Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!? - Volume 43 - Chapter 4

The Struggle for Ralgwin

Friday, November 11th

Ralgwin’s transfer took place ten days after he woke up. His shoulder injury was serious, so the transfer was much sooner than it would have been on Earth. But medical technology was more advanced on Forthorthe, and he had already recovered enough to be moved, with the remaining treatment being carried out in the isolated facility. In other words, by Forthorthe standards, his life was no longer at risk—assuming he was properly cared for. Intense movement or unsanitary conditions could still be dangerous.

“If you are moving me now, the situation must be chaotic, Blue Knight.” Ralgwin wasn’t able to move well because of his injury, but his mind was as sharp as ever. He knew he was being transferred the moment it was physically possible, so it was a fair assumption that they couldn’t wait any longer.

Koutarou couldn’t help but smile wryly at him. “Yeah. We want to move you while your subordinates are in disarray... although Fasta-san might come in their place.”

“Which is better than taking too long and trying to fight off Grevanas or the Gray Knight here at the hospital.”

“You’re right. Not to mention, you might escape on your own once you recover enough.”

“That’s true. You wouldn’t be able to guess when I might make my move.”

There was a real risk of not only the old Vandarion faction or Fasta attacking, but also Ralgwin himself. The hospital was a place of healing—it wasn’t made to keep its patients from escaping. So it was very likely that Ralgwin would make an escape attempt when his condition improved, although only he would know exactly when. He would balance the state of his injury and chance of escape and make his move when he thought it best. Koutarou and the others would have a hard time anticipating his timing.

“That’s why we’re moving you today.”

“I see you have a high opinion of me.”

“You should value yourself a little more, Ralgwin. To be honest, people like you are the most dangerous. If you had been a little dumber or hated by your allies, Grevanas and the Gray Knight would be the only ones we’d have to worry about.”

They were worried about when to transfer Ralgwin because they knew he was valuable enough that the old Vandarion faction would try to rescue him. The soldiers treasured his brains and compassion for them. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t cooperate even if Grevanas and the Gray Knight wanted to save him. That would make things simpler, as Koutarou’s group would only need to focus on countering magic and the powers of chaos, but because Ralgwin was held in such high regard, it was likely that normal soldiers would make up the bulk of the attacking force. They had information that backed that idea up: according to intel from the Imperial Army’s intelligence agency, the matter of saving Ralgwin had served as the linchpin to keep the old Vandarion faction from breaking apart.

“Maybe so,” Ralgwin replied. “By the way, Blue Knight, do you know the Gray Knight’s—” He was about to ask if Koutarou knew the Gray Knight’s identity, but reconsidered before the words escaped his mouth.

No, I owe him...

They might already be enemies, but he owed the Gray Knight for saving his subordinates, so he needed to repay him. With that in mind, he changed his question.

“Do you know the Gray Knight’s objective?”

That was another thing Ralgwin wondered about. He had sought an answer but never found out. All he knew was that bringing chaos to society was just a means to that end.

“I’ll tell you because it’s you, but... I don’t really know. All I can say is that he came from a different world and is trying to spread chaos while going after Sanae, who came from the same world.”

“So you don’t know much more than I do.”

“Why ask?”

“Grevanas’s goal is clear. But despite working with the Gray Knight, I have no idea what his goal is. The matter was so unsettling, I figured maybe those opposing him would know.”

Grevanas wanted to resurrect Maxfern and finish what they had started two thousand years ago. He’d been consistent about that from the start. But Ralgwin didn’t know what the Gray Knight was thinking. He was like a bomb, but the condition for detonation and the number of explosives was unknown—that was how Ralgwin saw the Gray Knight.

“Sorry for not living up to your expectations. But I’ll find out in the coming battles,” Koutarou answered.

“If you do, let me know.”

“You mean you don’t intend to escape?” he asked out automatically. The only way Koutarou could share his findings with Ralgwin was if the latter was around to speak with him, which presumably meant that he wasn’t planning to disappear.

“This is special. Even if I escape, I want you to share that information,” Ralgwin explained.

“Fine, but that goes both ways.”

The Gray Knight was a mystery to both Koutarou and Ralgwin, and depending on his goal, it could mean trouble for both of them. As with natural disasters, they would share their information whether they were friend or foe.

“All right, I’ve got to go. Try to keep still until Fasta-san shows up.”

“Blue Knight... do you think she’ll come?”

“You know that better than anyone,” said Koutarou. “See you.”

With that, he walked away. He still had a lot to do, so he couldn’t stay around and chat all day. Moreover, speaking to Ralgwin was part of his job. He had come to check up on the prisoner and ensure there was nothing suspicious in the room.

After leaving, Koutarou headed for the hospital’s top level, five floors up. He had business with his allies there.

“Sanae, what do you think?” he asked as he entered the room.

Sanae-chan, floating around as an astral projection, gave a start. She had been by Koutarou’s side and read Ralgwin’s aura. “It’s okay. It didn’t look like he was planning to do anything himself for now.”

Ralgwin’s aura was calm. If he’d been planning to escape, his aura would have been more active, so Sanae figured he would wait and see how things went.

“I think he’s waiting for Fasta-san to make her move,” the Sanae-san in the body said.

If Ralgwin acted on his own, it might throw a wrench in Fasta’s plans. Since that could put her in danger, Sanae-san assumed Ralgwin was proceeding with caution so that he could cooperate with his ally.

“That’s how much he trusts in Fasta. He knows she will come,” Sanae-Oneechan added, clarifying what the three Sanaes had concluded.

“Then it’s decided. Let’s go ahead on the assumption that we’ll be attacked,” Koutarou agreed. Ralgwin wasn’t despairing or giving up, so he must have been convinced that Fasta would come.

“Hmph, they’d better or our efforts will go to waste,” Crimson, who was nearby, interjected. The court magicians had also shown up. Their job was to keep magic from being used around the hospital, since the biggest risk was that Grevanas would use the Teleport spell to whisk Ralgwin away. It wasn’t the kind of spell one could use repeatedly, but as an undead, Grevanas could potentially use it twice in a row, which needed to be prevented.

“You didn’t do anything, did you?” Green asked with a yawn from next to Crimson. She was at the forefront of the Teleport countermeasures. One of the most troublesome aspects of using that spell was that it could lead to major accidents if there were obstacles at the destination.

For example, if the caster’s arm overlapped with a tree, the overlapping parts could be blown away. The end result was something akin to a high-speed collision, so the standard procedure was to Teleport to an area you could see, or one that you knew very well. If neither was possible, information-type magic would need to be used to scout the area beforehand, so preventing that from being done would in turn prevent a Teleport. As an expert in information-type magic, this job fell to Green.

“I’m guarding you guys,” Crimson answered.

“You mean playing with the Blue Knight or eating candy with Navy?”

Compared to Green’s frenzied work to counteract a Teleport, Crimson had done almost nothing. The energy-based magic that she specialized in was mostly offensive magic, so she wasn’t very useful in situations like this. At best she could prepare for battle by sparring with Koutarou or talking about magic with Maki.

“It’s not like some strong enemy’s going to show up anyway, so playing around a little hardly matters.”

“I’m amazed you can say that about Grevanas.”

“What, Grevanas is coming?!” Crimson’s eyes sparkled.

“Oops!” In contrast, Green’s eyes clouded over. Up until now, they hadn’t told Crimson that Grevanas might attack. They’d wanted to prevent Crimson from running wild, but due to Green’s slipup, she finally knew.

“If that’s the case you shoulda told me! I have things I have to do now!”

Crimson headed for a corner of the room with a spring in her step. She was in such high spirits, it was like everything beforehand had been a dream. In the corner was a lot of magic-related equipment that had been prepared for the battle. There were catalysts and bullets enchanted with magic, and also more taboo materials like a ruler’s crown and a nihility converter. Crimson picked them up one at a time, closely inspecting them like a girl preparing for a date.

“Uh-oh...” Green held her head. This was the worst possible outcome.

“Koutarou, they have someone like Theia over there,” Sanae-chan announced.

“She’s even more extreme, though,” Koutarou replied.

“I’m willing to hold off on Grevanas if you fight me seriously, Blue Knight.” Crimson’s biggest point of discontent was that Koutarou wouldn’t fight her in earnest. She wanted to see how the man who had bested Grevanas—even if that had been before Grevanas had become undead—would fight in a true battle. So if he fought her, she could give up on Grevanas.

“What are you going to do, Koutarou? The green girl’s looking over here and praying.” Sanae-chan was looking at Green, who was looking at Koutarou with her hands pressed together in prayer. In her mind, a fight against him, which would probably be a battle in everything but name, was better than an uncontrollable match with Grevanas.

“What are you talking about?! If we fight she’ll burn down the whole city!” Koutarou knew how dangerous a serious Crimson was. He’d fought and sparred with her several times, so he couldn’t readily agree to her request.

While he and Green were trapped in this awkward spot, a goddess appeared to rescue them.

“Calm down, Crimson.”

That goddess was Maki. She walked up to Crimson with a smile.

“Maki! But the Grand Wizard is coming, isn’t he?!” asked Crimson.

Maki was a friend of Crimson’s. She was currently acting like an athlete telling her friend about an opponent before a game. Maki faced Crimson and answered while still smiling.

“Crimson, there’s no guarantee that Grevanas will attack.”

“What? Then what are the chances?” The gleam in Crimson’s eyes faded a little. She had convinced herself that Grevanas’s attack was assured, so Maki’s words came as a surprise. It was like she’d been told that the competition was pulling out of the game.

“Maybe one in ten.”

That was their guess: he would appear at some point, but probably not now. Still, even if the chances were low, the casualties resulting from a lack of preparation would be enormous.

“Come on... what a waste of my expectations...”

Crimson was disappointed. Staking her hopes on a one-in-ten chance wasn’t worth it. Her shoulders drooped as she heaved a sigh, and she headed straight back to the sofa.

“That’s why Green was keeping quiet about it. She didn’t want you to get your hopes up,” Maki explained.

“Oh, I see.” Crimson slumped onto the sofa. Unlike moments before, she was now bored out of her mind. Her disappointment was only exacerbated by her high expectations. Maki slowly sat down next to her.

“Maki, can’t you ask your man to fight me?”

“At what level?”

“The absolute max, where a blunder can get you killed.”

“That’s... It’ll depend on how this transfer works out. If you do well, I’ll ask him.”

“Really?!”

“Really.”

“Meow.”

“All right!”

Thanks to Maki, Crimson was starting to return to her usual self. And Maki had only succeeded because she was Crimson’s friend.

Green watched the two with an unhappy expression, but she didn’t say anything in the end. Without Maki, things would have gotten a lot more complicated, and she was prudent enough to understand that.

Koutarou walked up to Green. “To get back on topic... I want to hear your prediction. When do you think the attack will happen?”

When he called out to her, Green’s expression returned to normal. Crimson had flustered her, but she understood the situation. “Grevanas’s attack? Or the other?”

“Both.”

Since the plan to rescue Ralgwin was what kept the old Vandarion faction from breaking apart, Koutarou wanted information. That included speculations.

“Well... regarding Grevanas, I generally agree with what Navy said. My latest divinations are fluctuating slightly, but they are at about the same odds.”

Maki’s predictions were in line with Green’s future forecast, and the chances of the old Vandarion faction attacking were low. For future forecasts, the clearer an image was, the more likely that future was. All of the images of an attack here were blurry, so Green figured Maki’s prediction of a one-in-ten chance was correct.

“I also think the odds of the hospital being struck are next to none,” she continued. “Even if they attack or use Teleport or some other magic, if they haven’t even begun examining this location by now, they won’t make it in time for the transfer.”

“I see...” Koutarou murmured.

“But since we are up against Grevanas, we can’t let our guard down. He might choose not to use magic right from the outset.”

Green remained ready. Knowing Grevanas, he had likely taken their defenses into account. He came from a time when magic had been used heavily in war and had built up experience and techniques during his time as a court magician, so it wouldn’t have been strange for him to exceed modern magicians in that regard.

“Then it’d be like being alert against a quick runner stealing a base rather than a normal runner...” Koutarou mused. “I suppose it’s not impossible that he’d attack strictly with normal forces.”

“There’s another one who might attack too, isn’t there? That might be why my future forecasts are blurry,” said Green.

Fasta made the fortune-telling process even more difficult. The future forecast was only stable as long as nothing was actually happening. Meaning it was easy to know the enemy’s first move, but if Fasta struck first, Koutarou’s side and the old Vandarion faction would change their behavior in response, and the balance could crumble. That made it harder to read the future, leading to Green predicting a one-in-ten chance.

“In other words, it’s not that there’s a ten percent chance of an attack, but rather that a lot of dissimilar futures have been created?”

“That’s right... Sorry for not being able to meet your expectations.”

Green’s shoulders drooped. Her conclusion was that she didn’t know what Grevanas would do. The only certainty was that magic hadn’t been used to investigate the hospital.

But their opponent was ingenious, and they had a second enemy on top of him. It would be cruel to demand more from Green, so Koutarou nodded to her.

“No, that’s very helpful. What about our other attacker?”

“That one is clear. They won’t hit the hospital.”

“The chances are so low, you can outright declare that?”

