Chapter 11: Taking Flight
My little bird familiar had landed on a torch in the center of the Supply camp, and I frowned. Hmm... That was one of the storage tents it was staring at, wasn't it? Why would it have tracked Renly there?
The tent itself was made from thick cloth, and the familiar struggled a little bit to shove its way through the flaps. But, with a few awkward-looking hops and ungainly flapping of its wings, the bird slipped inside. It looked pretty normal, at first glance. The important supplies that we'd need first were stacked in the center of the tent, and the bags and boxes we had a lower chance of needing were stacked up on either side. The heavier wooden boxes were on the bottom, and...
...Wait, these were supposed to be food tents. They're storing grains and dried fruits, so why would there be boxes sitting out in the open? That was only for the weapons and armor!
The bird fluttered over to the stacks of grain and flour, and I saw pretty much exactly what I expected.
An Integrity Knight, with shining armor and green hair, curled up in a ball between two boxes and shivering.
"Sir Renly," I said. "Um... What are you doing?"
The Integrity Knight... flinched? He flinched. He flinched and tightened the curl to squeeze himself as tiny as possible. ...What?
"Miss Ritsu!"
I turned away from the hiding Integrity Knight at the call. "What's going on, Fizel?"
"That's what I wanted to know!" the girl said. "Look! How come there are goblins this far past our defenses?"
Hmm... The situation was a little bit worse than I'd hoped. Some of the goblins must have still had smoke bombs; or maybe, the smoke that had enveloped the second unit on the left flank had drifted further back than anticipated. Either way, there was a small haze across the field.
In the haze, the goblins were clashing with the Supply Corps soldiers. There weren't many goblins, but this was also behind our lines; they were clashing at maybe a two-to-one ratio of soldier to goblin, at a quick glance. One goblin got a lucky slash in and killed a guard, and then another soldier ran that goblin through from behind.
Nearby, a soldier was knocked to the ground by a brutally heavy swing of a goblin's stone club. Blood trickled from his mouth as the goblin stomped on his stomach with a bare foot. The green-skinned monster grinned sadistically and raised his club to smash the soldier's head in -
Fizel and Linel jumped into action without more than a glance at each other. They kicked off of the ground to lunge through the smoke; both of them drew their daggers in a smooth fluid motion and swung them. The green blades traced a line through the haze, straight towards the two goblins looming over the downed soldier.
*Shhhhhhnk*
With a single slash, each girl severed the head of their target. The strength of their lunge was proof of their strength, but their skills - that was identical to how we'd been trained in E Class. That was the exact copy of Rythin's technique, down to the follow-through.
Of course, Rythin wasn't able to jump so far in a single leap to cut off a target's head and land out of range of the arterial blood splatter.
The girls landed right next to a trio of goblins that had just killed another soldier, and cut their heads off and hearts out with swift strikes. To go for the killing blow, without hesitation... They were definitely his proteges!
"Well," I said as they ran for the next nearest group, "they slipped through the left flank. The numbers are limited, but it was the best option at the time."
"Why didn't Renlicchi stop them!?" Fizel yelped.
"Zel, there seems to be no end to them!" Linel exclaimed. Her braided pigtails waved behind her as she ran at high speeds. "I think there might be too many for us to deal with!"
Fizel frowned. "I bet they're here because Renlicchi abandoned his post," she complained petulantly. "And why aren't you worried about this, Miss Ritsu?"
"Because I knew two amazing Integrity Knights would be here to save the day," I chirped.
A shadow emerged from the fog with a club raised - and ran itself directly into Linel's dagger. Fizel jumped high into the air and Linel took the low road, sliding under the lunging goblin. She raked her blade down his center and slid to a halt; blackish blood rained down on the dry ground beneath the dying goblin as it fell to the ground.
Another goblin charged out from the smoke, but Linel didn't even look up from her three-point kneeling stance. As it raised its hatchet in the air, Fizel lashed out with a kick to its bulbous nose. She landed on the ground as it toppled over, dead; the force of her kick had snapped its neck.
They stood back to back in the smoke, and I sighed. "Yes, yes, you both look very cool," I said. "Rythin would be very proud of you."
"Really?" Fizel asked, eyes sparkling. "Yes! We did it, Nel!"
"Go us," Linel said with a cute smile.
"Please get back to work," I said.
It's like herding cats!
But those two definitely have things under control. The goblins from the north weren't that tough their own, and all things considered the two girls had probably only misjudged the amount of enemies thanks to all the smoke. Eugeo and Eldrie's effort hadn't gone to waste, and they'd managed to keep most of the goblins from breaking through.
Still, there were a lot of them, and the shouting and screaming was getting louder and louder. The goblins were pushing through our lines faster than I expected. "Ritsu?" Ronie asked. "Should we move Sir Rythin?"
