due to fear for their secrets or plans leaking out, so NOPE. Thus its only known to select people that for now, she was legally a Count-Class Mage while the rest of her classmates are either a Frame like Gray or in the case of Flat and Svin, Cause.
And now, she is attempting to dismantle the barrier in his wine cellar, a barrier behind barrels of wine.
She knows how, she just needed the power to do it.
And bam.
The 'wall' disappeared, showing a spiraling staircase down below, before she winced in pain. 'Ow...!'
It was real tough to use magecraft in this castle anyhow due to its nature as the castle itself is a whole workshop. Made obvious when Gray suffered optical illusion symptoms that made her ill when she stared at castle designs hard enough.
Putting in so much effort, caused her body to feel the psychosomatic illusion of having severe burns on her skin, an illusion sent straight from her circuits. As if she was doused with gas and set aflame, and suffer 1st-degrees.
'This is why I hate going all out sometimes...' she swore in chagrin, wincing at the pain unhappily.
Instead of going downstairs, she simply leapt and slowly descended down to a door which she opened...and braced herself.
For what was inside was the place where Geryon works on his Restoration Job.
It stinks, too.
Built up within the room was a horrid stench. If she had to put words to it, she would say it smelled like someone had torn the guts out of some livestock, mashed the mess of organs and parts all together, and left it to rot for a few years.
Fucker didn't bother to clean up.
Touching the whole workshop, she commanded, 'Be Enlightened!' and she had gone full power again, to steal the entire history of this room to gain all Restoration Techniques of Ashbourne and all events that happened in it.
'Oh my...I see now. Well, we'll play along. We got what we want, anyway~' she purred as she left, and even restored the barrier to hide the fact that someone got there first.
Misora explained all she found to Velvet-sensei and Gray upon returning to their room.
'I see...well, we know enough now, all we'll do now is enjoy hospitality, free classy food and survive murder attempts.' said Velvet-sensei dryly. 'Bed now.'
'Hai hai.' and she and Gray shared a bed, while Velvet-sensei slept on the couch.
xxx
Elsewhere...
As the night wore on, he moved into action.
After the events of that morning, like most of the magi, he had his dinner brought to his room. At the same time, he laid a protective Boundary Field across the four corners of his room, keeping vigilant against possible intruders. After confirming that the Field was functional, he turned to leave.
'...Heine?'
A girl called out in a sleepy voice from the bed, rubbing her eyes.
'Ah, Rosalind. I'm sorry, did I wake you up?'
'...yeah.'
Approaching the faintly nodding girl, Heine gently stroked her hair with a gentleness that would make one question whether he was touching her at all. Seeing her close her eyes in satisfaction, he gave the girl a soft smile. Mustering up his resolve once again, he pulled away from her.
'I'm going out for a little bit. Are you alright alone?'
'Okay.'
Nodding sleepily, she hesitantly opened her mouth.
'...umm.'
He turned and gave her a look that invited her question out from her.
'Are you going to fight the other magi after all? Even Lord El-Melloi II?'
At that, he gave a faint smile.
'You've grown fond of him, have you?'
'...t-though he's no where near your level.' Pursing her lips, Rosalind avoided Heine's gaze.
Seeing that, he couldn't help but think she really was like a little bird. With her all too fragile looking limbs, as if they'd break in your hands, and the pure white dress that seemed like infantile wings. She seemed so...transient.
And that was why he loved his little sister more than anything else.
'Don't worry. I'm just going to clear away some of the sparks that have shown up, and Lord El-Melloi II is a very wise gentleman. He won't put himself in so risky a situation.'
Remaining calm and gentle to the last, Heine made his way out of the room.
The stone hallway was quiet.
Turning, Heine faced outside, from where an early autumn wind brought a harsh chill. More than just an issue of temperature, there was something mixed in with it that encroached on his very soul. Maybe it was the presence of magecraft.
'...ah,' Heine let out a faint whisper as he began walking.
The Castle of Separation was a two floor structure, its distorted structure built as if on its side. Looking down on it from above, it would look similar to the Magatama of the Orient...in a way it looked like a curled up fetus. As if to protect it, arm-like walls stretched out around it, and by those walls was a spacious front garden.
After exiting out into said front garden, Heine picked a new direction and continued walking.
His steps had no sense of hesitation, no sense of randomness.
He was following the directions provided by his Angelic Name.
