Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan - Volume 6 - Chapter 5.3

Part 8 
Haaaaaa! 
"Aaaaaaahhh!" 
rCorde's shield, which has withstood Vermillion's repeated attacks up till now, now meets the unbridled fury of Vermillion's strongest Noble Art in the middle of the ring! These fierce magics blow wildly about the Dome, the might of their flowing magic evident! The keenest spear and the hardest shield battle it out furiously, neither yielding an inch... victory lies in the balance still!
And yet, there existed no such equality between spear and shield in real life. A spear that pierced all could not coexist with a shield that blocked all. One must triumph. And as though to prove that point, the force behind that nimbus of light began to destroy that fine balance. 
It's...heavy... so hot.... 
 
The one being driven back was Charlotte. The thousand petaled Senben Junka was starting to wither and shed petals under the relentless push of Katharterio Salamandra. And as the shield began to fail, so too did its ability to block out the heat given off by that Noble Art. With sickening gurgles, the ground began to melt and bubble. Skin and hair began to darken and char. Despite the fact that her shield was holding against the blade itself, the energy it was giving off had that kind of power. 
What outrageous strength. 
At this rate.... 
Her shield would be broken through. Charlotte cried out, in a last-ditch effort to protect her master. 
"My Lady! Retreat!" 
But— 
"I refuse." 
Her master. Beast Tamer Rinna Kazamatsuri, put her arms around her waist from behind, leaning into her back. 
"M-My Lady, what are you doing!?" 
Charlotte’s normally well-schooled expression caved way to distress at her master’s incomprehensible actions. Rinna on the other hand just gave a confident grin. 
"I said 'I refuse'. My loyal retainer, there is no need to flee. For the one standing before me Charlotte Corde, my ablest servant, my right hand of darkest night, who has sworn fealty to me. You shall not fall—am I wrong?" 
And she held her closer still. Through the contact she could feel that warmth, that absolute trust. 
"...Yes, my liege!" 
From her soul she poured forth more power. With a wailing sound, the luster returned to the crumbling Senben Junka. Petals that had wilted under the searing light stood strong again, once more shutting out its heat. And with that at last, despite her ragged state, Charlotte’s Senben Junka repelled the Crimson Princess’ Noble Art. 
rAnd... Senben Junka triumphs! It barely manages to hold against the strongest sword, A-Rank Knight Stella Vermillion's Katharterio Salamandra!
"Ugh...." 
Sweat beading down her face, Charlotte fell to her knees, her hands barely holding her up. Her hair was frazzled and fried. Her shoulders ached, and her breaths came in ragged pants. She was at her limit. But even so — 
I ... was able to protect — 
Yes—she had successfully defended her master from the brunt of Stella Vermillion's ace in the hole. Feeling her master's warmth and heartbeat behind her brought a smile to her lips. She had fulfilled her master's wishes. There could be no greater joy than that. It was an indescribable thing, that sense of achievement, that euphoria. 
But that would turn to blackest despair in an instant. 
"Katharterio Salamandra." 
"It...can't be...." 
Charlotte saw it. 
The flame-haired knight produced a second blade of light not in the least inferior to the first in overwhelming might without wasting another breath, before swinging it downwards. 
She can launch consecutive attacks of such power... so quickly!? 
"That's why I said that it’s impossible for you." 
In all honesty, Stella had felt right from the start that it would have been difficult to break Charlotte's defense in a single blow. But what did that matter? If one strike was not enough, then she would just strike out with two, three strikes, one after the other. The Crimson Princess did, after all, have enough to spare to launch twelve such consecutive attacks of Katharterio Salamandra. 
On the other hand, Charlotte could not even squeeze out a single drop of mana more. 
"Charlotte!" 
"My... Lady — " 
Unable to resist, she was devoured by a nimbus of dragonflame. 
