Volume 1, 10: Development of Will

Volume 1, Chapter 10: Development of Will

Is hesitation feigned goodness or is it courage?

Then is determination feigned evil or is it recklessness?

Neither one is a bad thing

The knight swung his shield and deflected the liquid.

When the pale yellow liquid struck the metal shield, smoke rose from it. A hole was eaten into the surface of the shield.

“That is quite a deadly poison!” commented the knight.

“You were really going to pour that into my ear!?” added Ooshiro.

The knight ignored the old man and silently squeezed the trigger of his long rifle.

Bluish-white light emitted from the side of the book loaded into the gun.

That bookshelf rifle drew out the meaning of that collection of words in the form of heat.

It was a more primitive method than adding a new ability with the words, but it was plenty powerful.

He fired.

A ball of light shot from the rifle’s barrel. However, he was not targeting either of those lying on the ground below him.

He targeted the black cat.

In the amount of time known as an instant, the bright yellow bullet grew to 5 meters across and travelled in a shallow arc to the south side of the grassy area.

The reverberation of electrical discharge was drowned out by the sound of destruction when it struck.

It exploded.

“!”

The southern end of the grassy area grew warped, crumbled, and then shrank inwardly, trees and dirt included.

In the next instant, everything within a 20 meter square was blasted up into the sky.

A tremendous roar was heard.

The knight said, “I doubt that was enough.”

He then turned toward the two below him.

“Now! I will handle the two of you. Even if this sullies my name, seeing this through is how I show my pride!”

The boy lying on the ground then muttered something.

“So you have decided what path you will take as well, have you?”

“What?” asked the knight.

However, he quickly lifted his rifle again and focused on the battle.

The book loaded in the rifle was already emitting bluish-white light from all of its pages.

If he squeezed the trigger, he could eliminate the two people clinging to a sheer cliff.

“I am sorry,” said the knight.

Unexpectedly, the boy answered him.

“There is no need to apologize.”

As he spoke, the boy suddenly stood up.

He stood atop the ground which should have been a cliff to him. He placed his feet on the ground and stood while keeping his body low.

“What…!?” The knight drew back. He held back up his shield and shouted, “Damn you! Have you added the same concept as us!?”

Without replying, the boy ran.

The knight’s comrades began to move and prepare to attack, but it was too late.

The boy circled around to the knight’s left which was the north. The knight tried to follow the boy’s motion with his rifle, but he did not make it in time.

With his back turned, the boy jumped lightly up.

He performed a reverse roundhouse kick.

It hit home.

His heel struck the knight’s left shoulder with more weight than expected.

The knight’s bones creaked and his body was lifted up.

“Kh.”

He endured the pain and lowered his hips to land properly. He tried to aim the rifle in his right arm toward the boy, but his body felt numb and he could only aim to the front.

While remaining on guard for another kick, the knight rotated his entire body. He held his shield toward the boy.

He found the boy landing from his kick on all fours.

He then gently lifted his body a bit before running. He circled around to the north once more.

When the knight tried to follow him, one of the giant attendants shouted out from behind him.

“Look!”

The knight turned toward the deep voice and found the old man named Ooshiro moving to the south of the grassy area. His stance was low, but he was definitely running.

“How?” muttered the knight.

South was set as down, so the ground should have been perfectly vertical.

He and his companions were only able to stand due to the effects of the philosopher’s stones they held. Their enemies should not have had any of their own, yet they were still running around on that vertical ground.

“How!?”

To the north of the grassy open area, a line of trees had escaped the destruction of the stone wall.

It now functioned as footing stretching out perpendicular to the ground. On one of the tree trunks, the battle beginning far below was visible. Sf stood there carrying a single café set.

She held a parasol, a portable cooler, a table, and chairs. She skillfully placed them on the tree trunk as she heard the knight’s question from far below: How?

Sf gave a small nod.

She pulled a single bullet from her pocket. On its side, the words “bullet, one more hit” were written.

“You made a mistake in your theory.”

She placed the bullet atop the table which was sitting on the line of trees.

The bullet remained still at first, but it eventually accelerated and began rolling.

“That area may appear to be a wall, but it is actually a slope,” said Sf as if to confirm it. “Setting south as down was a na?ve decision but not a surprising one for a resident of a flat world such as 1st-Gear. …After all, the earth is round and Japan is located on the northern hemisphere.”

Sf looked at the grassy area below her. Sayama charged into the center of the enemy ranks and was fighting while focusing on evasion. He was running along a slope of about 40 degrees while repeatedly evading and attacking.

