Emperor vs. Ruler

Sunday, July 10th

When Clan shared the note revealing the true goal of Grevanas’s followers, two thoughts flashed through Kiriha’s mind. First was the instinct to send reinforcements after Koutarou and the girls who had gone ahead. Second was a question of what would happen if Grevanas had already been revived.

Either way, the group needed to enter Grevanas’s tomb. If the resurrection ritual was ongoing, it needed to be stopped. And if it had already taken place, they needed to find out what had come of the Grand Wizard’s research. That was why Kiriha ultimately issued the order for Koutarou to charge in. Following that, she promptly sent reinforcements his way.

Prepared for the worst, however, Kiriha then investigated the area. If Grevanas had already been resurrected, what was he up to? The answer couldn’t be anything good. At the most innocuous, he’d escaped somewhere. And at the most vile, he would immediately move to attack Folsaria. After running through all sorts of scenarios in her head and searching out the surrounding area, she came to the conclusion it was the latter.

She had two primary reasons for this. The first was the lack of vehicles at the cemetery. There only appeared to be two large transport crafts, which was hard to believe at an excavation site. There should have been trucks for moving dirt, vans for moving tools, and other vehicles for moving people. Yet there were only the two large transport crafts.

That led Kiriha to believe Grevanas’s followers were using the trucks, vans, and such for something else. And with that many vehicles, they wouldn’t be hard to follow. And indeed, it hadn’t taken the haniwas long to pick up their trail. The tracks headed toward Thorthe, complete with a detour around the incoming Rainbow Heart troops.

That was the second reason Kiriha believed that Grevanas was on the attack. There was no other reason to move on the capital with such a force. No matter where in Thorthe they might be headed, such a large convoy of vehicles would stand out like a sore thumb.

That inevitably meant the newly resurrected Grevanas would be discovered right away. Kiriha couldn’t imagine he and his followers would be so stupid as to give themselves away by accident... which meant they were doing it on purpose. They were prepared to be discovered, and yet they’d been careful to leave quietly. Kiriha believed a coordinated assault fit that bill.

“Ruth has a drone following them. We can still make it in time,” she announced.

“Phew... I’m glad you’re here, Kiriha-san,” Koutarou replied. “But how do we catch them?”

He couldn’t help the chill that ran up his spine when he first regrouped with Kiriha and heard the details of the situation. If she hadn’t picked up on it, he would have been stuck fighting Grevanas while Thorthe was laid waste. But now he had a different set of worries, including how the group was going to catch up to the cultist army. They wouldn’t make it in time if they loaded everyone into the transport crafts and drove after them. Ruth, however, had an idea.

“Master, first we send unmanned fighters over via a transfer gate in order to attack and stall the enemy. Meanwhile, we’ll call a ship to fly there ourselves,” she explained.

“That’s right! You brought all that equipment to the Blue Tower, didn’t you?”

“Heehee... Your liege and your vice captain are both quite capable.”

“I was the one who set up the transfer gate, though,” interjected Clan.

Installing a transfer gate in Folsaria had turned out to be a brilliant idea. They normally required about an hour to prep for human use, but no such safety precautions were necessary when transporting machines. If it failed, they could always try again. So Ruth’s plan was to buy time by bombarding the enemy with unmanned fighters. Meanwhile, she and the group would catch up on a speedy ship. As someone who used transfer gates on a daily basis, Ruth knew how to get the most out of them.

“All right, then we should attack as soon as possible,” Koutarou ordered.

“Already on it,” Theia replied. “I destroyed the road just now.”

She showed Koutarou the footage she was watching, which revealed black smoke billowing up from the mountain road. She’d used a fighter to blow up it, leaving a gaping hole in the road that would make traversing it impossible by car. She’d also done the same thing a little farther down the road, effectively trapping the convoy between two craters.

“Why not just attack them directly?” Sanae asked.

Koutarou smiled wryly as he explained, “There are still people on board. Not to mention those black vials...”

“Oh. Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Wooo...

As they were talking, the ship Ruth had called for landed next to them. Now that Theia had destroyed the road, Grevanas’s followers would either need to find some way around or make the necessary repairs to get by. Either way, leaving by air would allow the group time to close the distance.

“Looks like we should hurry,” Clan urged. “They’ve brought out something strange.”

“What is that?!” Koutarou exclaimed.

“Mountain Ruler... I was hoping they were still alive, but...”

Mountain Ruler Darzakah was another elder dragon that Grevanas had captured in the past. Darzakah was also an old friend of Alunaya’s. Their whereabouts had been unknown for some time, but they’d now reappeared in Folsaria centuries later...

“To think Darzakah would be reduced to this state! Curse you, Grevanas! I swear you won’t walk away in one piece the next we meet!”

Unfortunately, Darzakah was now nothing more than a skeleton. Grevanas had raised the Mountain Ruler from the dead and turned them into a familiar. Like Alunaya, Darzakah was easily over twenty meters tall. In terms of pure strength, the Mountain Ruler exceeded the Fire Dragon Emperor. That held true now even in skeleton form, so lifting vehicles was a simple matter for Darzakah. Yet while it could easily lift the vehicles up, that didn’t mean it was dexterous enough to carry them without damaging them.

Darzakah had always been on the clumsy side, and their intelligence was greatly diminished as a skeleton. A magician needed to give the undead dragon instructions at all times, so it took a while to transport the entire convoy over the crater Theia had made. Still, the endeavor was far faster than trying to fill it in or build over it.

A few minutes after being summoned, Darzakah had already carried the majority of the convoy safely across. The large vehicles that couldn’t make it were abandoned, meaning a commensurate number of troops had to stay behind. By picking and choosing carefully, however, they were able to ensure minimal compromising of their force. Their plan wasn’t to storm Folsaria with military might, after all. The black vials were the most important here. Their victory was contingent on getting those inside the capital.

“As long as I stand, you will never breach the city!”

Rrrumble!

Out of nowhere, a giant dragon with crimson scales landed on the road. His massive body made the very earth tremble, but that wasn’t all he shook. Grevanas’s followers were quaking at the mere sight of him.