Part 9 
rIt's... it's a direct hit! Having been at her wits' end defending against one strike from Katharterio Salamandra, Corde was naturally unable to do anything about consecutive attacks from the same! Together with the Beast Tamer, she collapses powerlessly!
rI don't think they will get up again. Even if they were to do so, the two of them would be in no shape to fight in the first place—it took all they had just to block that first blow.
"And that’s the second." 
Having shattered Charlotte's strongest shield with ease, Stella now turned her attention to Icy Laughter and the Puppeteer as the countdown finished. The shield that lay between them and Stella's onslaught was no more. There was nowhere to run. Once the Puppeteer, who still had that eerie air about him, was defeated this match would be over. 
"Looks like you didn't make it." 
Stella spoke softly, and Puppeteer Reisen Hiraga replied with a grin that nearly split his face from cheek to cheek. 
"No? Corde-san did an exemplary job. Thanks to her, my preparations have all been completed." 
Then it happened. A shadow was cast over the length of the Dome, r Eh? Did the sky suddenly darken?
TYou're kidding! I didn't bring an umbrella... wait, what's that!?
One after the other, people began exclaiming as they looked up at the darkened sky. This was unavoidable, for the shadows which had darkened the skies had not been cast by clouds, but by rubble that were even now falling from on high, falling into the ring one by one as though attracted by some unnamed force. 
rwh, what is this!? All of a sudden, buildings, cars, even trains are starting to drop into the ring! Were they carried in by a tornado!?
No. Indeed, the amount and content of the rubble was akin to that of a tornado had it swept through a town, but had it been a natural phenomenon, then such an unnatural occurrence as not having a single piece of rubble land in the stands but instead gathering in the ring would not have happened. 
This was the work of man. Specifically, the work of the Pierrot who laughed mockingly at the chaos sowed throughout the Dome—the work of none other than Reisen Hiraga. Stretching his strings out beyond the Dome grounds, he had picked up the detritus along the coastline, scrapped cars and even unmanned trains, bringing them here into the ring. 
For what purpose? This would become clear soon enough. 
rWh-What!? The mountain of rubble that fell from the skies is are now merging! This shape... it’s a human!? It’s taking human shape! The mass of rubble is combining as though attracted by a magnet, and is forming the shape of a giant human!
That's...! 
Ikki and Stella, from their respective places in the stands and in the ring, recognized this. They had seen it before, on that rainy day in Okutama! 
That Noble Art that used string to piece together inanimate objects into a giant string puppet— 
"Deus Ex Machina. Heh, it’s like a giant robot. Cool, isn't it?" 
Fully formed, the puppet of rubble stood fifty meters tall—this was Puppeteer Reisen Hiraga’s ace. 
Part 10 
Gazing up at the giant of rubble that had appeared in the ring, Stella clicked her tongue. 
"As I thought. I had suspected as much since a while back... that was you back there at the training camp." 
"Hahaha, you took good care of my puppets then." 
Hiraga's voice rang out from somewhere inside the rubble giant. At some point in the formation of the rubble, he had entered therein. Indeed, this puppet that was controlled from within was just like a mecha^ 1 . 
"Raikiri gave me a hard time of it then, but Deus Ex Machina is definitely different from those piles of mud. Even the Crimson Princess would not be able to withstand a single strike with such mass behind it!" 
And so Reisen's fully-formed ace began its attack on Stella, wielding in the twisted combination of concrete and steel pipe that was its left arm eight train cars lashed together to form a whip, swinging it down upon the crimson knight in the ring. The power of that blow was such that it did not merely stop at crushing a single human, smashing the ring itself and shaking the Dome to its very foundations. 
rToo strong! The ring is shattered by the train-whip of Deus Ex Machina! One quarter of it has been completely blown away, raising an impressive dust cloud! Is Vermillion alright!?
She couldn’t be. Being made of stainless steel, the train cars were somewhat lighter—but they nonetheless weighed in the tons. One lash from such a whip would reduce a human to unrecognizable bits. However — 
r Certainly, I would be done for if that were to hit me. But that whip of your puppet’s is dull. It won’t hit me at all!