"Eh? Move him?" I turned around in my seat to look at the two girls.
Tiese nodded. "That's a good idea. We can take him to one of the supply tents where he'll be safe from the goblins."
I shook my head. "It'll be safer for him to stay here, with me -"
A sudden surge of bloodlust made my hair stand on end, and I whirled to turn back to my familiars. The one in particular I searched for was the bird stationed right in front of my tent's entrance. What I saw sent electric tingles down my spine, and it felt like time slowed down; a green-skinned, hunched-over goblin with a nasty leer and a sharp-looking machete was staring directly at the bird. Then, it hauled back, and swung the sharp edge at our tent's fabric.
The tip shredded through the canvas sheltering us from the outside world, and Tiese and Ronie jumped with twin yelps. Their hands darted towards the swords belted on their hips as the goblin stepped inside. It was mostly bald except for short tufts of white hair that fell from right behind its ears, and white tattoos decorated its skin. A nearly perfect match for the goblins we'd fought in Rulid. "Hoo!" the goblin sneered. "I found some new toys! Lucky, lu-"
"Fire," I commanded. My guns barked, and both girls shrieked at the sudden sound. The green goblin might have lived long enough to be surprised before it jerked backwards in awkward lurches as the bullets slammed into its body. I frowned in irritation as blood splashed forward into the tent even as it collapsed to the ground outside. Stupid goblins. Blood smells!
Tiese let out a sigh of relief. "That was frightening..."
"Ritsu!" Ronie gasped. "What was that?"
"A Sacred Art that Miss Cardinal helped me develop," I said.
"Wow..."
I looked around at the ruined entrance to the tent. The sounds of battle were a lot louder, along with the cries of the wounded and injured. The smoke that the goblins were using to obscure their movements started to fill the tent too, and I wrinkled my nose. I never got used to the smell.
Some of the blood had splashed onto Rythin, and I puffed my cheeks out in irritation. Stupid thing! "Ronie, Tiese?"
"Yes?" they chorused.
I smiled at them. "Could you two go look for a safer tent? Anything will do. I think this one is a little dangerous now."
Ronie nodded. "Leave it to us. We'll find one far away from anything!"
"Thanks, you two." As the two girls ran off, I toyed with one of my ponytails absently and commanded my lookout bird to follow them. "Stay safe out there. Now..." I knelt down and gathered up a soft cloth, and started rubbing at Rythin's face. "You really should make sure to stay out of the splash zone, Rythin. Pffheheheh."
What? I can giggle at my own jokes! Besides, I like to think that I'm funny, so nyeh, imaginary person poking fun at me.
Once the goblin blood had been cleaned off of his face (there was some on his pants, but I could only do so much in the field) I sat in front of my array of familiar feeds and frowned. I was going to have to recast all of the feeds again, ugh. They're so time-consuming! Maybe I can pick and choose some of the less important ones?
"Get up. You have to go back to your position," Eldrie mumbled to himself. Oh, right! I'd found him! I almost forgot, in all the action immediately after that.
"Sir Renly," I said. "What's going on?"
He flinched again and turned around. When he finally caught sight of my little bird, he sighed. "O-Oh... Miss Ritsu...?"
"Why are you... uh... there?"
"I-I'm..." He wiped at his eyes. "I'd just be a burden out there. It's better for me to be here, since I'm... just a failure. A defective Integrity Knight."
I frowned. "Don't call yourself a failure. As long as you keep trying, even mistakes and errors are part of a learning process! The only time you'll actually fail, is if you give up!"
That was the basic guiding principles that I'd been 'born' with. Any action can be refined further and further as I learn from even the failures. The chance of killing Korosensei with my first volley had been practically none. At the end of the year, with all that I'd learned and considering the actions of my classmates? We would have had a nearly one hundred percent chance of victory. Mistakes were understandable, so long as one never stopped trying to improve!
When he flinched, though, I realized that something I'd said had missed its target completely. "No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get the Double-Winged Blades to answer me, despite having an amazing compatibility! Or, that's what the Pontifex said, before she called me broken and put me into cryostasis."
...Oops? Erm... I-I'm not a psychologist! I don't know what I'm doing!
"I know I should return to my station," he muttered to himself, and sniffled. "But if I went back... I'd just be in the way. It does not matter whether I exist or not."
I wish I knew how to handle this!
"What about here?"
"Sure. This tent looks like it'll be safe enough."
I looked over. Ronie and Tiese had found one of the tents, I guess. Though, was something wrong with the familiar's ears? I was hearing their voices in stereo.
