The Asterisk War, Vol. 5: Battle for the Crown

by Yuu Miyazaki

  If Ayato could use shiki to grasp the entire field, however, he would know Julis’s movements as well as Ardy’s and Rimcy’s. Then, if Rimcy attacked as she just had, so long as Julis was close by, he could guide her out of the way.

  Of course, this was only a theoretical option, made marginally practical by Ayato’s fast reflexes. And they would still be defenseless against attacks that he could not evade. (Kirin’s Linked Cranes, for example, would be impossible to evade even in the state of shiki.) And above all, this tactic would be impossible if Julis did not trust Ayato unconditionally.

  But this does allow us to significantly lower the risk of fighting two-on-one—!

  They did not expect the advantage to last, given how quickly Ardy and Rimcy learned, but nor did they intend the match to last long.

  “Ayato, let’s finish him!”

  “Got it!”

  Julis was completely focused on Ardy.

  She and Ayato fought so close together that they almost collided. The only reason they didn’t was because of his shiki.

  “Burst into bloom—Livingston Daisy!”

  Countless flames rose up from the ground, swirling into chakrams of fire. This time, she’d emphasized numbers over power, making smaller chakrams than usual. Well over twenty searing wheels rushed at Ardy.

  “Guh!”

  The target of Rimcy’s defense was now not Ayato or Julis, but the chakrams. And while she did learn fast, her bullets of light shooting down chakrams one after the other, there was no way she could handle so many.

  “Amagiri Shinmei Style, Middle Technique—Ten-Thorned Thistle.” Ayato twisted to land two consecutive blows.

  “Ungh!”

  Ardy let out a bellow as he deflected the attacks inches from his school crest, while several chakrams carved shallow ridges into his armor.

  Ayato then repositioned his sword and changed direction, swiftly closing in on Rimcy.

  “?!”

  She was startled, as she had been concentrating on covering Ardy, but she wasted no time switching her aim onto Ayato.

  Still, he was one step ahead.

  With a shout, he dodged the barrage of bullets from Rimcy and struck from a low stance, slicing the gun in her right hand in half. But just as he was about to land another attack, a wall of light blocked him—Ardy’s barrier.

  Ayato sidestepped to slip around it, but Rimcy’s flight unit carried her into the air.

  But that, too, was what Julis and Ayato had been expecting.

  “Ha—just what we were waiting for…!” Julis said to herself.

  Watching the Puppets’ match against Saya and Kirin, they had noticed that Ardy’s barrier took less time to deploy close to him. There was a lag when he used it to protect someone farther away.

  “Blossom—Gloriosa!” Julis brought down the Aspera Spina, and a magic circle appeared on the ground. Giant claws of fire erupted to crush Ardy in their grasp.

  “Rrrrgh! This is nothing!”

  To her disbelief, Ardy swung his hammer to blow away the flames and escape the trap by force.

  “Phew…!”

  He groaned in relief. His armor was peppered with singed spots, but he had avoided significant damage.

  “What is that armor made of…?!” Julis clicked her tongue in frustration and regrouped with Ayato.

  “Guess we have to start over,” he said.

  “You do realize the same tricks won’t work on them twice?” She calmed her breath and glanced at the Puppets to see that they had retreated to a distance. They seemed to be regrouping as well. “I have to admit, it hurts that we weren’t able to get him with that offensive. This strategy should work for a little while longer, I think, but…”

  Without the Ser Veresta, there was almost nothing either one could do to penetrate Ardy’s barrier. Julis attacking at full power was a possibility, but Ayato doubted that their opponents would sit idly by while she took the time to charge up.

  “Do you have a sword technique like the one Kirin used?” Julis asked. “Something to manipulate that barrier…?”

  “That was only possible because that’s Kirin’s—well, the Toudou style’s strength. I could try something similar, but not at that level. Besides, it might have worked on Ardy before, but I don’t think it would now.”

  By the end of the semifinal match, Ardy had learned to adapt to Kirin’s serial attacks.

