Volume 1 Chapter 6 (1/2)
Chapter 6
The Successor of Black Steel Iska and the Ice Witch of Calamity Alice
1
The Imperial Capital, Sector 3
Looking up at the sun stretching up into the sky through a glass , Nene brushed away her bangs covered in sweat froer
”Phew It’s hooot It’s already noon too~”
Sas dripping down fro wear consisting of thin cloth, a set ofwas lined up behind her
”Hey, Jhin-niichan, are Iska-nii and Captain Mismis still not back? Nene’s already tired of the eternal indoor training”
”It’s training to protect yourself There’s nothing to get tired of”
The one to reply to her was the silver haired sniper sitting on aa step ahead of her, he was now perfor maintenance on his favourite rifle
”That may be so~, but that’s not what I mean That’s not what Nene wants to say~”
”That we should all be doing it together?”
”Yeah! That’s it Jhin-niichan, I knew you would get it!”
”It’s fine just for today isn’t it? We know that they went to the Neutral City after all”
”But what for?”
The previous evening, they were suddenly contacted by their captain Nor when asked ‘What for?’ or ‘Where to?’ but just this tiain, it seemed the captain herself did not actually know
”If it’s so them in the Imperial capital Since that’s not the case, it probably isn’t business that we need to worry about”
”But he’s going with Captain Mismis you know?”
”…”
While tightly grasping the sighting device he removed from his rifle, Jhin remained silent for a moment
”… It’s a fact that Iska’s condition has been slightly off”
After a while, as if carefully selecting his words, he spoke in a quiet tone
”Slightly off? Not good or bad?”
”It’s like he’s not properly engaged Like the gears of his spirit and body are slightly off That guy’s been saying he hasn’t been sleeping well lately right?”
”Un, ever since ent to the Nelka forest”
”That’s where he encountered the Ice Witch of Calamity”
The sniper sat on the bench with one knee up And while holding his arm up with his own knee…
”And after that, he went to the Neutral City without pause right? If it’s that city, then nobody would know if so soency Iska went there twice, and the third ti huh…”
”Eh? What? What? Jhin-niichan, hey, what are you thinking of!?”
”… No, it’s nothing”
”Liar!? Jhin-niichan, you just looked away froht!?”
”Aah, da over like we’re being annoying─”
A mechanical click could be heard at Jhin’s knees The coman flickering with a red light
”An eency call huh Not only that… Speak of the devil”
”Captain Mismis?”
”If you trust the displayed name that is”
Jhin glared at the liquid display screen, and then brought the receiver to his ear
”It’sOf course, we’re ready to take action in case anything happens”
Nene closely observed the moment that clever pair of eyes shot open
”… The Founder Nebulis? Wait, Captain, calm down What do you mean?”
Jhin stood up And while gripping the sighting device in his hand…
”… Understood No, I don’t get at all how it came to this, but I do at leastand where”
Jhin shot a glance over to Nene Just fro unusual had happened
”The Neutral City Ayin Even if Nene and I hurried over, it’s too far Who is the one pinning… Iska? Did he say that he would do it on his own?”
Silence And as a moment passed, the sniper who knew that man best made a resolute declaration
”Then Nene and I won’t be needed Captain, it’ll be fine if you just find shelter… Ah? The legendary Great Witch? I know that But it doesn’t matter”
”B-but Jhin-kun?”
”If his opponent is a star onna stop this useless war?”
And so, Jhin made a declaration with absolute confidence to the female captain on the other side of the line
”He’s the ‘Successor of Black Steel’ for precisely that reason”
2
A burned wasteland
With the Neutral City Ayin under a rain of sparks as a backdrop, he ran up a hill as flames and clouds of sand flew about him
”Imperial soldier…”
The Founder Nebulis was still floating over ten htly shut, and she was practically expressionless And that coirl threw out her slender hands It was just as if she was conducting an orchestra
”Pet dog of the Empire Just how es?”
The wings on the girl’s back shi+ned with a light The light fros, was crimson
”Vanish”
The sound of the air suddenly co out The moment Iska felt heat on his back, he kicked into the earth and leaped into the air
”… So you avoided it”
”I’ it”
The Great Witch knit her brows at having her flames perceived upon activation However, Iska i
”This is so that I can reach you”
The shockwave froth of his own legs in addition to the lifting power of the air current born of the fire, he soared into the sky It was far closer to flight than a leap
”To use the force from the flames to jump, that’s quite some skillful nonsense”
Into the sky where the Founder Nebulis aiting…
… Jet black wings
… Right nohen the star spirit’s power activated, those wings definitely shi+ned
Her wings were the same colour as his black star sword They held the secret to Nebulis’ power Relying on that gut feeling on the spot, Iska raised his star sword overhead And with the intent to sever the wings from the Great Witch’s back─
”If you think your sill reachhope”
He could hear the sound of so It was the sound of thefrom the star spirit’s power
”Ice, no way!?”
The number of star spirits that a human could house in their body was lio, didn’t she just let loose a hellfire?
… She’s notfire?
