No Game No Life - Volume SS - Practical War Game - Chapter 2

PRACTICAL WAR GAME

On that day, Think Nirvalen lay on the hot sand—so hot, it was turning into glass—staring aimlessly at the sky.

…Even with her long ears, all she could hear was silence. The gem embedded in her forehead looked more like charcoal; her empty eyes with their diamond-shaped pupils flickered with the light from the heavens. That crimson light burned up into the detritus that filled the air: the iridescent blue vestiges of dying spirits. With every blink, Think counted another streak of light falling through the sky, another vessel tumbling from the fleet of Elven airships. As she faded in and out of consciousness, as if waking up from a dream, she thought:

I wonder what the real color of the sky used to be. I wonder what the world was like before the Great War…

It was the first time she ever asked herself these questions…

 ……

When she was a child, she used to think how much better it would be if the world were simpler. Not because of how lawless, pointless, worthless, or cruel the world was. She merely felt simpler was better, more natural. This clever, innocent little girl who viewed the world so disinterestedly believed that—

—and the world finally listened.

Whenever her ideas came to fruition, this cruel, broken world slowly but surely became simpler—better. The theorization and systemization of spells and rites is what allowed groups of casters to perform large-scale rites in tandem. Groups of casters were divided into battalions, which were then divided into squads. These squads were organized into tactical formations, which made coordinated attacks possible.

The battalions are the musical notes, the strategy is the musical score, and the battle is the performance. Or perhaps in terms of chess: the pawns, opening moves, and how the game plays out from there.

The war cries of soldiers, the dying throes of those cut down, the triumphant cheering of the victorious, and the tragic wails of the fallen. It truly was a symphony. It was all that the world and its wars amounted to for the young genius, who had chalked up masterpiece after masterpiece on the battlefield. None of it mattered to her; she knew it was all pointless. She simply did her duty the same way one tidies their room—aimlessly, without rhyme or reason.

The little girl eventually grew into a woman, and the world was more malleable to her will than ever before. The time had come for her to pay tribute to Kainas, the god of the forest, creator of the Elves. She got down on one knee and bowed her head like she was supposed to do—but as always, none of it meant anything to her.

“I commend thee for thy wisdom, thy contributions to Elfkind, and for thy loyalty to me. The advent of a flower such as thyself is surely an auspicious sign that the Great War is coming to an end; that the Elves shall prevail triumphant over the other foolish races and their false gods; that I shall take my rightful place on the throne of the One True God.”

An end to the Great War? The One True God? Of what, exactly?

She was at her wits’ end. When did the War even start? This simpleton who thinks they’re a god doesn’t even know that. A war that never ends is a part of homeostasis. The same way rivers cut away from the earth, the sea crashes into the land, the land parts the sea, and earth buries its rivers. Planets are in a state of constant change. What difference does it make if it is nature or gods and Elves who are doing the changing?

Kainas wants to be the One True God? Sure—let them have it. And if they can’t have that specific throne, then a porcelain one will do just fine…

Before long, Think received the title of Grand Magus—an archmage, the epitome of mages. She continued to manipulate the world around her the way she had since she was a child, without any shred of doubt.

Nothing in existence could stop her.

The world was her playground. She had thought that, at least until today—this day, this moment.

 ……

An explosion broke the silence and hit her like a punch in the gut. Her hearing eventually returned, along with her consciousness, which quickly reoriented itself. But even the blazing sand she lay upon and the black ash that pelted her like rain weren’t enough to stir her to action. The only thing she could move was her diamond eyes. Think Nirvalen looked up and saw a dark figure that covered her with its shadow. It was a man who shouldered a mass of steel many times his own size. He gazed down at her.

“ ”

Think couldn’t understand what he was saying—she didn’t even know what language it was. But now that she was fully conscious, she managed to recall what had just happened.

…And like always, she stuck to the simplest of terms.

It was a long process, really. The process of leading the Elven army to eliminate the Dwarf race.

She had been stopped.

Think had encountered the Dwarves—it was the first time she had ever seen their steel armada flying through the sky. She came under fire…

…and was defeated.

…De…feat…?

She wasn’t familiar with the term…the concept…the notion of defeat. It hit her slowly, like a droplet of water seeping through the crevasses of her brain.

Defeat—? Who lost? How? Why?

Think was bewildered. This had never felt like fighting to her. She crawled her way out of the fallen airship and saw him. It was about to happen. This man was about to do it. He was going to stab her with that mass of steel, and then…

…And…then…?

Her mind refused to grasp the situation, as did her eyes. The massive steel object the man was now holding above his head—she could tell it was a sword. This was the sword that would do it. This shining sword was going to cut down her many spells, and…then…

When this sword lands, my life will be forfeit.

Think played out the scenario in her mind, which felt completely separate from reality, while she remained motionless on her hands and knees and watched the steel mass in a daze. The blade gleamed as it fell toward her, when suddenly—

“ ?!”

—the moment the man tried to swing it down, it cracked down the middle, and the lower half snapped clean off. The man looked at his blade in astonishment…before bursting into laughter and looking up into the sky.

 ,

Think wouldn’t understand what had happened until later. Weapons like the man’s sword were called spirit arms. They were tools Dwarves used to control their magic. During his fight with Think, he put too much of a burden on his weapon, which caused it to break. She didn’t know this yet, though. Even more confusing was why the man was laughing so jovially. Both armies had fallen, and the battlefield was in ruins—put simply, the man was enjoying the fact that his supposedly invincible steel armada was now falling apart.

“ Lóni Drauvnir.”

He told Think his name as he smoothly turned to take his leave. It was almost humorous how thick his accent was. Doing what she imagined was his best not to bite off his own tongue, he said one more thing in his horrible Elven:

“Until we play again. I’ll kill you myself.”

…How many minutes, maybe hours, went by after that?

On that day, Think Nirvalen lay alone on the hot sand and black ash. She had at last realized something, just as she finally regained control of her arms and legs and tried to get herself up.

…So this is it… This is the Great War.

It had never dawned on her before, not even as a fleeting thought or a daydream. She couldn’t believe it—that this kind of world existed. That the mess of a world she lived in, the one she felt like she was tidying up as if it were her bedroom—

The world isn’t mine and mine alone. Who could have known—?!

There existed another person out there, someone who didn’t appreciate the way she moved her pieces in her world. Someone who didn’t like the way she tidied up her room—even viewed it as an attack, considered it an invasion.

The shock you feel when someone opposes the way you view the world—is that what war is?!

She’d been fighting an opponent, someone else with their own game pieces and musical scores.

I was playing a game…

And—she’d lost. To a Dwarf—a mole—of all things. To someone lower than a putrid rat, with no sense of how beautiful the game they were playing was. To someone without any reason or logic or wisdom or class—to that piece of shit Dwarf…

…She began walking. Think looked up at the heavens and laughed to herself. Death rained down on her from the bleeding sky. There were moments when the terrible sight looked almost beautiful to her. Her once-colorless world was turning to Technicolor, and she realized something: This recurring feeling she had experienced after her first defeat ever wasn’t pain or anguish.

She painted a vision of the future. The world she thought was cruel and irredeemable now seemed more beautiful than any masterpiece she had ever laid eyes on. She laughed at how moved she was by the realization. Every pointless, meaningless thing she had done up until now suddenly began to make sense—by thinking of what the world could be. Yes—!

A world where she ends the Great War—a world without war. All she had to do was wipe those damned Dwarves off the face of the planet. She now had a reason to fight: to eliminate any and every threat that existed.

She’d claim the world as her own and finally see what color the sky really was. She took a deep breath—and let out a sigh…

“…Why, you can’t leave me like this, begging for mooore.  ”

That was the day Think Nirvalen was born.

…Maybe not born… More like—the day she snapped.

She didn’t know that, though. Anger was something she never thought she’d have to deal with.

Her ominous laughter heralded the monster that had just been born, a genius out for blood…

 Think Nirvalen.

After her defeat, the genius to end all geniuses, the Grand Magus, disappeared without a trace. The Elves were instantly thrown into utter chaos. Now, however, the shock and horror of the whole ordeal was already a thing of the past.

Cheers filled the Elf capital Melryln, which was hidden away in an expansive forest. A vá-lu-plum airship floated gracefully through the skies above, and on its deck stood a small Elf—young by even Elven standards. She wore a celebratory sash over an ill-fitting Grand Magus robe—the incessant stream of cheers was for her. This young, innocent little girl commanded the deepest of respect, even from the elderly admiral of the Elven air force, who stood next to her.

“Grand Magus… Your flawless leadership helped us see another victory.”

She had received a title thought to be long lost to history.

“…I did nothing. My thanks to you, Admiral, and the Aseä Alanion, for your help.”

Without an inkling of boasting over her military feats, she simply sent out a warm gaze upon the city she protected. She was sincere when she thanked the commander in her soft, high-pitched voice, reminiscent of a small bell. He could hear her earnestness in her words.

 Nina Clive.

The disappearance of the previous Grand Magus, Think Nirvalen, had brought the survival of the Elf race into question. That question now almost seemed silly, though, with the appearance of a new young genius—an octa-caster practically sent from the heavens. This Elf soon rewrote the group of theories that magic had previously been based on—effectively reducing the previous school of thought to a footnote in Elven history books—which quickly elevated her to the youngest Elf to be granted the title of Grand Magus. She swiftly began reorganizing the Elven military, taking her predecessor Think Nirvalen’s place. Her expansion of the army was nothing short of revolutionary. Think Nirvalen, the unrivaled genius among geniuses, was now a relic of the past.

The commander’s eyes squinted into a smile. This young Elf outranked him, had more magical talent—hell, she even had more military accolades than he did.

With such a great divide between the two of us, and in so many different ways, I cannot even envy her…

Hence, he merely shook his head in quiet awe.

“Help, you say… You are far too humble. My, my…”

The Elves had received an urgent report from the northern front of an incoming Dwarven fleet, and a massive one at that.

Nina Clive was stationed in the northern city of Helruin with the main Elf army. She was charged with leading the Aseä Alanion, the Elves’ most elite battalion, into battle. She rushed to pull troops from the eastern and western fronts in order to build up their defense in the north—a move which may have seemed a bit over the top at the time.

No caution was too much, however, when it came to aerial combat with the Dwarves. Much to the Elves’ chagrin, the Dwarves dominated the skies. The Elves went to battle thinking it was going to be a bloody one. They knew they wouldn’t lose, but the battle wouldn’t end without paying a significant price, one necessary to keep damages to a minimum—or so the Elves thought…

“My, my— Never in a million years did I think we would be able to exterminate those moles and their filthy armada without suffering a single casualty…”

They had managed to destroy the Dwarf armada virtually unscathed. It’s worth mentioning, though—it wasn’t the Elves who had destroyed them.

This was the source of the admiral’s awe—no, more like fear—he held for Nina. The Dwarves’ high-speed fleet of steel ships had fallen from the sky like leaves off a dead tree, which begged the question:

“…How did you know…when the In-Sein Nebia would appear?”

He asked about the Phantasma that had suddenly appeared from behind the Dwarf armada. “Appear” was the most appropriate way to describe what was normally indistinguishable from fog.

The In-Sein Nebia, also known as the fog of death, was among the worst of all the known Phantasmas—a calamity in its truest form. This fog could change size and shape at will—from a dense fog large enough to engulf a desert to a single dew drop.

It consumed anything and everything in its path—organic or inorganic—and decayed it into oblivion. Destroying the Phantasma’s core was the only way to stop its creeping wall of death, a feat nigh impossible given how difficult it was to actually find the core, which could be any drop of liquid in the entire fog cloud. The only feasible way to escape its clutches was to freeze or evaporate large parts of it all at once.

This living absurdity had appeared right behind the Dwarven fleet, which was moving at high speeds in an effort to force their way through the Elf defenses. The Elves had employed a deep defense, assuming a semicircle formation in order to try and sandwich—and potentially surround—the Dwarves.

The Elven soldiers lay in wait, unable to scold their comrades for cowering in fear.

The plan had fallen through. It was a nightmare scenario, especially given how the Dwarves were hightailing it out of there. Truth be told, the admiral almost gave the order to retreat—it was this close to rolling off the tip of his tongue. He looked to his side and saw Nina Clive stifling a cackle as she gave her orders:

“…Hold your positions.”

Everyone—even the admiral—was in disbelief as they watched the Dwarves charge straight toward them.

And it was no wonder. The Dwarves had the Elves at their front and to their sides, and the fog of death at their rear. Their only options were to either charge the Elves as planned or disintegrate inside the fog.

The Elves were ready for the attack, however. They moved the formidable Aseä Alanion into position to intercept the Dwarven blitzkrieg. Even the swift Dwarf armada wouldn’t be able to penetrate their bulwark easily. If they were to engage in combat and the In-Sein Nebia were to catch up to them, both armies would perish.

…………,

The Grand Magus Nina Clive, unparalleled Elf genius, wore a thin smile as the Elven forces followed her insane commands. Amidst the tension, fear, and sheer intensity of the enemy fleet and Phantasma piling toward them, there was only silence on the deck of the Elven battleship. Suddenly—

—the Dwarves broke their formation and spread out. They ignored the Elves in order to fight the In-Sein Nebia as they tried making their escape. The entire Elf fleet, including the admiral—save for Nina—stared in utter awe, unable to process what was happening. It was just as Nina had predicted. Instead of facing certain death together with the Elves, the Dwarves decided to use their mobility to flee the In-Sein Nebia with their lives. It didn’t make sense—how did she know this would happen?

The majority of the Dwarves fell victim to the Phantasma. It was the moment she had been waiting for.

“All Capture Vessels—deploy probing rites and seize the enemy Phantasma’s core.”

The admiral listened to the chilling tone with which she gave her orders. It was as if Nina had this all planned.

…The Grand Magus said no more. The admiral continued his questioning in a weary voice:

“You knew it would appear— You needed the In-Sein Nebia for your plan… Your plan was never about the Dwarves… The real reason you called the Aseä Alanion into battle was—”

“Grand Magus, a report for you.”

Someone behind them interrupted the admiral mid-sentence. He turned around to see a woman dressed in full black, with a black veil covering her face. “The sealing rite has proven effective against the core. We are currently transporting it.”

This woman was not a subordinate of the admiral’s. He had never seen her before. She had accompanied the Grand Magus onto the ship. The admiral didn’t know who she was, but the report she gave the Grand Magus had answered his question.

—Why did she need so many troops?

Without the two battalions flanking from either side, the Dwarves would have easily been able to escape the Phantasma.

Why didn’t she have troops come in from behind to surround the Dwarves?

She needed the Dwarves to engage in combat with the Phantasma in order to buy her time to locate its core. In other words—

—capturing the Phantasma had been her plan all along.

The twenty undocumented Capture Vessels accompanying their air force were all the proof the admiral needed. Nina Clive knew the Phantasma was going to appear, and she intended on using it.

“…Next time, if at all possible, I would appreciate learning our combat strategy in full…”

…He undoubtedly recognized Nina Clive’s capabilities. But as admiral of the Aseä Alanion, he was trusted with the lives of his soldiers. He recognized that Nina could use the Aseä Alanion more effectively than he could—that there would be fewer casualties under her than him. He only wished she’d trust him a little bit more.

