Bermuda

Asher, her teeth clenched hard enough to creak, twisted her shoulders at once. At the same time she shoved off the Floating Platform with her heel, she snapped her neck to the left. Her back and waist arched backward.

In her eyes, the approaching hand was reflected more and more clearly.

<Ah! Lion has moved over before anyone realized it! He’s launching a surprise attack on Asher!>

Even as her body tipped, her gaze chased that gold to the very end. It was the will to show not even the slightest opening. As the lion’s grasp cut through her scattering white hair, the strands singed by the heat turned ash-gray in an instant.

Avoiding contact by the narrowest margin, Asher hurled herself straight toward the drop.

<Who is it? Who’s falling?>

<It’s Asher! Asher has lost her balance and is plummeting!>

Severed hair pattered down. Leonardo, who had reached to seize one of the whipping bandages, immediately looked down beneath the Floating Platforms.

“Damn it—.”

But before he could even locate the figure he had lost, he was met first by a mass of rock that had surged all the way up to his chin.

KWA-AAAAANG—!

The Floating Platform struck head-on by the boulder launched from below tipped violently upward. The platform reared under the massive impact, then flipped over like a capsized ship.

<Lion collides head-on with a boulder!>

The audience’s gasp rolled across the stadium like a wave. Hugo, watching with them, clenched his fist tight.

<He probably avoided it, if he still has teleportations left.>

<Asher is desperately trying to widen the distance. We’ve never seen her like this before! Even while falling, she’s throwing out every attack she can!>

Ero, who had been paddling his way along atop a Floating Platform, jerked his head up at the commentators’ voices.

<There’s not much left until the final 200, though—if he can just hold on a little longer!> frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

When he checked the number written on the board, it was already 222. There really was not much left.

There was no way his boss would lose, but by stepping in to save him, hadn’t he drawn unnecessary attention? If this situation dragged on, there would definitely come a moment when fatigue set in and turned the tide against him. He had to do something before that happened.

“Damn it, why won’t this thing move!”

Ero dropped to his knees, bent low over the platform, and frantically swept his palms through empty air. The gaps between platforms had widened so much that he had to move even like this. The distance he covered was miserable, but by catching the Ether and inching forward bit by bit, he eventually reached a section where the Floating Platforms had gathered close together.

Scrambling over into the newly reached cluster, Ero spotted Beatrice standing not far away at just the right moment. Beside her was Gillian, shading his eyes with one hand as he looked up into the arena. Brightening in relief, Ero shot up the hand holding his pistol.

“Miss! Sir! Please help me!”

Even while falling upside down, Asher sent away everything that brushed past her. At times her back slammed hard into jutting rocks, but she paid it no mind. Anything she could grab, she flung. Anything she could kick, she kicked away, guarding against the approach of the beast that might appear from anywhere.

The blood vessels standing out at the corners of her eyes made her look ablaze with fighting spirit, but in truth she was confused by a sensation she was all but experiencing for the first time.

What is he?

Her eyes, which could sense the temperature of living bodies, swept busily across the air above the stadium. Fragments of Floating Platforms blasted loose by the chain collisions were scattered like a galaxy. Yet no matter where she looked among them, the target was nowhere to be seen.

She could not believe it. Heat that intense...

At that moment, amid the commentators’ cries of amazement, she sensed a presence.

<Ah, Lion! He’s finally shown himself! This isn’t a surprise attack this time—he’s coming straight at her!>

Asher flinched when she caught sight of the shadow diving toward her from above and flung both arms wide. Her fingertips brushed the surface of a Floating Platform as she fell, and explosive smoke burst out. Sparks like crackling embers flew from the friction point, leaving long claw marks gouged into the stone.

Seizing the weapon she had caught, Asher pulled it in with both hands, then, hiding in the smoke, hurled it toward the sun.

Leonardo, who had deliberately charged with the natural light at his back, did not evade the attack rushing toward his face as he descended along the shaft of light. Instead, he drew his right arm back beside his ear and drove a powerful hook inward.

JJEONG— with that sharp crack, the shattered fragments whipped violently past his protruding bangs.

Next he laced both hands together, rotated all the way through his shoulders, and raised them high above his head. He bent his waist far back, then, using the recoil, brought both arms smashing down onto the second boulder flying straight at him.

KWA-AAAAANG—!

<Unbelievable power! Lion has become a human weapon, smashing a Floating Platform apart with his bare hands!>

Softened and sagging from the heat, the rock buckled like iron under pressure, then burst apart in all directions once it could no longer withstand the force. At the same time, a violent gust swept the dust clean away. Through it emerged the figure of a golden blaze, reflected in Asher’s contracted pupils.

“Beast! Throw us!”

“Got it!”

