The Asterisk War, Vol. 4: Quest for Days Lost

by Yuu Miyazaki

  Ayato struggled to his feet, but his injuries quickly forced him to his knees again.

  “Don’t push yourself too hard. You know you’re no match for Shenyun in your current state,” Julis told him, an angry edge in her voice as she glared at the twins.

  Shenhua had reappeared beside Shenyun, and the two were discussing something. The teams were separated and regrouping. But Ayato and Julis were at a significant disadvantage.

  “It’s my fault that they outdid us in strategy,” Julis said. “You won’t help things by charging in recklessly.”

  “But…”

  “We’re in a tough spot, but we haven’t lost yet. Keep cool, remember?” Julis admonished, then suddenly smiled. “Though I have to confess—part of me is glad to see you fail at that.”

  “Huh—?”

  “The reason you lost your head is because you want to win now, isn’t it? Because you’ve realized how badly you want to find your sister?”

  Ayato pondered that for a moment, then nodded.

  “I was happy when you said you would fight for me. That’s the truth. But at the same time, I felt bad, because there was nothing I could do for you in return.” She turned to Ayato. “But now, we’re on equal footing. We each have our own wish, and we both want to fight to the end for each other. That’s the way it should be—because we’re a team.”

  “Julis…”

  “The problem is, you try to take on too much by yourself. I mean, you’re strong enough to do that. You can protect me and fight your way through. But I’m going to turn your words back on you…” Julis smiled mischievously, placing her hand on his cheek, and her voice was kind. “‘Who’s going to protect you?’”

  “!”

  And in that moment, a gleam of light appeared deep in Ayato’s heart. This is—

  But then…

  “Are you two done with your heart-to-heart? Because—”

  “—it’s about time we got back to business.”

  Shenhua and Shenyun broke in with arrogant grins

  “They’re ready, apparently,” Julis said. “Probably set up another pile of spell charms…”

  “Julis,” Ayato called.

  She had been watching the twins again, and she turned back to him quizzically. “Hmm?”

  “Thank you,” he said with a warm smile.

  Taken aback, Julis stared blankly at him, then abruptly blushed and turned away. “Wh-what’s that for, all of a sudden?! I didn’t do anything worth thanking!”

  “No. My eyes are open because of you. This time, for sure.” Ayato took a few steady breaths, then got up slowly to stand alongside her. “So, I’ve got a favor to ask my partner. Are you up for it?”

  “What do you need?” Julis said, a hint of color lingering in her face.

  “Can you buy me a little bit of time?”

  “Oh? Did you think of a plan?”

  “Not exactly—just something I want to try. If it works, maybe I can get us out of this.”

  “Fine, I’ll give it a go. It’s not like we have any better options. But I don’t think I’ll last very long.” Julis stepped forward.

  Ayato burned the image into his memory, then slowly closed his eyes. He turned his thoughts inward and recalled what Saya told him yesterday, and what Julis had just said to him.

  And what his sister had said long ago—and the thing he had to do.

  Once again, somewhere in his heart, a tiny light glimmered. Ayato slowly reached for it.

  He knew what it was. He could feel it.

  This is…

  Julis was surprised at herself.

  In the midst of these adverse circumstances, her spirits were strangely high. She didn’t feel invincible, exactly—but she found herself full of energy.

  Her body hurt all over, but she was in better shape than Ayato. He had received the brunt of Shenyun’s attacks on the front lines, while Shenhua had only attacked Julis to harass her and slow her down.

  So that must be Ayato’s real smile.

  Remembering his expression just moments ago, Julis could not help but smile in return.

  She had seen Ayato smile countless times but never so carefree. He was easygoing and a little bit hard to read—but maybe what she had just seen was his true self.

  Sasamiya has known that smile all her life…

  “No fair,” Julis had blurted aloud before she knew it.

  Catching herself, she shook her head and brought her attention back to reality. The twins eyed her with self-assured, sadistic grins.

