…I keep shooting them, but it’s like their numbers are endless! Regina cursed under her breath, situated atop the blaster vehicle guarding the entrance.
The Hive built along the streets produced different types of Voids that rushed them nonstop. The small, fly-like Voids were especially tricky. They were hard to pinpoint, and once they formed a swarm, it was too late to handle them. It felt like they were gradually tightening the noose around them.
Regina glanced at the time display on her terminal. It had been over fifteen minutes since Riselia and Sakuya went inside.
It should be time by now…
She wasn’t counting on reinforcements from other units, but if she retreated now, the Voids would swarm the control tower.
…I guess we’re really backed against the wall here. Regina smiled bitterly to herself as she blasted the swarm of Voids. If I can just buy time for Lady Selia to escape…
But then, she noticed a shadow cast down on her from overhead.
“…Mm?” She looked up, furrowing her brow.
At that moment, a gigantic ghost ship crashed down from the sky, hitting the Void swarm dead center with an ear-splitting rumble. Countless Voids were crushed along with their Hive.
“Wh-what?!”
As Regina cried out in confusion, Leonis appeared behind her.
“…That was messy. I didn’t think the Wild Hunt itself would turn into a Void.”
“You did this, kid…?”
“…Well, more or less,” Leonis answered indifferently and looked up at the sky as a bolt of lightning streaked across it.
“Good luck, my lord.”
✦ ✦ ✦
The four Eye of the Witch orbs deployed around Riselia at once.
“…?!”
As the orbs revolved around her, leaving crimson, dizzying trails of light, Riselia dodged their attack at the last second. Beams of heat melted the floor, blowing a hole into the center of the control room. If a beam were to hit Riselia directly, it would deal lethal damage, even with her immortal vampire’s body.
Kicking against the main shaft in the center of the room, Riselia sprung away, desperate to get away from the orbs. But the four Eyes gave chase with all the vicious tenacity of trained blood hounds. Her barrier of blood blades, which protected her autonomously, couldn’t keep up with their attacks.
And blood blades can’t block this anyway…!
She circulated mana within her body, summoning the True Ancestor’s Dress. The hems of her white dress flapping, she dodged the crimson beams of heat with acrobatic movements. This was the Queen Minerva mode, optimized for magic combat. In terms of physical combat, it was inferior to the Scarlet Tyrant form, but by boosting her mana, she was able to resist the number of magic attacks she unleashed—enough to match the ones fired at her.
Brandishing the Bloody Sword, Riselia chanted a spell.
“Come forth, demon wolves of shadow—Grava Raijan!”
This was a second-order spell Leonis taught her. Three umbral wolves emerged from Riselia’s shadow and lunged at the orbs. But before they could make contact, the Eye of the Witch orbs’ crimson beams shot through the umbral wolves, instantly destroying them. Which was what Riselia expected—she had summoned them only as decoys to distract the orbs and draw their attacks.
…I was right. Even if her Demon Sword has a will of its own, it doesn’t have an intellect.
Riselia sped up her steps, closing in on one of the orbs and swinging her sword on it.
“Haaaaaaaa—Bloody Storm!”
The orb was cut through, and broke into particles of light.
Miss Finé would ignore any decoys and go straight for me.
Elfiné was the brains and tactical expert of the eighteenth platoon. And without her direct control, the Eye of the Witch Orbs were effectively nothing but automatic turrets that attacked whatever entered their range.
So if I whittle them down one by one, I can handle this!
Dodging the flurry of beams, Riselia closed in on a second orb and cut it down.
“Miss Finé, I’ll save you!”
Elfiné was still groaning in agony from absorbing the Demon Sword. Two more orbs appeared in the air, as if to reject Riselia.
—Miss Finé has a total of eight orbs.
With the two Riselia already destroyed included, she had summoned all eight already. Back in the mock match, she couldn’t summon more than four orbs at once. The orbs had high data analysis ability, but that put a massive strain on Elfiné’s mind.
