Light Novel Volume 11

The eleventh installment of the Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry Light Novel volume of the series and was released on January 13, 2017.

Chapters
Chapter 5 – ‘Worst One’ vs. ‘Crimson Wild Lion’!?

Sirius feels troubled because his own daughter Stella had been looking at him with cold eyes as if he was garbage. Whenever he tries to talk to her she would ignore him or half-heartedly reply even if he persists. He wonders why Stella, who had said “when I grow up I want to become Papa’s bride!” had ended up like this. He concludes that it’s Ikki’s fault because Ikki had kidnapped and deceived the pure Stella. Since using his authority as a king to send people to go after Ikki didn’t work, he decided to do it himself in order to protect his beloved Stella and regain her trust. In a training ring in the castle’s courtyard, Sirius plans on having a mock battle with Ikki with their devices in ‘illusion form’. He is sure that if he defeats Ikki then Stella will see him as the coolest guy in the world. Ikki is confused on what the duel is about, which Sirius claims that even though he agreed to let Ikki marry Stella if he brings victory to Vermillion in the upcoming war he still needs to test Ikki’s abilities. If Ikki wins, Sirius will accept him as one of Vermillion’s representatives. But if Ikki loses, he will go back to Japan. Ikki is not comfortable pointing his blade at a royalty but Stella and Astrea tell him that it’s fine. Sirius is bitter because even his own wife would only talk to Ikki but not him, and they didn’t even take a bath together yesterday. When they both are finally on the ring, Ikki agrees to go at Sirius seriously.

They manifest their devices, and Stella who is the referee signals the start of the match. The one who moves first is Sirius, who is called the ‘Crimson Wild Lion’. He creates a 3,000 degrees Celsius flame and put it on the blade of his axe-shaped device ‘Ifreet (great axe of illuminating flame)’. He charges at Ikki but all of a sudden he loses sight of him and at the same time he collapses on the ground as if parts below his knee have disappeared. In just about 5 seconds after the start of the match, Ikki is declared the winner. Sirius realizes that Ikki figured out that Sirius is actually almost blind in the left eye, which is caused by an injury from 30 years ago and Sirius never even told his own family. Ikki slipped into Sirius’ blindspot with Edelweiss’ technique and he doesn’t think it was dirty because even Sirius knows it’s natural to strike an opponent’s weakness in battle. Sirius trembles because Ikki’s movement and insight are not at the level that could have been reached with just intense training. Stella then says Sirius now has to acknowledge Ikki as a representative for Vermillion, but Sirius laughs hard and claims he was giving Ikki a handicap and that he forgot to say that there are 3 matches.

The next match is arm-wrestling in order to test strength and Sirius puts his elbow on a drum that has been prepared. Sirius believes he should win since even the difference in the thickness of their arms is as much as twice. Ikki then puts his elbow on the drum and the match starts. However, Ikki’s arm doesn’t move at all as if it’s steel, even though Sirius puts his whole strength into it to the extent his own face turning red. Ikki then slowly moves his arm and lands the back of Sirius’ hand on the drum, winning the match. Sirius doesn’t understand how, but Stella explains it’s because Ikki completely used all of the strength in his body. People can’t draw out their actual full strength because their survival instincts prevent them from doing so. However, Ikki is different and so he can ignore this limiter at will with his extreme concentration and draw out his full strength which is different than the normal full strength from people. Sirius who is also a warrior wonders just how much Ikki had went through in order to have full control of his will. Stella says Ikki is not someone Sirius can win against especially since Stella herself can’t even win against him. Even though Ikki has won 2 out of 3 matches, Sirius insists that it's still not over yet since the final match is worth 10 points and so he can still make a reversal. Stella tells him to cut it out and even the maids are saying that Sirius is being uncool and that they can't look at it anymore. Sirius says that as long as his heart remains strong, a man does not know the word defeat.

Sirius then says that the next match is a marathon, which they will run to the head office of ‘Bonnie House’ and return back. ‘Bonnie House’ is a sweets brand from Vermillion, and its chocolates are quite popular and being sold in Japan too. The head office even has chocolate taiyaki being sold only there and buying it there will be used as proof of running to that store. Sirius immediately goes ahead first and Stella says Ikki doesn’t have to go along with it. Ikki says that it’s fine and he then manages to get past Sirius. The distance is about 10 km which is not a big deal for Ikki who runs 20 km every day. Despite that, Sirius is convinced he will win because he should know shortcuts that are not even shown in GPS maps. He thinks that he owns this match. However, in the end Ikki is the one that comes back to the castle with taiyaki first. Ikki asks what about father-in-law and Astrea says not to worry because she had sent Dandalion to search at places where kids could get lost. Sirius is royalty and never went through places like back alleys and so it was impossible for him to reach the destination through such shortcuts. As a result, he got lost and issued an SOS to Astrea’s phone. Stella says how embarrassing and pathetic it is while being irritated. Ikki calms her down and says that it’s fine. Astrea says Ikki is so kind that he would care about Sirius even after being seen as an enemy by him. She also got a message for him from Sirius saying “let’s call it a draw today”. Ikki understands Sirius’ feelings because if he and Stella have a child, he will treasure that child more than his own life. Astrea says Stella has chosen a good man and that she will support him, and then leaves the castle to pick up Sirius.

Later, few young maids offer cold drink and a change of clothes to Ikki who is sweating a lot. Ikki removes his jacket and then the maids suddenly squeal from having seen Ikki’s abs. They say Ikki is so perfect, being both good-looking and macho. They also suggest Ikki to have a shower first and ask him to have afternoon tea with them later because they want to know more about him. Stella who is annoyed by this then breaks them off and says they have some nerve despite being the royal family’s maids. The maids rebut that it’s impossible for Ikki and Stella to get married given how Sirius is feeling now and that it’s weird for Stella to claim ownership of Ikki when they’re not even officially engaged yet. Stella’s hair then turns flame color, and she says the maids sure have some gut and that she will fight the thieving cat squad if they want to. The maids say Stella is a muscle-brain like her father and run away. Stella asks who are they calling a muscle-brain and chases after them, leaving Ikki confused over the sight. Tilmitt and Miriallia then show up with Lunaeyes, saying how popular and what a playboy Ikki is. Ikki mentions he hasn’t seen Tilmitt and Miriallia since they went after him for the bounty. They apologize for that since they really wanted the money but Ikki says it’s fine since he was no longer being nervous much from meeting Stella’s father because of that. While looking at Stella chasing around the maids, they also say Ikki really suits Stella because she was able to change thanks to him. They couldn’t imagine Stella being more like a normal girl that would get jealous of other girls before. Stella looked like she had chuunibyou since there was no one who could compete with her.

“Well, in other words even that restive horse (unmanageable woman) that fled out of the country having chuunibyou on top of it, can’t win against the ‘Intetsu’ between Samurai-sama’s legs.”

“W, what are you saying all of a sudden, Tilmit-san!?”

“What, you say. I’m talking about how you probably disciplined that restive horse with your you know what.”

“Like rodeo?”

“No, I didn’t do such thing like disciplining!!”

“There you go again. Stop pretending to be innocent. Healthy male and female, moreover lovers always living in the same room and then not doing anything are like an occult. That’s impossible, isn’t it?”

“Hey, hey, seriously how far have you gone with Stella? Be honest, will you?”