The admiral mustered an awkward laugh. He knew more than anyone that his request was unbecoming of a man his age.

“…Yes, I’ll do that if at all possible,” came Nina Clive’s reply.

“With all due respect, Admiral. You aren’t of a high enough rank for such information to concern you. Please know your place.”

The Grand Magus gave a slight sigh when the woman in the black veil added her own biting remark. Unlike the humble Grand Magus, this woman didn’t try to hide the fact that she was an elite and the admiral was a lowly civil servant. She ignored the admiral’s indignant snort and handed a document to the Grand Magus.

“Please give me the word to sign the core over to the care of the Akasha Hollowfication Project.”

Akasha… The admiral had heard the word before. It was an experiment being conducted in the Elven capital of Melryln. The experiment was supposedly taking place under the creator of the Elves—Kainas’s—sanctuary, but the rumors stopped there. Any further information about the Hollowfication Project was above an admiral’s rank…

The Grand Magus signed the document with her petite, dainty hands. She gave it back to the woman, who let out a small, but audible, sigh of relief. The admiral quietly let slip another awkward chuckle.

“…Something you want to say?”

“Oh no—I was just thinking about how young the two of you are.”

He found it interesting that this woman—who took pride in being an elite and was of a rank high enough to be involved with the Akasha Hollowfication Project—also held the genius Magus in revere. She was no different than he was when it came to understanding—well, not understanding—whatever had transpired that day. Her evident relief made her remark earlier somewhat entertaining.

…It wasn’t long ago when going up against a Phantasma was considered suicide. Especially against the In-Sein Nebia—that was downright laughable.

Not anymore, though…

The admiral and the veiled woman shared the same thought as they gazed at the Grand Magus from behind.

The young Magus stood atop the stern of the ship, trying to fix the clothes that were obviously too big for her. The tiny gestures she made with her hands as she straightened out her gown were cute, though unbefitting, all things considered. It only added to how terrifying her boundless genius was.

Nina Clive was an Elf of few words. She listened, learned, imagined, thought, and understood—therefore she never needed to counsel in anyone. She let others know what to do, answered their questions, and did what needed doing. They needed only to follow her commands, and everything would work out.

The admiral knew that nobody could possibly understand the world as she saw it through her own eyes—as she stood proudly above all else, watching the world unravel itself before her.

He didn’t need to say this out loud; the veiled woman undoubtedly agreed with him, albeit begrudgingly.

All he could do was thank the gods that Nina was on his side, give a bow, and then take his leave.

Nina stood there alone against the wind. No one could fathom what went on in her mind as she gazed down upon her homeland from the ship’s stern. No one would ever realize what the strained grin on her face or her teary eyes meant. They couldn’t possibly know her thoughts were as simple as:

I want to go home as soon as possible.

And go home she did. It was the first time Nina Clive had returned home in ten days. She locked the door after closing it, then used her multi-casting to double-check that she was alone. After scanning her mansion to make sure no one was listening in on her, she let out a deep sigh.

“Ugggh… I don’t think I can take this anymore!!”

That was the first thing to escape her mouth. She threw off her gown, which was weighed down by her many badges and medals. Not a single soul in Elven Gard knew how she felt deep down. With a loud wail, she called out to the other person in her home:

“Elderrr! You didn’t say anything about the In-Sein Nebia showing up! I really thought I was going to die this time!! All I could do was smile and accept my inevitable doom! Are you even listening?!”

Several thoughts passed through Nina’s mind as she stomped around her house, looking for her elder.

“You are far too humble”?

Humble?! I’m not being humble! It’s the truth: I really didn’t do a single thing!

“How did you know when the In-Sein Nebia would appear?”

I know, right?! Pretty crazy, right?! I’d like to know the answer to that myself!!

“Next time, if at all possible, I would appreciate learning our combat strategy in full.”

That sounds fair. I’ll be sure to let’cha know when I can! Just one problem, Admiral: I never have any idea what’s coming, either!!

She ran around the ridiculously large manor, screaming and bawling her eyes out.

“Let me know what I’m doing, too, will ya?! And what—Capture Vessels?! Those’re new! Wouldn’t it be nice if the Grand Magus had a wee bit more information than whatever’s on the flash cards you always give me? I mean—the reality is that no one got hurt, and your plans were perfect as usual…”

The only thing Nina did for this battle was hand an encrypted message—prepared by her elder—to the Akasha Project Headquarters. No more, no less.

After that, she just stood next to the admiral and tried to look like everything was going according to plan while she followed the script prepared by her elder. The plan relied on her having complete trust in her elder’s orders—had she done anything differently, the entire ordeal could’ve ended very poorly. It was a testament to how much Nina’s elder trusted her to follow orders, but… But still—!

“Elder!! Tell me—whyyy does some rando working at the Akasha HQ know more about the plan than I do? Ugggh!! Where are you anyway? You’d better answer me! Eld—”

Nina finally found who she was looking for but was shocked by what she saw.

…Her elder was at the dining table—or, to be more precise, she was on the dining table—sleeping with her rear end in the air. There was nothing covering her exposed butt—er, her exposed everything!

Nina Clive lived together with her elder. And there she was, in all her glory! Her secret elder, the sole reason she had to live in this absurd manor with no servants, no help, no nothing!

“Argh, Elder! There are lines you shouldn’t cross as a dignified Elf!!”

Nina passed out for a moment, but quickly recovered before shouting herself hoarse. She darted out of the living room as quickly as she could before spinning around and yelling:

“Huff…huff… Wh-what did you do this time? What did you do to end up like that?!”

Nina went back to the entrance, where she’d discarded her gown earlier. Gasping for air, she picked up the gown and ran back to her elder, flung the gown over her elder’s naked body, and promptly collapsed on the spot.

Such shenanigans were relatively commonplace in the Clive residence.

Like the time her elder got so absorbed in her research that she forgot to eat or sleep and almost starved to death after leaving a request for “adequate nutrition to fuel my latest incredible discovery.” Or that time when she got lost in thought while taking a hot bath, only to pass out from overheating and almost drown. Then there was when she nearly died due to exhausting her own magic for science—to the extent that her forehead gem turned pitch-black.

Nina recalled many such dumb incidents. But this time, she’d prepared for the inevitable.

“I left you food and clothes and even a first aid kit! What could have gone wro—KYAAAAAAH?!”

Nina’s harried question crescendoed into a scream as a set of tentacles suddenly wrapped themselves around her.

“…Niiinaaa? Why, you ought to know better than to wake me when I’m getting my beauty sleeeep… You’ve sure got sooome nerve…”

Her elder squirmed atop the table, pushing off the garment Nina had thrown over her naked body.

“I’ll have to punish you by taaaking your virginity with these weird tentacles that ooze sooome kind of aphrodisiac.  ”

“Please don’t!! And what do you mean by ‘weird’?! Don’t tell me you don’t even know where these came from?! I definitely don’t want my first time to be with some unknown set of tentacles! Also, why are you summoning things that you don’t understand all willy-nilly in the first place?!” Nina cried and pleaded for her to stop. Her elder’s tone was friendly, but the smile on her face was absolutely sinister.

Inter-world summoning was an incredibly high-level type of magic. Certainly not something used to chastise your roommate on a whim—especially when the caster is still half-asleep. Nina’s elder—currently considered a missing person—was much more frightening than anything you’d find in this world or others. She was a true genius—the true genius—and the only one who knew more about Nina Clive than Nina herself. This individual was none other than Think Nirvalen.

“Don’t fall back asleep and leave me alone with this… Mghfgh?!”

Nina called out for Think, but she had fallen back asleep as if nothing happened. What’s worse was the moment Nina opened her mouth to speak, one of the obscene appendages jammed itself down her throat.

…Oh… I’m starting to feel dizzy…

A vile stench hit the inside of her nasal cavities from the back of her throat, and she began to phase out of consciousness. There was nothing Nina Clive, a penta-caster, could do to stop the creature.

“…? Why, just give in and enjoyyy it while it has its way with youuu… What’s stopping you, your pride as a laaady?” Think muttered in her sleepy, dreamlike state of mind. Nina, who was now bound and gagged by the tentacles, glared at Think while she did her best to maintain any semblance of sanity.

“Sigh… Niiina? Learning is a part of being a genius—and I’ve come to learn I pass out withooout food or sleep. I can’t survive off research alooone. I figured that out because I am a geeenius.  ”

…Is that the sort of thing you need to “figure out”?

In order to keep herself from succumbing to the aphrodisiac ooze, Nina focused as hard as she could on listening to the genius’s profound findings.

“So, I had this ingenious idea—no, wait. Seeing as I am a genius, I guess it was just a regular idea for me… I had this regular idea—an idea no nooormal person could come up with even if they spent their whole life thinking about it!” Think boasted, smiling.

She wiggled her voluptuous bottom proudly. The last vestiges of Nina’s sanity gave out at the sight—

“Hngh ?! Hah—wha—ouch!! …U-urrrgh…”

…Evidently, inter-world summoning was a struggle even for Think; just before Nina was past the point of no return, the tentacles dropped her to the floor and then vanished into thin air. The self-proclaimed genius ignored Nina’s whimpering and finished her thought:

“If food has been prepared for meee, I might as well do my research at the dinner taaable!!”

And that was precisely where she had her research spread out. Whenever she got a little hungry, she would nibble away at the food Nina had left her. When she got tired, she would sleep right there at the table. Indeed, she did everything at the dinner table!

Nina’s breathing was still labored, likely a lingering effect of the aphrodisiac, as she asked:

“…Why do you need to be naked, though…?”

To a normal person, Think’s reasoning sounded more like Olympic-level mental gymnastics.

Think sighed at Nina. Alas, the words of a genius are lost on normal people.

“Why, otherwise my clothes would get dirrrty! And then I would have to chaaange! What’s so efficient about that? …There’s nothiiing beautiful about inefficiency.”

Think believed the world should be simple—that it should be beautiful. This definition of the world therefore led her to the simplest of conclusions:

“Why go through the trouble of wearing clothes in the first plaaace?  ”

…………,

That kind of defeats the purpose of clothes altogether, Nina thought as she replied:

“So…there’s no need for self-grooming or conventional terms of beauty…?”

Think looked somewhat confused at Nina’s question. She tilted her head and motioned at herself.

“Why, take a gander at this. It’s pretty self-evident that I’m beautiful juuust the way I am.  ”

This is what real beauty looks like. According to Think, she was the perfect specimen of a woman. From Think’s perspective, attempting to enhance her already-perfect appearance with clothes and such was flat-out superficial and superfluous. Nina looked at Think’s naked body—this self-proclaimed real beauty—but something was off… What was this feeling she had? She almost agreed with Think for a moment, but then she realized…

Oh…the aphrodisiac must be messing with my head! That must be it!

“E-Elder…I’ll be honest, when you say all this without clothes on…you look like some kind of voyeur fetishist—”

Just then, Think started casting a spell.

“A fetishist…? How very cheeky of you, Niiina.  ”

“Ngyaaah! My apologies! Your revolutionary thought process is far too advanced for a lowly peon such as I!! The same goes for your luscious body! It’s far too beautiful for us commoners to lay eyes on! That’s the only reason I thought it’d be better for you to wear clothes! A-also…!”

Nina had no way of predicting what kind of spell this octa-caster was about to produce. All she could do was get on the floor and grovel.

And yet—and yet…!!

“W-would I be wrong to guess you haven’t been taking care of your hygiene these past few days…?!”

When was the last time Think had taken a bath?

She asked the question as indifferently as she could. Think froze in place, pondering for a moment as her infallible logic began to fall apart.

“……  ”

She smiled and silently held out her arms. Her logic was as solid as a rock. How, you ask? Well, Think was going to have Nina carry her to the bath, where she could get even more sleep. Think could barely function, to say nothing of her logic. Nina sighed.

This is how it always goes.

“…Okay, you win… Just make sure to get some work done when you wake up, all right…?”

Nina Clive was exhausted.

Why? Why did she have to almost die in battle, only to come home tired beyond belief? Why did she have to see her elder, whom she respected and adored, buck naked? Why did she have to carry her to the bathroom and wash her while she slept?

Why? Why did a regular person like her have to be revered as a Grand Magus? Why had she been forced to take the place of Think Nirvalen?

“…Ah…right…”

She asked herself these questions as she hauled a snoozing Think to the bath. She heard the Elf murmur “Niiina…welcome back…” and looked over her shoulder to see her elder with a smile on her face, as if she had just remembered to say something important.

“………Yeah… I’m home, Elder,” Nina replied. She recalled the day her life changed…

 ………

Ask just about anyone who Think Nirvalen was and you’ll get a variety of answers. Nina Clive would be the first to tell you, though, that they are all wrong.

Melvoil: Located in a pure white forest, the birthplace of the Elf race, and one of the oldest cities. Within this hallowed ground was the oldest—and most elite—magic school in all of Elven Gard: the Garden.

Nina Clive was once a student at the Garden, and Think Nirvalen was her amazingly talented elder. Not just to Nina, though—the entire student body considered Think legendary, too incredible for them to call themselves her juniors.

Magic was difficult. It took hundreds of years of studying for anyone to even call themselves a mage. Think was the pinnacle of genius; she had managed to complete the entire curriculum—for each and every subject—in less than three years. She was noble and gracious. She was humble and never boasted of her genius. She always paid respect to her elders and supported her juniors. She was out of the entire school’s league, a beautiful flower that occupied a higher realm of existence.

Until the fateful day she earned the title of Grand Magus, a throne that had been long empty throughout Elven history.

Each and every person who claimed to know Think Nirvalen said the same thing: that she’s a genius; a blue rose; a living treasure. That she would bring the Elves victory.

Nina didn’t disagree. She stood among the masses revering Think and thought…

They have no idea.

What Nina saw wasn’t something so tidily summed up as “genius.” Think was something else. She saw the world in a completely different way—she was living in a world of her own. She wasn’t just another person who would be tossed around in the whirlwind of chaos that was the Great War. Think was more special than that. She was one who would do the tossing, and yet—

—she was missing something.

…It wasn’t as if Nina knew Think or anything. In fact, Think Nirvalen wasn’t particularly close to anyone. Nina picked up on this and realized: Think Nirvalen never really looked at anyone. What came off as dignified was simple disinterest, and what seemed like grace was her knowing the true value of people—that to her, juniors and elders alike were equally worthless.

Think’s faint smile, the same one she always had on no matter who she was speaking with, told it all. No one could understand her—nor did she so much as desire to be understood.

So…who is Think Nirvalen? Anyone who thought they knew the answer definitely didn’t know the real Think Nirvalen. If they really knew her—she who was unknowable—they certainly wouldn’t be able to tell you.

Which is why one day, Nina had fleeting thought…

Just once, she wanted Think to meet her gaze. Just once, she wanted to see a genuine smile on Think’s face.

Perhaps…not even Think knew herself deep down.

