Volume 14 - CH 21

Chapter 21: Unpermitted Wish

Shortly before the battle between Nene and Naseem concluded, Or-Gaule had escaped from Iris and is intercepted by Stella in the sky. Or-Gaule dodges the “Katharterio Salamandra” launched by Stella and the ground of the city below is split into two. He then tries to escape by leaping on the threads that are spread all over the city while Stella chases after him with her wings of fire. Both of Or-Gaule’s arms were crushed by Iris earlier and he has repaired them to some extent with his threads. As Stella is getting close, he launches “Grand Guignol” but the hundred slashes of his threads are stopped by just one sword slash from her. Stella then delivers a shoulder tackle that sends Or-Gaule crashing towards the ground from the sky. Though he coughs up blood, his injuries are not fatal due to his threads wrapping around his body like armor. He stands up looking towards Stella who is in the sky and then asks her what happened that made her change in such short time. Stella is no longer affected by a Desperado’s power to influence fate that caused her so frightened a week before. Before today she had faced a powerful enemy that Or-Gaule wouldn’t even compare. She now has grown to the point that she has obtained power that exceeds the limit of her possibilities and overcoming the outside of fate. But Stella doesn’t answer Or-Gaule’s question and instead angrily asks what he did to Lunaeyes since he agreed to have the war in the form of representative battles. He replies in a happy tone that he agreed to Luna’s proposal because she also said that she will be responsible for the execution of war criminals after Cradleland has absorbed Vermillion. In other words, if Vermillion loses the war then Luna will kill her entire family with her own hands. Or-Gaule is really looking forward to see it because Luna will be committing such act by her own will instead of being controlled by Or-Gaule. He then says it’s impossible to be playing dolls with Stella while fighting Iris at the same time so he needs to think of a way while running away. However, Stella knows that it must have been painful for Luna to use her family’s lives in the negotiation and so Stella replies that Or-Gaule won’t have to run away since she will completely turn him into ash and throw it into the sea. Stella then shouts to Iris to work with her. As Iris rushes towards him, Or-Gaule says it’s not fair for him to fight them both at the same time.

Boomer comments that Nene is now in the care of the medical team and that Or-Gaule is the only one left on Cradleland’s side. Stella and Iris are chasing after Or-Gaule as he tries to escape from them. Or-Gaule tries to jump to the sky to escape but Stella knocks him down to the ground. After he lands on the ground, he barely dodges an attack from Iris’ battle axe and Stella’s wings immediately shoot flames that rain down on him. Or-Gaule is hit and his legs are twisted in wrong direction which should make him unable to get up. Stella delivers “Katharterio Salamandra” at him but he manages to dodge it by pulling his own body with the threads that are spread throughout the city. But Or-Gaule is led to in front of Iris and she swings her axe towards him. Or-Gaule dodges it by creating a hole on the ground below him to drop into the sewers. He then uses his threads to get out of the sewers and creates distance from Iris and Stella. He also has reinforced his broken legs enough so that they could move again. However, it looks like Or-Gaule is already near his limit which is not surprising since Iris and Stella both are knights that are too much for Or-Gaule to handle. It is difficult for Or-Gaule who is not specialized in direct combat to go up against even one of them. Despite Or-Gaule being at disadvantage, Stella is worried about Iris because her attacks were softer than usual which caused them unable to finish him off already. Iris also notices that her movements now are slower than before Stella arrived and it is because she has become confused. Iris was strangling Or-Gaule before Stella arrived and during that moment she could tell that he was begging for his life. After that Iris ended up unable to deliver any final blow at Or-Gaule. She is confused because she shouldn’t be showing mercy on Or-Gaule after all the things he had done. But after remembering that it is her responsibility to prevent Or-Gaule creating more tragedies, she then proceeds to attack him again while releasing a scream. Or-Gaule is distracted by the scream and during that moment Stella descends down towards Or-Gaule to swing her sword at him. Or-Gaule blocks with “Spider’s Nest” but he can no longer escape from Iris who is about to swing her axe towards his head with all her strength. During that moment, fear is seen in Or-Gaule’s eyes while he begs to Iris.

