Humans were shouting something outside.

Meierbold ignored them. There would be no one capable of breaking through his barrier anyway. He could not maintain the barrier forever, but a small child had already brought monsters with her, so the intruders would not last long.

For a moment he looked around the chillingly pristine white space.

The dimensional transfer device created by humans flickered with a faint bluish glow.

How fascinating.

Meierbold strode toward the machine that resembled a dried silver branch.

He sensed the humans in white clothing—whom he had dragged inside—flinch violently. The magician did not even glance at them.

How had they discovered a way to move between dimensions without using magic?

He had heard that humans used something called electricity. That meant they were harnessing the same kind of energy a brain dragon occasionally spewed forth.

That much he understood.

But where exactly did this device receive such energy?

Even the train had been fascinating. The Archmage of Flame had lived an extremely long time, yet after awakening here he found himself encountering countless unfamiliar things. And the strange objects he had seen among humans were said to represent only a tiny fraction of human society.

What a curious world.

If only he had had the opportunity to examine it more closely.

But he did not wish to remain. The defensive perimeter where humans gathered was suffocating. Even without staying for seven days and nights, the magician had realized that humans lived while breathing air that was terribly impure.

This world is severely lacking in trees.

Meierbold could not be called a devout believer, yet he had always been aware of the World Tree.

Even though he had rarely visited the temple voluntarily, the World Tree occupied a rather large place within him.

That was why he could never truly like this world.

Which was also why Meierbold was still astonished by the White Knight Commander’s choice.

He already knew that Hildebert, unlike Kyle, did not care about pride or honor.

But the one who had been far more faithful to the World Tree was unquestionably Hildebert.

How could he breathe and live in this place?

Wooooong!

As he examined the machine, a teleportation circle appeared.

「Ah.」

Meierbold turned toward the one who had appeared inside his barrier.

Among those walking out of the teleportation circle, he focused on the one dressed most like a human, walking alongside actual humans.

「You’ve arrived. Is this enough?」

「More than sufficient.」

They were the ones Kyle had dispatched into the Core.

People who could speak both the human language and the Imperial tongue. Until now they had handled supply transport, monitored human activity, and managed collaborators.

「This should ensure there are no problems while the work proceeds.」

The man who reported respectfully # Nоvеlight # turned his head and looked at the human standing beside him.

“Please prepare the operation.”

“Yes. Will you use the portal device from the start?”

“No. We don’t know when they might cut the electricity.”

“Wait a moment!”

As the one capable of speaking the common language conversed with the human, Kate suddenly jumped to her feet from among the scientists huddled together on the floor.

The other scientists inhaled sharply and tugged at the hem of her clothes.

Ignoring them, she shouted toward the crowd pouring through the teleportation circle.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Ah, hello.”

The man translating Meierbold’s words glanced at Kate.

“My apologies for appearing so abruptly like this.”

“Why did you block this place off like this?”

Kate asked, her voice trembling faintly.

“It looks like you’re opening a portal to escape.”

The interpreter looked at her indifferently.

Meanwhile, people continued arriving through the teleportation circle. Those emerging from it looked around busily and stared curiously at the trembling scientists.

Soon, however, they were guided into formation by someone shouting in the same language as the magician.

The scientists stared with their mouths open at the entire spectacle.

Even Kate’s jaw fell open before the interpreter answered.

“We intend to send only civilians.”

His tone resembled someone explaining how to operate a coffee machine.

“There is no need to worry that we are cowardly fleeing. Only civilians will depart. Surely you do not intend to forcibly assimilate our civilians into your society or cut off their heads.”

“What?”

Kate asked blankly.

“What do you mean ‘our civilians’?”

“Ah. My apologies.”

The interpreter immediately grasped the situation without surprise.

“It seems you are someone unfamiliar with us. Well, that’s understandable—you’re quite young. You only need to know that these people are civilians unrelated to the war.”

“...You could just use the civilian portal.”

“We are not registered in your society.”

“...Then couldn’t you register?”

The interpreter burst into laughter.

He laughed briefly, then smiled gently at the bewildered Kate.

“You must have been born after borders disappeared.”

“...Yes.”

“Then it seems you were never taught how refugees failed to integrate into society when borders still existed.”

She had never learned that.

Or perhaps she had, but simply never paid much attention. It was not a particularly important issue in the present society.

And she had no idea why a stranger—an intruder, no less—was bringing it up now.

“Humans couldn’t even integrate other humans. And we are born with greater strength. Not everyone can pretend to be human. Well, many of us wouldn’t want to anyway. Quite a few lost their families to humans. If I say that, you’ll probably respond that we started the war. But we didn’t originally intend to fight....”

“...What exactly are you trying to say?”

“That you don’t need to worry about dying.”

The interpreter said coldly, still smiling.

“For now we’re simply sending the civilians.”

“Then why did you bring the man who uses fire?”

Kate suddenly raised her voice.

“That magician is here! The one who burned down the headquarters before! The one who fought Hilde!”

“You need not worry about that either.”

The interpreter’s smile vanished instantly.

Where the sarcasm had been, something like sadness—or resolve—took its place.

“He came here to open a portal using magic.”