"Let's make sure it's safe, and then let Ritsu know," Tiese said. She reached out and pulled back the entrance to the tent -
- And the familiar that had been watching Renly turned its head to the side at the sudden increase in the light. It stared at the two young girls that poked their heads in; one with long, red hair left to fall free and one with short tea-brown hair with two locks tied up in tiny pigtails. It also saw a bird flying in the air above them.
My other familiar, the one that I'd set to follow Ronie and Tiese from a safe distance, stared past the two girls at a small bird sitting on a box of supplies, illuminated by the light that Tiese had just let in.
...Oh dear.
"It's so dark-" Tiese said as she entered the tent. Renly gasped and drew further back into his hiding spot, but no matter how stealthy he was, he was still wearing plate armor. It clinked quietly, but Tiese had sharp ears and gasped. "Is someone there?" she asked, placing her hand on her sword. It trembled - both her voice and her hand.
Renly hesitated, but eventually he stepped out of his hiding spot with his hands raised. "It is I," he said. The girls gasped at his sudden appearance from the gloom. "I did not mean to startle you."
"Oh! Sir Knight!" Tiese gasped, and sheathed her sword. Oh, I hadn't noticed when she'd drawn it! She must have kept up her training with Eugeo over the past few months. "Forgive our intrusion!"
"No, I am at fault here," Renly insisted. "And please, be at ease. I am... no longer a Knight anymore. ...I am a deserter. The unit I was assigned to command must be in a panic right now. I am sure some have died. And yet, I hide here in safety, a filthy coward."
The three teens stood in awkward silence - I never realized until just now, but Renly really was young, wasn't he? He couldn't be older than 15 or 16... Finally, Ronie took a deep breath and stepped out from behind Tiese's shadow. "Where are my manners? We haven't introduced ourselves yet," she said, and pressed her hand over her chest. "My name is Ronie Arabel, and this is Tiese Schtrinen. We're primary trainees with the Supply Corps. We're currently assisting Miss Ritsu, and guarding... Integrity Knight Rythin Synthesis Thirty-One."
"Rythin? The traitor knight...?" Renly murmured.
"Sir Knight," Ronie continued, "forgive me if I'm being impertinent, but since you're here would you please help us? We hate to ask... But you see, we gave our word we'd keep Miss Ritsu and Sir Rythin safe no matter what. We're still primary trainees. We can't defend ourselves against goblins yet. Even so, we accepted this responsibility. We have to keep them safe. Lady Alice, Kirito and Eugeo are counting on us to."
Mrr... I can protect myself...!
With all of my feeds except the one inside the tent closed, I turned to Rythin. "We should get ready to go, Rythin. It'll be dangerous, so make sure to erase your presence."
"Oh no! The enemy's already here!" I whirled around at Tiese's shout. The bird flapped its wings and flew into the air as the red-haired girl hurried over to the tent flaps. "The smoke has already spread this far! Wait... now I can see shapes moving around in it!"
Tiese gasped and backed away to Ronie. The girls put their hands on the hilts of their swords - but the sudden rip of a sword through the tent fabric startled both girls into quiet gasps of fright. A familiar, monstrously grinning green-skinned form was framed in the light of the sun. "Another goblin!" Ronie exclaimed.
"Lookie here! I found me some white Ium girls!" the goblin laughed. "Buwahah, what a lucky day."
I bit my lip. "System call," I declared. My guns had been prepared in advance in my tent, so all I'd needed to do was fire them, but now... I swung my hand in the air, sketching out the action to open a Stacia window on myself. "Execute user macro, reference position Unit ID..." I scrolled through the active feeds and slammed my hand on Familiar 7's linked status. "CR-EEC2-6853!"
The metallic and aerial elements started to gather around the bird, but they were so, so slow and flickered! I gritted my teeth. Alice's Sacred Art must have been using up so many spatial resources that even this far out, the Sacred Arts I needed to run were failing when I needed them the most.
"Aahhh..." Rythin must have sensed my panic, because his tight grip on the hilt of his dagger loosened. "Hhhh..."
"Thank you, Rythin," I said with a gentle smile. I couldn't be caught up in panic. I knew better than that.
Without hesitation I burst out of the tent and ran as fast as I could. All I had with me was Rythin's Starry Night Dagger, but that would be enough. I just had to run... run... I had to make it in time!
The feed followed me as I ran through the smokey camp, and I could see it out of the corner of my eye. Tiese and Ronie both trembled with fear, but Tiese was able to draw her sword. Her hand shook so much that the blade couldn't stay still, however. "Tiese..." Ronie whimpered.
"Damn it, execute!" I snapped. "Execute!"
The elements flickered around the bird, and despite my desperate shouts it didn't answer my please. Was I going to have to watch them die?!
