[582] In the Name of God (1)
On the sixth day, the Scramble Royal had long since passed its halfway point and dusk was falling.
Amy, having checked Iruki's summon signal and heading back to the hideout, spotted Kaiden perched on a rock and stopped.
His body—rested for two days after Shirone wounded him—had fully recovered, but the air around him felt different from before the Scramble Royal began.
"Kaiden."
"Go."
Kaiden spoke without looking at her.
Kaiden has no cards.
He'd been in the fight from the start today, but had collected no cards at all.
That could be part of Iruki's plan to steer the cards to Hershi, but even allowing for that, Kaiden's inactivity was striking.
"You're just going to let me go like that?"
"Yeah. You can try to 'Kang' me. It'll be annoying, but go ahead."
Being brushed off tasted bitter.
What is he thinking?
Kaiden stared up at the stars in the night sky.
"I keep my promises. I'm just waiting for the Scramble Royal to end."
He'd realized that in team battles where card combinations mattered more than raw force, killing Shirone was impossible.
"I'll admit I underestimated him. I was completely beaten. But will the same result happen again?"
If Shirone could assess an opponent and find a counter in the shortest time, Kaiden could do the same.
"Shirone's amazing. Time-manipulating ability. But now I know, too—the real match starts after the Scramble Royal ends."
"If you pull something like that, your life will be finished."
"It already is."
Kaiden looked at the Crosssword planted in the ground.
"Maybe the cursed fate began the moment I abandoned the sword. What difference does magic make? I'll just find something new."
Amy sighed and walked over to face him, leaning her back against a tree.
"Come to think of it, this is the first time I've been alone, one-on-one, with someone from the graduating class."
The crimson eyes of the Karmis family and the Cross family's Cross Sign were symbolic bloodlines that bolstered the Tormia Kingdom's prestige, apart from political power. Domestically they were fierce rivals, but when foreign threats appeared they often stood together.
"I remember seeing you at a banquet when we were kids."
Kaiden recalled that time. To the youngest entrant to the Kaizen Sword School, Amy had looked like a pathetic girl skulking in alleys with no aim.
"Heh. And now we meet again at the Magic Academy. What a twist of fate."
"Confess to Maya."
Amy pushed off the tree and said, "You're decent enough. If you go to her sincerely, she might change her mind. Do you have to take it out like this?"
"If I win Maya's love, will that be good for you too?"
Amy frowned. "Why are you so twisted? If someone says something with good intentions, can't you just take it at face value?"
"If it sounds bad, then it isn't a good thing. Especially coming from the Karmis family."
"What do you mean?"
Kaiden gripped the hilt of his Crosssword and rose.
"The Cross family's Cross Sign lets you push the talents fate gave you to their limits."
"I know it's impressive."
"Impressive?"
Kaiden's lips twisted. "Put it another way—apart from the talents fate assigns you, you can do nothing else."
"..."
"Yeah. The Karmis family's crimson eyes—abilities that let you back up your self-image and instantly correct mistakes—those take effort. But the Cross Sign requires no effort. You're born to do it. But you see..."
Kaiden gave a self-mocking smile. "Being good at something doesn't make you happy. No matter how trivial, doing what you want is what makes you happy."
"That's arrogant."
Amy remembered her childhood, when she had no idea what she should do.
"Sure. Some will call it the whining of the well-fed."
Kaiden planted the Crosssword vertically in the ground. "At first I thought it was a blessing—born different from the other Cross Signs. If I wanted something, I could be the best."
That was the Red Cross Sign.
"But there's a price. A sacrifice. Understand, Karmis."
Kaiden's face contorted. "If I truly want something, I cannot be the best."
He had wanted to be an artist.
"The woman I truly love—!"
The black in Kaiden's eyes vanished. "She will never love meeeeee!"
Murderous intent...!
Amy jumped back.
"I'm a bastard of fate! Born with a cursed destiny that can never be happy! So kill! I will kill Shirone, who stole the woman I love!"
Kaiden hunched like a fiend, radiating killing intent.
"Do you know what it feels like to be merely good at something? To know the misery of being able to do nothing else?"
Amy snapped, "Why would I know? You live your life—deal with it yourself!"
Kaiden's brows narrowed. "If you're only venting, I'd listen all night, but someone who ruins other people's lives has no right to whine!"
"...Move. This is your last chance."
"No. You don't even have to get to Shirone. I'll punish anyone ugly enough to butt into my love life with my own hands. That's how I live."
"You'll regret taking on the Cross, Karmis."
Blue electricity wrapped the Crosssword.
"I'll never regret it. Karmis are only satisfied when they do what they want."
A thousand-degree flame flared up around Amy.
The gaze of a magic swordsman who could wield magic and schema at once collided with that of a gunner...
Lightning Impact!
They charged without hesitation.
Flame Strike!
Two of the kingdom's most illustrious bloodlines crashed head-on.
* * *
The fifth Scramble Royal was summoned.