Sayama’s method of attack was simple. He would circle around to the north of his enemy, choose an attack method such as a direct kick or roundhouse kick that would make full use of his body weight, and then directed it toward his enemy down the slope to the south.

Sayama had no choice but to stand on a slope.

He had to keep his stance low, but this made it easier to avoid his enemy’s attacks. When he was cornered, he could jump far to the south, using the slope to gain more distance. Sf nodded as she watched on.

“To forestall an initial attack from his enemy, he pressed down against the slope, pretending it was a wall.”

As she spoke, Sf placed the cooler’s strap over her right shoulder and held the parasol in her hand.

She suddenly looked up to find a winged archer had noticed her.

“Oh, dear,” said Sf as she opened the cooler.

The archer above brought a hand to his bowstring. The center of the string had a single piece of cloth attached. The cloth had words written on it. The archer drew the bowstring and an arrow of light appeared between the cloth and the bow.

Instead of firing right away, the archer twisted the cloth to the right.

The string grew tauter and the bow creaked, but the arrow of light multiplied to three.

Finally, the archer fired.

The sound of the light being released sounded similar to a flute.

As that high-pitched trio rained down from the sky, Sf bowed slightly.

“Thank you for such an ordinary attack. As thanks, I shall provide a common attack of my own.”

She pulled what looked like two long metal staffs from the cooler.

The two objects appearing from below the canned drinks were a machine gun and its barrel.

She attached the heavy barrel with one hand and loaded the ammunition belt. The first bullet was instantly brought into the chamber.

“Over 40,000 have been produced. That should be common enough.”

With that comment, Sf aimed into the sky and squeezed the trigger.

Sayama could tell he was being surrounded. His enemies were once more beginning to hold him in check.

The old men wearing square bonnets who looked like priests and the old women wearing hoods who looked like magicians were clearly keeping their distance while the two giant attendants began circling around to his north. They were preventing him from taking his advantageous position.

But Sayama felt that was fine as sweat flew from his brow.

At the very least, he had drawn the enemies away from the woods were Shinjou was and Ooshiro Kazuo had been able to escape.

That meant he need not worry about this battleground. And he had another thought.

…I was right. Shinjou-kun did not fire.

When he had attacked the knight, he had given the signal, but Shinjou had not fired. He had predicted it, but it was still a slight shock.

She really does continue to surprise me, he thought as he walked around.

“Shinjou-kun is serious about everything,” he muttered. “Even when she hesitates.”

It was because she took this so seriously that she had been unable to pull the trigger this time as well.

Sayama suddenly recalled what had happened that morning. He recalled Ooki’s words to him.

…When those who rarely get serious finally do get serious, they can draw out a lot of power. Is that it?

“And thinking that you cannot get serious means you are constantly thinking about getting serious.”

Sayama decided Shinjou had to have reached that stage.

…But what about me?

“Will I ever-…”

Would he ever get serious?

His questioning gaze caught sight of the end of a magician’s staff glowing. Instead of leaving behind an afterimage of the light, it looked more like the word was being burned into the atmosphere. Sayama did not recognize the word, but he could read it.

It meant fire.

He leaped as soon as he read it. He leaped south down the slope.

In the next instant, a pillar of fire shot up in the spot he had just been standing in.

As he heard the air burning, crimson flames shot up in a triple helix. The end of the spiral bloomed outwards and scattered through the air as the pillar of fire energetically came apart and disappeared.

Sayama landed.

At the same moment, Sayama realized the enemy’s formation was complete.

The priests and magicians to his north split to the left and right. The two giants traveled down the center of that group. They were approximately three meters tall. Under their dark green cloaks, those attendants wore light armor and were armed with black knives.

They could not make tight turns, but they used easily-wielded knives to cover for that disadvantage.

They came.

Sayama prepared himself. He could not defeat them head on. He needed to run around them. He lowered his body and sucked in a breath. He suddenly glanced over at his hard-to-move left arm and his left hand.

He saw the scars on his hand and the ring on his finger.

He tried to clench his left fist, but received only stabbing pain.

It was a phantom pain, but it felt real to him. And he could not swing the fist regardless.

An instant later, Sayama looked up from his left hand and ran.

He shrank down, stretched out, and sent his body forward.

At the same moment, he spotted a shadow coming from the sky above.

It was an archer.

Not good, he muttered silently.

His enemies were not planning to have the giant attendants attack him.

They would surround him and he would be shot from the air.