“It’s that, right? Since the partner is that sort of princess, the ass, right? Did you do it with the ass?”

Lunaeyes hits Tilmitt and Miriallia on their heads and tells them to cut it out, even though she herself doesn’t really care what her little sister does with her lover. She says Ikki is a responsible young man and that there is no way he would lose to his carnal desires and commit premarital sexual relations with a nation princess. Ikki says “of course” with a fake laugh while feeling guilty. However, Stella was the only thing in his mind during that time before and nothing else mattered so he doesn’t regret it. Luna says she didn’t think Stella would come back home as a fine lady and becoming a bride. Even though Luna’s expression was gentle and compassionate when saying that, it looked dark to Ikki.

Luna then says they are here because she wants Ikki to train Tilmitt and Miriallia. Luna believes Ikki and Stella should win against whoever they face in their matches, but Tilmitt and Miriallia are probably cutting close. Those two are strong as a pair because they cover each other’s weaknesses but Ikki thinks they have a lot to improve when fighting alone. This is something he has to do about in order to bring victory to Vermillion. They don’t have to end up having abilities superior to their opponents, they just have to win against them. Asking Ikki to train them seems to be the right move since winning against opponents with superior abilities is Ikki’s specialty. She then says the other reason she’s here is because she was contacted by the League HQ regarding something in the outskirts of Vermillion. Before she can continue she gets a phone call from Johann. Tilmitt and Miriallia explain to Ikki that the person calling Luna is the First Prince of Cradleland, Johann Cristoph von Collbrand, nicknamed the ‘Golden Wind’ and the team leader. He had visited Vermillion frequently for a long time and went to the same university with Luna. Ikki is surprised that despite history between Vermillion and Cradleland, the royalties of both countries are able to become quite friendly. Ikki thinks Sirius might be quite a good politician to be able to build a peaceful relationship. Luna finishes her conversation on the phone by saying she will try asking a certain person for his help and that she will be there around noon tomorrow. She then asks Ikki if it’s okay for him to come with her to Cradleland.

Chapter 6 – Night of the Massacre

A helicopter belonging to the Kazamatsuri Zaibatsu, one of the world’s leading financial groups, is heading towards Rebellion’s headquarters that is located somewhere in the Alps. The pilot is shocked at the sight of the summit of the surrounding mountain being gone, as if being cut off. The helicopter arrives near the main gate, with Rinna, her maid Charlotte and her step-sister Sara coming out of it. They are shocked at the sight of corpses of Rebellion’s followers around the main gate, which look like they’re in a war zone. A man then appears saying a battle had occurred here 3 days earlier. He is Kouzou Kazamatsuri, Rinna and Sara’s father who is the head of the Kazamatsuri Zaibatsu and one of the ‘Numbers (12 Apostles)’. Kouzou and the 'Grand Professor' were not here when it happened, but everyone including the ‘Numbers’ who was present at the time was killed. Kouzou doesn’t know what exactly happened and so he had asked the girls to bring Tsukikage with them here. Tsukikage greets Kouzou and apologizes for his plan to make Japan leave the League of Mage-Knight Nations failing. Kouzou wants Tsukikage to use his device to find out what had happened here, which Tsukikage agrees to because this is an important matter for Japan too. Tsukikage then manifests his device and it starts to show the events that occurred here from 3 days earlier.

Dozens of followers were shooting at each other around the main gate. Some were saying they couldn’t control their body and asked the others to kill a certain kid. Their commander saw a petite person walking down on the snowy path singing “''Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream~. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream~”. ''He tried to shoot at the petite one but ended up shooting his fellow soldiers. Everyone there who ran out of bullets would slash each other’s neck with their knives. The petite one kept singing'' “Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. If you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream~”. ''The commander was then the only one left and he realized who that petite one was after remembering a Blazer who can manipulate others like dolls. After the petite one sung, ''“Row, row, row your boat, gently in the bath. If you see a spider, don't forget to laugh~”, ''the commander shot himself in the head with his own gun. The petite one wearing a hood was Or-Gaule, nicknamed the ‘Puppet King’. He said it was stupid of the soldiers with no powers to attack one of the ‘Numbers’. But he then apologized to the dead soldiers after realizing they didn’t recognize who Or-Gaule was since he had never even been to the headquarters in his own living body. After he went past the main gate, about 50 soldiers fired machine guns, rifles and rocket launchers at him for tens of seconds. However, their opponent was a Desperado who had undergone ‘Brute Soul (awakening)’, so it didn’t even reach him. Or-Gaule then snapped his fingers while saying “Grand Guignol (murder play)”. All of the 50 soldiers fell to the ground, becoming little pieces of meat like dice steak. Or-Gaule was protected from the bullets and explosions by an invisible wall called ‘Spider’s Nest’. Or-Gaule was then struck by a strong impact that managed to penetrate even his ‘Spider’s Nest’ and caused his cheek to bleed. It was caused by Sir Wallenstein, the ‘One-Armed Swordsman’, who came from the stairs ahead.

Wallenstein asked Or-Gaule what was he doing and Or-Gaule said it was because he had grown tired of doing Rebellion’s work. He then said with a feverish smile that while doing a work that looked like babysitting, he had met a girl with scarlet eyes who trampled and looked down on him. He was charmed by such beauty and wanted to see her noble heart smeared with mud and rot. He hadn’t felt this way since his beloved older sister. He was falling for her and wanted to go to her immediately. It was time for him to dispose his old toys and play with new ones. However, he knew Wallenstein and the others wouldn’t let him go and so he had to go kill them all. Wallenstein thought bringing Or-Gaule to Rebellion would help them with their cause, but it turned out to be a mistake and so he planned on killing Or-Gaule to correct the mistake. Or-Gaule laughed because Wallenstein who had lost to a B-rank student knight was planning on killing Or-Gaule, who was a Desperado like the ‘Tyrant’.

Or-Gaule had created a rock giant with his Noble Art ‘Deus Ex Machina’ while he talking and by the time Wallenstein noticed the rock giant had delivered many blows at him. However, Wallenstein was still standing because the blows only hit the walls around him. Then, he swung his sword to use ‘Bergschneiden (mountain cut)’ which cut the rock giant like butter, including the top of the surrounding mountain behind it. Wallenstein moved and Or-Gaule tried to intercept with ‘Grand Guignol’ which he released thousands of threads protecting his body that were used before to cut the soldiers into pieces. However, Wallenstein caught the threads by increasing the friction to 1000%. The caught threads were not forming a barrier around Or-Gaule’s body and so Wallenstein was able to land a kick that sent Or-Gaule’s small body far away. Wallenstein said that Or-Gaule was a fool because even if Or-Gaule had undergone ‘Brute Soul’ his ability with his threads were no match for Wallenstein’s friction ability. Wallenstein then stood in front of Or-Gaule, saying he was just a brat with enormous amount of power. While Wallenstein was about to kill him, Or-Gaule suddenly laughed hard. Or-Gaule said that if Wallenstein knew that then why he would think that Or-Gaule would fight someone strong like Wallenstein by himself alone. In an instant, a black arm pierced Wallenstein’s chest, grabbing onto his heart. Wallenstein’s heart that was grabbed by the hand in black glove started to dry up quickly like it was tomato. It was then happening to the rest of his body, which his skin cracked from loss of moisture, his thinning eyeballs dangling, and his flesh thinning. The hand coming out his chest grabbed his mummified face and tore it off.

