I glanced at the pocket watch in my hand, causing Haruna to widen her eyes.
"The Spirit of Ophillius..."
I quickly looked behind me.
"Haruna, do you know about this?"
"There's no exact name for it, but it's called the Spirit of Ophillius."
"The Spirit of Ophillius?"
"It's a device used by time magic users to record the past. I don't know the details of its use, but your guess was probably right, Rudy."
The past...
It felt like the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.
A device to record the past.
It was used to cover the flaws of time magic.
Like spatial magic, time magic wasn't divine magic.
It was magic used by sacrificing memories.
Only hidden by magical tools, it was no different from ordinary magic.
Aryandor was grinding his teeth, glaring at me.
I smirked in response.
"Try using time magic."
He wouldn't be able to use time magic.
Even if he could turn back time, he would forget that I learned the trick of time magic.
Fighting me in that state, knowing everything already, would surely lead to my victory.
I laughed.
I had completely sealed off time magic.
He was tangled in mana and couldn't unleash his full power.
"How about you give up now?"
I suggested surrender to him.
Even now, people are dying on the battlefield.
If he surrenders, we can quickly clean up the battlefield and reduce casualties.
"You wouldn't want the rebels to be annihilated, would you?"
"Annihilated...?"
At my words, Aryandor bowed his head.
"If you surrender willingly, I'll spare the lives of the rebels."
"..."
Of course, I had no intention of sparing Aryandor.
With so many rebel soldiers, it wasn't possible to punish them all, but I planned to make an example of the leadership.
"What do you say?"
Aryandor quietly raised his head in response.
"Ha ha..."
Aryandor smirked and laughed like a madman.
"Laughing?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Such nonsense. As if I would accept such a proposal."
I looked at him incredulously.
"Even if it means saving your comrades... Such a proposal?"
"Comrades? Who are the comrades?"
"What?"
"They are tools. Tools for achieving my goals. Have you ever seen someone sacrifice for tools?"
Tools?
The people who were with him were just tools?
Veins throbbed on my forehead.
"You're even more of a piece of sh*t than I thought."
"They probably think of me as a tool too. The rebels and I were just companions with the same goal for a while. And."
Aryandor's eyes were filled with madness.
"I don't think I've lost this fight."
He stretched his hand to the side.
Beatrice was beside him.
"Ugh..."
As Aryandor reached out, light emanated from Beatrice.
This made Haruna's eyes widen.
"We must block it!"
I felt it too.
I didn't know the exact reason for cloning Beatrice, but there was definitely a reason he had brought her clone.
I had no intention of letting his plan succeed.
As I dashed forward quickly, Aryandor retracted his hand and blocked my path.
"Kuh!"
Aryandor's sword clashed with my fist.
He grimaced and was pushed back slightly.
I yelled out.
"Luna!"
"Got it!"
Luna understood my intention and quickly opened her magic book, pouring mana into it.
"Point Explosion!"
A small flame ignited in front of Beatrice, about to explode.
Aryandor, seeing this, turned around.
He wrapped his sword in sword energy and sliced through the rising flame.
I immediately charged at Aryandor.
"Opportunity."
Aryandor, having turned around, had no chance to block my attack.
I infused my hand with mana and struck Aryandor down.
Boom!
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Aryandor was slammed into the ground.
"Cough!"
He spat out blood.
I glanced at him briefly before turning away.
At the end of my gaze was Beatrice.
The air around us changed.
Even the aura emanating from Beatrice had changed.
"What have you done..."
Before I could finish my question,
Beatrice manipulated mana.
And the words that came out of her mouth made my eyes widen.
"Time Back."
The words from Beatrice's mouth were the incantation for time magic.
Beatrice disappeared.
She reappeared behind Luna.
The sudden use of time magic left no room for defense.
"Ugh!"
Beatrice attempted to stab Luna with a dagger.
"Luna!"
"Ah!"
Yuni quickly moved and pushed Luna away.
Thanks to her, they avoided Beatrice's dagger.
"Using time magic?"
