All thoughts can wait until after Cecil is stopped.

After this catastrophe is ended—by any means—then we can think.

I clenched my teeth hard and swung my sword.

We needed people.

Cutting down the raining spheres of light, I assessed the situation.

Attacking Cecil in the sky from the ground was far too difficult. No matter what it took, I had to drag her down to the ground.

We could pull the tendrils.

That was why I requested support.

I’d thought that if they could arrive within ten minutes, I’d be grateful.

Thankfully, it felt like they arrived within five.

With a loud screech, cars skidded to a halt, and seniors poured out one after another.

Not just Ricardo and Jonathan—countless Badgers leapt into action.

Swinging my sword, I shouted,

“The tendrils!”

Igor, Yun, and Yoow were already clinging to them.

“Grab the tendrils and pull her down!”

The Badgers didn’t ask again.

They rushed past me, straight for the tendrils. From the sky, golden rain was ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ pouring down now. The Badgers sprinted across the plain as the golden downpour slammed into the ground.

Then they circled behind Cecil.

Those who reached the tendrils grabbed the thick, acidic growths without hesitation.

They pulled, not even flinching though their skin would peel away.

Igor shouted,

“One, two!”

GGRRRRNNN—KREEEAK—

Cecil staggered backward.

But she endured in midair. Her altitude dropped, yet she clearly struggled not to be dragged down easily.

The grand mage lowered her head, looking at those bent over, hauling the tendrils.

KABOOOM!

I slashed out, yanking her attention back to me.

After nearly severing her arm, I sent successive sword strikes.

BANG! BANG! KABOOOM!

“Again!”

While I did, the Badgers clinging to the tendrils resumed their tug-of-war.

“One, two!”

Now many voices shouted in unison.

“One, two!”

GRRRNNN—KREEEAK!

“One, two!”

GGRRRRNNN—KREEEAK!!

“Got her!”

Ami shouted from close range, where she was guarding Shu and Kairos.

“She’s coming down!”

Cecil’s altitude dropped.

Once momentum took hold, people were able to pull the tendrils steadily. Smoke rose from the hands and bodies in contact with them, but not a single person cried out.

“Move forward!”

Yoow shouted from within the mass of Badgers.

“Captain! Now!”

I jumped.

And stood before Cecil.

The mage, having fallen, tore the tendrils from her waist, roots spreading in all directions.

She looked like she was wearing a green skirt.

The mage looked at me.

The flower was gone—now she looked like a flower stalk blooming among cacti.

Golden eyes.

I thought of Kysis.

I remembered the days I swung my sword in the armory, trying to catch up to him—ultimately to surpass him.

Back when I couldn’t yet send out sword waves, I mimicked Kysis’s swordsmanship.

Nothing had seemed more dazzling than his blade.

Even with so many famous knights, I kept chasing what the knight of violet eyes produced.

Every time my inferiority showed, it was humiliating—but I never stopped training. I wanted to catch up to him. I wanted his acknowledgment.

And so even now, there was swordsmanship ingrained in my hands.

「Here I go.」

The words he spoke every time we sparred.

「Cecil.」

Shiiik!

I loosed my sword.

Kysis’s swordsmanship was infamous for its trickiness. It rarely moved in a straight line. Despite his reputation as a libertine, it was nearly soundless.

Using that technique, I aimed for Cecil’s side.

The spot where roots had sprouted.

The place that tore most often whenever I sparred with Kysis—

Something lurched inside my heart.

What was that?

Thud.

I couldn’t hold onto the strange sensation to the end.

Instead, I felt the unmistakable feedback of a successful strike traveling up the blade.

Cecil had widened her eyes before the tip reached her side.

From where the blade entered, not blood—but black ash spilled out.

“Kysi—”

Ah.

Eyes staring at me blankly.

“...Hilde?”

That did it.

“Hilde?”

I succeeded.

“Cecil.”

I leaned forward.

And grabbed Cecil’s body desperately.

Clutching the grand mage’s narrow shoulders, I spoke urgently.

「Control the rampage.」

I looked down at the stunned mage.

「You’re rampaging right now. But this—you can control it.」

“Huh?”

「I told you before. Remember when I said I survived by controlling a rampage?」

Cecil didn’t answer.

She only stared up at me with wide eyes.