Nina was aware that she would never know the answer, and yet she wondered…who the real Think Nirvalen was…and what Think was missing, even if Think herself didn’t know what that was. Nina wanted to know those answers… This wasn’t a passing thought—no, more like…she pondered it for a long time. She still did, even on the fateful day long ago…

 ………

Think Nirvalen went missing after her loss to the Dwarf fleet. Her survival was never confirmed. The news shattered Elf society like a violent fissure through the earth. And why wouldn’t it? They had lost the cornerstone of their entire military—the one who oversaw all research activities, controlled all secret information, and decided their city planning. The loss of their Grand Magus hit the Elves hard—they had put so much of their hopes on Think. All over the country, the Elves were thrown into chaos. Nina, who was a student at the time, had been saddled with the pointless task of gathering information.

She was on her way home that night, tired as could be after working impossibly long hours, when—there she was—gnawing on a cracker on Nina’s bed. Her clothes were tattered, and there were wounds all over her body.

“Ah. I’ve been waiting for you. Niiina. Welcome back hooome!  ”

Think Nirvalen had so flippantly welcomed Nina into Nina’s own home without a care in the world. Nina Clive felt her heart stop for a moment.

 ,

A few seconds passed, and Nina barely managed to self-resuscitate. Pull yourself together and calm down first, she told herself. She knew what she needed to do: straighten out her thoughts, then face the situation at hand.

She just had to calm down and try taking things one step at a time. First things first:

“WHOA, ELDER! BLOOD! YOU’RE COVERED IN BLOOD!!! H-HERE, I’LL HEAL YOU— HYAAAGHHH?!”

Problem number one: Figure out what to do about Think’s injuries. Nina was so shocked and confused that she was unable to control the healing spell she deployed and ended up collapsing onto the floor.

“Niiina… Are you all righhht? You don’t look all right… That is, your face and…why, eeeverything…”

“The same…goes for…you…!”

Nina was so worried, she could barely speak.

The world was in a state of chaos after the news of Think Nirvalen’s defeat at the hands of the Dwarves and the fact that she was still missing. Nina was dead tired after spending all her time to find out the Grand Magus’s whereabouts, but there she was! Her famous alumnus was eating crackers on Nina’s bed like she owned the place.

Nina worried Think was going to get crumbs on the bed—actually, forget crumbs. Think’s clothes (at least, what was left of them) were drenched in blood, as was the rest of her body. Plus, she was covered from head to toe in wounds, and yet, “Are you all right?” was the only thing she had said so far—and with a fat grin across her face, at that.

“There’s nothing all right about this! Why are you in my house?!”

“Why, isn’t it obvious? I’m heeere to see you.”

Think continued smiling as she approached Nina, who felt a chill run down her spine.

Think’s injuries were serious—like, within-inches-of-death serious. She was full of bruises, gashes, and scrapes, and clearly had at least three fractures, if not more. Her head was bleeding, too, which meant she’d likely suffered head trauma.

That smile, though. Now that’s freaky. She’s lost her damn mind.

It was nothing like her usual feminine, refined smile—this was an ominous, devilish grin. Nina almost instinctively knew: Someone’s gonna die.

Not just someone—not even a dozen or a hundred someones, either. Moreover: Why was this monster in Nina’s home in the first place?

Once all these thoughts finished running through her mind, Nina came to a realization:

Why does she know my name…?

To Think Nirvalen, Nina was nothing more than a stranger, one of the masses. She was one of the many who felt Think would never so much as spare her a glance; they’d shared a few words, and Nina remembered seeing Think smile at her once.

Nina was silently freaking out when Think, still smiling, casually handed her something. Nina took it without thinking and stared at it in bewilderment. In her hand was a stack of papers clipped together.

“I’m sure you already knooow, but it’s a very busy job…being the Grand Magus…”

“Y-yes… Th-that’s why everything is such a mess now that you’re gone—”

“That’s whyyy…you’ll do it! You’ll be the Grand Magus, starting today!  ”

……

………Nina let out a deep breath. She’d finally figured out what was going on. She laughed quietly to herself.

“Elder, I’m going to take you to the hospital. Come, we’ll go together.  ”

There was something very, very wrong with Think Nirvalen—she was supposed to be the ultimate genius and everyone’s much-beloved elder! What on earth had happened to her to make her say something so bizarre?

The Grand Magus? Who? Me? Hmm…? Yeah…no. No, no, no. Not gonna happen. Not in a million years—I mean, I can’t. It’d be impossible. And ridiculous. Not to mention, she barely knows me. Why does she know my name? Maybe she’s just an illusion? I must be working too hard.

“I need to see a specialist to help me with these hallucinations I’m—”

Surprised at how calm she was with her accurate self-analysis, Nina reached out for the hallucination. The moment she touched it—

“ Whawhawhawhaaat—?!”

—she suddenly felt something smack her butt. A magical strike pushed Nina away from Think, causing her to scream and drop the papers she was holding. She was about to fall over when a spell weaved out of nowhere and caused her to levitate in midair.

“Hyah?! Pyah! Wha—ouch?! Okay! I’m not dreaming! You’re not an illusion!”

Smack! Smack, smack, smack! Smack, smack, smack! Something was rhythmically spanking Nina.

“I’m not finished yeeet.   Why, I still need to use the status the Grand Magus holds—”

“Um! You know! Normally you wake someone up—ow!—by pinching their cheek—hey! Are you listening?!”

“I just…don’t have time for the trivial work that comes with the posiiition,” Think continued, unfazed.

Nina’s breath caught in her throat. Not from the literal pain in her butt, nor at Think’s claim that a Grand Magus’s work was trivial, but at the twisted grin on Think’s face when she said:

“This worrrld—the War—is all just…a big game.”

Her blue eyes looked off in the distance, as if gazing at something, or someone, who had made her realize this. Those once lifeless eyes now viewed the world with a purpose. She now knew what she had to do.

“I’ll end the game by wiiinning it. I may need to get a teeeensy bit serious this time around.  ”

She was going to end the Great War.

“In order to put my full attention into the game, I need you to haaandle all the bureaucratic stuff!  ”

She wanted Nina to take her place as the Grand Magus. Nina’s mind went blank; what Think had just said was absolutely ludicrous.

The magic holding Nina afloat wore off and she fell to the floor, but it wasn’t enough to knock her out of her stupefied state. In fact, she had already forgotten about the pain in her rear from being spanked so much; she couldn’t even process what was going on.

Think picked up the bundle of paper and thrust it back into Nina’s arms, then proclaimed with utmost levity:

“Firrrst, go submit this thesis to the Garden. I need you to graduate ASAP.  ”

A new thesis written by the Think Nirvalen.

Nina gulped; she knew how valuable the disheveled stack of papers in her arms was. Next to the title was a date… Yesterday’s date…

She didn’t write this with all those injuries…did she?

Nina was shocked, incredulous. Still on the floor, she barely managed to ask through her labored breathing:

“…Win…? End the War…? How, though…?”

End the Great War? That was impossible. At least, as far as Nina could imagine.

What did Think mean by “win”? Like a game? How would that end the War?

You win today, then lose tomorrow; the next generation wins it back only for the following generation to take it away. It was a long back-and-forth. No, an eternal back-and forth. It was how the world worked.

Let’s say Kainas had their way and eliminated all of the other Old Dei… It probably wouldn’t be enough to bring an end to the Great War. If the Elves won, all the other races would seek to destroy them.

Theoretically, this cycle couldn’t end—it was virtually impossible.

Think just stared back at Nina with the same grin on her face as she replied:

“It’s simple, really… We just need to kill everything on the plaaanet.  ”

She was basically saying: No biggie, we’ll just destroy the world.

“That includes the Old Dei and allll the other races. Why, I think the world is due for a nice tidying up—we’ll blow them off the face of the planet with magic.   In fact, we can get rid of every last living thing except youuu and me. Last Elf standing claims the worrrld.  ”

Think relished in what she felt was yet another one of her ingenious ideas.

She might actually pull it off… Nina thought with a sigh. Not that she agreed with ending the world…but Think was clearly confident. Nina could see it in her eyes; not even the gods had such confidence, the god of the Elves, Kainas, included. Think had a clear vision.

There was definitely something wrong with her; she must have hit her head too hard. Whatever had been keeping this madness at bay up until this point was long gone.

Okay, let me get this straight. She intends to outdo even the gods and destroy the world—an entire planet. This is Think Nirvalen we’re talking about—she just might be able to pull it off.

There was no place in her plan, however, for a normal person like Nina. Nevertheless, she had to ask—although the question shocked even Nina herself as it left her lips.

“…So…why me…?”

She realized she was indulging the insanity, that she should’ve rejected the deranged plan from the start. But she needed to know why.

Did Think choose Nina among a number of other capable candidates? That couldn’t be it; nobody was able to keep up with Think Nirvalen in the first place.

Was it because they weren’t particularly close? No, that couldn’t be it, either. Think Nirvalen wasn’t close to anyone.

These weren’t the sort of answers Nina was hoping for.

“…Pardon? Why, Niiina, I thought you had a thing for me?”

 ,

“It caught me off guard, since you’re a giiirl and all…but it actually works out better that way for meee.  ”

Ah, I get it now. That certainly makes sense.

It explained why Nina didn’t reject Think’s proposal outright. You wouldn’t reject a proposal from someone you had a crush on, would you? Nina probably hoped that her feelings were mutual.

A simple enough explanation, although it begged an even bigger question.

Wait—since when did I have a crush on her? And since when was she this brazen?!

Nina struggled to recall whether she had a crush on anybody in the first place.

“…Suuurely you wouldn’t reject a fine specimen like myself? Or are you really that eager to see what the afterlife is like?”

Think must’ve misinterpreted Nina’s silence. Nina heard the ground beginning to crumble beneath her feet as she looked into Think’s lifeless eyes.

“Of c-c-course not!! Me? Reject you?! I w-w-w-w-would never even dream of it—”

She quickly denied Think’s claim, then paused for a moment.

She decided she would think about whether she had a crush on her elder later.

Nina definitely looked up to and respected Think—and also felt like she wouldn’t make it out of there alive if she said no to the proposal. So she asked the next logical question.

“A-a-are you sure I’m…good enough for you…?”

Think Nirvalen liked herself. She wouldn’t use Nina just for the sake of it. Why pick someone who would just weigh her down on her quest to destroy the world? Nor would Think like Nina just because Nina liked her.

So why? Think came close and looked Nina directly in her eyes, which were begging this very question. She was so close, their lips almost touched. As Nina’s heart began to beat faster, she thought back to a long time ago.

This was what she’d hoped for that day she decided she wanted to get to know Think Nirvalen. After searching Nina’s eyes for a moment, Think seemed to have an epiphany.

“Mm.   I need you, Nina. Well…aaactually…” She nodded with satisfaction and smiled the same way she had on that day:

“I need someone who knows me more than I do—you, Niiina. You need to win the game.”

Nina finally understood what was going on.

She didn’t just want to know Think Nirvalen—she wanted more. It was that simple. On that day, with just a look—just a smile…

……she had fallen madly in love with Think.

This absolute genius—my beloved—needs me. She needs my help to destroy the world as if it were only a game. After all, she can’t do it alone. But together—we can do it together. How can I reject a proposal like that?

The world spun on its axis in a never-ending cycle of meaningless destruction. The world was a game. Maybe it was worth a shot—to try to become the one who did the spinning for once. To become a player.

The idea was growing on Nina when the next words that came out of her elder’s mouth decided everything for her.

“Not to mention, if I’m going to choose a partner, I might as well choose a cuuute one.  ”

“I’ll go submit this thesis! I’ll be back soon—could you take care of your wounds while I’m gone?!”

Hello, world? Nice to meet you. Enjoy being destroyed by the two of us!

Kainas? Thanks for everything, but I don’t remember asking you to create us Elves!

I—I…I will live for love!!!

Who cares if I need to destroy a world or two? Her smile is enough to make me do anything!

Nina moved like the wind that day.

That gust of lovestruck wind had a thought:

I sure am glad I let that tempest Think Nirvalen send me any which way she pleases.

It didn’t matter to her that her role in the master plan pretty much amounted to putting Think in the bath, washing her, and changing her clothes. Or that every day ended with utter exhaustion after using every last one of her five spells to manage their daily routine!

Hidden beneath Nina Clive’s abode was a small laboratory. One of the walls was covered in various seals, while books and other documents were scattered wildly throughout the facility.

“Hee-hee… That collar looks good on you, Niiina. Why, go ahead and give me a nice ‘woof’!”

Nina’s all-powerful elder had dozed off in her chair, a snot bubble appearing from her nose with every snore. Drool dribbled down her cheek; whatever dream her beloved elder was having, it didn’t seem to be going well for Nina. But Nina still adored her. She had zero regrets. None whatsoever… In fact, Nina was starting to respect Think even more.

Maybe I should give up on life and become a bum like her. She wondered if that would help her further understand Think. Then she came to the same conclusion she always reached when she toyed with the idea—that she could never do it. She didn’t even want to in the first place…!!

“…Elder… You truly are incredible… I—I could never live like this…!”

“ ? Oh, Niiina, you’re home? Welcome back… Yaaawn.”

Nina’s grumbling had woken up Think, who greeted her sleepily. Something about the way Think smiled as she yawned caused Nina to blush.

…? Think stared at Nina in puzzlement. Think smelled faintly of soap, had on clean clothes, and her hair was nice and combed. She began trembling and let out a small shriek.

“Wh-whaaat is this apparition…?! N-Niiina, there’s someone in heeere!!”

“…Yeah… Don’t be too shocked, but sometimes I’m in my house.”

Think didn’t remember what she had done to Nina earlier when Nina returned home. Well, more like she was half-asleep, as always…

“…Anyway… Ahem…” Nina said, her tired eyes staring off into the distance. “We successfully captured the In-Sein Nebia… It went just as you predicted.”

She didn’t have the energy to get mad over the fact that she almost died doing it a second time. She knew it wasn’t worth it, and continued:

“We also have a proposal from the Akasha HQ about how to handle the Phantasma’s core. They have suggestions on creating a spell furnace and testing the core’s criticality. Here are two more reports from the war headquarters: one public and one top secret. This document describes the current lack of military personnel in the capital—”

Think watched as Nina piled report after report onto her desk.

“I literally just woooke up… I might just have to sue you for overworking a regular old civilian liiike myself.   Do you think you can handle all this fooor—?”

Think turned around in her chair and propped her chin on its headrest as she pleaded with Nina like a child.

“No, I can’t!! Also, we’d have a big problem if there were civilians like you running around.”

To start off with—even at the Akasha HQ, there weren’t many people who understood how Think’s latest rite worked. She’d made it while keeping tabs on military strategy, top secret information, and other developments. No one else could do this. That’s why she was the Grand Magus. Nina, on the other hand—

“You do realize I majored in divination, right? Not pretending to be the Grand Magus.”

“I know thaaat! …Why, you should thank me—I saved you from wasting your life studying something as impossible as divination… I know! How about you thank meee by kissing my feet?”

“It wasn’t considered impossible until that darn thesis you gave me!”

The thesis Think had given Nina was a series of notes Think had scribbled down onto a bunch of papers.

Her thesis was titled “The Temporal Plurality of Spirits.” The gist was that space and time were unified in the spirit gallery; it was more than enough to have Nina graduate from the Garden. Overkill, even. In fact, the thesis completely revolutionized how Elves perceived magic.