The discussion at that morning's breakfast table of the Shemamphorae, which could be interpreted to mean a collection of the names of 72 angels, could be converted to reference the 12 signs of the Zodiac. Normally the Zodiac used the sun as its basis for determining direction, but by narrowing the scope down to one of the 72 angels, the direction could be pinpointed to within five degrees.
If he understood that much, all he had to do was walk in that direction from his room.
His Angelic Name was Ariel. Affiliated with the sign of Pisces, it was an angel who held the meaning of The Revealer. His existence was not limited to within Kabbalah, also making an appearance within Milton's 'Paradise Lost', among other places. Comparatively speaking, he could be called one of the more famous angels. Not necessarily even limited to being an angel, the name also appeared in Shakespeare's 'Tempest', denoting the name of the spirit of the storm. This meant that the actual meaning the name represented could be one of any number of possibilities, so without Lord El-Melloi II's mentioning of the Shemhamphorae, coming to the conclusion to find the direction would have taken a little longer.
Outside, the moon was full.
Before long, the thick foliage of the trees blocked the moonlight, and the front garden became a forest.
Heine didn't stop walking. Paying no mind to the trees and branches, he cut a straight line through the woods. The specially treated suit developed by the Istari family wouldn't have any problem withstanding this degree of punishment.
After advancing another few dozen meters, Heine was met with a sudden shaking noise.
"It's here, is it?"
Stopping, Heine raised his gaze. Before him stood a pedestal.
Whether they were supposed to be angels or not, he couldn't tell. Scattered around him were a number of pedestals, broken apart in various ways. He could barely make out that they were once statues with vaguely human-like shapes, but they had been thoroughly destroyed, preventing him from learning any more.
"Hmm."
Heine reached into his suit jacket and pulled out the invitation that bore his Angelic Name, which was now glowing faintly. Similarly to how the Angelic Name had mysteriously appeared the day before, new letters had now taken shape.
An angel becomes a beast. Gazing at the western sky, it swallows the sun.
"...not quite the end of the road yet, huh?" Heine whispered upon seeing the new letters.
Rather, it was the beginning of the road. Of course anyone could get this far, he thought to himself with a laugh.
But the young man was not discouraged.
(A beast towards the west...that limits the candidates considerably.)
Among the 72 angels of the Shemhamphorae, there were those who's names were produced just as part of a word game mixed in with those with actual distinct legends. Finding out which of those had relationships with beasts and the west would no doubt be insufficient. He would have to combine that information with some other clue to be found about the Castle.
Heine cautiously touched the ground.
The front garden of the Castle was impeccably well kept, but the same couldn't be said about the forest. Within the damp earth and plant life, Heine could discern a faint ruggedness with his eyes.
"...footprints?"
Returning the invitation to its place, he pulled a new object out of his coat.
Now resting on his open palm was what looked like a small child's toy. It was a small dog made of little metal cylinders. Placing the metallic dog replica in the ferns, he whispered one word.
"Convert"
For an instant, it seemed like his finger was glowing. In the next, it was brought to life.
Jumping down from Heine's palm, the replica began sniffing around the plants as if it was a real dog. The production of human-like Automata was already an obsolete lineage of magecraft, but in contrast the other fields of autonomous dolls were just beginning to be developed.
In particular, this metallic dog was a special creation. It was one of the Mystic Codes of the Istari family that Heine had brought with him. It was a product of the Istari family's alchemy, and was able to sniff out not just scents, but also wavelengths and lingering traces of magic.
After a few moments, the metallic dog picked a direction and began walking, and Heine followed close behind.
Breaking out of the cover of the forest, the young man was once again bathed in moonlight. Countless blooming flowers spread across the front garden shared the moonlight with him. It may have been the perfect night for those like poets and magi. The quiet sound of footsteps in the weeds was the only thing that signified the passing of the alchemical dog and its knight.
Before he knew it, they were back at the Castle. Walking parallel to the castle walls, Heine followed the spring-work dog while his mind wandered elsewhere.
"...I'm being watched?"
That was the kind of presence Heine could sense.
To be more accurate, it wasn't Heine himself who sensed it. Rather, it was a reaction from a number of gems, another one of the Mystic Codes Heine was carrying.
The Istari's trademark 'Living Stone' has been compared to a poor knock-off of arms used by Heroic Spirits, but it seems to actually be a considerable talent.
Heine recalled Lord El-Melloi II's words. Heine had of course been listening intently to every word that was said during his brief scuffle with Seigen Tokitou Jiroubou.