The goblin sneered and lunged forward, its sword raised to cut both Tiese and Ronie apart. Tiese gritted her teeth and raised her sword, but I knew it wouldn't be enough -
*Whirrrrr*
A glint of something flitted by the bird, and I gasped. That... It was some sort of projectile, but where had it come from?
Whoever threw it, it didn't matter. The whirring... whatever it was twisted in midair and sliced straight through the goblin's skull without so much as slowing down. If it hadn't been for my kinetic vision, I wouldn't have been able to track the object at all.
The goblin came to a halt, right in front of Tiese and Ronie with a look of confusion on its face. Very slowly, two red lines appeared on its body - one across its left wrist, and one right across its ugly face. Then, slowly, the cuts disappeared and the top half of its head slid off.
That was when I burst into the tent, just in time to see the body of the dead goblin collapse backwards. I rushed to the two girls. "Are you two okay?" I gasped.
"S-Somehow..." Tiese breathed.
Behind them, Renly raised his hand, and the whirring object flew through the air until it slipped right into his palm, caught between his index and middle finger. It was a little wing-shaped blade, with sharp edges around the entire blade. The only way to hold it safely was the way Renly was holding it; between two fingers, so that none of the bladed parts touched the palm. This close, I realized that he had a second one on his left hip.
"Sir Renly," I said. "Thank you for saving these two."
He panted, his shoulders heaving with every breath in and out. Then, he finally exhaled slowly. "Stay here, please. And protect Sir Rythin and Miss Ritsu," he said.
"Y-Yes sir!" the two Primary Trainees said.
Renly nodded, and ran out of the tent. I gestured at him with a free hand and set the bird to follow him, and looked at Ronie and Tiese. "...I think this tent might not be the best," I said. "But it's safer than the other one. Let's go get Rythin, and move him in here."
"Wait for us!" Ronie said as I started walking. "We'll protect you."
I did notice how the two of them were trembling, so... We'll protect each other.
By this point, most of the goblins had been eradicated from the camp, thanks to Renly killing any that he saw on the way out. The bird followed him as he ran towards the rear of the left flank; as he ran through the canyon, the smoke got thicker and made it harder to see. It wasn't thick enough to hide the goblins in front of him, and Renly slid to a halt.
Behind him, more goblins chased after him, and as he came to a halt they spread out to surround him. A few goblins carried burning torches to see in the gloom.
Renly, unlike before, seemed to have come to some sort of resolution. He reached to his hip and grabbed at the Double-Winged Blades. "I am Renly! Integrity Knight Renly Synthesis Twenty-Seven! If you want my head, then be ready to give your lives for it!"
"Chop him to pieces!" a goblin shouted.
One goblin, larger and braver than the rest, charged forward and swung its hatchet down at Renly. Renly reared back and threw the blades, and they whirred around - and the small blades revealed themselves to be deceptively lethal, as they flew all around Renly with that single throw and killed all the goblins nearby. Some fell to pieces entirely, while others were killed with a single precise slash that severed their head.
He reached out and caught the boomerang-like blades as they spun back towards him, and without hesitation he twisted and threw out the blades again. The goblins around him died as Renly continued the deadly dance. "Reinforcements should be on their way," I told him. "Just hold out a little longer."
"Okay!" he gasped, and jumped over a goblin before flinging his blade at a shape in the smog.
*Clang!*
The blade he'd just thrown came flying back at a high speed and an awkward angle like someone had used it for baseball practice, and Renly just barely managed to snatch it before it flew by him. It was going so quickly that he was tugged off-balance from its momentum, and staggered in a quick spin to keep his footing.
A figure walked through the smoke, and I frowned. That was the one that had been shouting orders at the front lines, hadn't it? I recognized the large fur collar around his neck at the top of his colorful leather armor. Unlike the rest of the goblins I'd seen, he had two small horns poking from his forehead. With the feathers on his headpiece and the small bits of gold jewelry on his body, I had a feeling I knew why they listened to him. "Are you their commander?" Renly asked.
"Yeah. I'm Kosogi, chief of the mountain goblins. ...What a shame. You've killed some of my best warriors. Surprised to find you here, you being an Integrity Knight and all. Why ain'tcha where the action is, with the rest of the Knights?"
I giggled. "Why do you think we allowed you to make it this far back?" I asked.
The goblin lost his smirk. "What?"
"We could have killed your goblins at any time," I continued. "But, this was the tactic that ended up with the fewest casualties, by my calculations. Thank you for playing along so nicely!"
"Ritsu?" Ronie asked. "Why are you taunting the scary goblin?" I raised my finger to my lips.
"That is none of your concern. Now perish!" Renly called out. Then, he flung his blades out on either side of him.