A man with unkempt hair dressed in black appeared and he’s called ‘Haboob (desert god of death)’. He grabbed Or-Gaule by his collar and lifted him up. Haboob was angry at him for taking things lightly and he would have been killed if ‘Haboob’ had not come. Or-Gaule with an easygoing attitude said it was fine since Haboob saved him and that they could become good friends. Haboob threw Or-Gaule’s body and said that he only came here because of the war Or-Gaule was about to cause and the promise of allowing Haboob to be involved in crushing Vermillion and Cradleland. Or-Gaule replied that the promise was real and he just wanted Stella, so Haboob could do anything else that he liked. Haboob was glad that as long as he would obtain his own country, he would accompany Or-Gaule in his awful hobby. Haboob then said that there were others they needed to get rid of here. As he started walking towards the stairs leading to Rebellion’s headquarters, two people came from the stairs. One of them was a slim woman with beautiful black hair called ‘Dirty Rose (flower of evil)’ who thanked Or-Gaule for inviting her, and the other was an obese man called ‘BB’ whose body looked like a daruma. They had finished taking care of everyone except the Tyrant in the headquarters.

A group of people then came from the stairs, and they were 7 of the ‘Numbers’ other than Or-Gaule and Wallenstein who were country leaders, rich people and such. Flowers of roses were growing all over their bodies, coming out of the holes of their nose, ears, eyes and skin. Dirty Rose saidhuman lives should be used to grow beautiful flowers. She planted seeds in their bodies and used her ability to grow magic flowers on their bodies. They couldn’t move their body on their own will and were feeling severe pain constantly in order to encourage metabolism that would keep them alive in such state. Or-Gaule said it was quite a nice hobby and that he liked it. BB said they smelled great and looked delicious, so he plucked and ate the bloody roses. BB’s only friend Dirty Rose was not pleased at it and Haboob then remarked that since the remaining ‘Numbers’ had been taken care of then the only one remaining was the Tyrant. Dirty Rose replied that the 7 of the ‘Numbers’ that she took care of were not even Blazers, but the Tyrant is one of the powerful Desperados that divided the world into three so she didn’t go after him. Haboob said the Tyrant is just an old man and he would take care of him, but Or-Gaule replied that it wouldn’t be necessary because the Tyrant was not here. Or-Gaule then revealed Rebellion's secret regarding Tyrant's current wherabouts that even among the Numbers the only ones who know are 3 people, which consist of Kouzou Kazamatsuri, the ‘Grand Professor’ and one more person. What Or-Gaule revealed caused Haboob and Dirty Rose to widen their eyes in surprise and then burst into laughter. Or-Gaule then said to the others that since they came here then that meant they also thought that the world was boring. He then said that it’s a farce that world should be peaceful and filled with happiness, and that people like themselves should die. So Or-Gaule suggested that they should go kill, take and devour as they like and make the world more enjoyable to their liking. They then started moving towards Cradleland.

After Tsukikage has finished seeing the events that occurred in Rebellion’s headquarters using his device, Kouzou asks what he saw. Tsukikage says that Or-Gaule is planning on destroying Vermillion and Cradleland. Not just ‘Dirty Rose’ and ‘BB’, even ‘Haboob’ is helping him. Kouzou guesses it probably has something to do with Stella after Or-Gaule met her as Reisen Hiraga. Tsukikage will inform the League of the situation and ask the ‘Winged Chancellor’ and the others to be deployed. Kouzou will work with the surviving ‘Numbers’ to reorganize Rebellion because the organization’s existence as a major third power is important to prevent the vision of the future that Tsukikage saw coming true. Sara knows Ikki’s phone number so she, Rinna, and Charlotte try to contact Ikki and Stella. However, none of them can contact anyone they want because their calls won’t go through. A Rebellion follower comes to inform everyone that 3 armed helicopters are heading here fast. The person who is coming is Abraham Carter, head of the US supernatural powers unit Scion who is the Union’s strongest man and one of the powerful Desperados that divided the world into three. Kouzou realizes it is inevitable and in his mind he says, “I’m sorry, …Ryouma”.

Chapter 7 – Visit to Cradleland

Ikki, Stella and Lunaeyes are in a small airplane heading for Cradleland. Johann had asked Luna to come to Cradleland because they needed to discuss about a report from the League of Mage-Knight Nations headquarters regarding Or-Gaule who is a dangerous criminal from Rebellion being spotted near Vermillion and Cradleland. Johann also wanted to talk to Luna regarding the schedules for the upcoming war. He’s also interested in meeting Ikki before the war and so Ikki was asked to come to Cradleland. Ikki was surprised that royal members of Cradleland and Vermillion could have a private phone call because he thought the relationship between the two countries were bad. Stella also agreed since she played with Johann since she was little and treated it as if it was natural, but after studying abroad she realized how special it was. Luna said at first the two countries didn’t get along since Vermillion gained independence from Cradleland through war and they had been carrying hatred for each other for hundreds of years. However, 30 years ago Sirius went to Cradleland alone, went up against its army, and when he entered the palace he told Cradleland’s King that if he hated him then their countries should fight as much as they liked. Ikki and Stella were stunned hearing it, but Luna laughed about it. The King of Cradleland couldn’t end up hating someone so stupid and after that the relationship between the two countries improved little by little by educating their people to be cooperative with people from the other country. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses in the upcoming war because the loser still gets financial support for infrastructure improvement from the winner and so the war is more like a social gathering between the two countries. Luna and Stella think that their father Sirius didn’t come up with such good political ideas on his own and that their mother Astrea was pulling his strings. Ikki then remembers that when Sirius opposed Stella studying abroad, Astrea had him imprisoned, which makes Ikki think that he shouldn’t make Astrea angry. Stella tells Ikki that Johan and Luna are like real siblings and he’s like a big brother to Stella.

Ikki, Stella and Lunaeyes arrive at Lucier, Cradleland’s capital city where they promise to meet Johann. The town itself is a world heritage site and look like they’re in Europe’s medieval times. Luna tells Ikki and Stella that they can spend the night together here since they will be staying here until the war is over eventually, which makes Stella blush. Suddenly, a blond man appears and greets them. Stella says she and the man haven’t seen each other since last Christmas, and the man says he has heard of Stella’s accomplishments in Japan even of her defeating Ouma. He also introduces himself to Ikki as the First Prince of Cradleland, Johann Cristoph von Collbrand. He has seen Ikki and Stella’s match in the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival and was amazed. He asks Ikki what kind of training he has done and wants to learn to become strong like him. Luna then says Johann’s appearance is a little untidy and goes to fix his scarf. Stella says they really do look like siblings but Ikki thinks it looks more than that. Suddenly, Stella’s stomach is growling, which makes Luna upset and Stella protests it’s because she hasn’t eaten lunch and her fuel consumption has been bad ever since she has awakened her dragon power. Johann suggests they go to lunch. While on their way, people on the street are greeting their prince and the two princesses from the neighboring country. However, Ikki notices a woman with silver hair and differing eye colors among the crowd. Ikki recognizes her and wonders why she is here. Stella calling out to him causes Ikki turning his attention away for a moment and by the time Ikki looks back again at the place the woman was standing she is already gone. At the same time, somewhere along the borders of Vermillion and Cradleland, some people in Vermillion’s side notice many tanks coming from Cradleland.