"...they've certainly done their research."
It wasn't like the Istari family kept their "Living Stone" a secret, but the records that discussed it were few and far between. Knowing its name was one thing, but the number of magi who knew that it was a form of arms should have been next to none. Even if Heine didn't want to admit it, that man certainly had the knowledge fitting of a Lord.
"...Heroic Spirits, huh?"
Lord El-Melloi II certainly knew a lot about Heine, but Heine had done some research of his own as well. Roughly ten years ago, he had participated in a rather intense conflict between magi in the Far East. Such was the rumor among a certain group of magi even now.
The Fourth Holy Grail War.
Named something like that, it was a battle that took place in the Far East.
Apparently it was a battle between Heroic Spirits. The Holy Grail - almost definitely not the actual Holy Grail of Christian belief, but regardless - summoned a number of Heroic Spirits to fight against each other, and the last one standing would have their wish granted. Even as far as magi were concerned, it was an absurd ritual.
Not even Heine knew about the details of that battle, or how it unfolded.
But Lord El-Melloi II - at the time known only as Waver Velvet - was the sole survivor of the magi that participated under the banner of the Clock Tower, and there was no doubt that what he had over come was a most brutal of battlefields.
"He isn't someone I can underestimate."
So Heine decided.
Even if when it came to magecraft Heine was superior, Heine was sure that man had something else up his sleeve. In a case like this, it might even be something of value beyond that of magecraft itself.
On top of that, Lord El-Melloi II was not his only opponent. Both Seigen, who he had dealt with once already, and Flue, who he knew as the Master-Killer, were opponent's of fearsome proportions. Not to mention the Edelfelt princess and that recluse Caesermund, who couldn't be described as anything but monsters.
Even so, Heine had to receive that inheritance by any means possible.
"...Rosalind."
As the face of his little sister floated into his mind, he became much more conscious of the thing inscribed on his leg.
A Magic Crest.
To begin with, Heine had no intentions of ever inheriting the Magic Crest of the Istari family. His cheerful and bright disposition just couldn't mesh with the dark side of magecraft, so halfway through his training, he left his family behind and knocked on the doors of the Church. As a result, the Istari family, which had lost its heir, turned its eyes to its second child - and a tragedy occurred.
Rosalind's body responded...abnormally to the Magic Crest.
Magic Crests were similar to a kind of internal organ. Overlooking a vanishingly small number of exceptions, it could only adapt to a person of the same bloodline, and even then the body would naturally reject it. For that reason, the crest would be transplanted in small parts at fixed intervals up until the new host had reached full puberty. This, combined with the administration of anti-rejection drugs and the assistance of a Tuner were fundamental principles behind adapting the Crest to a new body.
But, Heine's father must have been impatient.
Or maybe, it was because at first, Rosalind's adaptability to the crest had been phenomenal.
Strictly speaking, his sister's case was different from that of rejection. It was probably better to say that she adapted too well. Within only one year, they had finished transplanting the Crest into her, and there seemed to be no evidence of rejection. The truth, however, was that the Crest had actually stolen the vast majority of her life force. After hearing of this from the family, Heine instantly discarded the laws of the Church and returned to have the Crest re-transplanted into him, but it was already too late.
The Magic Crest had been completely transformed when it was transplanted into Rosalind.
Even as Rosalind began to recover, the Magic Crest started gradually stealing Heine's life force. Maybe because Heine had a much stronger sense of vitality to him, the Crest inscribed on his leg devoured its way into the core of his body. Removing it was no longer an option. After speaking to an old friend who was a Witch Doctor, he was told he likely only had a few years left to live.
...dying didn't really bother him though.
Actually, if he did die, they would be able to extract the Magic Crest from him. Having his life cut short was unfortunate, but for a family of magi it was more than a common occurrence.
However.
Heine did not want to force his sister to live through the guilt of having been responsible for her own brother's death.
That alone was something Heine couldn't bear.
A faint, bitter smile rose to Heine's face.
A normal Tuner would have no way at all to save him from the Magic Crest now. That was why, no matter what the cost, Heine had to get his hands on the inheritance of Geryon Ashbourne - the Master of Restoration.
Heine's thoughts were interrupted.
As he reached the outer third of the Castle's surrounding area, Heine abruptly felt his body grow tense.
In the next instant, the dog walking on the ground in front of him was torn to pieces.
Of course, a Mystic Code of the Istari family wasn't designed to just fall apart so easily. As if to trample over its defeated prey, the darkness itself seemed to shake.