The six orbs lit up at once, preparing for an all-range attack. Riselia chanted a Shadow Step spell, and hopped from shadow to shadow. This was a Shadow Striding spell Shary had taught her. She continuously summoned more umbral wolves to serve as decoys and gradually closed the distance with Elfiné.
But then, as the Void miasma surrounded Elfiné, a change occurred.
…Eh?
A pair of dark wings spread from Elfiné’s back, and she began floating into the air…and, looking down on Riselia, she slowly extended a hand. The six orbs began rapidly encircling Elfiné, guarding her.
“Miss…Finé…” Riselia stopped in her tracks and bit her lips.
She hasn’t snapped out of it…
Letters and numbers raced across the surface of the orbs, and then—
“Ray of Vorpal!”
A barrage of crimson beams rained down on her. Riselia hopped away in an attempt to evade, but suddenly, the True Ancestor’s Dress burned, and blood splattered from her body.
“Kuh, aaah…!”
Letting out a scream, she waited for her body to heal.
The way they’re moving is completely different now!
This was the Eye of the Witch’s original power—its fearsome ability to predict future actions using its rapid computations. It was incredibly close to future sight, and even after becoming a Demon Sword, it had retained this power.
The orbs continued rotating around Elfiné, raining fire on Riselia and torturing her.
…I can’t dodge this!
But then, at that very moment—
“Miss Selia, jump! In the two o’clock direction—” She heard a voice speak to her through her earring communication terminal.
“Sakuya?!”
“Hurry!”
Riselia did so out of reflex, throwing her body in the direction Sakuya indicated. The next moment, the spot she occupied just a second ago was bombarded with a shower of blasts. Had Riselia jumped anywhere but this spot, she’d have been blasted into ashes.
She turned around with a start—standing there was Sakuya, gripping her injured shoulder. Her left eye was glinting gold.
“Sakuya, your eye…?”
“Miss Selia, please don’t ask questions and just move the way I tell you.” Sakuya said earnestly through the terminal. “My eye can surpass Miss Finé’s calculations.”
She spoke with confidence and conviction.
“…A-all right.”
And hearing this, Riselia gulped nervously and nodded.
Is that the power of Sakuya’s Holy Sword? Or is this…?
But that didn’t matter now. The fact of the matter was that Sakuya’s instructions did save her from the Eyes’ attack. So she decided to put her faith in Sakuya.
“They’re coming. Four o’clock direction, take a backstep!”
“…!”
Riselia jumped, following Sakuya’s concise instructions. The beam just barely skimmed in front of her, evaporating the concrete wall.
“Eight o’clock direction, jump.”
“There’s two of them from behind, an ambush.”
“Stop, they’re coming from above.”
She followed the instructions mechanically, just barely dodging each attack.
“Four o’clock direction, swing your sword—”
“Haaaaaaaaaa!”
Turning in place, Riselia drew the Bloody Sword, slashing through an Eye of the Witch orb and causing it to break into particles of light. Three orbs appeared in front of Elfiné as she floated in the air, forming a triangle.
“She’s going to fire a powerful attack. Get away—” Sakuya’s voice tensed up.
“—That’s OK,” Riselia replied and stood her ground.
Holding up the Bloody Sword in one hand, she slid her fingertip along the blade. This was what she was waiting for: The moment Elfiné would lift Eye of the Witch’s auto-guard, an opening would present itself.
Light gathered at the heart of the triangle, and it unleashed a powerful beam: Elfiné’s Tri-Flare Burst. But at the same time, the blood running down the Bloody Sword’s blade caught fire.
“Burn everything away, infernal dragon blood—Flaming Howl!”
The burning blood took the shape of a scarlet dragon, and swallowed up the slash.
“Aaagh… Guh, aaaah…!”
Riselia was overtaken by sudden vertigo, as if all the mana in her body was instantly sucked out. Her glowing argent hair danced and whipped violently, fanned up by the flames. Had the Queen Minerva form not been supporting her, she would have exhausted all her mana at once.