“Wh-What’s going on?!”

“A red elder dragon?!”

“Where did this monster come from?!”

Folsaria was home to lesser dragons of little intelligence, but elder dragons were unheard of. Even the great Darzakah was just bones lying around in the basement of Sariachal Castle. Nobody had ever seen one alive... until now.

“The penalty for desecrating the body of my friend Darzakah is death! I am Fire Dragon Emperor Alunaya, and I swear on my name that I will turn you to ash!”

“Th-The Fire Dragon Emperor?!”

“The legendary Alunaya?! It can’t be!”

Alunaya’s colossal figure and booming voice froze the cultists in place. This unexpected turn of events threw them all for a loop. Even if they could use magic, they were still only human. They couldn’t keep cool like Grevanas.

“Alunaya-dono sure is impressive...”

Thanks to Alunaya distracting the enemy’s attention, Koutarou and the crew were safely able to land behind them. Alunaya, essentially, was just a diversion—albeit a very powerful one. Koutarou and the girls knew Grevanas’s followers had powerful magicians among their ranks, so they had to be careful in their approach. That was why they’d had Alunaya make a grand entrance for them.

“He’s certainly a good actor. Who could remain calm when faced with that?” Theia asked.

“It’s not really an act, though.” Shizuka’s voice reached everyone’s mind through the magical communication enabled by Koutarou’s sword and the crests on the girls’ foreheads. “He’s angry about his friend, you know?”

“That’s true. I can understand how he feels. Who wouldn’t get angry to see such a fate befall a loved one?” said Koutarou. He tried to imagine how he would feel if someone was manipulating Kenji’s bones. Just the thought of it made his blood boil.

“So feel free to get serious, Uncle.”

Shizuka was now channeling her voice directly to Alunaya. The Fire Dragon Emperor normally left Shizuka to control her own body freely, but not like this. When inhabiting his native form—a massive red dragon—Alunaya had full control.

“Are you sure? If I get serious, that will mean using a lot of mana.”

“It’s fine this once! I can’t stand what happened either!”

The more mana Alunaya used, the more of an effect it had on Shizuka’s weight. It was a cruel curse for a sensitive teenage girl, but Shizuka was prepared to pay the price to help Alunaya save an old friend—even a skeletal one. If she were faced with her parents the same way, she knew she would pull out all the stops to help them. That was why she believed in Alunaya and supported him completely now.

“I’m most grateful that you came to be my host! Allow me to show you my gratitude later!”

“I don’t need that! Just get to work!”

“Gladly!”

With a flap of his wings, Alunaya charged at Darzakah. He didn’t want to hurt his old friend, but the fastest way to return a raised skeleton to inanimate bones was to destroy the part containing the mana that held the skeleton together. In Darzakah’s case, it was the dragon’s forehead. Alunaya wanted to destroy it as soon as possible and put his friend to eternal rest.

“ROOOAAAAAR!”

Darzakah let out a thundering cry in return and charged as well. Skeleton or not, it was still the Mountain Ruler. The earth shook as its mountainous body moved.

“Alunaya-dono charged in! We’re going too!” Koutarou rallied.

“Whatever you do, don’t damage the small truck in the center!” Kiriha called after him.

“Oh, I know! I don’t wanna die just yet!”

After Alunaya made the first move, Koutarou and the others began their attack on the believers. Koutarou was specifically after the truck that Kiriha had cautioned him about. It was the only vehicle with refrigerated storage in the back, so the group suspected it was most likely the one carrying the black vials.

The biggest question at first was how to get the cultists away from it. If Koutarou and the girls had bombed it from the sky, not only would they have risked sending black liquid everywhere, but they might have killed some of the missing workers from the capital in the process. That was why they’d employed the roadblock, which forced the people riding in the truck to temporarily disembark.

The plan was almost ruined by Darzakah’s appearance, but the riders had still emerged from the vehicle while the dragon was moving it. That gave Koutarou and company the opportunity they needed all the same. If they could just get a hold of the truck now, victory would be theirs.

Kaboom!

Meanwhile, two twenty-meter giants clashed. The collision was so intense that it sounded like a thunderclap. Both dragons locked arms, grappling with one another, but it wasn’t enough to kill their momentum. Their combined weight was several dozen tons, and the impact when they crashed together splintered the bedrock beneath their feet. It could be heard all the way in distant Thorthe.

The overwhelming sight and sound of their clash bought Koutarou and company time to close in, but the enemy magicians were prepared for attack. Their approach didn’t go unnoticed.

“Detecting mana from behind us!” one mage called out. “It might be whoever attacked the road!”

“I have visual confirmation! I see roughly twenty of them! Damn it, we were almost there!”

“So the elder dragon is just a decoy?! Let’s leave him to Darzakah!”

“The enemy is fast but few in numbers! Keep calm and dispatch them!”

Grevanas’s followers had never imagined Rainbow Heart was working alongside an elder dragon, but they had their own trump card in Darzakah. So after the initial surprise and confusion, they were able to collect themselves. They knew they didn’t need to win the fight here—only escape to the capital with the black vials. As such, they made a bold move and summoned flying demons to carry them.

“I was worried they’d do that,” Koutarou groaned.

“It’s just like you said, Satomi-san,” Nana remarked, impressed by his ability to predict the enemy. Meanwhile, she drew her guns—Over the Rainbow—which were specially designed to shoot magic bullets.

“They did the same thing seven hundred years ago by their timeline,” he replied.

“Not changing their methods for so long speaks volumes to their negligence.”

“If they’d had you on their side, Nana-san, we’d be in a whole lot of trouble.”

The ten flying demons the cultists had summoned approached the small truck, where they would pick up the vials and depart for the capital. They could fly over any obstacle, and if they were shot down, they’d simply drop the vials on an unsuspecting Folsaria. The situation was grim.

Koutarou and the others made for the truck, but there was no way they’d intercept the demons in time. Yet in spite of that, Koutarou and Nana seemed almost casual about the whole affair. The reason was soon apparent...

“What?!” one cultist exclaimed.

“The winged demons are falling one after another?!” cried another.

