“WHAT is that?” the butler gasped, a deep suspicion in his tone.
The wall of fire remained unchanging, flames enveloping the stadium just as intensely as they’d begun. However, in the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of green.
“It can’t be…”
In the midst of the blaze, a huge, thick plant came stretching through the flames, creating a tunnel big enough for someone to walk through. On closer inspection, it was decorated with flowers of various colors, creating a beautifully designed display among the chaos.
“It’s not burning?!” he remarked in a panic. “But, why…?”
“Lady Cornelia?” a bright, casual tone echoed across the roar of flames. “Are you there? If you are, please say something!”
The sound of someone running grew closer and closer.
“Ugh…” Cornelia groaned, finding herself immediately on her feet despite thinking she couldn’t even move a finger. The butler tried to push her back to the ground, but the plant-tunnel slapped him away as though to protect her.
Despite being extremely unsteady on her feet, Cornelia managed to run down the path that the plant had provided for her. Strangely enough, inside the tunnel, she could no longer feel the heat of the flames. The interior was covered with swathes of red flowers, beaming as though to encourage her.
“Lady Cornelia! There you are,” Marialite’s voice called out as she appeared before Cornelia, running towards her with a bright smile on her face. Cornelia’s cat ears drooped. Tears spilled over her eyelashes, and she found herself rooted to the spot, unable to walk another step.
“Someone I’ve never seen before guided me here, but it was a huge shock to see the place on fire,” Marialite explained. “That was when I heard you were still trapped inside. Luckily enough, Lord Sirius only recently gave me the seeds of a fire-resistant flower. I never thought it would come in so handy!”
Cornelia didn’t reply, and instead shook her head silently, sniveling.
That’s not quite right. Even fire-resistant plants would burn to a crisp if they were attacked with the intensity of flames such as these. No—it was surely Marialite’s holy powers that had given birth to a plant this tenacious.
Then, Marialite had rushed inside the building to save her. Cornelia had no doubt that she never even weighed up the positives and negatives of doing so.
“Now, let’s get out of here,” Marialite said, using a handkerchief to wipe the tears from Cornelia’s cheeks.
“…All right,” she sniffed with a nod.
For whatever reason, the faint floral scent that perfumed the soft fabric only made her cry even harder.
✦ ✦ ✦
“DAMN it… Damn it all! What in tarnation is that?!” the butler panicked, ogling the tunnel as it refused to burn. He decided he would have no choice but to take Cornelia by force, but the entrance promptly closed itself up once she was safely inside. There was no way for him to go after her.
Who in the demon realm would come to save her?
There were countless individuals who would benefit in one way or another from her death. The number of those who cared enough to save her, however, was small enough to count on one hand.
“Like this, I’ll be the only one who dies!” he lamented.
He wouldn’t stand for it. He staked his life on his revenge; he couldn’t let it go to waste in such a tragic turn of events.
I need to break this thing open. He grimaced, pulling and scraping at the vines that blocked off the tunnel. Then, all of a sudden, a droplet plipped onto his skin from above.
It was raining. Within seconds, a torrential downpour erupted, the roar of it so loud that it drowned out the noise of the raging fire. The butler watched on in astonishment as the storm of raindrops smothered the flames until they fizzled out, reduced to no more than a pile of smoking ash.
“The fire…” he gasped. “How? Who could have…?”
On the other side of the smoke emerged the faint silhouette of a single young man. A blue, glowing magic circle had been composed at his feet, informing the butler that he had been defeated by a torrent of magical rain.
“It was a good thing I decided to come back after I shook off my soldiers,” Sirius huffed. “I never thought Lady Marialite would go this far.”
Unsheltered from the rain, he stood there just as soaked as the butler. The butler broke into a cold sweat. He saw how much magical energy he used up during the duel—and yet, he was commanding a huge spell with no effort whatsoever. Just how much power did he possess?
He might be royalty, but that’s absurd!
“With this much power, surely you could have slaughtered Cornelia in the blink of an eye…”
“Is that all you have to say?” Sirius replied, raising an eyebrow.
“N-None of this is my fault!” he contended. “If you’re going to blame someone, blame Cornelia! She made a fool of me after everything I put up with for her!”
“So, that’s your motive? All right. Get him.”
With that single cue, a dark shadow swiftly made its way around the butler’s back. Then, it knocked him back with a roundhouse kick.
“Guh…!” he groaned in pain, the impact sending him to the ground. A splash resounded as he hit the water-logged ground, and Raven laughed.
“He was all talk in the end, huh?” he commented, amused.
“I have more to ask him. Make sure he doesn’t end his own life before then,” Sirius ordered.
“Yes, m’lord,” Raven nodded. He glanced at the huge, fire-resistant tunnel, and a wave of emotion welled up inside him. “You and Marialite make a great couple, y’know. You both go way above and beyond.”
“It’s only natural; I expect my powers have something to do with her, after all.”
“Huh? Whaddya mean?”
“Let’s leave the chit-chat for later. We need to deal with this fool first,” he said. The moment the magic circle at his feet disappeared, so did the rain. As the black clouds dispersed, a clear night sky appeared above them, the moon and stars illuminating their way.
“Still, it’s a shame Marialite didn’t get to see you show off.”
“I have no desire to perform such egocentric displays,” he retorted.
“Well, it’s partly a good thing she was inside that tunnel. If she wasn’t, her clothes would be soaked right through about now.”
“L-Lady Marialite…with her clothes soaked right through…?” Sirius’ mind came to a halt.
Raven kept his mouth shut, staring at him with an exhausted look of disdain on his face.