“Do you have any idea what I went through?! My peers despised me after I became the Grand Magus and pretty much debunked the entire major with your principle of indeterminate possibilities!!”

The principle of indeterminate possibilities… To put it simply:

Not even a god can know the future, dumbass. smh

Nina’s classmates never forgave her for what she did to the major.

“Divination was the one thing I thought I could learn to help you…” Nina started tearing up.

“Nina, I don’t need you to be able to see the fuuuture,” Think said with a forced smile. Nina didn’t know what she meant. “Hmm, I can hardly think straight. Maybe I’m not fully awake yet… Why, I need some stimulation.  ”

Not fully awake, you say? You were awake enough earlier to summon a creature from another world…

Still teary-eyed, Nina sighed at Think’s request for stimulation. “I expected as much, so…I bought some more of those, um…naughty books…you’re so fond of…,” she said haltingly.

She then took out an opaque bag full of reading material: Think’s usual erotic novels. Think claimed she couldn’t get her work done without reading a couple of these first. Nina wondered what the bookstore staff thought about Nina Clive…the Grand Magus…buying such books—from the men’s section, no less—so often.

Nina held back tears as she proffered the novels, but Think appeared to have something else in mind.

“Forget the books—I feel like playing with your cute little tits todaaay. That should get me going.  ”

“Whaaat?! P-please don’t!! I…I don’t even have—”

“Have boobs to play wiiith? I know—how about I liiick them instead?  ”

Excuse me?!

“Why, I feel like that’s juuust the thing I need. You can pay me back laaater.  ”

Think steamrollered Nina like a sexual bulldozer. This situation had several definitions of harassment written all over it. Nina backed away despite knowing she didn’t have a say in what was about to happen.

“Okay…I’ll try and make it extra niiice for you.  ”

Think turned toward her desk and snapped her fingers—the seals etched into the wall began to glow. This was followed by the space around them snapping in a similar fashion. Think’s demeanor, the light, the smell—everything about the space and time they occupied had changed in an instant.

An incredible volume of spirits filled the air, so dense that it overwhelmed the young penta-caster. Nina knew they were both still in her basement—in Think’s underground laboratory. The now faintly glowing rite inscribed on the wall had altered and expanded this very space.

It was as if they were in another dimension.

The room where Think did all her research was now larger than the entire Akasha HQ. The difference in size wasn’t what made the space otherworldly, though.

Below them was a gargantuan dome-shaped hall; inside was an altar made of thorns, supported by eighty-six thorny columns. Etched into the dome were countless seals that pulsated like veins. A multilayered crystalline structure sat at the altar’s center like some sort of offering.

This structure emitting an ominous light—was a massive water lily bud.

These were rites of spirit-breaking—a new type of magic credited to Nina. These ultimate multifold composite rites operated under the protection of the Elves’ creator—Kainas, god of the forest. By exploiting the ether Kainas used to protect the Elf homeland, these new rites caused spirits to disintegrate, thereby generating exorbitant amounts of power.

The rites of spirit-breaking used Kainas’s ether like firewood; naming them Anse, which meant protection, was Think’s idea of irony.

[Even a shitty god is a god. I’m just glad our god fiiinally gets to serve a purpose.]

Think said this to Nina telepathically. Saying such a thing aloud may have resulted in divine punishment being dealt right then and there.

…That’s right: The Akasha Project was a team of scientists working on one of the four Anses.

The thorns, the dome, and the water lily bud: These were the three other rites of spirit-breaking. But no one knew about them other than their inventor, Think—and Nina.

Nina was dumbfounded every time she set eyes on Think’s creations, and every time, she would ask the same question.

“Elder…why are you hiding these from the Akasha HQ?”

Nina—no…no one knew the answer to that, except for Think. Something bugged Nina as she listened to the explanation of what these rites could do: large-scale shifting. Magic deactivation. Spirit disintegration.

Nina knew that creating and eventually using these rites in war would likely leave another race helpless to defend themselves.

“Niiina…have you ever played a card game before?”

Think followed up her own question the same way she always did:

“You don’t reveal your trump card until the very laaast moment: the showdown.”

Think grinned as she loomed over her precious creations. They were nothing more than cards to her. The same went for her giant laboratory and all its gadgets: mere tools, every last one of them.

She was eyeing her massive desk—another dimension, in a sense. This was Think Nirvalen’s world—a game. Laid across the desk were a multitude of squares etched into a map…and thousands of chess pieces.

This is Think’s world, Nina thought before correcting herself a moment later. Think had a slight smile on her face as she read through Nina’s report, her gaze razor-sharp.

“…With the exception of the Dwaaarves, the races are oh so predictable…as alllways.”

Think repositioned each of the chess pieces one after the other. She looked like a completely different person as she moved the pieces to show how the War—nay, the game—was playing out across the world. In other words, Think Nirvalen herself was the world.

“……Elder… Why can’t you always be this serious…?”

This is the same person who only moments ago wanted to lick my breasts…

Nina’s melancholic sighs of lament went unheard.

“…Why, now that we have the core…hee-hee…it’s almost time for our final showdown.”

Think snickered; the In-Sein Nebia was in her grasp. Nina’s gaze fell to the chessboard; she saw the critical situation the Elves were in and frowned dubiously.

They had at last captured and controlled a Phantasma, although it hadn’t been without significant failure. The Elves had once collaborated with the Fairies to try and control a Phantasma known as the Cloud Vortex. Their eventual failure resulted in their test subject going berserk. This forced another race of magical beings—the Flügel—to intervene and clean up their mess. The Elves had been on the Flügel’s bad side ever since.

Their failure also revealed the spatial boundary where Spratul—the home of the Fairies—existed, inviting an attack from the Demonia race. In order to help their Fairy allies, the Elves were forced to fight on multiple fronts. The situation was dire; the Elves paid a huge price to capture the Phantasma and complete the Akasha Project.

Nina still didn’t understand how they got there, though, so she asked the question that was on everyone’s mind:

“Elder…how did you know the Phantasma was going to appear?”

Nina—no…not even the woman from Akasha HQ had known the Phantasma was coming.

“Hmm? I didn’t. You know we can’t predict their movements, dooon’t you?”

“…Huh? Oh… I know, but…um…what I’m trying to ask is—”

A Phantasma was a vaguely sentient natural calamity. Predicting their movements was nearly impossible. This was particularly true for the In-Sein Nebia. Hence why Nina asked, and why Think continued to answer her.

“Why, I had the moles bring it heeere for us.  ”

…………

……Okay, calm down, Nina Clive.

Nina knew by now that it wasn’t good for her to get riled up about every little thing Think said. She took a deep breath: Let’s take a moment to calm down and think this through…

“The D-D-D-Dwarves brought that to us?! B-b-but howww?!”

As always, Think accelerated Nina’s violent spiral into confusion.

“I don’t know.   I’ll figure it out so that it’ll be easier to catch the neeext one.  ”

No…no, no, no… That’s not how these things work.

Nina assumed Think knew the Phantasma was going to appear, but that hadn’t been the case: Her battle strategy banked on the Dwarves bringing it to them.

But she didn’t actually know how they would do that?!

So she planned the whole thing on the Dwarves bringing the Phantasma—without even knowing if it was possible—then proceeded to turn the plan on its head?!

“Why, it’s simpllle, really… Take a look at the nooorthern front.”

Think placed her hands over the desk, and the chess pieces began moving on their own in a sort of instant replay. The pieces that represented the Dwarves Nina had fought with were moving two spaces at a time. Though they came from the east, they had moved around to the north to mount an attack. Think tilted her head and continued:

“Whyyy would they bring so few ships to Helruin?”

“Hmm… I wonder…”

“If he had been stupid enough to think this high-speed fleet was capable of infiltrating our most well-guarded territoryyy…why, this game would already be over.  ”

A straight charge from the Dwarven forces would certainly end in victory for the Elves. Even Nina knew that—so what was he planning on doing?!

“He had something up his sleeve—and I figured out what it waaas.  ”

If only the Dwarves hadn’t attacked head-on and instead used the In-Sein Nebia elsewhere… Wait—?!

“That’s a huge stretch!! How on earth did you know he had a Phantasma—?!”

“Why, of course I knew. He needed to bring it along, after allll.”

We risked our lives over that titanic leap of logic, Nina wanted to scream, but Think cut her off, turned back to her desk, and pointed to a giant chess piece.

“Why would they come allll the way from the northern sea to attack Helruin?”

Indeed, there was no reason for the Dwarves, coming from the east, to move all the way north and cross the sea. Had they attacked from the east, they could’ve also brought troops on the ground for an even larger offensive. Nina couldn’t even figure out why they chose Helruin in the first place.

The battleships were moving fast… Did they intend on ambushing us?

Nina shook her head; that couldn’t be it. The Dwarves weren’t the type to hide in the shadows. So why had they approached from the sea…?

Think smiled as she watched Nina fail to come up with a good reason. Then she explained:

“Why, there was no real rhyme or reason to their attack on Helruin.”

“……Come again?”

“But taking the northern route—that was their winning strategy.”

It didn’t matter where the Dwarves attacked. In other words…!

“They thought they could win any baaattle—so long as they came from the northern sea.”

They had a way to beat the Elves in their most fortified city. They could attack from the sea to keep the Elves from seeing their ace in the hole: the fog of death.

“Those moles had a way to predict the Phantasma’s movements…but not a way to controool it.   So they got it angry—”

—and used their greatest asset—their high-speed airships—to provoke the Phantasma!!

“Then they retreated as quickly as they could to the nearest Elven city.  ”

“…………”

Nina listened to Think explain the plan as if it were her own idea. She had a point, though… Usually, the sight of the In-Sein Nebia alone would be enough to send the Elven forces into chaos. They probably wouldn’t have been able to escape the Phantasma. The chain of command would deteriorate in all the confusion. There likely would’ve been no survivors. The Dwarves would then penetrate their defenses and lay waste to a helpless Helruin.

That is, if their hand hadn’t been read by the Elves, who stood their ground and didn’t let a single ship pass. The rest is history.

Think began fiddling with the chess piece in her hand.

“I’m going to figure out howww they predicted the Phantasma’s appearance—and use it for our army.  ”

Think smirked. Nina finally understood what had happened and started shivering.

Can’t predict where the Phantasma will show up? Just find someone who can!

The Elves had won more than just the battle, or even the capture of a single Phantasma—they had acquired a new tactic they could use in the future by stealing the Dwarves’ method of anticipating the Phantasma’s movements. Nina shuddered at the thought, then remembered something Think had said to her earlier.

“It’s simple, really… We just need to kill everything on the plaaanet.  ”

Think had so gleefully declared whoever was left standing once the world was destroyed would win this game.

She wanted to use every last drop of her power to annihilate everyone and surpass even the gods.

Now, however, she called it by its name: the rite that would allow her to do all this.

“…Áka Si Anse—all that’s left is to tryyy it out…  ”

This was the goal of the Akasha Project: the final rite of spirit-breaking.

 Devoid Zeroth Guard—Áka Si Anse…

A 186-fold rite that operated under the protection of the Old Deus Kainas.

Phantasma had their very own spirit corridor at their core. By forcefully rewriting the magic that held the core together—thus destroying it—a massive amount of spirits was released. This rite of spirit-breaking set off a chain reaction to break these spirits down one by one.

That made it possible to take out an entire army—provided they could be assembled in one spot—in a single spell. Nothing would remain, either. The enemy could be Flügel or another Phantasma; it made no difference. Anything that got caught up in this spirit-breaking rite’s path would not only fall victim to the chain reaction, but fuel it. Áka Si Anse theoretically had enough power to destroy an Old Deus. With enough of these rites, Think could destroy the entire planet.

“Once we figure out how to track down the Phantasma, we can begin creating more rites of spirit-breaking. Theeen—it’s checkmate.”

Think smiled. She could finally see world destruction on the horizon. There was a striking beauty to her inconceivably unsettling grin. Nina frowned to herself.

Ah, I almost forgot. This is the real Think Nirvalen.

She was the player Nina had fallen in love with even though the two of them were in vastly different leagues. Nina Clive knew she would never be on Think Nirvalen’s level; it just wasn’t in the cards.

The only person capable of outdoing Think was Think herself, especially when she got serious.

Even when Nina and Think had first met, she had always been in a league of her own. A born genius. She put her everything toward a single goal, but it still wasn’t enough; she cast aside her prestige and status…although Nina had to wonder if that was really necessary.

The rites they gazed out upon were the culmination of Think throwing away her life. She was going to find out just how far the Elf race could push their limits. As far as Think was concerned, there were no such things as limits. Nina knew that Think embodied limitless possibilities, but she quelled these feelings to ask the question that needed to be asked.

“B-but Elder… Do you really think the Dwarves—er, he will let you pull it off…?”

The moles—the Dwarf race—weren’t even a footnote in Nina and Think’s eyes. The two of them referred to their sole enemy as he and him in order to pay him the respect he deserved. He was the only one who dared to play against Think in this massive game of chess. The only soul to ever make Think get serious—and the only person she wasn’t able to crush.

Lóni Drauvnir.

Nina had yet to meet him, while Think had only ever met him once. And yet—they knew that just like Think, he was a consummate leader. He was pulling all the strings in battle.

Dwarves couldn’t cast magic without a catalyst. Just another reason they were lesser creatures. Lóni, however, had figured out how to engrain core rites into weapons to create what are called spirit arms. Just like how Think formulated new spells and magic, he crafted new weapons. A genius just like Think, the only person in this world who had ever made her taste defeat—another player in the game of war.

Nina knew this was a war between the two of them.

She figured he must be tremendously intellectual, rational, and most importantly, attractive. Think recognized his prowess, to the point where she knew she couldn’t defeat him on her own. He made Think realize that she and Nina had to use everything at their disposal to go against him. Nina respected him—envied him, even. More than anything, she felt a deep sadness when she thought about him.

…Such a shame he had to be born a disgusting, smelly mole. What could he have possibly done to deserve such a cruel and unusual punishment?!

Nina mused about how unfair the world could be. Think smiled.

“Needless to saaay, he won’t be an issue. Here’s my last question for you.”

She returned the board back to its original placement and glanced happily at the fleet of Dwarves Nina had fought earlier.

“…Whyyy do they have all their firepower here?”

“Huh? Wasn’t that so…they could ambush us with the Phantasma?”

“Correct.   And we caught their little Phantasma…”

Think smirked. Not at Nina, but at the chessboard—no—at Lóni Drauvnir. It was as if Think could see him at the other side of the board. She asked her next question in singsong.

“Now that their main army knows we have the Phantasma…what do you thiiink they’re doing?  ”

“ !!!!”

The Phantasma was lured to their territory with a small fleet of high-speed ships. That made sense; it was a way for the Dwarves to take over, potentially even destroy Helruin. If they knew it was going to work—then why? Why didn’t they go all the way ?!

“Was it a diversion?! Then that would make their real aim—oh no…”

“Oh yes.   Good job figuring it out yourself, Niiina. You’re right. Why, their real goal is—”

Nina grew pale as she figured out what was really going on. Think grinned and grabbed the black king—the piece that represented Lóni—and set it down on the board.

