Isabella had no idea what meaning there was in the two of them calling each other’s names.
She moved instinctively without needing to be told to do so, lifting her leg and kicking at the strange creature. The blow felt so satisfying it gave her goosebumps. Pushed back by her boot, the creature tumbled to the ground at a distance from her, and she finally realized that it was just a person—a familiar face, in fact. A man with black hair, wearing a black cloak.
The creepy guy in Childman’s class—Colgon!
“That’s the end of the incantation. We’re not there yet!” Colgon shouted at the lord, ignoring Isabella’s kick. He swung the sword he held underneath his cloak to the side, striking out at the lord somehow.
The lord jumped back and dodged. “It’s not too far. The end of the world is just before our eyes.” He was perfectly composed.
Colgon clicked his tongue and sheathed his sword—he must have been carrying a scabbard somewhere underneath his cloak. “It’s a ways off yet—I thought it would be easier to activate the summoner with Lottecia, but one isn’t enough. You’ll have to join us, my lord.”
What are they talking about?! Isabella rushed forward, still not understanding. She had some confidence in her hand-to-hand skills, but she’d never thought she could go toe to toe against someone from the elite class where it was obvious at a glance that they’d trained to be assassins. But her body felt strangely light as she moved it forward, attacking Colgon from a blind spot on his side. She grazed Colgon’s shoulder with a simple front kick, then hit the side of his face with a high kick. He probably fell on purpose, because he was quickly back up again, looking like he hadn’t taken much damage. His hand peaked out from under his cloak as he regarded her for the first time.
There was a small knife in his grip.
“The Thirteen Apostles, eh...?” Colgon muttered with a twist of his scarred lip.
She remembered him, but he had apparently forgotten her. Of course, they were only two people who might see each other in the hallway and wouldn’t even exchange a greeting, so maybe that was only natural. Isabella smiled wryly, taking a defensive stance to match the blade her adversary had drawn.
She could hear something like the chirping of a bird coming from the blade in time with its movements. Was it Colgon’s breathing? Was it her own tongue clicking? The moment the sound stopped, Colgon thrust the blade forward in a half-circle, aiming for Isabella’s throat.
Is he trying to kill me?!
Isabella leaped back and he followed her, thrusting again and again at different angles. After several thrusts, Isabella reached out to grab Colgon’s wrist—she saw an opportunity, so she went for it, trapping Colgon’s right arm between both of hers.
But the knife wasn’t there.
In a split second, he had shifted it to his left hand, and she saw it glint out of the corner of her eye. If she didn’t do something, she would die. Momentarily stunned by this revelation, she fell to the ground—the sudden movement allowed her to dodge the knife, but the fight was all over.
Immobilized, she could do nothing as Colgon’s foot impacted her side. Isabella curled up on the ground, groaning in pain as her vision flickered. She spat saliva out of her mouth and looked up, but Colgon was no longer there.
“...You really think I can stop now?” His voice came from a slight distance as he moved away from her.
He was facing the lord now, who shrugged and said with some chagrin, “It’s foolish to take pride in strength.”
“I can kill you and take you with me that way. I know you’ll come back to life, after all.”
They both seemed to be intimidating each other, but their tones were almost gentle.
Isabella lifted her head up, trying to pay attention to the conversation and not the pain she was in. She at least wanted to comprehend the situation by the time she could move again.
Colgon stayed put, but as he drew another weapon from his pocket, he seemed to close the distance between himself and the lord somehow. It must have been a gun, but...the shape of it was completely different than the handguns Isabella was familiar with. It was something completely unique, just like the lord had said. The barrel alone was almost a meter long. She had no idea how one wielded such a weapon, but she couldn’t imagine you could do it with one hand. There was something like a small telescope on top of the barrel. It likely didn’t do much good on a dark night like tonight, but it must have meant you could aim at things at a distance that you could only see through that scope.
He’d likely drawn the weapon just to make a point, and having intimately experienced the weapon’s might herself, Isabella shuddered at the sight of it. She looked at the lord, but he didn’t seem particularly concerned by it.
“Lottecia hasn’t mastered the device enough to transport someone unwilling yet. But with a simple thought from you, you could do anything you liked with it for at least one moment.” Colgon was the one starting each interaction between them.
“I see...” the lord responded. “So you’re trying to entice me with words.”
She didn’t understand the relationship the two men had. Old friends, if she had to guess, but she had no idea how a member of the elite class at the Tower of Fangs and the lord of the Imminent Domain, the trump card of the Union of Lords, could know each other.
Colgon’s low voice brought to mind the intimidating hiss of a snake. “I’ve already captured the Second World-Seeing Tower. The sanctuary has no choice but to capitulate to me—I’ll easily be able to control the sanctuary once we’ve killed the goddess. The World-Seeing Tower is the center of the sanctuary, its vital point. All we need to do now is summon the demon king. Every condition you wished for has been fulfilled.”
“The question is whether the summoning will work. If it fails, it will all be for naught.”
“That’s why I want you to work with Lottecia. Even if one isn’t enough, if you work together, you’ll be more likely to succeed.” Colgon stepped forward, his cloak billowing behind him. “Come, my lord. Let’s finish this.”
“I’ll...” The lord had always been eloquent, but now he seemed at a brief loss for words. With a wry smile, he began again. “I’ll be there in time. I swear it.”
Colgon was silent for a long time. No, maybe it was only a few seconds. But it was a long silence. Eventually, he said, “Very well. Now that you know our preparations are complete, you’ll have to come at some point.” Colgon vanished as soon as he was done saying the words.
Isabella staggered to her feet, eventually able to move again. The lord was staring out at nothing—not at the place where Colgon had vanished, but just meaningless space. Empty air, that he hadn’t even been looking at before.
He turned toward her when he heard her footsteps. Bowing his head slightly, he told her, “I’m sorry. I used you as a shield.”
“What were you talking about...?” Isabella approached the lord, still holding her aching stomach—or she would have, if she could move her legs properly. What she actually did was simply wobble on the spot a bit as the lord turned his back to her.
“You want to join Pluto, correct? The direction you were originally headed in was right. You should probably hurry. As soon as he finds the entrance to the sanctuary, he’ll charge in to take control of it.”
“Is that...another shield?” she asked, a bad taste in her mouth. She pushed herself to take half a step forward, but the lord moved a full step back in that time.
His voice alone returned to her. “I told you at the very start to head back to the capital... That would have been your best choice. After all, there’s no meaning or worth in your deaths.”
“Are we...!” She tried to chase after him with her words, but they wouldn’t reach him. His back was getting smaller and smaller now as he retreated.
Soon, he left the area her sorcerous lights illuminated. Though she could no longer see him, she raised her voice anyway. “Are we...nothing more than our circumstances?!” That was as far as she could move.
The lord’s leg was supposed to be broken—it was at this point that Isabella remembered that. She shook her head at the thought. Someone must have healed him. Or was there some other reason for it? She didn’t know, but what she did understand was that there was no way she could catch up to him.
I’ll catch up to Miss Maria. She raised her head and confirmed her current objective. Then, after I give her a piece of my mind... I’ll fight with her. No matter what happened, she couldn’t let herself simply rot here.
Crying was all right, but if she didn’t want to regret anything, she couldn’t rot. She told herself that and turned back to the direction she’d originally been heading.