“N, NOOO! NO, NO, I DON’T WANT TO DIE! HELP ME! HELP ME, NEE-SAN!!”

The person in front of Iris has right and left eyes that are of different colors like her and seeing him begging for his life causes Iris to remember the time when her parents were still alive. Her mother had just given birth to a baby boy named Orleus and he was introduced to the little Iris. The baby stopped crying when he saw Iris’ face and then his small hand grabbed Iris’ finger while smiling as shown in a pic. Iris’ mother told her to protect Orleus since she had become an older sister. After remembering her past, Iris ends up swinging her axe towards Stella and blowing her away. Stella manages to guard herself in time but she along with Or-Gaule and everyone else watching become confused over Iris’ action. At first Stella thinks Iris is being controlled but Iris apologizes to her which causes Stella to realize that Iris is protecting Or-Gaule on her own will. Iris is aiming her axe towards Stella and then Stella becomes angry while asking what Iris is thinking. Iris doesn’t reply to Stella and instead tells Or-Gaule to escape. Or-Gaule is happy that Iris is on his side and then tells her that he loves him as he escapes. Stella tries to chase after him but is stopped by Iris. Boomer comments that Iris’ action causes her to be disqualified but there is no one in the area that can stop her.

In Iris’ current hometown Paris, Levi Ascarid and her secretary are watching the war’s broadcast in her office at the League of Mage-Knight Nations French Branch. The tall woman wearing an eye patch, who is considered an unrivaled great woman in the League, sighs at Iris’ current action. Levi actually had a feeling this could happen. Right after the “La Croix Sanglant” incident, Levi wondered what strong wish Iris had that enabled her to achieve “Brute Soul”. Levi considered the possibility of Iris achieving “Brute Soul” in order to protect her own younger brother. In order to prevent Iris understanding this, Levi said to her that the incident was Iris’ fault and that she achieved “Brute Soul” after realizing that it was her responsibility to kill her younger brother. Iris couldn’t think straight at that time and so Levi’s lie was imprinted into her mind. Levi did that because she was worried about how Iris could continue living after realizing that she wanted to protect such monster. Iris was already in such dreadful state at that time and Levi didn’t want her to get hurt any more. Levi was hoping the sense of responsibility imprinted into Iris would become real emotion someday, but it didn’t come true now that Iris realizes her true wish. Back in the war, Stella asks Iris if she’s serious about protecting Or-Gaule but Iris remains silent. Stella then recognizes Iris as an enemy and proceeds to attack her. However, Ikki arrives and tells Stella to stop. Ikki says he will be Iris’ opponent because it is his responsibility for not doing anything even though he knew this could happen.

The scene then takes place during the night before the war. Ikki is heading back to his guest room and he sees Yui Tatara at the end of the corridor. She has been waiting for Ikki and wonders if he is actually the type of guy that likes to play around with a girl outside even at a time like this. Ikki says he was just talking with Stella but Tatara then asks if he’s the type that likes wearing lipstick. He immediately wipes his lips in panic but there was nothing on them. Tatara laughs while saying that Ikki and Stella were indeed doing something good. While embarrassed, Ikki rebuts that he and Stella were just kissing and doing nothing that Tatara thinks. Once he asks what Tatara really wants with him, she suddenly swings her chainsaw-shaped Device towards his neck. However, Tatara stops her chainsaw at about 5 cm from Ikki’s neck and Ikki has already pressed his own Device against Tatara’s neck as shown in a pic. Tatara is impressed that Ikki was able to land his blade faster even though she was the first one to move. After lowering her Device, she says she wanted to confirm if Ikki can help her kill Iris right now. Tatara explains that Iris is Or-Gaule’s older sister so it wouldn’t be surprising if Iris ends up betraying the Vermillion team. Ikki disagrees because Iris’ desire to stop Or-Gaule is as strong as Stella’s. Tatara then says Iris had told her back in Edelberg that it was Iris’ responsibility to stop her younger brother after she failed to notice his abnormality which caused her hometown to be destroyed. However, Tatara believes it to be ridiculous because Iris’ reason to kill Or-Gaule should have been due to pure hatred towards him. Iris is using excuses such as common sense and other people to fool herself. Tatara knows this because she is a professional when it comes to killing intent. Tatara thinks Iris hasn’t notice this but she won’t be able to finish off Or-Gaule when the time comes. Therefore, the war might end up being a 6-vs-4 battle instead and so Tatara wants to take down Iris before the war. Tatara has chosen Ikki to help her because Nene doesn’t trust her and Stella is a naive person. Ikki understands that Iris might be an uncertain factor but he won’t cooperate with Tatara. He remembers the time when Iris saved him back in Cradleland. She feared Or-Gaule so much, but her responsibility as an older sister and sense of justice as a knight enabled her to stand up against him. Ikki believes in her appearance back then. Tatara then decides not to go after Iris because she can’t do it alone. She also tells Ikki that his judgement may end up destroying the most important thing to him. Ikki replies that Tatara is really kind for thinking about various things for Stella’s sake. Tatara denies this by saying that it is just her profession opinion and that she’s not doing this for Stella. She is embarrassed to the point that her ears have turned red and turns her back towards Ikki who then thanks her since he is now prepared. If Tatara’s prediction comes true, Ikki will take responsibility and face Iris. 

