CHAPTER 6

THE GRAN COLOSSEO

Airships weren’t an uncommon means of transportation in Asterisk. Having been miniaturized from their traditional counterparts thanks to the science of meteoric engineering, they could take off and land from any open space the size of a heliport.

They were, however, mainly targeted to tourists and were seldom used by students. The only exceptions were probably the members of the various student councils when they wanted to avoid the usual traffic congestion on their way to the central district.

Such as right now.

“Ah, sorry for not introducing myself sooner… I-I’m Hufeng Zhao. I’m Jie Long’s student council secretary.”

“You’re the Peerless Thorn, the Tenka Musou, right?” Sylvia asked. “I’ve heard about you, too, of course. And you came to one of my concerts, didn’t you?”

“Huh? H-how do you…?”

Sylvia smiled. “I try to look at the face of every person who attends my concerts. Of course, I can’t remember everyone, though.”

The boy—Hufeng—blushed. “I-I’m honored!”

Ayato had heard of Hufeng Zhao as well. He was currently ranked number seven at Jie Long and had been a runner-up in the Phoenix four years ago. At the moment, however, he looked just like any other of Sylvia’s fans.

“My apologies. He does love Miss Diva.” Xinglou, sitting directly across from Ayato, laughed.

The airship, decorated with a painted dragon, seemed quite small from the outside, but it was surprisingly spacious. It could probably hold a maximum of ten passengers. The interior was decorated in an oriental design like one would expect from Jie Long but also fitted with large viewing windows along the sides, so that they could overlook the city below.

“By the way, um…”

“Call me Xinglou. You aren’t my student, so there’s no need for formalities.”

“Okay, Xinglou. Are you taking part in this event, too?”

“No. I’ve only been involved in the management. Hufeng will take part in my stead.”

Hufeng, who until now had been in high spirits, knit his brows. “I didn’t want to, but my master insisted…”

Unlike Xinglou, Hufeng seemed to be quite earnest, so he probably always had something to worry about thanks to her.

“But it should be a good opportunity to observe the Murakumo up close and personally, so if I do have to participate, I’ll make the most of it,” he said, staring at Ayato defiantly.

His eyes glowed with the distinctive passion of a trained warrior.

“There was also a last-minute addition, a special guest.”

“A special guest?”

“Pendragon.”

“Pendragon…?” Ayato startled. “From Gallardworth…?”

Xinglou nodded. “There isn’t anyone here in Rikka who can match him in swordsmanship. Then again, if that young lady from Seidoukan were a little older, who knows how it would turn out?”

“Oh, so Ernest will be making an appearance, too…” Sylvia trailed off, as if lost in thought. “Xinglou, is registration still open?”

“Huh…? Sylvie?”

“S-Sylvia?!”

Ayato’s and Hufeng’s faces both blanched at the unexpected question.

Xinglou, however, leaned forward, letting out a burst of laughter. “Aren’t you the eager one, Miss Diva.”

“This is a rare opportunity, after all.”

“Good, good. I’m afraid it’s closed already, but leave it to me. I’ll ensure that a spot will open. Although I doubt that anyone would be foolish enough to try to stop Sylvia Lyyneheym from joining in on the fun.”

Xinglou beamed, taking out her mobile device.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Eishirou’s voice echoed through the Sirius Dome to a tremendous roar of excited cheers that rivaled even the Festa. “Thank you all for waiting! I hope that you’ve all been enjoying the school fair. To those of you who think you’ve had enough, and to those of you who still want more, I guarantee you that today’s event will be the highlight of these past three days! It’s finally time to open the Gran Colosseo!”

The participants were already gathered on the stage.

No sooner had the airship landed than Ayato, Sylvia, and Hufeng were each handed a Lux and shown to the stage with the other participants.

There were thirty-one of them in total. Nobody, it seemed, had been told what would happen next.

“This is Eishirou Yabuki, of Seidoukan Academy’s newspaper club, covering this joint event from three of our great schools. Welcome!” Eishirou, standing in the commentary box, announced in high spirits.

He seemed to have quite a talent for live commentary, Ayato thought, considering that it wasn’t his usual line of work.

“Yo, Amagiri,” came a familiar voice from behind his shoulder. “You still sporting that dumb look, huh? Not what I was expecting from the champion of the Phoenix.”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it, Irene? You look as energetic as ever.”