Ikki, Stella, Lunaeyes and Johann arrive at the park that has the Lucier National Stadium where the war will be held a week from now. Stella orders and eats a lot of waffles and ice cream, which makes Luna wonder if Stella has a black hole in her stomach. Some of the waffles are being sold in Japan too, so Stella tells Ikki that they should get married immediately and have those waffles there. Then, Cradleland’s representatives in the war Luke, Mira, Lid and Enalis show up. Stella greets them and Johan says he called them here as security measures because of the report of Or-Gaule being spotted nearby. Cradleland’s representatives and Ikki introduce themselves to each other. Cradleland’s representatives have heard of Ikki and about him marrying Stella if he wins against them. Ikki says he won’t lose since he made a promise and the representatives also say they won’t lose. People running the nearby food stalls are excited after hearing it and then offer food to everyone there. Ikki is amazed at the sight of people from two different countries getting along with each other so much, which is something very rare. Stella says she became a knight to protect such kind people from harm. She also says she loves Vermillion, Cradleland and the kind people over there, and that she will not let anyone get hurt by whoever it is. Suddenly, there’s a voice saying, “Sorry, that’s impossible”.

Chapter 8 – The Nation Named Vermillion

Stella sees a boy hanging upside down as shown in the pic at the end of the previous chapter. The boy says “Grand Guignol”, and Stella can tell that he is about to release countless slashes that will hit everyone nearby but she won’t’ make it in time to stop him. Ikki, who had already manifested ‘Intetsu’, activates ‘Itto Rasetsu’ and releases a sword slash all of a sudden. His own slash sends the other countless slashes towards the sky altogether. The countless slashes end up cutting pigeons into pieces of meat and pouring down on the streets causing street lights, roadside trees and such to be shredded, with some people bruised. The boy, who is Or-Gaule, is impressed with Ikki’s fast decision to deal with the threads before they spread out, although he can see that Ikki’s move had a huge drawback. Blood is coming out all over Ikki’s body, and then Ikki falls down due to the cuts all over his body and the exhaustion from using ‘Itto Rasetsu’. Seeing Ikki’s appearance like that causes Stella to be very angry and charging at Or-Gaule. However, Johann uses ‘Circus Maximus (trampling feet’s royal road)’ which he rides on a golden horse and thrusts at Stella with his spear-shaped device ‘Chariot (golden tank)’. Stella blocks the spear attack but still gets blown away. Johann gets off the horse and holds Stella down to the ground. Or-Gaule tells Stella not to worry because Ikki wouldn’t die so easily from that and it would be boring if he did. Stella is surprised and asks what Johann is doing, but Johann just keeps saying sorry repeatedly with an empty expression, as if he’s not the usual person that Stella knows.

Lunaeyes tells the nearby people to run but they won’t and instead are singing while dancing. Luna realizes from his ability to control other people that the boy in front her is the ‘Puppet King’ Or-Gaule, who is the criminal mentioned in the report that came from the League. Or-Gaule says Luna is correct and thanks her for answering his invitation, which Luna realizes that being called to Cradleland was a trap from the beginning. Luna asks Or-Gaule why he, who is a top executive of Rebellion, is in this small country. Or-Gaule replies that he has left Rebellion because he got tired of it, and he’s just here to play with Stella. He also tells Stella that she has met him before through a mechanical doll, which Stella remembers. Stella angrily asks what Or-Gaule has done to Johann and everyone else in Cradleland. Or-Gaule replies he’s just using his ability to control others like dolls with his threads. He also says that he has killed this country’s King and strong knights, and points at the Cradleland representatives other than Johann. Those four people’s bodies drop like broken dolls with their limbs distorted and dark blood coming out their bodies. Their appearance makes Stella realize that they were already dead since they met today. Or-Gaule also says that at first Johann was resisting while half-crazed but he is now completely obedient probably because he is already broken. Suddenly, Lunaeyes screams “I’ll kill you!!!!” while charging at Or-Gaule with a dagger she uses for self-defense, even though she’s not a Blazer. However, she ends up getting caught by Or-Gaule’s invisible threads. Or-Gaule says Luna’s reaction is nice and wonders if it’s mutual love. He says he will act as their cupid but because he’s here to play with Stella, he wants Luna to be quiet. Luna’s body is then floating in the air with the invisible thread squeezing her neck.

Stella tells Or-Gaule to stop it and to come after her instead if he has a grudge against her. Or-Gaule replies that he doesn’t hate her, that he fell in love with her kindness and nobility which is the same feelings he had before for his older sister. He’s doing this because it’s fun, that he loves seeing people suffer and getting hurt. He also says he’s looking forward to see how much Stella can endure without breaking even after he kills maybe her parents, sister or Ikki. Or-Gaule also has sent the Cradleland army who is under his control to go invade Stella’s precious country Vermillion, and so when the people of the two countries end up killing each other they won’t be able to go back to the way they used to be. Stella screams at Or-Gaule to stop joking and activates ‘Dragon Spirit’, enabling her to be released from Johann’s hold and to charge at Or-Gaule. When Stella is near Or-Gaule she swings her sword at him, but Ikki who had fainted before is suddenly standing in the way. Or-Gaule has moved Ikki’s body in order to protect himself from Stella’s attack, and Stella can’t stop it. Stella screams in horror as her very powerful attack hits Ikki directly. However, Ikki is still standing and his whole body is covered in black armor. Stella recognizes this armor and there is a voice that says “Orichalcos (invincible armor)”. A white shadow comes out of the surrounding crowd and runs towards Or-Gaule fast with a black halberd being swung at him. Or-Gaule is unable to dodge it completely and ends up losing his right arm. At the same time, the fainted Ikki and Luna are released from their bindings and fall to the ground. The person that has just appeared is a woman with the same red and blue differing eye colors as Or-Gaule. Or-Gaule then says to the woman, “…It’s really surprising. To think you were already in this country. It’s been a long a time….Iris-neesan”.

The white-haired woman that had suddenly appeared is Iris Ascarid, the ‘Black Knight’, whom Stella recognizes from the armor and halberd she uses. Or-Gaule praises at Ascarid for remaining undetected by him in this country until now. Ascarid says it wasn’t difficult to deceive a Blazer that relies on magic power. Or-Gaule says Ascarid was probably planning to surprise attack him but instead chose to save Stella and others, and as a result she’s in an unfavorable situation now. He asks her if she can win against him while looking after Ikki, Stella and Lunaeyes, and if she hadn’t forgotten about what happened to her when they fought straight ahead. Then, a thick black misty magical power that is giving out malicious feeling is covering all over Or-Gaule’s body. The azure sky immediately becomes dark and the atmosphere becomes heavy. Stella thinks that the enemy in front of her is her own fate, which is death, in the shape of a person. She realizes that Or-Gaule is a Desperado who possesses magical power greater than anyone here, and so she can’t wait against him. However, Ascarid who is also a Desperado is standing dignified and pulls out from her bosom a knife that looks like a key. Ascarid stabs the knife into the ground and says “Open gate, to Flareverg”. The white flash from the knife in the ground engulfs Ascarid, Ikki, Stella and Luna. The four of them disappear, leaving countless feathers behind which causes Or-Gaule to curse at someone called the ‘Winged Chancellor’. He knows that those four are no longer at Cradleland but at Vermillion’s imperial capital, Flareverg. He then picks up his right arm that was cut off before and then sews it back to his body with his thread, and his right arm’s function is recovered immediately. Or-Gaule is looking forward to the battle between Vermillion and Cradleland that has started.