“Kh.”

Sayama took in a breath and twisted his body around.

To avoid the coming attack as much as possible, he rolled along the ground.

But what fell to the ground was not an arrow or even a bow.

It was wings.

“!”

With the sound of flesh being struck, a giant four-winged form fell to the ground where Sayama had been a moment before. It was the archer who had been in the sky. Sayama could see red blood spewing from the base of his upper right wing.

Sayama got up on his knees and heard a certain sound before he could even wonder what was going on.

He heard gunfire.

He looked up. He looked to the north which was up to him.

In the sky there, another set of wings fell.

The four-winged archer fell into the woods to the east while staining his wings with red blood.

Only then did everyone look over.

A white and black figure was jumping down from a distant line of trees to the north.

“Sf-kun…”

She held a machinegun in her left hand, a parasol in her right, and a large cooler under her right arm.

Despite carrying two objects that looked too large for her body size, she was not running down the slope. She leaped through the sky.

She did not seem to care that one of the four-winged archers had fallen among some nearby trees.

She dropped down.

In the next instant, one of the magicians reacted. She wrote several words in the air, turned them into spears of light, and threw them at Sf.

The light flew with a high-pitched dash.

Sf took a single action in response. She held up the parasol in her right arm and opened it. With the sound of the wind being struck, Sf’s body appeared to be lifted up by the parasol as she began to float.

The spears of light passed by below her feet and stabbed into the grass in the distance.

Just as the spears of light could be heard bursting in the distance, Sf let go of the parasol.

After that, she travelled in a straight line.

Guided by gravitational acceleration, Sf’s heels crashed into the giant attendant who was on the left from Sayama’s perspective.

The impact caused a great noise.

“…!”

She sent all of her weight into both legs as they struck the attendant’s side and his body was knocked up into the air. Sayama backed away as the attendant rotated around in midair and slammed into the ground headfirst.

Repeated powerful sounds were heard as his armor and flesh crashed to the ground, but he eventually came to a stop.

The attendant no longer moved.

Instead, the slender woman who had only just now arrived on the scene moved.

She had short white hair and she wore a black dress with a white apron. Her silhouette spread out with the hem of her skirt and she bowed before Sayama.

“I am glad to see you are the same as ever.”

It was Sf.

Sayama glanced around. As Sf greeted him, the enemies were once more falling into formation around them.

The knight entered to replace the lost attendant and the two magicians moved back.

As they watched her, Sf opened the cooler and stuck her left hand inside. The formation of enemies prepared themselves as the sound of ice and water came from the cooler.

However, Sf was not looking at them. She was crouched down and looking toward Sayama.

“Sayama-sama, take this. It is a new product that is perfect for breaks between exercise.”

She handed him a plastic sports drink bottle. He took it and she bowed before sticking her left hand in the cooler.

“The rest of you can have this,” she said as she pulled out a black, glittering submachine gun.

She rotated around, firing all the while.

“!”

At the sound of gunfire, the attendant, knight, and other enemies frantically held up their shields or gauntlets.

But they were too slow.

As metallic noises rang out, they were either forced back or blown away.

Sayama stood up. Bluish-white smoke surrounded him and Sf. The formation around them had widened slightly and one magician lay collapsed on the ground. Sayama looked toward the magician while opening the lid of the drink bottle.

“She is not dead. As expected, they have some form of defensive power. This is not causing much damage.”

Sayama realized Sf’s right sleeve was torn. That showed she had already received some sort of attack. And the arm he saw below the torn black cloth was…

“A machine?” asked Sayama after a citrus flavor flowed into his mouth from the bottle.

Sf’s arm was made of what looked like narrow pearl-colored armor. The arm narrowed in considerably at the elbow joint between her upper arm and lower arm and only black plastic filled the gap.

Without turning around, Sf tossed the submachine gun to the ground.

“I am Sein Frau, an automaton created by German UCAT using 3rd-Gear technology. My body was put together for Itaru-sama’s exclusive use, so I am able to do the shopping or receive guests in bad weather and under inconvenient circumstances. My compact exterior can run for 24 hours if the philosopher’s stone is swapped out, so even the most sudden of unreasonable demands can be-…”

“Enough with the late-night infomercial sales pitch,” said Sayama as he handed the empty drink bottle back to Sf. And then, “What are your combat abilities?”

“According to German UCAT, the German people are the most excellent people in the world. I was created using their technology, so my combat abilities are top notch.”

“Didn’t that ‘most excellent’ right-wing country lose World War Two?”