  “My my, what’s this? The Glühen Rose is all alone?” Shenyun taunted.

  “You don’t intend to face both of us by yourself, do you?” Shenhua added.

  “That’s exactly what I plan to do,” Julis declared. “Do you have a problem with that?”

  The twins both shrugged.

  “Aw… They think so little of us, Shenhua.”

  “Yeah… It really is hurtful, Shenyun.”

  Despite their complaints, those grins showed no signs of waning.

  “Very well. We don’t know what you’ve got up your sleeve—

  “—but we’ll find a way to make it fun.”

  Shenhua made a symbol with her hands, and her figure melted away.

  “Hmph. Maybe you’re the ones who think too little of me,” Julis scoffed, then channeled her prana. This was no time to keep her cards to her chest.

  Leading the twins as far away from Ayato as possible, she released her spell.

  “Burst into bloom—Ranunculus!”

  She swung the Aspera Spina downward, and wave after wave of flames rolled out.

  “Aaagh!”

  “Da—!”

  Unable to dodge the inferno, the twins cried out in pain.

  The wide-range attack engulfed nearly a third of the stage, though it was really a defensive technique to fend off enemies when she was surrounded. As attacks went it wasn’t very powerful.

  Still, it was enough.

  “I see… It’s the spell charms you were after,” Shenyun observed, watching the traps go off all over the stage.

  Indeed, Julis was sure she had succeeded in burning away most of the charms within range of the Ranunculus. And the rolling flames would continue as long as it was active. The spell depleted a large amount of prana, but it should help keep the twins from getting too close.

  In the meantime, Julis concentrated her prana for another spell.

  Casting something else while keeping Ranunculus active was difficult—both technically and in terms of her prana supply—but she had little choice.

  “Hmm, not bad… Maybe we should change things up, too.” With swift movements, Shenyun made a symbol with his first two fingers extended. “Jí jí rú lü` lìng, chì!”

  “Wha—?!”

  Massive amounts of water gushed from the air.

  As Julis shouted in surprise, the water covered the stage and kept rising—to her ankles, knees, then thighs. It was if the stage had turned into an ocean.

  But it’s not cold… Is this another illusion?

  “You didn’t think copying myself was the only illusion I could use, did you?” Shenyun said. “I actually prefer fancier spells, like this.”

  “And so what? It’s still just an illusion,” Julis snapped.

  Shenyun’s shoulders shook with laughter. “Yes, just an illusion. But then why did your spell lose power?”

  “Nngh…!”

  Stregas and Dantes used their powers by imagining something, and then making it real. If the visualization was disrupted, the effects of the powers would diminish. Shenyun was using the illusion of water to attack the image of fire in Julis’s mind.

  “This won’t stop me…!” Julis concentrated to maintain her prana flow.

  “Hmm, then how about something like this?” Shenyun snapped his fingers and countless arrows of ice appeared above his head. “Fly!”

  With his command, the arrows fell upon Julis.

  She responded by closing her eyes.
He was trying to disrupt her concentration—but an illusion had no effect if she refused to look at it.

  “I see. A wise defense if all you want to do is withstand an illusion. But I don’t think you ought to close your eyes during a fight,” Shenyun said playfully. “Maybe I should go after your teammate next?”

  Reflexively Julis opened her eyes.

  As if it had been waiting for that moment, a giant icicle pierced her chest.

  By the time she realized she had been tricked, it was too late.

  As much as she told herself it was an illusion, her concentration was broken. The flow of prana was interrupted, and she lost the Ranunculus.

  “Oh, and it was such a nice try—too bad.” The laughter and the voice came from directly behind Julis.

  “Oh no—” She made a rushed attempt to defend, but the attack—probably a kick—from her invisible opponent hit her directly in the chest. Julis screamed.

  “Aaaaaagh!”

  “Does it hurt?” Shenhua materialized, laughing quietly. “Yes, it must. That’s where Luo hit you before.”