“Yes. All possible futures show an attack with small numbers. So an attack on the hospital would only happen under extraordinary circumstances, like severe weather, an accident, or the old Vandarion faction making their move faster. In other words, they won’t come unless something happens. They’re very cautious.”

If Fasta was to attack, a diversion would have to happen first. She was so careful that she wouldn’t force the matter without one. She was likely worried about Ralgwin’s injuries.

“That’s why I don’t believe there will be an attack on the hospital itself,” said Koutarou, “but there are so many different potential attacks outside the hospital that your future forecast can’t predict it accurately.”

“Yes, you should be asking your devil for more details.”

“Devil?”

“You’re keeping one, aren’t you? A devil that understands the future through magic more than future forecasting.” Green was somewhat irritated. The person she was calling a devil had defeated her future forecast, which she’d had absolute confidence in, so she didn’t like her.

“Ah, you mean Kiriha-san.”

Based on Green’s tone, Koutarou could tell that she was talking about Kiriha. Back when they were still Darkness Rainbow, Kiriha had defeated them by using their future forecast against them.

“Where did you even capture a monster like that?” Green asked in disgust. In her mind, Kiriha wasn’t the type of person who needed to serve under someone else, so she was confused as to why the other was serving as Koutarou’s unofficial adviser.

“She attacked me when I came home.”

“Attack you?! That thing did?! I’m amazed you survived.” Green shook in surprise, causing her glasses to slip, and as she fixed them, she looked at Koutarou with admiration.

“I think so too.”

Koutarou and the girls had opposed each other at first. Kiriha had been the most peaceful of the girls, comparatively, but was still exceedingly dangerous. In the end, he’d found out that she was only pretending to fight to keep her relatives from going on a rampage, and upon discovering that, Koutarou was equal parts happy and relieved.

“All right, I should get back to my position. I’ll leave this place to you, court magicians.”

With the discussion coming to an end, he decided to take his leave.

As he turned around, Green looked at him and muttered, “How strange.”

“What is?” Koutarou had been walking toward the door, but stopped when he heard Green.

“How strange... that we are still alive. We attacked not just that devil, but you too.”

Like with Kiriha, Koutarou had opposed Darkness Rainbow in the past. And unlike Kiriha, they had been directly hostile. Yet now they were fighting alongside Koutarou. So Green realized that the court magicians were in an even stranger situation.

“I’m glad everyone made it out in one piece,” Koutarou said after thinking for a moment, then nodded. He felt that this was a far better outcome than continuing to fight against them.

“What is wrong with you! What do you think we were?! We were trying to kill you!” Green looked at Koutarou like she couldn’t believe him.

“It’s not like I have no feelings about it...” Naturally, Koutarou had an opinion on the matter. He was human, after all. But there was something more important that surpassed his opinion. Which was why Koutarou said nothing to the girls.

“Then why?!”

“Well, even then, you were Elexis’s friends, right?”

“Huh? Y-Yes...”

What was Elexis’s relationship to the court magicians? An ally? Yes. A business partner? No. Did they share an interest? Not that either. A comrade? Probably. Was it fun being together? Yes, it was. In that case, weren’t they friends? That was why Green hesitated and nodded.

“See... then I’m glad everyone made it out okay,” he concluded.

Koutarou had his fair share of complaints about Elexis. He was the man who’d tried to steal what was precious to Koutarou. But even Elexis had slowly changed over time. His original goal had been to take the throne, but in the end, he’d fought for Maya and the girls of Darkness Rainbow. He had continued to fight because they’d wished to return to Forthorthe. There were plenty of things about Elexis that could be criticized, but Koutarou had no intention of denying that one point.

“What are you doing, Koutarou? Hurry up!” Sanae called out.

“Sorry, I’m coming! See you later.”

Saying goodbye, he swiftly left. As expected, he was very busy.

“What a weird guy,” Green muttered as she stared at his back. It was like she was looking at an enigma, but her eyes were somewhat gentle.

“Hmmm, I don’t get what boys are thinking about at all. He’s just like the young master.” Orange tilted her head. However, her expression was also bright.

“But I can understand why that Nana has taken such a fancy to him.” Blue was expressionless as always, but for her to even speak up showed that she saw him in a favorable light. Elexis was an important person to the girls.

“Is that true, Blue? Is Nana really...” Purple’s eyes opened wide at Blue’s revelation. She might have been the most mentally mature, but she was interested in her past nemesis. Blue nodded without saying a word.

“It seems to be true,” Orange answered, taking over the explanation. “The other day, she came to me to ask about an outfit for short people that doesn’t make her look like a child.”

After work the other day, Nana had come to Orange to ask for tips on fashion and makeup. Orange was the youngest of the court magicians, but she was the most well-versed in such topics.

“Talking about Earth’s fashion in this situation can only mean one thing.” Yellow, who was listening in close by, gently narrowed her eyes. Just as they were concerned about Elexis and Maya, there was nothing strange about Nana’s concern for Koutarou. Of course, in Nana’s case, her feelings were a little more involved.

“To think that aloof combat machine would... Still, I see now. It’s not that she’s an actual combat machine...” Crimson had begun to slowly realize this fact, so it didn’t feel strange to realize Nana wasn’t one either.

“It really sounds convincing when Crim-chan says it,” said Orange.

“Shut it. I’ve started to think lately,” Crimson answered.

“I know how you feel. I’ve started thinking lately too,” Yellow replied.

“Yes, that’s true,” Blue added.

Deep down, the girls were wishing to see Elexis and Maya once more.

Since they didn’t know where the enemy would attack from, Koutarou and the others stationed Imperial Army soldiers at key positions while they remained on standby in Nefilforan’s battleship Hidden Leaves, and other assault vessels were used as escorts. Their preparations weren’t perfect, but it was the most optimal position from which to respond to most situations.

“Where would you attack, Kiriha-san?” Koutarou asked as he looked at a hologram showing the departure of the vehicles escorting Ralgwin. They circled the roundabout and drove out onto the road. Four-wheeled cars had been chosen for the job. They were heavily armored military vehicles and could even hover for a short period of time if necessary. Flying required paying attention to all directions, not to mention that craft capable of flight tended to be less armored. So they had chosen to travel by land out of consideration for Ralgwin’s safety.

“Hmm, intersections surrounded by buildings or tunnels would make for easy targets—typically, places where the fleet would struggle to provide support,” Kiriha observed.

“There are more than one or two of those,” Koutarou replied.

The distance to the isolated facility was twenty-something kilometers. The hospital was in the middle of Fornorn, while the facility was on the outskirts. They would normally prefer to use a transfer gate to move Ralgwin such a distance instantly, but in situations like these, an activated gate gave off gravitational waves that would serve as a signal for jammers. It was safe to assume that jammers had been set up around the hospital—using a transfer gate was difficult when both sides had time to prepare. So they had decided to use vehicles instead, although those came with their own weaknesses. Aircraft could be targeted from anywhere, and land-based vehicles had to run along the roads. There was plenty of time for an attack.

“That’s why we have to do this,” said Kiriha.

“Yeah, it’ll be hard to attack five vehicles at the same time,” Koutarou agreed.

That was why Kiriha had prepared four fake vehicles. All five would take different paths and head for the isolated facility. Only a handful of people knew which one Ralgwin was actually in, and that had only been decided moments before departure. It was a simple plan, yet exceedingly effective.

“Things will change, but who will it impact the most?” Koutarou mused. The diversion would probably have the biggest influence on Fasta, since the old Vandarion faction had enough soldiers to cover all five locations.

“It’s impossible to perfectly prepare for all possible situations.”

“Jeez, what a nuisance...” Theia wore a bitter expression. They would need to prevent enemy attacks from multiple locations and times. That was an extraordinarily troublesome situation. Their only saving grace was that the enemy was trying to save Ralgwin rather than assassinate him. Since his rescuers couldn’t attack too aggressively due to Ralgwin’s injuries, there would be less damage to the city.

Several minutes passed without a hitch. Since the distance to be traveled was over twenty kilometers through the city, it would take more than thirty minutes to complete the trip. There was a lot of traffic in the city, and cars couldn’t move at very high speeds. They would be traveling through the urban area for a while longer.

“Phew...” Kiriha, who had been staring at the holograms the whole time, let out a sigh.

Koutarou noticed that and called out to her. “What’s the matter, Kiriha-san?”

“We just passed the first danger zone.”

“Danger zone?”

“Indeed. Multiple vehicles passed through locations that made it easy to attack at the same time.” She smiled wryly. There was no regularity to the roads, signals, terrain, or buildings. They’d been built as necessary, so the convoy couldn’t avoid scenarios that were perfect for attack, such as multiple vehicles entering a tunnel at once. Of course, routes had been planned to avoid that as much as possible, but even so, hitting a few such locations was unavoidable.

“Well, that’s to be expected,” said Koutarou.

With just two or three vehicles, they could have avoided dangerous scenarios, but it wasn’t as easy with five of them. Trying to divert the enemy’s attention with dummies worked against them in that regard. Still, this was an effective diversion, so it was a plus in the end, no matter how vexing at times.

“I can only hope that nothing happens...” Kiriha murmured.

“That’s unlikely. The old Vandarion faction is one thing, but Fasta has no choice but to attack at this time.”

Once the transfer was complete, Fasta would have almost no chance of saving Ralgwin. While there were exceptions, like Sanae or Yurika, infiltrating a prison to break someone out like in the movies was exceedingly difficult. Compared to that, a gamble during the transfer was more likely to succeed. That was why Fasta would come—at some point before the transfer concluded, without a doubt. Koutarou and the others were sure of that.

Fasta herself was struggling with the situation thanks to the measures that Kiriha had taken.

“Five cars... A plan made knowing that we are few in number.”

She was currently lurking in a room inside a building that lay between the hospital and isolated facility, analyzing the information that was coming in.

“Well, preparing against Grevanas would be difficult, so it makes sense for countermeasures to basically be taken against us...”

The old Vandarion faction had many forces, so it was difficult to know when they would attack. There was no guarantee they would even attack today. Meanwhile, Fasta had no choice but to attack now. So on top of the normal Imperial Army guard, the enemy was also using five cars as a diversion against her. With her few forces, it would be difficult to attack them all at once, but if she hesitated, everything would end, so it was a difficult situation.

“We’ll need to brace ourselves.”

Fasta was setting out today after numerous preparations. The fact that she was able to track all five cars was proof of her attention to detail. She knew where the hospital and isolated facility were, so she’d put up a surveillance net to cover any routes between them. She had set up monitoring devices, as well as small, unmanned stealth fighters stationed in the air. She had done all she could to prepare to attack. Fasta looked over from the monitor to the fist-sized device lying next to it. It was the remote controller for the preparations she’d made earlier.

I didn’t really want to use this...

She didn’t have enough forces, so doing what she could to make up for it was necessary. The device would make unmanned crafts and automated weapons attack on their own. Several of them had been set up along the possible routes. Yet she hesitated to use them—there was a chance that civilians could get caught in the cross fire. She’d done what she could to keep that from happening, but it wasn’t perfect. Still, rescuing Ralgwin without those preparations would be even harder.

“And yet...”

Fasta’s hand, reaching out for the remote control, stopped just before touching it.

“Fasta-san, try not to do anything bad if you can, okay?”

Shizuka’s words resonated in her mind—the words she had spoken before they’d parted ways. And Fasta had answered in turn.

“I can’t promise anything. After all, I will eventually have to instigate a prison break.”

When she’d said that, Shizuka’s eyes had teared up angrily. “Dummy! That doesn’t count as something bad!”

Shizuka’s warning had meant that she was fine with Fasta freeing Ralgwin but didn’t want her to use evil means.

That’s a difficult order, Shizuka...

Fasta had made up her mind when she’d left the old Vandarion faction, prepared to save Ralgwin no matter what it took. That was both her way to repay him and her obligation to her allies. Yet right now, her resolve was wavering.

At that moment, Fasta’s computer gave an alert. “Target approaching point B13, C22, F08, H97. An attack is possible.”

Hearing that, her gaze flew back to the holographic monitor. There, she saw monitoring devices following four cars in the middle of the transfer, and they were approaching the attack points that Fasta had anticipated. If she attacked, she would be able to tell which one Ralgwin was in based on how the soldiers reacted. Even if she checked four of the cars, there would only be one more he could be in. Once that was narrowed down, Fasta could join the attack too. Her experience as a soldier told her that she should proceed.

She picked up the remote control and opened her mouth to give the order.

“Attack...” But her instructions were incomplete.

“The order is unclear.”

“We won’t attack. Continue observing,” she clarified.

“Understood. Continuing surveillance.” Fasta looked at the attack points being displayed on the monitor, as well as the people passing by. She hadn’t gone through with it because there were a few people around the attack points.

If they get caught up in this...

The image of Koutarou and the others grieving appeared in her mind. Because of that, she hesitated to put the plan into motion. Perhaps it was a sense of newly developed camaraderie.

Calm down. It’s okay. There are still more chances. This just makes sense for the plan. Even if we rescued him at that location, it would be difficult to bring him out of the city in all the chaos...

Fasta tried to soothe her panicking self. Personal feelings aside, the truth was that she’d lost her best chance. There would still be opportunities, but there was almost no chance that she would get another opening in which to attack four cars at once. And that meant Ralgwin would be in danger, so she couldn’t quite rid herself of the panic.