Can’t predict where the Phantasma will show up? Just find someone who can.

He and Think were evenly matched. In which case:

Can’t control a Phantasma? Just find someone who can.

He was going to find out how the Elves caught one and what they would do with it, in a place worth attacking:

“—right heeere: the capital.  ”

“What ?! Wait! Aren’t there a lot more things you should be doing than sleeping around the house in the nude and violating me with tentacles?!” Nina frantically shouted.

She was gritting her teeth now that she finally understood everything.

The Dwarven attack on Helruin had been a mere litmus test !

Had the Elves no way of controlling the In-Sein Nebia, the Dwarves would lay siege to the Helruin front.

And if the Elves could control it?

Then the Dwarves would steal their method from the capital! It was a trap—a twofold trap!!!!

“Th-there’s nothing but a lone battalion stationed in the capital right now!! Tell me what I need to have them do!!”

A single battalion was made up of six hundred of the most elite Elf soldiers—there were five Elven battalions for a total of three thousand soldiers.

The éva-le-siela and vá-lu-plum airships are no match for the bulk of the Dwarven army—!! Think appeared to be enjoying how distressed Nina was by all this.

“Why, we’re mooore than a match for them.” Think was grinning from ear to ear. “I’ve got a nice, biiig present for those dirty moles. A brand-new military asset.  ”

 ,

 Ah !

“You’re going to use Áka Si Anse?! But we haven’t completed the spell furnace yet!!”

Now that they had the Phantasma’s core in their hands, Áka Si Anse was essentially ready for use. The only thing left was a furnace they would use to protect the city from the reaction, but it was still in its testing phases at the Akasha Project HQ—oh…

Ohhh. Ha-ha… Ah-ha-ha. No, no. No, no, no. It can’t be. She wouldn’t. Would she? I mean, she does kinda want to destroy the world and all. But does that mean she actually would…?

Nina prayed her interpretation of what Think was getting at was a mistake.

* * *

“We have the perfect bomb righhht here in our capital.  ”

Think grinned fiendishly as she pointed to the ground below her. Nina’s prayers were in vain. Think couldn’t look more elated.

No point in praying if she’s gonna destroy the planet and all the gods with it…

“Yeah…it’s perfect all right—perfect enough to kill you and me, too, isn’t it?!”

Nina tearfully pointed out this little detail and managed to cling to a semblance of her sanity. A lot more was on the line than just their own lives. Was Think going to blow up Áka Si Anse right under Melryln?

Two hundred thousand Elves, the Senate, the sanctuary…hell, the entire forest would be decimated. Sure, Áka Si Anse would make quick work of the entire Dwarf armada—but she was forgetting one little detail.

“Is there even a point in killing the Dwarves if there are no Elves left?!” Nina hollered in a panic.

Think pouted. “Mmm? Niiina? Whooose fault is it that the capital has been left defenseless?”

“…The failed Phantasma experiment was—wait, that’s my fault?! But those were your orders!!”

“Siiigh… And whooose fault was it the Dwarves are going to attack the capital?”

“Are you trying to blame me for capturing the Phantasma?! Even though that was your plan, too?!”

“Okay…so whooo made Áka Si Anse functional in the first place?”

“The…Dwarves…brought the Phantasma… ”

Because that…was your plan! Nina wanted to cry out, but she saw Think’s grin was growing wider and wider with each of her retorts, so she shut her mouth.

This was all her elder’s fault—but wait.

The strange feeling lingering at the back of Nina’s mind came into focus. A chill as cold as ice shot down her spine.

 Why? Why did the Dwarves have to bring a Phantasma, of all things?

 Why? Why did they have their troops ready by the capital after we caught it?

 Why? Why did Think Nirvalen have three rites of spirit-breaking hidden away?!

No…way. No freakin’ way—!!

There was only one justification for detonating Áka Si Anse under the capital.

Nina was speechless. Think affirmed her suspicions by showing her the palms of both her hands. In other words:

“It’s time for our showdown. It’s time to show our haaands.”

Everything she’d spent the past ten years—no, decades—doing. Every military tactic and strategy in place from here on out.

Everything was in the palm of her slender hand.

Nina stood there, shocked and dumbfounded. Think merely chuckled as she continued.

“Niiina? Theoretically…what is the maaaximum damage Áka Si Anse can cause with the current test spell furnace?”

Under twenty percent. That’s enough to destroy the heart of the capital—no, it would only destroy the heart of the city! It’s not enough to defeat all of the Dwa—

“Niiina? How will the Dwarves pose their attack on the city…when they are trying to learn about the Phantasmaaa?”

That was easy. There was a 90 percent chance—no, 100 percent chance that they would surround the capital.

The Dwarves’ goal was to figure out how to utilize the Phantasma. The Elven capital’s defenses were unusually paltry—it couldn’t be a more obvious trap. Worst-case scenario, the Dwarves would end up fighting the Phantasma. Surrounding the city was their only option.

“Niiina? In that case, which of the three rites of spirit-breaking would be the best to uuuse?” Think asked as she gazed at the three structures below them.

Elder… How long have you been planning all this…?

Nina didn’t even need to ask the question. She knew why the Akasha Project HQ had been set up here. The test furnace’s power, its effects, the capital being left defenseless—there was no need to ask such a foolish question when the answer was staring her right in the face.

Think had been planning this from the very beginning. Maybe even since the day she asked Nina for her help—!

“I have five cards up my sleeve. Why, think of them as my trump caaards, my aces in the hole for defeating him and the entiiire Dwarf armada.”

Think smiled from ear to ear. She spun around in her chair and faced Nina.

“Do you think he’ll see any of this coming…Niiina?” she asked in earnest, now almost nose to nose with Nina as she gazed into her eyes.

“There’s nothing they can do… Even if they know something is coming, they won’t be able to defend themselves against a weapon this powerful!” Nina replied, then began shaking uncontrollably. Think’s smile never wavered.

Best-case scenario, they got away with destroying just half the city. This was their sole chance to defeat him, though. They wouldn’t get another. He was the only enemy worth defeating—the only one Think knew she couldn’t kill alone.

The Great War was a product of these two players—Think and Lóni—turning the gears of the world.

Nina herself smiled when she internally dared the man to predict their five trump cards. Even if he managed to read a card or two, Nina knew Think would be one step ahead of him.

…Hmm? Nina only saw four rites of spirit-breaking here: three, plus Áka Si Anse…

“…? What did you mean by five—? GYAAAAAAH?!?!”

“Why, things are about to get rough! I’d better lick your little titties while I still caaan!!”

Nina tried to ask about the fifth card, but was ravaged by Think before she could.

“Nom…   You have the flaaattest chest I’ve ever seen—slurrrp—but it works.  ”

Stripped of her shirt, Nina was helpless in resisting the octa-caster’s relentless licking. Think nommed and nommed away at Nina’s modest bosom. The most Nina could do to resist the relentless tonguing was to accept it was going to happen and think of something else.

The Great War—which had raged on for an eternity—was going to end. Think Nirvalen was really going to pull it off. She found a way to destroy the planet. She had the world and its gods wrapped around her finger—but she wasn’t the only one in that position.

Lóni Drauvnir was in the same league. It didn’t matter which of them brought the game to an end… The world’s destruction was at hand.

As Nina thought more about this, she was met with a fleeting pang of anxiety.

What if…Think and Lóni aren’t alone?

What if…someone outmaneuvered them: a third player who toyed with the world just as they did?

…Regardless, the Great War was almost over. It was inevitable… Nobody could stop what was coming……

A few days passed.

The black ash had accumulated over the desert like a sheet of glistening snow, where a single figure in a coat and mask could be seen. They were looking up at the ash—which had an azure tint to it as it fell from the blood-colored sky—and waiting. No one had called them here, nor was anyone expecting them. They were, after all, about to be ambushed.

These two weren’t supposed to ever meet. They couldn’t read each other’s thoughts. And yet—she knew he would come.

The sky, even the terrain was strangely similar to that day long ago—the day he told her “Until we play again. I’ll kill you myself.”

He would be here. He had to. Otherwise, this War—this game—would never truly end.

After a long while of waiting, another figure slowly made its way toward her. Their large frame was similarly clad in a coat and mask.

This was it. They had finally been reunited. They had both wished for this confrontation ever since their last.

Neither of them removed their masks despite their reunion, which was just as miraculous as it was inevitable. Neither of them needed to see each other’s faces to know who they were, but they could tell exactly what they had brought with them.

Think Nirvalen was the one who had been waiting.

She had rewritten the laws of magic twice, turning it into something of an art. That made her practically omnipotent. She was an epoch-making octa-caster and a mage the caliber of which the world would likely never see again. Behind her was the expansive forest in which lay the Elven capital of Melryln—the territory of the forest god, Kainas.

And it was Lóni Drauvnir who approached her.

The man who had revolutionized engineering with the use of catalysts and seal rites. He was an unprecedented user of spirit arms and a catalyst craftsman the caliber of which the world would never see again. On his back, he carried a giant iron sword twice his own height—the catalyst for his seal rites, one of his spirit arms. Farther behind him, the sky was filled with the imposing sight of hundreds of bulky airships.

“……………………”

The two of them kept their distance, trying to gauge the other’s power. Two unparalleled geniuses silently readying their weapons. There was nothing for them to say during this fateful reunion. Everything that needed to be said had been the day he vowed to kill her by his own hand—that they would strike each other down. That much was certain.

This was a game. The more players there were manipulating the world, the more interesting it was. But there was only one world to be taken, one prize—and there was always a winner and a loser.

 ,

The iron armada eventually passed overhead, toward the Elven capital, but they paid it no mind. Shots could be heard firing in the distance—it was their signal to begin fighting.

Their practical war game was about to decide the fate of the world.

Meanwhile, far north from where the two titans clashed—

“Squad Six—engage defensive formation two.”

—Nina Clive whispered her orders. A loud boom rang out as a wall of light climbed into the sky and covered the city.

At the same time, a tidal wave of iron airships inched closer and closer to the forest that shrouded the Elf capital. The ashen, bloodred sky became a steely blue as the Dwarf armada encroached on Melryln.

“……Squad Seven—engage defensive formation six.”

The Elven regiment was made up of three thousand of its most elite soldiers, which were broken up into squads of two hundred. They took turns casting large-scale defensive magic to protect the capital from the incoming bombardment. An invisible barrier above the capital and the surrounding forest kept the enemy fire at bay—not a single shot penetrated its force. All that could be seen was the blinding light of the shield, and all that could be heard were the explosions of the enemy attack.

“Grand Magus! We’re using too much magic—!!”

“We need to break up their attack, or fight back—otherwise, they will penetrate our defenses! Please give the orders!!”

Each of the commanding officers under Nina was uneasy and completely shaken. Their status reports sounded more like pleas. The bombardment was unlike anything they had seen before. There was only one thing keeping the Elf troops together—

“……Squad Eight—engage defensive formation one.”

—and that was Nina. She continued to calmly whisper her orders with pinpoint focus.

She didn’t call for breaking up the Dwarves’ attack or striking back.

Everyone knew why: There were too many of them. Even if the Elves could block their bombardment, each two-hundred-Elf squad could only last so long. They needed to switch between squads to keep the barrier up and running, and even that wasn’t very sustainable. A counterattack was out of the question. Sending out a battalion or two to fight the armada would be like pissing in the ocean.

Not to mention, the enemy’s throngs of metal airships were state-of-the-art. Each shot fired was followed by an invisible trail and two loud explosions. It pierced their first wall, only to be caught by a second. The Elves couldn’t afford to let up their defense.

The airships’ amplified spirits were being condensed into an energy too fine to be seen by the naked eye. These were the most ships the Elven forces had ever been up against, and new models at that… It could very well be the entire Dwarf fleet—

“Grand Magus! The enemy fleet is positioning to flank the city we’re being surrounded!!”

The ships pressed forward as they continued their bombardment, eventually pushing past the defensive line and surrounding Melryln. A single Elf remained composed amidst the chaotic onslaught.

“Yes… We need them to surround us.”

Nina had a big smile on her face; she knew everything was in the competent hands of Think Nirvalen, who manipulated the world as she pleased.

And just like Think, Lóni probably had his own ace up his sleeve: maybe these new ships, or something else entirely.

“…Very impressive for mere moles. However—”

But it didn’t matter what they had. Their new toys were nothing more than that: toys. Everything in the Dwarves’ arsenal operated on spirits.

“—those ships will be their coffins.”

The same fat grin remained on Nina’s face as she left the war room to her subordinates.

Nina ignored the chaos and enhanced her vision with magic to search the southern forest’s outskirts. She was looking for Think.

She eventually found her in combat but couldn’t tell what was going on. It’s not that she was too far for Nina to see—whatever Think was doing, it far superseded Nina’s realm of comprehension.

Nina was speechless for a moment before realizing that this reaction was only natural. She had never seen Think out on the field before—let alone using the full extent of her power. Those flashes of destruction were likely the results of Think’s thesis on the convergence of space-time within the spirit gallery. She could speed through time itself—probably something she thought up following her defeat by Lóni—and yet, she still couldn’t shake him off.

Think was undoubtedly going far beyond the limits of the Elves—no, the limits of all living things. Nina closed her eyes as Think weaved in and out of time to approach the Dwarf—

“Well…Elder will still come out victorious. Resist as you may, but please accept your death in the end.”

—and offered a brief elegy.

Nina Clive watched as the shadows of the giant ships encroached around the capital’s airspace, then flew back home—she needed to prepare for the imminent showdown.

Apparently, Nina didn’t know it was impossible to control time.

As long as living things existed in a fixed point in time—no, even if they had the same plurality as spirits, which allowed them to span across time—going into the past would produce infinite present-day worlds, while the indeterminate possibilities of future worlds prevented anyone from time-traveling forward.

So Think focused on a single point of time and expanded only that, to make time effectively move quicker for herself.

An attack was coming straight for her as she sped through time. No—a two-pronged attack. Lóni had slashed with his sword and released a wave of scorching heat that sliced through a grotesque sand giant Think had transmuted. Think was moved—she only barely managed to avoid the blow via her enhanced grasp of time.

Lóni’s sword—the spirit arm of his own invention… Ah… It was truly…

(It’s like a work of aaart. I absolutely looove his weapon.  )

She never could have dreamed of feeling such a way about anything. Think held the man in utmost reverence as she deflected the attack that followed.

Unlike gods, Dwarves definitely existed, but they were an unquestionably lower form of life. They had incredible physical prowess befitting their poor intellect, but not to the extent of those piece of shit Werebeasts. Dwarves were unable to use magic without catalysts; they couldn’t multi-cast or even approach the level of Elf magic.

This clashed with Think’s aesthetics. She hated incompleteness more than anything else. In her eyes, Dwarves were essentially lower than fungus. So how incredibly ironic that the rites Dwarves engraved into their spirit arms provided her a spark of inspiration.

“ !!!”

Lóni swung his greatsword into the earth, only to let it go. As soon as she saw his hands slide down the hilt, she realized she wouldn’t be able to react in time. She gave up on the two spells she was casting and used a third one she had on reserve.