As the demons approached the truck, they collapsed without warning like puppets whose strings had been cut.

“The demons are under attack!”

“Blurgh! W-We are too...”

A colorless, transparent gas had wafted by without notice, knocking them out cold on the spot. No one had seen the attack coming—the enemy was too distracted by Alunaya and Koutarou. So without being any the wiser, all ten demons fell prey.

“That’s Yurika-chan for you. She’s a real artist when it comes to this kind of attack,” remarked Nana.

“Maybe she had a good teacher,” remarked Koutarou in turn.

“Oh, aren’t you a smooth talker, Satomi-san? That said, it seemed it wasn’t enough to deal with the casters...”

“It guess this won’t be like a normal fight.”

Yurika was the one controlling the gas. Her master, Nana, was proud of her work, but she vigilantly kept an eye on the enemy. The gas had put the demons to sleep, but the cultists still had fight in them thanks to magical resistance. They’d seen the demons collapse and taken protective countermeasures for themselves. The invisible gas trick would have worked against most Earthlings, Forthorthians, and People of the Earth, but Folsaria’s magicians were better equipped to counteract it.

“I guess Yurika-chan’s master and her guardian are going to have to put in some work,” remarked Nana.

“Her friends are here too,” added Koutarou.

There, Maki appeared from his shadow and used a wide-area version of a spell she usually favored in close combat.

“Tiny Memory Flash. Modifier: Area Effect.”

“What?!”

“The winged demons are falling one after another?!”

“They’re under attack!”

“Blurgh! W-We are too...”

Thanks to Maki’s magic, the minds of the enemy magicians were sent a few seconds back in time. They thus forgot what they were doing, forcefully interrupting their spells and making them repeat themselves. This bought Maki a little bit of time and allowed her to home in on the cultist who was using defensive magic. She quickly transformed her staff into a greatsword and charged.

“Maki-san reminds me of myself back in my Rainbow Heart days,” said Nana as she opened fire on the collapsed demons.

Summoned demons existed in this world with borrowed bodies made of mana. When hit with Nana’s special bullets, they lost their form and returned to their own world.

“I guess it’s a good thing you scouted her,” Koutarou replied before charging after Maki.

They then engaged the cultists together, fighting in perfect harmony. They covered each other’s blind spots and worked in tandem on tag-team attacks, alternating between their blades and magic. They used every tool at their disposal to smoothly take down one enemy after another.

“Satomi-ku— Yes, next a sword— use that to—”

“My footing— Are you serious, Aika-sa— Cast a spell to— bounce up—”

They were talking to each other all the while, but so fast that they were hardly getting out full sentences. The conversation made no sense to Nana. Nevertheless, their teamwork was in peerless sync. It was like a majestic dance. Nana was convinced that each had to know what the other was thinking.

It looks like Maki-san needs Satomi-san to bring out this side of her... I wonder if he would join Rainbow Heart too.

Koutarou couldn’t use magic. He was constantly relying on tools. But he was the only one who could bring out Maki’s full potential. It was unheard of, but Nana was seriously considering scouting the first magical boy who couldn’t cast a single spell.

Koutarou, Maki, and Nana were given the role of engaging the magicians because they were the most suited for the job. Koutarou had Signaltin, while Maki and Nana had a wealth of experience.

And as the three of them were holding the wizards at bay, the remaining seven girls were fighting off the horde of zombies and skeletons with the help of ten Rainbow Heart soldiers they’d managed to bring along. Sanae and Theia were good with big, bold attacks, and Ruth and Clan were skilled at fighting large groups of enemies.

“I’ve confirmed their total force: 136 units in all,” Ruth reported.

The majority of those units were skeletons and zombies, so they could easily be taken out with explosives and rapid-fire arms... but that led to a problem. There were humans mixed in with the undead army, including some of the workers who’d gone missing from the city and had been lucky enough to escape sacrifice in the resurrection ritual. They’d done nothing wrong; they were simply innocent bystanders under the influence of mind control.

Their purpose in Grevanas’s army was to prevent the Blue Knight’s team and Rainbow Heart from using powerful weapons, but they could also perform useful tasks the undead couldn’t, like driving cars and firing guns. So that they wouldn’t stand out, they were cloaked with the same gray soldier illusion Grevanas had used in the tomb. It was still possible to differentiate them from the undead up close, but not from a safe distance.

“What should we do, Kiriha?!” Sanae shrieked. “If we take too long here, they’re going to push through!”

She was unusually panicked because she couldn’t see through the illusion with her spirit sight like this. The enemy wouldn’t let her get close enough. It seemed they were trying to power their way toward the truck with overwhelming numbers.

“Don’t worry. I have an idea,” Kiriha replied.

She had indeed come up with a plan for exactly this situation. One she was rather confident in, even. But the key player was resistant...

“No way! I don’t want to!” Yurika whined, shaking Kiriha’s confidence.

“Please,” she begged. “It’s the most effective way.”

“I said I don’t want to! If I do any more of this stuff, I really won’t be able to call myself a magical girl anymore!”

Kiriha had already shared the details of her plan with Yurika, which was why she was objecting so adamantly. She shook her head so furiously that her twintails swung back and forth behind her head.

“But if you don’t do this, Yurika-san, it will mean the end of Folsaria,” said Harumi.

“Hrngh...”

Those words made Yurika freeze up on the spot. In truth, she already knew that. She knew she needed to act; she just couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“So it’ll cost you either way... How pitiable,” remarked Theia.

“This is no laughing matter,” scolded Clan.

“Oh, I’m not laughing. I was simply thinking that geniuses have it hard sometimes. I’ve been through something similar myself, so I wouldn’t dare laugh. The same goes for you too, doesn’t it?”

“That’s... true.”

Because of their pasts, Theia and Clan both sympathized with Yurika. Nevertheless, the situation was worsening with each passing second. In spite of their feelings, they needed Yurika to act.

“I will do everything in my power to keep what happens here under wraps. You have my word,” Kiriha swore in an attempt to assure her.

“But...”

“Can you really call yourself a magical girl in the first place if you’re willing to just abandon Folsaria like that?” asked Sanae. “I guess you can always join Darkness Rainbow.”

