Volume 1 Chapter 6 (2/2)
”Uu!”
She retreated The sirl feared as the Great Witch discarded her defence and took evasive action One hundred years ago, it was a scene that Imperial soldiers had never seen even once
”Of all things…”
A red droplet went along her dark cheek The h Nebulis’ shi+eld of air, though just barely, grazed her cheek
”To think it even broke through the bulwark of air”
”Not yet Because these icy lights, will keep going until all the crystallized ice in the air has vanished!”
The dark skinned girl rotated in the air Just as she appeared to be flying higher, she rotated on the spot After another rotation, she descended towards the earth, and caht, she evaded Alice’s icy lights
However, that was only a few hundred at e which approached an infinite number of projectiles, Nebulis onceto that, the gale that had been assaulting Iska and Alice subsided as it were all a lie
”I’ve cornered you, Founder”
She won Alice was confident of this
”Fall to─”
”So aves cal pile” (Come, celestial staff)
‘Interfere with the nucleus of the star’
‘Connect with mine self Call it forth from beyond space and time’
The Great Witch looked into the skies And overhead, it became dark as if the sky was cloudy An oht
”… My star spell!?”
The black whirlpool moved and hts rushed in at it ─ but, the ice thatthe black whirlpool, was sent flying away leaving behind only a blue sparkle
”What? What is that? What is that black whirlpool!?”
Alice yelled herself hoarse as she looked into the sky The black whirlpool coiled up and fore’s hand which th
”It took some time to form huh Both myself and my star spirit have yet to awaken fully I see”
A winding black staff
The Great Witch ─ she held it up exactly as a witch would wield a ic staff
”Come to know of death”
She threw her staff fro that, Iska was suddenly assaulted by intense dizziness
… space is twisting!?
… What… What is that creepy staff!?
Celestial staff
As it approached the earth, Iska could feel with his skin that it was soerous
”Ku… Oh star, shoot down that staff!”
A single staff falling from the sky
Froround, infinite ice from the icy star spirit And the two collided head on in the skies And before Iska could perceive it, the tip of the celestial staff fired down by Nebulis flickered
─Destruction of space
The atmosphere screahts which could be said to be infinite vanished into the horizon of nothingness without leaving a single one behind
By the tih into the sky by an invisible shockwave
”… Uu… kaa, ha…?
The frozen earth collapsed, and he tumbled down a hill
He could sense the stench of blood in his mouth He likely cut the interior of his round, but he couldn’t tell exactly when that was He couldn’t even perceive when the shockwave had hit him
”… Al… ice…!?”
No response came
Lying face down, Nebulis’ princess didn’t even raise her head He could tell that she was still breathing fro hit by the shockwave, her entire body should have been struck by the frozen earth Even if she was conscious, she was likely not in a state where she could move
”Even the Celestial Staff only has this ht, my power still has not come back”
The black staff rehts Alice had fired were annihilated, and even with enough energy to smash the earth to pieces, the Great Witch scoffed with a dissatisfied expression
”… What do you mean, only his much, destructive force…?”
”That is the difference between you lot and I Can you not even tell the difference between heaven and earth?”
It was natural that she overwhelmed them
Fro, they were not a threat to her at all, that’s what her gaze told hiive her was the single scratch on her cheek from Alice’s attack Other than that, not even a speck of dust had stuck to her
This was the Founder The way she brought about a cataclys her black staff could be said to be the perfect ie of the power of the one feared as the Great Witch
However…
”What’s, with that look of yours?”
Leaning against his star sword, Iska stood up Looking down on hi Founder raised her voice in discontent
”Neither running away, nor begging for your life, nor shaking in fear… I do not like it That i at me Did you mean to strike back at me with that?”
”No”
Iska used the star sword in his left hand to support his body like a cane And the tip of the star sword in his right hand was thrust towards the Great Witch
”I’ll be striking back, from here on”
”Are you sane?”
Nebulis let out a sigh as if she was saying she could not understand at all
”The reason you could withstand the Celestial Staff, is because of that child’s star spirit However, take a look Fallen to the ground, she cannot even stand You no longer have athis staff of mine”
”That’s right!”
Letting out a breath mixed with blood, Iska kicked the frozen earth
”Precisely because Alice could only hold it back once, I won’t let it go to waste here”
Iska tasted the power of the Celestial Staff with his own body However, even so, his body couldthe enormous scar in the earth, Iska raced forth Onward to the Founder with the sun to her back
”Abut how to run forward”
The dark skinned girl drew the staff to her hand
”Crawl on the ground like a worm”
She swung the Celestial Staff space roared as if it was choking on tears, the at blade of space and time took form An invisible blade sharper than steel And then─
Iska swung his star sword doards, and cut apart the inco blade of space and time
”What?”
