“Ah... For a thousand years, the two children ran away from life. There were times we lost our way, parted and separated. But now, there’s no need to fear anymore!” Just to pour her heart into the magic, Titee added an incantation.
And Ide followed, continuing with a brighter smile than I’d ever seen. “They realized! People don’t live for dreams, they journey toward their heart’s homeland! As long as that home waiting for the soul remains, they can always return!”
They wove in excessive incantations, paying the price of their own lives to the world, yet there was no suffering or sorrow there. In pure joy, they endlessly strengthened the spell that was their very lives. It was a construction unlike any other magic. Therefore, I was certain that, without a doubt, this was what a true spell was.
And then, having finished his incantation, Ide charged forward with the certainty of victory.
“I will defeat her! I will defeat the Sovereign Queen Lorde who torments my sister! This is why I have lived! Why I was born! Defeating the Sovereign Queen Lorde here was my mission!” Trusting his sister’s support, he charged forward without a single moment of hesitation.
Dodging the hail of ice arrows, enduring the blizzard pounding from the side, running straight toward the Sovereign Queen Lorde poised with her ice blade...
“Forward! Forward! We advance forward! Reach out!!!”
Facing the advancing Ide, the Sovereign Queen Lorde chose to retreat. Overwhelmed by the man advancing alone, she pulled back significantly, attempting to counter with long-range ice magic.
But Titee wouldn’t allow it. “Go! Ide!!!” The world’s greatest tailwind blew against his back. Titee’s wind carried him right under the retreating Sovereign Queen Lorde.
With his sister’s support, Ide screamed and reached out.
“Reach!!!”
Ide’s hand touched the Sovereign Queen Lorde. And from that palm was released the gentle magic he excelled at most. The extraordinary healing magic that had once restored even our memories. Amplified by the power of this homeland, it became the world’s greatest healing spell, enveloping Hitaki.
“REMOVE FIELD!!!”
In an instant, light exploded across the world. Ide’s gentle magic swallowed the entire royal capital. It was a blow even the Thief of Water’s Essence could not block.
Like a marionette whose strings had snapped, the strength drained from Hitaki’s body. The cold air and magic power overflowing from her ceased, and this time, she fell into a perfect slumber. It was the instant the being known as the Sovereign Queen Lorde vanished from the world—which meant that Ide had defeated her. The long-running battle against the Sovereign Queen Lorde ended in victory for the siblings.
Ide caught Hitaki’s collapsing body. Seeing this, Titee, watching from behind, let out a huge sigh and plopped down on the ground. With a smile brimming with the certainty of victory, she cheered and celebrated.
“Phew! Phew, ha ha ha! Ha ha, we did it! I’m totally spent, but we did it! We took down the Sovereign Queen Lorde! Aaah, she was so strong!!!”
“Yeah, we did it... We defeated that legendary ruler...” Ide rejoiced just as much.
The two shared their victory, panting heavily. But Ide alone remained alert. Still holding Hitaki, he started walking to where I’d been watching from.
I left Sith, who was standing beside me in stunned silence, and walked toward Ide. Though we’d just fought a life-or-death duel moments ago, now there was no barrier between us. We laughed together like old friends, then nodded silently in unspoken understanding.
Then, Ide handed me the sleeping Hitaki, and I took her. At last, my precious little sister was back in my arms. The sister I’d searched for endlessly was now with me. Just that thought made my eyes sting a little.
“Now then, it’s your turn. This time, show us the bond between the two of you...” Ide said to me as he started to relax. It was a friendly warning telling me not to lose focus, because the real battle started now.
Following Ide, my other friend, Titee, remained seated but cheered me on. “Kanamin! Hurry up and save Dia! We’re a bit tired, so we’ll watch over you from here!”
I knew that just as they’d been the ones who’d had to face the Sovereign Queen Lorde, I was the one who must face the Apostle.
I laughed at my realization. “That’s right, so just watch. We won’t be shown up by those two! After all, me and Hitaki are the best siblings in all dimensions and worlds!”
I hugged Hitaki tight in my arms as I spoke. Then, my sleeping sister stirred. She shifted her body as if changing position in her sleep and wrapped both arms around my neck. Without needing me to say it, Hitaki had unconsciously done exactly what I was hoping for. That’s right, we were just like Ide and Titee. The only brother and sister in the world, our hearts connected without words. I’d never let her go again.
Just as I renewed that vow, the Apostle, who had been staring blankly a short distance away, snapped back to reality and began muttering at us.
“What?! Huh?! My Hitaki lost to two failed Essence Thieves?! Impossible! That can’t be! Victory was decided from the start! That’s absurd!” She seemed completely unable to believe Hitaki’s defeat.
With her certainty of victory shattered, her pre-duel composure vanished. She began to stagger toward Hitaki and me, her fighting spirit slowly returning.
