Editing Magika No Kenshi To Shoukan Maou:Volume 7 Chapter 4

==Chapter 4  – {{furigana|The Only Darkness in the World|Dead Angle}}==

===Part 1===

There were still some unanswered questions, but Lotte was mostly convinced.

During the war with Yamato, the disruption maneuvering to cause friction inside the academy by noticing the academy of the damage the spy caused in real time&mdash;the only student who could do that was Yumeno Shiori. That was because she was permitted to carry her own mobile phone even during the war as the chairman of the newspaper committee.

And then no matter how much information the Student Council scattered as bait to lure out the spy, the spy didn’t do any tailing or espionage at all―that was because Yumeno Shiori was in the position where she could obtain information even without doing any of that. Even without doing any eavesdropping, she was boldly participating in their meeting. And she was recording all of it in the meeting’s minutes.

If they thought about it accurately with logic, there was no way they wouldn’t direct their suspicion to Yumeno Shiori.

There, Lotte proposed to Kazuki not to speak out about the important information in the meeting and kept it for himself.

It was a bait with the assumption that the spy was inside the Student Council.

As expected, this time the girl took the bait.

Catching her like this right in the scene of the crime, the suspicion on the girl had become something unshakeable.

However, several doubts were still left.

First, in the case of the battle election, Yumeno Shiori was brainwashed by Hayashi Shizuka and made to become candidate as a pawn. Hayashi Shizuka should be informed about the spy inside the academy. It was really unnatural to further overwrite someone who was already a spy with brainwashing magic.

The next doubt was how Yumeno Shiori was always visibly striving to search for the spy seriously. There was not even a single lie that could be seen from that seriousness of hers.

Furthermore, Kazuki felt his bond with Yumeno Shiori, he could sense that positivity level of hers. That ability of Kazuki should be something unusable toward someone hostile to him.

The last and the most questionable fact was, the fact that all the information necessary for the sake of concluding that [Yumeno Shiori is suspicious] were all information gathered by Yumeno Shiori herself.

The one who investigated the information that a spy’s disruptive maneuvering was being conducted in the Knight Academy and came to report it to the Student Council was herself.

The one who presented the good idea to lay trap for the sake of cornering the spy was also the girl. Exactly because this tactic didn’t succeed that they were led into the conjecture that the perpetrator was an inside man.

She thoroughly investigated and interviewed one by one all the participants of the quest and she even reported that somehow all of them were undoubtedly innocent. It was information that made them excessively question about the existence of an inside man.

It was all nonsensical actions for a spy.

''Lotte couldn’t see it as anything other than she was cornering herself.''

Because there was such a doubt, that Kazuki was thinking that he didn’t want to doubt Yumeno Shiori.

Lotte perceived that pain in Kazuki’s heart by her Telepathy.

That was why Lotte moved as the substitute in trying to corner Yumeno Shiori to the wall.

Kazuki-oniisan was always taking the initiative to shoulder everyone’s suffering for them.

That’s why I too, if I don’t undertake the most painful thing for Kazuki-oniisan….

Doubting other people―that was surely something Hayashizaki Kazuki was the weakest at doing. But.

Doubting other people―that was something Charlotte Liebenfrau was the best at doing. It was something like a natural habit for her.

Lotte tailed the girl. The sounds of Lotte’s footsteps, even the sounds of the door to the Student Council room opening and Lotte entering inside too, Yumeno Shiori didn’t hear any of those at all.

That technique was something that Lotte also learned and mastered from Kazuha-senpai.

“You are the spy from Yamato right desu, Yumeno-oneesan.”

Lotte threw her voice to the girl was because she thought that she had a ground to talk to each other with the girl.

She might be able to persuade her.

There might be some kind of special circumstance that befell the girl.

But those thoughts were betrayed.

“Hi, hihi”

From Yumeno Shiori’s mouth, laughing voice like a spasm leaked out.

“Human that saw me, has to be killed.”

A calm tone of voice. It stimulated an instinctive unpleasant feeling, making Lotte got goosebumps all over her body.

This person…something is strange with her!!

“{{furigana|I know thy name|Shem ha Meforash}}…thy name is [Halphas]…the bird of black death that invite wars. Spread the wing of lamentation, please sing the beginning of calamity!”

Yumeno Shiori’s body was wrapped in the light of {{furigana|Access|Astrum Connection}}.

At her back, an avatar of jet black giant bird emerged out with its wings widely spread out.

The demon of Solomon 72 Pillar, Halphas―the demon bird that acts as the opposite of Phoenix.

In contrast with Phoenix that symbolized death and rebirth that was [life’s turning point], Halphas symbolized the beginning and the end of war that was [the era’s turning point].

The uniform that was on Yumeno Shiori’s body was disintegrating into Prima Material. Bluish black flames ran across that naked body. The bluish black flame hardened and transformed into a Magic Dress.

“…Kill.”

Both eyes filled to the brim with cold light like a reptile’s, staring at Lotte glaringly.

“{{furigana|The truth shall set me free|Veritas me Liberabit}}…O the wise man that is the father and which is the guardian of the human race, show that wisdom right here!!”

Lotte performed Access and enveloped her body in Magic Dress.

“The person who knows…I’ll kill all, all of them!”

It was a voice as if the throat was tearing apart that had never been heard before from the docile girl called Yumeno Shiori. Things like talking to each other, or asking for her circumstance, that kind of easygoing thoughts were all blown away to a different dimension in one go from Lotte’s head.

―At the same time their surrounding air was frozen.

It was an advanced general magic. A thin and wide Psychokinesis was suppressing the air in their surrounding zone so that they wouldn’t vibrate. A magic for the sake of not letting out the sound leak outside.

Right now, even if Yumeno Shiori fired offensive magic and destroy the school building, surely the sounds of that wouldn’t be transmitted to outside.

Right now, even if Lotte screamed with a loud voice, surely that voice of hers wouldn’t be transmitted.

…The girl seriously planned to fight right here!

For the sake of not letting the witness return back alive!!

“…The scattering of the spread apart wings is filth. Trail behind spiraling wind, become the mind gouging bullet! Flap and shoot out! {{furigana|Black Barrett|Spiral of Darkness}}!!”

Yumeno Shiori turned to Lotte and thrust her palm forward.

From there *DON! DON!* multiple shots of black light bullet were shot out.

“O piling up wisdom in human race’s history, become the shell that armor my body in many layers! Heavily, thickly, reject all act of brutality! Seusenhofer!!”

Lotte quickly casted a defensive magic. A thick and heavy metal armor was installed on Lotte’s simple white Magic Dress.

The armor that guarded Lotte blocked the black bullets one after another.

The bullets of black light were bird feathers wrapped in black flame. Although the feathers pierced the armor for sure, they were not so powerful that they could penetrate through.

But the feathers that pierced the armor burst into flame and spread black firelight. Those tips of flame touch Lotte’s skin slightly from the gap between the armor.

Defensive magic power protected Lotte’s skin from the black flame. But in that instant, something like a pitch black poison flowed into Lotte’s mind from the defensive magic power as if it was a conductor of magic power!

It was a discomfort without comparison. As if the surface of her brain tissue was scorched…!

What this black flame emitted was not heat! A black flame that scorches the mind!

“Black Barrett!”

Yumeno Shiori launched further black bullets in rapid-fire. In order to not have those bullets touch her skin for even a little, Lotte had to block it with her armor carefully. But while she could block several of the feathers, the flame began to run through the crack of the armor.

Lotte rammed the door from her back and she escaped to the corridor by destroying the door.

Just like that she ran through the dark corridor like a startled hare.

Like a hunter, Yumeno Shiori chased her in order to bring her down with certainly.

Lotte turned back and casted her magic.

“Howl! The civilization grant destruction to human! The roar of wisdom scorch and break thy body, shut that dignity under the rubble!! Mitrailleuse!”

Prometheus’s level 1 magic―a huge gatling gun was formed on Lotte’s right arm where she aimed that to the pursuing Yumeno Shiori and scattered bullets everywhere.

However, even while her defensive magic power shone from the damage, Yumeno Shiori came pursuing Lotte without paying any heed to the bullets. The girl was excelling in Resist!

“You won’t get away! ...I’ll kill you to accomplish my duty!! I’ll kill you so I can live!!”

Duty. She put an abnormal tenacity regarding that word.

As if that word was changing Yumeno Shiori into a different person.

“Come from the darkness, o jet black invaders…with desire and violence, wash away the repose of the world! Let’s announce the beginning of the war with thy all’s baby’s cry! {{furigana|Birth From Dark|Born Children of Invasion}}!!”

On Yumeno Shiori’s back, the avatar of the giant black bird spread its wings widely.

From those wings, several dozens of black feathers shot out. The feathers flew evading Lotte and pierced the floor right on Lotte’s path, right beside her left and right, and right behind her.

The black feathers that pierced the floor surrounding Lotte disintegrated like mud and just when she thought that the feather had melted, those black lumps swelled up and turned into humanoid in the blink of eye.

The black silhouettes were slimy and began to be wrapped in a metallic luster, a thin and long something elongated from their hand, transforming into the shape of grasped sword.

The black feathers transformed into the appearance of jet black swordsmen wearing black sword and armor on their body, surrounding Lotte from all direction.

Lotte’s legs stopped. The dark knights assaulted her from the front and rear, left and right of the cramped corridor. She couldn’t hold them back with this gatling gun.

The swords swung down from the four directions easily smashed Lotte’s cracked armor!

“…O the guardian of human race, the wisdom for the sake of opposing the tyrannical will of god right here…{{furigana|Custom Liberion|Interception Armament}}!”

Prometheus’s level 6 magic―this magic had never been tested in a real battle yet since she became able to use it.

Angular shaped armors were supplemented on Lotte’s four limbs and her back. The armor was not there just for the sake of protecting the body, countless small-type thruster units were lining up on each of them. Those thrusters responded to Lotte’s will and spouted out flames in one go.

Lotte’s small body instantly accelerated and flew off.

That was not a straightforward acceleration―By shifting her arms and legs freely, the countless thruster units were movable to every direction and it was possible for Lotte to accelerate・stay still・change direction in every kind of way.

Lotte flapped her arms and legs like swimming while receiving magical follow-up of mechanics calculation. She instantly slipped past through the gap of the black knights using zigzag and complicated high speed maneuver.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>GAKON!* The black knights crashed into each other.

Lotte withdrew to the sky and after rotating in the air with a twirl she instantly moved in to counterattack. [{{furigana|Custom Liberion|Interception Armament}}] was exactly as the name suggest, it was not only for evading the opponent’s attack but it possessed the function to counterattack as it was.

“Prometheus, {{furigana|do schneiden|tear to pieces}}!!”

Lotte’s armored leg that dashed through the sky lost the function to run on the ground. In exchange the great length of armors that lengthened out from both her legs were equipped with sharp blades. Propellers were lining up crowdedly on the back side of the blade, spouting out flames. Lotte brandished both of her legs that had been changed into a blade like a ballerina and bisected the nearest knight of darkness thoroughly.

“Prometheus, Fire!!”

While there were shields on both her arms, simultaneously it was also built with gatling guns of larger caliber. Bullets of atrocity were fired while whirling apart gunfire smoke and bullet cartridges, demolishing the knight of darkness that was in the far range. The knight couldn’t even be called a swiss cheese anymore, there was no trace remaining of it.

At the same time when Lotte escaped from her predicament instantly, the opponents were annihilated.

But at that time Lotte had averted her awareness from Yumeno Shiori herself.

“Hi, hihihihi-! DIEEE-!!”

Hearing that scream, Lotte noticed the girl’s closeness.

The girl kicked the floor without even any sound and ran approaching Lotte closer. She dashed to Lotte’s blind spot with fierce speed, it was a physical ability that had been trained.

In the Magic Division, the Magika Stigmas weren’t supposed to have the training to use their body this skillfully.

Three streaks of light reached out directly from that right hand―claws.

“Carve your curse, {{furigana|Yamizaru! Bassou Kaikon, Onmyou Madatsu |Darkness Monkey! Draw Claw Release Soul, Grudge Mantra Evil Release}}!”

―Sacred Treasure!

Without even any time of being vigilant of its effect, the gap of Lotte’s armor on her right arm was torn apart.

The defensive magic power was smashed and dust of lights scattered.

The effect of the Sacred Treasure became obvious immediately. The scar of the defensive magic power that was torn apart by the claws, originally new magic power should be flowing into it and closed the scar.

But that natural recovery action absolutely didn’t occur. The new magic power couldn’t flow into the scar of the defensive magic power. As if a wound was infected, like it was being cursed.