“Yeah, you think so? Thanks to you, the Gravisheath’s a piece of junk. I’m down to eighteen in the rankings now.”

She might have been feigning anger, but the fact that she could maintain even that position without the Gravisheath was no doubt thanks to her great physical abilities. Having fought against her himself, Ayato knew that her idiosyncratic fighting style was in no way inferior to those of the people ranked higher than her at Jie Long.

“Right, I heard that you came to visit us this afternoon. That you brought a woman with you. You’re quite something, huh?” she added with a smirk.

“Ah, that’s…”

Priscilla must have told her.

But in that case, how could he explain himself?

“Each and every contender in today’s Gran Colosseo was strictly screened from the ranked lists of each academy! Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce our esteemed guests! Let’s start with the name most fresh in your minds, the champion of the Phoenix, Seidoukan Academy’s top-ranked fighter, heir to an ancient school of swordsmanship, the Murakumo, Ayato Amagiri!”

And with that, the spotlights all swung toward him, forcing him to narrow his eyes to see through the glare.

At the exact same moment, a wave of cheers erupted all around him, the crowd’s passion washing over him.

“Next up is Gallardworth’s very own Pendragon! The man who led the Silverwinged Knights to victory in the last two Gryps, Gallardworth’s top-ranked fighter, a knight among knights with whom the Runesword fell in love at first sight, Ernest Fairclough!”

The spotlights turned to Ayato’s right, illuminating a handsome young man in a Gallardworth uniform with his hand raised lightly to the crowd.

That was all it took for a burst of high-pitched squeals to descend upon the stage.

He was clearly popular with women, Ayato mused.

“And now, next on our list, an unexpectedly late entry into the competition, our peerless songstress, the world’s top idol, Queenvale’s top-ranked fighter and runner-up at the Lindvolus, the woman with the most enchanting voice in the world, our Sigrdrífa, Sylvia Lyyneheym!”

This time, the spotlights moved to the left, and an explosion of cheers completely surpassing those given for Ayato and Ernest flooded the Sirius Dome.

Or rather than cheers, Ayato thought, they were more like wild screams.

“A-amazing…”

“What were you expecting? She is the world’s most famous singer,” Irene sputtered, her expression showing a complete lack of interest in her. “I’m more interested in him,” she continued, glancing toward Hufeng, who was doing some warm-up exercises by the wall. “I thought of going back to hand-to-hand combat, you know? But Jie Long’s fighting styles are far too logical. Like, in the way they use their prana. And he’s one of the best at that.”

“Oh? So you’ve seen him fight in person?”

The flow of a person’s mana and prana was all but impossible to sense just by watching a recording.

Ayato had seen videos of Hufeng’s matches, and the impression that he had received was that his speed was completely out of the ordinary.

In fact, he might have been faster than anyone he had ever seen before.

“Well, duh… Looks like we’re finally up to the explanation.”

“With that out of the way, the Gran Colosseo has so far been described only as a field simulation battle, so allow me to explain the rules! I’m sure that our contestants are dying to know as well!”

The Sirius Dome seemed to be at maximum capacity despite the vague publicity. Perhaps, Ayato mused, fanning the flames of people’s curiosity had worked in the event’s favor.

Events that took place in the Sirius Dome had to be approved by Asterisk’s City Council. That required a considerable amount of funding, so if there were any question about the plans, there was no way it would have gotten to this point.

Moreover, the fact that it was taking place in the Sirius Dome on the last day of the school fair would no doubt be seen by many visitors as proof of its worth.

“First of all, the Gran Colosseo is organized into three parts. Contenders who satisfy the conditions of each phase will proceed into the next one. Those who fail will be disqualified.”

“Satisfy the conditions, huh…? It almost sounds like a game.”

“Seriously, you’re too naive. They’re saying this whole thing was organized by Ferrovius’s vice-chair.”

Ferrovius was the largest of Allekant’s many warring factions, headed by Camilla Pareto.

“They’re apparently in the middle of a dispute over Pareto’s successor or something. This whole thing seems to be designed for them all to show off their research.”

There was no arguing that it was hard to believe that they had gone to this much effort for the sake of pure entertainment.

“Well, that’s enough friendly chat. Let’s do our best, yeah?” Irene said, departing with a wave.

A huge air-window opened above the stage listing all the conditions described by Eishirou.