Beep. “Alert message. Detecting several warships approaching from above.”

“What?!”

“Heat source detected! Beware of a ground attack!”

“Grevanas, you bastard!”

As a result of her hesitation, Fasta had fallen behind. The old Vandarion faction had taken the initiative, and they paid no heed to casualties.

Fasta wasn’t the only impatient one—so was Grevanas. He had gained leadership of the old Vandarion faction, but that was only because they would be working toward breaking Ralgwin out. Naturally, many wanted a swift operation, and the rescue plan had needed to be rushed. If not for that, the faction would fall apart. Grevanas would have preferred to wait until Ralgwin had healed, so he had obviously been pushed into a difficult situation.

“Grevanas-sama, four of the cars are in an easy-to-attack position!”

“Begin the assault on all five! We will reclaim Ralgwin no matter what!”

“Understood!”

The moment Grevanas had received the same information as Fasta, he’d ordered the attack. He didn’t have the same hesitation she did.

“To all forces: all assault vessels and escort fighters are to sortie!” the captain ordered.

“We’re cutting off the enemy’s assistance. Bombard the ground if you would.”

“But, Grevanas-sama, bombarding a city goes against the galactic treaty!”

“Captain, do you not wish to save Ralgwin?!”

“Of course I do! But if we bombard the city, people will—”

“We’ve already pointed our blades at the empress! What does the galactic treaty matter now?!”

“I understand...”

Their first step was bombarding the city. By doing so as their forces approached, the Imperial Army wouldn’t be able to get its reinforcements closer.

Of course, Forthorthe wouldn’t allow for such an attack. It was forbidden by the rules of engagement that had been established long ago. While they were part of the old Vandarion faction now, the soldiers had once been part of the Imperial Army, so they were conflicted over Grevanas’s orders. But in the end they obeyed. They needed to rescue Ralgwin, and it was true that they were already rebels.

“The assault ships are approaching the cars. Commencing attack!” cried the captain.

Four cars were currently in positions that were easy to attack, such as being stopped or inside of a tunnel. The fifth was driving down a normal road, yet Grevanas had ordered an attack on all of them.

“Now, what will you do, Blue Knight! Will you be able to protect them all like you did two thousand years ago?! Unlike in the past, the conditions are fifty-fifty now!”

The bombardment began, accompanying their strike. The white beam fired from Grevanas’s ship lit up his undead and repulsive face.

When eight unidentified ships appeared above Fornorn, the bridge on Hidden Leaves was in an uproar. Since the odds were against the old Vandarion faction, the soldiers were caught off guard. Although Koutarou and the others weren’t as shaken, they were still surprised.

All but one of them: Kiriha, who was sitting in the commander’s seat.

“So, they really came! Emergency deployment of the distortion field! Don’t let them bombard the surface!”

“Understood! Deploying the distortion field!”

When Kiriha gave her order, Ruth, in the operator seat, activated the five distortion field generators. The device was a high-powered field that was meant to block a space battleship’s beam. The ships Grevanas and the others were using had been made for combat in the atmosphere, and they were far smaller and less powerful than those meant to fight in space. Moreover, the distortion field blocked the ground bombardment.

“Forces in the air, attack the three ships still flying! Don’t let any shots slip through to hit the city!” Kiriha ordered.

“I’m going out too! Leave the surface to me!” Koutarou answered.

“Be careful, Koutarou. Grevanas is probably going all out this time.”

“I know! I understand how he works, after all!”

Kiriha sent their air forces to deal with the three ships bombarding the ground from above. At the same time, the ground forces following Koutarou would head to Ralgwin. Grevanas was out to save Ralgwin. And it would likely be a fierce battle.

“Start jamming with gravitational waves! Cut off the enemy’s pursuit!”

Next, Kiriha ordered them to bog down the enemy with gravitational waves, which space distortion navigation used, so it was unusable when disturbed.

“The gravitational wave jammer is activated! But it seems a spaceship will warp out before the jamming can begin!” Ruth observed.

Unfortunately, the enemy had predicted as much, and a single battleship appeared above Fornorn before the jamming could fully activate.

“So, they timed their attack with their ship warping out... They can’t be taken lightly.” Kiriha focused once more. The enemy was attacking at the same time as their battleship was warping out, so the jamming wouldn’t make it in time. It seemed to be an ingenious plan at first glance, but it also meant they couldn’t back down in the event of any irregularities.

A warp couldn’t be reversed, which indicated that the enemy had unyielding resolve. They would take back Ralgwin no matter the cost. Based on that, she assumed they were dealing with Grevanas. He had the motive to go that far, and the resolve, but in a bad way. A battleship was being brought in over the capital, which they were trying to bombard. He was a Grand Wizard with a lot of experience, and if Kiriha let her guard down for even a moment, the tables could easily be turned. The utmost caution was demanded.

“Still, I am impressed that you were able to predict when Grevanas would attack,” Theia said before jumping into one of the ship’s gunner seats. She had remained on Hidden Leaves to fight the battleship that had appeared. The ship’s firepower was necessary to protect the forces on the ground and prevent Fornorn from being damaged.

“Rather than predicting he would attack at this time, it’s more like this timing invited an attack,” Kiriha responded.

Most of the region between the hospital and the isolated facility was urban, and while there was some variation, people were generally everywhere. To keep casualties to a minimum, it was best to invite an attack when their defense was solid, so this location had been chosen for such a plan.

“What do you mean?”

“I created an opening on purpose so that they would attack here. Based on the routes chosen, this is where four of the cars are easiest to attack.”

Merely wanting Grevanas to attack a certain point at a certain time wasn’t enough. They needed to create a situation where it was easy for him to do so. That was why Kiriha had planned a moment when several cars in transit were defenseless. Since the routes had been a secret until the day of the transfer, Grevanas’s people could only have found out about it at the moment the cars took off. Not to mention the capital was big. So even if the Imperial Army carried in defensive equipment, and citizens were evacuated on the pretext of unexploded ordinances, Grevanas’s side only had a brief window to notice the trap.

“Creating an opening for all five cars would have been suspicious, though, so I kept it to four. And even then, Grevanas has enough fighters to force an attack on all five cars, so I figured it would be easier to deceive him.”

Just to be sure, Kiriha had avoided leaving all five cars defenseless at once. Going that far might have tipped off the enemy. Just as she’d hoped, Grevanas had made his move due to his lack of knowledge of modern warfare. If Ralgwin had been with him, it would not have happened. Of course, the attack had been rushed to save the very man in question.

Kiriha, having calmly analyzed the situation, had won on a strategic level.

“I-I’m glad you’re on our side...” Theia’s jaw dropped, and Koutarou, who had listened in over the comms, felt the same way.

“By the way, Green called Kiriha-san a devil a little while ago... and it’s not like I can’t understand how she feels...” Koutarou chimed in.

“How rude. Here I am, devoting myself to you.”

“Even if you’re an angel to us, you’re a devil to the enemy.”

Kiriha loved Koutarou and the others, and she poured her love into them every day, without end. But because of that, she was very harsh on those who stood against them. She didn’t kick the enemy while they were down, but she would create an overwhelming difference and crush them every time. With that in mind, she was nothing other than a devil to the old Vandarion faction. A frightening devil who could see right through them without ever showing herself.

“But we were still on thin ice. It would have been fine if Grevanas had chosen not to attack, but he could have also rushed the assault before the openings I planned. Frankly, I was hardly able to breathe until now.”

If a battle had broken out elsewhere, it was likely that many would die. After the cars had departed, there had been a moment when three of them were open for attack, which had been really draining on Kiriha. It was fortunate that Grevanas had chosen to make his move now.

“It looks like I owe you. But you can just kick back and relax, because now it’s my turn!” Theia said with a grin. She’d felt the same way as Kiriha, and now that the time for payback had come, she sprang into action.

“Theia, getting motivated is great, but don’t drop a battleship on the city,” Koutarou advised her.

“I know that! You should trust in your master!”

“As you wish, My Princess.”

“Then here I come!”

And just like that, she opened the gun port and opened fire with beams and lasers, targeting the enemy battleship. Her first goal was to strain their distortion field. That way, they wouldn’t be able to put more energy into attacking, limiting their options for an offense.

As Theia began her bombardment, Koutarou and the others landed on the ground. Their goal was to protect Ralgwin, and they had devoted a lot of personnel to protect the car he was in. The others only needed to stall, so soldiers from Nefilforan’s unit were doing what they could. The outcome would be decided based on whether they could protect Ralgwin here or not.

“Blue Knight, your arrival means that Ralgwin is here, as expected.”

Standing before Koutarou was Grevanas. The car that Ralgwin was in had stopped at an intersection. Around it were soldiers, protecting it. Koutarou’s group had shown up just as Grevanas was about to leap into action.

“You don’t have to play stupid, Grevanas. You’re here because you knew. You’re not the type to show up based on intuition.”

“Oh, I am not playing stupid. Your showing up means that I am now convinced. Frankly, I am relieved.”

When Grevanas’s forces had attacked all five locations, only the soldiers around this car had behaved differently. At the other locations, they had prioritized supporting their allies over the car, and only the soldiers here were focusing on protecting the car itself. On top of that, this car had more guards than the others, which was why Grevanas had pursued it.

“Relieved, huh? This is certainly a rough attack for you.”

Grevanas’s style of fighting didn’t allow for words like “relief” or “unease.” In that sense, this approach wasn’t like him.

At Koutarou’s remark, his unsightly face twisted into a smile. “In order to keep the faction from breaking apart, I had no choice. Ralgwin’s leadership is necessary to hold the organization together.”

“So... attack by force or fall apart... Maxfern would have found another way.”

“I do not have Maxfern-sama’s charisma, so this was the only option.”

As it turned out, Kiriha had read the situation perfectly—but that came with its own problems.

“Then you won’t back down even if I ask.”

“That is true, both for Maxfern-sama’s sake and to keep the organization together.”

Grevanas couldn’t back down for multiple reasons. Without Ralgwin, the resurrection of Maxfern would become a distant dream. Moreover, the old Vandarion faction couldn’t be maintained without Ralgwin. In other words, a second rescue attempt was impossible, which had forced them into this situation where they had no choice but to win.

“We have our own reasons for not handing him over... so it’s come down to this.”

Tsching.

Koutarou drew the silver sword at his waist and pointed the tip toward Grevanas.

Although not unexpected, that sword is a problem... especially for this body...

Grevanas’s eyes narrowed slightly as he saw Signaltin’s blade. His body was a walking corpse moved by necromantic magic. It was far more advanced than spells that created zombies, but it was magic all the same, so a sword that could disperse magic like Signaltin was his natural bane. He needed to be exceptionally cautious around it.

“I am not particularly fond of violence... but I suppose there’s no other choice.”

Grevanas showed no fear despite his thoughts, and readied himself with a thin smile.

As expected, it’s hard to read his presence... He’s a difficult foe. Koutarou was equally cautious of Grevanas. Like zombies or skeletons, corpses that moved on magic had practically no spiritual energy running through them, making it very difficult for his Spirit Vision to read their intentions. That applied to Grevanas as well, and Koutaoru couldn’t get a read on his next action or goal. He was the second most troublesome opponent after someone who had completely mastered the control of spiritual energy, like Sanae.

“Let’s go, squad leader Sansara! Don’t let the enemy near Grevanas-sama!”

What made Grevanas harder to fight was the squad of soldiers that he’d brought with him, led by a female captain. They stood between Koutarou and Grevanas, forming a wall. Meaning that Koutarou couldn’t cut him down without breaking through their formation.

I guess he won’t expose his weakness that easily...

Koutarou clicked his tongue in his mind. Signaltin might be able to disperse Grevanas’s body, but not the soldiers. If they worked together to oppose him, they would be exceedingly difficult to manage. Yurika and Nefilforan’s unit had already proved that the combination of magic and modern warfare was powerful.

That was when Nefilforan walked up to Koutarou’s side.

“Lord Veltlion, if they are going to fight, then so should we.” She readied her greatspear. As she was wielding a large weapon, her stance, too, was wide. It was a powerful pose that overwhelmed the enemy. Nefilforan had missed her chance during the civil war, so she was excited about the opportunity to become the Blue Knight’s first spear.

“Commander, your face is scarier than usual; calm down a little,” Nana called out to her, noticing that she was being a little too hasty. Despite her youthful appearance, Nana had much more experience in combat than Nefilforan and was currently observing the battlefield vigilantly.

“I’m sorry, vice commander. But we royals have no choice but to fight Grevanas,” Nefilforan announced.

“If you’re going into this fight with such determination, we’re going to help. Did you get that, everyone?” Nana followed up.

Fortunately, Nefilforan managed to restrain herself a little thanks to Nana’s words. Sensing that, Nana spurred the others on, and the soldiers roared in response.

“Raaaaahhhh!!!”

If Nefilforan was the first spear of the Blue Knight, then they would become the shield that allowed that spear to be wielded freely, especially when the enemy was a legendary magician. Their morale was sky-high at the prospect of being the Blue Knight and princess’s shield as they fought a villain attempting a coup.

“Hehehe, we can’t be outdone either, Maki,” Crimson chuckled.

“I wouldn’t mind being outdone by them,” Maki replied.