“U-Ugh... Fine... I get it...”

Albeit reluctantly, Yurika steeled her nerve. Sanae was right—as a magical girl, she couldn’t just abandon Folsaria. She was a proud member of Rainbow Heart, and she couldn’t let anyone take that away from her. She would do whatever it took to defend.

“Just let whatever happens happeeeen!” Yurika shouted.

And with that, she tossed a metallic cylinder a few centimeters in diameter. Or, perhaps it was really her identity she was throwing away...

Boom!

The cylinder began spewing gas that immobilized anyone who inhaled it. Indeed, it was the “gift” she’d gotten from Nefilforan’s squad.

“It’s working!” Kiriha rallied. “Theia-dono, attack!”

“Well done, Yurika! You have my royal praise!”

Theia began firing her assault rifle in the same direction Yurika had thrown the gas grenade. The gray soldiers were falling one after the other.

“Here’s anoootheeer!”

“I wanna play too!”

Yurika was nearly in tears, but Sanae seemed to be enjoying herself as they threw more grenades. The other girls and the Rainbow Heart soldiers followed up by attacking with their weapons and magic. They weren’t holding back either. They were using deadly force.

“This was a brilliant idea, Kiriha-san,” praised Harumi.

“It’s all thanks to Yurika’s relationship with Nefilforan’s squad. That’s what made this possible.”

Kiriha’s plan revolved around exploiting the unique characteristics of zombies and skeletons. As undead, they had no need to breathe. On top of that, they were resistant to poison. That meant only the live humans in Grevanas’s army would be affected by Yurika’s gas grenades.

As the latest models from Forthorthe, they were incredibly effective and had no side effects. The girls watched as the disguised puppets fell to the ground in swift order, leaving only the zombies and skeletons standing. That let Theia and the others safely open fire.

“Their algorithm for independent action is too simple, ho!”

“It’s the result of trying to cut costs by specializing in battle, ho!”

Zombies and skeletons were only equipped with the bare intelligence required for combat. They weren’t capable of complex thought, which was unsurprising, really. No one raised the dead to cook and clean, much less handle negotiations. Zombies and skeletons would never think to save themselves by lying down on the ground and feigning passing out.

There would normally be magicians giving the undead orders, which would have been an issue if Koutarou and company weren’t currently keeping Grevanas’s mages in check. Kiriha’s plan was thus going smoothly, and the enemy’s numbers were rapidly decreasing.

“Sanae-chan, can you pull the pin on five grenades at once?!” Yurika asked.

“You bet! Want me to do it now?” she replied.

“Do it!”

“Here goes!”

Ping, ping, ping, ping, ping!

Sanae tossed five gas grenades up into the air, then ripped the pins out of them simultaneously with her psychic powers. All that was left was to actually throw the grenades, but Yurika had a plan for that...

“Short Teleport! Modifier: Area Effect, Minimum!”

The instant she cast her spell, all five grenades disappeared... and reappeared amidst the gray soldiers.

Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Boom!

They were staggered a few meters apart but all went off at once, covering a wide swath of undead soldiers.

“Good one, Yurika!” Theia roared.

“Since there’s no need to worry about the human puppets anymore, she can compromise on safety and cut the incantation short to save on mana. And by sending multiple grenades at once, she’s getting a grapeshot effect... I’ve never thought of this combination. Keep it up!” called out Kiriha.

Yurika’s teleporting grenade combo was getting rave reviews from her teammates. It wasn’t just Theia and Kiriha either. The other girls and the Rainbow Heart soldiers were equally impressed. As expected of the legendary Rainbow Nana’s disciple, they thought, even though her talents were quite different. By combining magic and weapons of science, she was effectively cutting down the enemy while safeguarding human life. Little did Yurika know she was winning over the hearts of the Blue Tower soldiers this way. Their morale skyrocketed and their attacks intensified, as they were now determined to do their archwizard justice.

“Great showing, Yurika!” Sanae cheered. “Let’s do it again!”

“Augh... We can’t let anyone find out about this...”

Yurika’s morale, however, was plummeting despite the glory she was earning. It seemed less and less likely that stories of her accomplishments would be kept under wraps.

Meanwhile, Koutarou and the others’ battle against the magicians was likewise proceeding well, but Shizuka and Alunaya were struggling against the skeletonized Mountain Ruler Darzakah. Darzakah had unlimited stamina and could continue fighting without tiring—a perk of being undead—and that was in addition to Darzakah’s original strength.

“HYAAAH!”

Alunaya attacked with claw, fang, and tail alike. Wreathed in magical flames, each blow was devastatingly powerful. They came at unbelievable speeds, too.

“RRROAR!”

But the undead Darzakah wouldn’t be driven back. It swung its own claws, blocking Alunaya’s and following up with a great earthquake spell while Alunaya was in the middle of his next tail sweep. This was magic Darzakah had been skilled with in life, and it rocked the ground under Alunaya to make him lose his footing.

“What?!”

“RRROAR!”

Using both arms, undead Darzakah grabbed hold of Alunaya and threw him with all the strength it could muster. The ground cracked and crumbled under Alunaya’s weight.

At his size, an attack like that should have been devastating—but the Fire Dragon Emperor wouldn’t let himself be felled so easily. He’d spread his wings midair to break his fall and land on both feet. Now some distance from Darzakah, the two dragons squared off once more.

“I knew something was strange...” Alunaya said, glaring at Darzakah.

He seemed suspicious, and Shizuka was curious about what. Since Alunaya was controlling her body, she was watching over the battle from within. Yet she hadn’t noticed what was bothering Alunaya.

“What is it, Uncle?”

“That’s Darzakah all right.”

“Didn’t we know that already?”

“No, that’s not what I mean. I’m saying those moves are Darzakah’s too. Mountain Ruler could always read me like that.”

Shizuka now understood what had Alunaya concerned. The dragon in front of them was nothing more than a skeleton of the former Mountain Ruler Darzakah, yet it was behaving like the real deal. The magic and combat abilities were identical, not to mention its familiarity with Alunaya’s moves.

