Old Blue
She made full use of her magic here as well, discovering the door that was hidden in the center of the courtyard and unlocking it. A square hole opened in the ground, and from there she could see stairs that went underground. Old Blue descended the stairs.
The sounds of clashing metal behind her grew distant. She made no sound, descending the stairs as quickly as one would walk in a straight line.
The walls were gray stone, and the floor and ceiling were the same. There was not a single crack. There had been spells cast on it. It had not only been strengthened but also made more resistant to magic. She couldn’t see the seams—had it been cut from a single rock? That would normally be impossible, but it could be done with magic.
With every step forward she took, the chill on her skin grew. The temperature was dropping. And not only that. There was something. The something beyond here was lowering Old Blue’s body temperature.
Another twenty steps from there, and the stairs came to an end. There was a room underneath that. According to her magic, this was the entrance area. This was still the entrance to the ruins, and not the ruins themselves.
Oh my…
There was a big stone gate. Even a giant homunculus would be able to pass through, and it was big enough a magical girl could look up at it. If she opened this, it would lead to the ruins. Keys of magic were meaningless before Old Blue. This was because the way to undo a lock was included in its true nature. Compared to what she had just opened, this door was simple.
She needed no particularly difficult methods or special tools. If she chanted a few words of the spell, the door would open, and with the physical strength of a magical girl, she would be able to kick it open, too. This was the level of being “more or less locked.” Most likely it had not been anticipated that thieves would get in this far. They had only known what to do and where in the courtyard to go in order to open the entrance to the ruins because they had someone special like Old Blue, and it wasn’t like anyone could do it.
While understanding this much, Old Blue did not open the door and turned her back on it.
This is impossible.
Going inside to do anything with the relic was out of the question. Even the Heart Lightnings, who had a strong resistance to magic, wouldn’t last long in there, never mind Old Blue herself. Had Frederica prepared something? If Frederica would destroy herself, that was one thing, but if she had some ploy to get in, that was bad. Old Blue’s side being unable to touch the ruins and only them getting free access would be the worst-case scenario.
She could not destroy the relic. The destruction of the ruins was also impossible. So then the remaining choice would be to eliminate Frederica, but that being the case, she had to get one more job done first.