Nefilforan’s unit wasn’t the only one protecting Koutarou. Crimson and Maki had been chosen from the magicians to help as well. This was originally meant to be Yurika and Maki’s role, but taking suitability into account, Yurika and Crimson had swapped places. Yurika was currently with the rest of the court magicians, providing support from the back.

“Get serious, you hear me! You’ve got to protect your man, right?!” Crimson was elevated. It was her first serious fight in a while, and she was up against a legendary Grand Wizard.

In contrast, Maki was calm. “That has nothing to do with getting serious. It’s a prerequisite.”

“Look at that face... You’re the most motivated one here...” Crimson muttered.

Maki was always prepared to throw away her life for Koutarou’s sake if it ever came down to it, so she wasn’t exactly brimming with enthusiasm. However, she believed that it was her job to eliminate Koutarou’s enemies until that time came. She wouldn’t allow those who meant him harm to exist. In that sense, she had plenty of motivation, making her a highly dangerous enemy who couldn’t allow Grevanas to live.

I cannot be holding back here at all. Do not be timid, Grevanas; if you do not win here, the second coming of Maxfern-sama will not happen!

Grevanas also had a fiercely determined look on his dried-out face. He knew that everything was on the line with this battle. So, with more resolve than he’d ever had before, he firmly held his staff in both hands.

Koutarou and the others would have loved to have devoted all of their fighting power to protecting Ralgwin, but Harumi, Shizuka, Clan, and Sanae-chan were each in command of their own troops, guarding the other four cars just in case. Maki was doing the same, but Ralgwin was inside her car, so she was working under Koutarou for now. The other four were busy intercepting the old Vandarion faction forces that were attacking the vehicles. They knew it would mean trouble if those forces joined Grevanas, so they needed to stall them if nothing else.

“It looks like things have started over in Satomi-kun’s area too,” Harumi observed. She was the first to notice. She had a strong connection to Signaltin, so she had felt it the moment Koutarou had drawn his sword.

Against Grevanas, small tricks will be pointless. They might even get in the way. It would be better to focus on the maximum output of mana and increasing the reaction speed on impact...

Harumi could control Signaltin, even when they were apart, and she adjusted the sword’s abilities to make it easier for Koutarou to fight. Normally, she maintained an upper limit on the mana output based on how strong the enemy was, adjusting it in real time depending on the situation. But that wouldn’t work against Grevanas. If she didn’t have the sword’s full power unleashed on impact, it might not be enough to break through his magical defenses. So she set it to just use raw power and left Maki and Nana to cover anything else that might be needed. Harumi felt that was the best move, considering their opponent.

“It’s going to be harder to use than normal, but do your best, Satomi-kun!” she called through Signaltin.

“Thank you!” Koutarou’s reply was grateful. He had the same opinion as hers: the primary focus should be on the sword’s penetrative power. As for how to hit their enemy in the first place, he’d have to figure that out later.

“As you can see, we are the keystone in this battle! Don’t you dare fall back!” the vice captain cried.

“Yeaaaaahhhh!!!” roared the soldiers.

“Huh?” After speaking with Koutarou, Harumi noticed that the soldiers around her were extremely motivated. “U-Uhm? What is...”

She was perplexed, not sure where the sudden surge of morale was coming from. The one to enlighten her was the vice captain, who was as excited as the rest.

“Just looking at you, we can understand what is happening—and how important it is to protect you, Harumi-sama. It is an honor, Captain Harumi.”

The vice captain saluted as he stared at Harumi’s hair. It had started glowing silver a little while ago, and any Forthorthian would know what silver hair on an ally of Koutarou meant. Harumi’s connection to the legendary princess aside, she had essentially taken over the role. Her location was also important. She was definitely needed in this fight, but since she could control Signaltin, she was someone Grevanas would focus on first. That was why she had been placed here, fighting a detached force instead. And it meant a lot to the soldiers to be given the duty of protecting her. They were practically serving a legend.

“I’m just an average citizen,” she protested.

“Your birth is not of any concern. What matters is what you are doing right now.”

“Then let us do what must be done! Let us wipe out the enemy before us and head to Layous-sama’s aid,” Harumi instructed with a stiff expression as she gathered her mana and focused it into her hands. The vice captain was right—at the moment, she needed to help Koutarou win.

“You heard her, everyone! Fight without fear! But don’t get reckless! We need to preserve our forces and move around to back up His Excellency!”

“Understood!”

Harumi’s squad was strong. They had a clear banner in her to rally around and a clear goal in mind. They faced the enemy with dauntless courage and demonstrated perfect cooperation. Harumi was supporting them with her magic. Among the four squads led by the girls, this was likely the strongest. Their approach to combat was the most certain.

If Harumi’s squad was the strongest, then the squad with the highest attack power was Shizuka’s. Her strength stood out among the rest as she dived into the enemy lines and wrenched open their positions. With the standard equipment that the old Vandarion faction soldiers were using, they had no way of stopping this very simple strategy, and they were in danger of falling apart right from the outset.

“Is that girl a monster?! She doesn’t even have a knife!”

The captain of the old Vandarion faction squad was in a panic. And why wouldn’t he be? An unarmed girl was relentlessly mowing down his forces. The soldiers were equally panicked and were being picked off by the normal soldiers behind her. If they could take down the girl in question, the formation would easily be broken, but it wasn’t that simple. Even after shooting her directly in the head with an anti-tank rifle, she just rubbed her forehead like it hurt a little and continued coming at them. And that only further spread panic. It was like the soldiers were inside of a horror film.

“Hm, uncle, could you breathe some fire?”

“How hot do you want it?”

“The weakest you can manage, please.”

“Understood.”

Fwoosh.

The soldiers reached their peak panic when the girl spat fire from her mouth. It was flashy, but all it did was block their view for a moment and set fire to the objects around them that burned easily. That was not how the soldiers who were hit saw it, though. They had seen Shizuka’s power firsthand and assumed that being hit would kill them. Seeing their allies hit running around with burning clothes, the rest started to run away all at once. It was a weak fire that would go out if they only dropped and rolled, but they didn’t have the composure to calmly think it through.

“I see... You wanted to create this flow.”

The projection of Alunaya that was sitting on Shizuka’s shoulder bared his fangs in a grin. He understood why she hadn’t wanted the full firepower.

“I tried doing something Kiriha-san might do.”

“That’s the proper way of using such power. Well done, Shizuka.”

“It’s an honor to hear that from you, uncle.”

Seeing their comrades run made the other soldiers want to flee, so even a small fire was enough to accomplish that. It wasn’t like Shizuka wanted to kill them.

Some of Fasta-san’s friends might be here...

She was relieved that it had worked out. The enemy scattered before her, and she gracefully walked down the path they had made.

“Everyone, please don’t shoot the people running,” she ordered.

“Understood!”

The soldiers under Shizuka’s command calmly defeated the remaining soldiers who were still coming at them. It was safe to say that Shizuka’s squad had more or less completed its mission. While the old Vandarion faction soldiers hadn’t suffered many losses, they had completely lost their will to fight. There was no chance they would go to reinforce Grevanas.

“What an infuriating man.” That was when Alunaya’s expression twisted in displeasure.

“What’s wrong, uncle?”

“The enemy is coming. It seems Grevanas has taken countermeasures against us.”

Thump, thump.

The ground shook as Grevanas’s countermeasure appeared. Considering they could feel the shaking while standing on a paved road, it must have had considerable mass.

“Uncle, is that a living creature? Or a machine?”

“I don’t know any better than you.”

Thump.

Appearing before Shizuka and Alunaya was a giant, standing over twenty meters tall and wielding a massive hammer. Its appearance was bizarre. Its complexion was pale, the skin taking on a blue tinge, and metallic machinery had been inserted into its body here and there. The machinery was also turned on, glowing red or green in places.

“It is clear that this is no simple enemy.”

“Right,” Shizuka agreed with a nod, clenching her fists. Her expression was sharper than ever. She was angry. He just used these soldiers as sacrificial pawns...

Grevanas had prepared a countermeasure for Shizuka—or more specifically, Alunaya. But he couldn’t have known where Shizuka would appear, which was why the giant had been kept on standby while the normal soldiers attacked. After confirming Shizuka’s location, he sent in his trump card. That might have been the right choice from a strategic point of view, but it ended up enraging Shizuka, who cared about Fasta’s feelings.

Meanwhile, Clan was leading the soldiers that Theia was originally supposed to handle. But since Theia needed to help with enemies in the air, Clan had been placed in charge of the soldiers this time.

“Sorry for not being able to reach you,” Clan apologized.

“It was so sudden, it can’t be helped. Not to mention that in Your Highnesses’ case, you can use your powers better from where you are than over here. We will leave the control of the unmanned craft to you,” the vice captain replied.

“I understand! Use my unmanned craft as shields!”

If Shizuka’s selling point was attack power, Clan’s was defensive power. She was controlling many unmanned fighters from the rear and supporting the entire squad. Remote control like this was her specialty, and her controlling the fighters made them far more effective than if a normal person were to try.

“Cradle, change the main preset to antipersonnel and the auxiliary to antimobile weapons,” she ordered.

“Understood,” answered the AI. “Changing the preset of the unmanned crafts. The main is now antipersonnel with auxiliary antimobile weapons.”

“I’m changing the positioning. Give me manual control. And after repositioning, try to maintain that formation.”

“As you wish, my princess.”

Clan sent the heavily armored fighters forward to serve as the soldiers’ shields. She also had the lightweight and maneuverable craft cover the soldiers’ blind spots as she searched the perimeter. That allowed for the deployment of swift soldiers with heavy defenses, making up for the commander not being on the scene.

I’d expect nothing less of Princess Clariossa, the vice captain thought. She may be young, but she didn’t stand on the battlefield with His Excellency the Blue Knight for nothing... Clan hadn’t had a military upbringing like Nefilforan, but her tactics were apt and she understood how to best support the soldiers’ advance. So the experienced vice captain had no need to interject.

“Pardomshiha, is Veltlion using Warlord?” Clan asked.

“No, he said that it would only make him a bigger target for Grevanas, so he left it behind.”

“Then send it out. I will use it over here.”

“Not to Master?”

“No, over here, please. That’s what the Orange Line is for.”

“I understand. Sending Warlord III Rev through the Orange Line.”

The finishing touch was Warlord III Rev. Fwoosh. It descended from Hidden Leaves above, using its boosters to decelerate and land so as to protect the advancing soldiers. The machine was normally used to make up for Koutarou’s weakness in large-scale battles, but he wasn’t aboard at the moment.

Despite that, it was moving as if Koutarou was controlling it. That was made possible by the Orange Line backpack it was equipped with, inside of which was an AI and various equipment to stand in for Koutarou. In other words, the backpack allowed Warlord III Rev to fight like an unmanned craft. Naturally, it didn’t perform as well without Koutarou in it, but when it came to cooperating with its surroundings, it performed better than normal. As long as no particularly strong enemies showed up, it would be fine. On top of that, it had a special quality aside from its performance.

“It’s the Blue Knight! The Blue Knight is here!”

“Retreat! Enhance the distortion field!”

“Hang on, the Blue Knight should be fighting over at—”

“Now’s not the time for that! He is right in front of us!”

The enemy mistook the AI for Koutarou himself. Facing the Blue Knight would drain the morale of any Forthorthian, and the old Vandarion faction, which had split up to cover a wide area, retreated to a single location, fearing that Koutarou would take down each group individually.

“I will leave the rest to you, Vice Captain,” Clan said.

“Indeed. This level of support is more than enough.”

It made sense for the enemy to gather in one location when facing a Warlord III Rev with Koutarou on board. While some of them were being attacked, the rest could focus their firepower to defeat him. But as a general rule, forcing the enemy to gather in a single location made them very easy to fight. After all, they could be surrounded.

This is... I see Princess Theia isn’t Princess Nefilforan’s only rival. If she is careless, Princess Clan will overtake her, the vice captain mused.

Clan made full use of Koutarou’s influence to change the conditions of the battlefield. The vice captain wanted Nefilforan to take the throne, but even he was amazed by Clan’s work. Harumi had leadership, Shizuka had firepower, Clan had steel defenses—each of the squads guarding the cars had their own specialties. And that naturally applied to Sanae’s group as well, although nobody had any idea what was going on there.

“Next is over here!” Sanae called.

“Wh-What? Enemy soldiers suddenly started gushing forth! What is going on?!” cried a soldier.

Sanae was a psychic, but she wasn’t using her powers to directly attack. She was using them to keep casualties to a minimum, both for allies and enemies.

Fasta would cry if any soldiers died...

In Sanae’s mind, Fasta was no longer an enemy, which was why she didn’t want any of Fasta’s allies to get hurt. But at the same time, she couldn’t put her own allies in danger. So Sanae had come to the conclusion that she could use her psychic powers to control the entire battlefield.

“Sanae-chan, it feels like enemies are coming from the right,” Sanae-san warned her as she astral projected, observing the enemy from above. Even if they tried to hide, they couldn’t escape her Spirit Vision. All of the enemies in this area were under her surveillance.

“All right, everyone, they’re coming from here! Get around them!” Sanae-chan said, passing the information on to her allies. Her approach was to gather the opinions of the entire squad to decide on her actions. She especially focused on the voices of the veteran soldiers, like the captain and vice captain.