Yumeno Shiori once again swung her claws―aiming for the scar on the defensive magic power that was still in a gouged state. The location that was torn apart on Lotte’s body was the inside of her right elbow. There was a large artery running through there!

She planned to inflict fatal damage by slashing the flesh directly through the wound of the defensive magic power.

Lotte was driven by terror, she backed away using all of her thruster units and escaped from the opponent’s range. Yumeno Shiori’s attack hit empty air. But,

“Swept away by the wave of oblivion sink into darkness…{{furigana|Youwakumu|Apparation Bewildering Dream}}!”

Yumeno Shiori casted magic even more just like that ''almost without chanting''.

Behind Yumeno Shiori, ''different from Halphas, an avatar of a weird four-legged animal emerged out''. A face that had a nose like an elephant, a short and stout body like a small bear, and legs that developed like tiger’s muscle.

Lotte didn’t understand its true identity.

This is…Possession Summoning! A human that made Stigma contract with Solomon 72 Pillar was even further possessed by a different Diva…? Impossible!

But in the reality, the impossible to avoid effect of that magic struck Lotte.

A powerful sleepiness overwhelmed Lotte’s brain like a surging wave. Her consciousness was entwined right away and she was going to get carried away to the far off beyond. The inside of her head was vanished in pure white.

Lotte immediately maintained her consciousness with {{furigana|Trance|Mind Mastery}} magic. She barely avoided falling asleep, but in spite of being in the middle of battle, her concentration to her magic power was disturbed in pieces.

Lotte was in the middle of accelerating backward by controlling her magic power to operate the thruster units on her whole body. With her consciousness disturbed in the middle of that, the thruster units on her whole body ran wild to wrong directions. A precise magic power control was indispensable for this armament that dashed through the sky by operating countless thruster units.

Her arms and legs turned to completely different directions and all of them were pulled in rampage by their respective thruster units…In no time at all Lotte couldn’t maintain her altitude and crashed on the corridor. Even so the thruster units continued to spout flames and her whole body was shaken *GAKUGAKU* while sliding through the corridor. Lotte writhed on the floor like a bug whose wings and feelers were plucked off.

Had something happened, her head was in chaos.

She immediately tried to call for help and raised a scream.

But the air was frozen. The vibration of her yelling voice was not transmitted to the outside at all.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>ZUGAN!* Lotte crashed into a collision with the corridor and finally her thruster units came to a halt. But while she couldn’t stand up from the impact, Yumeno Shiori was slowly approaching her in a walk.

That right arm was directed to Lotte and it was swung.

Something came flying aiming for her face.

Lotte who were just barely keeping her consciousness reinforced her sight with magic power and she ascertained the true identity of the thing that came flying at her. A weight connected with chain―China’s hidden weapon, weighted chain.

Lotte barely averted her neck from the weighted chain that was aiming for her face.

“Carry the soul of dragon, {{furigana|Ryuuseisui! Battou Kaikon, Hiryuu Bakusa|Falling Star Spindle!Draw Throw Release Soul, Flying Dragon Binding Chain}}!”

The chain’s weight that passed through the side of Lotte’s face expanded several times thicker. At the same time behind her the weight made a curve and the thick chain was twirling and wrapping around Lotte. …This was also a Sacred Treasure!

The weighted chain that could move unrestricted and turned bigger twined around Lotte, then for the last the chain pierced the floor and made Lotte completely fixed in place.

Lotte fought using the armaments installed on her limbs. That was to say if her limbs were restricted, she had no method of attacking.

Checkmate.

“Hi, hihi…”

Yumeno Shiori made an eerie laugh while closing the distance between her and Lotte who was at her wit’s end.

The dreadful claws were equipped on that right arm.

It was completely like a giant mantis was sidling up near Lotte.

“You are going to die here. Your corpse will melt like mud with the black flame, nobody will find you anymore. You are going to be alone eternally. Hi, hihi.”

Yumeno Shiroi’s tone was like her personality had undergoes a complete change. She was going to be killed.

Lotte’s body that was restrained by the chain was trembling *gatagata*.

It was a completely unexpected situation. Even in the case that Yumeno Shiori was the spy, she had never thought that it would turn into a battle immediately without talking about it first like this. She had never thought that Yumeno Shiori was an existence this dangerous.

She had never thought that she was this strong.

Only a few minutes had passed since she called out to her…a few minutes that was completely like a nightmare.

She was going to be killed, she was going to be killed…her head was completely filled with just that thought persistently. She grew pale.

Lotte thought that it was surprising that she would feel this much terror toward death.

…I, even though I should have been already thinking that someone like me had been marked for dead from the start already. Just to be able to live until now is a godsend already…even though I should have been thinking like that already all along….

Unexpectedly, she was feeling an attachment to life. She was thinking "I don’t want to die".

Yumeno Shiori was slowly approaching. Tears welled up in Lotte’s eyes, blurring the figure of the death god.

In this slight extension of time…what next came up in her mind after the terror was, doubt.

Summoning Magic, Possession Summoning, close quarter combat using Sacred Treasure―A [combat machine] that used all of those skillfully.

…What is the meaning of this?

For other Diva to possess that body when she had already contracted with another Diva, such thing should be impossible to do. It was surpassing human’s capacity.

Relationship with Diva should be deeply entwined to the contractor’s personality.

Doing contract or doing possession, one personality couldn’t tie a relationship except with just one Diva.

One personality was for one Diva. The appearance of Yumeno Shiori right now, was completely like a different person….

Lotte who couldn’t even move any of his hands or legs attempted to Telepathy with Yumeno Shiori’s mind for the last time.

A blue magic power light was pulled like a connecting string between Lotte and Yumeno Shiori.

Yumeno Shiori’s [mental information] was flowing inside Lotte’s heart.

Lotte opened her eyes wide in shock.

Even though it was Lotte, that didn’t mean that she could understand everything about other person’s heart.

But just by sensing the surface of the current Yumeno Shiori’s mind slightly, she got a hunch of that fact.

Lotte understood the truth. But, Yumeno Shiori finally stood still right in front of Lotte and raised up her claws. Not good, she was going to get killed…!

―That there was someone running towards them, both Lotte and Yumeno Shiori too didn’t notice until the last second.

That was because the air was frozen and the state where sound from afar didn’t transmit was maintained.

Silver light cut through between them diagonally, the claws that was going to swing down was repelled.

Noticing that person ahead, Lotte spontaneously yelled.

“…Kazuki-oniisan!”

===Part 2===

While letting loose an Iai draw, Kazuki released a sigh of relief from his heart.

I’m glad that I barely managed to arrive in time! That was dangerous just now…!

<nowiki>*</nowiki>GIN!* Along with such sound, the claws that was aiming at Lotte was repelled away and Yumeno-san’s body staggered.

Lotte’s calling voice before this had by no means reached Kazuki.

However they were connected with their bond.

Kazuki was busy during these two days. Everyday after school he was always discussing about the advance troop unit to the Fuji’s Sea of Trees with just Kaguya-senpai alone.

Inevitably, his chance to make contact with everyone else of the Witch’s Mansion became fewer.

Even so Kazuki sensed with the [Power of King] how Lotte, after school was over, didn’t come home until late while moving around inside the school building, and he became concerned.

Because of that the instant Lotte wished for help―her calling voice didn’t reach him at all but―the three dimensional coordinates vision that emerged out from the Power of King, inside it the light that denoted Lotte’s location got stronger noticeably where he was able to notice it.

Lotte’ feelings that seeked for Kazuki grew stronger and the light also became bigger.

Kazuki immediately leaped out from his room and ran to the direction of Lotte’s where about.

The time period of late night. …From all of these he could immediately guess what kind of situation Lotte was in.

“Kazuki-oniisan!”

The surrounding air was frozen and no sound could leak out, but when he leaped right in the midst of these two’s conflict the voice became audible. Kazuki’s figure that cut between the two recovered Lotte’s hope and she raised a delighted voice.

“!?” Having her right arm repelled by a katana, Yumeno-san who backed off totteringly opened her eyes wide at Kazuki’s figure. An instant of silence.

Kazuki took a step forward while chanting his spell and reversed his drawn sword into a diagonal downswing.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>ZAN-* Yumeno-san was further blown away backward from the backlash of the defensive magic power.

At the same time he casted his magic.

“I am the shaman of sword…rock cleave, root tore, sin sever, right now that virtuous sword of crushing evil in his hand! Draw sword, Futsu no Mitama!!”

Kazuki gripped his beloved sword [Doufuu] in his right hand while creating the Sacred Treasure that cut apart magic power in his left hand. Swinging the [Futsu no Mitama] in his left hand, he bisected the chain that tied Lotte in one slash.

From the time when Lotte called out Kazuki’s name until now, only a single breath had passed.

Lotte who became free hid behind Kazuki’s back as if escaping. Kazuki stood in order to cover for Lotte and faced Yumeno-san while taking the stance of two-sword style.

―But rather than covering for Lotte, perhaps they should take the positioning for a pincer attack instead.

With a glance, Kazuki became aware of his decision’s miss.

Yumeno-san who was separated in a distance from being repelled wasn’t looking at Kazuki and Lotte anymore.

The girl directed her eyes to the glass window and jumped there without hesitation.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>BARIN!* The girl broke through the glass window forcefully.

Escape. …But for the current Yumeno-san, where did she have a place to escape?

For an instant Kazuki hesitated to give a chase. He wanted to make sure of Lotte’s well-being who was visibly frightened in terror, as expected it was because of the turmoil from Yumeno-san being the opponent.

He had faith on her.

Not with logic but emotion, but he wanted to talk with Lotte regarding Yumeno-san.

He wanted Lotte to say that there was some kind of misunderstanding.

Kazuki sheathed the katana in his right hand and vanished away the [Futsu no Mitama] in his left hand. Lotte too released her Magic Dress and returned to her uniform appearance, then she slumped and fell to her knees in that place from exhausting her magic power and being released from her nervousness.

“Kazuki-oniisan…there is no mistake about this desu.”

“Aah, I know. It was correct for Lotte to doubt her. It was the mistake of me that didn’t want to believe that.”

“That’s not it, both I who suspect Yumeno-oneesan as the perpetrator, and also Kazuki-oniisan who believed Yumeno-oneesan, both of us are not wrong desu.”

“…Lotte?” Kazuki questioned whether Lotte’s feeling was still being surprised and stunned.

However after Lotte shook her head left and right, she talked with a confident tone that had no doubt.

“―Yumeno-oneesan had a split personality desu.”



“What do you mean by that, can you give me an explanation?”

Kazuki took the completely tired Lotte back to her own room and sat with her side by side on the bed before asking. Lotte inclined her head with a nod and opened her mouth.

“Yumeno-oneesan attacked me using both Summoning Magic by means of her stigma with Solomon 72 Pillar, and a {{furigana|Drive|Possession Summoning}} with a mysterious Diva.”

That it was something originally impossible, Kazuki too immediately understood.

“I who thought it strange, tried to Telepathy with Yumeno-oneesan. And then…The whole shape of Yumeno-oneesan’s heart was without change presenting only the personality, but the personality became a completely different person desu. The direction of the heart changed and a completely unknown side of her was rising to the surface desu. It was not the case that Yumeno-san was acting…her one heart was possessing two personalities desu. The Yumeno-oneesan that we all know well perhaps doesn’t know that she is a spy. However the one other personality is a spy that has been trained to the degree where she can use Sacred Treasures skillfully desu.”

Was something like that possible? …No, it was possible.

Kazuki knew regarding that symptoms. He had an understanding.

Multiple personality―When someone confronted abuse and heavy stress, they lost the sense that they were themselves. One part of the brain that secreted brain substance was going numb. Due to that, the person interpreted the stress that they faced like somebody else’s problem and it didn’t become a memory of an event that happened to their own self.

Somebody else’s problem&mdash;when such stress and the detachment from that stress got repeated everyday, [one other self that took charge of the stress] would grow carrying different memories and personality. The detached personality would lose identity and each would walk with their own respective independent memory and personality―Dissociative identity disorder.

Kazuki once lived in orphanage, in that place there were also children who had experienced abuse from their parents. And then among them there was also a kid who showed symptoms like that. That was why Kazuki could immediately understand Lotte’s story.

If it was like that then all their questions were answered.

Yumeno-san didn’t tell a single lie. She really didn’t know.

Because she didn’t hold a single hostility to Kazuki, her positivity level was also showing.