At some point, the surroundings had gone quiet.

People’s gazes stabbed into us. Those who had been pulling the tendrils let go, watching the situation in tense silence.

「Stop absorbing.」

The writhing of the roots was distracting.

「Stop absorbing and stop casting spells! Before your whole body burns away!」

“-I can’t.”

An answer came back.

For some reason, it was in the common tongue.

There was no time to ask why. The body in my hands had begun to tremble faintly.

“I can’t control it. I can’t stop. I can’t stop....”

“Focus on your senses!”

“It won’t stop!”

BOOM! BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM—KABOOOM!

The spheres of light around us exploded.

“Argh!” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“Hey! Just stab her!”

“Hilde!”

“Focus on the sensation of absorption!”

Explosions tore through the area, but thankfully there were no fatal injuries.

Amid the noise, I fought not to close my eyes against the splattering blood.

“Break the loop between your absorption and spellcasting!”

“I can’t!”

Cecil screamed.

“Hilde, I can’t! I can’t do it like you—just stab my heart with your sword!”

“You can. Focus!”

“I said I can’t!”

She shrieked.

“I can’t! It’s already too late!”

KABOOOM!

The spheres of light floating in the air slammed into the ground.

Screams surged, then ebbed.

“Use more mana!”

Yoow shouted.

“Cecil! Enter mana feedback! Make that come first, not the rampage!”

Tears welled in Cecil’s eyes.

I didn’t know if she heard Yoow.

But she had regained some clarity.

She couldn’t stop absorbing—but she kept creating spheres of light around her, burning mana as she scanned her surroundings.

Her golden gaze took in the devastated area in a daze.

The parts of her body not covered in roots continued to blacken.

「Did I do this?」

This time, it was Imperial.

「Did I do all this?」

「Just keep your sanity.」

I didn’t answer, only shook her lightly.

「Keep talking to me. If you do, you’ll gradually regain control.」

“Did people die?”

She didn’t listen.

Instead, she turned her head and spoke in the common tongue. Those who stood ready to attack if things went wrong flinched.

The grand mage’s eyes trembled as she caught that.

Rising despair.

Spheres of light kept appearing around her like glitching computer alerts.

The roots moved.

“Cecil!”

The acceleration of absorption was visible to the naked eye.

“Don’t get agitated!”

KRAAASH—KABOOOM!!

Roots burst up through the ground.

The asphalt beneath me split like biscuits. It looked as if sea urchins had erupted from underground.

I barely avoided being impaled by desperately clinging to a slanted root as it shot up.

The absorption roots she had driven into the earth had grown explosively.

Writhing roots. A shaking body.

I slid down the roots and grabbed her again.

“Let’s try again.”

Cecil’s gaze returned to me.

“Don’t get agitated. Just keep doing this.”

“I want to stop.”

Spheres of light still bloomed everywhere. Small explosions popped nearby; the ground heaved.

“End it.”

Cecil said.

“Stab my heart. Now.”

Was I receiving my own words back?

Had she felt like this when she heard them from me...?

“Get her into mana feedback!”

Igor’s booming shout tore through my thoughts.

“If you can’t control the rampage, control the mana at least! Then she’ll stay alive!”

“I’m trying,”

the mage replied.

“I really am! But absorption keeps going, so mana overheating won’t happen easily! Please—just end it before it’s too late!”

“Stop asking the Captain for that kind of crap!”

“That’s because you’re not focusing!”

Yoow shouted after Igor.

“Stop looking around and focus only on your mana!”

PABABABANG!

A sphere of light exploded.

It felt like fireworks were going off nearby. Shards of light fell from the brilliant burst. My skin burned here and there; my eyes stung from the blinding glare.

I grimaced but held onto Cecil tightly.

Cecil lowered her head and cried.

Eyes shut, she tried to push her mana circulation faster than the absorption rate.

“I....”

Her suppressed sob was desperate.

“I want to stop.... I really do....”

The mage’s body trembled.

“I’m sorry, Hilde. But I’m so tired....”

The weight of those words left me unable to answer.

Spheres of light kept exploding nearby, yet the noise sounded distant.

“I’ve been thinking lately,”

Cecil murmured.

“What if it was all just a waste of time?”

I wanted to wipe away the tears running down her cheeks, but my body wouldn’t move.