Stella realizes that she, Luna, Ikki and Ascarid are in Flareverg’s central park. Ascarid tells Stella that she used something that she had borrowed from Norman Creed before being dispatched here by him. Stella has heard of Norman Creed, nicknamed the ‘Winged Chancellor’, who is the deputy head of the League of Mage-Knight Nations and the right-hand man of ‘Lord Whitebeard’. Creed’s device, ‘Divine Gate (door of the azure sky)’, consists of 777 small knives and has the greatest teleporting ability. It can instantly teleport anyone from one knife’s location to another. Stella then demands Ascarid to take her back to Lucier to save Johann and the others but Ascarid refuses. Stella possesses great fate but she can’t win against Ascarid’s younger brother who is a Desperado that has reached ‘Brute Soul’, an existence outside the fate surrounding this world. Stella notices Ascarid calls Or-Gaule as her younger brother and Or-Gaule also called Ascarid as his older sister before. She also notices that Ascarid has similar face, same greyish white hair and the same red and blue differing eye colors as Or-Gaule. Ascarid confirms that Or-Gaule is her younger brother but they’re not allies. Then, there is an alarm sound all over Vermillion’s imperial capital and an announcement saying that Vermillion has received a declaration of war from Cradleland’s new King Johann who wants to reclaim his country’s pride and that there is confirmed invasion by Cradleland’s army. Stella asks why Ascarid’s younger brother is doing this, which Ascarid replies that Or-Gaule is just doing this for fun like he said. Killings and wars are entertainment to Or-Gaule similar to how movies and going out to eat are fun for ordinary people.

Stella tries to contact her father by phone but the line is busy probably due to the current situation causing many people to use their phones at the same time. Stella entrusts Ascarid to take Ikki and Lunaeyes to the hospital, while she heads for Vermillion’s Imperial Palace to inform her parents about what’s really happening. After Stella left, Ikki wakes up and his wounds are healed thanks to wearing Ascarid’s armor-shaped device ‘Orichalcos’ that has the ‘indomitable’ ability which could continuously heal the person wearing it. Ikki thanks Ascarid for saving him and the others, but Ascarid suddenly falls on her knees. Ikki can tell from her pale expression and cold sweat that Ascarid’s body is trembling from absolute fear of facing someone she can’t go up against, which is Or-Gaule. Ascarid asks Ikki not to tell anyone about this. While embracing her own shoulders, she also says that this trembling is her sin and proof that she hasn’t forgotten the meaning of her survival, and she must fulfill her duty. Ikki then remembers Or-Gaule had asked Ascarid if she hadn’t forgotten about what happened to her when they fought straight ahead. Ikki doesn’t know what happened between these siblings, but he decides not to tell anyone about Ascarid’s trembling since she was willing to confront Or-Gaule directly in order to save Ikki and the others. Ascarid thanks Ikki with a slight smile on her pale face.

Stella is running across rooftops in order to reach the castle faster since the road is filled with people who are in turmoil due to Johann’s declaration of war. When she is near the castle, she sees that the castle’s main gate is closed. She figures there might be more checkpoints inside the castle as well, so it will take too much time to go through all checkpoints and reach her father. But now that she knows the true form of her own power, she believes she can go straight for a window on the castle. She uses her ability to manifest dragon’s power in her body to create wings of fire, and flies towards the window. The sound of the window’s shattered glass alerts everyone inside and they then realize it is Stella. Sirius, who hears that it’s Stella, immediately runs towards her to embrace her. However, Stella prevents it with a palm heel strike and says it’s not the time for that. Astrea and the League’s Vermillion branch leader Daniel Dandalion are also there. Stella then proceeds to tell everyone about what has happened.

After Stella explained everything, Sirius becomes enraged from learning that the King of Cradleland who was his friend was killed. Stella says they should inform everyone on the front line that the Cradleland army is just being manipulated. However, Astrea says they can’t tell them because the fact is the Cradleland army is invading Vermillion territory with weapons. If the soldiers on the front line know that the enemies are being manipulated, they will hesitate and the Vermillion army will receive huge damage. Even though they want to save the people of Cradleland, the lives of their own people must be their priority. Stella knows Astrea is right, but she doesn’t want to abandon the people of Cradleland. Then to their surprise, Sirius contacts Vermillion’s army general Signard to inform her that the Cradleland army is just being manipulated and that the entire country including Johann is under the control of a criminal. He also orders his own forces to just surrender their territories to the enemies and just protect their own people, but also not to kill any of the enemies. Sirius says he will never forgive himself if he lets the people of Cradleland to die, and so he announces that they will save Cradleland. Stella then jumps at Sirius, hugging him and saying she’s glad that she’s his child. Sirius apologizes to Astrea that he can’t be wise like her, and she says it’s fine. Astrea also says it’s just like 30 years ago when Sirius decided to go to Cradleland alone even though she had told him many times not to do it, which left him greatly injured when coming back home. Even though Sirius tried to hide it, Astrea knows that since then he could no longer see with his left eye. But no matter how unreasonable Sirius can be, he always manages to make everyone smile in the end and that’s what Astrea loves about him. Before Astrea married Sirius she studied history at university, and so she knows Vermillion is a nation that was born because a certain noble wanted to help the weak people. Astrea who doesn’t have the blood of the Vermillion family is envious of Stella and Sirius who inherit the same desire of wanting to help people. However, she has a sense of reason that Sirius lacks much which is something that she can do.

Astrea then says now that they have decided to save Cradleland they need to know how to do it exactly. Dandalion says that they need to think of a way to stop the Cradleland army without hurting them since collision between the two countries’ military forces is inevitable. Sirius suggests they use the ‘illusion form’ of devices, but Dandalion replies that damages from ‘illusion form’ are like strong suggestions that can take away the opponent’s consciousness without damaging their real body. Thus, there is no point in striking the opponents consciousness when they had been turned into living dolls and not moving on their own will. Stella then remembers the time that she saved ‘Icy Laughter’ from Reisen Hiraga who turned out to be a ‘hub’ for Or-Gaule. She realizes that since Or-Gaule is in Cradleland, he must be using hubs to control the Cradleland army so all they have to is destroy the hubs to free the Cradleland army from Or-Gaule’s control. Ascarid and Ikki then show up immediately. Ikki says that his injury is healed thanks to Ascarid’s device and Lunaeyes is at the hospital resting. Ascarid says there should be tens or maybe hundreds of people in the Cradleland army who are hubs used to control the entire army. The problem is it is difficult to determine who are the hubs, and so unusual concentration and sharp observation along with experienced battle intuition are necessary. Ikki, Ascarid and Dandalion are the only ones currently in Vermillion who are capable of doing that. 3 people won’t be enough to take down hundreds of the hubs and it takes time for reinforcements to arrive. However, Ikki has an idea and the chapter ends with him asking Sirius to listen to him.