“Truly excellent people need not desire victory. Victory is not needed in the eternal quest to grow stronger.”

“Who said that?”

“I do not know. However, it has been etched into my mind.”

As she spoke, Sf moved the machinegun in her right hand to her left and placed the muzzle against the ground. She moved the muzzle to the side so that it drew a curve in the dirt.

“My name is Sein Frau, ‘the woman who should exist’. I am a nonhuman who was born from the desire to ‘exist’. Now, come and bring the reason for your birth with you. If that reason is weaker than mine, you will not even be able to ‘exist’.”

With a turn of her heel, she transformed the curve on the ground into a ring.

“I was created for the sake of my master. I sacrifice my steel for his bones, my chains for his flesh, my oil for his blood, and my determination for his heart. But there is one thing he has for which I have nothing to sacrifice.”

When the ring connected, she placed the gun’s muzzle on the point of connection.

“His tears. …As I have no emotions, I have nothing to give in return for those. As such, I do not desire my master’s tears. I desire only an outcome that requires no teardrops.”

She raised the gun.

“Steel for his bones, chains for his flesh, oil for his blood, determination for his heart, and…”

She took a breath.

“Selflessness for his tears.”

As she spoke, Sf squeezed the trigger while aiming at the line of enemies.

Shinjou sat on a tree trunk.

The trembling of her hands was beginning to abate, but strength would not return to her fingers.

“What do I…” she muttered.

…lack at times like this? she finished in her thoughts.

She heard a voice from below.

“You had excellent scores in training and your marksmanship while providing covering fire from the rear guard was quite good as well. But it looks like you’re no good on the vanguard where a real battle is right before your eyes. Do you think I should remove you from Team Leviathan, Shinjou?”

Shinjou gave a quick gasp.

But the voice from below laughed.

“Hah. What’s with the serious look? I may be the supervisor, but you know I can’t do everything on my own discretion, right? You were added as a member on the recommendation of my old man. I can’t move you without his permission and your agreement.”

Shinjou frowned at the laughing voice and clenched her back teeth.

“Why are you always like this!? Ever since you took me in…”

“You really want to know?” said a smiling voice. “It’s because I know everything but understand nothing.” The voice then changed the subject. “Look, the fools are in trouble. Do whatever you can.”

Shinjou looked out toward the grassy area and realized what he meant.

Sayama and Sf moved around amid the gunfire and their enemies were collapsing from the attacks.

But a few of those had begun to move once more. First was the attendant Sf had defeated. He was trying to stand. And he was hidden behind another enemy, so Sayama and Sf could not see him.

Shinjou stood up on the tree trunk.

“Sayama-kun!”

As the knight charged toward her from the front, Sf charged in with her right shoulder held forward.

With the cooler still held under her right arm, she filled the gap between her and the knight in an instant.

The knight aimed his long rifle at her.

Sf raised the machinegun in her left arm slightly before swinging it.

She slammed her own machinegun against the enemy’s gun barrel.

With a metallic scraping noise, Sf pushed the knight’s rifle down and moved forward. Her running right foot reached the ground, but her left foot stepped down on the lowered rifle’s barrel.

The knight’s long rifle now had its tip sticking diagonally into the ground.

Sf used her machinegun as a cane and continued forward.

She thrust the machinegun into the ground and let go. She took a step along the knight’s rifle with her left foot and swung her right leg up to climb up the rifle.

The upward swing of her right leg continued into a kick.

Her foot flew toward the knight’s face. It was a straight and speedy kick.

The knight made up his mind in an instant.

He let go of the rifle.

With only the long rifle’s strap still in his hand, he leaped backwards.

“!”

The knight tugged on the strap as he moved back. The rifle that had been left stabbing into the ground was powerfully pulled back even with Sf halfway through her kick atop it.

He felt a bit of resistance, but the rifle still pulled out of the ground.

“!?”

Sf had her left pivot leg on the rifle, so her footing was pulled out from under her. She began to fall backwards.

Even so, she managed to kick off the rifle and jump high into the sky behind her.

But it was too late.

The knight had already pulled the rifle back into his hands by the strap.

He narrowed the sight in on Sf as she tumbled through the air.

Just as he was about to squeeze the trigger, something happened.

Sf’s body shrank down in the air and she rotated around once.

After jumping back, Sf had taken a crouching position in midair. Something was supporting her from below.

It was the machinegun she had stabbed into the ground like a cane earlier.

