Glug glug~! ×N
Inside the carriage, aside from the dull clopping of the ground dragons' hooves, only the sound of two people breathing could be heard. It was night, and thick fog had risen on all sides. The surroundings were extremely dim. With visibility limited to only a few meters, the carriages that should have been traveling at full speed were forced to slow to a crawl. Even so, the carriage still jolted from time to time—whether because of the uneven ground or the driver's lack of skill. When Wilhelm was driving, he always managed to keep the carriage steady.
But that was a minor issue. What mattered most right now was arriving safely at the Mathers mansion. And by "safely," she didn't just mean the two of them, but also the soldiers accompanying them. After all, these were Crusch's men. If they were to lose their lives because of the two of them, it would leave a bitter taste. Of course, if they could protect them, they would do their utmost.
Thinking about it, it was a little awkward. The soldiers had followed precisely to protect them—yet the reality might very well be the opposite.
Glug glug~!
The carriage was filled with that heavy, rhythmic sound of travel. During the ride, the Shogun gently lifted the curtain and looked out at the dense fog beyond. Everything was gray-white. Even the moonlight was obscured. She had no idea where they were at the moment.
If she had been alone, it would have been simple. She could have transformed into lightning and flown back directly. But now there was a girl beside her. She could not let her take such a risk. Carrying someone over such a long distance in flight would be far too dangerous.
Forget it. She had never once complained about the girl's presence. Emilia's kindness toward her was something she understood clearly. How could she possibly resent her?
For example, the concerned gaze of the girl who was still holding her hand at this very moment—
"Don't be afraid..."
She glanced at the hand clasped with hers and offered quiet reassurance.
"Mm... I'm not afraid. Are you, Shogun?"
Emilia asked.
"Haa... Do I look frightened?"
She teased lightly.
"...No."
Emilia obediently shook her head.
She had never seen the woman before her afraid of anything. She always appeared calm and detached, as if she were merely a traveler here on vacation. Perhaps she really was? After all, they had met suddenly in the Elior Forest. Thinking about it now, it truly felt like fate.
"Recently..."
"Mm?"
Hearing her speak, she raised her eyes to look at her.
"Recently, I haven't seen Puck."
The Shogun recalled the spirit cat that had once stayed constantly by Emilia's side. These past few days, he seemed to have vanished entirely.
"Ah... yes. Puck usually doesn't come out at night. And if the one beside me is you, Shogun, he won't come out either. He only appears for a while when I'm alone."
Emilia smiled gently and lifted her hand to touch the emerald jewel at her chest, her expression filled with tenderness. Then she wrapped her arms around the Shogun's arm and rested her head sweetly against her shoulder, staying there quietly.
"..."
Looking at the silver-white swirl of hair against her shoulder, the Shogun smiled faintly to herself and lifted a hand to stroke her head. It felt like petting the soft fur of a kitten.
"Hehe..."
Feeling the touch atop her head, Emilia narrowed her eyes happily and smiled sweetly.
"Shogun..."
"Mm?"
"What am I to you?"
Emilia asked teasingly, still gazing ahead. Because of the heavy rumbling of the carriage, her voice was somewhat faint—but clear enough for the Shogun to hear.
"...A friend?"
The Shogun answered.
"Mm~ Just a friend, huh..."
Emilia puffed out her cheeks and lightly twisted against her arm in a spoiled manner.
"What do you mean 'just'?"
The Shogun looked momentarily confused.
"Nothing... It just feels like your definition of 'friend' is always vague. As if nothing ever surpasses that category."
Emilia smiled.
"There is."
The Shogun paused, then refuted firmly.
"What?"
Emilia asked attentively.
"Family."
The Shogun replied as if it were only natural.
"Uh... I should have known..."
She should have expected that! Why did she even ask such a foolish question?!
Did the Shogun truly have no thoughts of love?
No lover? Would she really never fall for anyone? Emilia tried to imagine what the Shogun would look like troubled by romance. She would probably be adorable... After all, even the occasional blush was already dangerously enticing.
Emilia felt troubled. Perhaps she would never see such a sight in her lifetime.
"Lady Emilia! Lady Raiden!"
At that moment, the soldier driving the carriage turned his head and called out.
"We're here!"
Emilia answered instinctively. The Shogun also looked over.
"The fog's getting thicker!"
He shouted loudly.
"!"
She snapped back to attention. During their conversation, the surrounding mist had grown to an exaggerated density. She stood and stepped outside the carriage, gripping the railing as she looked at the gray-white world beyond.
"Everyone! Stay close! Don't get separated! Move toward us!"
She shouted toward the carriages behind them. With all the noise, she wasn't sure whether they had heard.
The Shogun also stepped out, coming up behind Emilia and leaning slightly forward to look at the vehicles behind. The fog was spreading at a speed visible to the naked eye, swallowing their entire field of vision. Visibility shrank further and further, until even the nearest carriage became blurred.
