“Ultimate canon—Corpse Magic Bullet.”
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Vichyssoise created a sphere of darkness that emitted no light between her hands.
“Uh? Hey, what is that?!”
As Mei narrowed her eyes, puzzled as to what was going on, Iska gritted his back teeth.
This was bad.
He knew what this was. That black sphere was a miniature black hole.
Crack.
From Iska’s feet—or rather, from all over the corridor—small bits of concrete flew through the air into the black hole.
“So this is what you did that for!”
Vichyssoise had lied about buying time.
The reason why she had been so elusive as she destroyed the walls and ceiling was so she could collect materials for the black hole.
“Allow me to answer you, Isk,” Vichyssoise said as she gathered everything she needed to set up her Corpse Magic Bullet.
She took the pieces of concrete and the security cameras that had been set up on the ceiling, even the air ducts along the walls.
She would gather everything around her, press it together, and make a massive bullet of multiple tons.
“This is this third time. Why don’t you finally die already?!”
Iska knew he couldn’t stop the process.
So what would he do? He had nowhere to run when he was in the middle of the corridor.
Could he cut through the wall and hide in the crack? Or maybe grab the exposed electric wires hanging from the ceiling?
No, then she would aim at him, and he wouldn’t be able to escape.
“Now, Isk…”
“Iska Big Bro?!”
He heard a shrill voice right between him and Mei.
Nene had likely heard the destruction from the shelter and come running out the door. She turned pale when she looked up into the air.
She also knew about the Corpse Magic Bullet.
Nene had faced against her at the Lou’s villa.
That was why Iska, Mei, and even Vichyssoise herself were all shocked by Nene’s instant reaction.
“Move aside, Iska Big Bro!”
Nene pulled out her forces-issued gun and dashed into the corridor.
Her only weapon was this measly handgun. Even if she successfully shot it, she was far away from the Corpse Magic Bullet and her gun’s bullet would just go straight through Vichyssoise’s body.
It was meaningless.
“Nene?!”
“Move! You’re in the way!”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha! You can’t be serious! Is this some sort of joke that’s popular in the Empire?!”
She was met with a surprised exclamation, an angry bellow, and derisive laughter.
All three of them had given her different reactions, but Nene also declared, “I belong to Special Division I, unit 907.”
Her eyes were like clear water in the winter. She was calm.
“So I know,” she said.
A gunshot fired.
That unreliable-looking bullet sped past the Corpse Magic Bullet and grazed Vichyssoise’s neck before flying into the wall behind the witch.
“What?”
Vichyssoise opened her eyes wide.
She seemed disappointed and also close to laughing.
“You can’t even hit me when I’m standing still? I was kind of excited about what would happen, but there’s really nothing to this?”
“…”
“You said you knew something or whatever. What do you know?”
“I’ve seen something like this in Kelvina’s lab,” Nene said. The redheaded girl lowered her gun. “This is the astral power research organization, Omen. It’s where they research astral energy they draw up from underground.”
“What? But—”
Vichyssoise’s scornful smile froze.
She finally realized what had happened. Some type of glittering mist was seeping into the corridor from a gigantic duct behind her.
This is an underground floor.
The astral energy that’s drawn up has to go through the ducts here.
Nene had shot at the wall.
What if she hadn’t missed but had been exactly on target?
“No?!”
At the same time Vichyssoise turned around, the glittering astral energy began to flood the corridor from the hole in the duct.
“Ahhh!”
In the past, when Kelvina had used the power of the calamity to transform into a malevolent angel, she had said this:
✦ ✦ ✦
“Astral energy, which doesn’t have adverse effects on humans, is like poison to me.”
“My body is rejecting it.”
✦ ✦ ✦
There was a crash as more rubble fell to the ground.
Another piece fell, then another.
The Corpse Magic Bullet began to break apart in midair.
Because the force keeping the rubble together had disappeared, it was all falling to the ground. Behind the cacophony of the falling rubble, Vichyssoise was silent.
“…”
She had fallen to the ground, unable to even get up.
The vast amount of astral energy was like poison to her.
“An Imperial…ha-ha…used astral power?! That’s not even funny…”
Lying face up on the ground, she weakly breathed out.
She probably couldn’t even move a finger. Moving just her lips and eyes seemed to take all of her power. Vichyssoise glared at Nene as though she wanted to shoot her.
“The astral powers…are ours, the astral mages’… They’re not for…Imperials to use…”
“That might be so,” Nene responded sincerely, “but you’re the one who abandoned the astral powers.”
“Huh?!”
Yes.
Vichyssoise was an astral mage who had abandoned the astral powers after being tempted by the calamity’s power.
But an Imperial had used astral power as her secret weapon.
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The astral powers had smiled upon the latter.
✦ ✦ ✦
After a long, long silence…
“Right…” Vichyssoise’s voice was surprisingly soft.
It was almost as though she had been released and had transformed from a witch back into a girl.
“I hate…losing to an Imperial… But if this is my punishment from the astral powers…then so be it…”
✦ ✦ ✦
At the same time, the other battle was also reaching its conclusion.
Like a thread holding her up had snapped, the princess of the Hydra, Mizerhyby, and her guards all fell to their knees.
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“…How…could…?”
✦ ✦ ✦
Mizerhyby fell forward.
Before her enraged gaze was the Lou princess, who was out of breath.
“That most certainly was a tantrum, Mizerhyby…,” Alice said in a half-exasperated tone as she wiped away the sweat that dripped off her like a waterfall.
Her face was darkened from soot. Her fingertips had been lightly singed by flame astral power.
“I would like an apology and recompense,” said Kissing, the Zoa princess.
Her glossy hair was in disarray from the strong winds, and her royal garb was also tattered.
A war of attrition.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a battle to squash your opponent.
Mizerhyby had used her Legion of Dawn in order to launch an all-out attack.
They had used all sorts of astral powers in succession that had been strengthened until they were as powerful as those of a purebred type. Alice and Kissing fought as though their lives depended on it.
“You’ve fallen and we’re now the ones looking down on you. So you realize who the winners are, right?” Alice declared as she held herself up against a wall.
She couldn’t stop sweating or feeling cold.
Though she always required a skilled retinue of subordinates to be with her, Mizerhyby’s Glory astral power and her legion were that much of a threat.
“I knew your astral power was a joke, but you ran out of energy rather quickly after pouring it all into other people.”
“Shut…up …!”
“Why bother glaring at me like that when you can’t even move?”
Alice took a step, then another.
She cautiously walked over to Mizerhyby, then bent forward and grabbed Mizerhyby’s hand, which held the ampoules.
“Stoppp!” Mizerhyby bellowed.
Though she couldn’t get up, her eyes were bloodshot as she gripped her own wrist with absurd vigor to pull back her hand.
“Mizerhyby…you still haven’t given up?!”
“Don’t…get in my way… I need…this power…!”
She had no grace or dignity.
Mizerhyby had cast aside all the qualities of a princess in order to cling to the ampoules.
“Mizerhyby, why do you want them so badly?!”
“Why?! Hah! How can you say that after knowing what kind of monster your own sister has become?!”
“Guh.”
When Mizerhyby had mentioned Elletear, she had eloquently revealed her motive.
Mizerhyby wanted power that could surpass Elletear’s. That was why she had sought the power of the calamity.
……I see.
……Then I won’t make light of your resolve at least.
Mizerhyby shuddered.
Now she was probably fully out of energy. Alice watched the ampoules slide out of the unconscious princess’s hand, then turned to Kissing.
“We’ll inform the Imperial forces aboveground that we’ll hand off the Hydra princess to them.”