One personality could only be followed by one connection with a Diva, but if the front personality made Stigma contract and the hidden personality exchanged possession contract then double contract could be concluded.

Surely the front personality of Yumeno-san wasn’t able to handle the power of Drive. That was because the one the Diva possessed was the other personality which was the one who could handle it freely.

But Yumeno-san’s hidden personality was able to master the power of Stigma summoning. Stigma contract carved the Stigma on the flesh body and through that Stigma the power of Diva could be pulled out. Yumeno-san’s hidden personality was able to master all the function of her own flesh body.

“Everything fits desu.”

Kazuki nodded hearing Lotte’s words.

At the same time he felt dread on the planning in making this kind of spy.

Yumeno-san was most likely made to detach her personality systematically. Both her parents were also likely to be Yamato’s spies. Perhaps her parents when they knew that their own daughter was a possessor of magic talent that could enroll into the Magic Division, started to abuse her for the sake of splitting her personality for certain.

And then they raised the split personality as a spy to pull out information from the Magic Division.

A spy that wasn’t aware that she was a spy…to think that there was a spy this terrifying.

Suddenly, Kazuki’s mobile phone was vibrating because of a received call. Kazuki said “Sorry” to Lotte and after confirming that the display was showing [Headmaster Amasaki], he went out to take the call.

{Sorry to suddenly call. But an urgent notice just came in.}

“Urgent notice?”

Kazuki too had something he need to tell the headmaster, but first he listened to the headmaster’s story.

{A short time ago, the security soldier in Fuji’s Sea of Trees was attacked and it seemed that someone trespassed inside.}

“…What did you say?”

A situation that shouldn’t happen. No, however….

“There should be a gate in the Haunted Ground’s entrance right? Then the identity of the intruder is…”

{Right, we have already knows the identity of the intruder.}

Kazuki went “Don’t tell me” and something flashed in his mind.

There was a gate at the entrance of the Haunted Ground, with the <{{furigana|Scanner Device|Magic Power Light Scanning Terminal}} there, no one could enter unless their Stigma had been confirmed.

Even if the intruder defeated the security soldier, if he didn’t confirm his own stigmata in the terminal then he shouldn’t be able to pass through. The data of the intruder’s Stigma was left behind in the terminal.

“…The intruder is the first year of the Magic Division, Yumeno Shiori isn’t it?”

From the other side of the phone receiver, the sign that Headmaster Amasaki was shocked and had his breath taken away was transmitted.

{That’s right. The data of Halphas’s Stigma is left in the gate, from the witness testimony of the security soldier we know that it’s almost certain that it was Yumeno Shiori.}

“Headmaster Amasaki, there was also some development at this side. Yumeno-san is a spy of Yamato with a double personality.”

He could sense Headmaster Amasaki lost his words at the other side of the phone.

Kazuki explained the incident that happened just before this.

{…I see, so that’s the reason we didn’t find the spy.}

‘Where in the world she is planning to escape’, he thought before, but…Yumeno-san was in the Fuji’s Sea of Trees.

{The Knight Order had surrounded Fuji’s Sea of Tress so that Yumeno Shiori cannot escape. Patrolling helicopters are also flying in the sky. But due to Commander Yamagata’s order, the Knight Order doesn’t rush inside. He wants the entry into Fuji’s Sea of Trees to be only done by the students of the Knight Academy to the end.}

“…Understood. We are going to head to Fuji’s Sea of Trees the first thing tomorrow morning.”

The night had already grown late. Rather than entering a Haunted Ground at night, surely entering it in the morning would be safer.

Headmaster Amasaki too said {Yeah} and acknowledged it.

“…By the way Yumeno-san didn’t bring anyone with her and entered the Haunted Ground alone right?”

Kazuki recalled a question and asked.

“Aah, should be. There was nothing except Halphas’s data remaining left behind at the gate. The gate is detecting the human’s weight and temperature, once the person has confirmed his Stigma then no one but that person can pass. Yumeno Shiori should be alone inside the Haunted Ground.”

He thought it was going to be troublesome with her bringing in other Yamato’s spies, but it seem that there was no such possibility. …Then what was Yumeno-san’s real intention in trespassing into the Haunted Ground?

He really couldn’t think of it as a good place to escape.

===Part 3===

“I’m sorry about the sudden call. Thank you for coming, Miyabi-senpai.”

The next morning, inside the magic light train, Kazuki talked while sitting beside Miyabi-senpai.

“I don’t particularly mind. Quest is more enjoyable rather than attending class. …Though there was no time to persuade Shinobu like this.”

Miyabi-senpai answered with a refreshing smile. She was the same like Koyuki, an elf Magika Stigma that possessed strong magic power surpassing average humans.

She and her contracted Diva, Gremory had the Summoning Magic of mind hack system as their forte.

Kazuki thought that her power might become necessary to confront Yumeno-san who had a mental problem called multiple personality, so he called for her assistance.

Kazuki had experienced the strength of Miyabi-senpai’s mind hack magic personally with his own body.

“…But I don’t know if I can answer your expectation. I can easily succeed in mind hack magic against you because your Trance technique is not really that high. Your nonexistent resistance toward mind magic is your number one weak point I guess.”

Even while Kazuki felt his heart got stabbed hearing that, he nodded honestly.

Kazuki who relied completely on sword art and everyone’s magic still had a lot of points that he should train.

Having said that, it was hard to train a resistance against mental magic alone by himself, so it might be good to ask for favor from Miyabi-senpai to cooperate with him after this.

“The one other personality of that child called Yumeno Shiori has been accumulating a considerable training as a spy right? If she is a spy then resistance against mental magic should be the most prioritized field that she had to learn. Even I don’t have the confidence to make my mental magic succeed against an active pro as the opponent. Perhaps it will be easier to just normally make her fall into a magic intoxication you know.”

“So it’s like that.” Kazuki’s reply was slightly mixed with discouragement.

Yumeno-san would be handed to the Knight Order after they made her fall into magic intoxication and she became powerless.

For the sake of pulling out the information of other spies from the girl that had become powerless, the Knight Order would surely performed mind magic at the same time with interrogation.

If they used mind magic for the sake of really harsh interrogation, damage could also occur in her mind.

If he could, Kazuki wanted to avoid that situation, even if he couldn’t avoid it he wanted to exchange words one more time with the front personality of Yumeno-san. He didn’t want to hand her to the Knight Order just like this without hearing anything from her mouth.

Miyabi-senpai’s mind magic was able to drag the opponent’s mind into her own mental world. He guessed that she might be able to make Yumeno-san’s mind that had split into two to operate at the same time together.

If both Kazuki and Yumeno-san was put under this magic, then Kazuki would be able to face both the front and hidden Yumeno-san at the same time inside Miyabi-senpai’s mental world.

For the moment, he wanted to converse with these three people. That was what Kazuki thought.

Looking at Kazuki’s discouraged state, Miyabi-senpai chuckled.

“It really makes me want to do something for you somehow. There is no way that dejected face wouldn’t tickle my motherly instinct as the senior elderly sister here. I get it, I’ll give it a try as hard as I can.”

“…Thank you very much, Miyabi-senpai.”



The magic light train advanced to the direction of Shizuoka through the coastlands route and arrived at Otawara station.

There they changed train into the train line that went inland to northwest, Kazuki and the others headed to Gotenba station.

Gotenba was a town that was touching with the entrance to the Grand Haunted Ground Fuji’s Sea of Trees.

In the old era Fuji’s sea of trees only took the name of <Aokigahara Sea of Trees>, but because in this current era, all of that area with Mountain Fuji as the center was completely buried with the trees of the Haunted Ground. The whole area of the Haunted Ground became called as <Fuji’s Sea of Trees>…it was like that. Its width reached a radius of 15 kilometers and the surrounding cities inside the radius of 20 kilometers were designated as evacuation district. And then what should be specially mentioned more than its radius was the thickness of the magic power inside it.

When they arrived at Gotenba station, they transferred to the car that the Knight Order had prepared for them from here on and ran through the town that had completely become a ghost town from having its residents evacuate since a long time ago.

While staring outside the window, Mio opened her mouth.

“When I investigated it, a long time ago in Gotenba there was a famous fashion pot. After that there was also something like an amusement park! For that to become something like an evacuation area…we cannot just leave this alone!”

It seemed like Gotenba was a town that plucked the heartstrings of people like Mio, the girl was very enthusiastic.

When they got distanced from the station and the fields became standing out around them, a wall with height as if it was piercing the sky became visible standing on the way of the lonely road they traversed.

It was to the degree that made them hallucinate if this wall didn’t partition the whole world instead. The wall spread to the left and right without its end in sight. 

The low level of the wall was made from {{furigana|adamantite|alchemic hard steel}} and the upper level was made from normal concrete, they understood it from the two different colors of the wall’s up and down.

Gate. A normal Haunted Ground wouldn’t get enclosed by a giant external wall until this far. From its remarkable danger, this gate was distinctive of this Grand Haunted Ground as if treating a stinky item by putting a lid on top of it.

They could take a peek at the Knight Order’s patrol helicopters sporadically flying above the sky of the Haunted Ground. It was the effect of Yumeno-san’s infiltration that this abnormal security was performed.

The car stopped.

When Kazuki and the others disembarked, the Knight Order was forming a row in standby in front of the gate.

“…Kazuki.”

From among the several dozens of knights that were standing in alert, a face that he knew ran up to them.

“Akane-senpai!”

“Long time no see isn’t it. I heard that you guys are going to this Haunted Ground so I came.”

It was Akane-senpai who usually only expressed her emotion faintly that didn’t left much impression, but she had a faint smile in her expression while welcoming Kazuki. Slightly behind her, Kanon-senpai too was running up to them.

“Been a while huh, you guys-☆ It’s not like we particularly need to come here or anything, but it can’t be helped because Akane said that she want to meet you immediately if something happened.”

“I never said anything like that!”

After Akane-senpai said that to Kanon-senpai in an unusually strong tone, she turned back to face Kazuki.

“I never said that.”

She repeated that again.

“I never said that okay.”

She made a face that looked a little troubled and made sure once more.

“Ahaha, Kazuki is really liked here huh. This is the first time I see Akane-senpai this cute-“

Hikaru-senpai who was the direct junior of Akane-senpai laughed in a jest. Akane-senpai then glared at Hikaru-senpai with reproachful look.

“Right. Be affectionate to your heart’s content toward my protégée☆ Putting that aside…”

Kanon-senpai explained simply about the [internal structure of the Grand Haunted Ground].

“Fuji’s Sea of Trees is divided into three level. The time when the Haunted Ground was still not this big it was surrounded by a wall within the sphere of 5 kilo, but unable to stop the expansion of the Haunted Ground ''the wall got completely swallowed'', and then within the sphere of radius 10 kilo it was surrounded by a new wall. But that wall too was swallowed by the Haunted Ground…and that’s the reason why this third wall was created☆”

Kazuki reflexively looked up the wall in front of his eyes. A wall in this scale, there was still two layer of it….

“Even right now the walls were still left inside the Haunted Ground and becoming a certain kind of threshold. Thanks to the walls, the expansion of the Haunted Ground can be restrained, but the magic power is confined to the inner direction in those parts alone and it had been confirmed that ''once you stepped past the wall the magic power thickness will jump up''. In other words the Demon Beasts will become stronger in wide difference past each walls, so be careful. Of course there is also a high chance for Sacred Treasure to be created in place where the magic power is thick.”

Akane-senpai too pulled herself together and gave them additional explanation.

“The place you are going today is the first outer area you will meet immediately once you pass this gate…so to speak you can think of this surrounding as the <Level 1> area. Yumeno Shiori too if she escaped into here alone, then she should be in the area of this Level 1. After all, ahead from Level 2, it will be absolutely dangerous even for a capable knight to go there alone see☆”

It was a gigantic Haunted Ground, but for the moment they could narrow down the area where Yumeno-san was.

“Yosh, well then we are going to deal with the procedure to pass!”

Kanon-senpai was holding a <Scanner Device> in her hand.

It was the equipment for confirming the Magika Stigma that passed the gate.

When Kanon-senpai who was like a chaser in a convenient store confirmed the Stigma of Kazuki who stood in the head of the student’s line with the device, the small door in the gate’s lower part was opening with a mechanical sound.

“Yosh, go through there one by one.”

When Kazuki passed through there, the sensor that was in the gate’s boundary detected one human and the doors closed immediately after Kazuki passed through.

Certainly if it was like this then only one person could pass through without bringing anyone with them. There was no extra room left to enter except for lost bug or small bird.

The students of the Magic Division finished their confirmation and went through the door in succession.

