We were together because we were always together!
We’ll fight together, Ide!
✦ ✦ ✦
I witnessed the reunion of the sister and brother.
Though I had intended to leave Viaysia Castle first, I was brilliantly overtaken by Ide, and he’d made it to Titee before I could. I’d won the duel, yet I felt like I’d lost the battle. But losing was for the best. Losing was truly for the best...
Titee, who’d kept deceiving herself to meet her brother’s expectations.
Ide, who’d kept pretending to be someone else just to stay by his sister’s side.
Both had lost themselves, wandering the depths of despair. But now, she wouldn’t have to pretend to be the Sovereign Queen Lorde anymore, nor would he have to pretend to be the chancellor. Facing this final enemy a thousand years later, the new Sovereign Queen Lorde, they’d made it just in time.
“Ugh... I hurt all over... Soothe me, Kanami...”
Watching their long-awaited reunion from afar, I’d been feeling a bit sentimental, but Snow, teary-eyed beside me, snapped me out of it.
“All right. If you can talk, you should be okay.” From what I could see, aside from frostbite, she didn’t have any serious injuries. I gave Snow’s head a light pat and ended the healing magic I’d cast on her.
“Oh!”
“Snow, you can stand down now. Leave the rest to us.”
Moving Snow to the rear, I stepped forward to face the true enemy. I intended to leave Hitaki to those two. I was certain that entrusting my younger sister to the siblings would end her role as the Sovereign Queen Lorde.
Now, there was only one thing left for me to do. A single Apostle stood at the end of the now-white road. Sith—shrouded in faintly golden magic. My task was to hold her back.
“Don’t lay a hand on Ide and the others. I’m the one you’re fighting.”
Seeing me blocking her path, Sith addressed me with a confident expression. “Aha. So it seems Regacy’s Thief of Wood’s Essence couldn’t defeat you after all. But as long as my Thief of Water’s Essence remains, victory is impossible for you, isn’t it, friend?”
She must have had absolute confidence in Hitaki’s strength. She showed no intention of interfering with their battle. Rather, she seemed content to watch alongside me. Sensing our shared interest, my fighting spirit withered. Thus began our wager: Sith bet on Hitaki while I bet on Ide and Titee.
“Ide can’t beat Hitaki. No, even more—no matter how many Essence Thieves gather, Hitaki cannot be defeated. That’s how the world’s rules are set.”
“You’re probably right. Hitaki looks strong. Even if the rest of us all teamed up, we might not win.” I looked in the same direction as Sith and agreed.
Hitaki, the Thief of Water’s Essence and the Sovereign Queen Lorde, possessed terrifying magical power. By transforming the royal capital into her own elemental field, she could freely manipulate both the temperature and magical energy within this space. Information from Dimension revealed that she was invincible in magical combat within this ice barrier.
“Did you suddenly decide to give up her body’s magic stone?” Seeing me openly acknowledge Hitaki’s strength, Sith tilted her head in puzzlement.
“No. Not at all. But even so, I’m saying Ide will win.” I shook my head with a smile. I no longer harbored a single fear about the duel. It was precisely because I knew this very situation was the best possible future that I could watch it unfold with a smile.
“Huh? Ide will win?” Sith seemed unable to comprehend what I was saying. But inside me, it was already a certainty.
From what I saw with Dimension, Ide was covered in wounds, blood-soaked and scarred. It wasn’t just his muscles—ligaments were torn, bones shattered. The outlet of his overflowing magical power source had been shifted by my magic, leaving him unable to use magic properly.
On top of that was this winter world. His body heat was being steadily drained, his entire body on the verge of freezing solid. Frankly, it was a miracle he wasn’t dead. Even so, Ide swore he wouldn’t lose. So that was how it would be.
I recalled Lorwen’s form in the final match of the Brawl. In other words, the Guardians I’d fought up until now and present Ide were the same. When a person fought using their very life, there were moments just like this. Physical condition didn’t matter. Being on the brink of death didn’t matter. As long as their spirit didn’t break, they kept believing they could move—and in fact, they did keep moving. These were moments when the spirit transcended everything, when utter exhaustion could be declared peak condition. In this moment alone, no one could defeat Ide. Not me, not the Apostle, not my sister, not even Ide himself, and certainly not the Sovereign Queen Lorde.
That was why I could watch with peace of mind, but Sith strongly objected. “What nonsense... The Thief of Wood’s Essence is the weakest Essence Thief. Regacy decided that! Bound by that price! Even if Ide enters the ring, it means nothing!”
“Ah, I know. Apostle Regacy seems to have placed his hopes entirely on Ide.”
“Huh? Hopes?”
“Hey, Sith. Have you ever seen the true spell of the Essence Thieves?”
Sith shook her head. In response, I explained my confidence based on my own reasoning.
“It’s a power you could never understand, living a borrowed life and thinking only of yourself. Watch closely. This is true ‘magic.’ Surely, this is the true goal Saint Tiara and I have both aimed for!”
Sith seemed to sense there was no lie in my words and fell silent. She joined me in staring intently at Ide, watching the distant battle as though determined not to miss a single detail after I’d spoken so earnestly. When this fight came to an end, Sith and I would surely understand what magic truly was—its very essence.
From what I’d seen in Titee’s memories, the origin of magic lay in fairy tales. Those who imitated them, the Essence Thieves, had begun to perform miracles. Next, Kanami the Founder had spread sorcery across the entire world, and then Saint Tiara had refined it into something that anyone could use. People today lumped all of that together and called them all spells. But I believed the true spell lay elsewhere.
I would see that genuine thing in the siblings who were about to vanish. Ide and Titee. The answer they gained by staking their entire lives—that was magic.
I strengthened Dimension, determined not to miss it.