“What?! Is such a thing even possible?!”

“I don’t know. You’d have to ask someone better versed in magic,” Alunaya replied as he readied himself.

Darzakah was coming again. It wasn’t going to wait for him to solve the mystery.

Kaboom!

The two dragons clashed. Though they’d been evenly matched in the past, Darzakah’s limitless stamina would make the difference now. Eventually, Alunaya wouldn’t be able to keep up. Even if that small refrigerated truck was destroyed here, the contents of those horrid black vials would still get out without Grevanas’s army ever reaching the capital. There would still be countless casualties. They had to stop that from happening somehow.

“I’m on it, Uncle! Just hold on! Let’s see... Aika-san, can you talk right now?”

Using the crest on her forehead, Shizuka magically called out to Maki. Nana might have been the ideal magician to consult on the subject, but Maki was the best option Shizuka could reach with her means.

“Yes, of course. What’s up?”

“Uncle’s saying that this skeleton dragon is moving just like it did when it was alive—just like the real Darzakah.”

“When making a skeleton, the problem is how you teach the lifeless body to move.”

Fortunately, Maki knew about skeletons. Even if they were raised with necromancy, it took indigo magic to control them.

“For a human skeleton, it’s easy enough for it to copy its master. But that doesn’t work with nonhuman subjects. Familiars like wolves and owls already have formalized controls, but there’s no such system for an elder dragon.”

Maki explained clearly that Darzakah couldn’t be controlled like a normal skeleton because of its anatomy. That meant whoever had raised the skeletal dragon had also called forth Darzakah’s soul and bound it to the animated bones, which then allowed them to use mind manipulation magic on it. That was why Darzakah moved the way it always had and knew all of Alunaya’s moves. Darzakah was still in there, but had no freedom—just as Alunaya had feared.

“Curse you, Grevanas! You dastard!”

Alunaya had once been controlled by Grevanas himself. Darzakah was going through the same thing now in skeletal form. Alunaya couldn’t bear to see his old friend this way. Driven into a blinding rage, he bucked like he was ready to charge.

“Uncle, you can’t! It’s dangerous to rush in like that!”

Thankfully, Shizuka managed to stop him. With Darzakah’s advantage in stamina, Alunaya couldn’t afford to let his emotions get the better of him. It would be his downfall.

“Then what should I do instead?! I can’t just leave Darzakah like this!”

Though he’d backed down from his charge, Alunaya was still raring to go again. He just couldn’t sit still watching his old friend suffer so.

“Use me, Uncle!”

“What?!”

“If we work together and combine our moves, Darzakah-san won’t have the advantage anymore, right?”

“Ah, you’re right! That just might work!”

Darzakah knew Alunaya’s moves because they’d fought together as friends in the past. But if Alunaya worked in Shizuka’s moves too, they might be able to take the skeletal dragon by surprise.

“Leave the close combat to me! You focus on ranged combat and flying, Uncle!”

“Be careful, Shizuka! Mountain Ruler is stronger in terms of close combat!”

Setting aside the matter of stamina, Alunaya and Darzakah were overall evenly matched. Darzakah’s true strength was physical rather than magical. They were powerful—far more so than the average elder dragon. Meanwhile, Alunaya was more of an all-arounder. He was no match for Darzakah in close combat.

“Don’t worry, Uncle! Their teamwork might be all over the place, but ours is perfect, right?”

“Indeed it is!”

Shizuka believed that, if she and Alunaya could put their moves together, they would be uniquely unstoppable.

“Let us do this, Shizuka!”

“Yeah!”

Alunaya advanced in a karate stance before flapping his wings to take to the skies and plunge toward Darzakah.

“That’s it, Shizuka! It’s working!”

For a moment, Darzakah was stunned. It didn’t know how to respond to the unfamiliar move, so it decided to take up a defensive posture. The plan was to counterattack after blocking.

“Uncle, breathe fire!”

“That’s not very effective against Darzakah.”

“Just obstruct their vision!”

“Understood!”

Fwoosh!

Since it was clear Darzakah was on the defensive, Shizuka wanted to stymie any possible counterattack. The trick she settled on was Alunaya’s fiery breath. She wanted Darzakah to close its eyes, even if only for a moment.

“Let’s finish this here and now! If the fight drags on, it’ll only be doing our opponent a favor!”

“Raaaaaaaah!”

While Darzakah was concentrating on Alunaya’s fire, Alunaya landed just behind its flank and attacked with a backhand chop from its blind spot. Shizuka was in charge of the aim, and the blow sailed straight for Darzakah’s head.

“ROOOAAAR!”

“Too shallow!”

However, Darzakah refused to go down without a fight. It moved its head and right arm in an attempt to dodge and defend. It wasn’t able to block the blow entirely thanks to the fire breath distraction, but it was able to prevent a direct hit.

“The counterattack is coming!”

“Don’t worry! I can see it!”

It was now Darzakah’s turn to go on the offensive, and it swung their claws at Alunaya. A human never would have been able to attack from such a tilted position, but Darzakah used their tail to balance themselves.

“If you learned all this on your own, I’m most impressed!”

Whap!

Using the momentum from their last chop to spin around, Shizuka turned Alunaya around and pressed his left arm against Darzakah’s wrist to stop the incoming swipe.

“But you’ll have to do better!”

Bam!

Shizuka then quickly moved into an attack. She pulled Alunaya’s left hand inward, folding his arm and rotating as she slammed their elbow into Darzakah’s chest.

“RRRRROAR?!”

The blow had Alunaya’s full weight behind it. The impact broke Darzakah’s sternum and pushed the skeletal dragon back a couple of steps. If it had truly been alive in a flesh-and-blood body, it would now be seriously injured.

“Uncle!”

“Leave it to me!”

Quick to action, Alunaya opened his mouth wide and exhaled a blast of white light. It was his fire breath, which was so condensed and hot that it was more akin to plasma.

“RAAAH?!”

The light pierced through the right side of Darzakah’s chest and passed by its spine. If it had made contact there, Darzakah would have been split in two—a decisive victory for Alunaya and Shizuka. They’d missed that chance, however, yet neither seemed particularly upset. In fact, they were smiling.

