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「I guess an army of a thousand does carry quite the firepower.」

Quickly summoning a Holy Knight in front of her, Mira peeked from behind it at the violent flames filling the frontlines. The Dark Knights engulfed in flames used their Holy Swords to shake off the fire, waiting silently.

Once the flames seemed to die down, Mira jumped out from behind the Holy Knight and stood with her legs apart and her center of gravity lowered.

「Time for retaliation!」

Inherited Sage Art: Windmill of the Full Moon

Mira struck her right hand forward, a strong gale erupting from her palm with a low sound. Soon after the wind became a powerful tornado, blowing back the fire and Stalwart Dolls in front of her.

「This again?!」

Feeling the strong gale around him, Gregorius planted his black staff on the floor and resisted it. That skill had already caused his failure once, so he had prepared for it. But the Stalwart Dolls had no way of resisting it, around a hundred being thrashed out of commission from it alone.

The incoming fire whittled down, so seeing that she began applying medicine to her right arm that had suffered wounds from the skill, while giving an order to her army.

「Attack!」

The ground shook under the thousand Black Knights steps, as they rushed forward. The Stalwart Dolls armed themselves with swords and shields to fight them off. Mira’s army clashed with Gregorius’ troops in the middle of the battlefield. Loud metallic clangs erupted from them, while multiple mutilated Stalwart Dolls were sent flying.

「Even better than I anticipated…」

Armed with a high level weapon like the Holy Sword Sanctia, the Dark Knights’ power output increased dramatically, overpowering their enemies. Mira was pleased seeing that, smiling to herself seeing how more powerful her army had become.

But her enemy was an army of Stalwart Dolls enhanced with spirit arms. And considering Chimera Clauzen’s usual underhanded methods, she knew this would not end so easily.

There was a bright flash in the battlefield, a maddening light she had seen before.

(The dolls are armed with spirit bombs then… but the enemies inside the blast are untouched. Hmm, I wonder how the mechanism behind that works.)

Seeing that, Mira slowly began to understand the current situation.

The blast radius was smaller than before, barely reaching five meters. But as they were powered by spiritual power, they were still strong enough to blow Dark Knights away. But for some reason, the Stalwart Dolls standing there were unaffected.

Even if they were destroyed, the dolls damaged their enemies. It truly was the best way to employ dolls in a fight.

「Hmm, that’s trickier than expected.」

Looking at the battle unfolding in front of her, Mira recalled her past fight with a smile. Back then, those battles were but a game. For some strange reason, Mira did not feel too differently than back then. But she did not notice that, simply relishing the excitement of war.

「I see… they’re different depending on their unit.」

Mira was analyzing everything attentively. She realized the dolls were separated into various units, and she saw dolls from one unit vaporizing those from a neighboring unit.

Each unit was equipped to be protected from the spirit bombs in their unit, but not from those of others. That was what led to some blowing up each other. She did not fully understand where one unit ended and another started, but she knew there was a distinction, so she moved her own troops in an attempt to mix them up.

「She saw through it…」

As the battlezone became more confusing, the spirit bombs began damaging Gregorius’ troops as well. Realizing his structure had been noticed, he clicked his tongue and checked his pocket watch, muttering 「Not yet…」

「Time for plan B, I guess.」

Without the help of spirit bombs, his Stalwart Dolls just decreased in number as they were inferior to the Dark Knights. Fully aware of that, Gregorius moved onto his next plan.

As Mira expected, the Stalwart Dolls soon stopped blowing themselves up. But when it came to regular combat, the Stalwart Dolls were still fully equipped with powerful spirit arms, so Mira’s army was also slowly decreasing in number.

However, those losses had been accounted for in her strategy. If everything continued the same way, she would win. But it would not end so easily, as Gregorius still had another plan. He raised his staff, and the large metallic walls on the sides of the room began opening.

「Oh, you still had this many units hidden away.」

All the Stalwart Dolls standing by behind the walls sprung to life. Altogether, they numbered near three thousand. As soon as they activated, they ran towards the battlefield, fully armed with spirit arms.

The dolls formed a large circle around Mira, before slowly approaching. One on one, a Dark Knight was more powerful, but there were nearly four times as many dolls. Even with a large army under her orders, it was difficult for her to focus on such a large number of enemies around her.

「This really brings me back.」

Outnumbering had such an effect on the battlefield. But Mira, who was known as the army, knew how to handle such a situation.

‘Escort of the wishless moonlight. Gravestone of the fallen swords,
Your guidance leads higher than the sky, envoy from the brilliant beyond.’

Stacking up two Rosario Summoning Circles, Mira’s voice rang clear from the center of the battlefield. It was loud enough that Gregorius heard it too.

「A chant?! I have to stop her!」

Gregorius waved his staff, making all the Stalwart Dolls engaged in battle to change targets.

‘Maidens of war, plucking souls from the eternal cycle of rebirth into battle,
The clamor of armament is your elegy, navigators of the rainbow bridges to the heavens.’

A volley of fireballs was shot at Mira. But half of them were caught by Dark Knights that reacted instantly, and the other half were blocked by the Holy Knight who stood next to Mira. But Gregorius’ attempt at interrupting her was not over yet. The dolls began throwing fellow dolls towards Mira’s location.

Nearly a dozen Stalwart Dolls were sent on a direct path towards Mira. They seemed to break apart in mid-air, setting off the spirit bombs contained within them. Dark Knights leapt high into the air to catch them, carrying them up before they could reach Mira, and detonating high above.

「Dammit!」

The Dark Knights and Holy Knight offered a strong defense, protecting Mira’s chanting from obstructions. Gregorius knew how powerful Mira could be, so he was desperate to stop her. But ultimately he failed.

‘Leave the night and descend upon us, arbiters of the seven colors.’
Summoning Magic: Valkyrie Sisters

As Mira enunciated those words, the summoning circles took prismatic colors. Once the chanting was over, a gate across dimensions was opened.

One circle shone brightest, and from it the older Valkyrie sister stepped out, Alfina. She had long thin blue hair which flowed in the wind, wearing a thin deep blue armor and metallic gauntlets and greaves. A warrior maiden with a clear air of divinity to her.

Her presence alone was so impactful that Gregorius seemed to forget how to breathe. But the summoning was not over yet. After Alfina came the second daughter, the third, and so on. Eventually came the last, the seventh sister Christina, after which the summoning circle served its purpose and vanished.

「We sisters have arrived to fulfill our summoning contract.」

Alfina took a step forward, her sisters lining up behind her. Then they all knelt at the same time. While the details were slightly different, they all wore similar equipment, and it was easy to tell they were all valuable items.

「Glad to see you again, Alfina. And it’s good to see everyone else is in good health too.」

The pure sisters of war, all abiding by Mira’s orders. It was like a sight out of a king’s throne room. And it highlighted just how powerful of an entity Mira was. Gregorius did not know how to react seeing that, his mouth wide agape. Was Mira really human? Having divine servants under her control?

But there was something more important for him to think about, how to win against all of them. With the arrival of the Valkyrie Sisters, the battlefield was clearly tipped against Gregorius, but he refused to show any signs of defeat. He was simply surprised, yet convinced that he still had a chance at snatching the victory.

The source of that confidence lay on his pocket watch, which he looked at with a grin. 「Just a little more,」 he muttered to himself.