The Sanaes had a few concerns about strategic intelligence, so their advice was very welcome. It took a lot of spiritual energy to constantly gather information on friend and foe, and that was Sanae-chan’s job.

“Here we go! Special Attack, Sanae-chan Solar Flare!” called Sanae-Oneechan.

Flash.

“Whoa, wh-whaat?!”

Sanae-Oneechan was in charge of confusing the enemy on the battlefield. She followed the policies laid down by the soldiers and caused supernatural phenomena. As a prankster, that kind of job fit her perfectly. She also liked the fact that stirring things up kept any proper battles from happening. There would be a firefight from time to time, but nobody had been killed so far.

“Nyahahaha! Let’s keep them coming! Special Attack, Sanae-chan Snow Festival!”

“I’m worried...” said Sanae-san.

“Everything’s working out so far! Don’t worry! It’ll probably be okay!” Sanae-chan replied.

“‘Probably’? Yeah, I’m worried...”

The Sanaes were cooperating with the Imperial Army and were perfectly shutting down the old Vandarion faction, which was searching for the enemy soldiers but struggling to find them, instead being attacked by one bizarre phenomenon after another. And even when they did find their targets, they ended up being suppressed and forced to retreat. They were in a state of panic, with no idea what was happening.

The Sanaes were only able to do this because the scale of the battle was small enough. If the battle had been larger, it would’ve been impossible to manage. So they were lucky that there were no deaths.

The progress of the fight was being reported to Grevanas. The conditions differed, but all four locations were at a disadvantage.

Although this is what I expected, each front is collapsing too fast...

During the first strike, they hadn’t known which car Ralgwin was in, so a small squad had been sent to each car. The guards’ reactions had helped to pinpoint Ralgwin’s location, and Grevanas had sent his main forces there. Since their goal was to rescue Ralgwin, those main forces were more powerful, so he had expected that his troops at the other four locations would be at a disadvantage. The surprising part was that those four locations had wrapped up faster than he’d thought thanks to Kiriha predicting his moves and stationing enough resistance at each point to deal with them.

“The difference in skill is showing, Grevanas!” Koutarou said, having received the same information. In this situation, they needed to avoid rushing an attack and creating an opening. Instead, Koutarou had the soldiers under his command prioritize defending the vehicle that Ralgwin was in, calmly beating back the enemy.

“Indeed, you lacked a strategist of this caliber two thousand years ago.” Even Grevanas had to acknowledge Kiriha’s smarts. Koutarou might have had someone with the same level of smarts—Maxfern’s niece, Lidith, had been highly intelligent—but not even she had had a full grasp of the technology that Koutarou and Clan had at their disposal. That was a natural outcome, as Koutarou and Clan had kept the information concealed to avoid changing the future. So there was an absolute wall between Lidith and Kiriha that the former could never overcome.

Ralgwin’s absence is also playing a part in this... Grevanas is still not used to the present age... Koutarou thought.

Grevanas might not acknowledge it, but not having Ralgwin to advise him on the state of modern Forthorthe was having an impact, at least as far as Koutarou could tell.

Could the Gray Knight not have fulfilled that role? That question entered Koutarou’s mind for a moment. The Gray Knight was probably from Forthorthe as well, so surely he could have taken Ralgwin’s place, but that hadn’t happened. It was a mystery, but Koutarou pushed it into a corner of his mind. It probably just meant that the Gray Knight wasn’t a skilled strategist, and it wasn’t something worth distracting himself with in the middle of a battle.

“Not to mention, I’m here now!” Crimson cried. “Ray of Sunshine—Modifier—Single Wavelength—and... Gaze Tracking!”

Crimson finished her incantation and her eyes started glowing red. A beam of red light was fired out of each eye: lasers that she had created through magic. Strictly speaking, they hadn’t shot from her eyes, but rather a tiny bit in front of them. Since they were guided by her gaze, however, that was how it looked.

“Urgh!” The two lights struck Grevanas, but they weren’t enough to fry his dried-out body. He only suffered a few wounds and a tear to the robe he was wearing.

“There’s more where that came from!” Crimson called out. The laser was following her sight, and she moved to stare at Grevanas’s body.

“Release the delay; close the mist of the midnight sun!” said Grevanas.

Pshh. A white mist wrapped around his body. The laser was greatly dispersed and left only minor burns on its target.

“That was dangerous. If I had been struck by that just after I resurrected, it would have spelled the end for me,” he remarked.

Lasers hadn’t existed two thousand years ago, but Grevanas already knew that such weapons existed and had come up with his own countermeasures.

“Not bad; that’s what I’d expect from a legendary Grand Wizard!” Crimson replied.

Her laser had been blocked, but she seemed to be enjoying herself. Fighting was everything to her, and a powerful enemy was exactly what she wanted.

“Dagbaran, push up the front with your monstrous strength!” ordered Sansara. “Aside from the Blue Knight, most appear to be weak!”

“Understood, squad leader!”

Grevanas had made a number of preparations. Predicting that the Imperial Army would bring magicians of their own, he’d chosen soldiers with great strength to make up the front line. Magicians tended to be weak in close combat, and due to Folsaria’s culture and society, the majority tended to be women. So closing in and locking them into a melee to prevent them from using magic was a standard anti-magician tactic. Maki and Crimson were relatively strong in close combat, but that was only in battles between magicians. It was clear that it was more advantageous for Grevanas to support expert soldiers with magic.

“Graaaaahhh!!!” roared the soldiers.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Koutarou yelled. He and the others knew the tactic Grevanas was trying for, so he and the soldiers with him barred their path.

Koutarou was up against a particularly well-built soldier. His large body was wrapped in heavy armor, and the gunfire brought against him didn’t even make him budge as he made a beeline for Crimson.

Shing. Koutarou’s Signaltin clashed with the soldier’s beam sword. A normal blade would have broken, and a magic sword would have been dispersed. But this one was different. While the beam that made up the blade had been destroyed in the clash, it quickly reformed due to the structure being designed to gush out white-hot heavy metal particles. Grevanas had been correct in assuming that a sword which didn’t use magic and had no solid form would be effective against Signaltin.

“I can do it! I can fight, Grevanas-sama!” cried Dagbaran.

“Keep it up a little more, Dagbaran-kun. As long as you can hold back the Blue Knight—”

“It won’t be that easy while I’m here!” came Nana’s voice.

Bang, bang bang! In that moment, a small figure leaped out from behind Koutarou and shot at Dagbaran, whom Koutarou was fighting. The bullets easily pierced his armor—these were no normal bullets.

“Dagbaran!” Sansara, the squad leader giving out commands from the rear, screamed at the sight. The bullets had gone through Dagbaran’s left arm.

“Calm down, squad leader; my left arm is a prosthetic!” However, Dagbaran was fine. He had been revived by Grevanas the other day and his left arm had been reformed. It moved as he wished and looked real, but it was artificial. So as long as it could move, there was no need to panic.

“R-Right,” Sansara stuttered.

“Still, Grevanas-sama, the distortion field is not working against her bullets!”

“It just means you can’t let your guard down! Let me try this!” Grevanas replied.

A purple light covered their bodies. It was a defensive spell that protected one from spiritual energy. Armor enhanced with this spell should block even bullets that contained spiritual energy.

“This opponent is such a pain! He knows how to hit us where it hurts!”

Bang! Bang! Bang! The small figure that had shot at Dagbaran—Nana—tried shooting at the enemy soldiers and landed next to Koutarou. While her bullets struck true, the purple light blocked them and prevented any damage to the soldiers. If they were pushed into a battle of raw strength, Koutarou and those who were more reliant on special abilities would be at a disadvantage.

“In other words, this is why you were strong,” Grevanas mused. “All that’s left is to overcome your qualities and we can win.”

“You sure showed me,” Nana retorted. “One should never give up on the journey to becoming stronger.”

Koutarou and the others’ strength lay in using a mix of science, magic, and spiritual energy to hit their opponents where it hurt. At the moment, Grevanas could do the same. He had excellent subordinates as well. Grevanas outclassed Koutarou’s group in terms of magic, and the soldiers outclassed them when it came to physical strength. As Grevanas had said, it was very likely that Koutarou’s side would lose.

“Not to mention I can do what you can’t!”

Fwish.

Grevanas held his staff up high and dark figures appeared from the shadows. They looked human, but their bodies had rotted away, and some were merely bones.

The moment he saw them, Koutarou’s face twisted in anger. “Did you raid a graveyard before coming here?!”

“What an undeserved accusation! They crawled out of their graves on their own and offered their cooperation.”

Zombies and skeletons. These rotten figures were undead that Grevanas had created using magic. They had all been born through magic, without relying on waste, so their physical abilities were weaker, but they followed the orders of their creator. That meant there was no risk of Ralgwin being assaulted or the waste infecting them. In a military operation, this type of undead was easier to use.

“I was not quite sure if they would make it in time... but it seems they hurried over faster than expected.”

Since Grevanas’s old Vandarion faction had to operate in secret, they couldn’t bring too many forces. Moreover, the Imperial Palace was close, so once fighting broke out, it was highly likely that communications using gravitational waves would be jammed, shutting down warp or transfer gates, which would make it harder to bring in reinforcements. Yet forces were needed to settle things quickly, so Grevanas had struck a graveyard on the way here, creating a large number of zombies and skeletons. Since they moved on foot, they had arrived later than his main forces but had made it before any fatal outcomes had occurred. Now the situation was leaning greatly in the old Vandarion faction’s favor.

“I guess this isn’t the time to be concerned about appearances...” Koutarou said and adjusted his grip on Signaltin. Grevanas would send out the undead to force an attack with no regard for losses, and Koutarou couldn’t concern himself with appearances under the circumstances. He resolved to do what was necessary.

“Reminiscing with you may be fun, but that is not why I came back to life,” said Grevanas. “If the opportunity presents itself, I would love to make up for my blunder two thousand years ago.”

He raised his staff and stood at the ready. As he did, the squirming undead moved forward, in front of the soldiers, and formed the front line. The horde of undead was completely under his control. At his order, they would all rush forward.

“Let us do this, Blue Knight. Even you will struggle against this force!”

Grevanas swung down his staff. With that as their signal, the undead and soldiers attacked.

Koutarou had Signaltin, so any zombies and skeletons that moved through magic weren’t much of a threat. The problem was their number. No matter how many he defeated, they would just keep on coming. What made things even trickier was that the enemy soldiers were blending in with the mass of undead. Wielding Forthorthian weapons meant they had a lot of firepower, and they would target Koutarou when he attacked the horde. Moreover, he couldn’t make use of Signaltin’s superiority against them. Its ability to disperse magic was useless, making it nothing more than a normal sword that could do a lot of damage. It wouldn’t be hard to defeat the enemy using magic, but Grevanas would get in the way if they attempted to do so. As a result, they were simply whittling each other down.

“Your strategy before the battle began was wonderful, but it seems I am still one step ahead in terms of tactics, Blue Knight!”

Grevanas was composed, although it was hard to tell from his expression, seeing as his face was so dried out. The battle was playing out just as he had foreseen. Serving Maxfern and participating in wars until he had reached old age had given Grevanas a wealth of experience when it came to combat with magic. He had pushed back his initial disadvantage and was beginning to overwhelm Koutarou’s group.

It won’t be long until the Imperial Army collapses and I can break out Ralgwin. And then...

Grevanas was normally calm, but he was being hasty right now. The resurrection magic was complete. Once Ralgwin was recaptured, Maxfern could be brought back, at which point there would be no concealing him.

“Satomi-san, we can’t hold on like this!” Nana warned Koutarou as she kicked away a skeleton. She felt the familiar sensation of gradually losing the battle.

“I’ll take the front. If we don’t shut down Grevanas in the rear, they’ll push through!”

In contrast to Grevanas, Koutarou was panicking. He had sensed how bad the situation was. Grevanas wasn’t trying to wipe them out; his goal was to reach the car behind them and to get to Ralgwin. Koutarou was confident that he could protect his allies and himself, but it was difficult to keep the horde of undead from getting close to the car.

“That would put you in too much danger!” Nana protested.

“If I don’t, they’ll get Ralgwin!”

Grevanas’s experience was a problem. Despite Koutarou and the others being at an advantage overall, in this specific location, at this moment in time, they had a numbers deficit. They could turn it around if the other girls came to reinforce them, but their various battles were still being fought. Originally, it had been their job to stall the enemy, but now they were the ones being stalled. So Koutarou’s group would have to do something about it on its own. The quickest way was to defeat Grevanas, who was controlling the undead.

“Fine, but you will have to take me and Maki-san with you,” Nana insisted.

“That’s not... Okay, I understand. Let’s do that.” Koutarou had tried to object but quickly reconsidered and nodded. They didn’t have time to argue.

“Is that fine with you, Maki-san?” Nana asked.

“That’s my duty. Crimson, can we count on you?”

“Hm? Oh, right. Leave it to me. Infernal Fire—Modifier—Area—”

Crimson grinned and started her incantation. She would be casting a powerful fire spell.

“I will not let you cast such a large spell! Come, void area!” Noticing the gathering of mana, Grevanas countered with an incantation of his own. His was brief, and with a simple gesture, he finished his spell faster than Crimson. In that moment, the fireball gathering in front of her staff was snuffed out. Grevanas had cast a spell that erased mana within a limited area.

