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「A pup? Now that’s a great name for one of the three heads.」

The man relaxed his shoulders and smiled in amusement, then slowly unsheathed his sword.

「Hmm you call yourselves Chimera, and you said three heads, so I guess you’re more like a goat then.」

A chimera was a mythological creature with the head of a lion, the head of a goat protruding from its torso and a snake head for its tail. When Mira heard him mention three heads, she got to that conclusion seeing the horns affixed to the man’s helmet.

「Oh c’mon, don’t take it so literally, or at least think of me as a snake if anything.」
「Heh, sadly I know someone more befitting of that name.」

Mira replied to him, and as soon as her mouth stopped moving a bolt of lightning hit the knight head on. Pegasus had attacked again.

「Huh, that’s weird.」

The man looked up to the sky, confirming there were no clouds, and then turned to look at Pegasus. Even hit by lightning, he looked unfazed, not a single scratch or burnt spot on his armor.

(I didn’t expect him to barely react to Pegasus’ lightning. I wonder if he’s that powerful, or if it’s his armor doing some work. Either way he’s more dangerous than I thought.)

「That’s an admirable defense you have there. Or is it something you stole from the Spirit King?」

Mira inquired trying to clear her curiosity, which the man laughed away.

「I wish that was it, but he’s one stubborn pain in the a̲s̲s̲. Either way, it shouldn’t take too much longer.」

Saying that, the man turned around, looking up the broken stairs behind him. Mira followed his gaze, spotting a vase with intricate patterns carved into it.

(So I’m still on time. But only barely.)

Further up above the vase, there was a gate far up in the sky, small particles of light falling from it like snow, gathering into small clumps in the air.

「Just a few more.」

As he spoke, the man lifted a hand into the air. In response, the light particles fell quickly and were sucked into the vase.

「Hmm, so that’s the setup you’re using…」

He had already started channeling the Spirit King’s power away. Apparently the sketches of the control room were not essential to grab that power. Still, the Spirit King’s power was so immense that it was impossible to take all of it at once. It was also so powerful that controlling it was no easy feat.

That made their method rather inefficient, so the Libra Fortress’ data was necessary to speed things up. Mira had deducted that much from the scene in front of her, which proved she had arrived on time.

「No matter, I won’t let your schemes succeed.」

Mira smiled slightly saying that, before glaring at the man while Pegasus neighed loudly and also prepared for battle.

「Try if you want!」

The man also smirked and swung his sword in a large arc, the track left by the blade’s tip glowing red before creating a tidal wave of bright flames.

That blade was a fire spirit sword. The flames it gave birth to were powerful like the breath of a dragon, heading straight towards Mira.

(What an overwhelming power.)

A moment later the fire collided with Mira’s Holy Knight’s shield, being split into two torrents of flames. The entire area was sent up in flames instantly, a blazing wind going past Mira’s cheek.

「This fire… it’s clearly coming from a Shadow. Those are rare, but funnily enough I remember encountering another weapon like that not too long ago.」

The roaring flames around her sounded like grievous cries. Mira placed her fingertips on her chin as the White Knight turned red-hot and began to melt.

「Now I want to ask one more thing.」

Mira summoned another Holy Knight and glared at the man’s sword.

A Shadow. Spirit Arms were very rare, and amongst them Shadows were even rarer. Kairos had attacked her wearing multiple of those, which planted a certain suspicion in Mira. Now merely a couple of days later, she was seeing another one. There had to be a connection there.

「Well, I dunno what you wanna ask, but don’t expect I’ll tell you anything.」
「Fair enough.」

Mira’s words were like a signal for the Holy Knight, which brandished its sword and leaped towards the man in the blink of an eye.

While Holy Knights were specialized in defense, they were no slouches at attacking either. Technically they were at the same level as Dark Knights. The arc its sword drew was clean and sharp.

「You’re too straightforward.」

The man smiled as he easily parried and deflected the Holy Knight’s attack with perfect precision. The Holy Knight did not relent, swinging its sword down again, but the man held his sword diagonally and kept it at bay.

With a high pitched metallic sound, the Holy Knight weighed down onto the man.

「So just a low level one is this heavy already. What a pain…」

His smile turned sour as he measured Mira’s power through that low level summon. But the corner of his mouth was quickly raised again. He was using his left hand to help support the weight by holding his sword’s blade, but he let go and held it to the side.

His hand began glowing, and the warrior that had fallen to Pegasus’ lightning rose up again and began running towards the Holy Knight, slicing its fundamental feature, the shield, in half. In a way, rather than cutting, it looked like the warrior’s sword ate through the Shield.

「Is this a similar phenomenon to whatever was around Sanctia?」

The warrior’s body was clad in a black mist, which gave a similar feeling to the skeleton she had seen under the lake the night prior. The mist surrounding that skeleton was a curse that consumed spirits, and seeing what happened to the Holy Knight it was clear this warrior was similar.

(Things just got worse.)

The Holy Knight was an armed spirit focused on defense, but it was erased without effort, so any other similar spirit would be useless. Still, it was a situation Mira had already encountered before.

The mist warrior stood next to the knight, protecting him. Seeing that did not surprise Mira, who smiled boldly.

「I knew it, you’re a necromancer. And you aren’t the first spellcaster I’ve seen recently who wears such superfluous armor.」

The mist warrior was a golem formed through necromancy. Mira already had a hunch the knight was a necromancer, given she knew that Life Sensing gave only one reading since before entering that space. Mira looked at the black mist squirming eerily as she caressed Pegasus’ mane.

「Take him out for me.」

Hearing Mira’s order, Pegasus neighed loudly and kicked off the ground flying into the sky.

Pegasus reached his top speed in a matter of seconds, approaching the mist warrior at breakneck speed to kick him far away from there, before accelerating again to pursue him. Whenever Pegasus went into a fighting mindset, it was hard to contain him, his speed and strength befitting of the title horse of the skies. It was a very different behavior from his demeanor when Mira rode him.

「The heck is that? What a beast.」

The knight watched as the mist warrior slowly rose to his feet again, scoffing at Pegasus’ violent attacks.

「What do you mean? He’s a clingy and gentle child.」

Hearing Mira’s response, the man could only add 「You shouldn’t spoil him so much」 while shaking his head.

「Anyway, now we’re evenly matched.」

Mira looked around, making sure the surroundings were clear before affixing her eyes straight at the man.

「Never in my life did I think I’d hear that from a summoner.」

The man smirked again as he thrust his sword forward and glared back at Mira.

「What an annoying personage.」

Saying that, Mira puffed her cheeks as if she was pouting. But in contrast to that childish reaction, her eyes were locked watching every movement he made.