Here and now, as if deciding the outcome of the Guardian battle, Titee shouted at the top of her lungs.
“You don’t want to hurt anyone, do you?! Are you in your right mind?! You haven’t changed a bit since the old days! You can’t bear to see even the lives of plants and trees harmed, can you?! Every structure built with people’s heartfelt effort is precious to you, isn’t it?! You can’t rest until everyone within sight is smiling, can you?! Deep down, you hate fighting, don’t you?!”
With absolute conviction, Titee shouted and hammered home her judgment of her brother. It was an act brimming with arrogance, but in this world, only one person, only Titee, his sister, was permitted to do so.
“Didn’t you deeply regret inciting Rouge and Noir in Dahrill?! Didn’t you nearly lose your mind countless times, yet snap back to sanity every time you saw someone hurt?! That someone gets hurt because of you—just that alone brings you back to your senses, you gentle soul! That’s right, of course that’s right! You aren’t like me! You’re the kindest sorcerer in the world! You’re the strong one who lived for others until the very end! You’re my proud younger brother, the white tree spirit, the Dryad Ide!” Titee finished her cry. The whole time, she hadn’t called out to the chancellor but to her younger brother.
Ide couldn’t hide his agitation. His entire body, along with the castle, trembled, shaking the royal capital.
“Please. Please answer me, Ide. Let’s talk just a little longer. We’re family. We’re siblings, after all.” Seeing that, Titee pleaded with him, on the verge of tears. It was an expression utterly unbecoming of the perfect Sovereign Queen Lorde, yet that expression and voice reached Ide, stirring his turmoil even more.
Right now, Ide was undoubtedly lost within Viaysia Castle. The royal capital was enveloped in silence. Only the distant cries of birds and the sound of the wind could be heard. In the solemn air, not a single soul spoke.
It was neither sister nor brother who broke that silence but Sith, who’d been watching intently the entire time. “This is bad. Hitaki and I are one thing, but that child is beyond control now.” She hadn’t spoken out of malice. On the contrary, her concern for the two of them was clear from her demeanor.
“Sith? What are you—?!” I tried to ask what that concern meant, but mid-sentence, something cold touched my back and my voice caught in my throat.
A soft, restrained chuckle followed, echoing near my ear. That inexplicable phenomenon nearly made me scream. Right now, I was deploying Dimension. I was filling the capital city with magic more carefully and meticulously than ever before. That was natural, given I had a Guardian right before me. Therefore, I had complete awareness of everything within the capital. Without a doubt, from corner to corner, I hadn’t missed a single ant.
And yet, just now, someone had slipped their hand inside my clothes from behind. Still gripped by the terror of encountering a ghost, I turned around and saw the person with my physical eyes, not through my spell. The moment I saw them, I instinctively leaped back, creating distance. I had anticipated it from the voice. I’d considered this possibility even before entering the capital. Still, the sight of them stunned me, robbing me of my voice.
The figure behind me was Nosfy, the Thief of Light’s Essence, giggling manically. Even before that, seeing her sunken cheeks sent a chill down my spine. She wore her usual pitch-black attire; her chestnut hair, now almost black, was disheveled, and her torso and limbs were covered in characters like tattoos. Parts of her body were fading away. She was translucent, allowing what was behind her to be seen, making her severed limbs appear to float.
The girl, whose form was more terrifying than a ghost, let an uncontrollable laugh spill out into the world. “Ne-go-ti-ations? Are you negotiating? I heard it was a duel and helped set things up, yet all you have done is babble on and on! Frankly, it is utterly boring for the spectators! It is unbearable!”
From that manner of speaking, I was certain it was the Nosfy I knew. But then, why hadn’t Dimension detected her? I immediately tried to analyze everything about her. Dimension detected no anomalies. No, it observed the anomaly that nothing existed where I could see Nosfy with my naked eyes. I didn’t know how, but Nosfy had escaped Dimension’s sight. The transparency of parts of her body seemed to utilize light refraction.
“Nosfy?! Didn’t you go to the South?! And what happened to your body?!” I asked.
Using her powers as the Thief of Light’s essence, she’d concealed herself and lain in wait. I understood that. I understood, but questions swirled endlessly at the sight of her bizarre form. Even if invisibility was for concealment, I couldn’t fathom the reason for that body covered in tattoos. Her face remained beautiful, but unlike when we met in the Dungeon, her eyes were completely bloodshot. Deep, dark circles formed beneath them, making it look like she hadn’t slept in days.