After that the swordsmen who didn’t have Stigma passed through after Kanon-senpai and Akane-senpai input the password of <supervisor authority> and opened the door.

For the swordsman, they couldn’t enter the Haunted Ground with only swordsman in the group.

Currently, such unfairness was in the middle of a review, but the structure of this old gate was not updated. Those like Kohaku were making a sullen dissatisfied face.

Kazuki and the others entered the Haunted Ground’s inner part all together.

In the immediate inner side of the gate was scenery of ruins that were swallowed by sea of trees.

The road under their feet was gouged by root of trees so thick like an arm of a giant that was undulating through the asphalt. The surrounding buildings were crushed and broken deformedly by the giant tree trunks that were growing from the earth. Countless leaves and branches were sticking out from the cracks and broken windows. And then the whole thing was covered by ivies in entanglement. The farther they went deeper, the presence of greenery was becoming stronger.

Those green trees were not original thing of natures, it was a display of eerie shapes and colors that were impossibly distorted by magic power everywhere they saw. A moist stench floated chokingly in the air.

“Then we are splitting into two teams. The outer circumference of the Haunted Ground…the place Kanon-senpai told us before, the <Level 1> area is the place we are going to explore.”

As long as Yumeno-san was just alone, it was hard to imagine that she would advance to Level 2.

After all it was simply too dangerous for the girl’s solo battle strength.

However if it was really like that then Yumeno-san’s objective was becoming increasingly unclear.

The Haunted Ground was too dangerous as an escaping place.

Even if she was aiming for the Three Sacred Treasures, it was difficult with just her alone. Even in the unlikely event that she discovered it, in this high alert state she wouldn’t be able to bring it outside.

She might have anticipated that Kazuki would chase her here and she was going to aim for his life.

Even if she was thinking that, the question of [Alone by herself?] sprang forth.

“Even if you said to search for her, if we really think about it isn’t a radius of 15 kilo unthinkably vast? It’s like searching Yamanote<ref>Hilly residential section of western Tokyo, inc. Yotsuya, Aoyama, Koishikawa, Hongo, Ichigaya, Akasaka, Azabu and surrounds</ref> line for just one person don’t you think?”

Mio who was entering a Haunted Ground once again said that, feeling for real that vastness of the area they needed to search for.

“This place is far more wide then Yamanote line you know.”

When Kazuki calmly retorted, all present made a face that seemed to say “Uhee”.

“It’s not like we have to absolutely find her within today. This Haunted Ground is a place we have to capture anyway in the first place. Let’s search while defeating Demon Beast and liberating this place.”

Yumeno-san couldn’t escape outside. She was at a dead-end in a certain meaning, so it didn’t mean that they had to find her in a great hurry. If in a few days the advance troop team of Kazuki and his group couldn’t find her, they would make the general students participate in this quest too just as they planned and search for Yumeno-san that way.

However if the Knight Academy couldn’t discover Yumeno-san no matter how long they were searching, then Commander Yamagata wouldn’t be able to hold back the Knight Order anymore so neither could they search for her leisurely.

For the time being Kazuki’s group was going right and Mio’s group was going left, they began to walk going around the inner part of the wall in circle.

===Part 4===

…Yumeno Shiori was hiding herself in the area that Kazuki and the others called as Level 1.

''Without being attacked by any Demon Beast'', the girl was slowly resting her body.

Although she was forced to escape without any other choice, there was almost no exhaustion in her from yesterday’s battle.

Around Shiori, large-type Demon Beasts were nestling close to her as if they were her guard.

A giant beast with three head of lion, goat, and poisoned snake―a chimera was obediently sitting beside the girl completely like a pet cat.

A slender dragon with its whole body made from rock, a possession of trait that originally should be impossible for a living being―a gargoyle was perching on top of the gate of the building besides Shiori.

A giant with stature around four meters and its whole body covered with fur―a troll holding a club made from rock with its thick arm that was like a log, was standing guard at Shiori’s back like a sentinel.

The figure of the resting girl surrounded by fantastical beast in the townscape of a ruined town was exactly like a page of fantasy world.

“To be effective not only against human but also Demon Beast, what a rare mind magic.”

And then besides Shiori, there was not only Demon Beasts but ''also one more person''.

Usually, mind magic wouldn’t work against anything except against [human] who possessed similar mind structure with the caster.

“…My Drive Diva possesses the power to invade dream―the subconscious of living being. The Demon Beast doesn’t have what is called a clear awareness. Their head is empty inside…. If it’s the power of my Diva, they can be manipulated even easier than humans.”

Besides Shiori, an avatar of a strange animal emerged out dreamily.

Baku―Possessing a long nose like an elephant, a short and stout monster of Chinese Mythology.

“This kind of ugly monster is really a Diva huh.”

The person beside Shiori threw a scorning look at it.

“Baku is…at the beginning he was a god called <Bakuki> that governed dreams, but gradually he was told orally in a different shape as an apparition of Asia. Originally he was an existence that reached the pedigree of a proper god…”

Shiori protested in order to stick up for the Diva that was possessing her.

“Even Baku’s power cannot control the Demon Beast {{furigana|on the other side of the wall|Level 2}} because they are too ferocious. But if it is with the Demon Beast near the entrance then that power of his is effective. Though as long as the magic that is controlling the human and Demon Beast is still in use, Baku’s other magic is not usable…”

“But for you, that is not a big risk.”

Shiori moved her head in a nod and the Stigma on her whole body lit up.

“Solomon 72 Pillar’s <contract> created Stigma on the flesh body. Stigma is a thing of flesh. I can control this body of Yumeno Shiori as my own body.”

When the girl poured magic power into the Stigma, she could directly unite her consciousness with the contracted Diva in Astrum. Through this circuit, she could make an Order for magic phenomenon.

Halphas had to abide to the contract. A contract was ironclad for a devil. Even in the case where the one who gave the order was the different personality of the contractor the Devil made the contract with, he couldn’t escape from the Stigma’s contract.

“A double contract that make use of multiple personality huh. So there is a human that thought of a fairly interesting thing. For that sake they abused a child and intentionally created a person with multiple personality, really. However don’t you feel any displeasure? Until now you have gone through many extremely painful experiences right?”

Against that person’s question, Shiori shook her head without even any doubt.

“…This is a necessary power for the sake of following my order. Following the order is the worth of my existence…”

“What an ideal slave you are. Well, as for me it’s sufficient already just to get entered into this Haunted Ground like this. It’s fine for you to accomplish what your master wishes for. I don’t have any interest in that. The direction Hayashizaki Kazuki was heading is just exactly like what we talked before.”

That person pointed at the location Kazuki was heading for as if he was looking down at the Haunted Ground from the sky even now.

Shiori stood up. The chimera beside her also got up following her, the gargoyle spread its wings, and the troll raised a roar.

Shiori and the person who was together with her separated their way and started to walk in two opposite directions.

That was because Kazuki and his comrades were splitting into two groups.

===Part 5===

Kazuki and his group were advancing through the Haunted Groud while defeating the Demon Beasts that stood in their way.

From the shadows of the trees and buildings, the eye glints of beasts shined glaringly. As soon as the Demon Beasts discovered humans “GUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” they raised a fierce roar. Smashing the buildings and trees along with earth tremor, they revealed their huge form before Kazuki and the other’s eyes.

Chimera―On the body as big as an elephant, there were the heads of a lion, a goat, and a snake.

Until now Kazuki had never seen a Demon Beast this big except for a dragon.

In order to cover for everyone else, Kazuki and Kohaku quickly stepped forward―Heaven and Earth Formation.

The head of the lion that was placed in the middle position of the three heads directed its opened big mouth to Kazuki, from there a fierce flame was spouted out.

“Burn to ash all those that come in contact…to the scorching heat of rejection without any place to go! Self Burning!!”

Kazuki Foresighted the sign of flame being created and covered his body with flame armor by matching the timing. The flame swallowed the flame and the attack was neutralized.

At the same time the chimera’s front leg that looked like a log was heading to Kazuki in a side sweep. Even one of its claws was absurdly big with the size of a human’s arm. Kazuki swiftly dodged his body and slashed back with his katana.

“GUGIIIIIIIII!”

More voice that sounded like a monster bird resounded out at the sky. When he looked up, a dragon with slender body that was similar with human’s body shape―however that body was made from stone―a gargoyle was swooping down.

“Gouge the far away, Doutanuki! Battou Kaikon―Tenran Kamaitachi!”

Kohaku who stood beside Kazuki drew out her Sacred Treasure. A sharp wind blade was fired from that sword and intercepted the swooping down gargoyle. However, although the gargoyle raised a scream of “GUGIGAA!”, it didn’t even twitch.

A monster made from stone―it was strong against physical impact and it was also supposed to have resistance against flame, ice, and lightning. Kohaku evaded in panic from the attack of the gargoyle that swing its stone limbs in defiance of her attack.

“GOOOOOOOOO!”

While crushing roots of trees and thicket underfoot with cracking sounds, a hairy giant―a troll was rushing at them wielding a club above its head.

Karin leaped out in order to intercept it. The huge club the troll brandished was quickly toyed around by Karin with a use of keen and nimble body movement.

―A group of Demon Beasts suddenly appeared all of a sudden. Moreover, all of them were huge.

“It’s hard for mind attack to be effective against Demon Beast so I’m really not very good with them. …A maiden offering prayer each night, be that as it may the moonlight illuminated the beast of thy heart. Lay bare the true character, {{furigana|Lunatic Lunar Light|Mirror Moon Heart Encroachment}}!”

The rearguard Miyabi-senpai casted the Summoning Magic of the moon goddess, Gremory.

A giant vision of moon emerged out on Miyabi-senpai’s back and emitted a silver light.

Magic that made the mind of the people seeing it chaotic. After the Demon Beasts’s body were paralyzed in a twitch, they began to keep attacking a spot where there was no one at all as if they were seeing an illusion.

It was a powerful mind attack magic that made the enemy attack each other if the opponent was human, but it seemed it was already the limit to just show illusion with Demon Beast as the target. But even so, the aggression of the Demon Beasts stopped for a moment.

“The destiny of all things in creation within the large celestial sphere…o binding of constellation, stop the revolution of the sky! Horoscope Stasis!”

Hikaru-senpai too finished her spell and casted her magic.

Around the body of the gargoyle who was flying around in the sky, countless stars were shining. Between the stars, lines of light were running like a constellation, those lines of light bound the gargoyle's hands and feet.

The gargoyle who couldn’t even flap its wings now freefalled with a scream while breaking the foliage on its way down with crunching sounds.

“Crush to death, <Taroudachi>! Battou Kaikon―Ashura Ryoudan!!”

Kohaku drew out one more Sacred Treasure. When Kohaku poured magic power into that Sacred Treasure with a flash of fighting spirit, the sword blade of that Sacred Treasure inflated like a log where Kohaku swung that down with all she had on the gargoyle.

Squashed by the giant katana, cracks ran through the gargoyle’s body with a cracking sound.

“Shintoukei!”

Karin quietly leaped into the chest of the troll who was swinging its club into a wrong direction and striked her palm on its chest.

Shintoukei―Karin stepped on the earth strongly in the moment of impact and with the movement of the whole body she concentrated that energy in her palm. Using Enchant Aura at the same time too, a terrific destructive power penetrated the tough skin of the troll and reverberated directly to its heart.

The troll raised a scream and fell down.

“O stream of atmosphere, extend to my hand, become the spear that repulse the resenting enemy! What reach my hand is the tip of the storm!! Maimuur!!”

Kazuki created a spear with the power of wind inside it, then he concentrated the flame armor that was covering his body into the tip of the spear with psychokinesis manipulation. The power of wind supplied the flame with oxygen and amplified its power. A synergism effect of magic and magic.

Kazuki twisted the spear of flame inside the opened mouth of the chimera’s lion head. The lion head bared the white of its eyes widely and it hung its head languidly as if dying in exhaustion.

The three large-type Demon Beasts raised their screams and fainted in agony from Kazuki and other’s counter attack that was like surging wave.

Kazuki suddenly felt a doubt.

Demon Beast’s scream. Demon Beast too was going to scream if they receive pain.

If Yumeno-san was somewhere in this Haunted Ground, in the case that girl was forced into a battle with Demon Beast inevitably, the sounds of her battle should be loudly transmitted to the surrounding area.

For both Kazuki and Mio’s teams to not hear anything of that, was Yumeno-san in a place really far from them?