Anchal's retirement had been a boon for Shirone's team, but Amy's absence from the mid-round summon made people uneasy. On top of that, Neid's whereabouts remained unknown. With strange incidents occurring one after another, no one could tell which way the scales of victory were tipping.
Do what you can. Keep an eye on Pisho!
Sabina, tasked with disrupting the allied team's card collection, immediately infiltrated deep into enemy lines.
What is this?
A chilling cold, heavy with a sinister aura, pressed in from all sides.
It's Prings!
They were supposed to avoid him, so Sabina teleported.
"Ugh!"
But her escape route was already completely cut off.
An enormous cold. Where did this surge come from?
"I've got you, Sabina."
Prings tore through a frozen leaf that shattered against her face and revealed himself.
Could such vicious malice be shown on a human face?
Seeing him unhinged, Sabina cast Shining without thinking.
Distress signal!
Three flares shot into the sky and were reflected off the ice dome that enclosed them.
Not even three seconds after spotting Prings, the air had frozen solid.
"Don't worry. I won't make you angry anymore."
Prings had changed how he satisfied his desires. "I don't care about your emotions. Whether you're disgusted or pleased."
To him, humans were now puppets that screamed when a button was pressed.
"I'll twist you apart."
As he spoke, Sabina spun explosively.
Air Flower.
Forty Air Cuts per second radiated outward, scraping the dome's inner wall, but Prings slipped through the dense gaps and closed in.
Got you!
Sabina's eyes flashed as her rotation reversed in an instant, sucking the air toward her.
"Suction?"
Air Crash!
The atmosphere spun like a massive propeller and began grinding the dome from the inside.
"So there's a trick after all?"
Crack!
Blades of ice shot up like knives from beneath Prings' feet and slammed into Sabina.
Ka-ka-ka-ka!
Even as ice shattered against the air-propeller, Prings didn't stop his magic.
"Ugh!"
As the duel shifted from technique to magical power, Sabina's spin gradually slowed.
She's freezing.
Prings' true power rose without restraint.
Five minutes later.
Sabina writhed with both legs trapped in an ice column twisted like a pretzel.
"Aah!"
"You lasted pretty well, but—"
Prings planted his foot in the air and an ice pillar rose to form a stairway.
"My thirst's only grown stronger."
"Ugh!"
Prings climbed to Sabina's level and grabbed her face.
"Scared? Wondering what I'll do to you?"
He paused suddenly and pulled his hand away as if realizing something. "Right. What if I just let you go? Wouldn't that be fun?"
Sabina glared, and Prings' mouth split into a grotesque grin. "Of course I wouldn't do that."
"Perverted bastard!"
"You probably haven't seen a true pervert yet..."
Ice formed at the tips of Prings' fingers and curved like a beast's claws.
"Stop."
Prings halted mid-motion as if to grasp the fragile nape of her neck. Sabina turned her head.
"...Neid?"
Neid, who hadn't been seen since yesterday, stood in the forest's shadow with his head bowed.
"Finally the hero appears? What now? You coming won't change the fact that Sabina's already finished."
Drdrdrdr!
Prings felt vibrations through the ice pillar and looked down to see blue electricity rippling across the ground.
Ice doesn't conduct electricity.
Water conjured by magic is an insulator unless given ionic charge by a hydrodynamics specialist.
Before Prings could puzzle it out, metal fragments buried underground spun and ground the ice pillar down to nothing.
Now!
Seizing the chance, Sabina teleported out of Prings' reach.
"Neid! What the—!"
"Don't come!"
Neid shouted without lifting his face. "Just go. And never come back here."
Sabina, who knew Neid's secret, couldn't bring herself to turn away.
"But Neid—"
"You promised. Please."
No matter how he changed, Neid was still Neid. Because it was Neid standing before her, she could come to rescue him even with his true face revealed.
"All right. Be careful."
Sabina turned and fled the battlefield at speed.
"Hmm."
Prings blinked and twirled his mustache. "This is interesting."
"...Is it?"
"You know why I sent her? I'd wondered. In short, someone's willing to sacrifice themselves for a woman. What if I reverse that?"
Neid remained motionless.
"I'll torment you until you're about to die. Then I'll make you beg. Or I'll torment Sabina instead. Fun, right?"
"...'Kang.' You not going to do it?"
"Kang?"
"Because of that... I was late collecting cards."
Prings checked his master card and confirmed Neid had the same card.
"No, I won't. So you just wasted your time. Puhahahaha! This is hilarious!"
"Good to hear."
Prings' laughter cut off. "I don't like causing trouble for my friends."
At last, Neid stepped out of the forest shadows and toward Prings.
"Heh—poor thing. Soon you'll be a huge burden to your friends—"
Prings' expression hardened the moment he saw Neid's face.
"You..."
"Then let's begin."
A tremendous roar shook the mountain.
"Neid!"
Sabina, descending the slope, spun and scanned the summit in alarm.
"S-sweet Jesus..."
Massive bundles of electricity rose like hair, devastating the area.