A bullet grazed Mismis’s left shoulder.
“Ow…” Mismis yelled when she felt pain the like of which she’d never experienced before.
Her astral crest had been hit.
It had only been grazed. The very center of her green astral crest had split and oozed a drop of red.
“No…ro…?”
“Say, Mis, I think that I hate you even more than Imperials.”
It was an Imperial forces gun.
The former commander fidgeted with the gun with experienced hands. She had likely stolen it at the base.
“Must’ve been so nice for you. You’ve got excellent subordinates working for you and a smart superior officer looking out for you. They spoiled you rotten until you got to where you are now.”
“Huh?!”
“You get on my nerves! Each and every one of your tepid words!”
Shanorotte flexed the finger on the trigger of the gun she held.
While trying to withstand the searing pain in her left shoulder, Mismis lunged. She tumbled into the four-way cross of the corridor and hid behind a corner of it.
“Gah…?!”
All the nerves in her bones from her head to her toes screamed in pain.
Her bones felt like they were burning.
She couldn’t move and collapsed like she had lost all control over her body. She had felt this pain once before.
“Too bad for you, Mis. A wall can stop bullets, but not my lightning bolts.”
Thunk.
Shanorotte threw aside her gun; it was out of bullets.
“Oh? What’s wrong? Why are you lying there? You did all of this to make friends with me, didn’t you?”
Mismis’s vision grew hazy. In front of her, Shanorotte leaned forward with her arms outstretched. She acted as though she wanted a hug.
“Come on, Mis. If you walk over here, I’ll give you a hug. You like me, don’t you? Then I’m sure you’ll be able to stand up.”
“…”
“What’s wrong? You can’t get up? Then you definitely are—”
“Don’t test me…”
“?”
“No matter how much of a fool you make of me…I can’t bring myself to hate you, Noro.”
Mismis gritted her teeth.
She just barely held on to her fading consciousness as she tried to lift herself using her arms.
Her limbs twitched. She couldn’t get up. She was face down on the floor and couldn’t pull herself up.
But she was able to look at Shanorotte with the eyes she was barely able to move.
“Noro…I don’t want to talk to you like this… Please…”
“That’s enough.”
The atmosphere in the place changed.
Mismis heard a crackle. Lightning curled itself around Shanorotte’s body like a snake, converging on her right arm.
This was a real Lightning bolt.
That was what Shanorotte’s eyes told her as the former commander stared down at her like she was something dirty.
“I’ll find the Lord myself. I don’t want to see your shifty eyes or yappy mouth anymore.”
“Huh?!”
“I’ll zap you out of existence. By using my maximum power.”
Her right arm glowed a golden yellow.
The Lightning, which was as strong if not stronger than natural lightning, came down with Shanorotte’s hand. An earsplitting screech followed it…
……
………Huh?
But instead of the roar of Lightning, Mismis heard the voice of the Wind.
✦ ✦ ✦
So E lu emne xel noi Es—accept me.
✦ ✦ ✦
She wasn’t sure when or where she had heard it.
It was curious.
Shanorotte’s Lightning was so close and roared so loudly.
But she felt the rustle of the Wind was much louder.
That was because…
She heard the sound coming from within herself.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Commander, have you heard the voice of the astral power before?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Deep in the past, after promising to deliver Sisbell to the Sovereignty, the princess had asked her that question.
But…
Why had she remembered that at a time like this?
✦ ✦ ✦
“You must hear something when your mind wanders, yes?”
“That is when you will awaken as an astral mage.”
✦ ✦ ✦
When her mind wandered…
She would hear a voice? And awaken?
✦ ✦ ✦
So E lu emne xel noi Es—accept me.
✦ ✦ ✦
Sez nemne Es tury—I will give you a blessing. Uhw kis melras wop kyel eis pheno—a power that connects you to her.
✦ ✦ ✦
E ema evoia fert Ez lihit—you will become everything you want to be. Xel cia miel bie shel—I will fulfill your wish.
✦ ✦ ✦
She felt something violently sweep over her.
The green glitter of light whirled from Mismis’s left shoulder as it filled the corridor in the Lord’s office.
It felt warm.
The gust as gentle as a spring breeze eddied as the lightning raged.
“Huh?! Is that Wind?!”
Shanorotte, who was an experienced astral mage, realized this was Mismis’s astral power.
Wind?
But there were all varieties of Wind. There were squalls that turned wind into razor-sharp gusts that would slice through an opponent, or the queen’s blasts that could scatter an enemy.
Or was this type of Wind a barrier?
She couldn’t see Wind. Attempting to identify it would be exceedingly difficult.
However…
“Ah-ha-ha-ha! You’ve got the perfect astral power for yourself, Mis!”
Shanorotte gave her a charming smile.
She fired the lightning stockpiled in her arm at Mismis, unleashing the greatest blast of power she could.
“Wind is slow to invoke, just like you! So buh-bye!”
And…
✦ ✦ ✦
Nothing happened.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…………Huh?”
The Lightning astral mage doubted her eyes.
The raging lightning that seemed to represent Shanorotte’s mind flickered out as soon as it touched the current filling the corridor.
It had vanished?
No, it was almost as though the wind had gently caressed the lightning and made it go away.
The lightning had seemed to subside like a bawling child being comforted by a gentle mother.
The lightning had quieted.
“……Huh? Th-this isn’t a joke!”
Shanorotte came back to her senses and once again invoked her Lightning astral power.
The lightning collected in her hand and she fired at Mismis, who remained on the ground. First one shot, then two, then three.
All of them fizzled out.
As the glittering wind touched them, they flickered into gentle flashes of light and disappeared.
“What?!”
Shanorotte was speechless and stood there without saying a word.
All of this was beyond her wildest expectations. She had been bewildered by Mismis’s transformation into a witch, but even more so, she couldn’t believe this peculiar astral power.
Could this astral power quell the destructive impulses of other powers?
She had never heard of such a thing. She didn’t even know of any similar examples.
It must have been exceedingly rare. In addition, it had so easily quelled her lightning bolts, which had been strengthened to the point they rivaled a purebred type’s powers. This astral power must have been strong enough to be on par with a purebred type.
“How…?”
She staggered.
The shock robbed her of all her strength. Shanorotte leaned against a wall.
“How could an Imperial like you get astral powers like that?!”