“And most importantly, the Gran Colosseo is not a battle royal! Fighting between participants is expressly forbidden, so anyone who intentionally attacks another contender will be automatically disqualified. Furthermore, in the pursuit of fairness, all contestants can use only the Luxes prepared for them by the organizers.”

“So that’s what this is for,” Ayato thought aloud, glancing at the blade-type Lux that he had been given.

That meant that he couldn’t use the Ser Veresta. It made sense, though: No matter what the conditions were, there was no arguing that the other contestants would be at a disadvantage if he used it.

“It’s also expressly forbidden for Stregas and Dantes to use their abilities—although there’s only one person to whom that should apply.”

That person, of course, would be Sylvia.

It sounded like the organizers wanted the tournament to be about physical ability and technique only.

The “strict screening” Eishirou mentioned probably weeded out all the Stregas and Dantes, Ayato guessed.

In that case, Xinglou might have had to put some pressure on the management to allow Sylvia to take part, although her name value no doubt played a role in convincing them to let her enter.

“But that’s enough introduction! Let’s get started with the first phase!”

No sooner had Eishirou finished speaking than the floodlights cut out, and countless glowing shapes began to descend toward the stage from above.

“Are those Rect Luxes…?”

Countless swords with blades of blinding light and large gun-shaped devices came to a stop in midair, floating above the stage. There must have been at least a hundred of them.

It was impossible to tell how many people were controlling them, but whoever they were, they must have been hiding somewhere out of sight.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, these are the newly developed Luxes that I’m sure you’ve all heard so much about! To clear this phase, our contestants will have to make it past them!”

The Rect Luxes, jointly developed by Allekant and Seidoukan and which Julis had been testing as a monitor, had been officially announced at the end of last year.

As such, only students of those two academies currently had access to them, but it was expected that they would eventually spread to the other schools, too.

“…Heh, so the first phase is supposed to be a demonstration, huh?”

Irene seemed to have hit the nail on the head. There was no doubt a lot of expectation riding on their performance.

“To satisfy the conditions, each contestant will have to destroy a target terminal within the time limit. The target terminals are colored red, instead of the usual green. There are twenty in total and thirty-one participants, which means that at least eleven people will have to drop out here.”

Just as Eishirou had said, there were a number of red terminals mixed in with the green ones.

“Moreover, unlike in the Festa, in this first phase all our contestants will fight alongside one another. Contestants, if you are hit by an attack, you will be immediately disqualified, no matter how light the damage, so be sure to keep your eyes open!”

That, Ayato thought, was an incredibly severe condition.

The organizers clearly had the advantage. The stage was set up in such a way that it would all but force the contestants into a melee, and they couldn’t risk hitting any of the others.

“Contestants, are you all ready? Then let the first phase begin!”

No sooner had Eishirou finished speaking than the Rect Luxes snapped into movement, surrounding the stage from all sides.

Ayato sighed. “Haah… I don’t like being someone’s plaything, but I guess I have no choice.”

He released his seal, and at that moment bullets of light began to speed toward him from all directions. The sword-type Luxes needled their way toward every available opening, getting ready to strike downward from the air above.

However…

…for Ayato, who had entered the state of shiki, dodging those attacks was no trouble at all.

No matter how many of them there were, weapons were, after all, only as competent as their user. And from what he could see, whoever was controlling the Rect Luxes didn’t seem to be as strong as Julis.

He scanned his surroundings for a target, all the while dodging the endless stream of bullets and sword strikes that came his way. It didn’t take long for him to find one.

The target terminal wasn’t joining in on the onslaught. Instead, it hung back behind a wall of its companions. After a short moment, it seemed to realize that Ayato had it fixed in his sights and sped into the mass of green Luxes as if to escape.

“Oh no you don’t!”

His own Lux ready, Ayato intercepted one of the endless bullets of light that were coming his way, changing its trajectory with the force of the impact. The attack scored a direct hit, the target losing its balance and plunging toward the ground.

The remaining Luxes seemed to intensify their attacks, but Ayato leaped toward the fallen one, destroying its handle with a stroke of his sword.

“Well, that was fast! Contestant Amagiri has cleared the first phase within the first minute!”

“Phew…” Ayato let out a sigh of relief to the cheers of the crowd, retreating to the corner of the stage.

“Very impressive, Amagiri,” came the voice of a young man who had similarly parted from the battle.