… That’s strange A star spirit should only be able to interfere with a single phenomenon
Just as the Great Witch’s star spirit? As the wall of ice closed in on Iska and began to fall to the ground like a block of ice intending to crush Iska while he was in the air, Iska could only engross hie phenomenon before him
”Iska!”
A cry bleay his idle thoughts The one to trigger that reaction, was none other than Alice as looking up at hiround
”HA!”
Holding the black star sword in an underhand grip, Iska stabbed it into the wall of ice Using that as an axis, he planted his feet against the wall And using the slightest depression on its surface, Iska kicked off the wall and escaped froround The wall of ice crashed and shattered into countless frag the shattered ruins of the ice, but the I crushed by it
”So you dodged a second time”
‘Interfere with the memory of the stars’
‘Connect with the ‘will’ using the second layer Call forth the surface of the star’
The Great Witch snapped her finger, the air before her split apart vertically, and as if a tentacle was slithering out of it, ochre sand stretched out of the fissure
… Last time fire crept out of the fissure
… It couldn’t be the next one is also?
Stooping down, Iska crossed his two star swords in front of hi fire that burned the wasteland? Or was it going to be the ultra heavy block of ice? Or perhaps both? While anticipating the onco up countermeasures in his mind
However, the power of the oldest star e easily surpassed his assumptions
A roar
The earth split open
And shooting out of the ground, a lion h earth to form a hill appeared
”A golem, even a star spirit of earth!?”
”Unfortunately I don’t have the time to keep a puppet company”
Kneeling to the ground, Alice touched the broken earth with her finger
”Fly!”
Without waiting for a reply, Alice le phrase
─The Grand Calamity of Ice
It was the star spell that she used to freeze the Nelka forest Like a ripple of water flowing across a quiet lake’s surface, cold air cae feared as the Ice Witch of Calaround was frozen in ice as far as the eye could see
”As expected”
Landing on a slope of ice, the lion goleure became a frozen part of the scenery
”Alice, what is with that Founder’s star spirit?”
”… Even I want to ask that”
Even after overwheloleazed at the Great Witch as looking down over them calmly
”Even my mother the Queen did not know the true identity of the Founder’s star spirit I thought I would figure it out upon seeing it myself, but…”
Nebulis’ princess was unable to come to a conclusion just like Iska This was different froht before The star spells one could use was supposed to be li in them
”What’s the possibility she is carrying multiple star spirits?”
”It’s just about unthinkable”
So Alice declared
”A birthmark appears on huht?”
”The star crest right?”
It was one of the reasons staron the star spirit in their body, the birther the star spirit, the larger the birthmark It was like one was possessed by evil ─ the first ones to see those star crests feared thees
”When she appeared in the sky, I saw her back Her wings pierced through and broke her clothes, and I saw a large black star crest there That is the star spirit within her body However…”
Squinting her eyes, the Ice Witch of Calalared at the Founder
”When I saw her in the royal palace, she didn’t have those wings If they manifest when the star spirit of space and time activates its autos, but may in fact be the star spirit itself”
”As long as we know that h”
If those jet black wings were the Great Witch Nebulis’ es, it was possible that he could temporarily separate the star spirit from Nebulis
”If we sever those─”
”──────── Do────── Do you──── Do you think… You────”
”Eh?”
”──────────Do you think you can do it?”
The Great Witch laughed It was far too sudden The dark skinned girl’s eyelids slowly opened
”… I remember… This place The Vuishada wastelands is it?”
”Nebulis!?”
”It couldn’t be, star e, did you wake me for the sake of a mere I, I do not think there was a reason to hastenit”
Her gaze was filled with the light of her ego, and her eyes appeared to carry a strong colour giving sight to her rousing consciousness
”… However, I see You have quite the nostalgic swords in your hands there”
The Founder looked down at the star swords in Iska’s hands
”Do you know about these swords?”
Silence It wasn’t that she was intentionally keeping inforotten her words as she silently observed the star swords and Iska
”Well fine I do not kno you ended up obtaining the star swords, but there is no way any man other than Crosswell could handle them”
”Crosswell!?”
”What about him?”
”… The name you spoke just now, is my master’s name”
The strongest swordsman of all time in the Empire He was Iska’s master, and the former owner of the star swords
… But why?
… Why does the Great Witch froo know about Master?
”A bastard like you, is that man’s?”
With a puzzled look, the Great Witch opened only one of her eyes widely However i that, her small mouth formed an ominous smile
”Haa I suffer to understand that guy To have entrusted the star swords to some unknown small fry”
”You won’t know such a thing without fighting me”
”It is obvious There is no future in which you defeat me”
Breaking through the ground Alice had frozen, a boiling crimson splash sprayed upwards Lava It was one of the ies on this planet Formed in the core of the planet, it was a super heated ‘rees Be it city walls or houses, all would melt and burn
”Can you cross over a blazing sea?”