It was hard to imagine that she would constantly continue to use the general magic to freeze the air like when she was attacking Lotte. General magic was not like Summoning Magic that could borrow the power of Diva, its consumption of magic power was harsh in comparison of its small scale effect.

Possibly Yumeno-san was avoiding battle with some kind of method…?

That moment while Kazuki was harboring doubt, he felt an upsurge of magic power from the other side of the trees on their way.

The presence of someone using Summoning Magic.

“Kohaku! Karin! Protect the rearguard!!”

Kazuki raised his voice saying so while he himself was rushing to his comrades in the rear.

“…Come from the darkness, o the jet black invaders…wash away the world’s repose with greed and violence! Announce the beginning of war right here! Birth From Dark!!”

From the other side of the thicket, countless black feathers were shot out.

This magic was…Yumeno-san’s magic!

“Haa-!”

Kazuki who Foresighted the presence swung [Maimuur] with a yell of fighting spirit.

The flame and wind burned many of the feathers to ashes but he couldn’t get all of them and the feathers slipped into their attack range―they pierced the ground under the feet of their comrades in the rear.

The feathers bloated in the blink of eye and stood up as a humanoid shape, becoming jet black armored knights that surrounded Koyuki, Miyabi-senpai, and Hikaru-senpai. The black knights mercilessly raised their swords against the three people that were in the middle of chanting.

“Drive away, <Taroudachi>!”

Kohaku cleared away several of the nearby knights altogether with her enlarged long katana.

“YaAA-!” Karin too agilely cut between the knights and blew away the knights with nimble hand-to-hand technique.

However even so they were outnumbered, several of the black blades they couldn’t deal with assaulted Koyuki and the other over and over again.

“Kyaa!” “It’s troubling to not get protected properly here.” “Uwaa!”

The three’s scream rang out.

“Koyuki!”

Kazuki entered to protect Koyuki the foremost. He carried up the girl and drove away the black knights with [Maimuur]. He wasted no time to protect Koyuki because she was in the middle of chanting a long spell.

Koyuki clung to Kazuki with a tight grip and completed her spell.

“Sinking hundred ships, o menace of ocean that is lurking in the deep sea! Surface with the guidance of my singing voice…show that entire face! …Thrust the fang! Ice Buster!!”

That magic was cast at the gargoyle who was trying to get free from its restraint.

Giant iceberg gradually rose from the earth and directly gouged the crack in the gargoyle’s body that was scarred from Taroudachi. The hardness of [ice] became tougher the lower its temperature was. Koyuki devoted all her concentration to lower the temperature of the iceberg and sharpened its sharpness without end.

The icebergs that looked like the tip of a giant Japanese katana appeared for the second, the third―,

“GIIIIIIII!”

Along with a scream the gargoyle was smashed apart into pieces.

“Whirling heaven o will of god…gather in my hand, lend the gift authority of judgment! O light of royal divine gift, become a drawn bow with dazzling brilliance! Lightning Line.”

Even while receiving the attack of the black knights, Hikaru-senpai who excelled in spell chanting’s concentration finished a simple level 1 magic and consolidated arrows of lightning before firing them.

Those arrows passed through the black knights and all struck home at the troll’s left chest.

The arrows struck accurately to the heart that had received severe damage from Shintoukei before.

The troll was convulsing in twitches through its whole body and expired without even raising a scream.

“You didn’t protect me at all, Kazuki, I’ll remember this.”

Miyabi-senpai even while complaining…as expected from an upperclassman. She had accomplished her chanting.

“O crescent moon of the frozen sky, rip the cloud as the blowing wind, mow down the life on the surface! …{{furigana|Moon Scraper|Moon Maiden’s Hidden Blade}}!”

When Miyabi-senpai raised her hand to the sky, a large crescent moon was grasped in that hand.

Miyabi-senpai threw that moon with an elegant form.

The crescent moon that flew sharply drawing an arc bisected the two necks of the chimera.

The chimera, with all three of its necks crushed, fell down on the ground while raising a heavy sound.

The Demon Beasts were eradicated with everyone’s Summoning Magic.

At the same time Kazuki, Kohaku, and Karin had finished dealing with the black knights.

“Black Barrett!”

But while their attention were averted by the Demon Beasts and the black knights, black bullets were flying at them from the other side of the thicket.

“Kyaa!” “Uwaa-!” “…Ku-! This is mind attack!?”

The scream of everyone in the rear. The bullets were not aiming at Kazuki or Kohaku or Karin who possessed evasion skill but Koyuki and the others.

Their defensive magic power were smashed, in addition the agony of mind destruction made the three cower.

During that moment, the presence on the other side of the thicket was darting away to escape.

“…Wait, Yumeno-san!!”

This attack magic was Yumeno-san and Halphas’s skill.

“…Black flame that burn the mind, if we keep getting hit with that then we will become unable to chant magic.”

Miyabi-senpai who could also use mind magic skillfully herself calmly analyzed the threat of the opponent in her talk.

“That girl’s magic is invoked by launching it in feathers.”

Kazuki called out to his comrades.

“It’s a defensible attack that can be blocked using Prometheus’s armor so the flame doesn’t touch you or using Baal’s Storm Fort to blow away the feather. Let’s cope with it using me and Hikaru-senpai as much as possible.”

Hikaru-senpai was even now in suffering from the mind damage, but she nodded firmly.

{Kazuki…? We heard a loud sound here, was there a battle?}

Mio’s voice rang out inside his head.

It was the telepathy that could be used with the partner whose positivity level had gone past 150.

{We were attacked by Yumeno-san and then she escaped. We are going to chase her now.}

{Really!? Got it, then we don’t know if we can catch up, but we will head there too!}

Mio didn’t know the location of Kazuki from where she was. There was little chance that she could catch up with them in time but…Kazuki replied {Please} and then dashed leading his comrades.



They could immediately see the back of Yumeno-san in their path.

And then even further ahead of Yumeno-san, the figure of Demon Beast that howled madly after finding humans also entered their eyes.

Worm―it was an absurdly giant serpent that came their way slitheringly from the forest.

That worm was heading to Yumeno-san first and attacked her.

“Being perplexed in a daydream, listen to the mother’s lullaby…{{furigana|Mugensou|Dream Playing}}!”

But an avatar of a strange animal emerged out beside Yumeno-san and she casted her magic.

Baku―an apparition that ruled over dream where its legend was handed down in Japan and China.

This Baku was the Diva that possessed the hidden personality of Yumeno-san.

Psychedelic light and noise flashed. At the same time the avatar of Baku was sucked inside the head of the worm. Right that instant, the worm’s movement stopped completely.

The worm changed the direction of that giant body.

Avoiding Yumeno-san, it came attacking with Kazuki and his team as the target!

“…So Yumeno-san can control Demon Beast!”

Kazuki understood Yumeno-san’s objective.

The girl was not escaping into the Haunted Ground.

This location was exactly the place to bring certain death for Kazuki!

If it was her ability to control Demon Beast, there wouldn’t be any problem even if she was just alone in a Haunted Ground!

The worm that came approaching them in slither while breaking through the trees was completely like a jet coaster. “Press back, Taroudachi!!”

Kohaku clashed the enlarged Taroudachi to the worm right from the front.

The large mouth that could swallow a human whole was blocked by the enlarged katana. The blade slightly cut into both edge of the worm’s mouth but its meat immediately regenerated and it was pushing back.

The worm was crawling with its whole body and advanced forward. Kohaku lost in strength and slowly got pushed back.

―Worm was perceived as a symbol of regeneration in many legends. Its mode of life that grew by repeatedly shedding its skin made the people of the ancient era feel a mystique from it. The image of <Ouroboros>, a snake that bit its own tail forming a circle, was shared universally in many cultures like Greece civilization as well as Aztec or ancient China.

Demon Beast・Worm possessed the strong ability of regeneration.

“Kazuki! No matter how many times its outside gets attacked the worm will recover! Please burn it from the inside!!”

Koyuki immediately told him. That was the worm’s conquering method that was told in the myth. It was for this kind of moment that the Knight Academy made the students learn [mythology].

“Blitzkrieg!!”

“Lightning Line!”

Kazuki and Hikaru-senpai simultaneously cast lightning element magic. Kazuki charged into the worm’s big mouth with electromagnetic spear. Hikaru-senpai fired several lightning arrows into the worm’s mouth. The worm’s giant body writhed and undulated. Just like that its breath was stopped and that giant body dispersed away into magic light power.

“Being perplexed in a daydream, listen to the mother’s lullaby…Mugensou!”

But while they were focusing on that Yumeno-san ran even further, and then she tamed the Demon Beast she encountered in her path.

This time it was a Demon Beast from the sky with eagle head and wings on a lion’s body―the king of all bird and the king of all beasts, a flock of gryphon was descending down aiming at Kazuki and the others.

“There is no end to this! Our magic power get consumed one-sidedly here!? Kohaku yelled.

“These ones will take care of the Demon Beasts, so Kazuki just focus directly on her! If not ''the whole Haunted Ground will come blocking our way''!”

“Leave this place to us and go ahead! I wanted to try saying this speech at least once!”

Hikaru-senpai too said her agreement of Kohaku’s proposal with her eyes shining and getting happy pointlessly.

“Kazuki…I said to you inside the train that your resistance against mind magic is your weak point, but the strength of unwavering will no matter what happens is your strength you know. The opponent is also going to use mind magic, however that’s what I really think.”

Miyabi-senpai gave an advice to Kazuki.

…The strength of unwavering will. Even if he got completely held under mind magic, it was possible to overcome it with the strength of will. Kazuki nodded back, “Everyone, I’m relying on you!” then he accelerated straightforwardly to Yumeno-san’s back.

“Glacier Wind!” “Tenran Kamaitachi!” “Lightning Line!” “Moon Scraper!”

His comrades' offense magic were fired into the swarm of gryphon that descended from the sky.

The rank of the gryphon’s swarm collapsed and a small way out was opened.

“Custom Liberion!”

Kazuki deployed Lotte’s level 6 magic―[Custom Liberion], and he flew into the swarm of gryphon. If this armament was compared with [Deep Striker], its straight line acceleration and charging destructive power were inferior, but its maneuverability was in dominance and it was possible to maneuver at all direction freely.

The thruster units in its four limbs spouted out flames at all direction following Kazuki’s will.

Full burst―Kazuki passed through the tight gap between gryphon and gryphon in zigzag like a lightning.

Demon Beast didn’t make any complicated thinking. When Kazuki disappeared in an instant before their eyes and passed through to the back, they didn’t chase Kazuki anymore and changed their target to Kohaku and Karin.

Yumeno-san was startled and looked back at Kazuki giving her chase.

“Black Barrett!!”

Yumeno-san attacked by firing black bullets. Kazuki Foresighted the trajectory of those bullets and evaded with high speed maneuver.

“I won’t let you come in contact with anymore Demon Beast!!”

Kazuki was perfectly superior in speed. When he overtook Yumeno-san from the sky, Kazuki rotated and landed in front of Yumeno-san and immediately withdrew the katana on his waist.

A single Iai slash. Yumeno-san withdrew a claw from her right hand and blocked that slash.

However she was blown away into the forest from the difference in power.

But Kazuki was shocked inside his mind. Her reaction at Kazuki’s sword draw made clear of the fact that she was able to stop the slash, that was proof of the considerable accumulation of her training in close-range combat techniques.

She was far more talented than your average swordsman.

“I’ll make you give back the real Yumeno-san!”

While gliding in the air using the armament, Kazuki drove Yumeno-san into a corner.

“The real…? I am the assailant that shackled that girl, and that girl is the victim!? Hihihi!”

As if being exasperated, Yumeno-san who fell into the thicket stood up.

“Wrong! I am the destiny that girl should be burdened with!! Both of us are inseparable no matter what you try!!”

Kazuki was overwhelmed inside his heart by that intense emotion. That one other personality was far more unshakeable than what Kazuki imagined, possessing a strong will.

Kazuki turned to the thicket and launched a volley of bullets with the gatling in his arm armor. The storm of bullets smashed the trees, blue light of defensive magic power was smashed on the other side of the gunpowder smoke that enveloped the area.

“…Baku, release!”

Yumeno-san raised a voice that sounded like a scream inside the storm of bullets. A large magic power was flowing into Yumeno-san from the crowd of gryphon that had opened battle with everyone.

She was recovering some kind of powerful magic power from the gryphon.

Most likely while she was using the magic to control the Demon Beasts, she couldn’t use Baku’s other magic.

For the sake of using Baku’s magic in her fight against Kazuki, she recovered the magic she was using since before. The swarm of gryphon had already focused on attacking the humans in front of them, so there wasn’t any need in continuing to use that magic anymore.