Within the shadow of the Castle, where the moonlight didn't reach, an even deeper blackness was lurking. Heine couldn't get a distinct look at its shape. With the quietness and stillness of Death itself, the thing that was definitely there had no discernable presence.
In the darkness, floating there was only a single pair of crimson eyes.
Heine heard a voice.
'-I ask you, the angel's name.'
To call it's voice hoarse would be an understatement. It was more like the sound of the wind. In response to that voice, Heine opened his eyes wide.
'So you are the one who I need to tell?'
Heine immediately suppressed his excitement. The thing in front of him didn't appear to have any intention of answering his question. Seeing that, and after some careful consideration, Heine decided to say the word that had been given to him at the very beginning.
'Ariel.'
It was the name written on his invitation. Heine's own Angelic Name. In response, the beast simply repeated its own question.
'-I ask you, the angel's name.'
So that wasn't it after all...
Of course, he had expected as much. If it had just been as simple as saying his Angelic Name, there would have been no point to setting up this whole situation. Even if he didn't know the answer right now, there should have been some answer that satisfied only the old master of this castle's question. If that was the case, it should have something to do with the list of names he had found earlier, but there were still more than 10 candidates on that list.
So why don't I just take a chance and say one of those names?
But that would-
'-If you cannot answer, you shall be torn apart.'
The shadow began to rise.
It was a strange sensation, like watching a two dimensional object rise up into three dimensions.
He couldn't see it very clearly, but he could at least tell that in its new form, it was standing on all fours. Seeing how fearsome the claws it raised were, there was no longer any doubt as to what happened to the metal dog from before. Even human flesh and bone would likely be no more than paper before them.
In response, Heine chanted a spell of his own.
But,
'Convert.'
Before the spell could take effect, the beast's claws tore through the young man.
That's what it looked like.
In reality, there had been no outward effect of the spell Heine had cast. But even so, the beast's claws were turned away with the sound of striking something solid.
If one were to look at the spot where Heine's clothes had been shredded, they would see not skin, but instead a violet glow.
'Magecraft is as strong as what occurs in the body...In the Istari family, that is the first principle we are taught.'
The young man's voice was overflowing with self confidence.
The Istari family's prized Living Stone was buried deep within Heine's own body.
By infusing his own body with magical energy, he could change its construction with a single spell. A single one of those stones covered, by his calculations, about seven percent of his body. By activating only half of them, eighty four percent of his body was now covered with violet armor.
On the Mohs Scale, it would be an armor of comparable hardness to sapphire.
'You said you were going to tear me apart, didn't you?'
Not forgetting his honor to the very end, Heine spoke.
Even his face had transformed to the same material as the rest of his body. The clothes he had been wearing before were originally an item created by Istari alchemy. The suit, which blended easily with the Living Stone, provided a stabilizing effect. The sleeves of the suit itself had transformed into gauntlets, and the boots into greaves.
Heine now bore the appearance of an ever-tenacious Knight.
'Unfortunately, it seems like your claws can't cut my body.'
His cool, clear voice echoed in the night air outside the castle. The moonlight scattered across the surface of his armor, as if over fragmented crystal.
'On the other hand, can you defend against my spear?'
At the same time as his armor, a spear appeared in his hand. It was a spear made of the same Living Stone. Using alchemy, it had been strengthened to the utmost, its tip more durable than even diamond. If combined with the mechanical horse of the Istari family, Heine was confident his charge would penetrate even through the armor of a tank.
That spear and that armor were, themselves, Heine's destiny.
A form that could even turn away the assassins of the Church.
At the same time, Heine's perception of the beast before him slowly became more distinct. Perhaps due to the result of some magic, he still couldn't distinguish the finer details, but he could now tell the beast had a form similar to that of a wolf. Like a wolf, or the tigers that lived in distant lands - no, it was even larger than that, Heine felt.
A beast...
Heine was reminded of the message of the constellation from earlier.
"In 18th Century France, there was a legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, wasn't there? Alternatively, since it's related to this castle, could it be the cherubim that guard paradise...or I guess cherub, since it's singular?"
In the public records, in the year 1764, the first day of June, in the area of France known as Gévaudan, a mysterious beast appeared. After killing over a hundred people, with its true nature never being discovered, it transformed into a legend of a Werewolf. Cherubim, on the other hand, were the guardians of the east edge of paradise, with four faces and four wings - unofficially, a half-human half-beast angel. The singular form would be cherub.