"This is bad... This won't do."
Emilia frowned and muttered softly.
"We can't see the road!"
The soldier in front shouted. He immediately lit an oil lamp, trying to illuminate the path ahead through the mist. The carriages behind them followed suit and lit their lamps as well.
"Don't light them!"
As if realizing something, the Shogun called out to stop them. But it was already too late.
Like falling into a trap, the moment the lamps were lit, a violent gale swept through. The fog twisted upward like a tornado.
Whoooosh!!
"Ah—!"
Emilia's foot slipped, and she toppled toward the outside of the carriage.
Smack.
In the next second, the Shogun grabbed her wrist and forcibly pulled her back, pressing her into her embrace.
"Haa... Thank you, Shogun."
Emilia wiped cold sweat from her brow in relief and thanked her, only then realizing the position she was in. Her face flushed red.
"It's nothing. Be careful."
The Shogun paid no mind to her blush and shielded her behind her.
"Put out the lamps!"
Emilia raised her voice and shouted to the surrounding carriages.
"But if we don't light them—"
BZZZZZZ—!!!
In that instant, an ear-splitting whale's cry drew closer and closer. Accompanied by a fierce gale, an enormous shadow gradually took shape.
"..."
The Shogun gathered lightning into her hand, forming the blade of Engulfing Lightning. With a sweep of her arm, she slashed upward.
Hummm—
A dreamy violet radiance spread outward from the center, temporarily dispersing the surrounding mist.
In that fleeting moment, they saw it—the true form of the White Whale, hidden within the fog. Its massive maw was already wide open, lunging toward the carriage behind them to swallow it whole!
"Aaaaahhhhh—!!!" ×N
The soldiers driving the carriage screamed instinctively, yanking the reins of the ground dragons. By sheer coincidence, the White Whale bit down on nothing—swallowing only air.
BOOM! BOOM!!
With a deafening roar and a violent shockwave, the White Whale's jaws crushed the ground between the two carriages, gouging out a massive ravine.
Although the carriage had narrowly avoided its maw, they were forced to halt. The carriages behind, unable to react in time, crashed into the ones ahead.
Bang!
A chain collision sent numerous soldiers flying from their seats!
The White Whale soared upward once more into the night sky and withdrew into the distant fog, vanishing again into concealment—as if this had merely been a test strike. A far more powerful assault was likely yet to come.
"Everyone!! Are you alright?!"
Emilia glanced at the accident behind them and hurriedly shouted. No one answered.
A few seconds later, the mist that had been dispersed by the Shogun spread once more, swallowing the surroundings again. Visibility shrank even further. The road where the collision had occurred was once again lost in murky gray.
"Stop the carriage!"
The Shogun shouted to the driver.
"Y-Yes!!"
Glug—! ×N
The soldier hurriedly pulled hard on the reins of the running ground dragons. The beasts were clearly terrified and continued for a short distance before finally slowing to a halt.
"Are they all alright?"
Emilia jumped down from the carriage. With visibility less than five meters, she frowned and murmured softly.
Tap tap! ×N
In the next instant, they heard hurried footsteps and the clatter of armor approaching from behind. There was no need to guess—it was the soldiers rushing toward them.
The Shogun raised Engulfing Lightning again, letting it shine with violet radiance that spread outward.
Hummm—!
The thick fog was forcibly dispersed once more, forming a semicircular clearing. Within that area, visibility temporarily returned to normal. Along the road, they could see the soldiers running toward them.
"Lady Emilia! Lady Raiden!" ×N
They shouted their names excitedly as they gathered around.
"Are you all unharmed?!"
Emilia asked anxiously.
"We're fine for now. We're tough enough, haha!"
One of them, likely the squad leader, laughed heartily. The others nodded in agreement.
Bzzzz—!
In the next second, that deafening whale cry echoed again from the distant sky, like a horn signaling the charge.
"Damn it!"
"We're surrounded by the White Whale!"
"We're cut off!"
Clang! ×N
The soldiers drew their swords and polearms, forming a defensive stance. The White Whale's voice reverberated from all directions. They could not determine its position—it felt as if it were circling them.
"...?"
The Shogun narrowed her glowing violet eyes and looked up at the dispersed mist above. Soon she sensed something growing louder—drawing closer at tremendous speed. Within the fog, a dark shadow surged like a rushing current.
"Emilia!"
She immediately warned the girl beside her.
"Mm!"
Emilia reacted instantly. She raised her hand, and icy light shimmered across her body. A wave of frost spread across the ground.
Crack! ×N
Cold surged through the air. In a single second, solid ice formed into a shield large enough to cover the entire area, enveloping everyone present.
BOOM!!