“Carried away by the wave of forgetfulness sinking into darkness…Youwakumu!”

And then in no time at all she casted a Drive Summoning magic.

A wave of sleepiness was raging madly inside Kazuki’s head. Carried away by the wave, his consciousness was vanishing.

Inside his head became pure white.

Kazuki lost control of his magic power and the thruster units of the Custom Liberion went wild to wrong directions. While Kazuki was writhing he crashed onto the ground similar with Lotte on that day.

…But he had heard already from Lotte how Yumeno-san was using this magic.

He had prepared his mind…!

“Spreading your wing inside the dark clouds o black bird that announce the beginning of conflict, please grant that wing of grief on my back! The agony of people crushed underfoot in battle right here…! {{furigana|Agonizing Wings|Eyelids Blocking Jet Black Wings}}!”

Yumeno-san was also chanting a high level magic of Halphas at the same time while she was using Baku’s Drive Summoning. It was a really diverse way of attacking that made even Kazuki amazed.

In contrast with Kazuki who fell to the ground, wings of black flame were spreading out largely on Yumeno-san’s back.

The wings of Halphas that act as the opposite of Phoenix.

Yumeno-san directed those very long wings at Kazuki and swung them.

Kazuki was swallowed into the black flame.

Kazuki’s [Custom Liberion] melted into slag from the heat. In addition the black flame’s poison gnawed into Kazuki’s mind. His mind was steadily melting. Releasing physical heat and mind-melting heat at the same time, Halphas’s black flame.

“Hi, hihihi! You are already the same as a living corpse now!”

Yumeno-san folded her black wings of flame and shouted at the crouching Kazuki while landing on the ground. “Carve your curse, Yamizaru! Bassou Kaikon, Onmyou Madatsu!”

Turning at Kazuki who couldn’t move his body from the mental damage, she swung the Sacred Treasure Yamizaru. Kazuki’s left chest was torn up. His defensive magic power was scattered and he fell onto his knee in a slump.

And then this scar on the defensive magic power couldn’t be filled by the new magic power at all. Just like what Lotte warned him. If he received an attack one more time on that scar it would become a flesh wound.

The defensive magic power of Kazuki that was torn up was on his left chest―what she aimed for was his heart.

“You are going to die here, this country is over-!”

Yumeno-san was going to stab the claws into Kazuki’s chest.

“…Don’t make light of me…even if I become unable to think anymore, you think I’m going to get killed by a skill of that degree!!”

Even with his consciousness being hazy, Kazuki swung his katana only with his unconsciousness.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>GIN!* Such sound rang out, Kazuki’s slash repelled Yumeno-san’s claws.

“Ho, how could you still resist…”

Pushed back by the impact, Yumeno-san’s body staggered. With his mind free from any worthless thoughts, Kazuki didn’t let that opening get away and quickly stood up with his second slash launched.

An unconscious single stroke of sword, exactly because it was done unconsciously that Kazuki’s training could be realized more than usual, producing extraordinary speed.

Yumeno-san stepped back unsteadily on her feet from that one attack.

“Kuu-…one more time, eat this guy!”

While Yumeno-san was staggering behind, she spread out the wings of black flame on her back one more time. While flying on the air she directed her wings at Kazuki and swung it.

Kazuki was once more helplessly swallowed into the flame that burned the mind. His whole consciousness got disarrayed and he became unable to think anything. Everything vanished away from inside his head.

―The strength of unwavering will is your power you know.

Even with the inside of his head turning pure white, Miyabi-senpai’s words came to the surface of his mind. And then no matter how wrecked his own mind became, he remembered the existence of the thing that absolutely wouldn’t disappear.

His bond. …There are people important for me. Only that thing, I won’t forget.

There was strength he could draw just from that fact!

“…UOOOOO!!”

Kazuki raised a roar, he created a single Magic Dress on his chest.

“Zekorbeni!!”

The power of his bond with Mio that surpassed the positivity level of 150 which was contained inside the pendant erupted in one go.

Phoenix possessed the inside of the pendant and he was joined with a direct circuit with Kazuki.

There was no need for complicated chanting. He only needed to pour his own magic power into this circuit of bond. 

“O undying bird that soar from dusk to dawn, please grant that wings of hope on my back! The destruction for the sake of rebirth right here…! Blazing Wings!”

Kazuki spread out the giant wings of flame on his back and flicked off the wings of black flame.

“…A magic of that extent, that fast!?”

Yumeno-san struck her black wings to Kazuki while speaking in a trembling voice from shock. Kazuki struck back against that with the wings of flame and resisted. Wings and wings struck each other struggling for supremacy.

Kazuki poured even more magic power into the circuit of bond while striking each other with wings.

“O bird of paradise in which the light of heaven reside in that body, burn to ash the sin on the earth following my accusation! Israel Judgment!!”

Phoenix’s level 6 magic.

Against that instantaneous invocation, Yumeno-san couldn’t even protect her body with her black wings.

Kazuki fired a huge laser of light at Yumeno-san in a super close range right from the front.

The heat quantity that burned to ashes every inorganic matter enveloped Yumeno-san. Her defensive magic power was smashed in one go and she lost her black wings, making her crumble down onto the ground.

“I’ll have you sleep from magic intoxication!”

Kazuki too landed on the ground and he was going to stab the katana he was holding in reverse grip at Yumeno-san.

“…Be perplexed in daydream, hear the mother’s lullaby…Mugensou…!”

Yumeno-san casted her magic as if in a vain struggle.

…This was certainly Baku’s magic that manipulated Demon Beast.

However except the swarm of gryphon that everyone was fighting, there was no figure of Demon Beast around them.

It was just a vain struggle. Kazuki thought that while thrusting his blade at the fallen girl―,

“Sto, stop!”

Yumeno-san raised a voice that sounded scared.

Kazuki felt an uncomfortable feeling on that strange change of her tone.

The blade stopped just barely on top of Yumeno-san’s shoulder.

“…That voice, are you Yumeno-san?”

He reflexively asked that.

“Ha, Hayashizaki-kun…my body moved by itself!!”

That tone of voice had returned to the original warmth of Yumeno-san. But,

“My body moved itself!” Yumeno-san sprang up while raising a scream and she swung her claw at Kazuki!

“!?”

Kazuki evaded in panic. Yumeno-san moved with an awkward movement like a manipulated doll while swinging her claw in buzz at Kazuki’s chest persistently.

“Yumeno-san, what are you doing!?”

“My body moved itself! Besides, where is this place!?”

He couldn’t possibly think of her scream that was tinged in confusion as an act. She had returned to her senses.

However although her movement that was aiming at Kazuki was awkward, there was no hesitation in it.

Could it be…the intention of the magic that hidden personality chanted just now was…!

That girl surrendered the body and the will to Yumeno-san’s front personality. But there was no doubt that she was controlling Yumeno-san’s body using magic from the deep psyche!

Kazuki blocked Yumeno-san’s claw with his katana. It was a sword-locking contest….

While their blades was locking with each other in very close range, the exposed shoulder of Yumeno-san’s Magic Dress entered Kazuki’s eyes. There, a straight red line was running vertically, from there a drop of blood was trickling down. It was the spot where Kazuki almost stabbed his katana before.

Because there was no light of defensive magic power scattered he thought that he managed to stop his blade just barely but…it seemed his blade had cut into her shoulder slightly.

Kazuki went pale. The girl’s body right now was not protected by defensive magic power!

He almost killed her!

That hidden personality of Yumeno-san was cutting off the defensive magic power so that Yumeno-san’s front personality couldn’t use defensive magic power! On top of that she was making her attack Kazuki!

“Hii-! No, noo-!!”

Yumeno-san raised a scream of terror having the sharp light of Kazuki’s katana right in front of her eye.

Sword-locking contest…this was not. Yumeno-san’s own body slipped away her own claw from Kazuki’s katana, then she plunged at Kazuki’s katana herself.

Dangerous!

Kazuki drew back his katana in flurry. Even Kazuki who had experienced countless sword exchange, this was his first experience pulling himself out from a sword-locking contest in this kind of shape.

When Kazuki pulled himself away, Yumeno-san shrewdly fixed her claw’s stance and aimed at Kazuki’s chest.

“…What dreadful act she come up with!”

Like this he couldn’t lay his hand on her!

However the wound in the defensive magic power was still remaining on Kazuki’s chest. If the claws were pierced there, he would get killed completely in one shot!

Kazuki couldn’t carelessly swing his katana, he swept away the claw that was aiming at his chest with his left arm.

His defensive magic power scattered when his arm touched the claw.

{Carve your curse, Yamizaru! Bassou Kaikon, Onmyou Madatsu!}

More of a defensive magic power scar was gouged at Kazuki’s left arm. The place where he absolutely must not receive an attack had further increased.

If it kept like this he would be made into sliced sushi!!

Kazuki stepped back while being ruled by his impatience and fear. Yumeno-san was mercilessly cornering him.

Kazuki had never felt this scared even against all the formidable enemies he had faced throughout his whole life until now.

“What a vulgar method isn’t it. …But she made a mistake.”

There was a voice.

Behind Yumeno-san, Miyabi-senpai had abandoned the fight with the gryphon and crept unnoticed behind her.

While drawing near unnoticed, she had already chanting her spell.

“''This personality didn’t receive any training right''? I’ll gratefully accept that defenseless heart. O the eternal full moon that turn pale, forget your waxing and waning, illuminate the world and become a mirror! Wax the moonlight here and disturb the world…Lunatic Labyrinth!!”

Just as she promised with Kazuki, Miyabi-senpai was shrewdly aiming for a chance without giving up.

Currently the body of Yumeno-san was manipulated by the hidden personality but the consciousness was filed by the front personality at the surface.

In other words the security of the consciousness was shouldered by the front Yumeno-san.

The front Yumeno-san was a normal first year of the Magic Division.

She couldn’t do anything like resisting the mind encroachment magic of Miyabi-senpai.

That magic was cast with Kazuki and Yumeno-san as the targets and light that dazzled the eyes blinked in a strong flash.

Kazuki entrusted his body to that magic and he was pulled into Miyabi-senpai’s mental world.



[Lunatic Labyrinth]―it was a mind hack magic that pulled the mind of allies and enemies into the mental world created by Miyabi-senpai and Gremory.

The physical body of the captured Kazuki and Yumeno-san were coming to a stop in the real world. If in this time Kazuki and the others received attack from other person, the damage from that would be shouldered by Miyabi-senpai. Kazuki and the others were wrapped in Miyabi-senpai’s magic power in order to invite in the consciousness of Kazuki and others into her own mental world. This was a magic that made Miyabi-senpai also shoulder a suitable risk.

If Miyabi-senpai bore too much damage she would become unable to maintain the mental world and the Lunatic Labyrinth would be destroyed.

The conclusion between Kazuki and Yumeno-san became carried inside the Lunatic Labyrinth as long as Miyabi-senpai could maintain that mental world.



―Over there was a world of pure white light. In the space where everything was made from mirror, the light that shone in from somewhere was reflected without escaping anywhere and the world was filled completely with pure white light.

But the aspect of Lunatic Labyrinth this time was different with the time when Kazuki was invited in before.

There was a floor of mirror under his feet but there was no wall of mirror around him. It was not a maze but an open space.

As far as he could see around him, horizon made from mirror was spreading far away.

He couldn’t even make a distinction between the sky and earth, as if he was standing inside pure white light. A fantastical scenery that undoubtedly should be called as an alternate world.

Surely Miyabi-senpai had adjusted a fitting place for them to settle their conclusion.

In front of Kazuki who was standing on a mirror floor, there were two Yumeno-san.

Yumeno-san’s front personality and hidden personality were dragged into the mirror world as each different individual.

“This place is, Ryuutaki-senpai’s mental world…?”

One of the Yumeno-sans murmured. She knew about Miyabi-senpai’s ability so she could calmly understand her surrounding space.

But she soon noticed the one other herself that stood in front of her and she raised a confused voice.

“Wh, why is there…one more me?”

On the other side the one more Yumeno-san could calmly accept that there was one more herself.

“So we become like this from getting hit with Ryuutaki Miyabi’s magic…they really got us…”

Of course the Yumeno-san of this side was the hidden personality―the spy.

“Yumeno-san.”

Kazuki called out to the Yumeno-san who was deeply confused―the front personality.

“Yumeno-san’s one more personality is the spy. With Yumeno-san’s double personality, that Yumeno-san over there was doing the spying. Right now, you are facing your hidden personality.”