Sf’s right foot sat atop the gunstock that was sticking up toward the sky.

In the next instant, she stretched her body out and jumped.

Her skirt flapped through the air and the bullet of light produced by the knight’s rifle shot by below her feet.

Sf flew.

She swung the cooler through the air above her head and cartwheeled using it as a fulcrum.

She landed behind the knight.

The knight turned his shield toward her just as she pulled an object from the cooler and threw it at him with her back to him.

What she tossed under her arm with only a flick of the wrist was a large cylindrical object.

The knight reflexively swung his shield to strike the flying object from the side.

With a heavy yet soft sound, the shield deflected the object. It flew accurately back towards Sf.

The knight continued his rotation to aim the rifle at Sf.

As he did, he realized what the object she had thrown was.

It was a 500mL plastic drink bottle.

“Wha-…?”

The dumbfounded knight saw Sf stand up.

She was facing him. Her left hand was in the cooler. Her gaze was focused squarely on the center of the knight’s wide open body.

With the sound of pieces of ice striking each other, she pulled a long metal object out of the cooler.

It was a shotgun.

Sf swung the barrel forward, using the action to cock it.

She used the reverse motion of it sliding back into place to pull the trigger.

A gunshot exploded out.

The shot first destroyed the drink bottle flying between the knight and Sf.

Immediately afterwards, it struck the knight’s breastplate.

A sound of impact exploded out.

The knight flew backwards as if he had received an uppercut.

And at that moment, a voice rang out across the open area.

“Sayama-kun!”

Sf turned toward the voice and saw a large shadow.

It was the attendant she had supposedly defeated earlier. His giant form had stood up and was now charging toward her.

After she had just fired, evasive actions were asking too much of Sf.

And the attendant held a knife in his right hand. It would strike her momentarily.

“A total loss is expected,” concluded Sf expressionlessly.

Her body grew limp as she prepared for the shock.

But then an attack flew toward the charging attendant from the side.

“…!?”

It was Sayama.

From a position back and to the right of Sf, he used the momentum of the slope and all his strength to throw a reverse roundhouse kick. His heel sliced through the air in a sharp curve before striking the attendant in the side.

It sounded more like a piercing strike than a dull one.

The attendant lost his forward momentum.

However, Sayama was half-deflected and thrown through the air due to the great difference in inertia. He kept low to the ground as he landed and took a breath.

He was not looking toward Sf. He was looking toward the woods.

Shinjou stood on the slope there.

After seeing where he was looking, Sf amended her conclusion.

“Partial damage is expected.”

Immediately afterwards, the charging attendant and Sf crossed paths.

The sound of fibers being torn could be heard.

Everything past Sf’s right shoulder flew through the air.

With its support gone, the cooler fell to the ground.

Sayama turned around and asked, “Does it hurt?”

“No, I have no sense of pain. The only pain I feel is from being unable to remain by Itaru-sama’s side.”

As she replied, her right arm fell atop the dirt and rolled two or three times down the slope.

And Sf saw something else.

Behind her, the attendant was preparing for his next attack with blood spilling from his mouth.

Sf rotated around and prepared to intercept him, but then her eyes narrowed slightly.

Behind the charging attendant, the knight was aiming his long rifle her way after he had recovered due to something written by one of the priests. And behind him, the remaining magician wrote something in the air using light.

The magician was not looking at Sf and Sayama. She was looking toward the woods where Shinjou had emerged.

Sf sensed Sayama moving behind her. She moved as well. However…

“…!”

The attendant’s charge, the knight’s shot, and the magician’s blast all came before Sf could aim the shotgun in her left hand or Sayama could take any kind of action.

The three attacks were loosed in quick succession.

Sayama saw the attack coming.

But it did not come from in front of him. It came from above. It came from above the charging attendant.

“What are you doing!?”

It was a girl.

The girl wore a lightweight white outfit and held something with a long silhouette in both hands. Her heels slammed into the attendant’s back. It was less a landing and more like a pile driver smashing the attendant into the ground.

By the time Sayama realized the girl held a long single-edged spear and a shield, he had already heard the attendant’s giant body crashing to the ground.

The attendant was struck to the ground without bouncing as if he had been hit with a hammer appropriate for his body size.

The knife he had held stabbed into the ground. It was only 15 centimeters away from Sf’s foot.

However, she had escaped any further damage. Nothing had happened to Sayama either.

What is going on? wondered Sayama, but then he recalled two other things.

Specifically, the knight and magician behind the attendant.

The knight had supposedly fired his long rifle.

