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“It looks pretty destroyed…”
“You did all of that with just one attack…”

Ciel and Luvias stared dumbfounded at the terrible scene in front of them. The entire palace had crumbled and fallen. Fires were breaking out everywhere, and the people who could still move were running around frantically. It was clear they were still confused, wondering exactly what had happened. This was the imperial capital, deep in the heart of the empire, and the symbol of their glory, the palace, had been destroyed.

“Ah…”
“Lapis?!”

I barely had any strength left, so Karin and Diaria had to rush in and hold me up. Spending all of my mana like that had pushed me to my limit, placing an even heavier burden on me than I expected. Flight Magic was out of the question for me, I could not even light a small fireball.

“I’m really exhausted. We should retreat while-”
“Something’s coming! From below!”
“Huh?!”

I felt a strong feeling of dread focused on us, so I shouted that. Karin and Luvias quickly took their swords and held them ready, though their movements were rather restricted in mid-air. The best they could do was to hold their swords like shields to block the incoming attack, which came at an incredible speed.

“Kyah!”
“Oh no! We can’t get separated!”
“…Wind Spirits!”

The strong impact almost sent us flying into random directions, but Diaria’s spirit magic created a powerful wind that managed to keep us together. But we were not yet safe, the enemy was still near.

“Ciel! We need to retreat as fast as possible!”
“G-got it!”

Ciel began spending more mana trying to get us out of there as fast as possible. But the enemy was faster, mostly because we were a group of five, which slowed us down. We somehow thwarted the second attack, but the third one went through, knocking us down and sending us spinning to the ground. The powerful impact shredded our robes and veils.

“Augh!”
“Ghah?!”

We had managed to lower our altitude before being knocked down, but it was still a hard hit. It took us some time until we could breathe properly again. We were outside the city, but it was still close enough that we could be reached by horses without effort, putting us in a bad spot.

“Oh…I knew no average person would be able to do that, and so it was you, Lapis.”
“!”

A man holding a sword landed in front of us. He was not the largest person ever, but he felt much more dangerous than anyone I encountered before. His hair was a deep red, as if representing his fiery nature. His eyes were sharp like a hawk’s, and he stared at us with so much bloodlust a regular person would faint.

“Emperor…”
“No…way…”
“…So we didn’t get him…”

I knew our chances were not the best, and we had actually failed! And now he came after us himself, he…

“So you can use Flight Magic too…”
“Hmph! Did you really believe you were the only one with that skill? How foolish, and the rest of you…”

His eyes turned to Luvias and the rest, who were standing up while firmly grasping their weapons. They had realized he was no ordinary foe as well.

“You’re not just Bordaule’s, but the elf there is Zelvis’ hero, right? Did you really believe you could stop Leble by killing me? But as you can see, I’m still alive.”

He was not completely untouched either though. He was bleeding from various spots, and others looked bruised and dark. He had probably broken a bone or two too, but he did not seem to feel any pain, like they were not even there. I knew such wounds were extremely painful, which meant he had a really sturdy mind as well.

“But you’ve really gone too far now, so I’ll kill you here. I’m tired of having you get in my way every single time.”

He swung his sword, sending a powerful gust of wind towards us. I squinted instinctively, this was bad…he seemed really powerful. But Luvias was not scared, she stood up and faced him without hesitating.

“What are you saying, the only one dying here is you! It’s obvious you’re the one joining hands with demons and terrorizing other countries! We’ll kill you here, and put a stop to your tyranny!”

Luvias said that with a sharp and stoic voice, while the rest of the party moved to surround him. Ciel and Diaria both went further away, while Luvias, Karin, and I remained near the emperor.

“That’s a lofty declaration, princess of Bordaule. Are you sure you can fight me though? From what I’ve seen, the only one here who could match me is Lapis, and I don’t think she’s in any shape to fight. So don’t…get carried away!”

The emperor moved, dashing straight towards Luvias and swinging his sword, trying to smash her head. Luvias managed to dodge the attack by the breadth of a hair, but she was not so lucky with the second attack.

“Kuh?!”
“Luvias!”

Karin rushed in, trying to rescue Luvias, but the emperor swung his sword again, sending Luvias flying into Karin and sending them back together.

“Woah!”
“Kyah?!”
“Stop that!”

I lunge at him with my weapon ready, trying to stop him from attacking again, but my movements feel sluggish. It was almost like I was in someone else’s body.

“Not even close.”

The emperor snorted as he effortlessly dodged my attack. He counterattacked, enough weight behind his blade to kill me, but Diaria’s arrow stopped it.