Back in the present, Ikki tells Stella to go after Or-Gaule and that he will handle Iris. Stella disagrees because she and Ikki together could barely handle Iris when they fought her after the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival had just ended. She thinks they should fight Iris together, but Ikki disagrees because Stella with her flight ability is the only one that can chase after Or-Gaule who has escaped through the sky. It is their duty as knights to prevent Or-Gaule escaping so that he won’t be able to repeat the same kind of tragedy somewhere else. Ikki also says he will be okay because he also had trained in Edelberg like Stella. Ikki is not the same as before since he and Stella are equals after all. It is dangerous for Ikki alone to face the KOK A-League 4th ranked who is very close to the top in the world and for Stella to face Or-Gaule by herself. But Stella understands that Ikki wants her to trust him and that he also trusts her. She finally agrees with Ikki’s decision and then leaves the area by flying towards the sky with her wings of fire in order to chase after Or-Gaule. Iris wanted to stop Stella from leaving but she was stopped by Ikki’s power to influence fate as a Desperado. Ikki’s intimidation causes Iris to have stinging-like pain on her neck and prevents her from leaving. If she doesn’t put her consciousness focused on Ikki and tries to go after Stella, then Ikki’s blade would slip into her neck. Iris can tell Ikki is serious about killing her, which she thinks is understandable since she helped Or-Gaule escape. She now has realized that she can’t kill Or-Gaule and doesn’t want him dead. However, Ikki says that Iris still chose this even though she understands that her action is considered to be a betrayal and scornful. He understands that it is her own justice (chivalry) and that he is not qualified to say that the path she has chosen is wrong. He believes that since they are both knights then words are not needed and that there’s only one thing to do when they are in conflict. Ikki says, “With my strongest (weakest), I will crush your justice (chivalry) here”. Iris being seen as an equal enemy by Ikki is like a salvation to her since everyone else must be despising her right now. The feeling of gratitude that is feeling up her chest is overflowing as tears as shown in a pic. She has decided not to show any more unsightly appearance and takes a battle stance. She releases a “kenki (sword spirit)” that is like a wind of light blowing out from her entire body. This feeling of intimidation is more than twice of what she has shown before and very close to the amount Edelweiss released back when Ikki first met her at Akatsuki Academy. It is not surprising because previously she was in a state where her body and heart did not match. But she is different now after knowing her true wish. The person in front of Ikki now is the true Iris Ascarid that she has never shown before even in the KOK A-League. Ikki is facing an opponent that is very close to the top in the world, but he is very calm even though he was trembling so much and his heart was screaming at him to run away when he first fought Edelweiss.  

“From the League of Mage Knight Nations, Hagun Academy 1st year, ‘Seven Stars Sword King’ Ikki Kurogane”

“KOK A-League 4th ranked, ‘Black Knight’ Iris G. Ascarid”

“Now” “Fairly—“

“LET'S FIGHT!!!!”