Chapter 9 – Kardia Urban Warfare

In a town called Kardia, Vermillion’s army general Signard had already finished evacuation of people living near the country borders. The only people in the town are her and the Vermillion army soldiers under her command who are preparing for battle against the invading Cradleland army. They were ordered to retreat from the town but now they have been given new orders. Since they were given orders by their King not to kill the Cradleland army soldiers, they are using non-lethal weapons such as rubber bullets and stun-guns. Some of them are complaining but they are fine with it and are determined to fulfill their King’s order. Signard then speaks to Ikki who is in a helicopter in the sky, telling him through their headsets that preparations on the ground are complete and Ikki will be their eyes. Ikki is in a helicopter searching for the hubs used to control the Cradleland army. Both Vermillion and Cradleland are member countries of the League and so he shouldn’t have to worry about long distance missiles prepared by the enemies since retention of such weapons are forbidden by the League’s treaty. Once the hubs are located, Miriallia will fire paint bullets to mark them using her ability to control the trajectory of her bullets. This way everyone can tell which of the enemies are the hubs. Ikki is confident he can find the hubs from the sky even though Ascarid and Dandalion can’t. This is the only thing he can do for now since his magic is completely depleted as a result of what happened before when Or-Gaule first showed up in front of him. Sirius told Ikki that even though the situation is different now, he will still acknowledge him if Ikki brings victory to Vermillion as promised.

30,000 people from the Vermillion army have created a defensive line in Kardia in order to intercept the 50,000 people from the Cradleland army that are heading for Vermillion’s capital Flareverg. Signard orders all of her people to slow the Cradleland soldiers down until the hubs are found. The Cradleland army is equipped with real bullets and tanks along with intent to kill, but the Vermillion army is only equipped with rubber bullets. Ascarid is there protecting the Vermillion soldiers by receiving the bullets and RPGs with her armor-shaped device. She finds one of the Cradleland soldiers who is a hub used to control the other nearby soldiers and knocks him down, which results in the nearby soldiers to fall as well. Ascarid is surprised that Ikki is really able to locate the hubs from the sky. Ikki is in a helicopter about 30 meters above ground, telling Miriallia who to shoot with paint bullets. Miriallia’s ability ensures that the paint bullets will hit the targets, which are the hubs. This allows everyone on Vermillion’s side to know which of the Cradleland soldiers are the hubs and then take them down along with the other soldiers under the control of the hubs. Miriallia asks Ikki how he knows which of the enemies are the hubs just by looking from above. Ikki replies that Or-Gaule can grasp the memories and personalities of the people he controls with his magic threads, and so they can’t be seen through from facial expressions and such. It’s better to see entirely with a wide view from a distance. The battlefield is like a lake surface during rainy day where ripples are being made. The hub is definitely at the starting point of the ripples. Ikki doesn’t have the ability to mark the targets and so he thanks Miriallia because now he can fight for this country. Miriallia is embarrassed and says that it’s natural since she’s Vermillion’s knight while averting her eyes away. Miriallia then marks a tank which has a Cradleland soldier who is one of the targets. Ikki says it’s dangerous for anyone to even get closer to the tank but Miriallia says that it’s okay because Tilmitt is in the area. Tilmitt uses her ability ‘Stone Dive’ to go into the ground as if it is water surface and then enters the tank. She takes down the soldier who is one of the hubs and then the nearby soldiers fall down to the ground.

The news of Ikki, Tilmitt and Miriallia’s success is transmitted to Stella and Dandalion who are in another area. Stella notes that they sure have guts even though they had just been assigned as reserves to the military this year and so had little real combat experience. Dandalion suggests that Stella should go and leave this area to him, but Stella says she’s fine being here and she can’t leave him alone. Dandalion along with Ascarid and Ikki are the only ones who can determine who are Or-Gaule’s hubs. Dandalion is able to know thanks to his experience from his long military career. Ascarid also has experience from being ranked fourth in the world and she’s also Or-Gaule’s relative. Ikki has monster-level insight from pushing his concentration to the limit. Stella knows her experience is largely inferior to those three but she still doesn’t want anyone to look down on her. Stella puts on her Empress Dress, which vaporizes the bullets being fired at her and the light from her fire armor spreads throughout the entire area. Her senses are shared with the light being spread and it allows her to grasp the positions of the magical threads, the soldiers and their movements. Stella attacks the soldier who is a concentration point of the threads, and then the nearby soldiers fall down to the ground as well. Stella then discovers more hubs and heads towards them.

One hour after the battle started, one third of the Cradleland army has been liberated from the control of Or-Gaule’s threads. Real time footage of the battlefield are being transmitted to Vermillion’s Imperial Palace. Astrea is pleased that almost half of the Cradleland army has been rescued and remarks that it’s also thanks to Ikki for letting everyone else know the positions of the hubs. Sirius says with a disappointed expression that it’s not such a big deal, which Astrea slightly laughs at Sirius not being honest. Suddenly, a tall woman appears in the room. Her black hair seems wet and she’s wearing a black dress with slits that look like petals. The woman apologizes that since she’s currently not on a mission, she doesn’t have a name. She tells Sirius and Astrea to just call her ‘Ein’ and presents a bouquet of white lily to them, saying that she has brought flowers for funerals.

While Ikki and Miriallia are in a helicopter on the sky above Kardia, they encounter a 30 meter tall obese giant wearing a black hood. The giant crushed the helicopter with his hands as if it was a mosquito. However, everyone in the helicopter had already escaped which Ikki had grabbed Miriallia and the helicopter pilot, and they jumped out before the helicopter was destroyed. Tilmitt uses ‘Star Ocean’ which she pierces the ground with her trident-shaped device and the ground’s surface turns into like the surface of an ocean. Ikki and the others fall into that altered ground as if they are diving into water. The Vermillion soldiers wonder what that giant is and Signard says it’s likely an ally of Or-Gaule since there is no Blazer in Cradleland that has the ability to turn his body into giant size. The Vermillion soldiers are attacking the giant but none of the attacks are working. The giant, who is acting like a child, easily turns dozens of Vermillion soldiers into lumps of meat. Tilmitt and Miriallia think they can’t win, but Ikki is running towards the giant despite having no magic power left in him. He cuts off the fire hydrant from its base and the water pressure causes it to launch towards the sky. Ikki is on the top of the launched fire hydrant, and when he’s 20 meters above ground he uses ‘Saigeki’ to pierce the giant’s right eye. However, this causes the giant to be angry and blow Ikki away with his backhand. Ikki is sent towards the ground and his body bounces off and keeps rolling on the ground until he stops near a railway crossing. Ikki has not lost consciousness due to him deliberately rolling his body on the ground to lessen the damage from the collision. However, he still suffers broken bones and can’t get back up. Tilmitt believes Ikki attacked the giant in order to lure his attention away, but Signard realizes Ikki’s true aim. The giant rushes towards where Ikki is and ends up getting electrocuted by hitting the high-voltage wires on the railroads. The giant is about to collapse to the ground, however he refuses to fall. He then becomes a 300 meter tall giant, releasing a huge scream.