“We can do this, Shizuka! Darzakah can’t read your moves after all!”

“Let’s give it another go, Uncle! We’ll finish things this time!”

They were celebrating that their plan was working—Darzakah couldn’t keep up with their combined attacks. As long as they could keep putting the pressure on the undead dragon, missing one lucky shot didn’t faze them.

“Go for it, Shizuka!”

“Yeah!”

Shizuka took off running, but not the way an elder dragon would run. Her gait was much more human. Since Darzakah didn’t know anything about Shizuka, it was puzzled by seeing Alunaya move this way. It was strange. Darzakah reflexively assumed it must be some kind of trick and used magic to try to keep the Fire Dragon Emperor at bay.

“RRROOOAAARRR!”

The spell created an intense earthquake, which Darzakah intended to disrupt Alunaya’s charge.

“Shizuka, jump!”

“Got it!”

But thanks to Alunaya’s warning, Shizuka was off the ground before it started shaking. Since he was concentrating on the fight rather than on moving himself, Alunaya’s predictions were fast and insightful. Another merit of the two of them fighting together.

“Hyaaaaah!”

Alunaya flapped his wings and whipped around. Based on their experience living and fighting together, Shizuka knew what Alunaya meant for her to do next based on their angle of approach. Darzakah, however, didn’t. It was oblivious to Shizuka’s karate techniques.

“How about this?!”

Shizuka lashed out with a flying kick, putting all of their momentum and weight into it. Since dragons had tails, they rarely resorted to attacks with their legs. Their tails were longer and more powerful, after all. Darzakah was no exception. The skeletal dragon was on guard for a claw rake, a tail swipe, or even a body slam... but this leg-forward kick was unexpected. Once it realized what Alunaya and Shizuka were trying to do, it hurriedly tried to defend, but the delay cost the dragon dearly.

Crunch!

Shizuka’s mighty kick made contact with Darzakah’s crossed arms, which weren’t quite in the right place to receive the attack. Her kick blew through them and into the dragon’s chest, shattering its ribcage and sending its body crashing to the ground. The impact smashed in its arms and wings, leaving a large crater in the ground. So grievously injured, there was no way Darzakah would be getting up out of it.

“Now’s your chance, Uncle! Do it!”

“But of course!”

Seizing the opportunity, Alunaya grabbed hold of the two horns growing out of Darzakah’s head. When the skeletal beast realized it had been caught, it tried to flail its arms, but they were too badly damaged to move properly.

“HYAAAH!”

With a firm grasp on Darzakah’s horns, Alunaya spun around to slam its head into the ground.

Crack!

This was a fighting technique unique to elder dragons, where they snapped their opponent’s neck. And with the skeleton’s neck destroyed, the spell cast on Darzakah’s skull to control the undead dragon could no longer relay commands to the rest of the body. It stopped moving altogether, like a toy that had run out of batteries. Then again, it was in such terrible shape after Shizuka’s last attack that it wouldn’t have been able to move much anyway.

“You’re as strong as ever, even after centuries, Mountain Ruler Darzakah... Rest well, friend.”

Using their special finishing move on Darzakah was Alunaya’s way of showing respect. He wanted to see his old friend off properly as an elder dragon. Last but not least, Alunaya crushed his forehead where the evil magic lingered, at last freeing Darzakah’s soul.

When Grevanas’s followers saw Darzakah defeated, they panicked. Anyone would upon seeing their trump card fail. They’d been so sure the Mountain Ruler would clinch their victory, yet it was the Fire Dragon Emperor who’d come out victorious... and was now coming for them. Staying calm and collected under the circumstances was unthinkable.

In an act of desperation, the magicians tried to send Grevanas’s entire army—zombies, skeletons, and puppets alike—at Alunaya. It was unfortunate for them that Theia and the others had already taken most of them out. The ones who remained standing were locked in combat, pinning them uselessly in place.

So with no recourse, Grevanas’s followers surrendered. That automatically meant their undead army surrendered with them. Darzakah’s defeat set off a domino effect, with everything quickly falling into place afterward.

Upsy-daisy

Monday, July 11th

With the fighting over, Maki found herself looking over the mountainous roadway where the battle had taken place. Much of it and the surrounding area was destroyed. Black smoke rose up here and there. Remains of skeletons and zombies were scattered all around. The sight of such devastation broke her heart—a sign of the change that had come over her. Such sadness was something that had eluded her before, but there was another feeling welling up in her chest too. One she didn’t recognize.

“What are you doing over here, Aika-san?”

“Satomi-kun...”

Koutarou had noticed Maki standing off on her own and come over to check up on her. She hadn’t noticed him until he spoke up.

“I was just contemplating what it is that I’m feeling,” she confessed.

“If it’s not too much to ask, could you tell me about it?” he asked.

If he left her be, Koutarou knew she would just keep worrying on her own. And so he’d decided to pry a little deeper.

“Sure,” she replied with a nod. She would never consider hiding anything from Koutarou, though it was true there were times that she didn’t speak up unless someone asked. “When I was fighting... I was angry the entire time...”

“Angry? That’s unusual for you.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah. Lately, you’re always calm and kind.”

Maki blushed at Koutarou’s unexpected, honest appraisal. She was pleased, and also embarrassed to hear it to her face. But most of all, she was thrilled that she truly had changed.

“Er, sorry for saying something unnecessary,” Koutarou apologized when he saw her face. “Please, continue.”

“O-Oh, right...”

Maki didn’t think he’d said anything “unnecessary” at all, but she could appreciate that they were straying off topic. Maki looked over the devastated battlefield once more and tried again to explain herself.

“When we were fighting... I was thinking, ‘What if my parents were among the zombies and skeletons?’”

Her parents had died in the epidemic over a decade ago, but they hadn’t been buried in the mountain cemetery. Maki was speaking purely in a hypothetical sense.

“The thought made me unreasonably furious... and that anger lasted the entire battle.”

“So you’ve already forgiven your parents, huh?”

“What...?”

Maki was taken aback by Koutarou’s question. She’d thought she still bore a grudge against them for selling her all those years ago.

