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–––Ciel’s viewpoint

Karin, Diaria, and Luvias, they all had suspected something like that before, and now they half believed-half doubted it. Lapis’ fighting prowess had always been more than extraordinary. She was stronger both physically and magically than any other human. She remained unfazed even against evil demons or dragons. There were many things considered lost knowledge which she considered common, and sometimes she would find common things foreign.

On top of that, she seemed to know the legendary sorcerer Sorciere very well. Then I remembered Sorciere’s last words to Lapis when we left her place, ‘Say, Lapis, if you wish, I can turn you back’. Was she talking about undoing a transformation spell she had cast on her old friend? If that was the case, everything would line up.

But I refused to believe it. I was so confused I could hardly think anymore. Why had she never said anything? Did she have so little trust in us? Had she been deceiving us all this time? Why had she changed her name in the first place? I didn’t understand…it made no sense!

The girl we had been living with was an old legendary hero? Was there any reason left for us to fight then? Couldn’t he simply go fix it all on his own again? Was there even a reason for the many casualties in Strom? Many selfish thoughts like those began popping up in my head. The other girls were the same, our thoughts showing up on our faces and becoming unsightly in front of Lapis. When I finally turned my eyes towards her, she looked terribly hurt.

“Ah…L-Lapis…”
“…I’m sorry I didn’t say anything before.”

I felt like I had to say something. For some reason it had taken me this long to remember why he…or rather, she, had gone to live alone in a secluded place, and the story Sorciere had told us about the reason why she built her secret city. After saving the world, the humans that owed Brave their lives began shunning her. A hero with nowhere left to be, completely alone. And now we were doing exactly the same thing again!

“…Anyway, we can talk about me later, you should focus on training now… And you can think about what you want to do afterwards.”
“Ah…w-wait!”

Without waiting a moment longer, Lapis flew past Tiamat, going further inside the temple. I tried following her in desperation, but someone got in my way.

“Where are you trying to go? I’m the one in charge of you. I won’t allow any unauthorized movements.”
“B-but!”
“No can do. If you want to go there so badly, you’ll have to beat me first.”
“”!””

Usually we would have calmly listened to anything Selene said, we could tell how strong she was without having seen her fight yet, so we would have avoided fighting her if possible. But now…

“Out of the way! We have to go after Lapis!”
“I can’t let my Master be alone now, and I won’t forgive anyone who stops me from following her!”
“Don’t stop us! We can’t leave her alone knowing she’s hurt like that!”
“Let’s break through everyone!”

We all readied our weapons and began molding magic power inside of us. Selene confronted it all with a calm face, while Tiamat remained still, not showing signs of going anywhere. It was as if no matter what we did, we would not be able to leave even a scratch on them.

“If you won’t listen to words, you leave me no choice but to make your bodies understand. Let me teach you our difference in strength as a greeting.”

Saying that, it felt like her body was growing in size many times over, but there was no real change, she had simply released all the magic power and pressure she had been holding back, even though there was no bloodlust or malice. But we would win! We could not afford to lose!

“Let’s go.”
“W-where is-”

Selene vanished from our eyes. We were shocked seeing her move like Lapis usually would, and before we noticed she had knocked down Luvias and Karin. The two were taken by surprise, and were hit so hard their bodies bounced on the ground before stopping still. I had not seen any weapons on her, so Selene was probably barehanded, and had punched the two with physical force alone. That was enough to knock them out of the fight?!

“Damn..! Sol! A little bit of help!”
“That won’t do anything.”

Diaria’s entire body was covered in an armor I had never seen before, but Selene did not seem bothered about it at all, punching her stomach.

“?!”

The armor crumbled to dust as Diaria was launched away, losing consciousness. She fell onto the ground, not moving like Karin and Luvias. I could not believe it…I knew she was still holding back, but was the gap between our skills so big?

“So, you’re the only one left. Are you going to listen now? Or do I have to teach you the same way I did your friends?”
“…Don’t belittle me so much! Flames!”

I raised my staff, flames coming out its tip. Fire magic was the one I trained the most, and I focused all my power into a fireball which I shot towards Selene as it bathed the surroundings in red. It was powerful enough to gouge a hole into solid stone, so it would have some effect even on a dragon. But she remained unfazed, and the fireball exploded as it hit her. I kept my eyes focused on her, not lowering my guard as I witnessed something unbelievable.

“…That was rather powerful. A lower dragon would certainly take a lot of damage from that, but it’s not enough against me.”

Selene walked out from the flames as if she could not even feel them. My most powerful spell had done essentially nothing to her!

“Ah!”
“Sweet dreams.”

Seeing the first one had no effect, I prepared myself to cast another spell, but then I heard Selene whispering into my ear from behind. At the same time, I felt a powerful blow to my body, and while I tried to understand what had happened, my consciousness was plunged into darkness.

“Lapis…”

This was the worst time for her to be alone, but after cursing my own powerlessness my thoughts shut off completely.