Kosogi just grinned as they spun through the air, though, and swung to the right and then the left with his large sword. Both times his blade clanged against the spinning blade and knocked it away without breaking a sweat. Instead of flying back to him like normal, the Double-Winged Blades flew up in the air and fell awkwardly; but, Renly still managed to catch them. It wasn't a perfect catch, though, and blood slowly started to seep from his palm where the point of the blade had pierced his armor.
"Thought I was just another goblin, did ya, boy. Well, I ain't so impressed with you, either to be honest. You said before, you were an Integrity Knight! I was told one of ya could take on a thousand. But that ain't the case for you now, is it? That's why you're hiding aaaaall the way back here. Ain't that right?" He spat to the side. "Maybe you should have thought about who was hiding all the way back here before you let me get this far, girl. Am I right?"
I growled under my breath. Sh-Shut up! I can make mistakes just like anyone else! "Renly, don't listen to -"
"Hmm. You are correct." Eh? Why was Renly smiling? "I am not much of a Knight. Even so, let us be clear. Though I might be defective, these are not!" He held up the Double-Winged Blades again, and closed his eyes. "Just like those birds..."
My poor bird was sent tumbling through the air as a sudden wind kicked up, and a twister formed around Renly. Was this his Incarnation? Or was it the Full Control Art? "Double Wings... take flight!"
With that shout, he threw the Double-Winged Blades with all his might. Kosogi's eyes widened as the throwing blades flew much quicker, with trails of wind behind them. He swung his massive axe one time, and smashed both of the blades skyward again.
"I can do this all day, boy!"
No. It was just like I expected. He was looking down on Renly, and mocking his weakness, and in doing so -
"Release... Recollection!"
...He was predictable. Renly thrust his hand in the sky as he unleashed his Full Control Art, and green circles of Sacred Art execution surrounded his hand. The Double-Winged Blades that he reached towards glowed a brilliant gold as they spun in midair, and crashed together. When I could see the form of his weapons again, Renly's Double-Winged Blades had merged together to form... I suppose if each blade was one wing, then this would be the bird it was based on, reborn.
"...Beautiful," Renly said. Then, he clenched his fist. The blade that had been floating in midair started rotating at an incredible speed, accelerating until lightning crackled from it. Renly leveled his hand at Kosogi, and the combined Double-Winged Blades launched itself towards him, centered in a vortex of wind that propelled it forward.
"Quit playing around!" Kosogi howled. He swung at the spinning blade... but just as his blade was about to strike it, the Double-Winged Blades twisted and flew higher up into the air. Kosogi gritted his teeth and howled again, charging for Renly.
It made sense. Kill the user, and even the most powerful weapon was useless. But, I shook my head as I watched the glint of light plunge down from behind him. Even as Kosogi jumped in the air and raised his sword to cut Renly in half, the Integrity Knight held his hand out and didn't flinch.
The sound of an absurdly sharp blade splitting the air reached my ears, and I watched as the spinning blade flashed upwards. Kosogi's expression went slack as a white line traced down his exact center.
The cut was so clean, in fact, that as his body fell apart on either side of Renly, no blood stained the boy's armor. Renly held his hand out, and the Double-Winged Blades gently floated down into his hand, where it split apart in a flash of light back to its twin boomerangs.
"Renlicchi?" I sighed. Fizel and Linel had emerged from the smoke, and Fizel had her hands on her hips. "Well well well," Fizel said as the two young trainees approached him. "Someone's gotten a bit more knightly. We were hoping to get credit for saving you. Too bad you had to spoil that..."
"Hmph!" Linel pouted. "No one's going to care we chopped off way more heads than you did."
"Don't be a brat," I scolded them. "Rythin wouldn't be very happy with you for acting like that."
Fizel puffed her cheeks out. "What would you know," she grumbled. "Just 'cause you're taking care of him..."
I sighed. "When he wakes up, I'll make sure to tell him about all the goblins you killed."
"That's a promise," Linel insisted.
Then, both girls brought their hands up to their chest in salute and bowed. "Sir Knight," the two of them chorused, "we humbly request your orders."
Renly blinked, mouth open in surprise. "I, er... Very well then, we need to make sure that Ronie, Tiese, and Ritsu are safe -"
"We'll be fine," I said. "Now that all the goblins have been pushed back, the Supply Corps should be fine."
"Oh! Then, these two are my reinforcements?"
Linel glanced to the side. "You're our reinforcements," she muttered, then raised her voice. "We killed all the goblins here."
"...If that is the case, then I suppose we'd best return to our units."
"Yes, sir."
"As you command."
After giving out their sullen replies, Fizel and Linel ran off. Renly hesitated and looked back at the Supply Camp; he could probably see the flickering torchlight from around the bend in the canyon. "...Thank you," he said, and turned to run off.
"Why did you say that?" I asked.