Gillian braced the soles of both their feet, one in each hand. Then, with a shout, he hurled them upward with all his strength. Riding both his sheer muscle and the Ether, the two of them rose into the air for a moment. Beatrice’s voluminous black dress glittered in the light, fluttering like a checkered flag.

Her wildly streaming skirt spread like a parachute, extending their time in the air. In that gap, she stretched out her hand and shouted to Ero.

“Grab on!”

Flailing wildly, Ero barely managed to catch the tips of her lace glove. Beatrice seized his forearm firmly with both hands, twisted her waist, and spun him half a turn. Showing off the same skill she had used to throw shot put in the earlier match, she used the rotational force to hurl Ero far away.

“Go—!”

Her spirited shout echoed and receded behind him. Thrown into the air once again, the skin of Ero’s lips fluttered pitifully. Even so, he leveled the muzzle of his pistol at a single point. Nefertiti’s sand island.

TWU-KWANG—!

<The sound of destruction is crashing all the way over here, like a god that rules thunder!>

<The distance between the two keeps shrinking. Asher can’t stop her fall. The moment she lands, she’ll be caught—!>

Leonardo pursued the white ghost at full speed. His flashing golden eyes drew an afterimage-like trail as he plunged straight down. At the end of that vertical descent was Asher, and once again she had no choice but to watch that grasping hand approach.

Because she herself had destroyed nearly all the Floating Platforms, there was no longer any foothold near the center of the stadium that could serve as an escape route. Only drifting fragments floated in the air like dust, mercilessly slicing her skin and leaving scratches. But she felt no pain. The heat of the approaching sun made it feel as though her flesh would burn away first.

<Asher is in a desperate crisis!>

The instant the gap narrowed to less than one meter, Leonardo reached for her throat. Acting on instinct, Asher threw up her guard to protect the vital point. The moment their cold eyes met over her forearm, the line of Leonardo’s eyes curved.

... ?

Asher’s brows drew together, unable to grasp his intention. Then she realized too late that the wrist wrapped in the band was growing hot. Her ash-gray eyes snapped toward it, but by then it was already too late.

KWA-AAAAANG—!

At that very moment, an enormous explosion roared out behind them. A shockwave powerful enough to shake the entire arena swept through. The Floating Platforms drifting nearby tangled and were shoved in every direction like buoys on a vast sea, while a pale cloud of sand dust engulfed the stadium instead.

Right after that, the whistle signaling the end of the match rang out sharply. The commentators, who had been following the two with their eyes, stared at the Crystal Board in shock. Then, after hesitating for a beat, they shouted with force.

<The match is over—!>

***

“What the hell, what just happened?”

“Is Asher out? What about Lion?”

“They both fell at the end...”

“Did Lion attack her? Something exploded.”

“Not there. Somewhere else. Where Nefertiti was.”

The people who had been holding their breath at the sudden turn of events all began murmuring among themselves. The abrupt explosion and cloud of dust that had erupted on one side of the arena had spread across the stadium and obscured the view. Along with it, the sight of the two of them falling in the middle of the shaft of light had vanished as well.

Unable to learn the result they had been waiting for right away, complaints broke out here and there. Of course, they were born of excitement and anticipation.

Even the operations side, apparently still assessing the situation, could be seen gathered at the control tower, conferring busily. In the meantime, the gates at the top and bottom of the stadium slowly opened, venting the dust outside and clearing the air within the arena.

Andreas, who had been so absorbed he looked ready to be sucked straight into the scene, abruptly kicked away from his seat and stood up. He strode out to the aisle in front of the row, braced himself against the railing, then raked a hand harshly through his hair with a display of exaggerated frustration. He mouthed words as he jabbed a finger toward the center of the stadium, then turned to Hugo with a look of disbelief.

“Commander, you knew, didn’t you?”

Loren, who had been watching him, came and sat behind him, jerking her chin with a cold look that clearly told him to sit back down. Apparently he had only now realized that the terrifying existence once released into the very heart of the Imperial City and set against him in direct opposition was the same man down there. Then again, if someone he had actually crossed blades with still failed to recognize him, that would have been stranger. Late did not even begin to cover it.

The operations staff, having finished sorting out the situation, approached the commentators’ booth and handed over several sheets of paper. The commentators, back at the desk, lightly tapped the amplification magic circle.

<Just before the end, there was an explosion near the Sand Barrier.>

<We are trying to determine exactly what happened as quickly as possible, but a large number of eliminations occurred in a short period of time—.>

The stands were in uproar, and the uncertain voices of the commentators did not reach his ears. One of his fellow officers kept protesting loudly, demanding to know how Hugo could have kept something like this from him. But Hugo himself merely stared stubbornly at a single point within the dust cloud.