  That was indeed exactly where Julis had been injured in the previous match. But a question occurred to her through the pain.

  “Wh-why didn’t you go after my crest?”

  It would have been an easy opportunity for Shenhua to knock her from the match. As Julis dropped to one knee, her face contorted in agony, and she glared at Shenhua.

  “Heh-heh. Oh, I missed a little, that’s all,” Shenhua said with feigned innocence. Deliberate cruelty was forbidden under the Stella Carta, but this was not a clear enough violation to warrant punishment. The twins were perfectly aware of that.

  “Hmm, is that so?! Then I’ll make you regret it!” As she grappled with the pain, Julis released the spell she had prepared earlier. “Blossom, Semiserrata!”

  A magic circle lit up on the ground, and an enormous fiery camellia bloomed above her head.

  “What—?! Y-you’re blowing yourself up—?!”

  In a panic, Shenhua vanished, but that would not avail her. If Julis couldn’t see her opponent, all she had to do was burn the entire area.

  The camellia of flame descended, and a swirling blast radiated fierce heat and fire in all directions.

  But in the center of the explosion, where it was most destructive, Julis stood without so much as a single burn.

  “I wanted to keep this one a secret…,” Julis lamented. Her injuries hurt, but having to reveal her precious trump card pained her even more.

  Still, she thought, if it let her defeat one of the twins, the price wasn’t too steep. But—

  “So you can resist your own powers.”

  The voice came from beyond the whirling flames.

  “—?!”

  As it subsided, she saw a giant wall. Not just one, but several walls interlocking to make an improvised enclosure.

  “I had heard it was possible for some elite Stregas and Dantes—but I’m amazed to see it in person. Your reputation as Witch of the Resplendent Flames doesn’t even do you justice.”

  The wall shimmered and disappeared to reveal Shenhua and Shenyun, both unscathed.

  “I’m the one who should be amazed, Phantom Builder.”

  She had timed that attack perfectly. Even if they had made a wall, just one or two layers would not have been enough to withstand such an inferno. But the twins had managed to cooperate to construct a protective barrier in an instant.

  They may be despicable…but their teamwork is flawless!

  Yet, while Shenyun still looked confident, some of the color had drained from Shenhua’s face. Julis had come close.

  “You need to be more careful, Shenhua.”

  “I—I’m sorry, Shenyun…”

  “It’s fine… Well, now I know for sure. We can’t afford to toy with you any longer.” Shenyun’s eyes lit up in earnest. “It’s time to end this.”

  He drew more of his tags and slowly advanced toward Julis.

  She responded by taking a step backward, and the ground beneath her feat shimmered. Already?!

  Shenhua must have set a trap when she had gotten close. Chains suddenly swarmed up from the ground and wrapped around Julis like snakes.

  “Ngh— Why, you—!”

  Shenyun coldly watched Julis struggle as he flung his spell charms. Evading them would be impossible now. The charms exploded in her face, and the blast sent her flying.

  She rolled across the ground and landed on her back, unable even to scream. “Guh…haah…”

  “Wow, still conscious—you’re a stubborn one. Now for the coup de grâce.”

  Shenyun’s voice sounded far away, and Julis had almost given up. But at that moment—

  “?!”

  All three gasped at an overwhelming burst of prana.

  The light glimmering in Ayato’s hand was a key.

  What it would unlock—that was obvious. It was the key to the chains that bound him. He understood now that it was made so he could only see it after he had fulfilled a certain set of conditions.

  In his mind, Ayato looked at himself from above. Observing his chains carefully, he saw that there were three locks. The first one lay shattered, as if it had been forced open. It was completely destroyed, clearly beyond repair.

  Ayato thought he might know how. After his sister had placed this seal on him, he’d been so bewildered and confused—and he had made up his mind to try to break the chains by force. The very first time he had succeeded, he’d seen in his mind an image of this lock shattering.

  Half certain of what would happen, Ayato inserted the key into the second lock.