Renly coughed and his cheeks went red. "M-Miss Ritsu! I didn't know you were still listening!"
"We've just finished moving to the other tent," I said. It's a little cramped with four of us in here, but I don't mind. "Um... So, why did you say thank you?"
"I-It doesn't matter!"
Hee hee. Teasing him is pretty fun.
Now, I just have to get the important familiar feeds back up, and... Ah! It looks like the butterfly that I'd sent across much earlier in the fight had penetrated deep into the Dark Territory's lines. It flew over the second group of the army, in their massive ranks, and slowly made its way towards an ornate carriage pulled by two ox-like beasts.
As it fluttered by the palanquin, I realized that it was open to the air. Such a thing could only belong to someone important, so I guided the butterfly down towards it.
"Lord Sigurosig, Lord Shibori, and Lord Kosogi have all been killed." Oh! I guessed right, and the enemy was giving a status report to one of their commanders! Lucky me~.
The palanquin was larger than it looked from above, with a large throne-like chair in the center. Two pedestals made from the same strange black metal were in front of it; one held a strange skull, for some reason, and a few wine bottles rested on the other.
The commander receiving the report was lounging on the throne; she was a dark-skinned human, with long silver hair. Blue must have been her favorite color, since she was wearing that color for both her eyeshadow and lipstick - AND, her long fingernails had been painted a bright blue as well. I couldn't quite tell what her age was, though the fur coat and the 'clothes' (really, they were closer to strips of cloth artfully arranged to avoid nudity) she was wearing confirmed she was important. It helped that a woman was kneeling on the ground and holding up a serving tray with a glass of wine on it.
Judging by the robes and silly witch hat the other two women on the platform were wearing, these were some of the Dark Mages. And that meant the woman sitting on the throne was the leader of the Dark Mages.
...I can't believe anime with the evil Magical Girl wearing really skimpy clothes was accurate. That just breaks my heart.
"Useless wretches," the mage leader snapped. She crossed her arms and tapped her finger on her upper arm in irritation. "Demi-humans can't be counted on for anything. Have you located all the Integrity Knights yet?"
"Currently, we have the four on the front lines in our sights," her subordinate said. "We found two more among their rear units, but we do not have a fix on them yet."
"There are only five Knights here?" Miss Mage said. "Impossible. Unless, that is all they ever had... Regardless of how many there are here, we must slaughter them all." I certainly wasn't going to tell her. "Go on, wake the minions! Have them fly for 700 mels, then descend upon the battlefield... and kill everything."
The pleased smile on her face twisted my stomach. Still, the fact that I was spying on their forces meant that we had an incredible advantage over the enemy.
"Forgive the question, but won't our demi-human units get caught in that?" the standing mage asked.
"Too bad."
"Right. How many minions do you wish? We have 800 available. They are all hatched and ready to go."
Miss Mage reached over and grabbed the wine glass from her attendant. "Hmm..." She smirked and licked her lips.
"Send every last one of them."
"They're releasing their minions now," I told Bercouli. "All 800, without holding any back. Range is approximately 700 mels from the front line."
Bercouli opened his eyes. "Thanks, kid."
From where he was standing, I couldn't quite make out the actual shapes of the minions that were flying towards us. All I could see was the stars getting blotted out little by little as the monsters I knew were there got closer and closer.
"You've got those birds of yours in the places I told you, right, kid?"
"Eh?" I blinked. "Yes, I do, sir... But can I ask why those places in particular?"
Bercouli cracked a dry grin. "You'll see." He drew his sword out without a flourish, then raised it over his head. With both hands on the handle, he held it there. "Tell me when they're about to cross the line."
I see... So, the two birds on either side of the gorge acted as a marker! I didn't know why exactly he needed to know, but I would do as I was asked.
Closer... Closer... A little, tiny bit more, and...
The minions in the air began to dive, as some of them reached their 700 mel path.
"Crossing the line now."
"Time-Splitting Sword! Air Slice!"
Bercouli's shout was an immediate answer to my report. Actually, if I had a chance to slow down a replay of the event, I would probably see that he had started his exclamation before I'd managed to get more than a single syllable out.
He took a firm step forward, and with gritted teeth swung his sword down heavily. It was... just a simple slash. There were no flashy lights or Sacred Arts activating with that ability.
That was because, as it would turn out, that Bercouli had activated his Sacred Arts far ahead of time, and this attack was just to release the prepared strike.
I saw a glint of red in the air appear just as a minion passed through it. Four or five other lines hanging in the air flashed at the same time, and the minion that had been in the center of all those slashes split apart in chunks, like a sword had passed through it in every spot simultaneously.