“If you hadn’t forgiven them, you wouldn’t get angry about what might have happened to them. Pretty natural, don’t you think?”

“I’ve already... forgiven my parents?”

Maki pressed her palm to her chest and looked back over the battlefield. When she mulled it over for a moment, she felt Koutarou might be onto something. She still didn’t know why her parents had sold her, and now there was no way to find out. They were long dead, meaning they’d suffered the worst possible punishment even if they were guilty. When she thought of it that way, the idea that they might be tortured even still as undead puppets infuriated Maki all over again.

“Maybe you’re right, Satomi-kun...”

When Maki interrogated her feelings more, all she wished for her late parents was peace. She no longer resented them for what had happened.

“So, are you still angry?” Koutarou asked.

“I think it’s settling down,” Maki replied. “Now I just feel sorry for the zombies and skeletons...”

“Don’t worry. Rainbow Heart will make sure they’re all buried properly.”

“I’m glad...”

“Since you’re part of the organization now, maybe you’ll even get to help out in the process.”

“If I am formally hired, I would like to help out,” Maki said with an embarrassed smile.

Koutarou could read her true emotions through that smile. They were endlessly beautiful in his eyes.

Aika-san is too good for her own sake... She needs someone to notice her and praise her more.

Right now, Maki was a genuine magical girl of love and justice. That much was clear to him. If Yurika was a sunflower that bloomed in the light, Maki was a nameless, shade-loving blossom. She flowered secretly out of sight. But what if someone shone a light on her? Or, better yet, moved her into the sun? What if someone—

Am I the only one...?

There, it finally hit Koutarou. He was the only one who saw this nameless indigo flower, meaning he was the only one who could transplant it. And so...

“Okay then.”

He picked up Maki. He was exhausted after the battle, but with his powered armor, she felt as light as a feather.

“Kyah!”

This unexpected turn of events made Maki yelp, although she wasn’t upset. She was just a little embarrassed to be so close to Koutarou. She quickly piped down and slowly turned her earnest eyes up toward him.

“Upsy-daisy,” he said, lifting Maki high into the air like a child.

“Satomi-kun?” Maki asked with a questioning look, unsure what the gesture meant.

Her hair fluttered as she looked at him, and he smiled at her in return.

“I’m just praising a good girl who always does her best. You couldn’t tell?”

“I’m not a child anymore.”

“But you’re still my little Aika Maki.”

Those words held great meaning for her. They encapsulated everything that had happened between her and Koutarou, everything that had happened between her and her parents, how her life had changed, and so, so much more. He couldn’t have said anything more profound.

“You’re the only one who would say that to me...”

Drops of salty water began raining down on Koutarou’s forehead—a sign that the true meaning of his words had reached Maki. That’s why he pretended not to notice.

“The others don’t know that you’re still just a child, Aika-san. You’ve still got a ways to go. The only thing that’s grown about you is your appearance. Everyone else is just fooled because you look so mature.”

“Then... will you watch over me? Until I become a proper adult?”

“Only until then?”

“I think I’ll be an old lady by then...”

“Ahahaha, I’m no match for you, Aika-san.”

“In return, I will watch over you too. Forever...”

“...I really don’t stand a chance against you, Aika-san...”

They smiled at each other. That was all they needed right now. They both understood that, and so they kept smiling until the other girls came to get them.

After winning the battle, Koutarou and the others returned to Grevanas’s tomb to find it empty. Grevanas was missing, and no clues remained behind. The lich and his research were nowhere to be found. As for where they’d gone...

“I believe this has helped you understand magic.”

“Oh, I understand perfectly now, Grevanas! Magic is a wonderful thing! No wonder it got the better of my uncle!”

Grevanas was currently with Ralgwin. The Gray Knight had brought them together after he and Ralgwin had worked behind the scenes to spur Grevanas’s resurrection by his followers. He’d orchestrated the incident to bring Grevanas to their side and to show Ralgwin what magic could do. It was a success on both fronts...

Especially because Koutarou and company still didn’t know that Grevanas and Ralgwin were allied. They’d yet to realize that the Gray Knight had been the one behind Grevanas’s followers. So even though the immediate battle had been lost, victory was truly theirs.

“Indeed. Magic, the power to alter the world, is what kept Vandarion from achieving his goals,” said the Gray Knight. “But not you, Ralgwin.”

“That’s right! I shall defeat the legendary Blue Knight with this!”

Ralgwin had now succeeded in uncovering the mysteries behind the Blue Knight’s spiritual and magical powers. The fact that he now had access to both for himself thrilled Ralgwin. This was a feat that had eluded even his uncle—and it meant he was just as powerful as the Blue Knight. He had every right to be excited.

“Grevanas, how many of those vials were you able to retrieve?” the Gray Knight asked. Quite unlike Ralgwin, there was no hint of elation in his calm voice.

“Thirty-eight. I had fifty-eight in a usable state, and twenty of them went with the horde.”

“Twenty? Don’t you think that was giving them too much?”

“If it were any less, the Blue Knight would have been suspicious. You could also say it was a little thank-you gift for resurrecting me.”

“I suppose. But so be it. We’ll just cultivate what we have and make more.”

“A wise decision.”

In reality, Grevanas’s followers moving on Thorthe were nothing more than a decoy. The Gray Knight’s real goal in the Folsaria operation had been to retrieve Grevanas and the vials of black liquid. Koutarou and the others had caught on much faster than expected, so he’d given the followers a few vials as a diversion. It had been a last resort, but a rather successful one.

“By the way, Sir Gray Knight...” Grevanas started to ask.

“What?”

“Is it true that Ralgwin-dono is Maxfern-sama’s descendant?”

“It is. Maxfern’s family was ruined after the civil war, but their bloodline carried on in the Vandarion family.”

“Meaning... that is your true intention?”

“If it wasn’t, would I have resurrected you? It’s clear what you wish for.”

“How frightening you are sometimes... But what is it that’s changed you so?”

A strong tension hung in the air. And there was an awkward atmosphere between the two men, like two gears grinding against each other.

“...”