That bullet of light should have destroyed everything within a 20 meter square of the point it hit, but it had never arrived.

Sayama frowned and took a closer look.

Beyond the collapsed attendant and the person who stood on his back was another silhouette.

This one was a young man.

He wore a white coat and held a giant single-edged sword in both hands.

To cover his body, he held the large white sword so the bottom of the grip was pointed up and the blade was pointed down. A bluish-white electrical discharge came from its blade.

Sayama recognized both of these newcomers.

Sf spoke to them as if to reconfirm Sayama’s memory.

“You are late, Izumo-sama, Kazami-sama.”

“Don’t say that… But I do apologize for not making it in time to save your arm.”

The one apologizing and holding a long, curving spear and shield was Kazami.

She wore the same type of white suit Shinjou had worn the night before, but her waist was wrapped in cloth. She also had a backpack that folded over.

She turned toward Sayama with the same smile she always had at school.

“Oh? You don’t look too surprised.”

“Of course not. After all the bizarre things you two do, this is easy to accept.”

“Well, that’s disappointing,” said Izumo.

With his back to Sayama, he lowered the giant sword using just his right arm and glanced over his shoulder.

“Team Leviathan Primary Team, Izumo Kaku. …How’s that for a cool way to name myself?”

Sayama ignored him.

Something else was bothering him: the magician’s spell. It had unmistakably been fired toward Shinjou.

Is she okay? he wondered as he turned around.

He found a figure standing before the woods with her long hair waving in the wind. It was Shinjou.

But she was not alone.

Another familiar figure stood next to Shinjou. It was a tall old man wearing a white shirt, a black vest, and black trousers. When Sayama saw him standing there empty-handed except for his black gloves, he muttered the man’s name.

“The librarian of Kinugasa Library, Siegfried Zonburg…”

The man nodded, turned around, and met Sayama’s gaze with his own blue eyes. His white beard moved as he spoke.

“You need to add two other titles to that: former consultant to the National Defense Department and sorcerer.”

“Aren’t you forgetting one!?” shouted the knight.

Everyone turned toward him. The knight vigorously swung his long rifle up toward Siegfried.

“You are the great criminal who destroyed our 1st-Gear!!”

Izumo was closest to the knight, so he reacted first.

“How about you stop that!?” he shouted while swinging his large sword horizontally.

The single-edged sword soared smoothly and easily through the air.

However, the sound it produced was not that of it striking the knight’s armor.

The magician interfered.

“What!?”

The old woman used her staff as a shield to catch Izumo’s blade in front of the knight.

The staff bent and then broke and she was knocked into the air.

In exchange, the knight managed to pull the trigger of his long rifle.

It produced a metallic noise and light was emitted from the book loaded into the rifle.

It fired.

Light flew in a shallow arc toward Siegfried.

It was as if it had been thrown down at him from above.

In response, Siegfried lightly swung his right hand.

Something fell down from his palm.

It was a piece of paper.

Siegfried took a step forward.

He swung his right arm up at the light shooting toward him.

That mass of power had grown to five meters across.

He casually struck it with the piece of paper in his right hand.

In the very next moment, that powerful light disappeared.

As everyone’s eyes opened wide, Siegfried took another step.

“!”

He began to run.

The paper in the hand he held above his head had writing on it.

That paper that had been blank just before now had a certain destruction report written in powerful handwriting.

Sayama could not read the writing, but the images were transferred to his mind.

It was an itemized list of the dead in a certain district of a city.

Siegfried held the paper in his hand as he ran.

As he clenched it into a cylindrical shape, a blade of light appeared from it.

“…So this is the power of a grudge.”

He muttered those words and moved all in the same instant.

Siegfried charged right up to the knight.

The knight aimed his rifle and fired.

However, the attack shot below Siegfried’s arm.

Siegfried had moved as if about to sink down to the ground, but had instead raised the sword of light above his head and swung it down.

His strike targeted the knight’s rifle.

The trajectory of the blade left an afterimage of light behind and the sound of the gun being sliced sounded like a rock splitting open.

The front of the destroyed rifle where the book was loaded slid vertically before completely falling off. Seeing that, Siegfried stood up and swung his left hand.

The knight tossed his rifle aside and took a defensive stance.

However, Siegfried’s left hand was not headed toward him.

His left hand grabbed ahold of the book as it fell toward the ground.

Siegfried then held it out toward the knight and spoke.

“Do not drop this. Treat your books carefully. Even when making use of them.”