A beam like a torrent of compressed water burst from the mist and struck Emilia's ice barrier directly. Space itself trembled violently.
"Ugh!!"
Emilia braced her legs against the ground, nearly dropping to one knee. Her face paled, and sweat beaded across her forehead.
The surrounding soldiers were helpless. With their limited strength—and no magic—they could only watch anxiously, praying.
Emilia endured for one reason.
Because of the person beside her.
"!"
The Shogun's violet eyes turned dangerous. Locking onto the source of the beam within the mist, she transformed into a streak of lightning and shot into the sky in the blink of an eye.
Crackle!!
Like a thunder dragon, the streak tore through the air. From the ground, the soldiers stared blankly as that purple meteor carved a dreamlike tail through the fog.
Following the beam's trajectory in reverse, the lightning closed in. The dark shadow within the mist became clearer. Finally, the enormous amber eye of the White Whale filled her vision. It widened the instant it noticed her.
Too late.
The lightning did not slow. It condensed into her human form midair, and with Engulfing Lightning thrust forward in a devastating stab—
Splurt!!
A sharp sound of flesh being pierced echoed.
BWOOOOOO—!!!
The White Whale let out a wretched scream. From the ground, they saw the streak of lightning pierce through its eye and burst out from the other side of its face.
Blood poured down like torrential rain, dyeing the gray-white mist into a hellish crimson.
The Shogun did not stop. After piercing through its skull, she stepped upon invisible platforms in midair, pivoting flawlessly before turning into lightning again and charging toward its massive body.
Boom!!
Like a missile, she slammed into the White Whale and sent its enormous form flying several meters away. Landing upon its back, she moved like a flash of electricity, slicing rapidly.
From below, all the soldiers could see was that enormous black silhouette being wrapped in blinding violet streaks, blood spraying intermittently.
Perhaps enraged, the White Whale erupted with even denser mist. This time, it was like thick gray smoke—like ink from a squid—completely obscuring vision.
Whoosh!
"...?"
Her blade cut through empty air.
But she did not stop.
Trusting her instincts, she unleashed a surge of elemental power and assumed the form of Transcendence: Baleful Omen. Her gaze turned glacial. The puppet-like armored arm floating beside her clenched its fist and punched toward a specific point in the void.
BOOM!!
The blow landed solidly, sending the hidden White Whale hurtling even higher into the sky.
She descended slowly to the ground. The armored arm beside her drew forth Musou Isshin at equal scale and raised it toward the heavens, unleashing a fierce violet radiance.
Hummm—
The light expanded—far stronger than before—dispersing most of the fog entirely. Her radiant figure was revealed in full, seizing the hearts of those in the distance.
"...Haa."
Emilia let out a breath of relief. The Shogun had won—she was certain of it.
As the mist cleared, what came into view was not one, but numerous colossal White Whales spiraling overhead in a vortex formation. The largest hovered at the highest point, its wounds regenerating.
A cold smile curved the Shogun's lips.
She floated into the air, fixed her gaze upon everything before her, and brought down a blade of lightning that pierced the heavens.
"Torn to oblivion!!"
Everything before her was severed. Space, time, all existence—like fragile glass—split apart in a magnificent fracture. Under a distorted spiral, it shattered piece by piece, dissolving into nothing like an illusion.
"Haa..."
She exhaled and lowered the blade, letting it hang in the air, eyes closed as she waited.
The next second—
Boom! Boom!!
The massive bodies of the White Whales fell one after another beside her, severed cleanly from head to body. Dust and shockwaves erupted, whipping her long hair wildly in the wind.
She dismissed the floating puppet arms, still in her Baleful Omen form, and calmly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
Without even glancing at the corpses, she stepped gracefully toward where the others stood.
Hummm—
After a few steps, her form returned to her usual attire.
The fog... dispersed.
Dawn broke.
It was over.
All that remained was that single slash none would ever forget.
"Good work, Shogun."
Emilia ran over, pulling out her handkerchief and gently wiping her face.
"...I'm not dirty."
She protested faintly, though she did not dodge.
"Hehe... It's called welcoming you back and washing away the dust, you know?"
Emilia tucked the handkerchief away and smiled sweetly.
"How is everyone else? Anyone injured?"
The Shogun looked toward the still-stunned soldiers, slightly puzzled.
What was wrong with them?
"Uh... I think they're all fine."
Emilia laughed awkwardly. Perhaps they were simply overwhelmed by that overly exaggerated strike just now.
"If everyone is unharmed... what now? There's still some distance to the mansion. Shall we rest for a while, or continue?"
She turned to Emilia.
"Mm—everyone must be tired. Let's rest for a bit and set off again at noon."
Emilia decided. There should be an inn ahead—just enough for them to recover.
"Very well... Let's go."
She had no objections. The sun had risen. The fog was gone. Everything would be easier now.