Someone silently observed them from the sidelines. It was Ralgwin’s subordinate, the sniper Fasta. Ever since the Gray Knight had appeared, things had been going smoothly for Ralgwin. Too smoothly. They’d solved the mysteries behind the Blue Knight’s powers in the blink of an eye. It made Fasta wary. This was all just too good to be true.

Even if the Gray Knight was in this for Ralgwin’s troops and technology like he said, why would he introduce them to magic for free? Ordinarily, someone would expect something in return. And now the Gray Knight had brought Ralgwin here to resurrect the Grand Wizard.

Fasta couldn’t help worrying that the Gray Knight was up to something far more dangerous than what Ralgwin believed. She was also leery of the Gray Knight’s assertion their alliance was only temporary. That could mean he planned to betray them eventually.

“Behold the wonders of magic, Fasta! Let us make you a rifle with it at once!”

Ralgwin, however, didn’t seem to share any of Fasta’s concerns or even notice how apprehensive she seemed to be. He was completely charmed by his new toy, magic.

“Ralgwin-sama...”

And so Fasta made up her mind then and there. If there was a conspiracy looming over Ralgwin, she would put an end to it herself.

Though Grevanas had ultimately escaped, Rainbow Heart secured both his followers and the black vials. There were twenty in total. Nineteen were safely incinerated, and one went into heavily guarded hazmat storage just in case. The reason was the same as why Grevanas’s research had been sealed away intact—a precaution in case it should be used against them one day.

And with that, Maki’s test mission was concluded. Rainbow Heart gave her an excellent grade. She didn’t get full marks because Grevanas had escaped in the end, but her assessors understood why. The mission had turned into something much larger than anyone had expected, so they left a note in Maki’s file explaining that her evaluation should be given special consideration accordingly. She really was a top-class magician. In other words, Maki was hired.

Now that she was formally an intermediate Rainbow Heart agent, Maki was immediately dispatched to Corona House’s room 106. Her official mission was to support Yurika. Yurika was technically supposed to be showing her the ropes, but anyone who knew them both knew that Yurika would be learning more from Maki than the other way around.

Maki’s assignment to room 106 wasn’t just because Yurika and Signaltin were there, however. It was a special place for Forthorthe, Folsaria, and the People of the Earth. It was also a critical location where emissaries of all three factions met for secret discussions, making it invaluable from a political standpoint.

There was a secondary objective to the magical girls’ mission as well: keeping watch over Kisshouharukaze City. A major incident had happened in Folsaria, which was on the verge of major political changes, but cracking down on magic-related crimes and preventing such things from happening in the first place was a magical girl’s real job. That was why Yurika sometimes went out on patrol with Nana and Maki. Today was one such occasion, and the three girls departed Corona House after dinner to survey the city.

“Wow, Satomi-san really did that?” Nana asked.

“Augh, that sounds nice... He’d never do that for me...” Yurika whined.

Whenever they were out on patrol together, the three magical girls would pass the time chatting about this or that. It was awkward to walk around in silence, and there were things they could only talk about when it was just the three of them. In that sense, going on patrol was convenient.

“But he wakes you up all the time, Yurika,” Maki reminded her.

“Not nicely or anything! He does mean things like make me too hot or cold, or even keep me from breathing... Every morning is an ordeal!” Yurika continued to complain.

“I wish I could find a special someone who’d do that for me too,” said Nana enviously.

She’d been mature from an early age, so she’d essentially missed out on the simple pleasures of her younger years. No one could blame her for wanting a doting boyfriend of her own.

“Your ‘special someone’ isn’t supposed to treat you like that!”

“But Satomi-san is your special someone, isn’t he, Yurika-chan? You’ve paid off your debts, and yet you’re still living in a wardrobe in his apartment.”

“Well... yeah...”

Yurika blushed when Nana pointed that out. She had indeed now paid off her massive debts, but she was ignoring that fact and voluntarily living a life of poverty... all because she wanted to stay close to Koutarou, at least until they graduated high school.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in debt or not. Satomi-kun isn’t going to kick you out,” said Maki.

“Meow,” Snoozy agreed. He didn’t understand what Maki was saying, but he was always on her side.

“But... I still want to be a little troublesome for him...”

“Heehee. That’s just your way of showing love, Yurika-chan. I really envy you.”

Nana truly was jealous, but she was also relieved. Yurika was easy to misunderstand, so she was glad that her pupil had settled into such a happy life. Such pleasant thoughts were interrupted, however, when Nana thought she heard a low hum from somewhere.

“...Oh?”

“What’s wrong?” Maki asked.

“Do you hear that strange noise?”

Nana focused on her left arm as she spoke. Grevanas’s old staff, Encyclopedia, had been incorporated into her body there. Using its power, she cast a spell to enhance everyone’s senses.

“It’s up there!” Maki then called out.

She was pointing above them at what looked like a star... but it was slowly getting larger as the humming noise got louder.

“Why is that light getting bigger?” Yurika asked. “What is it?”

“It’s a meteor! And it’s falling!” Nana screamed.

Meteors always had tails streaking behind them with one exception—if they were headed straight toward the observer. The tail wasn’t visible in that case, as it was trailing out of sight on the other side of the meteor from the viewer. The light just got bigger and brighter.

“Everyone, run!”

“Kyah!”

“Nooooo!”

Even three powerful magical girls were powerless against a falling meteor. They scrambled for a moment before throwing themselves behind the closest cover.

Kabooom!

Seconds later, the meteor became a meteorite... But no matter how long the girls waited, there was no shock wave from the impact. Confused, they all peered out to see what had happened.

“Owowow...”

And where they’d expected to find a space rock, they found a lone girl. When she stood up to brush herself off, the nearest streetlight illuminated her face.

“Higashihongan-san?!” Maki and Nana exclaimed.

“Sanae-chan, why did you fall from the sky?!” Yurika shouted out in surprise, one beat later.

Hearing their voices, the girl’s eyes opened wide.

“Yurika! Maki! And Nana too! I did it! It worked!”

Indeed, there was no doubt that the girl standing before them was Sanae... although she looked a little older than the three magical girls recalled.