At that moment, a bolt of red light pierced through the smoke screen of dust—none other than Stella Vermillion, the knight clad in flames. She had evaded the train-whip with ease, and riding the dust cloud created by the impact she landed with one great leap upon the right arm of the trainwielding Deus Ex Machina, dashing upwards towards its shoulder in one go —and in one strike she cleaved off its head, an amalgamation of a heavy truck core and assorted surrounding detritus. 

Stricken from its roots, the head plummeted to the ground, raising a din of clanking metal as it splintered like glass—truck, traffic light, empty propane gas cylinders and all. Stella landed amid the rubble as they were pathetically strewn about. 
"This is the puppet that you spent so much time trying to make while I was fighting that maid, but I'll return it to the scrapheap in just a minute." 
Stella declared so with a confident grin. This was her victory. 
"Haha, hahaha!" 
Reisen laughed mockingly. 
"What’s so funny?" 
"No, it's nothing. I simply think you are terribly mistaken. Deus Ex Machina was ready long before you had even begun to fight with Corde-san. What I mainly took that time to prepare, was another puppet." 
At that very moment, Stella, who had been assured of her victory, felt a pressure send a shiver up her spine. Was it the pressure of the puppeteer within that Deus Ex Machina? No. This was different. This pressure came from behind, not in front of her. 
What's this feeling — ? 
She couldn't tell, but one thing was for sure. 
—Danger! 
Following her intuition, she kicked off the ground with all her might, propelling herself forward without any preparation, just as the place she had previously been standing was frozen. 
"This power is...!" 
There was only one person here who could cause all the moisture in the air to freeze, creating that blooming flower of ice. 
"Icy Laughter's Satin Ice... tch!" 
There, in the direction to which Stella had felt that shiver, was the stoically still Mikoto Tsuruya. And her eyes of death were alight with a flame of green-white magic, unlike anything Stella had seen from her previously. 
Part 11 
The light in Mikoto's eyes instantly turned to magic. Along her line of sight, sword-like pillars of ice burst out along the ground as they crossed the space between her and Stella, as though she intended to freeze it all. 
l"Once again, Tsuruya goes on the offensive, launching attack after attack of Satin Ice at Vermillion, who for her part is staying out of Tsuruya's vision! The Crimson Princess's mobility, too, is top-notch! Yet, why is she dodging this desperately? Satin Ice was easy meat for Empress Dress previously!
rIt's... not the same as before. The technique itself is several times stronger. See, as far as I know. Icy Laughter is only able to freeze a spherical space about 3 meters in diameter at the focal point of her vision. But right now, she is freezing everything in sight. The power of her Noble Art is now on a 
whole new level. That she had been hiding such an ace up her sleeve... shocking. A Noble Art like this might just be able to freeze the Crimson Princess’s flames!
Even as Muroto spoke thus, the chance Mikoto had been waiting for arrived. Stella had been dodging with swift steps, but she was hard-pressed to continue dodging a Noble Art that could reach lightspeed. The more she dodged desperately, the more her situational awareness waned, till she was hemmed in on either side by the walls of ice created by Satin Ice. 
TOh my! Stella has been pressed into a cul-de-sac even as we speak! Is it all over now?
Locking on to Stella, cut off from all escape routes, the light of Absolute Zero burst forth. 
But Stella was not one to go down without a fight. 
"Haaaa!" 
Shrouding Lsevateinn in her Empress Dress, she created a blade of fire that hewed the gaze of Hades aside. 
rSh-She repelled it with her sword! As expected, the Crimson Princess will not go down so easily!
rNonetheless, look at her Device —!
TEh...?
As they gazed upon Lxvciteinn at Muroto’s cue, the commentator and the audience were both stunned into silence. 
TTh-This...! What is this? Vermillion’s Device, Lsevateinn... it’s frozen!
THey, hey now, are you serious!?