An instant later, Lóni split his greatsword into two short swords and sliced where she had just been. She watched from behind Lóni as the air he slashed through instantaneously froze and began to break apart. Had she chosen to try to cast her original spells for even a millisecond longer—had she not chosen to demi-shift, she would’ve perished in that moment. A cold sweat dripped down her back.

Engraving rites into catalysts allowed the Dwarves to deploy them instantly. This let them to get an edge on the Elves, who had to compile their rites first.

In which case, Think needed to figure out what to do after they had their edge.

She activated three rites: one to demi-shift behind Lóni, and two she had cast just before demi-shifting—Material Fract and Elemental Ray.

His twin short swords, which were inscribed with freezing and decomposition spells, shouldn’t have been able to withstand Think’s magic…

“ Ha…ha-ha!”

…but with a hearty laugh, he kicked the greatsword impaled into the ground and grabbed the knife that flew out. By the time Think saw the knife, Lóni had chucked his two short swords—now combined into one—behind himself, toward Think.

Think didn’t know what to make of these supposed short swords, but she managed to dodge the incoming knife and prepared to counter with the Reflector rite she had compiled.

She had cast two spells in front of him, and a third, Reflector, behind him just now. Reflector would amplify the first two spells. That included whatever spell Lóni had engraved into his knife.

He couldn’t defend himself or dodge this attack. Think was certain she had him this time.

“ ?!”

But she instead followed her gut and cast Reflector not behind Lóni—but behind herself!!

A split second later, she felt the impact of a massive energy in that very spot.

The Lóni who had been standing before her slowly dissipated as her eyes finally processed what was happening: The Lóni she’d seen was an illusion created by residual light. Meanwhile, behind her—

(Did he just demi-shift to where he threw his blade—?!)

—Lóni held the blade Think had deflected in one hand and swung his knife with the other, a fiendish grin on his face. He was swinging away at the reflection spell she had cast on herself.

It goes without saying that spirit arms are only capable of using seal rites that have been engraved in them beforehand.

That meant using multiple catalysts at once allowed the wielder to cast multiple spells at the same time as well. But this didn’t even remotely count as multi-casting. Using multiple spells at once meant nothing if the spells didn’t boost one another.

That said…Think observed Lóni’s elegant, smooth movements thanks to her accelerated version of time. She looked at his hands and the swords they gripped: what should have been the twin short swords engraved with freezing and decomposition spells.

Now combined into a single blade, they became a demi-shifting anchor point. Then…snap.

Think watched as it separated into hundreds of knives. That was when she noticed something that wasn’t supposed to be with him.

The greatsword planted into the ground behind her—had actually demi-shifted with Lóni.

“ !! Encryption Shift: In Carrion !!”

Think shouted, activating the seal rites inscribed on her hands and forehead. She instantaneously altered the two rites she had been using to expand her point in time, extending their effect to the space around her. The two resulting spaces collided and caused an inaudible explosion that shattered the sky and the black ash raining down from it.

 ,

That very same moment, Think cast a spatial distortion spell to create a makeshift shield. It wasn’t enough to completely defend her from the impact, and she was sent flying, skipping across the ground like a stone over water.

Now covered in sand, ash, and soot, Think looked up in anticipation of a counterattack …and found Lóni on his knees. It appeared he hadn’t made it out of the explosion unscathed, either.

He was looking at his spirit arms, many of which had been reduced to dust, and laughing. Think began laughing as well; she finally took in everything that had transpired in their brief interaction.

The next moment, Lóni reached for the hundreds of blades scattered in midair. With incredible skill, he began juggling the knives, recompiling them into his greatsword. Their numerous seal rites fit together like pieces of a puzzle; it was an incredible feat much like multi-casting.

Before long, he recreated the effect Think’s spatial distortion spell had on their surroundings 

This was the true form of his spirit arms—a weaponized art form.

The scene moved Think Nirvalen; this opponent of hers was a work of art.

The spirit arms were nothing much by themselves, and this fact didn’t change in the hands of any other grubby mole.

Even duocasting while speeding up time wasn’t enough to bring her to his level.

His reflexes, decision-making, and the speed and accuracy with which he could predict what was coming they exceeded his Dwarven capabilities. This man, her enemy, was an anomaly, a living art.

“Truly incredible… Why, you’re the perfect opponent for a geeenius like me.  ”

“…? Gaaah-ha-ha!”

Think couldn’t help but respect Lóni. He sensed that from her tone, even if he had no idea what she was saying. The same amount of respect for Think was reciprocated in Lóni Drauvnir’s laughter. He paid respect where it was due. After all, the creation of spirit arms was only possible through copying magic pioneered by the Elves—no…pioneered by Think. They followed the same formula of casting a basic rite first, then changing it depending on the situation to cast the desired rite.

Lóni continued staring at Think with a spark of respect. He closed his eyes—and lowered his stance, spirit arms in hand, as if to tell her:

 This next attack will be my last.

Ah… At this rate, there was no way Think could win. This was clear to Think Nirvalen from the very start. She knew she couldn’t defeat Lóni Drauvnir.

That is—she couldn’t defeat him alone—!!

Think looked behind Lóni to the steel airships encroaching upon the forested capital. It was just as she’d planned since the day he’d defeated her—not a moment went by when she didn’t think about it, even in her dreams.

Every last detail, from where he was standing to the airships’ positions, even the color of the sky and smell of the wind, was exactly as she’d imagined.

Think spread her arms wide and announced to Lóni with the most devilish of grins:

“Why—it’s tiiime for our showdown.  ”

It was time for her to unleash the five trump cards she had hidden. Her grin grew more twisted as she summoned her first card. She shot a spell into the ground below her as she called out for the first rite of spirit-breaking.

It was the name she had given the thorny columns she had created:

“ Vá Iu Anse !!!”

Something immediately blossomed under Lóni: a giant water lily that refracted light as if it were made of water. Its petals engulfed him too quickly for him to react.

He had been imprisoned with the most beautiful death sentence the world had to offer. All he could do now was watch everything unfold around him 

The steel fleet of aerial warships slowly homed in on the Elf capital as they laid siege upon it. It was enough to throw anyone into despair, but Nina watched from atop her roof with a bashful smile. She watched as the future Think had designed came to fruition and recalled a dumb question she’d asked Think several times.

It was about their four trump cards. Well, five, according to Think.

In any case, the four rites of spirit-breaking that Nina knew about were to be used on this day, at this time, in this current scenario—no, scratch that. This was all part of Think’s master plan from the get-go, something she’d laid out piece by piece.

 It was all for Lóni Drauvnir.

 With the one and only purpose—no exceptions—of killing him.

Think had steered the War in this direction. She spent all her time and energy into setting up this situation for her lone goal.

“I kept asking why she hadn’t used them yet… My stupidity knows no bounds,” Nina said.

A trump card isn’t a trump card unless it can’t possibly be trumped. And when your opponent is at your level or higher, there is no such thing as a trump card.

 Unless you trap them with your secret trump card…!!

Nina watched from afar as the long-awaited moment finally arrived. She saw the signal for their showdown—for her to unleash the trump cards she had been sitting on for so long. As soon as Think played her first card—

Okay, let’s see who will put an end to this War—who will come out on top and win the game. Let’s see if you’ve read our four-card hand.

I can’t wait to see what look you’ll have on your face…Lóni Drauvnir—!!

—Nina crowed to herself and hustled deep down into her mansion’s basement. She began casting the rite sequence for activating their second trump card lying dormant within the massive underground hall.

Nina Clive activated the second rite of spirit-breaking in Think Nirvalen’s stead. She called out the name of the dome with its manifold engraved seals:

“ Ziá La Anse !”

Immediately after the words escaped her lips, the dome released a repulsive death knell from beneath the Clive residence. The sound passed through the capital, the forest, and bent the sky itself—and the moment this eerie cry reached its limits…

The world fell silent.

…It was as if the planet itself had perished. The ominous shrieks spread out from the city and could be heard by any in the vicinity for about a tenth of the continent. Anyone who heard the shrieking and howling also heard the silence that made it seem like time itself had stopped.

There was a simple reason for this: All spirits within range of this one rite had been temporarily erased from existence.

 Fixed Second Guard—Ziá La Anse…………

A ninety-nine-fold rite of spirit-breaking that operated on the Old Deus Kainas’s protection. In simple terms: a spell that deactivated magic. The theory behind it was simple as well. Instead of channeling spirits from the spirit corridor, this spell created a magical explosion by feeding off nearby airborne spirits. In the same way fire consumes oxygen in order to burn, Ziá La Anse consumed spirits for fuel.

For a brief moment, the wind stopped, along with the endless rain of glimmering black ash. The steel airships fell victim to gravity and inertia and came tumbling to the ground 

That’s right… All magic, all rites—anything that used spirits was deactivated by Ziá La Anse. And by the same token, Ziá La Anse also ceased function immediately after being cast.

 How strange that the Dwarves managed to keep so many hunks of metal…their armada…aloft. Or rather, from a structural standpoint, the fact that such large vessels could hold themselves together defied the laws of physics. The question was: What would happen if these ships could no longer rely on spirits—that is, magic—to function…?

The answer was unfolding before Think’s very eyes.

The ships began to implode, and fell to the earth like miserable bugs at the end of their short life spans.

I wonder what kind of expression my little flower prisoner has right now?

…Ah, that’s it.

That’s the face I wanted to see !!

“ ?!  ?!  !!”

Lóni screamed frantically with his eyes wide open while Think smiled in ultimate bliss. It made no difference what he was actually saying—his expression was more than worth it.

He was astonished, amazed, panicked.

That’s the sort of pathetic expression you have when faced with something unexpected! I knew it. I could feel it. I never doubted it. It was just as I imagined. And, well, quite frankly: Of course he’d never see this coming! It’s written all over his stupid face!! The world is in the palm of my hand; the time is nigh to destroy it and win this little game! the Elf genius thought as she leaped forward.

The man let out a lone scoff. Nothing more.

With his ships falling from the sky, and Think fast approaching him, he realized she was no longer speeding through time. Despite all the confusion, he managed to figure out that all magic had ceased functioning; it was quite incredible. He did all he could do. He tried to power his way out of the flower prison with his greatsword.

Lóni swung his sword faster than Think could perceive it, but to no avail…

“ Argh?!”

Aw, too bad. You caaan’t cut this flower.

Lóni was further shocked when his sword ricocheted off the translucent petals. Think continued walking toward him with a smile on her face.

“Why, don’t get too hard on yourself. You made the righhht choice considering the situation you’re in.  ”

Anyone would normally assume the massive floral structure was one of Think’s magical creations. A single Elf couldn’t possibly summon something this gargantuan—at least, not under normal circumstances. Without access to magic, the structure shouldn’t be able to withstand a strike from Lóni’s sword.

Yes—normally. Typically. Under most circumstances, that was accurate.

But not this time. Nothing about this trump card—the thorns buried beneath Lóni’s feet—was normal.

 Fixed Second Guard—Ziá La Anse…………

An eighty-six-fold rite that operated under the protection of the Old Deus Kainas.

Think used the thorns in Nina’s basement to demi-shift the structure here. Who could have ever figured that out—that the water lily bud was neither summoned nor transmuted, but teleported to this very spot?

How could Lóni have ever guessed that this floral prison was Think’s third trump card?!

And yet—no, even more so, Think felt a deep respect for her foe.

“……………”

It was the way he had positioned himself: He was completely still, on one knee as he put all his focus into the spirit arm at his side. All his preparation, only to be outdone and fall into a trap—and yet, he knew what he had to do. He knew if he was going to make it out of here alive, he had only one chance that his window of opportunity would be impossibly short.

There was no way for him to know how long Ziá La Anse would last, but he knew it wasn’t forever. It seemed like it wouldn’t last that long, either, given that Think was now running toward him. He knew she was going to finish him off the moment magic could be used again. He figured with Think’s rite-compiling abilities, he would have a tenth of a second to react. The instant she began casting, he needed to cut her down, along with this floral prison, all in one fell strike.

The maneuver was simple in itself, but actually pulling it off would be nothing short of a miracle. He didn’t think about that, though. He looked straight at her, his blade ready to thread the needle.

As Think ran toward him, the faintest semblance of light began to manifest at her fingertip. They were about to exchange strikes 

“Ooooh, seal rites? Why, how useful. Mind if I take credit for thooose?”

But his blade never left his side…

“If you prepare them ahead of time…the spells caaast themselves.  ”

Think was positively jubilant. Her sprint had been a bluff. She was now walking elegantly toward Lóni.

“…………Ha…… Ha-ha-ha-haaa !!”

His blade crumbled in his hands before he could swing it. He looked down at it, surprised…and began laughing. On the inside of the water lily prison—engraved directly into each of the petals of her third trump card—was a single phrase. His roaring laughter shook the entire budding flower; he must’ve noticed what was written there and what it meant.

What else could he do but laugh? It’s not like he could cut the petals even if he wanted to. The translucent water lily bud swayed back and forth elegantly, never to bloom again. On the inside, in very fine print—so fine he needed to squint to make it out—he saw the phrase.

It was written in Dwarvish: “Why, go fuck yourself.”

Lóni Drauvnir, the man who had been on Think’s mind for all these years. Think Nirvalen, the woman who pitted herself against the Dwarves’ greatest genius of all time—she poured every ounce of her burning passion into carving a seal rite into the flower’s 137 petals. It was a gift made especially for him and him alone.

The only flower of its kind in the world, a glass lily that would bloom for but a single moment 

 Mortal Third Guard—Ag Ni Anse……

A 137-fold rite that operated under the protection of the Old Deus Kainas.

Nina had already activated the spell, but it was deactivated by Ziá La Anse. Their fourth trump card, it had the ability to break down virtually all spirit-based beings. It was what happened to his spirit arm. The magic within the budding flower had taken effect. Its real purpose, however, only had an effect on Dwarves, and was activated by the saying the lily’s word in the language of flowers.

In other words, it would set off a chain reaction within Lóni Drauvnir, destroying the very spirits that made him. He was going to go out in a glorious blaze of his own spirit particles; his death was inescapable.

What is the flower word for lilies, you ask…? Why—it’s “destruction.”

Think had no reason to run. All she needed to do was walk up to the flower, touch it, and say its flower meaning. The only reason Think chose to run was to make Lóni use his spirit arm, break it, and eliminate any chance of him turning the tables. It took her the three rites of spirit-breaking, an intensely deep conviction, and borderline insanity make this situation possible.

She wanted to see Lóni Drauvnir dead. Completely, utterly, unquestionably. Anyone who dared scoff at this glorious endeavor didn’t know Lóni’s value nor Think’s yearning.

Lóni, who stared far off into the horizon as he continued to laugh incessantly, caught sight of something new. Something he had been looking for. It was the way to control the Phantasma—Think’s fourth trump card.

The Dwarf ships were helplessly spiraling toward the capital.

Had the anti-magic spell worn off before they hit the ground, Think could have set up barriers to keep them away from the city. By the look on Lóni’s face, he had finally realized why she let them get so close in the first place.

“A looot of your friends will be going down with you, so you won’t feel lonely.  ”

I’m not going to tell you how I did it. I’m going to watch you die with only the knowledge that you lost to me. The thought crossed Think’s mind as she laughed to herself.