  “So our only option is to overwhelm them with rapid attacks,” Julis muttered, looking resigned.

  Just then, Ardy’s raucous laughter echoed through the arena. “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Wonderful! Truly wonderful! That was a better combination attack than I could have imagined, Ayato Amagiri, Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld! I know that we are evolving with each passing day. But it seems you may well surpass us. So, we have no choice but to introduce you to our ace in the hole.”

  The crowd clamored.

  “Wow, Ardy came out and said it! Does this mean we’re about to see them combine?!”

  The announcer played up Ardy’s words for the audience, but for Ayato and Julis, it was a grave situation.

  “Well, if it were up to me, we would have done this from the start,” Ardy added. “But Rimcy would not allow it.”

  “…Of course not. Master has told us time and time again not to use that power lightly.” Rimcy gazed at him coolly and let out a long, theatrical sigh. “But it does appear that there is no other way to defeat you two. Whether I like it or not.”

  “…Did you think we’d just stand around and let you combine?” Ayato readied his sword.

  Despite Ardy’s and Rimcy’s comments, in reality the two teams were evenly matched, and that was being generous to Ayato and Julis. The latter had seemed to have the advantage because Julis’s plan worked perfectly, but it was clear that the situation would be reversed if the battle dragged on.

  “You must know that you leave yourselves vulnerable as you combine,” Julis said. “We’re not going to miss that opportunity.”

  Ayato silently agreed with her. Saya and Kirin had been cautious because it had been their first time seeing it, but Ayato and Julis knew what to expect, so they would not hesitate.

  “You’re quite right,” Rimcy said. “That maneuver takes some time, and it would be easy for you to defeat us in the process. But do you really think that our master hasn’t prepared for that?”

  She extended her left hand—the Ruinsharif—straight up.

  “Ruinsharif, mode Wolkenwulf—maximum output.”

  The Ruinsharif transformed. Now it was more like a giant cannon.

  “Not so fast…!” Ayato leaped at her. But before he could reach her, a huge shell of light shot out from the Ruinsharif. It was surprisingly slow, and it hovered in midair above the stage.

  “Julis, get back!”

  With no further warning, the shell burst, scattering countless tiny bullets of light.

  Ayato tried to close in on Rimcy through the hail of bullets, but that was no easy task, even with shiki.

  “Purging ACM unit, first exterior armor, Luxes,” Rimcy intoned. “Transferring limit control.”

  In the meantime, Rimcy and Ardy steadily prepared to combine.

  “So this is what it comes down to…!” Ayato resigned himself to suffering some damage as he lunged into the storm. As powerful as the original shell was, if he channeled all of his prana to defense, he should be able to endure these tiny fragments.

  He winced. The impact was significantly stronger than he had anticipated, but he hurtled through. “I’ve got you now!”

  “…A valiant attempt, Ayato Amagiri.”

  Ayato swung his sword with all his might as he shot past Rimcy.

  The blade cut through her crest. But—

  “You’re one step too late!” Ardy laughed.

  Rimcy’s flight unit had already separated to combine with Ardy.

  “Camilla Pareto—badge broken.”

  The crest announced Rimcy’s defeat using Camilla’s name, since Rimcy was figh
ting as Camilla’s proxy and wore her crest.

  “Combination, complete!” Looming even larger than before, Ardy created a gust of wind with his hammer, strong enough to blow away grown men.

  “Oh, settle down,” Rimcy scolded. “Now the rest is up to you.”

  “Mm-hmm! Thank you!”

  Rimcy retreated with deliberate steps, and Ardy came forward.

  “So, let us begin the second round!”

  As soon as Kirin and Saya arrived in the basement, they faced a massive door. But at least it was an ordinary door that opened by hand, without electronic locks.

  After they fought the shadows upstairs, if the kidnapper was here, he would already know of their presence. They had no intention of sneaking around now, but the enemy had a hostage. It seemed wise to decide their roles in case there was trouble.

  “Saya, let me go first.”

  Even though she was injured, it was Kirin’s job to take the lead.