“Quick Cast—Haste—Modifier—Area Effect!”

As the fireball was erased, another spell was cast by Maki. This one increased a target’s physical abilities to make them faster, and it affected not only Koutarou, Maki, and Nana, but also their nearby allies.

“I’ll leave the rest to you!” As the spell took effect, Koutarou took off running. Maki and Nana followed behind him.

“As you wish, Your Excellency!” the soldiers called as they focused their fire in front of Koutarou and the girls to support their charge.

That was when Grevanas realized that they had deceived him. “So that was your real goal!”

Even he struggled to cancel multiple spells simultaneously. Koutarou’s side had used Crimson’s spell as a diversion to successfully cast the one they really needed, which gave their charge an edge and gave the soldiers the power to support them. It would also help to keep the front line stable once the trio had left. It was a well-thought-out and very Maki-like use of magic, yet there had been one who had anticipated it.

The Gray Knight.

“You let your guard down, Grevanas. They have even taken your zombies’ slow speed into account.”

He appeared from out of the horde of undead and swung at the Imperial Army, which had lost a significant amount of fighting power with the departure of Koutarou, Nana, and Maki.

“Ahh, Knight-dono!”

“It was a good idea for sure, but without the Blue Knight, will you be able to stop me?”

The Gray Knight had lurked in the shadows and waited for Koutarou and the girls to set out. Even with their enhanced physical abilities, the regular soldiers would struggle against him. He figured it would be simple to break through to where Ralgwin was.

“I would hope so,” came a new voice.

Kashing. A greatspear stopped the Gray Knight’s sword.

“Aha, you’re still here, Glendad’s Warrior Princess.”

The spear belonged to Nefilforan. Until now, she had been focusing on commanding the soldiers from the rear but had come forward when Koutarou and the girls had charged.

“You won’t pass me easily, Gray Knight!”

Nefilforan kicked his torso to put some distance between them and swung her greatspear. Her movements were swift and fluid, displaying her mastery.

The greatspear and sword clashed once more—the Gray Knight wouldn’t go down easily either. He wielded his dull-gray sword in both hands and easily caught Nefilforan’s blow.

“Don’t forget about me!” Crimson swung down her greataxe, which slammed into the pavement.

Kaboom!

Her target quickly leaped back and landed a few steps away, having escaped danger.

“Your Highness, it would be best not to come into contact with that one,” Crimson warned Nefilforan. Unusually for Crimson, she was speaking respectfully to Nefilforan, who had said that she needed Crimson and taken her to the battlefield. It was like she had found her ideal boss.

“So it would seem. I’ll be careful,” Nefilforan said and glanced down at her right leg. She was wearing powered armor, but the armor on one arm was distorted. He must have done something when she’d kicked him. Like Crimson said, it seemed that it would be best to avoid direct contact with the Gray Knight.

“Glendad and a former leader of Darkness Rainbow... I doubt I would be unable to win as is, but I can’t afford to take too much time...” The Gray Knight held his sword up high, and a whirlpool of chaos appeared.

Two gray shapes crawled out of it. Their appearance was indeterminate, constantly changing form. It was hard to tell if they were even living creatures or some sort of substance. They moved to either side of the Gray Knight as if to protect him.

You’d better hurry, Maki and Blue Knight! We won’t be able to last long like this! Crimson wasn’t a big fan of difficult things, but she was a highly skilled magician, and she could imagine what those vague things the Gray Knight had called forth were. As they belonged to chaos, they were dangerous whether or not they were living creatures.

As the gray things appeared, Sanae contacted their leader. “Koutarou, what’s going on over there?! I’m feeling something really bad!” Even so far away, she had sensed the power of the whirlpool of chaos.

“The Gray Knight showed up! Princess Nefilforan and Crimson are fighting him, but it doesn’t look great!” Koutarou answered as he cut through the horde of undead. He would have loved to have been the one fighting the Gray Knight, but that wasn’t going to happen. Grevanas’s horde had to be stopped or Ralgwin would be taken away. Moreover, Koutarou was already so close to Grevanas that returning now would be difficult, and he would lose a lot of time.

“I’ll come over there as soon as we clean things up over here!” cried Sanae.

“Good!”

In spite of Sanae’s declaration that her group would come to reinforce them, Koutarou suspected they wouldn’t make it in time. The conclusion of the battle would probably come sooner than that, whether they won or lost.

To think the difference in experience would hurt this much... he thought.

With the gap in technology having been filled, Grevanas’s experience had a large impact. Even the jamming to prevent reinforcements was working against them now. Only Grevanas had received reinforcements in the form of undead, overcoming the original disparity in forces.

“Let us finish this,” said Grevanas. “Time might be on our side now, but that will not necessarily be the case later.”

In reality, his superiority was built on a dangerous balance. If the battles in any of the other locations ended, the girls would dash over to support the Blue Knight—not to mention reinforcements might soon show up through standard means of transport too.

“Spirits of time and space, heed my summons! Let the two pillars of power combine and open the gates of time space! Like stars shooting across the sky...” Grevanas held his staff up high and started his incantation.

Maki’s expression changed when she heard it. “This is bad, Satomi-kun! That incantation is for Teleport!”

Grevanas was casting the spell for teleportation. He would travel directly to the vehicle that Ralgwin was on.

“What?! I thought warping was being jammed!” Koutarou replied.

“It’s still possible to teleport to whatever you can see with the naked eye!”

Strictly speaking, it was gravitational waves that were being jammed. That prevented anyone from observing the location of a warp, making it impossible to use the ability. But that also meant it was possible if the location could be visibly observed. And it was even easier with magic.

“Also, Nefilforan-san has come out to the front, so there’s nobody who could oppose him near the car!” Nana pointed out, which showed how frightening Grevanas really was. His goal had always been to lure out anyone who was covering Ralgwin. That way, he could teleport close and then use the same technique to take Ralgwin away. Using multiple teleports was possible because Grevanas was a Grand Wizard and the distance was so short. In other words, he was taking advantage of Nefilforan being forced forward by the Gray Knight.

“Sakuraba-senpai, use Signaltin to—”

“You are too late!” In that moment, Grevanas disappeared, cutting Koutarou off, his incantation finished and his teleportation completed. He was now right next to the car that Ralgwin was in.

“Damn it!” Koutarou yelled.

Maki immediately responded to the situation. “Satomi-kun, I will use Teleport to send you over too!” She could use teleportation magic as well, not as freely as Grevanas or Yurika, but just once from their current distance wouldn’t be a problem.

Grevanas, however, sneered at them. “You are constantly one step behind, Blue Knight! Spirits of time and space, heed my summons!”

With a cracking sound, Grevanas’s withered arm destroyed the rear door. Whether it was raw strength or perhaps some kind of magic, he tore through it like cardboard. And he started the incantation to teleport as he did. Once he got Ralgwin, he would teleport back out.

“Gahahahaha, I knew this was where you were, Ralgwin!”

Grevanas’s sunken and empty eyes discovered Ralgwin on a bed inside of the car. He’d been put to sleep for the transfer, but even if he had been conscious, he was fixed to the bed so that he couldn’t move.

“With this... With this, my desire will finally be fulfilled! At last, I can resurrect—”

That was when it happened.

Bang!

Grevanas reached out toward Ralgwin with a wicked smile on his face. If he took his hand and teleported again, he would be victorious.

“Augh?!” Grevanas’s hand stopped. The shock kept him from moving. At some point, a large hole had opened in his chest.

“Keep your dirty hands off of Ralgwin-sama!” Fasta had sneaked up on Grevanas and shot him with a large-caliber gun.

“Y-You’re, Ralgwin’s aide—”

Bang, bang, bang! Fasta didn’t answer, mercilessly continuing to shoot him. She was using an anti-materiel rifle, which was normally used against vehicles. Holding it in both arms, she shot without properly aiming, but that wasn’t a concern at such close range. Grevanas was far sturdier than any normal human, but even he couldn’t withstand an anti-materiel rifle shooting him from that close. Moreover, he was in the middle of his incantation and wasn’t using any defensive spells. Each bullet hit home and carved a large hole into his body.

“Fasta-san?! You show up now?!” Koutarou’s eyes widened in surprise. Fasta had made her appearance at the worst possible time.

I guess this is the only timing she had! Koutarou realized. With her inferior forces, she could only take advantage of Koutarou’s group clashing with the old Vandarion faction. The moment the enemy had made their move had been her only option.

“What are you going to do, Satomi-san?!” Nana wore a rigid expression. Dealing with one more enemy now would be difficult.

After thinking for a moment, Koutarou came to a decision. “We’re going to support Fasta-san! If she falls here, we’ll be in trouble too!”

“Are you serious?!” His decision surprised Nana. Her large eyes opened wide as she looked up at him.

“It’s a matter of priorities! The biggest problem would be if Grevanas took Ralgwin away, not Fasta-san!”

Unfortunately, they didn’t have any real chance of defeating both Fasta and Grevanas. If anything, Fasta was acting as their final shield protecting Ralgwin. If they were to attack her here, Grevanas would escape with Ralgwin and attempt to resurrect Maxfern.

If they instead protected Fasta, Maxfern wouldn’t be resurrected, at the very least. Moreover, it was unlikely that Fasta would rejoin the old Vandarion faction after taking Ralgwin away. Grevanas was currently leading them, which meant it was better to leave Ralgwin in Fasta’s care for a while rather than giving him up to Grevanas. They could simply pursue and arrest Ralgwin afterward.

“I guess we have to!” Nana understood the situation as well. Although reluctant, she agreed with Koutarou and quickly gave her subordinates instructions.

“Nefilforan unit, do not attack that woman!”

The soldiers quickly cried out their acknowledgments.

“Understood! Did you get that, everyone?!”

“We got it, Nana-chin!”

“Is she that girl from the other time?”

“So it would seem.”

“I’m glad we don’t have to shoot her.”

And with that, the battle continued as before. Not a single bullet flew at Fasta.

So, the Blue Knight chose not to shoot me...

Fasta glanced at Koutarou for a moment. She wore a mystified look. Normally, she wouldn’t have complained about being shot at in this situation, and she had been prepared for as much. But Koutarou wasn’t attacking. Fasta sensed that he and the others saw Grevanas as such a threat that letting her intervene was the only option available to them.

“In that case...” Fasta looked back at Grevanas and opened fire again. In contrast to how she had looked at Koutarou’s side, her eyes were cold and piercing. She showed no hesitation in pulling the trigger either.

“Ugh, damn it!”

As a lich, Grevanas had a tenacious body, but even he struggled after being shot repeatedly by an anti-materiel rifle. He used the teleportation spell he was chanting to disappear from Fasta’s sight.

“He vanished?! It’s that magic again?!” Fasta cried.

“Kill that girl! I don’t care how many casualties there are!” Having escaped from Fasta, Grevanas gave his order from within the horde of undead. It was a very simple order to attack. He needed to keep Fasta from taking Ralgwin away no matter what. Even he hadn’t anticipated her surprise attack and had no countermeasures in place, so his plan relied on brute force.

The horde ignored the soldiers they had been fighting and launched themselves toward Fasta.

“Gah!”

Fasta threw away her anti-materiel rifle. It had been necessary against Grevanas, but it wasn’t particularly suitable against the undead. She switched over to a submachine gun and intercepted the oncoming horde. In addition, the unmanned crafts that had been deployed around her attacked as well.

It wasn’t enough to stop their advance. The Imperial Army had cut down their numbers, but there were still too many of them.

“Grevanas is getting absurd! Aika-san, I’m counting on you!” said Koutarou.

“Yes!” Maki replied.

The undead were dropping like flies, creating a literal mountain of bodies. But it would be over if the ones that broke through managed to kill Fasta, so reinforcements were necessary to avoid a fatal outcome. The quickest way was to send over reinforcements with Maki’s Teleport.

That was when Nana got a message on her communications device. “Hold on! Reinforcements are coming!”

“Nana-chin, Navy, you okay?!” Orange’s voice came through the comms. She sounded unusually nervous and worried.

“We’re safe, but not okay, so hurry!” Nana answered.

“Got it! Everyone, Nana-chin says to do it right away!”

The reinforcements were the court magicians. Koutarou’s side had a plan for dealing with Grevanas’s magic. The court magicians had been preparing countermeasures against him, but it had taken time and they were only now ready to use them.

“Warn everyone over there to stop using magic right away!” Orange instructed.

“Okay! Everyone, if you’re using magic, stop right now! It’s dangerous!” Nana relayed.

“Here we go! Ritual—Anti-Magic Field! Deploying over a wide area!”

In the next moment, an orange light filled the area where Koutarou and the others were fighting. The court magicians had cast ritual magic. Five of them plus Yurika surrounded a magic circle and cast the spell Anti-Magic Field, which Grevanas had previously used against Crimson. His version had covered a small area and erased mana, making magic temporarily unusable, but with six magicians working together over a longer span of time, the area was much larger—enough to fill the entire area.

“Agh! Aaahhhhhh!” Grevanas was greatly affected by the spell. His body was full of holes that Fasta had made, and he had been in the process of using mana to heal them. Because of that, the magic that was healing his injuries and easing his pain abruptly stopped. His wounds reopened, and a murky liquid dripped down from them. His dried-out face twisted in pain.