“Give her back, friend. Hitaki is mine!” She amplified the magic in her body threateningly. Using Dia’s body, she wielded immense magic power, matching even Hitaki’s earlier display.
But I remained unshaken. “Then come at me, Apostle Sith. I’ll show you everything I’ve got.”
I’d show her my true power. I slipped my left arm under Hitaki’s knees and lifted her. Because she was clinging to my neck, it inevitably ended up looking like a princess carry. However, since I was still holding my sword, I couldn’t support her with my right arm, making it seem like I might drop her at any moment. Yet I felt no fear of her slipping from my arms. I sensed a certain strength in the arms wrapped around my neck. I knew that not only I, but my sister, too, was determined for us to never be parted again. Therefore, I was confident I could fight just fine like this. No, more than fine. Right now I could fight with more power than ever before.
“Wintermension!” I blended the Dimension magic overflowing from me with the Ice magic overflowing from Hitaki, constructing a spell I’d once cherished.
Borrowing the warm world of Ide and Titee’s homeland, I summoned a cool breeze, slightly different from the spring wind. It was an alien wind, unfit for this place. But precisely because that slightly chilly wind was the wind of our homeland, the wind of us Outworlders, I mentally asked everyone to tolerate it for just a little while.
This was the power of the Aikawa siblings. We’d once been a single being of Dimension and Ice who’d troubled the Allied Nations. Refusing to be shown up by those other two siblings, I poured magic from my body and pointed my sword at the Apostle.
“My Hitaki! Return my Hitaki!” Sith shouted at me. Radiant magic erupted from her back, displaying pressure befitting her maxed-out Level 59.
I stood my ground, facing her head-on. “It’s useless, Sith. No matter how much magic power you have, it will all freeze. Wintermension!”
My spell stalled the eruption of her magic. There was no need to transform the entire world into winter like before. With the help of my Dimension magic, only Sith’s power and the spell froze. As a result, as she attempted to transform her arm into a sword of light, she was thrown off by the excessive slowness of its formation.
“What?! How am I being beaten down by stats like yours?! Is it this barrier’s fault? Is it the magic of those other two? Or is it some other spell?!”
Sith likely wasn’t satisfied with the finished light sword either. She tried to gather information from her surroundings, convinced there must be some deeper reason for this failure, but she quickly realized the cause was solely my Wintermension, and her face twisted in frustration. She flushed with anger. It meant nothing less than that she was purely losing in this clash of magical power against me.
“I won’t accept this!” she screamed. “This is so unfair! I refuse to accept it!!!” She amplified the force of her spell’s eruption. Particles fanned out from her back like a fountain. It resembled propulsion thrusters or, depending on how you looked at it, angel wings.
With her sand-golden hair, a fair and delicate beauty, and white wings, Sith could only be described as an angelic messenger. Yet she continued to display an ugliness unworthy of her divine form.
“Level Up! Change all my stats into magic power! Amplify it with my Overprotection skill! Theoretically, this should grant me over ten times your magic power!”
“Useless.”
Sith charged forward, laying every enhancement spell she possessed on herself. The sheer concentration of magic in her wake created a river of stardust, yet the power of my Wintermension dismissed it with a single blow.
Mid-charge, Sith stalled, raising her right arm with a sluggish swing right in front of me. The tip of that light sword was razor sharp. Anything touched by its gleaming magic would be torn apart and severed without question. But no matter how sharp the sword, its movement was far too slow. I effortlessly dodged the blade of light.
Next, Sith transformed her left leg into a sword and delivered a kick, but I countered by slicing her thigh with my own blade. Thanks to my spatial awareness and slowing my opponent, this fight was completely one-sided. Perhaps because it was a spell I’d created for myself, but the stability of Wintermension was extraordinary. As long as I had this, I felt I could fight any enemy.
“Wh-Why? Why?! I’m fighting with over ten times your magic power!” Sith flapped her wings and retreated quickly as she noticed her disadvantage. Even though she’d just witnessed magic that couldn’t be measured in numbers, she still clung to fighting within conventional rules. That meant my Resonant magic with Hitaki would be absolutely unbreakable.
“Dia! Do something!!!” Though she didn’t understand the logic, she seemed to grasp that continuing like this meant defeat. Sith called out the name of the body’s true master and slumped over, all strength draining from her.
The moment she lifted her face again, Dia was there. Her expression was pained, eyes brimming with tears, as she reached out toward Hitaki in my arms, ready to unleash her magic. Her face twisted when she saw me holding Hitaki.
“Ah... Aah... Aaah? What? Why? Why is Sieg... G-Give me back Sieg! Give him back to me! Flame Arrow!”
Magic power flared and a Flame Arrow, tracing a white line through the air, was fired. I didn’t dodge it. I neutralized it solely through the dampening effect of Wintermension’s cooling. The heat, now far too diminished to be called a Flame Arrow, lightly brushed my cheek. It was a familiar spell, one that had saved my life countless times.