  “…Right.” Saya could take stock of the overall situation and act as needed.

  Seeing her nod, Kirin slowly opened the door.

  They found before them a large, open room, much like the main hall upstairs. But while the one on the ground floor was two stories high, the ceiling here was lower, and there were many more pillars.

  A few lantern-like fixtures illuminated various points in the room, but they weren’t the building’s actual lighting, so the space was still dim. There were a couple of hanging work lights that were much brighter than the rest, however, and one of them highlighted a small girl. Her hands and feet were bound, and she leaned listlessly against a pillar.

  “Flora!”

  At Kirin’s shout, she raised her head, startled.

  “Mmmf!” She shook her head fiercely, trying to talk through the gag, but her words were unintelligible.

  Suddenly, Kirin felt a menacing presence and leaped sideways.

  A moment later, a huge black spike like an enormous thorn or an oversized sea urchin spine, shot out from the shadow of one of the pillars and pierced the space where Kirin had stood.

  More spikes flew out at her, one after another.

  “Ngh…!” A tiny groan escaped her as she withstood the pain shooting down her leg and barely managed to dodge each projectile. It was impossible to predict where the next one would come from.

  He made those silhouettes on the ground floor. His power uses shadows as weapons—!

  With so many light sources in the room, each object cast multiple shadows. Kirin had to pay attention not just to the floor, but the walls and ceiling, too. This space was set up to maximize the user’s power.

  He wasn’t actually controlling the shadows, though. He was using shadows as the core of his image and gathering mana there.

  “So you’re Kirin Toudou. I seem to have caught a pretty big fish.”

  The attacks stopped suddenly, and a man materialized from the dark shadow of the pillar where Flora was resting. His eyes were cold and dead, sending a shiver down her spine. His voice had a similar emotionless chill.

  “…Are you the kidnapper?”

  Instead of answering Kirin’s question, the man wagged his finger. A spike extended from Flora’s shadow and stopped against her throat.

  “If you get in my way, I can’t promise you’ll have the girl back alive.”

  “N-no…! Please stop this! That would only harm you!”

  If—it was too awful for Kirin to imagine—but if he were to do such a thing, there would be no point. The kidnapper’s objective would go unaccomplished, and he would only add to his crimes.

  But the man’s stone-cold stare simply bored into Kirin. “I will tell you one thing. I don’t care what happens to me.”

  The words were chilling; Kirin could tell he meant them. This man would not hesitate to follow through on his threat if she failed to comply.

  “First, drop your weapon.”

  “…Ngh.”

  Disobeying was not an option. Resigned, Kirin slowly laid the Senbakiri on the floor, and—

  “Kirin! Get Flora!” Saya’s sharp call rang through the basement.

  Something shot through the spike against Flora’s throat and scattered it into dust.

  An instant later, there was a dull gunshot and a flash of brilliant light.

  A flare—!

  The harsh light temporarily wiped away the multitude of shadows, leaving a few new ones. That meant they could tell where the next attack would come from.

  Kirin picked up the Senbakiri and hurtled toward Flora. The pain in her leg didn’t matter now. She didn’t care if it fell off.

  The man frowned slightly and waved his finger. Mana writhed as a new spike emerged from Flora’s shadow.

  “I don’t think so!” Kirin’s swordstroke cut down the spike just in time, and she rolled to grab Flora in her arms. To cover them, a rapid-fire barrage of light bullets blasted from the doorway toward the kidnapper.

  “This marksmanship—this must be Saya Sasamiya.” The man dodged effortlessly, but now Kirin had all the time she needed.

  With Flora in her arms, she ran to the entrance—and then her right leg gave out.

  “Gah…!”

  Gritting her teeth in pain and using all her strength to keep from falling down, Kirin untied Flora’s bindings.

  “Kirin!” Saya called from outside.

  “I-I’m fine! Take Flora!” She ripped Flora’s gag free.

  “M-Miss Toudou! Thank you!” Flora burst out, on the verge of tears.

  “Don’t mention it. Hurry, go through there—!” Kirin forced a smile to set Flora’s mind at ease and gave her a firm push toward the door.