Áka Si Anse was at critical mass within their test furnace. Even at 20 percent full power, it was enough to turn Melryln’s center into a crater.

So what if it cost a city or two? Getting rid of the entire Dwarf armada and every living soul who bore witness to the spirit-breaking rites was more than worth it.

It was a deal too good to pass up. And she wasn’t going to.

Lóni didn’t have a way to understand everything that was happening, but he had a good idea of what she was trying to do.

“…Ha! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

Lóni looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself, but he also couldn’t hide his frustration. He began saying something in the Dwarven tongue.

It was a truly disgusting, crude language; a blight on the ears.

“Well done, woman. I enjoyed our little game. So what’s your final trump card?”

Taking a lot of liberties with the translation, Think gathered this was what he was trying to communicate.

She had actually taken the time to study the moles’ awful language. She smiled as she responded.

“Why, I won’t reveal that until the veeery end… I’m not telling.  ”

She thought about her fifth and final trump card, which was actually her first, as well as the only and biggest reason she was able to match Lóni.

It was the knowledge that she couldn’t beat him on her own.

Think, the one true genius, knew herself. And she likewise knew it was impossible for anyone to really know themselves. So she found someone who didn’t know her and knew they never could know her, but would still believe in her all the same—

(I have a suuuper special trump card, but youuu won’t get to see her.  )

Think kept the thought to herself as she touched Ag Ni Anse and began to utter the word “destruction,” a final “up yours.”

Nothing would be left of Lóni once this spell was deployed; the word was about to leave her lips, when…

“ Ouchie.”

…before Think could get it all the way out—before Lóni could meet his death—the two of them instinctively froze.

They saw a little girl who had fallen from the sky an “ouch” had ended their battle.

The same anti-magic spell that had felled the Dwarven fleet had brought someone else with it—and that someone had a bump on her head.

It wasn’t a little girl, strictly speaking. It wasn’t even a living thing. It was in every sense of the word—a weapon.

“…………………………………………  ”

This smiling creature; this irregularity  Yes…

The worst conceivable thing appeared with the worst conceivable timing. The greatest enemy of all, one that couldn’t be beaten with ingenuity or strategy.

Something of a divine disaster 

…These things happen sometimes. You could put a ton of effort into living the healthiest life possible, but it could all be for nothing if you die young due to an untimely accident. This is what happened to Think and her master plan. An accident in the shape of divine punishment fell from the sky.

So what did Think feel when faced with the unfortunate reality that a Flügel had just fallen from the sky like a comet and landed smack-dab in the middle of the capital?

“Why, there’s a margin of error for everything. I can’t be getting down on myself for every little mishaaap.  ”

Think laughed it off as a marginal error.

Truth be told, destroying the capital along with the Dwarf armada had been part of Think’s plan from the get-go. It just so happened that instead of her doing it, a little chicken passing by fell from the sky in the form of a meteorite and did it for her. These things happen. Like how the defensive barrier cast by three thousand of the Elves’ most powerful mages did nothing to stop the destruction of the entire city…or how the Dwarf armada, which had been falling to their death anyway, disintegrated from a mere shock wave…or how that little comet murdered the surviving Elves and stole their entire library before going on her merry way…

Such miscalculations are just part of the planning process!!

It didn’t matter, though. Think effectively got what she wanted. At the end of the day, the entire battle was only a small part of her greater plan…

“Excellent! Why, this has been a big step in accomplishing my mainnn goal—to end the Great War! I’m glad things are moving without any trouble.  ”

“Yeah… You’ve got nothing to worry about, Elder… I’ve…I’ve always believed in you!!”

Nina had to hold back tears of admiration for Think, who was in an unreasonably good mood. Who cared about how much damage the Elves suffered, or their loss of all magic-related knowledge?! Nina certainly didn’t! It was nothing compared to the days when Think kept everything a secret from her!

Everything we did for all those years—the many strings we pulled! The many victories we saw to fruition!

It’s nothing compared to finally putting Lóni Drauvnir in his place !!

“You had him right where you wanted him…then wham—everything taken away from you in the blink of a Heavenly Smite—! I can’t believe how strong you are…to be able to get back on your feet in just twenty-four years of shutting yourself off from the outside world. I’m almost moved. I don’t think I could handle the— Whoa?!”

They were at the outskirts of the new capital in Melvoil—the capital had been moved from Melryln after its destruction—in Nina’s new home that had been built twenty-four years ago. This was the first time Think had used the estate’s hot spring, and the first time Nina had seen her since moving into this new home twenty-four years ago. Nina’s cries for help echoed through her estate as she was ravished by otherworldly tentacles, a favorite summon of Think’s.

 …………

The extent of the Heavenly Smite unleashed that day reached the battlefield where Think and Lóni fought. Think realized immediately that she needed to drop everything and demi-shift to get to where Nina was. This led to a confrontation with an even younger version of the nightmare from the sky, from which Think and Nina were barely able to escape alive. The gem on Think’s forehead burned out from magic overuse, and she nearly perished by the time they got to Melvoil. The moment they set foot in the capital, they received word that Lóni had washed up ashore still alive after he and Think’s Ag Ni Anse had been dragged out to sea…

Immediately afterward, Think became a recluse in Nina’s basement, never to show herself again. Nina tried her best to convince Think to come out—but she never held Think’s behavior against her. A few times a day, she would bring meals and written reports to her door. A few times a day, she would collect an empty tray and Think’s written orders.

I knew she would be back on her feet in no time! She’s so strong! I’m so glad I kept up the act as the Grand Magus. Same with all those erotic novels I bought for her! I’ve even managed to avoid her overtly sexual orders for the past twenty-four years !!

Compared to how tough it must’ve been for her to come out of her rut, this is nothing!!

Otherworldly tentacles pumped their aphrodisiac ooze into Nina’s skin, which only made her all that much gladder to see Think.

“Your sheer courage is an inspiration! I can hardly believe you haven’t bathed in twenty-four years with all that matted hair, and even though the ghastly smell is enough to make me gaaaAAAH!!”

“Urrrgh, it’s been sooo long since I spoke with anyone, I’m having a hard time making out what you’re trying to tell me… Why, were you saying something about wanting a tentacle pounding?  ”

“It was a slip of the tongue!! I was just going to say your fragrance smells as beautiful as always— GYAAAH!!”

Think must’ve dialed up her magic, because the tentacles’ assault intensified. As much as Nina resisted, she could feel them fondling her in all the right places. Perhaps it was the resulting rush of blood to her head that brought her back to her senses with an audible screech.

Same old Think? Same old tentacular antics?  Not even close.

The fire in Think’s eyes and her magic had kicked up a notch or ten.

…Although I would’ve rather realized this without the help of Think’s interdimensional sex noodles.

Nina frantically tried to cast a spell to keep the aphrodisiac from overtaking her completely while Think went back for another soak in the hot spring and said:

“Niiina, you didn’t really think I’d become a recluse just because I made a little mistaaake…?”

No, not in a million years. I know you’ll get your revenge on both the Flügel girl and Lóni—that you’ll kill them even if it’s the last thing you do, Nina thought the moment she saw the intense fire in Think’s eyes.

“Why, I’ve got nothing to worry about. You dooo realize—I’ve never failed even once?”

Nina gulped at Think’s bold and arrogant claim: A true genius never fails.

“Life is but a series of tests—and my inevitable viiictory just needs a teensy bit more of them.  ”

Think chuckled to herself and held her hand aloft to produce a small image. It showed what she had been working on in the basement all this time—the successful result of her tests.

“ Kú Li Anse……”

The fifth rite of spirit-breaking. Think told Nina of its fearsome abilities, and Nina immediately understood:

Ah… Lóni’s unsuccessful defeat and the sudden Heavenly Smite really were nothing more than the smallest of marginal errors…

It certainly wasn’t good that the Dwarves knew about the four other rites of spirit-breaking.

The loss of the Elven capital, the destruction of the Dwarf armada… These were devastating for both camps. With the Elves and the Dwarves at a loss for resources, they needed to find a new way to wage war. The result: Various races formed alliances with other races to keep the fighting going.

Where did this bring the Great War? Battles took on a new strategy: Gather as many of your enemies as possible into one place and destroy them in one large attack. This was seen as the new way to end the Great War—to bring an end to the game. The key to victory was this one final move: Kú Li Anse.

“My path to viiictory is going as smoothly as possible.  ”

The fate of the War was still very well in the palm of Think’s petite hand.

The transcendent smile on Think’s beautiful face sent a shiver down Nina’s spine.

“Pardon ?! AaaaAAAHH— GRLGRLGRL?!?!”

The tentacles suddenly disappeared, and Nina fell into the hot spring. Nina feared she would drown for a moment before she cleared her nose of hot spa water, only to pull herself together the moment she received a chillingly poignant telepathic message from Think:

[…Why, there’s…something in the house…]

Nina focused on the situation at hand; she knew it had to be serious.

Something had made its way into their home.

Think didn’t know who or what it was.

[Are they here for me…or you…?] Nina asked.

Whatever it was, they both knew it wasn’t friendly. So the question Nina had was—who were they after?

One would assume Nina, right? This was where she, the Grand Magus, was known to reside, after all. The real Grand Magus lived in her basement, and even she couldn’t tell who had made their way inside.

[……I’ll go… You stay here,] Think replied after a moment’s hesitation. It was her way of saying, This is going to get dangerous, so you stay put.

Think transformed completely—her facial expression, her tone, her mannerisms—as she quietly got out of the hot spring, and with a snap of her fingers, she was fully dressed. Nina nodded deeply.

Who was this intruder here for? No—who did they know what about, and how much did they know?

Nina could tell that Think was going find this out for herself and silence the intruder for good…

“…How do you do? I’m afraid I’ve made myself at home.”

There sat a ghost, his face twisted in a smile that reached his dark, unsettling eyes.

…Then, when a stupefied Nina witnessed this unbelievable sight—

“E-Elder! You sure I shouldn’t follow it…? No, let me follow it!!”

She leaped out of the shadows, intending to go after the so-called ghost as it made its exit. Nina had no idea what it was, nor would she have any reason to. Think’s silence, and the palpable hostility in the air, spoke volumes. It was clear that she hadn’t gotten an ounce of information from this visitor.

Whatever it was, it toyed with Think as if she were a child. Whatever it was—it was incredibly dangerous!! And yet…

“…Niiina, what did that look like to you…?”

“You’re asking me…? How would I know if you don’t even know?!”

Nina practically screamed her answer but proceeded to gulp audibly when she noticed Think’s gaze, which asked:

Does that look like someone you should be following?

Nina had unconsciously hesitated to go after the intruder—and the dangers that would have followed. Think’s gaze had stopped Nina in her tracks. Those eyes had halted her from impulsively giving chase. They were what kept Nina’s resentment, humiliation, and loathing in check.

Nina took a deep breath and thought for a moment before speaking.

“…Whatever it was, I think it may be playing the same game we are… At least, that’s what it looked like to me,” Nina mumbled as she tried to make sense of what had just occurred.

Think, who had her head down with her cheek on her desk, waited patiently for Nina to continue. The ghost wore tattered rags and pelts—it was hard to make out whatever it was. Nina and Think had both witnessed the ghost; they heard its voice, watched its gaze and how it carried itself. They both knew this ghost was a player, and a formidable one at that.

Nevertheless, there was something off about the ghost. Nina couldn’t quite put her finger on it… Or rather:

“…I doubt anybody knows what that thing is.”

Nina was sure of herself this time. She looked into Think’s eyes and thought:

Whatever that thing was—it really must have picked up that I was hiding behind the pillar. Which means it’s capable of seeing through an octa-caster’s disguises.

No one should be able to do that, let alone have any reason to!

Some more time passed, and Nina told Think what she thought about the entire exchange.

“I think they’re playing the game with a different set of rules…”

Think Nirvalen was trying to win the War by destroying the planet. The same probably went for Lóni Drauvnir as well. No—in this world where even the gods went to war, everyone fought for largely the same purpose… But as for that ghost…

“They are aiming for an entirely different kind of victory—I…think…”

They weren’t here to kill anyone, or claim victory for their own. Even Nina knew it didn’t quite make sense, but for whatever reason, she was certain:

This ghost was the third player.

She recalled a fleeting anxiety she’d had once before, about another player who paid no mind to how the others played the game; someone who would end the Great War on their own terms—

“Mr. Ghost is after something a lot simpler than thaaat…” Think smiled big for Nina, who was quivering in fear. “Why…he’s trying to do the exaaact same thing I am.  ”

Think’s plans… Nina had just listened to what they were: Form an alliance with the stronger races, team up against their common enemies—pit the entire world against Artosh, the creator.

Once she had them all in one place, she would use Kú Li Anse to wipe her enemies off the face of the planet. There was just one little difference, Think went on:

“He’s pitting everyone’s trump cards agaaainst one another—his win by default through mutual destruction.  ”

Learning of the E-bomb, a weapon that detonated the ether of the Old Dei, came as a great shock. Even more so if it really was the Dwarves who managed to create a weapon so lethal. The biggest surprise, however, was that it could overpower Think’s Áka Si Anse. Those damned moles—if they weren’t willing to learn their place, then they needed to be eliminated from the planet.

“It only helps us if Mr. Ghost and his friends add fuel to the fiiire.  ”

Minor details aside, Áka Si Anse had been used out in the open—it was public knowledge. Lóni Drauvnir was bound to create something to rival it; Think expected as much. Hence why she was in such a hurry to prepare the fifth rite of spirit-breaking—

 Eternal Fourth Guard—Kú Li Anse……

A 607-fold rite that operated under the protection of the Old Deus Kainas. It was the ultimate defense—a sealing spell that ceased all spiritual function.

Theoretically, it wasn’t possible to bypass the membrane created by sealing the spirits on multiple planes of time and space. Not the Flügel’s Heavenly Smite, nor the Dwarves’ so-called E-bomb, and not even Think’s very own Áka Si Anse could do that. This fifth rite of spirit-breaking, the ultimate shield—it was impervious to any and all existing damage. Thus, the war would come down to a battle of raw firing power, with Think and Nina the only survivors… At least, that had been the plan—

“Why, there appears to be…another victory ahead…” Think whispered to herself with a tinge of chagrin. She began to walk away, but then turned.

“Bring it on… Just another race to exterminate  ,” she taunted with a wretched, bloodthirsty grin on her face. “We still have one mooore trump card: Kú Li Anse……”

Is it just me, or…? Nina thought as she scurried her way out of the room behind Think.

“Why, I look forward to seeing whether Mr. Ghost can control us as well as he thinks he caaan.  ”

Although Think scoffed at the notion, it was evident that she lacked her usual boundless confidence.

“E-Elder! Wasn’t there one more trump card you said we haven’t used?!”

The fifth trump card, their ace in the hole… Nina never learned what exactly it was, except that it wasn’t another rite of spirit-breaking. She worded her question to sound more like a suggestion to use their fifth trump card. Think twirled around and, for but a moment, smiled in frustration—

“I already used it.   This is the first time I’ve hoped that it doesn’t work.  ”

She poked out her tongue as if to say, I’m never gonna tell you what it is!