Cecil cried for a long while.

Then she lifted her head and smiled sadly.

“What if it was all for nothing?”

The grand mage who had sworn never to leave, in case paths crossed, smiled beneath flickering spheres of light.

“What if all that time meant nothing at all?”

Thud!

“Shu!”

“No.”

Something fell.

Reality snapped back into place. It felt like my blocked ears popped open. The distant noise sharpened; my vision cleared.

At Ami’s horrified cry, I turned to see a senior crawling toward us.

Ami flew over and snatched Shu up.

Cradled in Ami’s arms, Shu reached out and grabbed a thorn-like root.

As Ami tried to pull back and felt Shu resist, her eyes widened.

Shu Diamond looked straight at Cecil, who stared back in shock.

“It wasn’t a waste.”

“Ah.”

A small sound slipped from the flustered grand mage.

“Simon’s daughter....”

Shu struggled, trying to move inside the roots.

After hesitating, Ami shot upward—and then landed safely beside me with Shu.

All the while, Shu and Cecil never broke eye contact.

“Thank you for sending my father back.”

Shu said the moment she reached Cecil’s side.

Despite the explosions and violent vibrations of the roots, her voice rang clear.

“Thanks to you, I got to see him again.”

The wind blew.

Black ash brushed past my cheek—ash flowing from Cecil’s crumbling body.

Mixed with fiery fragments, it drifted gently through the air.

“I waited for a long time. Everyone said I should forget and move on—that no one who vanished in a portal ever comes back.”

Cecil didn’t answer, but she never took her eyes off Shu.

Shu reached out toward Cecil.

“I was scared of becoming an orphan.”

The small senior grasped Cecil’s crumbling arm.

Cecil didn’t move. She didn’t avert her gaze.

Shu met the mage’s eyes fully.

“But I thought there was still a tiny bit of hope.”

Tears streamed from Cecil’s eyes.

“Thank you for helping my dad.”

Clear tears poured from sclera turned black.

The grand mage didn’t shake Shu off. Instead, she looked down at the senior leaning out from Ami’s arms, then carefully extended both arms.

Ami blinked in surprise—then, following their will, handed Shu over.

The grand mage held Shu.

Shu whispered,

“It wasn’t meaningless. Your time.”

The senior buried her face against Cecil’s shoulder.

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have seen my dad again.”

Cecil hugged Shu.

Half her arm was already ash, yet the grand mage embraced the small senior fiercely. I saw Cecil close her eyes and bow her head, and Shu gently pat Cecil’s back.

“I see.”

Eventually, I saw Cecil crying and smiling at once.

“I’m really glad.”

Light began to shine.

It started from inside Cecil’s body. A clear light, beginning as a tiny point, growing brighter as it swallowed the surroundings.

I tried to keep my eyes open to understand what was happening—but failed. The brightness was overwhelming.

“What is that?!”

I yanked the shouting Ami behind me.

“Shu?!”

A thunderous roar followed.

WOOOONG!

A round, resonant sound—like wind raging through a cavern.

A fierce gale.

The sensation of ash brushing past my cheek.

Amid the sensory storm, I thought I heard Cecil laugh.

And her final words to Shu.

“Thank you.”

There was peace in them.

“For making my long waiting worthwhile.”

That was the end.

The world was engulfed in light.

***

The sky cleared.

Silence fell.

A peaceful wind.

Only the sound of a gentle breeze tickled my ears. It brushed softly across my cheek. I opened my eyes in the settled quiet.

And saw the calm around us.

Gone were the spheres of light; the roots had collapsed into nothing.

Badgers approached unsteadily, still dazed.

Among them, Shu sat, looking down at Cecil.

I rose from the rubble and walked toward her slowly.

“Is she dead?”

“No. She’s breathing.”

Shu answered.

“I think she’s in mana feedback.”

“Is she in a coma?”

“Yeah. I’ll take her with me.”

“You will?”

“Yeah. I want to wait for her to wake up—with my dad.”

“But, Senior—”

Your legs—

The words died.

Because Shu, who had been looking down at Cecil, lifted her head.

The senior looked up at me with clear blue eyes, stood—

and rose on her own two legs.

“I’m all better.”

Shu Diamond said.

“I can walk now.”