  All the while, spikes flew at them from the surrounding shadows. Saya shot down every one.

  “Okay!” Scrubbing at her tears, Flora started running. She was a Genestella, if still a child, and she made it to the doorway quickly.

  Seeing her pass through, Kirin faced the man again. “Well…? Now what are you going to do?”

  “What else? I’m going to eliminate the two of you and get the girl back.”

  Apparently he had no intention of letting them go.

  An inky black blade extended from the man’s arm—not a Lux, but a real blade. It was no larger than a dagger, but it seemed to be attached directly to his arm, probably because he preferred his hands free.

  “Then on my life, I cannot let you pass.”

  Kirin held up the Senbakiri.

  Judging from the fight thus far, there were definitely limitations on his ability.

  First, he could not move his shadows rapidly. If he could, he would have impaled Kirin a long time ago.

  This led her to guess at another constraint: The man could use his ability only with shadows he could see directly. The shadows upstairs had used a conditional ability, so he had to have been able to see them when setting it up.

  An ability specialized for surprise attacks and assassinations, she thought. It would be fearsome in those contexts, but a head-on fight was another story entirely. Attacks from her blind spot would be troublesome, but luckily, Kirin had Saya to back her up. She could rely on her partner’s marksmanship for that.

  But Kirin soon discovered that she was being too optimistic.

  “Guh…!”

  The man slashed at her, and she blocked with the sword. He aimed for a vital spot with deadly precision, and the blow was heavy.

  Kirin deflected it upward, but the man quickly regained his balance to counter with a swift thrust.

  Judging that she couldn’t parry, Kirin jumped sideways—but her right leg dragged. The black blade grazed her left arm, slowing her down, and the man’s knee drove deep into her stomach.

  “!”

  She almost crumpled to the floor, but she couldn’t allow herself to go down. Summoning all her strength, she leaped back to distance herself from him.

  A spike shot out at her from the shadows as she landed, but Saya dealt with it.

  He’s good. It wasn’t that Kirin h
ad underestimated him. She also had the handicap of her leg to deal with. But she wasn’t sure she could defeat this man, even at her full strength.

  Kirin had superior swordsmanship, but he held an overwhelming advantage in hand-to-hand combat. And there wasn’t a modicum of uncertainty in his attacks. His fighting technique was entirely honed to one purpose: to destroy his opponent.

  Kirin guessed that Saya had her hands full protecting Flora and managing the shadows under his control.

  She might have a chance using the Linked Cranes, but that would be difficult with her injury.

  I have to take the chance—but what if I fail…?

  But the man didn’t give her the opportunity to think. With a surprisingly quiet stride, he closed in to unleash a sequence of strikes—her throat, then her chest, her temple, her lower abdomen. He attacked with blade, fist, and leg. Every blow was aimed at a vital spot, and each one would have ended the fight if it landed.

  “It’s over,” the man whispered suddenly.

  “Huh?”

  He had vanished from sight.

  In that moment, Kirin realized she had fallen into his trap.

  There was a wall in front of her. With the light behind her, she cast her own shadow against it.

  I’m in the way. Saya can’t shoot—!

  “Kirin, move!”

  At Saya’s shout, she flung herself away—a moment too late. The spike from her shadow pierced right through her side.

  The pain was like a searing lump of hot iron pressing into her. She couldn’t hold back a scream as red soaked through her clothes, and the strength drained from her body.

  Kirin almost dropped the Senbakiri, but she bit her lip to hold on. Hands shaking, she slashed through the spike…but that was all she could manage. She used her sword as a crutch to keep from falling.

  “I hit a vital spot. You’re bleeding too much to fight. If you don’t get treatment quickly, it’ll cost you your life,” the man informed her with clinical detachment, moving nonchalantly toward the door.

  “I’m…not done yet.” With unsteady steps, Kirin blocked his path.

  “And what can you do, with those injuries?”

  The man’s voice held neither ridicule nor contempt. It was as though he were simply speaking the truth.