It looked like Ernest Fairclough had also wasted little time passing the first phase.

Ayato let out a soft laugh. “Ha-ha, it’s an honor to be praised by Asterisk’s finest swordsman.”

“Oh no, I’m afraid I’m not that impressive… It’s a pleasure to meet you. Although I believe we saw each other during the award ceremony after the Phoenix.”

Ayato accepted Ernest’s outstretched hand.

He would never have expected that he might shake the hands of two top-ranked fighters in the same day.

“I’ve heard that your school of swordsmanship focuses on fighting against multiple opponents simultaneously. You must be pretty good at dealing with this kind of situation.”

“Well, I suppose so. Gallardworth focuses on one-on-one fighting, however.”

“It’s developed out of dueling techniques rather than battlefield ones, right?”

Given that Ernest was Gallardworth’s student council president, Ayato had expected him to be more formal, but he was surprisingly relaxed. He looked slightly older that Ayato, probably around twenty years old.

Ernest was still gripping his hand, staring intently at Ayato’s face.

“Um…? Is something wrong?”

“No, forgive me. Actually, I’ve wanted to speak with you for a while now. But I suppose this isn’t the best time or place.” Ernest released his hand, flashing him a friendly smile.

“Someone else said the same thing just a short while ago… Jie Long’s student council president.”

Ernest chuckled. “Ha-ha. You must be the real thing if the princess herself has taken an interest in you.”

“But there’s something about her that I just can’t understand…”

But before Ayato could finish, Sylvia appeared beside them, making no effort to hide her displeasure.

“Hmph. So these are Rect Luxes? They’re not what I was expecting.”

She didn’t seem particularly impressed by them.

“Oh, Miss Lyyneheym. So you do know Mr. Amagiri?”

“Well, yeah. What do you mean?”

“You did both come to Gallardworth yesterday, didn’t you?”

“…So you noticed?”

Ayato and Sylvia exchanged measured glances.

They had indeed gone to Gallardworth the previous afternoon, but it had seemed like the most peaceful of all six of the Asterisk’s schools. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred, certainly nothing to make them think anyone had seen through their disguises.

“I have a friend with very sharp eyes.”

“Ah, I get it. That girl who was dressed like a boy?” Sylvia exclaimed, raising a hand to her forehead as if to hide her embarrassment.

“Our vice president was quite concerned to learn that Queenvale’s and Seidoukan’s top-ranked fighters had come together, but it looks like it was nothing to worry about.”

“Well, it was only a date. Right, Ayato?”

“Ah…”

“Oh, I must say I’m jealous.”

The three of them continued to talk for a while, until a loud buzzer sounded through the arena.

“And that’s the end of the first phase!”

They all turned back to the stage at the sound of Eishirou’s voice. Most of the Rect Luxes seemed to have disappeared.

The number of remaining contestants was lower than Ayato had expected.

But it was something else that had him concerned.

So the first phase went on for fifteen minutes… If the other two go on for that long, too…

He was able to break the seal that Haruka had put on his powers for longer than he once could, but the total amount of time was still little more than an hour. If the event went on any longer than that, he might not be able to last.

“Fifteen of our participants have passed through the first phase, and just over half have dropped out! Those of you who have been disqualified, please leave the stage immediately!”

The crowd gave muted applause to the disqualified contestants as they left the stage, shoulders slumped in disappointment.

Among the remaining contestants were Hufeng and Irene, and the others all looked to be fairly capable as well.

Even taking the strict conditions into account, given that all the contestants were ranked fighters, their numbers had been reduced by half was already an indicator of the Rect Luxes’ potential.

“Now then, my apologies to our contestants, but time is short, so let’s move on at once to the second phase of the Gran Colosseo!”

As Eishirou fell silent, an entrance gate at the opposite side of the arena swung open, a huge shadow slowly emerging.

“Is that…a Puppet?” Ayato whispered.

At first glance, the huge frame, wrapped in an imposing set of heavy armor, seemed to resemble the autonomous battle puppets that Ayato and company had fought in the Phoenix. Its body and shape, however, were larger than Ardy’s, and it was hard to say that it looked particularly elegant.

Behind the first came another, and another, and another.

“No, they look like powered combat suits,” Ernest corrected him.

In that case, there would have to be people inside them.