On that fateful day, Think Nirvalen went outside and gazed aimlessly at the sky. The warm sun beamed down on her; it was so warm that it almost made her sleepy.

All her long ears could hear was the sound of grass swaying in the wind, which only made her sleepier.

Her diamond-shaped pupils witnessed the answer to a question she’d asked herself for ages.

The sky was a deep, captivating blue color. Beams of warm, white light shone down upon her. Something had bested all warring parties, including the Elves and the Dwarves. Towering along the horizon was a gargantuan chess piece. Think chuckled to herself at what seemed like a joke.

Apparently this was the real color of the sky. With the unending Great War now over, the world had become so utterly beautiful… It was laughable—almost like a dream—but Think realized what this meant……

She had lost.

……Oh, not agaaain. How could I lose yet again…?

Even as the thought lingered in her mind, she felt neither shock nor anger.

I knew it.

She knew her biggest trump card would prevail… The very card Think had put all her faith into was standing next to her, seemingly in a trance:

“…Um… Elder…? Mind telling me what’s going on…?” Nina asked as she sank to the ground, dumbfounded.

Think was in the middle of asking herself the same question before she realized the answer. She looked at everything happening around them, and she knew. It was simple, really.

“The worrrld was destroyed. Basically…someone beat us to the puuunch…  ”

They had lost the game. It was as simple as that. Think got to her feet after answering Nina’s question. She began walking with her usual elegance, and for a moment, she caught sight of the ghost off in the distance.

This self-proclaimed ghost was apparently some monkey called an Immanity. And he, along with an Ex Machina, had magnificently pulled all the strings to the very end.

And thus—

—the planet alone was destroyed…

Thus, the Immanity’s desire to win the War without killing anyone—the contradiction that was his mission—had been accomplished. Think was embarrassed by her own incompetence.

I wish I’d thought of that…

Destroying the planet was much quicker than destroying each and every one of the races. Think could almost hear the ghost telling her this, and she could offer no response.

…But there was one thing she refused to concede, something she was sure of now that everything was said and done. She gazed up at the azure heavens.

Why would a victory of this nature decide the throne of the One True God?

“Ohhh… I’m such a fool… I caaan’t believe I ever thought that windbag Kainas would be of any use.”

No one said anything about a rule like thaaat…

Think cursed the worthless god incapable of communication in any shape or form. Think hated herself.

Just what are Old Dei…?

It was far too late to consider the question now, but if her hypothesis was correct…

That was the biggest reason for her defeat, her most foolish oversight. Think heaved a deep sigh and lamented:

“We should have killed that worthless piece of shit Kainas from the very staaart……”

“Wha—Elder?! Sure, that’s true, but you shouldn’t be saying that out loud!! Aren’t you afraid of divine punishment?!”

Nina tried to silence Think, even though she’d just unwittingly agreed with her.

Yes, that was the old way of things…but not anymore. Think remembered what the cocky new “One True God,” the snotty brat who had just rewritten the rules of the world, had said, and continued:

“Why…as a creator, do you have any right to sentence your creations to death if they defy youuu? That’s like saying it’s okay for a parent to kill their child just because they didn’t listen. Why, I always thought the only throne our shitty little god Kainas deserved was made of porcelain.  ”

She really laid it on the Old Deus. She’d wanted to get all this off her chest for years—and she wanted to check a certain little something. Still panicked, Nina started walking with Think—until a figure appeared before them.

It was a man shouldering a recognizable mass of metal.

“Ló…Lóni Drauvnir ?!”

Nina’s breath caught in her throat as she shouted his name.

The two main players of the Great War identified each other.

In the very next moment, Think Nirvalen unleashed her latest and most advanced magic.

Lóni Drauvnir likewise unsheathed his new and improved spirit arm.

It was the most natural of actions. Like a contract, or a vow. They both unleashed their most powerful attacks, the earth crumbling beneath them as they ran at each other with all their might to fulfill their promise of destruction—and yet, before they could even make contact…

…the new laws of the land unequivocally denied their exchange:

1. In this world, all bodily injury, war, and plunder is forbidden.

Apparently this new set of rules—the Ten Covenants—was real.

Any blows Think and Lóni tried to land on each other, any magic meant to harm—was forced to yield. All magic that would lay siege to the spirits—no, to any member of the Ixseed—was forbidden, nonexistent.

I see…

The Elf and the Dwarf, each of them the strongest of their kind, shared an uncomfortable laugh before they turned and went their separate ways.

There was nothing to say. The Great War—their own personal practical war game—was over. It had been ended.

And as mere losers, it wasn’t their place to question the winner. In which case…

“Niiina? Find me some of the best Elves you know—why, we’ve got a country to maaake.”

“Oh, okay!   Wait… What?! A c-c-c-country?! But why—?!”

At first, Nina responded without thinking, but within an instant realized what Think had asked her to do. Think continued: Not a single Elf knew what was going on. This crisis was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up. This was the perfect chance to split the Elves—and gain independence. Furthermore:

“If we wait for our incompetent god to start the game, we’ll only fall behiiind.  ”

Time was of the essence. Spoils were going to whoever could get their team up and running first. An opportunity for sure—but a predicament to end all predicaments. The Elves needed saving, and who was Think to deny them?

Sure, she’d lost a war. Time to start a new one.

The practical war game between her and Lóni had moved on to the next stage.

It was now an abstract war game—here in Disboard, this new world on a board.

No one really knew how the Great War had ended or by whom. And Think had no obligation to tell anyone. Why squander this advantage by leaving any written records? If anything, it was downright convenient that the laws of magic were kept under lock and key. Without magic, every single race was in chaos. But Think had already rewritten the laws of magic, twice. Just gotta do it one more time, and what’s a better time than right now—right here ?!

She was going to kill them all, no matter what. No matter how many hundreds, thousands of years it took—she vowed to get it done. That goddamn mole, that rat with wings, that monkey, that bratty One True God—they were her quarries. Like hell she would let anyone take them away from her. Think gleefully pondered all the tasks she had to do…

“…Um… I can’t go on much longer… I need a break…”

…only to be met with a tuckered-out Nina. She had put her everything into winning this war, and it ended in defeat. And what’s the first thing she hears from her partner’s mouth? Talk about the next war?

While Think may not have technically been the only genius of her caliber, she was still a genius, and she knew herself. Nina lacked Think’s unyielding thirst for blood, a form of genius in itself. Of course she was heartbroken.

“How about we play a little game—by the Covenants?  ”

And thus, Think Nirvalen proposed the first post–Great War game…

“If you can build a country within the time limit, you wiiin.”

…based on the Ten Covenants.

6. Wagers sworn by the Covenants are absolutely binding.

Think smiled at Nina while she watched her slowly recall this new world’s laws.

“Niiina, what should I wager in exchange for your assistance in my little war gaaame?”

“…………Elder…!”

Think was hiding something in that smile. Nina let out a small gasp.

She was grateful beyond words. Think may have lost the War—but she was going to win the next…and she needed Nina’s help to do it. So Think was asking what Nina wanted in exchange.

Does she mean…anything?

After a brief moment of consideration, Nina gave her answer:

“In…in that case— W-w-will you…marry me?!?!”

……,

……Heh… Eh-heh… Hee-hee-hee. Niiina… Oh, you…

Think was moved. She was waiting for something along the lines of having to be Nina’s slave, or perhaps some revenge for all those times she’d violated her with interdimensional tentacles.

“…Why, I never pegged you as a liberal girl, Niiina. I guess we’ll have to make same-sex marriage one of the tenets of post-War Elven Gaaard.”

“Oh, um—! U-um… Okay, so…I—I—”

Think had always known of Nina’s feelings for her. She never really…understood what it meant to love someone, though, let alone…marriage?

Marriage: two partners united, swearing to stay by each other’s sides until death do them part. Thinking about it logically, they were basically doing that already.

“Ah, w-well, that’s perfectly fiiine! I never cared for such stupid, antiquated conventions anyway, and, if I were to get married to youuu—why, I’m a genius, so I kind of saw this comiiing! I already created a spell that lets two women procreate, and, uh—oh, wait. I need to rewrite that one in accordance with the new laws of magiiic. Just gimme about fifteen miiinutes.  ”

Think wasn’t as cool, calm, and collected as she usually was. She began recompiling the rite as she rambled on. Think didn’t know why her face had gotten all warm or why she couldn’t meet Nina’s gaze. No, the real reason she’d suddenly become such a shrinking violet was…well, you know…

But never mind that. Nina steeled her every last nerve to make what might have been the most important announcement of her life:

“Uh…E-Elder—I’m actually a…guy…”

……Heh… Eh-heh… Hee-hee-hee. Not again, Nina… You and your jokes.  

You know how easy it is to catch such lies with a simple anaaalysis spell. Here, just give me a moment—aaand… There!   Just like that! I’ve got my magic up and running again! I really am a geeenius!! I meaaan…I did technically lose the War, but, um, I think I did a pretty good job at—

“So, Nina Clive—you had me tricked this entire tiiime?”

The analysis spell came back with the answer “Male.” It was as if upon hearing her partner’s confession, her emotions had left her body like steam, only to be frozen back into her when she learned of Nina’s cold betrayal. Usually, there’s a liquid phase for these kinds of things.

Think’s broken heart began shutting down in self-defense, and she took a step forward.

Thanks for everything.

I’ll repay you with a quick, painless death. It’s the least I can do.

Think, now cloaked in a cataclysmic amount of magic, took another step forward, then another. She was closing in on Nina, who realized that he didn’t have much longer to live, so he did the best he could to try and convince her to spare him.

“It w-w-wasn’t a trick!! That is—I never once had a chance to say I was a man!”

“So you neeever told me a single lie…? If you have a better excuse than thaaat, why, you’d better hurry uuup and tell me.  ”

“I tried to tell you several times, but you always cut me—”

“Tried to tell me…? Was thaaat while you wore women’s clothes…while you enjoyed washing every inch of my body? …Anything else to saaay?  ”

“I never did anything inappropriate!! I even withstood your aphrodisiac sex tentacles while you were naked—if anything, you should be impressed!!”

As death closed in on Nina, he thought: I’m just glad I held it together…

He continued his mortified wailing—and then Think stopped. She was pondering something, cycling through her memories. Just to be sure, she asked Nina a question:

“……So you were just being yourself this entire tiiime? And nothing about you made me think you were a boyyy?”

“ As a man, I know it’s kind of pathetic, but…yes…”

The tears that had built up in Nina’s eyes began to roll down his cheeks. Think smiled as bright as the sun.

…She thought about how cute his face was, how small his quivering shoulders were, and how feminine his voice was.

No matter which way she cut it, Nina was a girl to her. Then so be it.

“It’s not pathetic. After allll, you are a girl.  ”

As soon as the statement left her lips, a rite Think had composed while they were having this conversation lit up the air around them—only to stop soon after.

“…Oh. Why, it seems nonconsensual sex changes go agaaainst the Ten Covenants… Hmph!”

“Wait a second—were you about to change my sex without my permission?!”

Think smiled awkwardly as the first Elf to receive the Ten Covenants’ protection shrieked.

“So be it. Niiina is Niiina. Male, female—I suppose it doesn’t really maaatter.” Think, not exactly sure how to feel about all this, continued with a bashful grin. “…I accept your terms. If you wiiin—”

That grin was enough to captivate anyone.

“—I, Think Nirvalen, pledge to become your wiiife.”

Nina stopped breathing for a moment.

“ Ah… Y-yes, ma’am! All right!! I’ll get you a country up and running within the time limit, no matter what!!”

Moved to tears, Nina was champing at the bit to get started on their game. Then Think added:

“And if you lose, you’ll become my wiiife.  ”

“Okay! …Wait—what?! I have to wager something, too!!”

3. Games shall be played for wagers that each agrees are of equal value.

“So, uh, if I want you to be my wife, I have to potentially end up being yours? …You call that equal value?!”

If he lost, he got a magical sex change. Think watched Nina as he tried to make a case for how messed up this entire thing was, and whispered under her breath:

“…Why…I guess I’m not the type of girl worth chaaanging your sex over…”

She smiled in self-deprecation and drooped her head.

“S-so…about this time limit you mentioned…” Nina began. “What else did you have in mind for a…new country…?”

Had Nina realized setting up the terms was a part of the game that was this new world? He asked his question with an earnest expression, to which Think replied:

“We’ll need at least two cities and their respective administrations, plus an agent plenipotentiary.   And for a time limit, let’s saaay—”

Then, as if testing the waters, she mumbled:

“—two years…”

“T-t-two years?! Don’t be ridicu— Uhhh…I mean—!! For you, Elder, I’ll see to it that it’s—”

Nina’s reaction was proof he was the ultimate trump card, something he himself didn’t know. Think chuckled to herself as she finally dealt her beloved trump card.

“…maximum.   You have one year and eleven months! Good luuuck!  ”

“Wha—noooo?! That’s literally not possible!! Give me a break here!!”

Nina was up in arms about only a month’s difference, but Think ignored his quibbles. “Sooo, in two years, we’ll be husband and wife, or wife and wife. Here, raise your hand like thiiis.  ”

With the same bashful smile, Think raised her hand—and Nina made his wager. He was touched, in a way. After all, Think had effectively accepted his marriage proposal, though there were some technicalities with the gender depending on who won. He’d either be her husband, or end up her wife. While the notion of the latter was still quite frightening…

…the winner of the game had already been decided.

Perhaps without ever realizing he was the one who held the bargaining chips when they decided the terms of their bet—Nina raised his quivering hand in agreement.

But that was how things worked. One can never truly know themselves. Just like how Think Nirvalen didn’t know herself.

Nina Clive was no different—he wasn’t capable of knowing himself at all. So all he could do was…know the person who knew him best. Trust them more than he trusted himself.

For Think…that meant the first person she’d ever shown a genuine smile.

“ Elder…why do you always force your smiles?”

Think hadn’t really known what smiling was, or that she had been forcing one. Nina had taught her that.

If Nina believed it possible, then it must be possible. The same went for Nina. Whatever Think believed possible must be possible. She’d make it possible—no matter what it took.

Conversely, once you chalk something up as impossible—it won’t possible no matter which way you slice it…

The day Think met the ghost and believed she could do nothing to stop him—

 that was when she should have forfeited the game.

She should have given up the moment she wished for Nina to fail. It was the moment her defeat was set in stone…

…Nina was different, though. He didn’t know any of this. Think had never told him. All she had to do was say, “There aren’t many people who can pull off being a Grand Magus with nothing but some orders written onto flash cards.” Nina could do anything Think knew he could do. The opposite was true, too—anything Think thought to be impossible, she personally made impossible.

Think would probably tell this to Nina…someday. She smiled.

(You don’t reveeeal your trump card until the showdown.  )

Thus, the curtain closed on the practical war game and opened for a new world: an abstract war game.

Think Nirvalen and Nina Clive took deep breaths. Who would end up a wife? It was a trivial wager, but of utmost importance to those involved. This marked the start of their secret plan that would eventually result in their country engulfing a third of the continent. It all started with a pledge:

“Nooow—let the game begiiin.  ”

Their ultimatum decided, they both faced this new world before them and declared a rematch:

—Aschente—!!