“Eh? …Eh?”

Hearing Kazuki’s explanation, Yumeno-san opened her eyes wide in dumbfoundment.

“Yumeno-san, try to calmly think back about yourself. If you are not aware yourself that you have a double personality, is there any strange blank space in your memory?”

If the front personality didn’t have any memory of what the hidden personality was doing, then Yumeno-san should notice that her own memory was full of uneven holes. There was no way she wouldn’t find it unnatural.

“…It’s futile, that girl won’t recognize it. She can’t recognize―I am divided from her personality because she denied the reality after all. She won’t recognize something like a blank spot in her memory too.”

The one other Yumeno-san opened her mouth loathsomely.

“That girl pushed all the pain to me and ran away!”

“What are…you talking about?”

“Hihihi, seems like you intend to try to understand don’t you?”

Towards what the front personality of Yumeno-san asked, the hidden Yumeno-san answered in a ridiculing tone.

“You already don’t remember about how you were abused by both of your own parents right? That’s because you made me shoulder all the time and memory of that period. Hihihi, you remember? Since we became aware of what is going on around us, we have already met with the abuse of our parents.”

“That’s a lie, there is no such thing. Both of my parents…are kind people.”

“They act like that in front of the current you don’t they? But in the past it was different. You in your childhood period couldn’t bear all the abuses, then you created one other yourself. And then you pushed the painful times to your other self. ‘The one that go through this irrational experience is not me. Right now, the one that is in pain is not me…it’s Kaori.’ Yumeno Shiori’s mind split like that, and I, Kaori was born.”

“…Kaori. That is your name…?”

“That’s right Shiori. I’m the personality that shouldered all your pain and duty,”

The hidden Yumeno-san―Kaori’s tone was mixed with unspeakable resentment.

“Our parents split us into two systematically. After they split our personality with abuse, they take care of you kindly as a normal child, and they applied special education at me to be a spy. At the time of magic power measurement when we were five years old, it was predicted with almost certainty that Yumeno Shiori would receive Stigma and this plan was suggested…”

Yumeno-san’s face color became white like paper. The current Yumeno-san was a mental body, but in a mental world the mental body’s external appearance made completely the same appearance like the physical body. The face would become pale like having the blood completely drained when receiving a shock. The mental body has the full knowledge of the physical body’s action, and so that was unconsciously imitated by the mental body.

The flesh body and the mental body were strongly tied together by magic power.

In this world of mind magic of Miyabi-senpai, it was not the case that what couldn’t be done by the physical body would be able to be done by the mental body just because this place was not real.

“I was thoroughly educated that the meaning of my existence is to be useful as a spy. If I don’t accomplish that role, there is no worth of living for me. While you were raised kindly and peacefully, I was assigned with severe training everyday…!”

“…Papa, and mama too won’t do that kind of thing…both of them are kind people…”

Yumeno-san weakly denied Kaori’s words.

Kaori was “hihihi-“ laughing that off.

“That’s just for you! But weren’t they ''only kind''? You too should have already noticed it faintly right. Both of them are kind on the surface but ''they are not expecting anything from you''. They are not demanding anything from you as their daughter.”

“Tha, that’s…”

Yumeno-san’s reply got caught in her throat, as if there was something that likely came to her mind.

―Parents that were only kind at the surface. What both of them hoped for from their daughter was only her work as spy. And the one that shouldered that hope was Kaori.

Yumeno-san gradually noticed. Toward the unnaturalness in her own memory, toward the distortion of her current state of living.

“I am the only one that shouldered all of our duty that is the reason of our existence! …Hayashizaki Kazuki, you were talking as if I am the wrong-doer here, however.”

Kaori moved her sight to Kazuki’s direction.

“Hihihi-. Now you have heard the story, how do you think? This girl that doesn’t know anything and me, which one do you think is the wrong-doer? No…thinking of us as a victim and a perpetrator is not right. I am the very person that shouldered the destiny of the one who is called Yumeno Shiori, that’s why…”

“Destiny…I am, a spy…”

The overdoing composition of facing her other self in a world of mirror.

Yumeno-san who was looking as if she was seeing a bad dream gradually began to accept that reality, with a look of realization she suddenly looked back at Kazuki’s direction driven by the guilt that pierced her chest.

“Hayashizaki-san, I’m sorry…I, even though I wanted to be useful for everyone…. Perhaps, perhaps I’m…”

“There is no perhaps! We are spies!”

Kaori sharply scolded from the side of Yumeno-san’s vague words of confession.

Yumeno-san became frightened with a twitch and froze.

“You want to be useful you said!? Hihihi, that makes me laugh! You are empty, you don’t have any role at all! I’m the only one that is fulfilling our role!! …I’m troubled if you don’t accept it awarely yourself. Yumeno Shiori, is a spy. There is no other role except that for you. You who couldn’t fulfill your role as a spy at all, is just an empty existence. Even so you cannot escape from the reality that you are a spy. …After all both of us are being one in body and soul. I was burdened with all the abuses that were done to you. So you too, take the responsibility for all that I have done!”

“A…aaa…”

Tears spilled out like a river while Yumeno-san raised a moaning voice.

Finally understanding the reality, the tears spilled out from her eyes because of that weight.

“Shiori, if you understand, then wipe your tears. Cooperate with me with your own self-awareness. Don’t only push everything to me, you too fulfill your role as a spy. That guy cannot be killed if we don’t face him two against one. So that father and mother will recognize us, to keep living while doing what is necessary, we must kill this Hayashizaki Kazuki.”

“I…pushed all that pain to you…all you do, I’m…”

“There is no need for you to hold any guilt for me! Just be together with me!! If you are not planning to make me shoulder all the heavy burden and keep living as an empty human!”

“You are wrong!” Kazuki interrupted those words.

“You are wrong! Yumeno-san, is a journalist! You are not empty at all!! Chasing the spy and exposing the darkness of the Knight Academy, you are our newspaper committee chairman!!”

“Hayashizaki Kazuki! Don’t you dare interfere in our matter as outsider!!”

Kaori faced Kazuki with a look of rage.

“I am an outsider but, both Yumeno-san and I can think of each other as important, we can advise and support each other!”

“Advise you say? You understand nothing! We were already spies since we were born, we cannot recognize any other way of living! From now on and even in the future it will be always like that!!”

“You’re wrong! …We are not going to be kids forever. We don’t have to contend ourselves with the role given to us, we can make the place where we belong and the meaning of our existences ourselves.”

“The place I belong…meaning of existence…”

As if her heart was moved by Kazuki’s words, Yumeno-san murmured.

“Yumeno-san, certainly that girl is your destiny itself. Just like that girl said, Yumeno-san cannot afford to ignore her existence. But there is no such need to be swallowed by her! Even if you don’t follow your destiny, this thing called destiny itself, it’s fine if you tear it apart! I too will help, so right here, let’s defeat her in this world of mirror!!”

Kazuki fixed his eyes on Yumeno-san and called out to her.

“But I…betrayed all of you…”

Yumeno-san averted her faces without meeting his eyes.

“…Everything, everything was my fault…at the time I blanked out that I pretended not to know anything about, I caused a lot of horrible damages…. Even Hayashizaki-san’s failure in the operation of Isonokami Shrine, all of that was completely because of my fault…”

“I don’t mind about such trivial thing.”

In truth Kazuki was really bothered by the operation failure in Isonokami Shrine.

However that was because of his own immatureness. Kazuki was continuing to think of it like that.

“I, have never been relied on by anyone until now…I wanted to become a human that could be relied on by someone! Despite that…I was just continuously bringing disaster to the Knight Academy!!”

Yumeno-san yelled with words that tormented herself. As if instigated by that, Kaori expressed her agreement.

“That’s right, there is no more place for you in the Knight Academy! Just as long as you accept me, there would be no need for you to even think of wanting to be useful to someone. Even someone empty like you, can shoulder the role as a spy from now on…!”

“I have absolutely never thought of being bothered by you! This is not just a half-hearted encouragement that I’m saying. Because we can discover the spy, is all thanks to you!”

Both of the Yumeno-san directed their faces to Kazuki after receiving that attack in their unguarded moment.

“What a joke! Since both you and me are one soul and one body, there is no meaning in putting up that kind of [charade]!”

“Wrong! Yumeno-san had already opposed her destiny! Yumeno-san pursued after the spy more seriously than anyone else for us. When you were in the middle school, Yumeno-san was the library committee member wasn’t you?”

Kazuki asked back about the story of the past that she told before.

All the times, that Yumeno-san who called herself empty had passed until now.

All those times were absolutely not meaningless. Kazuki tried to make her face that fact.

“Ye, yes… I, don’t have confidence in myself, but I want to be useful in something for other people, and I became a library committee member that even I could do…”

“There you published a library newspaper didn’t you?”

“…Yes. There are people that enjoyed reading the newspaper written by someone like me…I was happy…. I also like to read books, so it made me happy that I could make people happy by writing article…”

“Yumeno-san, that warmth is something that you absolutely shouldn’t forget.”

Yumeno-san when she was talking about the academy newspaper was really lively. That kind of Yumeno-san wasn’t supposed to be an empty personality.

“Because Yumeno-san is that kind of person, that’s why you couldn’t forgive it when you noticed that the spy was doing information manipulation, isn’t that so? You felt a passionate soul of journalism inside you! Yumeno-san gave the idea to spread out trap for the spy. Thanks to that we were convinced that the spying was an inside job. It’s thanks to Yumeno-san that we can corner this girl like this. Yumeno-san, what is it that you really want to do?”

“…I, want to corner the spy. I want to give the finishing blow to the spy!”

Inside Yumeno-san’s frail words contained a resolute strength.

“You idiot! Are you planning to kill your own meaning of existence by yourself!?”

Against the yelling Kaori, Yumeno-san faced her after wiping her tears.

“…Facing you here right now, I, have the feeling I understand what is the meaning of myself.”

“If you understand that you are a spy then, why…”

“Wrong, that’s not it. …I remembered it you know. Certainly there are holes in my memory. Certainly…father and mother did horrible things to me. I didn’t want to remember, I didn’t want to notice, that I put a lid on my heart but…”

Yumeno-san gripped her right hand around her own chest strongly. As if she noticed the warmth that existed inside her chest, that she was going to treasure that warmth.

“Certainly father and mother didn’t expect anything from me. Normally, if a child was bestowed a Stigma a parent would be happy and have expectation for the future, despite so…. Those people were kind on the surface however, perhaps they didn’t direct any love or anything at me. What those people were wishing from me, was for my split personality to accomplish her role as a spy. That was why the me since Kaori was born, was just an empty person for a long, long time…”

“That’s right! That’s why if you accept me, you can be needed again by our parents as a spy!! Both of them are waiting for us in Yamato expecting us to come home bringing information as a spy!!”

“But that kind of expectation, is demanded from us not as a human but just as a tool.”

Yumeno-san said that dejectedly.

“We were born as a tool!”

“Perhaps that might be so for you all! You, father and mother too ''might not have any interest in someone like me at all but'', but, even I have a life since then! During the time when all of you were indifferently not looking at me and not asking anything from me, I have kept living until now for these ten years!! Father and mother thought that whatever I did here was trivial but, I, I have come this far training hard so I can become a splendid knight you know! Making newspaper for the sake of those people that read it was also fun!”

This time it was Yumeno-san that talked to Kaori with accusing tone.

This was her anger from all this time when she kept wondering why she was always ignored.

“I, want to become a human that can be more depended on by various people! People even told me that I’m a docile person with inconspicuous personality, but there is no such thing. The truth is I crave the spotlight even greedier than anyone else. Even though standing out is scary, I want someone to look at me more, this feeling of wanting to be recognized is burning inside me! That was why when I was chosen as the newspaper committee chairman by Hayashizaki-kun with the uproar from the battle election as the impetus, I was really happy. Someone seriously expected something from me. Something like a place to belong, had been really given to me already. This ten years that I spent until now has meaning!”

“The human called Yumeno Shiori couldn’t possibly have any more use other than being a tool!”

“That’s not true! I want to stand as comrade to the Chief Student Council President! I want to become a splendid knight when I graduate! I don’t want to serve the purpose of a tool…I want to become useful for the sake of someone that can make me think [I want to become useful for this person’s sake]! I want to treasure this feeling that you didn’t have more than anything else. That’s the difference between a tool and a comrade…”

“Something like the difference between a tool and a comrade…I don’t know anything like that…”

Kaori’s voice was fading frailly from being overwhelmed for the first time by Yumeno-san.