”Even if it’s invisible, I can sense that it’s there”
He could sense the twisting wave in space with his skin, and hear the invisible blade cutting through the air Even if it was the first ti as it was a star spell, the black star sword could isolate it
… And that training was drilled into me
… No e I stood before, I trained never to waver
”What sort of joke is this?”
”A joke? I’m always serious!”
Blades of compressed space came in from every direction
And in response, Iska chose neither to retreat nor to stand still, he si tears in the atmosphere with his star sword, he warded off the shockwaves from the invisible blades
Dodging the blades closing in fro in froainst his cheeks, receiving lacerations on his shoulders ─ Iska didn’t stop And then…
”… Keep… Running like that!”
Nebulis’ princess onceon her knees
”Rise up”
The frozen earth jut out into the air A ed shape, and with splendid craftsmanshi+p, it was shaved away, polished, and transformed into an icy staircase before Iska
It led to the heavens─
Towards the Founder Nebulis, a final glie of ice
”Here I come”
”I’ impudent!”
The Great Witch gripped her staff underhanded
”You who do not know of the long lasting karma between me and the Empire─”
”Have you still not noticed?”
Iska ran up the icy staircase
”Because you are so caught up in that antagonis won’t end!”
”─Silence!”
The Celestial Staff shot out
”Even if you hold the star sword, you cannot withstand this strike!”
The intense distortion of the atmosphere and the roar of the wind that accompanied the destruction of space and ti the star shich could sever any and all star spells
The moment the tip of his sword touched the tip of the staff, the destruction of space and tied to isolate and sever the Celestial Staff, he would surely be caught in the destruction itself
”I know I sahen it struck Alice’s icy lights”
Letting out a perfectly clear ring, the black star sword fell to the ground It was so that Iska himself, released from his hand
”You bastard, what are you!?”
”I know this is the world’s strongest shi+eld”
Iska stuck out his right hand And within his palripped the ‘Seed of Ice’
‘It’s an invincible shi+eld It can even suppress the large scaled Imperial weapons of destruction’
She had said it was invincible In that case, he would believe in it That the shi+eld entrusted to him, could withstand the Celestial Staff
”Alice!”
Hearing the young le word Though she lay on the ground, she had absolute confidence
”… Bloom!”
Frag out in the air The ‘Seed of Ice’ that Iska gripped in his hand sprout, and what took shape there, was an extremely beautiful mirror shi+eld
─Ice Flower
Withstanding the black star shich could sever any star spell, it was the only exception in the world Aliceliese Lou Nebulis IX’s star spirit, the ‘Star Spirit of the Icy Flower’ manifested its true nature as a star spell in the form of an extremely beautiful flower of ice
‘… Can I believe you? You from the Empire?’
In that deadly gale, Iska did not let go of her hand And as that hand grasped hers, Alice herself entrusted him with the seed for her ultimate secret skill, the ‘Flower of Ice’
─The great flower shi+eld
Serving as Iska’s shi+eld, the world’s most beautiful flower of ice, took on the Celestial Staff
”Ridiculous!?”
Both the Celestial Staff and the Flower of Ice, shattered into pieces with a perfectly clear ringing in the air
The dark skinned girl as now defenceless did not move Even if her power had just awakened, she was shaken that her absolute attack was completely repelled
With a dumbfounded expression unable to accept the reality before her…
”… Why…?”
”Can you not tell?”
Iska raised the white star sword overhead
”A hundred years ago, even if there were swordsmen who stood before you, there was never ‘a swordse’”
Nebulis was the hope of all star es, the outcome would have likely been different, and Alice would not have entrusted Iska with the Flower of Ice
─The star spirits decided
The star e, was not the Great Witch
”Sleep once more, Nebulis”
Iska swung his sword down, aiirl’s mantle
”When you next open your eyes, surely, the world will be somewhat better than it was”
A small scream
Have the source of her power, the star spirit, severed froirl lost consciousness
As the Great Witch closed her eyes, she collapsed as if asleep once more, and then, she vanished as she was sucked in by a fissure in space
Intermission
Within this Dark Nightfall
The Ien
During sunset
While the city was dyed by a strong red light, the sound ofreverberated within the asseround
”Magnificent”
”The fact that the signal of the Great Witch Nebulis’ star spirit has vanished, means that she was suppressed does it not?”