“The conditions of the second phase are the opposite of the first. Those contestants who can evade the attacks of these new powered combat suits will be able to move onto the final phase. Contestants, you are of course free to fight back. However, like last time, you will be disqualified if you take a hit, so be careful!”

Eishirou might have called the conditions the opposite of those of the first phase, but in practice, they weren’t all that much different.

“Hmm… Looks like there are twenty of them,” Sylvia murmured.

There were more powered suits than remaining contestants.

“They probably wanted to make sure that they at least matched however many of us passed the last round.”

“Looks like it.”

The organizers, it seemed, had put a lot of thought into it.

“Phase Two—begin!”

At Eishirou’s announcement, one of the powered suits leaped to the forefront of the pack, charging toward the stage.

“Heh… This is a surprise.” Ernest’s voice was filled with admiration.

Judging from their appearance, even Ayato hadn’t thought they’d be able to move particularly fast, but their speed belied all expectation.

The contestant closest to the charging suit raised their sword to meet its attack.

A glowing blade just like that of the contestant’s Lux emerged from the powered suit’s right arm, colliding with the contestant’s sword with a bright flash—and to everyone’s surprise sent the contestant flying across the arena. The strength of the suits, it seemed, wasn’t to be underestimated.

As the contestant fell to the ground, a barrage of glowing bullets rained down. It looked like the suits came equipped with both kinds of armament.

“It looks like we’re already down one contestant! How many will make it through to the final phase?”

“These guys look tough,” Sylvia said over her shoulder just as several of the powered suits began coming her way.

But before Ayato could ready his Lux, she took a step forward, placing a hand on his. “Ladies first,” she said with a wink.

She was grasping a regular rapier-type Lux in her right hand.

“I’m not particularly used to it, but I’ll manage.”

She usually wielded a bayonet-type Lux in her matches. The sword was quite a bit larger, so it would no doubt be harder to control.

Nonetheless, she stepped straight into the powered suit’s path without even the slightest hesitation.

The first powered suit paused in momentary confusion. It looked like there was indeed someone controlling it from the inside.

However, it quickly assumed a fighting stance, lunging out with its blade in a horizontal slash.

Sylvia managed to dodge it without any apparent difficulty, driving her own weapon down toward the suit’s body. However—

“Oh dear… It’s stronger than I thought.”

Her attack should have plunged right through it, but it left no more than a slight dent. It might as well have caused no damage at all.

If the attack had failed, then their Luxes would probably be of no use piercing their armor.

“…I guess this is what they were planning from the beginning, making us use these Luxes,” Ayato pondered aloud.

As far as Luxes went, they seemed stronger than average, but if the event was meant as a demonstration, it made sense for the organizers to try to make the contest as one-sided as possible.

“That’s a dirty trick.” Ernest, staring at his own Lux with distaste, must have realized what was going on, too.

“If that’s how it is, we’re going to need some better ideas,” Sylvia said, jumping back while the powered suit fired off a barrage of glowing bullets.

The suit spun around as it tried to land a shot on her, when—

“…Looks like you need to work on your rhythm.”

Sylvia’s sword flashed brilliantly, the powered suit going limp before crashing to its knees.

Astonishment and confusion emanated from it. The person inside probably hadn’t even realized what had happened.

Sylvia had struck at its joints.

While that was the usual approach to dealing with heavy armor, the powered suits seemed to have been designed to withstand such attacks by constantly adjusting their shielding.

Sylvia, however, had aimed for the precise moment that its shielding was adjusting before making her attack.

“I would have expected no less from Miss Lyyneheym. But I’m going to lose face, if she takes care of them all without even using her abilities.” Ernest, activating his own Lux, glanced toward Ayato. “Let me handle this, as an act of courtesy to your senior,” he said, turning to face a pair of oncoming powered suits.

“Uh, I’ll take the other one…,” Ayato began, when Ernest flashed him a meaningful grin. “All right, I’ll leave it all to you. I guess…”

Having been preempted yet again, he could do little but stand back and watch.

Ernest stepped forward, two of the powered suits preparing to catch him in the middle of a pincer attack—standard tactics for a two-against-one fight.

Ernest, however, showed no sign of preparing to attack. He hadn’t even raised his sword to defend himself. To a casual observer, he would have seemed to have left himself completely open, but it was clear to Ayato that his blade was lying dormant beneath that facade of defenselessness.

Then, at the very moment that the two powered suits stepped forward, both of their right arms were blown away in a terrible explosion.