  Carefully, he turned it, and the lock released with a satisfying click. A part of the chains loosened and fell away into the void.

  And then—strength surged in him.

  “…”

  Ayato opened his eyes and took stock of his condition. There was no bright pillar of prana like before. Instead, he felt the energy fill his body.

  “Okay. I can do this…I think.”

  He scanned the arena, taking in the progress of the battle. Julis was on the verge of defeat, but he was just in time. He reached for the Ser Veresta on the ground and activated it.

  “There—!” With a single leap, he reached his partner and cut through the chains binding her. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Julis.”

  “That was too close, Ayato.” She greeted him with a pained—but also relieved—smile. “Did you completely undo the seal…?”

  Ayato shook his head. “No. It looks like there are stages to the seal, and I finally opened the second one. It’s not like I’ve powered up or anything.”

  “Really? But your prana…”

  “Oh—it’s just that now I can hold in the prana that was leaking out of me. So I’m only as strong as when I opened the seal before. But I think my time limit is longer.”

  “How long?”

  “Hmm, let’s see…” Ayato compared the power inside him to what it had been before and came up with a rough estimate. “Probably more than an hour.”

  “…”

  Speechless for a moment, Julis could only stare at him.

  “I see,” she said finally. “Then can I leave the rest to you? I don’t think I have anything left, to be honest.”

  “Got it,” Ayato replied, then turned to the twins. “You heard her. I’ll take over from here.”

  Shenyun, likewise gawking at Ayato, let out a deep breath. “You two really are full of surprises. Don’t tell me you were saving all that power?”

  “Well, it’s a long story,” Ayato said. “So? Do you want to try to buy yourselves another hour?”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Shenyun took out several spell charms.

  Silent and grim, Shenhua disappeared.

  “All right, then.” Readying the Ser Veresta, Ayato calmly assessed the situation.

  The upshot was that he was still at a dramatic disadvantage.

  Ayato did have a longer time limit, but he wasn’t actually an
y stronger, nor did his injuries heal. The balance of power was unchanged. And now, with Shenhua coming after him as well, he was fighting one-on-two. He’d been struggling against Shenyun alone just moments ago, so the situation had actually worsened.

  But there was one thing he could do now that his prana wasn’t overflowing out of him. It’s been a while, he thought. I don’t know how well I can pull it off…

  Ayato closed his eyes again.

  This time, it was not to reach inward, but outward.

  Pushing his senses to their limits, he could perceive not only his opponents’ movements and their flow of prana, but also every sound, the atmosphere itself, every kind of information—as if he’d become omniscient. This was shiki.

  This had been mostly impossible for him before—the overflow of prana had acted as noise. But now…

  “Haaah…”

  He opened his eyes slowly. The sight before him looked no different. But he keenly felt his perception expanding. He could visualize everything that was going on around him.

  “Here goes.” Ayato casually took a step forward.

  As he walked, he waved the Ser Veresta through the air with one hand. A severed spell charm materialized and burned to nothing. He strolled along with leisurely strides, cutting down one invisible charm after another—the ones Julis’s fire wave had missed. Ayato knew exactly how many there were and where they had been placed.

  “It can’t be—you can see them?” Shenyun mumbled, stunned.

  Ayato did not see them. He just knew.

  “In that case…!” Shenyun hurled all the spell charms in his hands at once, hemming Ayato in a ring of twelve explosion charms.

  But Ayato calmly continued forward. The charms ignited, setting off one bomb after another. He dodged each one at the last possible instant. He could form a perfect image of where they would go off and which way to step to avoid them.

  Behind me, to the right.

  With the slightest movement, he dodged Shenhua’s attack as she lunged at his back. He lightly shoved the invisible Shenhua on the shoulder, diverting her course.

  “Wha—?”

  “Amagiri Shinmei Style, Master Technique—Reverse Rakshasa.”

  Shenhua’s redirected attack landed a direct blow onto her own hidden spell charm.