”It is unfortunate that we do not have any coe The Great Witch Nebulis’ star spirit, is the star spirit that was born in the furthest depths of this planet If ere able to obtain footage, our research regarding star spirits would have likely accelerated rapidly…”
”No The significance of stopping the Great Witch’s awakening is grand”
”As one would expect of the successor of that man Dear me, it is just the achievement we had hoped for”
A rooht fixture
Within the eighteach other, were the silhouettes of eight ures were always indistinct, and it was the uth physical forht Grand Apostles’
”The Great Witch has once more been silenced At present, the Ice Witch of Calaht worry, however…”
”It is the duty of the Successor of Black Steel to bring down the witches It’s nothing, if it’s hiet it done Whether or not he himself desires it”
”Indeed”
”The fifth seat of the Holy Apostles ─ Lisha Ein E smoothly Now that the Great Witch is asleep, the Nebulis Iency will fall”
”That man, the Man of Black Steel Crosswell continues to hide the secret of the stars even from us It was so about it, but whatever The prophecy of the citizens of the stars is approaching… It won’t be long”
A s wo, intellectual, and coldhearted to the point that it would strike fear in the hearts of any who heard it
”The Successor of Black Steel Iska Your desire will be granted”
”Yes We will grant everything to you If you desire peace, then in the near future, we pro about perpetual peace to the world”
”─By the means of the extermination of all witches and warlocks”
”Because this star so desires it”
And with that, all the monitors turned off at once As the curtain of silence fell over the I hands could still be heard
Epilogue
Underneath this Beautiful Starry Sky
The wasteland as dust danced in the air
After the ice which overruled the sandy soil ed open by the Celestial Staff remained in its pitiful state And within that pitch black fissure─
Little by little, the wind carried sand over And really only by a s carried into the cavity in the ground could be witnessed It was as if the earth was intent on filling in the scar with sand As if the planet itself had a will
”…”
Setting that scenery aside, Iska slowly ascended up the elevated dune
”… It’s already this late huh”
With the night wind ainst the back of his neck, Iska shi+vered slightly He had arrived at the Neutral City Ayin right around noon, but when he realized it, the sun had already completely sunken under the horizon
He walked across the wasteland
Walked, and walked, and walked
Without even holding a light, he kept walking across the uninhabited wasteland
”Sorry to keep you waiting”
Atop the dune he had been cli dohile holding her knees Having finished recuperating a step ahead of hi atop that dune
”I think that you know this already, but Rin’s burns will be fine For now, the burns will reiven time it seems they will naturally heal”
”I see”
”Captain Mis, so she quickly left for the I bus It’s fine for her to talk about the Founder right?”
”I don’t mind Because of that Great Witch, we’ve even caused proble for us to hide It is the Iency’s responsibility after all”
Nebulis’ princess nodded while still holding her knees
”I have one ht of it somewhat, and in the end, I think the Great Witch has returned to the underground sanctuary”
”In the Iency?”
”Yes As you would expect, I can’t really explain it to you in detail But I will take the sanctuary as my responsibility and put it under my supervision I’ll have mother hand over the key to the entrance… So that she never awakens on her own again”
While sweeping off the sand on her clothes, Alice stood up Even though her entire body was thrashed in the fight against the Founder, her standing figure was still noble, and beautiful Just like the time in the Nelka forest, when he first met her
”With that, there is nothing else for us to report to each other right?”
”Yeah”
”… I see Then let’s start The final battle between just you and I”
A place and time that nobody would interfere with
All the conditions were in place
The Successor of Black Steel Iska, and the Ice Witch of Calamity Alice ─ it was the time that the heroes born to the Eency
”Don’t hold back you hear?”
”Yeah”
A single step, Alice advanced forward And as ifher, Iska also stepped forward
”…”
”…”
They each silently looked at their opponent, and drew closer one step after the other
The five metres between them became three
Three metres became one
And by the tih to touch each other
”I have so to say”
”What a coincidence”
Hearing that request froirl froency consented And then…
”… A truce Today… I’m far too tired…”
”… No objections”
With a thud, Iska and Alice, collapsed onto the wasteland at the same time
”… It’s just for today you know?”
”I know”
”We, from tomorrow on, ill once by enemies you hear?”
”You’re right”
”…”
”…”
Face up on the ground, the two of theazed at the starry sky
”What a beautiful sky”
”Un”
The boy and girl were lined up on the ground without ht sky by a bird, the two of them s
”The ‘cradle’s seat’ is pretty today isn’t it? It can only be seen at this tiet”
”Which one?”
”That one Can’t you tell at a single glance?”
As the boy pointed up to look for it, the girl pointed out to the starry sky with her finger as well
”The city lights are bright in the Iht, so it’s rare to see this kind of starry sky Is that blue star sparkling straight above the one?”
”Not that one, the one next to it… This time you went too far”
”… This is hard”
”Geez, you dummy”
Even though they were enemies
Even though they would have to onceday
─Just for now
With laughter in the air, the Successor of Black Steel Iska and the Ice Witch of Calamity Alice, continued to look up at the same starry sky This was─
The story of the battle, between you and I
Will the next tiinning of the world’s Holy War?
That story, begins here