“Wh-what on earth was that?! The powered suits confronting contestant Fairclough just lost their arms!” Eishirou cried over the loudspeaker.

Ayato, however, who quickly understood just what Ernest had done, was even more surprised. “What was all that about losing face?” he muttered.

Ernest had waited for the very moment before the two powered suits activated their Luxes and attacked with his own blade just as they had begun to materialize.

And both of them at the exact same time.

If his timing had been off by even a fraction of a second, he would have been blocked by their shielding, or else clashed blade to blade. Ayato had his doubts that even Kirin could move that fast.

“Looks like he isn’t called Asterisk’s best swordsman for nothing…”

But the most amazing thing of all was that neither Sylvia nor Ernest seemed to be breaking a sweat.

Watching them fight, Ayato felt a shiver run down his spine.

He couldn’t afford to dawdle, however, raising his sword to defend himself against an oncoming powered suit.

“I-impossible! There’s no way…!”

Narcisse Perroy, vice president of Allekant Académie’s Ferrovius faction and the manager of the Gran Colosseo Organizing Committee, watched in stunned confusion in the Sirius Dome’s special viewing lounge.

On the stage beneath him, the second phase of the competition had already ended, with five contestants left standing.

Narcisse hadn’t expected any of them to pass.

He had planned the Gran Colosseo from the very beginning as a way of bolstering his own influence inside Ferrovius.

The event was supposed to have been arranged in conjunction with Seidoukan’s Society for the Study of Meteoric Engineering, which was helping to develop the new Luxes, with the express purpose of demonstrating the capabilities of Seidoukan’s Rect Luxes and Allekant’s powered suits.

From the very beginning, it was meant to have been held in a smaller venue.

But then—

The girl—Xinglou—let out an innocent burst of laughter. “What a splendid charade! I guess those ill-formed playthings can only do so much.”

Narcisse glared back at her.

I-it’s all her fault! It only started to fall apart once this kid started getting involved!

Xinglou had first contacted him around six months ago.

He had had no idea how she’d heard about the event, but she had said she wanted to make a contribution.

Narcisse had taken little interest in the offer at first, but when he realized that she could take care of the financial side of things, he decided to hear her out.

And besides, Jie Long possessed all kinds of interesting technologies that he wanted to get his hands on. Even Tenorio had been unable to reproduce their prized Seisenjutsu despite devoting years of research to it. If things went well, Narcisse had thought, maybe he would be able to get his hands on at least some aspect of it.

But as soon as Xinglou had been added to the organizing committee, things had started getting out of hand. She began to gather many more participants than anyone had intended; commandeered the Sirius Dome for the last day of the school fair; and before anyone else had realized it, the total amount of prize money had jumped to over ten times what they had originally planned. And then, without even being told what she intended to do with it, she had tricked Narcisse into reluctantly yielding control over the third phase to her.

What was more, due to the fact that Allekant’s media organizations were less developed than the other schools’, they had entrusted every aspect of the publicity and advertising to Seidoukan—which then went so far as to nominate the winner of the Phoenix as an entrant.

And then, on the very day of the event, Ernest Fairclough and Sylvia Lyyneheym had been allowed to participate, proving once and for all that it had now spun entirely out of his control.

But while everything had happened contrary to his expectations, Narcisse had still thought he had a chance of coming out on top.

Even the likes of Ayato Amagiri and Ernest Fairclough wouldn’t be able to do anything if their weapons didn’t work, he had reasoned. Which was why he had made sure that the output of their Luxes had been set so that, even if they were to use Meteor Arts, they would have no hope of penetrating the armoring that protected his powered suits.

Given that Stregas and Dantes were meant to have been barred from participating, the fact that Sylvia had been allowed to enter made his blood run cold—but even that shouldn’t have been a problem so long as she wasn’t allowed to use her abilities. Rather, if his creations could hold a number one in check—even if she was fighting with a handicap—that would make for the best kind of demonstration. At least that had been the plan.

But now…

“It must be such a shame, Mister Manager, watching your much-vaunted toys get beaten around like that.”

“It… It wasn’t supposed to be like this! My powered suits are far superior to Ernesta’s Puppets…! Far superior…!”

Indeed, his powered suits, armed with every resource at his disposal and driven by real humans, ought to have been far superior to that absurd attempt to grant self-awareness to lifeless dolls.