“Oooohhhhh!”

“Aahhhhhhh!”

The horde of undead was also affected. Since they had been animated with magic, they suddenly stopped their movements and fell down. Many became normal corpses once more. As a result, the old Vandarion faction quickly lost their advantage, their only fighting force now being their normal soldiers and the Gray Knight.

“What a pain!” The Gray Knight clicked his tongue. The sword he used was affected by the ritual magic as well, meaning it had lost a lot of power. Moreover, the indeterminate lumps that had been called forth by the whirlpool of chaos used mana to move and attack, so their movements had dulled.

“I’m not normally one to talk, but you rely too much on that sword and magic!” Crimson attacked the Gray Knight. She wasn’t using her usual axe, but a beam sword that the Imperial Army soldiers used. Her axe was simply her staff, transformed using magic, so it wasn’t usable in this situation. But she had known to expect as much and had brought a substitute. “The age of magicians using nothing but magic is over!”

“Damn it, I was lured in!”

“You got that right!!!”

The Gray Knight used his sword to fight back against Crimson’s beam sword, but with his sword weakened and Crimson’s unexpected fighting style due to her new weapon, he couldn’t counterattack.

“Not to mention, my princess doesn’t use magic at all!” yelled Crimson.

“Haaah!” cried Nefilforan.

Crimson wasn’t the Gray Knight’s only opponent. Nefilforan’s greatspear approached from his blind spot while he was busy fending off the beam sword.

“Tsk!” The Gray Knight threw his body aside to avoid the attack, but he was unable to fully dodge it, and the armor around his shoulder was crushed, the mantle cut up. If he hadn’t dodged when he had, the greatspear would have pierced his chest.

“Crimson, those shapes’ movements have grown dull. They don’t have the same vigor as before.” Nefilforan spun her greatspear around and pointed the tip at the Gray Knight. They’d been struggling against him before, but now they could fight on even ground. The power of his sword had weakened, as had the gray lumps. The frequency with which they interfered using magic had visibly decreased.

What to do... Do I continue fighting, or move to back up Grevanas, or maybe even retreat? This is such a pain... the Gray Knight mused. The ritual magic’s effect would keep him at a disadvantage until it ran out. But since it was ritual magic, he doubted the court magicians were stupid enough to let it run out too quickly. He was faced with a decision. “Not good...”

And that wasn’t the only problem. A new one had appeared, as Fasta accessed the car transporting Ralgwin.

“I suppose there’s no other way. We’ll give up on retaking Ralgwin unharmed, Grevanas!” the Gray Knight concluded based on the circumstances.

Using the computer in his armor, he ordered the surrounding soldiers to attack the car that Ralgwin was in.

As the undead fell, the first thing Fasta thought about was Ralgwin. She sensed that if she let this opportunity slip by, she would never get another one.

“Ralgwin-sama!”

The rear door had been destroyed by Grevanas. She slid through that and finally found the person she had been pursuing for so long.

“It’s noisy outside, Fasta.” Ralgwin was conscious. And he looked up at Fasta with a peaceful expression.

“I am sorry, Ralgwin-sama! The road is congested.”

It had been a very long journey. Ever since she had left Ralgwin’s side, she’d been running nonstop for his sake. She was tearing up at the chance to finally speak with him again.

“It’s not over yet,” he warned her. “You can save your tears for later.”

“Y-Yes, I’m sorry!”

She quickly wiped the tears away and reached out to him. Ralgwin hadn’t just been put to sleep; his body had also been secured so that he wouldn’t fall off the bed while being transported.

“Your hand, please,” said Fasta.

“Sorry for the trouble,” he answered. Once freed from the restraints, Ralgwin sat up.

“Can you stand?”

“That’ll be hard. I can’t quite move my body.” He was conscious, but the effects of the drugs hadn’t fully dissipated yet.

“I thought as much. Please use this.” Fasta had made her plan with the assumption that Ralgwin would be unconscious, and she had prepared a tool to carry him.

“So that’s what you’ve got... You’re well prepared.”

“It’s an honor.” She attached a small device to his waist.

Ralgwin quickly stood up and faced Fasta. “This is quite a convenient tool.”

“This PAF has AI for automatic movement. It perceives its surroundings and will bring you somewhere safe.”

Surprisingly, she had chosen a PAF as the tool to carry him out. The PAF had an independent action mode in case of emergency built into it. It was intended to carry an injured or unconscious person somewhere safe. With it, she could bring Ralgwin along and escape even if he couldn’t move his own body.

“How are your injuries?” she asked.

“I can’t feel any pain. It must be the drugs. Now, how do we proceed from here?”

“We will regroup with the others. Please follow me.”

Fasta knew that she had no time. She immediately headed for the exit. As she did, the PAF sensed her moving and followed, as it had been instructed to do from the start.

Boom! Just before they could leave the vehicle, an explosion went off right next to them, shaking the car. Fortunately, neither Fasta nor Ralgwin fell over, but there was more than one explosion.

Boom, boom, boom, boom! Explosions were happening repeatedly around the vehicle. Moreover, bullets and lasers were flying just outside the doorway.

“There’s a battle right outside?!”

“No, it’s Grevanas or the Gray Knight. They’ve figured out what you are trying to do and are stalling us here.”

Ralgwin had already guessed who was behind the attack and what their intention was. Koutarou’s side would have no need to attack the car. Moreover, the old Vandarion faction’s soldiers wouldn’t do something like this of their own accord, so either Grevanas or the Gray Knight must have given them the order. They had given up on recapturing Ralgwin safely and begun their assault knowing the risk it posed to him.

“Very well. We will use our last resort,” Fasta murmured.

“What are you planning to do?”

“It’s going to be a little reckless. Please get down and wait.” Fasta used her bracelet to input a command. It was a Hail Mary she had devised to be used against Grevanas and the Gray Knight.

The first to notice the spaceship was Ruth, sitting in the Hidden Leaves’s operator seat. At first, she thought she was seeing things. It looked like the ship had appeared out of thin air. But upon confirming the observational data, she realized that it was real and reported back in a hurry.

“Your Highness! Master! An unidentified spaceship has appeared!”

“What?! Now of all times?!”

Theia was in the middle of a battle against the old Vandarion faction battleship, not to mention the city was close, so it frayed her mind. If another enemy ship joined the battle, the situation would be grave.

Koutarou’s face turned pale, and he shot Ruth a question. “Where is it?!”

Battles were taking place in five locations, but the situation would greatly change depending on where the ship was headed.

“It is currently in the sky above Fornorn, accelerating toward point F!”

“So it’s coming here!” Koutarou had a bad feeling about the ship heading their way. It was going to join the battle.

“Where did it even come from?! How did it slip through the air defense net?!” Theia was confused. Fornorn had a high concentration of important buildings, including the Imperial Palace and Parliament. Because of that, serious efforts had been made to prevent spacecraft from intruding into their airspace, and warping was routinely disabled at key points. That was why only a single old Vandarion faction ship had managed to infiltrate and was even then unable to find an advantageous position.

Grevanas knew that and had used small vessels disguised as civilian ships to descend from orbit. Sneaking in that way was the best he could do. Moreover, all ships were intercepted, which was why an attack with a normal fleet had never even been considered. Chances were much higher when having forces slowly infiltrate on the surface and launching a simultaneous uprising.

If Grevanas had had more time, that was surely what he would have done. But this spaceship was different. It had suddenly appeared inside of the defensive net. Seeing as that was supposed to be impossible, it was natural for Theia to be surprised.

“From the sea! It came from below the water!” Ruth cried.

“The sea?!” Theia echoed.

The craft in question was a multipurpose ship and could navigate underwater. It had used that capability to approach from the sea and slip past their defensive net.

“But the sea has surveillance too!” said Theia. “It might be a small ship infiltrating on its own. In order to slip past both radar and sonar, you would need the special forces to... Ah.”

“Right. If that ship is related to Fasta-san, it’s not impossible,” Kiriha agreed.

The Imperial Army’s special forces were responsible for setting up the surveillance net in the sea. Before Vandarion’s rebellion, Fasta had been a member of the special forces and would have had access to such information. It would have been useless if the surveillance net was altered after the rebellion, but for better or worse, that hadn’t happened.

“What do we do?! Do we intercept?!” asked Theia.

“It’s too dangerous! They’re already over populated areas!” Ruth answered.

“If it’s someone working for Grevanas, this spells trouble...” said Koutarou. He and the others believed that Fasta could pull it off, but that was just conjecture. It was still possible the ship belonged to the old Vandarion faction.

Grevanas had become undead and gained a sturdy body, but that wasn’t necessarily the case once his mana was neutralized. If shot by a gun, his wound wouldn’t heal, and a murky liquid was still leaking out of him. Moreover, the pain wasn’t being relieved, so the more wounds he got, the more pain he was in; although thanks to his durability, the wounds wouldn’t kill him, they would only add to his pain. A normal person would be unconscious or mad by now, but the mental fortitude of a Grand Wizard allowed him to withstand it.

“They got me... I suppose the current empress of Forthorthe already has a deep connection to Folsaria...” he muttered.

Grevanas could stand the pain, but he hated that his own assumptions had brought about a major blunder. He hadn’t accounted for a group of magicians on Forthorthe’s side attacking with ritual magic. He had known that the Blue Knight had two or three magicians at his side, but not that there were enough to assist in such a large operation.

This ritual magic had clearly required many magicians. Even if they were all archwizards, there had to be at least five of them, meaning the Blue Knight and royal families had close to ten archwizards—or enough magicians to match that amount of mana—working for them.

Still, it would be cruel to blame Grevanas’s ego for the blunder. The fact was, Koutarou and the others had resolved the problems in Folsaria, and Elfaria, realizing the dangers of magic, had invited the leaders of Darkness Rainbow to work for her. Knowing how disorderly Folsaria had been when it was first founded, Grevanas hadn’t imagined a group of magicians could be sent over so quickly.

“But I won’t let you leave like this, Ralgwin! After all, you are Maxfern-sama’s precious body!”

Having been cornered, Grevanas had given the order to attack the car. The assault would stall Ralgwin, buying time so that they could recover. Naturally, Grevanas was well aware that this was a dangerous choice. It would all be for nothing if Ralgwin were to die. But he couldn’t afford to let him get away either. The Gray Knight wasn’t in position to make a move, so Grevanas had made the difficult call.

But his plans were abruptly halted.

“What is that ship?!” he cried.

A scarlet spacecraft had suddenly appeared, and it began attacking the old Vandarion faction soldiers.

“Where did it come from?! Is this an ambush that the Blue Knight prepared?!”

The hull of the scarlet ship had been engraved with the name Gelaurudis II. It looked far too elegant for a warship, yet too ferocious for a passenger vessel. It used two types of weapons to attack. First were two laser cannons, which were mainly focusing on antiair weapons and those stalling Ralgwin and Fasta. They were protecting the ship and getting in the way of the stalling tactics.

The other type of weapon was smoke grenades. Gelaurudis II was attacking on its own, and going after each soldier individually was horribly inefficient. But blowing them all away would destroy the city. That was where smoke grenades came in. Since most of the old Vandarion faction soldiers were infantry, their attacks could be stopped by depriving them of their vision. They couldn’t afford to shoot blindly and risk hitting Ralgwin.

“Curse yoooouuuu! How could this be allowed to happen?! Maxfern-sama is just within my reach! And that man will serve as his body!” Grevanas screamed as he glared at the scarlet spaceship. But he couldn’t do anything until he got out of the anti-magic field.

Grevanas wasn’t the only one looking up at Gelaurudis II. Having been attacked, the old Vandarion faction soldiers looked up. As so many enemies suddenly took their attention off her, Crimson realized what was happening above. When she looked up as well, she was greeted by the sight of a crimson spaceship. The craft was familiar to her. Its shape had changed a little, but it was a custom-built vessel, so there was no way she would mistake it.

She hurriedly contacted her allies. “Everyone, look!”

“What’s going on, Crimson? Your face is pale... Is that the Gelaurudis?!” cried Green.

“Is it the young master and Maya?! They survived!” Orange exclaimed.

Her allies, Green and Orange, had also recognized the ship. It belonged to their comrades, Elexis and Maya, who they had last seen aboard the Gelaurudis.

“Hang on, Orange, I understand how you feel but we don’t know if Elexis and Maya are on board,” Purple warned them. She understood how Orange felt; in fact, she’d always been on the lookout for the two deep down. But they couldn’t let their emotions get the better of them and lead to a wrong decision. This was a crucial moment.

“That’s not true! I don’t know about Maya, but it has to be the young master! Who else would ride such a flashy spaceship?” yelled Orange. She was already convinced. It wasn’t logic; she just knew that this was the return of the comrades they were looking for.

“You heard them, El,” came Maya’s voice.

“Please stop with the ‘young master’ thing, Orange,” Elexis added.

Orange was quickly proven correct as the new arrivals’ faces were shown over the comms. And when it happened, Orange’s expression lit up.

“Whaaaaat?! You will always be the young master!” she cried.

“Don’t call me that during battle, at least,” Elexis protested.