All throughout the sky, that same phenomenon occurred. A glint of red light was the only warning, before the minions in the sky split open like they'd been slashed ten times over with a sword. As the pieces of the minions rained down and broke apart like clay, I realized... This was the exact same thing that Eugeo had told me about. A slash, suspended in the air - no, in time...
This was Bercouli's Full Control Art!
Bercouli sheathed his sword slowly as the carnage rained from above.
"Uncle activated his Perfect Weapon Control art," Alice mused. "He has made his move."
"How many times can he use that?" I asked. If he could do that multiple times, then all he'd need to do would be draw those slashes across the entire battlefield; then, our troops could just leave and let the Dark Territory walk straight into a trap, like they just did!
"Unfortunately," Miss Cardinal replied, "the Perfect Control Art that Bercouli used drained half of his weapon's remaining Life. It will require time and special Arts to recover."
Darn!
While Miss Cardinal was answering me, though, Alice had stretched her hands out towards the ball that she'd created. Now that the enemy's air forces had been handled, that meant it was time for her to begin taking action.
The silver ball glowed with a bright light, and then shrank until it was a sphere the size of Alice's head, hovering in front of her and reflecting her face back at her. The contents of the metallic orb hadn't changed at all... so the pressure inside must be immense.
A glass shattered and I jumped, terrified that the orb had just shattered and ruined everything - but no, it was just the wine glass that Miss Mage had been drinking from. She'd thrown it to the ground, and her face was twisted in anger. "You imbecile! How did we not know they had such a large unit of mages?!"
"They don't! I-I... I don't know what happened."
Miss Mage snarled, and literally trembled. Then, after a second, she managed to squash the anger and let it drain away. "Have they deployed their flying dragons yet?"
"The skies above are clear," the other mage replied, and kneeled. "Not one dragon has been spotted."
"Then there can be only one explanation for it." Miss Mage started pacing. "That must be Perfect Weapon Control. Their knights' special skill. Damn! They're stronger than I thought..." She bared her teeth in anger for a second, then relaxed. "But using a weapon that way is risky, though. It would drain massive amounts of the weapon's Life. How could they unleash such a barrage..."
"I've just got word, Lady D.I.L," the other mage said. "Our spotters located the two Knights in the rear. We've targeted them. We now have all six of them in our sights."
...Eh? Wait, hang on? Six? I could understand not considering Kirito an Integrity Knight despite his skill, since he didn't wear the armor, but surely they were counting the Oscillation Blades! There were eight Integrity Knights in the front lines alone! Well, seven and one trainee. Then again... They didn't have perfect information like I did.
"Good," Dee Aye Ell - I guess? - said with a nod, and walked back to her throne. I recognized the walk; it was the stride of someone who wanted desperately to be in control of their anger, to the point that they'd fooled themselves into believing they were calm. All we'd need, to make her topple entirely... was one more little push.
She grabbed a new glass of wine and drained the contents in a single gulp. Then, she whirled around and threw her hand out with a crazy smile on her face. "Ogre archers and dark mages! Advance into the ravine! Once you are in position, ready the bows! And begin the incineration incantation!"
Perfect! She'd walked right into the trap! People who were angry... They always made the mistake of not thinking things through. Instead of considering why they hadn't seen any dragons, she just moved forward with her own plans!
As her orders echoed through the Dark Territory's side of the battlefield, the units in the rear that hadn't attacked in the first wave started to move. The ogres - which really looked more like werewolves - and the squadron of identically-dressed dark mages, in their witch hats and cloaks that still managed to show off some of their cleavage, marched forward.
...
"They're coming," I said to Alice and Miss Cardinal.
The small girl nodded. "Understood," she replied.
...
From the familiar feed that had stealthily landed on D.I.L's collar, I couldn't hear the commands that were being shouted from the front, but I saw their results. The squads of ogres and dark mages halted, and got ready; the ogres raised their bows, and the dark mages raised their hands.
There had to be at least a thousand dark mages down there, and if they were given the chance to unleash their powers, there was no way any amount of Alice's talent could stop them. But... This was the key that Fanatio had noticed.
According to her, it was due to Rythin's complaints about the uselessness of his weapon's Full Control Art. Which... On one bit, I was happy that Rythin had been able to solve the riddle! But, flip the bit, and... he was probably complaining too much, about something silly.
Either way, if the enemy had too many mages to stop them from controlling the Sacred Power available... then all they had to do was use up the power in the first place before the dark mages came into play. But creating something like cryogenic or thermal elements wouldn't be nearly enough to use up all the spatial resources in the ravine, especially when you considered the amount of resources released by Fluctlight deaths.
So, they'd come up with something amazing. Create luminous elements and trap them inside a mirror, and reflect them infinitely. It freed up the need to keep control of the luminous elements, and used up as many spatial resources as Alice could convert.