It had been a mistake for Ferrovius—no, for Camilla—to team up with Pygmalion. All he had to do was prove he was the better researcher, and he would be made the faction’s next president. He was sure of it. That was how it had been supposed to play out.

“All you think about are numbers. You’ll never understand. But it’s no concern of mine. Don’t let me drag you from your ivory tower.” Xinglou jumped down from her chair and headed toward the door.

“Wh-where are you going…?”

“The third phase is mine. I’m going to find a closer vantage point.” Her voice was filled with the unbridled excitement of a child.

“W-wait…! Give me one more chance! We still have more suits. If we use them in the third phase—” Narcisse only got so far before his mouth seemed to freeze in place.

“…Think before you open your mouth, fool. Give you a chance, you say?”

“—!”

The overpowering aura rising out of Xinglou left Narcisse petrified, unable to move so much as a finger. Fear so strong that it seemed to be clenching his heart in a fist had taken hold of him. He couldn’t breathe, let alone muster his voice to respond.

But then—

“From where I’m standing, you both look like fools.”

A voice suddenly echoed down the corridor, and a woman who Narcisse had never seen before strode into the room.

Her hooded robe hid her figure and eyes to such an extent that he could identify her as a woman only from her voice. The special viewing room was supposed to be restricted to VIPs only, so she shouldn’t have been able to enter without passing the guards, who couldn’t possibly have let such a suspicious character through without contacting him first. Realizing what that meant only added fuel to his already panicked state.

“Hmm… And you are?” Xinglou, glancing toward their intruder with a quizzical expression, didn’t seem to have any idea who she was, either.

The woman let out a small sigh before removing her robe.

She looked to be in her midtwenties. She was beautiful, with well-defined features; her plain clothing coiled around her like a simple drape of cloth, emphasizing the contours of her body.

“Mm… No, I don’t believe we’ve met.” Xinglou, her head tilted to the side, stared at the woman’s face—before her gaze fell to the woman’s chest. “Oh! I see. That’s a lovely body you’ve taken for yourself.”

“That should be my line.”

Narcisse had no idea what the two of them were talking about. Following Xinglou’s gaze, his attention was drawn to a disproportionately large necklace around the woman’s neck. It was no normal necklace—looking instead like some kind of machine, with a huge gemstone set in the center like the eye of a monster.

“So, what brings you all the way out here?” Xinglou asked, her arms crossed.

Instead of answering, the woman headed straight across the room, all the way to the huge window overlooking the stage. “…You don’t normally make public appearances, so I thought I would try to invite you to join us again.”

“No matter how many times you ask, my answer will be the same.”

“You understand that working with us will be the fastest way to reach you goal, don’t you? At the very least, it will be much easier than what you’re doing now.” The woman all but spat the words out as she stared down at the stage.

The third phase would no doubt be getting under way.

“I understand what you’re saying, but I’m enjoying training my new material. Besides—as I’ve said before—I enjoy fighting, but I’m sick of conflict.”

“…I see. Then it can’t be helped. But remember this. If you make yourself into our enemy, we will show you no mercy,” the woman said impassively.

No sooner had she finished talking than the gemstone set in the necklace began to blaze with black light.

No, that isn’t a gemstone… It can’t be…

“Oh-ho. Is that a threat?”

“It’s a warning. I, at least, am willing to show you some respect.”

Xinglou chuckled quietly. “Heh-heh. I’m very grateful.”

“…” The woman sighed once more, before slipping back into her robe.

Narcisse then made two mistakes.

The first was when, unable to keep his curiosity in check, he called out to the woman.

“Um, h-hold on a minute…!”

The second was realizing what the necklace actually was.

Both tragedies stemmed, no doubt, from his being a researcher.

“That… The stone in your necklace, it’s urm-manadite, isn’t it? That must mean that it’s an…an Orga Lux…right?”

Orga Luxes, as the name suggested, were supposed to be weapons. He had neither seen nor heard of one being used as an accessory.

“What is it…?” Narcisse half murmured.

The woman, on the verge of leaving the room, came to a halt. “Well, now… If curiosity hasn’t killed the cat…”

Xinglou’s eyes, as she turned toward Narcisse, were filled with pity.

“…”

As the woman turned around, Narcisse thought for a moment that the necklace’s urm-manadite had begun to glow again with that eerie, black light—when he suddenly lost consciousness.