Elsewhere, Stella sees a man in black clothes wearing sunglasses who is dragging a bloodied Dandalion with his left hand. Dandalion tells Stella to run away because the man she is facing is ‘Haboob’. Stella recognizes the man as Naseem Al-Salem, nicknamed ‘Haboob (desert god of death)’, the strongest mercenary in history whose activities are mainly in the Middle East. He throws away the half-dead Dandalion and puts his right hand in his pocket. He tells Stella that he will use only his left hand to fight her just like he did against Dandalion and other Vermillion soldiers. Stella can tell that Naseem has the power to kill her with just his left hand and that he’s a Desperado like Or-Gaule. Stella orders the Vermillion soldiers to help the others that have fallen and to escape from here. Stella decides to remain here and then activates ‘Dragon Spirit’. Naseem moves very fast and launches a boxing-style left jab with his right hand still in his pocket. Stella manages to block it with her sword but her body was sent back 10 meters away. Stella is confused since the attack was just a simple jab and yet it carried power far greater than even Ouma’s strength. Naseem launches another attack which ends up with his fist sending Stella’s sword upwards, creating an opening for him to land his fist on Stella’s face. Stella’s body was blown away with blood coming out of her forehead. However, she didn’t fall because she lessened the damage by not resisting the impact and bending her body like a willow tree against a wind. It was the same method Ikki had used though Stella couldn’t do it as good as him and so still suffered some damage. Naseem then moves in again and Stella is defending herself against his barrage of jabs. Naseem is about to launch an uppercut, but Stella launches a headbutt towards the fist coming at her. Naseems’s fist is repelled and his body’s position is shifted, and during that moment Stella cuts him from the left side to his right shoulder. Naseem’s body should have been cut into two but there was not even a single blood coming out of it. There was no feeling of meat and bone being cut. It was like the blade was passing through Naseem’s body as if it was sand.

While Stella is confused over what happened, Naseem is suddenly in front of her and flicks her forehead. Stella is blown away, crashing through walls of buildings. She is trying to get back up but is struggling and her vision is shaking violently. Naseem praises Stella for her move earlier but he tells her that it was useless because he is ‘immortal’. Stella then manages to stand and tells Naseem that she has figured out that his ability is a nature-interference type, the ability to manipulate sand. She believes that Naseem’s body is seemingly ‘immortal’ because he turned his own body into sand when Stella cut his body, and his punches were powerful because his fists were covered with hardened sand that was strengthened with his huge Desperado-level amount of magic. However, Naseem laughs at her because his ability isn’t something so cheap. He then says that he has to show her why he’s called ‘Haboob (desert god of death)’. For the first time, Naseem takes his right hand out of his pocket and at that moment Stella uses her wings of fire to move away from him. Naseem has a sinister aura on him and his right hand has scent of death sticking to it. Stella can tell that the scent of death Naseem has exceeds the one Or-Gaule has. She wonders if he had killed tens or hundreds of thousands of people which resulted in him having such an aura. Naseem tells Stella it’s meaningless to run and that he will slaughter everyone. Naseem raises his right fist upwards and creates a sandstorm. Stella doesn’t know what he’s about to do but she understands that his right fist has ‘massacre’ written on it and that she has to stop it. However, Stella’s body can’t move out of fear. While Stella is troubled over what to do, Naseem swings down his fist.

Inside the castle in Flareverg, the guards proceed to attack the woman in black dress, Ein, who is an intruder. Ein plucks the petals of the bouquet of flowers she’s carrying and scatters them around. Suddenly, the guards are falling down one by one. Not just the guards, the maids in the room and Astrea fall to their knees on the floor. Astrea realizes that it is caused by the scent of the flowers. Ein explains that the flowers are not ordinary white lilies. They are magic flowers called ‘Sleeping Beauty’ produced from cross-breeding with the seed embedded in her womb, which is her device ‘Astarotte’. The flowers contain pollens that have saxitoxin that can cause paralysis even to an elephant when inhaled. However, Sirius manages to move his body and swings his blazing axe-shaped device ‘Ifreet’ at Ein who dodges his attack. Sirius then asks Ein why she and Or-Gaule are doing all of this. Ein says it’s because they were bored. She loves many kinds of flowers, especially roses that bloom by sucking blood from people. She loves such beauty that can be created from human lives and she thought she could achieve such things with Rebellion which aimed to create an ideal world by fighting regardless of appearance. However, assassins like her had been downgraded into tools to serve political and business interests and now rarely get requests to kill. She had received an invitation from Or-Gaule to join him in his festival and accepted it. She thinks it will be lovely that the lands of Vermillion and Cradleland are filled with gardens of roses grown using the lives of the people in these countries. Sirius then uses a flame slash Noble Art called ‘Gold Eclipse (flame demon treasured blade)’ which Ein dodges. He says that he understands that it is not something that’s worth to know and so he will crush her.

Ein then removes the black long gloves that covered her entire right arm. The flesh of her arm is torn and a vine with thorns comes out of her body. Ein uses the vine called ‘Rose Whip’ to attack Sirius with countless whippings. The whip is so fast and looks like it has a will of its own, causing Sirius unable to dodge it at all and to get hit all over his body. Sirius falls to the ground while bleeding and is unable to get up because the whippings had torn the tendons of his limbs. Then, a crimson rose quickly blooms from the palm of Ein’s left hand and then falls, leaving a seed in her hand. Ein then says “Bloom beautifully, ‘Bloody Mary (bloodsucking queen)’”, while firing the seed towards Sirius. The seed if planted in Sirius body would cause vines tearing his flesh and coming out of his body. His nerves would also be cut causing him unable to move and then becoming a pot for a flower that blooms using his life. However, the seed instead bounced away as if it hit an invisible wall. At the same time, one of the maids that collapsed stands up and moves towards Ein to attack her. Ein then attacks the maid with her ‘Rose Whip’ but the whip is repelled away before it reaches the maid’s body. She then jumps backwards to avoid the chainsaw the maid swings at her. Ein realizes who the maid is from the device she’s carrying and how her whip was repelled.

“I wonder what you are doing at a place like this under the guise of a maid, Vier? ….No, I’m sure your name is now ‘Yui Tatara’, isn’t it?”

“What am I doing, you say? That’s my line. ---Damn elder sister.”

After finishing her task in Japan and returning back to the home that raised her, Tatara found everyone at home including her parents and sisters slaughtered. There were roses coming out of their bodies and it looked like they committed suicide by biting their tongues or hitting their head repeatedly in order to end the pain they were suffering from. Tatara knew immediately who was responsible judging from how they died and so she disguised as a maid in the Flareverg's palace waiting for Ein to appear in front of her. Ein asks Tatara if she’s here to avenge the people at home. Tatara says they’re assassins so they don’t get to choose how they die and so despite how her parents and other elder sisters died it was still retribution. However, the clients there also died and so what Ein did also caused ‘Abgrund’s (the black family)’ credibility to be smeared with mud. As a professional, Tatara is here to kill Ein in order to restore Abgrund’s credibility. Ein says that as Tatara’s elder sister she’s happy to see that the crybaby Vier had become splendid. She also asks Tatara if she can go up against her, ‘Dirty Rose’, as vines are coming out of the back of her skirt and pointing towards Tatara. However, Tatara says things won’t go as everyone think it will, while looking at the monitor that shows something big is also happening in the battlefield. (note: Abgrund means ‘abyss’, Ein means ‘one’ and Vier means ‘four’ in German)