The magician floated in the air like a will-o’-the-wisp, drifting within the barrier while examining the surroundings.

His neatly braided blond hair swayed slowly in the air.

“He’ll continue opening teleportation circles until he withers away and dies.”

Kate stared at the interpreter in stunned silence.

Because of that, she failed to stop several clearly human collaborators from approaching the portal device.

“The portal device is a precaution,” the interpreter muttered while watching the collaborators examining the machine, “in case someone fails to cross over before the Archmage dies.”

He added quietly,

“When the Empire first opened a dimensional gate, dozens of magicians—including an Archmage—worked together, and most of them dried up and died.”

A magic circle began to form inside the boundary.

“Anyway, don’t worry. The warriors will remain.”

Kate quickly regained her senses.

She turned sharply and dragged the still-dazed scientists to their feet.

Avoiding the enormous red magic circle spreading across the floor, they fled to the edge.

An explanation she couldn’t understand.

Words that made no sense.

And people who were clearly human—but had obviously betrayed humanity.

“Revenge must be fought out. Both for you and for us.”

“Hey!”

Kate no longer listened to the interpreter.

Instead, she pressed herself against the strange barrier and shouted toward the people gathered around the portal device.

“You’re human!”

“Hildebert Taleb isn’t.”

The human collaborators did not even turn around.

“There are Titans like that, and humans like us.”

「Step back!」

Baek Byungyeong, who was managing the civilians, shouted.

「The magic circle is opening!」

The floor shone with light.

At some point the pristine white space had been filled with complex patterns.

The corpse that had been lying there had vanished without a trace.

Such debris offended Meierbold’s aesthetic sense.

Magic should be beautiful.

「At last, the final one.」

Meierbold bared his teeth in a smile and opened the teleportation circle.

***

Battles against magicians were always troublesome.

Each magician possessed unique magic, making preparation extremely difficult. Even so, Valdez was at least someone whose magic was somewhat known. That was because, unlike most magicians, he had always fought directly beside Kyle.

But Kairos did not know the characteristics of Valdez’s magic very well.

Who could have imagined they would fight each other?

「You’re a man who knows nothing of loyalty.」

Contrary to his appearance, Valdez had a rather aggressive temperament.

The magician growled at Kairos.

「You disgust me the most.」

「That’s understandable.」

Kairos answered calmly while considering a countermeasure.

Distance being a weakness meant Valdez could not move too far from the position where he cast spells. However, magicians were originally highly mobile. Valdez in particular was exceptionally agile.

In contrast, Kairos lacked mobility.

The only option was to overwhelm him with numbers and scale.

Inside his pocket was Milk.

He had fired the energy cannon earlier, but the Thief Snowflake could make anything it touched invisible.

In the end it was a game of tactics.

And Kairos had always loved contests like that...

BOOOOM!

The moment his body turned transparent—

A tremendous roar erupted and everything surged forward at once. For an instant it seemed as if the entire world was crashing toward him. Kairos reflexively crouched down and endured the shockwave scraping across the dry ground.

The pressure was immense.

If he had not bound his body with the monster he had been controlling beneath the ground, he would have been blown away. He could not block everything flying toward him. Curling his body to protect his vital points from the incoming debris was the best he could do. Milk let out a small cry of fear. Kairos was simply grateful that Milk was small enough to fit in his pocket.

Ssssshhh...

It sounded like rain falling.

It was rain made of blood and flesh.

But this time it was not Ami who had caused it.

More precisely, others had.

「Aura.」

Kairos finally heard the murmurs of the enemies who had crossed the Core devices and entered Center Core.

「Aura!」

「It wasn’t a legend.」

Voices filled with awe echoed across the battlefield.

「It was real!」

「The Swordmaster surpassed the boundary!」

「It’s real aura!」

Like wildfire, the words spread.

「It’s an Aura Blade!」

The vision in his remaining eye was still fairly good.

Kairos lifted his head and looked toward the two figures radiating an overwhelming presence.

And he realized that the shockwave that had just swept everything aside had been the result of a single clash between them.

The clash between Kyle and Hildebert.

White light coiled around Hildebert’s sword.

Hildebert’s sword was shaped like a cross.

His holy sword—composed entirely of white and gold—was wrapped in something resembling a radiant white brilliance.

Legend said that a sword wrapped in aura could cut through anything.

A blade strengthened by consecration. A blade strengthened by curses.

Even the hardened scales of a dragon.

「Kyle.」

Yet despite clashing with that white aura-wrapped holy sword, Kyle’s blade remained unharmed.

「You’re still fast as ever.」

Perhaps he had thought the same thing, because Hildebert burst into hearty laughter.

On the opposite side of the white blade, another light surged.

Kyle’s looked like translucent black silk.

Like the color of the night sky descending upon an endless prairie.

The two Swordmasters fell silent, staring at the contrasting lights radiating from their blades.

Black Knight Commander versus White Knight Commander.

During the last war, they had never reached a conclusion.

***

“What the hell is that now.”

Crouched behind cover, Choi Yun muttered.

“It’s not like they attached lights to their swords.”

It had to be something drawn out of their bodies. He could not even begin to guess the principle behind it.

“That bastard gets weirder every time.”