Being connected to the Castle of Separation, he couldn't help but feel like there was some sort of connection here.
"..."
Leisurely, Heine brought his spear to bear. Shifting his weight forward, he very slowly began to shorten the distance between them. When he came within a distance where there was no hope of avoiding his strike, he would pierce through it regardless of what it was.
In the next instant, the beast howled.
As if it had been awakened by the beast's howl, the air surrounding Heine suddenly transformed.
"?!"
It was hot.
Surrounding Heine was a flow of air hotter than fire itself. It was a level of heat even his "Living Stone" armor couldn't compete with.
"Not magecraft...a special ability of the beast's?!"
Immediately, Heine's hand began to move. Retrieving a flask from within the sleeve that had transformed into armor, and released its contents. They instantly evaporated, combining with Heine's own Od, and brought about an entirely unscientific result.
With a low sound, the white flames began to swirl. While it seemed like the fire Heine had released in front of him would bring forth even more scorching heat, the opposite happened. Within moments, the flames transformed into a pillar of ice.
'Did you think alchemy could only affect minerals?'
Underneath his helmet, Heine gave a pleasant smile.
'Whether it is liquid or gas, or even a conceptual form that doesn't exist in this world, it's within the grasp of alchemy. Well, for me at least, this kind of thing is actually my specialty.'
There exists a concept of elements.
Lord El-Melloi II had spoken of it earlier, but Heine possessed a dual element of Fire and Water, rare even in the world of magi. While it might be common to think that a contradictory affinity, they weren't necessarily in conflict with each other. Of course, possessing them as a dual element was a rare ability in and of itself, but if you thought of a liquid that burns, it would be fairly easy to understand.
In this case, rather than functioning like gasoline, the liquid flames he produced stole the heat from the air in an instant.
Heine's hand moved, causing his spear to flash.
The blade surging forth in the darkness became seven. The fused Living Stone was not simply just a resilient armor. It also served to enhance his physical characteristics, bringing him far above the abilities of a normal human.
The beast reacted.
Using its claws, it managed to deflect the first spear, but the second two struck home. Without even flinching, however, the beast leapt away.
"It's fleeing?!"
Morphing his armor into a mode optimized for pursuit, Heine gave chase.
As expected of the kind of beast it appeared to be, its speed was beyond what Heine could muster. As it ran, it suddenly broke off, heading into one of the castle's corridors that opened to the outside.
The high-pitched sound of metal striking stone resounded. Due to the time of night, lighting within the castle had been all but extinguished, and with the interior closed off from the moonlight, the darkness within the castle was incomparable to that outside of it. Heine had no choice but to pursue the beast relying only on its lingering presence in the hallways.
"..."
For some reason, Heine couldn't overcome the uneasiness that began to well up in his chest. Before even his brain could comprehend it, the blood pounding in his veins and his skin rising into goosebumps seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation.
"No way...!"
As Heine continued his pursuit, he realized something.
Thinking, of the message that appeared on that invitation before he had gone out into the forest.
What if he hadn't been the first one to read that message?
What if he was actually the second person to have read the message on that envelope?
What if the one the beast had been asking questions to...wasn't him at all?
-His answer was before him shortly.
Moonlight poured in through the skylight.
He was standing within the atrium of the castle. It was the place exactly opposite to the lobby in which everyone had gathered when they first met. In this ancient-styled castle, where no expense had been spared in bedecking it with luxury and extravagance, it was the one place that resounded of quiet solemnity. A nearby piano and harp told of the music that must have filled the room at some point in the past.
The beast's presence was vanishing.
"..."
Heine's eyes were fixed on the center of the atrium. The reason this atrium had been built was no doubt to house the statue that stood at the middle of it.
Dominating the center of the atrium was the massive statue of an angel, in one hand a sword, and in the other a pair of scales. No doubt taking influence from the statue of Michael in Mont Saint-Michel, it was a figure Heine was extremely familiar with. Those scales were to measure the sins of the dead, and the sword was to drive away the serpent. There was no doubt that the Archangel Michael was one of, if not the most famous of all angels.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, Heine realized.
The thick scent permeating the air didn't permit him to turn his eyes away.
Was this blasphemy? Or maybe, since this was the territory of magi, it was supposed to be a kind of blessing?
As if proclaiming the victory of faith, the angel raised its holy sword high in the air.
And that holy sword was piercing straight through...
...Hishiri Adashino.