The giant that grew bigger up to 300 meter tall is about crush Ikki under his foot. Ikki can’t escape because of his injuries and he had already used up his mana before. However, Ascarid appears and strikes the giant’s incoming foot with her battle ax. Ikki thought it was impossible to push the giant away like that, but Ascarid manages to stop the giant’s foot because her armor constantly heals her as her body is being crushed by the weight of the giant. Eventually Ascarid pushes back the foot and slashes her axe at the foot, causing the giant to topple. Seeing it causes Ikki to realize how powerful Desperados really are. The giant becomes angry with tears and drool, saying that it hurts and he’s mad. The giant is about to attack again but Ascarid lets go of her axe and removes her helmet. She looks up at the giant and tells him to cut it out as if she’s reprimanding a child. The giant then says he’s sorry and runs away while crying, which causes Ikki to be confused. Ascarid explains that the giant’s name is ‘BB’, or ‘Big Baby’ to be precise. Though he has a huge body, he’s actually a 5 year old child picked up by Rebellion. Then suddenly, the black clouds that were in the sky have vanished and there is a strong gust of wind. In the middle of the dust storm, Ascarid says she is glad because it looks like backup has arrived.

At the place where Stella and Naseem are at, they see a meteorite of 20 meter diameter coming down from the sky that is blowing away the clouds. The giant rock is heading towards Naseem fast and he can’t avoid it. Naseem strikes the meteorite with his fist and it causes a shockwave that causes Stella to be blown away and a dust storm is created. Stella then sees that there is a 100 meter diameter hole on the ground and Nene appears behind her. The attack Nene used was ‘Hadou Tensei ‘, a gravity-type Noble Art that pulls space debris from outer space to strike the enemy and was banned for use by the League except in case of emergencies. Stella asks why Nene is here and she replies that it’s because Vermillion is a member country of the League and so she’s here to help as a mage-knight instead of a teacher. The League’s ‘Chancellor’ also had already arranged reinforcements to be mobilized and a million of them should arrive soon. Stella thanks Nene for saving her but Nene says she hasn’t saved her because the attack she unleashed was not enough to take Naseem down. Naseem is then seen still standing without any injury, which shocks Stella. Nene says she expected Naseem wouldn’t be defeated immediately though her pride stills hurts for not able to even injure him at all, but that’s expected from someone who’s called the world’s strongest warmonger.

Nene then says to Naseem that the save he made had beautiful form and his unshaven face and inability to remain composed are also nice. She also says such a wild person is someone of her taste and that he should play with her instead. Naseem replies Nene is an idiot who doesn’t know how to control herself as rumors say and that all of the weak people in the area would have died if he hadn’t defend against the attack just now. Nene then says that rather than talking about that, they should make their time to be more worthwhile, which Naseem replies that she’s a crazy woman and he doesn’t hate it. But when they are close to each other, Naseem grabs the collar of Nene’s kimono strongly and peels it off her shoulder. While looking at Nene’s exposed small breasts, he says “sorry, but I’m not interested in embracing a kid”. Though Stella becomes speechless from this, Nene on the other hand tells Naseem not to say such cold thing. She also tells him that she loves it the best when a bastard like him screams like a baby under her crotch, while she smiles with her kimono remain unfixed as shown in one of the pics. Nene sensually caresses Naseem’s right arm that is grabbing her kimono and Naseem tries to pull away. However, Naseem can’t even break away or turn into sand. The side of Naseem’s body was then hit on the side by Nene’s kick that had a force similar to a cannonball, and his body is blown away sideways for 50 meters and crashes through a building. Stella knows that the force of Nene’s kick was due to her ability to manipulate gravity but she is still surprised because the enemy is capable of turning his own body into sand which Stella’s slashes had no effect. Nene says that it was possible by hardening Naseem’s sand-like body, which Nene achieved using her gravity ability. Stella then realizes she can achieve the similar thing by using her own heat to turn sand into glass and so she increases the heat of her sword. However, Nene tells Stella to stop because Naseem is still too much for Stella.

Then, a pillar of dust is blown towards the sky by Naseem and buildings in the area are falling. The buildings are not collapsing but the grounds below them are sinking and becoming like sand pit traps. The grounds are swallowing the buildings and also the Cradleland soldiers in the area. Nene says that ‘Haboob’ means ‘dust storm’ in Arabic and it is not just a strong wind. It is nature’s god of death that turns everything into a desert. Naseem would take money, life or anything and then leaving them as nothing but sand. He would cause all living things to die out, spreading dead land, and this is why he is called ‘Haboob’. His ability is not manipulating sand and that sand is just a secondary product of his ability. His real ability is ‘drying’ and he is a ‘calamity’ in the shape of a person. When his ability absorbs all of the moisture in the earth’s crust, it ends up as dry sand and the ground would collapse from land subsidence. Naseem, whose face is bleeding, is pleased with Nene because it’s been years since the last time he received such a blow. He then moves towards Nene with speed much faster than when he fought Stella and with both his fists carrying the power to destroy the earth. Nene manifests her twin iron fan-shaped device and also moves towards Naseem. However, right before the two Desperados can clash with everything they have, they are stopped by a slash that came from above which creates a wall of dust between the two of them. Then, there is a voice that asks them to stop the fight for a moment.

In the sky, Johann is riding on his golden horse-shaped device and Or-Gaule is next to him, standing in the empty sky. Lunaeyes is also there sitting behind Johann on the horse and Stella’s parents who are watching the battlefield on the monitor at the imperial palace are disturbed from seeing it. Ein complains through Or-Gaule’s thread that is used to communicate with him, asking why they are stopping. Or-Gaule apologizes and says that there is about to be an important discussion regarding the war. Stella manifests her wings of fire and goes straight at Or-Gaule, telling him to release Luna. Or-Gaule tells Stella to wait but she doesn’t stop and brandishes her sword. However, Stella stops after Luna tells her to. This surprises Stella since Luna’s voice still has her usual dignity and Stella confirms that Or-Gaule’s threads are on Johann only. Luna says she is not being manipulated and that she went to the ‘current King of Cradleland’ by her own will. After waking up at the hospital, she went back to Cradleland to negotiate with the King of Cradleland and resolved any misunderstanding. Stella is getting more confused over what Luna just said. Luna added that their father entrusted to her all decisions regarding the war between Vermillion and Cradleland, and so with that authority she’s making a declaration to everyone. As a member country of the League of Mage-Knight Nations, Vermillion has formally accepted the declaration of war from Cradleland’s new regime. As per the League’s regulations, each side will select 5 mage-knights belonging to them to participate in representative battles which will decide the outcome of the war. Both governments of Vermillion and Cradleland will not permit any intervention. The volume ends with Stella becoming shocked over the unbelievable declaration.

Characters

 * Ikki Kurogane
 * Stella Vermillion
 * Lunaeyes Vermillion
 * Sirius Vermillion
 * Astrea Vermillion
 * Tilmitt Gracie
 * Miriallia Régie
 * Kouzou Kazamatsuri
 * Bakuga Tsukikage
 * Rinna Kazamatsuri
 * Sara Bloodlily
 * Charlotte Cordé
 * Or-Gaule
 * Wallenstein
 * Naseem Al-Salem
 * Ein
 * Big Baby
 * Johann
 * Iris Ascarid
 * Daniel Dandalion
 * Yui Tatara
 * Nene Saikyo