“Heh heh, this body, you say?! This is, heh, well now, you could say it is a love, heh heh heh, yes, a love spell! Ever since the day I lost to Master Kanami, without rest, without sleep, I crafted it day after day, endlessly! So that this feeling might reach you! I wrote a spell to deflect Master Kanami’s Dimension magic! Since you can see all sorts of things without paying attention, I suppose you did not notice! Complacency is your enemy, Master Kanami!” Nosfy explained the meaning of the tattoos without hesitation. It seemed the effect of repelling magic power made it undetectable by Dimension. I didn’t intend to take that at face value, but there was no doubt she had achieved an effect close to that.
I gasped, cold sweat trickling down my back. This tension was unlike anything I’d felt facing Sith, Hitaki, or Ide.
Leaving me grimacing, Nosfy continued speaking without restraint. “Lorde! I absolutely refuse to settle this through discussion! That would be far too proper, would it not? Yes, that would be too much like a normal war. Too much like an adult response. Too much like playing nice. Utterly unlike us. As a professional negotiator, I absolutely refuse to accept that. Everyone, let us act more like ourselves, shall we?!”
Nosfy shouted from the center of the group, as if giving a speech. Meanwhile, she created a flag of light from her right hand and thrust it into the ground. Then, adding exaggerated gestures, she continued speaking.
“Listen up, everyone! This is not about that at all! Ide understood what Lorde was saying long ago! He knows it all too well! He’s doing it knowing full well! But his emotions, his heart, his soul—they will not allow him to repent now!!! He keeps repeating it, knowing it all along!!!”
It seemed like encouragement, but it was clever incitement. And the problem was that its targets weren’t ordinary people, but the Essence Thieves who possessed the power to rewrite the map. Nosfy was practically shouting that it was time to fight.
“So, now you say you are talking it out? Come on! It is pointless, right?! Do you not agree, Master Kanami?!” Then she turned to me, demanding my agreement with extreme force. Her usual tone made me grimace. Titee however, was different.
“Nosfy! You came!” She called Nosfy’s name with a delighted expression. She still thought that thing was a friend, I supposed. Even with Nosfy interrupting this crucial scene, Titee welcomed her.
That reaction must have been unexpected for Nosfy too. She opened her mouth in slight surprise before calmly responding. “Listen, Lorde. Trying to break your enemy down with words like that is not impressive. A duel is a promise. Promises are meant to be kept. To end your lingering attachment with mere words, without a clash of souls... I believe it is wrong.”
Thanks to Titee, her momentum seemed to wane. Yet she still held the upper hand. She addressed us all one by one, unilaterally.
“Apostle Sith, you must not get swept up in the pace of Master Kanami and his friends. Trying to talk things out with everyone until the very end is a bad habit. If you keep doing that, you will get killed again while you are still talking, you know?”
“Huh? Is that so?”
“Yes, it is!”
“Well, okay then. But don’t yell in my ear. It startles me.” It seemed we weren’t the only ones overwhelmed by Nosfy’s appearance and momentum. Even Sith, who appeared to be Nosfy’s ally, looked bewildered.
Amid the confusion, Nosfy began chanting a spell. “Now then! Since we have settled our talk, let us fight! If we do not, we will regret it! Of course, you will regret it even if you do! So it is better to regret it after doing it! Light Ilaia! Hee hee, then there is no need to agonize over it! There is nothing left to do but fight, right?! I, the professional discussion specialist, guarantee it! Fighting and killing each other is the supreme and most beloved form of Discussion!”
Dazzling light scattered in rapid succession from the flag that Nosfy held. The midday streets filled with stardust-like brilliance. The world’s brightness surpassed its limits, turning pure white. It was the power of the Thief of Light’s Essence. It was the light of Discussion, invading everything without question. That light entered our bodies, speaking directly to our minds through its magic. The inciting words Nosfy had just spoken echoed over and over inside our heads.
Fight. Don’t hesitate. Follow your heart. Don’t regret. It urged us on. Gradually, our bodies grew hot, exchanging words became bothersome, and we wanted to solve everything with violence.