”I wonder”
As if looh the intense heat and stea, Iska threw himself towards the incandescent spray of rocks with no hesitation Fixing his gaze on the falling mass of lava, he anticipated its trajectory
He didn’t step back, but forwards Taking a step, he stooped his body low, and like a spinning top, he rotated and evaded the incessant rain of rocks by a hair’s width Furthermore, the rocks that he could not avoid were all cut down using only his sword
”Despite such heat you show no fear and face it do you?”
The dark skinned girl exhaled with a quiet ‘Hooo’
”However, that choice was a mistake”
The lava in the air constricted itself, and transforole in a strange way Iska’s left and right flanks were sealed by walls of lava, and dead ahead of him the fire snake stood in his way Furthermore, a mass of lava fell down behind him And he was now fully encircled by lava on all four sides
”You’ve been caught, Imperial soldier”
”Is it not about ti me?”
The boiling lava froze over
”Nobut a weakness of yours to me”
The young wo her
─Iska opened the path, and Alice pierced through
They had never spoken of this to each other They just naturally moved to enact that
”… A refined chill You carry a good star spirit, and control it well”
”I am honoured by your praise”
The frozen earth surged forth, and went on to encase the entire gole that scene below her, the Great Witch clicked her tongue upon realizing Alice’s skill
”Child Your turn has already been decided to come after this Imperial soldier”
”Oh e?”
”The opposite”
The Founder looked down at her coaze contained an indescribable cruelty within it
”Star e who consorts with the Eiven even if you cry and scream”
”Just how I’d have it I also cannot forgive you!”
Nebulis’ princess returned the Founder’s gaze
”Despite being a star rees You are no longer, a hero or anything else to the Iency!”
”A hero? Such a pretty word cannot save this world”
The dark skinned girl shoulders began shaking And shethem she found it far too humorous
”I’ve known for a hundred years There are no heroes or saviours in this world full of pain That’s why I became a witch and annihilated the Empire That’s all there is to it”
A hollow sneer
Bottomless despair
A confession of undeniable grief
”I am a witch, and you are my enemies”
A gust of wind
A ind forh force to send a hu Furtheran to peel as the gale reached its th
”My star spirit, is the oldest one born at the centre of this star It remembers all the phenomena of the star, and calls it forth from beyond the horizon of space and time ─ You’re both eyesores, vanish into the end of time”
”Ah…”
”Alice!”
With the violent gale striking at her side, Alice let out a small scream
A storm that could treat a human like a scrap of paper
As her body was on the verge of being carried away by the raging winds, Iska grabbed her hand And with his left hand, he thrust his sword into the ground as an anchor Digging deep into the earth to hold his ground, he pulled in Alice’s body while exposed to the storm
─A bright red spray
Tearing into Iska’s right ar on to Alice’s hand, fresh blood sprayed out at that moment
”Ow!?”
”Iska!”
”… Even using wind blades however she likes huh”
The phenomenon known as a wind blade It’s true forale to the point where it could harm the human body, a supernatural phenomenon
”Let go of my hand!”
While pushed by the wind, the Ice Witch of Calamity screamed Iska’s arrew larger as it extended up to his shoulder
”What are you doing? Let go of my hand now, your arm will be torn off!”
The starman would not allow that
”… I can’t hear”
”What!?”
”Because of all this wind, I’! I can’t hear anything about letting go!”
”Uu”
The young woman’s face twisted
”… Why?”
Like jewels, her eyes glistened as she covered them
”… I’m a witch I’m not someone you should hold out your hand to like that to the point where you get injured”
While biting her lips, Alice spoke self-deprecating words Even if she called herself a ‘star e,’ she was called a witch by people that she did not know, she was feared, and shunned… It couldn’t be helped that it was painful Those were the true feelings of Alice, the one called the Ice Witch of Cala into her eyes…
”Alice”
The young I manner
”Don’t you think we get along?”
”… Eh?”
”Getting furious at that guy Rin was injured for Alice And even I, seeing the tyranny of such a star e, can’t even think of peace talks”
”So what about it?”
”Where we are now is neither the Eency It’s the Neutral City Our goals are the same, that’s all the matters”
And that was the trigger that started it all Seeing the opera in the Neutral City Ayin Ordering the sa about their hobbies at an artist’s exhibition─
”I’ainst her That’s why, I won’t let go of this hand”
”…”
Alice opened herher aze… At a loss, she bit down on her lips many times over
”… Can I believe you? You from the Empire?”
The Ice Witch of Calamity spoke in an anxious voice as her eyes swayed In theup in Aliceliese Lou Nebulis IX’s hand
”Ice Calahts”
Crystal ice began to shi+ne A light spread out at Alice’s feet, and the entire wasteland turned into a scene of snow and ice Truly infinite ─ in other words, ‘an uncountable and impossible to understand number’ of ice crystals surrounded them by the power of the ice calamity star spirit
”Star spirit of ice, shoot her down!”
A blue flash The round, they sparkled in the air and left behind an afteri ale towards Nebulis
”Icy lights? To think it broke through this gale… Child, is this your damned secret art?”
The Founder’s voice became excited As she thrust out her arms, the atmosphere in the air condensed and became a shi+eld The barrier which prided itself onthat of a steel hile also being pliable, andto the sky─