Exclamations of astonishment filled the Dome stands. The Device of a fire user could be said to be like the core of a sun, and to freeze something of such singularly high temperatures was something wholly out of the ordinary. Stella herself was quite shaken by this turn of events. 
You're kidding.... 
Encircling the blade with flames immediately, she attempted to defrost it — 
rIt’s... it’s not working! The ice has not melted one bit despite enduring Stella's fire! What power!
. ..For my flames to be unable to melt it...! 
Even as she felt herself break into a cold sweat, she gave the god of death before her a sharp look. 
"You're an unexpectedly horrible person, Tsuruya-san, to have hidden such power." 
Her sardonic tone belied genuine praise, but Mikoto did not react to it. Mikoto did not need the praises of an enemy... or so Stella thought at first. 
Looking at her expression, Stella felt something was off. She thought that Mikoto would flash a confident smile at having one-upped her unaware opponent with her power... but she didn’t. There was no light in her eyes. No strength holding her body up. A sickly aura surrounded her. 
It was like... yes, she was just like a puppet.... 
"What I mainly took that time to prepare , was another puppet." 
She realized a horrifying possibility. 
"Hiraga, you can't have — !" 
"Heh heh heh. Yes, I did." 
And she was right. When Reisen Hiraga had spoken of 'another puppet' earlier, he had referred to Mikoto Tsuruya, who had been standing next to him the whole time. While Stella had been occupied with Charlotte, and unbeknownst even to Mikoto herself, Reisen's Device, Black Widow, had entered through her ear, infiltrating her brain and nervous system—seizing control of her body away from her and using her as his puppet. 
This was Puppeteer Reisen Hiraga's true ace. 
"Marionette. This technique is hardly sophisticated, but by that right it is also powerful." 
When under the effect of Marionette, one did not merely become a pitiable living puppet. By encroaching directly on the brain and taking control of the electrical signals it could send, Reisen could easily remove certain things—such as a human's instinct to protect themselves, and thus forcefully bring forth the true limit of that person's ability. This was the reason for the immense power-up that Mikoto had gained. 
"But most regrettably, humans cannot withstand their own full power." 
Reisen said that softly, and as if in response, blood began to ooze out of Mikoto's eyes. 
"Tsuruya-san...!" 
"If you continue this pointless struggle, why, her eyes might just burst. 
Well, at this point she could still be healed easily, but my strings run deep into her brain. She was a complete outsider, with nothing at all to do with the feud between us and you... such a beautiful girl. Such a long life ahead. 
Don't you think it would be a pity for her to live as a vegetable for the rest of it?" 
"Are you threatening me?" 
"Exactly." 
"Your allies, at least, put their pride on the line to fight me fair and square. You don't intend to do the same, do you?" 
"No, not at all." 
"...Tch...!" 
Stella bit her lip, hard. She knew it now. This man, Reisen Hiraga, was different from Yui and the others. He was pure evil. 
Stella was royalty. She knew that morality was a frail and malleable thing. If viewed from a different angle. Rebellion's goal of creating a utopia for Blazers could be taken as 'good'. The definition of 'evil' and 'evil people' too, only amounted to this much. 
But this Pierrot was different. Delighting in the pain of others, drawing amusement from their suffering—he was truly evil. Absolutely so. 
"I believe you are mistaken. We are not here in the name of glory. Victory is all we desire. It is a second-rate assassin who haggles over the means. A professional fulfills his orders. Thus, I do not falter. I do not hesitate. I show no quarter. And now that you understand this sufficiently. Crimson Princess... What. Will. You. Do?" 
His whispers could not hide their black joy, and the very sound of it lit a fire in Stella's belly that could roil up at any moment. But no matter what she did...she didn't have any other choice. 
"Vulgar cur." 
She spat out that insult, and without a second thought discarded Laevateinn. It landed on the ground of the ring with a clatter — 
"Hyaaaaa!" 
—just as Deus Ex Machina’s whip struck Stella full-on.