“Maya! Elexis! You’re alive!” Yellow called out. Contrary to the smiling Orange, she was in tears. She had been worried ever since the pair had gone missing, thinking they had died. Moreover, she was worried that her comrades had been losing their stride, so she was very relieved to see these two again.

“Alive, perhaps, but it took this long to recover,” Maya explained.

“Not to mention the Blue Knight Mark cast dark clouds over my new shipping company,” Elexis added.

“If you were alive, why didn’t you call us?! We were looking for you for so long!” Green yelled in anger. She was furious with them for failing to make contact despite having been alive all this time. And, of course, she had been very worried.

“Don’t be too angry, Green. We are still wanted for trying to overthrow the throne. Besides, it seems you have taken on an official position,” said Elexis.

They did feel bad about not contacting the others, but they’d had their reasons. Like Vandarion, they were traitors and still wanted. Getting in touch with the girls, who had become court magicians, would have put them at risk. They knew they would let the girls know the truth at some point, and that moment just happened to be now.

“Everyone, shut up! You can save the squabbling for later!” Crimson yelled at the confused group, getting straight to the point. “Maya, El, whose side are you on?!” She could understand that they were happy. She was too. But if they didn’t clarify who was fighting for whom upfront, they wouldn’t get anywhere. A lot of lives were at stake.

“Nobody’s side in particular...” Elexis answered. “We are the enemies of Grevanas and the Gray Knight! We would never side with people with such a lack of flair!”

“I will always be on the side of the beautiful,” Maya added.

Their answers were clear and proved that the two really had returned. So Crimson forced back the tears welling up in her eyes, and the joy trying to burst out of her chest, and shouted even more.

“Then help us! Unlike you, those of us in service to the court are busy!”

“...You’ve become the strictest one in the group since we last met, Crimson,” Elexis muttered.

“Stop talking and get to work, young master!” called Orange.

“You never change...”

An astonished Yurika looked on at the entire exchange. The atmosphere around the court magicians had completely shifted compared to what it was before. They were a lot more energized now, and their wills were strong.

It makes sense. If Satomi-san disappeared, we’d be depressed too.

Yurika smiled as she came to that realization. No matter the details, the court magicians’ friends had returned, and Yurika genuinely welcomed it.

As it turned out, when Elexis had received a rescue call from Fasta, he had immediately sent out the Gelaurudis II. There were two reasons the multipurpose spaceship bore that name. First, the spacecraft was based on another ship called Gelaurudis, and secondly, the person at the helm had a personality similar to that of the legendary female pirate.

“Maya, charge in! I will deal with the antiair weapons!” Elexis announced.

“You’d better not be wrong about this, El!”

This ship had a crew of two: the helmsman and the gunner. Maya, the helmsman, was no less brave than the legendary female pirate, which was why Elexis had named the ship as he had. After repairing and refurbishing it, he hadn’t seen a need to change the name and had simply added the number.

“Don’t worry. Koutarou-kun is on the surface. I’m sure the Blue Knight will do a good job!” he said.

“That’s not what I am talking about!” Maya replied. “You work too! You’re the man who tried to take over the empire once before, aren’t you?!”

“I ended up feeling satisfied after saving the world with Koutarou-kun.”

“This man... You really are an idiot!”

It was hard to tell if Elexis was serious or joking based on his tone, since he was always so vague about such things. But he still did his job. Even now, he was attacking enemy weapons with laser fire and laying down a smoke screen over the soldiers. But his constant theatrics made it hard to appreciate his achievements. As a result, Maya’s evaluation of him was very low, although he seemed to enjoy even that.

“That said, there is a lady trying to proceed in a logical manner waiting for help. As reluctant as I may be, I will be serious today,” he said.

Today was special. Someone risking their life to save their savior was awaiting their help. Elexis had never been a stickler for right or wrong, but he had a heart that saw the beauty in people attempting to follow their convictions. In essence, he didn’t care about the flowers themselves, but how they bloomed. Whenever he did see a bud, he hoped it would blossom into a beautiful flower, in hopes that he would be able to witness a beautiful bouquet.

“You should have just said so from the start...” Maya said with a sigh and sped up.

As they got closer, the enemy fired four guided missiles at them, but Elexis, sitting in the gunner seat, intercepted them. All four missiles were pierced by lasers and scattered.

“I can’t laugh anymore. I don’t like their way of doing things.” Unlike before, Elexis’s expression and words had grown harsh. He was showing an unusually serious side. He didn’t like how the old Vandarion faction, and Grevanas in particular, did things. He hated those who sought to accomplish their goals no matter what. And based on how the fight was going, Elexis had come to hate Grevanas. As a result, there was no hesitation as he pulled the trigger.

If only you always acted like this, I would have nothing to complain about... Maya thought, and that was her only complaint when he was acting this way.

“Maya, charge right in using the shortest route.”

“Are you sure? Can you block all of the enemy’s attacks?!”

“Thanks to Fasta-kun’s data, I have a full grasp of where the antiair weapons are located. Moreover, there won’t be any magical interference right now.”

“In that case... let’s go, El!”

Maya accelerated even more and took complex evasive actions. Surprisingly, the Imperial Army wasn’t attacking, but the old Vandarion faction had identified them as an enemy and launched a fierce attack. Not only were there guided missiles, there were also antiair cannons and lasers as well.

Maya and Elexis worked together to weave through the minor gaps. Their reunion with their comrades would happen later. In order for Elexis and Maya to save Fasta, they would need to jump into enemy fire. One saving grace was that many of the antiair weapons had already been silenced. As long as they paid attention to the remaining ones, it wouldn’t be impossible to close in. The hull wasn’t weak enough to be damaged by infantry gear.

“Want help, Elexis?”

Even more thankfully was that someone was offering them a hand. And of all people, it was his old nemesis, the Blue Knight. Koutarou smiled as he called out to him.

“It’s a welcome offer... but are you sure about that? We are currently wanted criminals.”

“In this situation, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Take Fasta-san and Ralgwin away while the anti-magic field is still in effect.”

Normally, Koutarou would need to capture not just Fasta, but Elexis and Maya as well. Right now, however, they were the only three who could protect Ralgwin. If he made the wrong decision, Grevanas would steal the man away, so in order to avoid that worst possible outcome, it was best to turn a blind eye to Elexis and Maya’s crimes for now.

“I understand your point, but we have no intention of giving ourselves up or returning him later. Are you okay with that?”

“With you guys, there’s still a chance we’ll catch you later. But—”

“If Ralgwin is captured by Grevanas, there won’t be a later for him, is that it?”

“You know that too, which is why you’re working with Fasta-san, right?” said Koutarou. The old Elexis and Maya might not have answered Fasta’s request, but perhaps they were different now, he thought.

“Got it. Then lend us a hand, Blue Knight-kun.”

Elexis hadn’t denied his suggestion, and that was a welcome realization for Koutarou.

“You should’ve just said so from the start,” said Koutarou.

“Even the Blue Knight is telling you, El,” Maya interjected.

“Well, I am a serious criminal; there are certain paths I have to follow.” A smile was on Elexis’s face.

As a woman, Maya couldn’t tell what kind of emotions were behind that smile, but she understood that it was best to let it be. She focused on piloting instead of making any remarks.

“Blue Knight, we will arrive on the surface in another thirty seconds! Shut the enemy up for a moment!” Elexis ordered.

He and Maya were on fire right now, but they would be putting themselves in a very dangerous situation soon when they descended to pick up Fasta and Ralgwin. The spaceship would come to a stop and land, leaving it defenseless. So Koutarou and the others would need to protect it.

“Got it! I’ll leave the rest to you two, then!”

“I might have failed at managing my corporation, but I will make this job a success!”

In order to avoid any danger during the landing, both sides had needed to come to an agreement. Once everything was decided, Koutarou focused on a group of enemies. They were attacking the car from a distance, but if they were taken out in twenty seconds, Elexis and Maya could land safely.

“I’ll help too, Satomi-kun.” Maki lined up next to Koutarou. She was holding a spiritual energy rifle, which was unusual for her. Because of the anti-magic field, she couldn’t really use magic at the moment, but having come from a military organization, she was used to handling guns.

“Sorry for all the trouble today, Aika-san,” Koutarou apologized.

“Crimson looks happy, so I thought I should lend a hand,” Maki said and glanced behind her, where she saw Crimson and Nefilforan fighting the Gray Knight.

“Wahahaha, let’s keep at it, you gray bastard! I think you’ll find I’m different today!” Crimson was unable to use magic, but she swung her beam sword around and pushed back the Gray Knight.

The Gray Knight was unable to fully use his powers due to his mana being cut off as well, and was being overwhelmed by Crimson’s superior spirit. Nefilforan was a short distance away, backing Crimson up by shooting beams. They had decided that this form would be more advantageous due to Crimson’s inability to access her magic. Their combined efforts had completely shut down the Gray Knight’s movements.

“I think you’re right,” Koutarou agreed. He could imagine how Crimson was feeling. She was probably more elated than Koutarou to find out that Elexis was alive. He understood Maki’s desire to add a touch of color.

“Then I’ll have to go too, before Maya comes out,” said Nana, wielding a gun in each hand. Since they could use both mana and spiritual energy bullets, the weapons were usable even under the current circumstances.

“Wouldn’t it be best if you stayed behind, Nana-san?” Koutarou was a little reluctant. Her body had been made using magic, so her physical abilities were only around seventy percent of what they normally were. She was now as weak as she appeared.

“We have to go even if I am an inexperienced conscript. We have to protect Fasta-san, am I wrong?” Weak or not, she was a former genius magical girl. She hadn’t lost sight of the path they needed to tread.

“Jeez, I guess everyone is an idiot... Let’s go you two!” Koutarou muttered and pulled out Saguratin instead of Signaltin. With the surrounding mana erased, Saguratin was stronger.

“I will follow you anywhere,” Maki told him.

“I’ll provide support, so you two go on ahead,” said Nana.

The atmosphere had completely changed with the appearance of Elexis and Maya. It wasn’t just the court magicians; Kotuarou and the others were feeling more positive as well. That was just how much the return of that pair meant to them.

Although the undead attack had come to an end, Fasta and Ralgwin were unable to leave the car due to the old Vandarion faction. There were no explosions hitting the car directly, although the soldiers would likely favor a direct hit over letting them get away, but right now, the enemy only had to stall them. So while bullets might slam into the armored car, the bombardments didn’t.

Even if they’re equipped for combat, will they be able to land in this situation? Fasta wondered. Her last hope was the approaching ship. She had connected with them through a supplier, and they were said to be very good at what they did. Still, Fasta wasn’t confident that they would be able to land in this storm of attacks.

“Calm down, Fasta. Whatever happens will happen.”

“But, Ralgwin-sama—”

“You know as well as I do that this is because I was unable to give up the fight. My defeat was not at the hands of our enemies, but time. It’s not your fault. If you made any mistake, it was coming here to save me.”

“I will come save you, wherever you may be.”

“I know. You are the same as me. I have no complaints about that. But acknowledge that this situation is next to impossible. Even the opportunity to come for me should have been scarce. So just calm down and wait, or you will not be able to grasp at a chance even if it presents itself.”

“Ralgwin-sama... Yes, I will take that to heart.”

Fasta had started to run around in circles in a panic, but she was able to calm down thanks to Ralgwin. She felt like his forgiveness saved her as well.

Beep.

“Fasta-kun, can you hear me?”

A familiar voice came over the comms. It was the voice of the courier she had hired.

“I can hear you, courier.”

“We’re going to land in fifteen seconds. So be prepared to hurry aboard.”

“You’re going to land in this rain of bullets?!”

“Not to worry! Our hero will be performing a miracle for us!”

“Hero?”

Fasta suddenly realized that their surroundings had gotten quieter. The explosions and bullets had grown distant. For some reason, there weren’t any impacts nearby. Instead, they could hear the sounds of engines above them. Soon, the force from the boosters started shaking the car.

“Okay, we’ll be right there! Ralgwin-sama!”

“I’ll leave it to you and follow your timing!” he replied.

“Okay!”

Fasta couldn’t confirm conditions with her own eyes, but she had no choice but to run regardless. So she put her faith in the idea that this was the very chance Ralgwin had been talking about.

Before Grevanas could escape the anti-magic field, the scarlet spaceship had reached Ralgwin. And with that, Grevanas’s plans were shattered. The Blue Knight had silenced his soldiers’ attack, and Ralgwin and Fasta had boarded the spaceship. All Grevanas could do was watch it happen.

“We’re falling back, Gray Knight! We’re going to follow that spaceship!” he yelled, even now refusing to give up on Ralgwin. His voice trembled in anger, and those who heard it felt his insanity.

“Got it. I’ll head over to you.” In contrast, the Gray Knight answered indifferently. He had no objections to retreating, since it was clear that the plan was falling apart. With Ralgwin and Fasta leaving, there was no point in staying.

“Damn you, Ralgwin! Don’t get full of yourself, Blue Knight! I spent a long time getting this far! Just a little longer and I can resurrect Maxfern-sama! I won’t stand for losing my chance over something like this!!!” Grevanas yelled.

In a normal military operation, this would have been the time to give up and retreat. Trying to pursue an enemy over another enemy’s capital was insanity. However, Grevanas had no intention of leaving. He would recapture Ralgwin now, no matter how many casualties it took.