Aryandor had imparted time magic in that brief moment.
That was the only explanation for this situation.
I couldn't understand him.
He cloned Beatrice, whom I thought was his goal, and used her like this.
I was sure his objective was the resurrection of Beatrice.
I thought he caused all this to resurrect a family member he cherished, but the current situation didn't seem like it.
Someone who cherished people wouldn't have called the rebels tools.
"Rudy!"
That's when Haruna called out.
"Understood!"
Luna and the others couldn't possibly face Beatrice, who was using time magic.
"Time Back."
Beatrice attempted to use time magic again.
"Priscilla!"
I used Priscilla to block her magic.
Beatrice, seeing her magic blocked, looked at me and raised her dagger, which was swirling with sword energy.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Using both time magic and sword energy in her body, she was essentially Beatrice yet not Beatrice.
"Royal Swordsmanship."
Beatrice charged at me with her dagger.
"Full Moon."
I attempted to counter her attack.
Then, I saw Aryandor passing by me.
He had gotten up from where he had been the moment I diverted my gaze.
His sword was aimed at Haruna.
"Damn!"
I couldn't catch Aryandor, who had passed by in an instant, because Beatrice was blocking me.
"Ugh!"
Haruna twisted her body trying to dodge Aryandor's attack, but she couldn't completely avoid it.
Her shoulder was slashed by his sword, and blood spurted out.
The blood that burst forth shone brightly, despite being red, ordinary blood.
Aryandor, seeing the light, opened his mouth.
"...Is this the place?"
Seeing this, I immediately ran out.
"Cough!"
I quickly approached Aryandor and grabbed his neck, applying pressure.
"Choke... Cough..."
Aryandor struggled as if in pain, his face turning increasingly red, yet he was still laughing.
"Ugh... Cough!!"
Aryandor flailed in that state and then used his leg in a counter-move to target my other hand.
Snap!
"Ah...?"
In that hand, I was holding Aryandor's pocket watch.
Aryandor's kick hit the pocket watch precisely, and my eyes widened.
Throb!
Suddenly, a great shock hit my head.
Information was flowing in.
Numerous pieces of information struck my mind, causing a headache from the overload.
Feeling dizzy with so much information coming in, I let go of Aryandor, and he fell from my grasp.
"Cough..."
Aryandor gasped for air after being released from my grip and looked behind.
"Here! This is the place!"
Aryandor shouted to Beatrice.
"Rudy...!"
Haruna, bleeding from her shoulder, also shouted at me.
His mention of "place" meant he had found the entrance to the holy site.
I focused, trying to ignore the dizziness and pain, and looked at Aryandor.
And I filled my hand with mana.
Despite the influx of information and accompanying pain, I ignored everything and focused solely on Aryandor.
Beatrice ran towards Aryandor.
At the same time, I also stepped towards Aryandor.
"I won't let you escape."
I threw my punch forward.
Mana burst out.
────!
"Kuugh..."
My mana pierced through Aryandor's stomach.
As the mana tore through his abdomen, blood gushed from his mouth.
Seeing this, I staggered.
I must kill him for sure...
I can't leave any chance for retaliation...
With that thought, I tried to attack Aryandor once more.
But, I couldn't extend my fist.
My mind was flooded with jumbled information.
Even when I tried to use mana, my body wouldn't move.
I looked at Aryandor until the end.
Aryandor's body slumped.
I saw him falling to the ground, bleeding out.
Watching him, I lost consciousness and fell.
"...?"
I opened my eyes.
I looked around.
This place wasn't the academy.
I couldn't see Luna, Yuni, or Haruna, who were with me.
I lifted my head.
It was raining from the sky.
And then, I saw a boy and a girl ahead.
"You're my sister, right?"
The boy with black hair said to the girl in front of him.
And the girl, looking at the boy, opened her mouth with sad eyes.
"Aryandor..."
I widened my eyes.
Aryandor?
Looking closely at the girl.
"...Beatrice?"
It was the appearance of Saint Beatrice.