So, when all of the mages raised their hands, I knew it wasn't going to work. Alice had been chanting non-stop for the last several hours; by this point, there couldn't possibly be any spatial resources left, beyond the few wisps that had been released by a unit's death and not captured by Alice's Sacred Arts.
Each individual mage might have only gathered ten thermal elements - or, attempted to - but even that was enough to make a red glow illuminate part of the canyon. D.I.L. licked her lips again and smirked.
Then, the red light vanished.
Nobody moved or even breathed for several heartbeats.
"What... is going on, out there?!" D.I.L.'s voice was practically a snarl. If she gripped her wine glass any harder, she might crack it.
Her subordinate, on the other hand, was visibly flustered. "I-I don't know!"
"Well get an ANSWER! I want to know what the hell they think they're doing down there!"
...
"They're about to realize something's wrong," I told Alice.
She nodded. "Thank you, Ritsu..." Alice stared at her reflection in the orb, and then without looking away continued. "Ritsu, do you think... No, never mind. I shouldn't be hesitating now."
"...It's hard to say with one hundred percent probability," I said slowly, "but somehow, I still know. Kirito... Kirito and Rythin would never hate you for doing what you think is necessary to protect those who can't fight for themselves. Please don't hate yourself for what you're going to do."
Alice sighed, and smiled ruefully. "I understand. That means I can blame you if Kirito gets mad, right?"
"Wha-?! That's not fair at all! Alice!"
I puffed my cheeks out when she giggled at me. Millions of calculations, and hundreds of different emotions - and after all I'd experienced, I still didn't like petulant irritation! I'm gonna have to tease her extra hard later to make up for this one!
The smile on Alice's face disappeared as she firmed her expression. This resolve... it would lead us to a brighter tomorrow! She drew her sword with a ring of steel.
"Bloom, flowers!"
It was a simple declaration, but I could feel the weight of the future riding on this moment. Her sword split apart into the glittering, bladed olive petals and swirled around her; Alice pointed the empty hilt of her sword forward, and the petals swarmed around the mirrored orb. Then, a massive flower bloomed, high in the air. Made up of all of her sword's petals, the petals unfurled, pointed at the enemy forces like a sunflower would turn towards the sun.
For a second, nothing happened. Then -
"Burst Element."
Light. I couldn't see anything but light from any of the different familiar feeds I switched through, and it was so bright that I could barely keep my eyes open. Both Ronie and Tiese cried out in surprise as the inside of the supply tent lit up.
Finally, I managed to find a familiar's view that wasn't totally blinded by the light of Alice's Sacred Art. As the metallic orb that Alice had created as a prison for the luminous elements burst open, the light scattered - and was caught by the petals surrounding it.
Reflected like that, the light bounced around, but in the end there was only one direction for all of the energy to go, and that was the single direction that the flower was pointing. A massive pillar of light thundered down from above, still bright even from the Dark Territory where my butterfly sat on D.I.L.'s collar.
Light, compressed and amplified over and over again, and then focused in a single point... and then launched from a platform in the air...
The gigantic laser slammed into the ground and swept forward, raking across the ground. Even though the forces of the Dark Territory were knocked away, that was just from the force of the laser's impact - for a heartbeat after Alice dragged it forward, the stone on the ground didn't do anything.
And then the entire canyon erupted into fire so massive that the top of the explosion reached over the top of the canyon's walls.
I switched back to the familiar on Alice's shoulder once the light started to peter out, and gasped at what I saw as the fire started to burn out. The ground itself was so hot that the stone melted and started bubbling as the ground turned to magma, practically. A channel had been carved into the ground where the laser had dug deep, and fires burned everywhere else.
Alice held her sword in the air, her face illuminated by the carnage she'd wrought, and then slowly bowed her head.
"I'm sorry, Alice," I said.
"...No. This was my choice."
I'm still sorry anyway... because you look so sad.
Shorter chapter this time, but that's because a lot of Renly's introspection has been internal. He doesn't talk about it out loud, you know. A shame, because it's his backstory and kind of explains how he manages to finally activate his Divine Object…
…But in the end he's a side character at best and I don't think Ritsu really cares that much. Or rather… She cares, but won't pry unless he wants to share with the class. And since it's a bit personal, he won't. (Eh? You want to know what the reason is? Watch the show or read the light novels.)
Linel and Fizel are still fun, though. I like them.
After that comes the reveal of what Alice has been chanting the entire time. Ritsu being able to see through her familiars means that it's obvious that she'd definitely try sending one behind the lines to spy on the dark mages.
Hopefully the laser itself makes sense. (As far as any amount of Sacred Arts make 'sense')
Many thanks to everyone that favorited, followed, or left a review.