“Even you are empty inside.”

Yumeno-san took a glance at Kazuki.

“If I defeat Kaori, what is going to happen to me?”

“Does Yumeno-san have Kaori’s memory?”

When Kazuki asked, Yumeno-san looked down and shook her head side to side.

In many cases, a person with multiple personality didn’t share the memories between personalities.

“Yumeno-san and Kaori has different personalities but, you share your magic power with each other. That’s why I think if Kaori get damaged in this mental world, Yumeno-san’s magic power will also get shaved off together with her, and both of you will fall into magic intoxication at the same time. After that Miyabi-senpai can release this magic and Yumeno-san that has fallen into magic intoxication and fainted will be handed over to the Knight Order.”

“You think you can trust an organization like the Knight Order! Your heart will only get destroyed from torture!!”

Kaori opposed it. However Yumeno-san shook her head.

“I don’t mind, my heart is something quite broken already!”

Hearing that proclamation of Yumeno-san, Kaori made a horrified face.

Kaori was exactly the one that didn’t recognize the distortion of this being called Yumeno Shiori.

“It is absolutely important to put a conclusion on my life until now. I don’t mind whatever happens to me. Hayashizaki-kun, please, lend me your strength.”

Yumeno-san asked Kazuki with an extremely gruesome resolve.

Kazuki, and also Kaori were overpowered by that resolve.

It was exactly the spirit of the ten years of time that Yumeno-san had went through.

{Hayashizaki Kazuki…sorry.}

Suddenly beside Kazuki, the avatar of black bird―Halphas’s avatar was emerging out.

{She was a young girl I chose because I was pleased with her strong core despite her quiet appearance but…I never noticed that the heart of this girl had become something like this. The other day was the first time the other personality tried to use my power like this and came to Access with me, that was why I never noticed. I had felt that the capacity of her heart was a little cramped but…}

The Diva that governed over war talked to Kazuki ashamedly.

{I wanted to give confidence to this quiet girl, granting her the courage to face the unavoidable battle. …O King, lend this young girl the power. I don’t want this girl to be defeated.}

This Diva that governed over war was also thinking importantly of Yumeno-san.

Kazuki nodded, he stepped forward in order to protect Yumeno-san.

“Yumeno-san, I’ll protect you so please cover me from the rear. …We’re going to show her a fight that something like a tool won’t be able to do.”

Yumeno-san nodded strongly.

“…Shit. Shit! In the end it become this two against one…”

In contrast, Kaori’s expression was colored with despair and she spat out.

Beside her, the avatar of Baku floated.

{Fight, there is nothing else you can do except fight and open your own way of survival.}

The Diva that possessed Kaori due to Chinese Mythology’s will told her so.

“Everyone just…keep pushing order to me…not even relying or trusting me, not even just a single word of praise, just this [role]…a tool!! UAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!”

Kaori lost all restraint and screamed while kicking the mirror floor. While raising the claw [Yamizaru] that was equipped on her right hand, she quickly invoked her Drive.

“Kidnapped by wave of forgetfulness sink into darkness…Youwakumu!!”

She was going to make an instant of opening with this and stab Kazuki’s chest that was still marred with the remaining scar on his defensive magic power.

She noticed that in an instant without mistaking her chance of victory,

“O the soldier’s ardor of the ancestor that lurked in thy blood, response to the calling voice of the black rooster and flare up! {{furigana|Blood on Fire|Chirp of Scattering Spark}}!!”

But Yumeno-san was also specializing in magic that granted effect to mind.

The black bird that announced the beginning of battle Halphas raised a piercing cry.

Due to Baku’s [Youwakumu], for an instant Kazuki lost his consciousness, but he woke up in one go from that sharp piercing sound.

Just from that fighting spirit was overflowing from his heart like a heat in his brain.

Having his fighting spirit uplifted, Kazuki’s brain activity became active. That was connected with the strengthening of his magic power output. The defensive magic power on Kazuki’s whole body increased in thickness and the scar of his gouged magic power was filled back.

The Enchant Aura that overflow through his whole body was strengthened.

His mind was fully recovered, furthermore his magic was strengthened.

Kaori that rushed at Kazuki preparing an attack lost her countenance instead from seeing that Kazuki was strengthened. But she couldn’t stop her movement having came this far.

“UOOOOOOOOOOOOO-!!”

Kazuki’s single slash that was filled with his fighting spirit repelled away Kaori’s claws.

The claws was unfastened from Kaori’s hand and fell onto the mirror floor with clanging sound.

“A, aa…Yamizaru! The special Sacred Treasure father and mother give for me who leave to fulfill my duty…”

Losing the powerful Sacred Treasure that was her last ray of hope, Kaori leaked out a voice of despair.

Kazuki reversed his blade and with a second slash he cut the girl that had lost half her fighting spirit.

Kaori’s body was blown away from the impact of smashed magic.

“O desire lurking inside the sea of heart, surpass the deeply sinful flesh and reached out that hand! O embodiment of violation, entangle following my desire! Desire Tentacle!”

Kazuki even further produced countless black tentacles from the floor of glass.

At the falling point of the blown away girl―many tentacles were waiting and entangled Kaori’s whole body. It was a timing where she absolutely couldn’t run away.

Kazuki stepped forward and swung down his katana even more toward the girl who became unable to move her body.

One slash, two slash, three slash…he hacked the girl to pieces together with the tentacles.

Behind him, Yumeno-san was starting a large-scale chanting.

At the same time she finished that, Kazuki finished his slashing dance and retreated from Kaori’s side.

“Gathering the terror and grudge of the battlefield with both hand, build the bow and arrow where the fire of hell reside…offer this wailing to my god of war!”

Yumeno-san spread out her hand like spreading wings. From those hands, large and long pillars of black flame spurted up. Yumeno-san met the two hands that were spurting up the flame pillars with size far larger than herself in front of her own body, and took an action like someone pulling the string of a bow.

The gigantic mass of black flame changed into the shape of bow and arrow.

“{{furigana|Inferno|Single Arrow of Demise}}!!”

Yumeno-san drew taut the bow of flame and fired an arrow of flame.

Although it was called an arrow, it was a large mass of fire that completely swallowed Kaori.

Halphas’s level 7―the high level magic with all the might of Yumeno Shiori that was recognized by Mio as a [hidden powerful person].

The black flame swallowed Kaori and whirled. Shine of defensive magic power was emitted in the middle of that flame, the voice of agony from burned mind echoed.

“I’m going to fight, I won’t run away anymore from now on…. Sayonara, Kaori.”

Yumeno-san that fired the attack magic was also losing her magic power fast because she was sharing her magic power with Kaori.

Everything ended with that one attack.

When the flame vanished, Kaori was lying down on the mirror floor powerlessly. That figure was faintly vanishing like a mirage. Yumeno-san too was also vanishing faintly at the same time. Both of their heart was one.

“No, I don’t want…if I get handed over to the Knight Order…I will be terminated…”

Falling into magic intoxication with her mental body almost vanishing, Kaori leaked out her voice.

Completely different with how she was until now, it was a frail tone of an immature child.

“I, I still haven’t finished my duty…still, haven’t got praised even once, yet…no, I don’t want to disappear…just like this…”

While Kazuki felt a mysterious emotion well up inside his chest, he approached beside the girl that was lying on her side and got down on one knee.

“…I respect you. There was no enemy as terrifying as you until now.”

The devilish plan that gave camouflage how [Yumeno Shiori is innocent] by having Hayashi Shizuka brainwash the front personality. After that, making good use of the front personality’s position as the newspaper committee chairman, as a spy she used all sorts of method and continued to harass Kazuki, and now when she was cornered she opposed Kazuki using all kind of battle technique of Summoning Magic・Drive・Sacred Treasure. She even made the front personality as hostage and cornered Kazuki in reverse.

If there was no cooperation of Yumeno-san’s front personality, Kazuki surely would be unable to reach the truth.

If Lotte didn’t give a push on his back, Kazuki surely would be unable to doubt Yumeno-san.

If Miyabi-senpai didn’t use the chance that appeared just for an instant, Kazuki would surely yield to Kaori’s wicked way of fighting. She was an opponent that Kazuki was absolutely unable to win against just by himself.

Cultivated tenacity and force of will from the terrible destiny that she was made to shoulder.

Cultivated variegated battle technique that she piled up from her harsh training as a spy.

Kazuki was disgusted with her way of fighting but, even so there was no way he couldn’t feel respect for her.

This girl was terrifying, even more than Beatrix, even more than Nyarlathotep, and even more than Hayashi Shizuka.

“Hayashizaki Kazuki…you are the first person, that praised…me…”

Kaori raised her face.

It was exactly the face of a child that was scared from abuse.

When he thought that her scared expression softened for just an instant, the girl’s form disappeared like a fleeting snow.

…What a tragic person.

Looking back, the front personality of Yumeno-san was also disappearing. What kind of expression did she make, he wondered.

When Kazuki felt a pain in his heart as if something was blocking his chest, at the same time Miyabi-senpai’s mental world began to break down having finished its role.



Kazuki’s consciousness returned back to his body.

His companions had finished defeating the swarm of gryphon and silence returned to the area around them and the battlefield became quiet.

In front of Kazuki’s eye, Yumeno-san had lost her consciousness from magic intoxication. Inside this flesh body resided one heart, Yumeno-san and Kaori, the two personality were falling asleep.

“Kazuki, what happened!?”

Hikaru-senpai was rushing to his side.

“Kaori―the spy personality was defeated inside the mental world by Yumeno-san together with me. Yumeno-san fell into magic intoxication from that. Let’s entrust her to the people of the Knight Order just like this.”

A bitter silence settled around him. The other companions outside Kazuki who couldn’t completely understand the circumstances were also keeping their silent while holding this incomprehensible bitter emotion.

Making free use of Telepathy, the hidden side personality would be sealed and her memory taken out in interrogation.

It would be fine if her memory could be taken out simply, but if she confronted them with difficulty, then surely the Knight Order wouldn’t pick their method. Using violent mind hack magic, furthermore they might also use drugs.

It was only natural that they wouldn’t be picky with their method. If Kaori’s memory was analyzed, it would be possible to even eradicate the other spies. If they thought back of all the hardships that the spy made them taste wretchedly….

It couldn’t be helped. Yumeno-san had resolved herself for everything.

“…Then let’s return back, We have to entrust Yumeno-san to the Knight Order and regroup with Mio and the others.”

Suddenly at that time, a voice of other person mixed into Kazuki’s mind.

{―Kazuki-! Kazuki!?}

{…Mio?}

{Thank god, it connected! I had keep calling you for a while but there was no reply at all, so I thought whether I had fall out of love with you…}

It was a telepathic communication from Mio that was possible due to the positivity level that was more than 150.

Because Kazuki’s consciousness was pulled into Miyabi-senpai’s mental world,it looked like the telepathy was completely repelled by Miyabi-senpai’s consciousness’s {{furigana|shell|security}}

{Sorry to made you anxious. Looks like there was a little disconnection. …Is there something wrong?}

{Lo, Lotte was}

The voice from Mio was disordered. It was not the case that she was out of breath. It was a telepathic dialogue so that was why the breathing was not transmitted, but the agitation in her feeling was disturbing the telepathy like a ripple.

Lotte…?

{Lotte was…kidnapped here.}

Inside Kazuki’s head, countless questions were instantly seething.

Why Lotte? What he needed to be cautious about was assassination on himself wasn’t it?

Did they plan to make Lotte hostage?

In the first place what kind of magician kidnapped Lotte, in this Haunted Ground, who did it in what way?

{Tell me the detail!}

{Out of nowhere we were attacked by a giant swan from the sky.}

Swan…? Did she say swan? Was the opponent a Demon Beast?

{That’s not it, when Kanae-san immediately cut it with her katana she was repelled with a really thick Resist, so we think it was a transformed magician.}

Even though Demon Beast was a living being that was born from magic power, they had never exercise their magic power into something like magic technique.

Mio’s guess was something based on the evidence.

{All the swordsmen in our team desperately slashed at it but they were simply driven away, we didn’t even have time to chant offense magic before it escaped…}

Ability that could transform into animal…? It was a considerable thing that a swordsman in Kanae’s level and Kaguya-senpai couldn’t even buy time to chant some kind of magic.

{What to do, Kazu-nii can sense Lotte’s whereabouts right? If we don’t first regroup with Kazu-nii…}

Kazuki ran his mind for an instant and replied.

“…No, first Mio and the others need to get out from the Haunted Ground.”

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==Translator's Notes and References==
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