Light Novel Volume 12

Rakudai Kishi no Cavallry Light Novel 12 is the twelfth installment of the Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry light novel series, written by Riku Misora and illustrated by Won. It was released on April 14, 2017.

Chapters
Intermission: The First Princess’ Resolve

The scene takes place an hour before the Vermillion forces clashed with Cradleland forces. In a room at the hospital where Lunaeyes is resting, a soldier sent by her father is informing her about the situation. Luna believes that the way to resolve the current situation is a big mistake. They might be able to hold off against the Cradleland army but the enemies include All-Goal who was able to take control of Cradleland easily and he probably has some companions. Tens of thousands of people could die and would be worse if the enemies have Blazers of at least Stella’s level. As a royalty that exists to protect its people, the best choice to make in this situation should be to focus on defending using maximum firepower. Luna thinks it needs to be stopped but wonders how. Then, she comes up with the idea of reducing the scale of the war into representative battles which will save many lives. All-Goal will probably agree with it because going up against a huge army sent by the League of Mage Knight Nations would be unfavorable for him. However, this reduces the chances of Vermillion winning and Cradleland being saved. Luna then remembers the time when she was a child telling Johann that she would help him when he’s in trouble. She says “sorry” with a bitter look as shown in a pic. She has a responsibility and there is only one thing that she must do. Luna then gets off her bed and tells the soldier to have a helicopter ready because she’s heading for Cradleland.

Chapter 10: Responsibilities as a Royalty

Back in the present, the Vermillion soldiers are shocked to see the Cradleland army stop moving and fall to the ground like broken dolls. Ikki and Ascarid notice Lunaeyes is together with All-Goal. After hearing Luna’s declaration made at the end of the previous volume, Stella asks why Luna is refusing intervention from the League. Johann, who is the new King of Cradleland, says that Cradleland has gotten rid of the agreement the previous administration made and has decided to fight against Vermillion to reclaim their land, pride, everything that has been taken. It was a misunderstanding that caused the recent conflict, but after consulting with Luna who had come to Cradleland, they have agreed to conduct the war again according to the rules. Stella says with anger to All-Goal to stop talking using Johann’s voice. All-Goal apologizes but he has to keep up appearances since someone from the League is watching. Luna then says that is as All-Goal said. She went to Cradleland to discuss about reducing the size of the battle. The recent battle was stopped and they have agreed to put an end to the history of conflict through representative battle according to the rules set by the League. Stella asks why Luna would do such a thing even though the League has prepared a million people to be sent here as reinforcements and Luna replies that it is too slow. Luna asks Stella who would stop the Cradleland army, All-Goal and the others until reinforcements from the League arrive and what would happen if such huge power is used in places where the Vermillion army is present. Stella can’t answer as she remembers about the time when Naseem destroyed his surrounding and caused the grounds swallowing the buildings and the Cradleland soldiers in the area with just one blow. Luna then says that they’re not gods and can’t save everything, and as the imperial family it is their duty to protect their people. If the war would be conducted as originally planned, then they have a week to evacuate their people to outside the country. This way, their people can still be saved even if the country is destroyed in the worst case scenario. Stella knows Luna is right and thus cannot refute back. All-Goal then says to Stella that even he and the others didn’t expect the League to move so quickly and it’s not interesting if they interfere in him playing with Stella, and so having the war conducted in the form of representative battle is beneficial to All-Goal and the others as well. Even though Stella knows that this proposal is beneficial for both sides, she has a feeling that it is bad and that she shouldn’t accept it.

Naseem comes up to the sky on a sandstorm and is angry at All-Goal deciding things on his own. Naseem says he’s finally getting fired up and so if All-Goal is planning on stopping things now then he will kill him first. All-Goal asks if Naseem is interested in the ‘Yaksha Princess’ and if that’s the case then they can allow the League members that are already in Vermillion to participate. If Cradleland’s side is changing its representative members then it wouldn’t be fair if Vermillion’s side is not allowed to do the same. In addition, if it’s a representative battle then Naseem doesn’t have to worry about the League interfering in his fight with Nene. Hearing this makes Stella worry even more because it is weird for All-Goal to just happily accept this proposal. All-Goal says he and the others in the first place came here only to fight and he asks if there is any problem with this proposal. Nene comes up to the sky using her gravity-manipulation ability and says that the present of criminals in Cradleland is enough reason for intervention from the League. All-Goal replies that if that happens then they will just have to deal with it, but they can’t guarantee the safety of the people in Cradleland. In other words, All-Goal is using the people of Cradleland as shield and wants the League to go along with this farce. Nene then says that the rules are not just about not involving civilians in the war, there are also rules prohibiting a government from oppressing against its people, and so she asks All-Goal if the people will be protected. All-Goal says of course as he uses his threads to pull up the Cradleland soldiers who were swallowed by the ground that collapsed from Naseem’s attack, in order to convince Nene. She then tells All-Goal that she will go along with this farce and persuade the ‘Chancellor’. Naseem reluctantly agrees and disappears from the sky by changing his body to sand which is left scattered by the wind. ‘Dirty Rose’ Ein, who is at Vermilion’s Imperial Palace and talking to All-Goal using his thread, tells him that she accepts the condition. Ein crushes a nearby window with the rose vine coming out of her arm to walk away from Yui Tatara and Sirius. Tatara asks Ein if she’s running away and Ein replies that if Tatara thinks she has a chance of winning then she should chase after her. Tatara then watches her older sister holding onto a huge dandelion fluff and disappearing into the sky. All-Goal then tells Luna to contact him when members of Vermillion’s representatives have been decided and not to forget about entering Stella as one of the representatives as promised. He then withdraws along with the soldiers back to Cradleland.

After All-Goal left and while those who were injured during the battle are being treated, Ikki and Stella meet each other. Stella asks if Ikki is okay and he replies that he is thanks to Ascarid’s device ‘Orichalcos’ which has far better healing power than ‘iPS capsule’. Ascarid is currently helping treating the injured ones. Stella also thanks Ikki for helping the soldiers that were attacked by ‘BB’ but Ikki says it was all thanks to Ascarid and that he would have been killed if she hadn’t saved him. Stella then sheds tears because 83 people have died. She screams that it happened because she was weak and even though she possessed the best magic in the world and wanted to protect everyone in Vermillion, all she could was being frightened. If Stella can’t be at least on the same level as All-Goal and the others then there’s no meaning. Ikki thinks Stella’s expression is the same as Tsukikage’s when he showed them the despairing future. He thinks it is dangerous if she doesn’t calm down but he can’t think of anything to say to her. Stella then apologizes for being emotional but Ikki is fine with it and that he wants her to share her responsibilities and pain with him. Ikki then gives Stella a handkerchief which she uses it to wipe her tears and she thanks him.

Sirius then arrives in a helicopter and goes to his daughters asking them if they’re okay. Stella says they’re okay and that they also heard about what happened to Sirius and the others. Sirius says that they were saved by someone and he’s now healed after being treated with a ‘capsule’. Astrea is currently working to resolve any disorder. Sirius in an angry voice says to Luna that she was reckless going to Cradleland alone to negotiate. Luna replies that there was a chance to negotiate and reduce the size of the battle. She also says the Vermillion army would have suffered large casualties if the battle had continued in that way and it is their duty to minimize their sacrifice. Luna wouldn’t have to do such thing if Sirius had not agreed to end the war in such reckless way and Luna’s negotiations had saved the lives of Vermillion soldiers from Blazers such as Naseem. However, Stella is still having doubts about the agreements even though Luna’s claims are reasonable. Nene then appears and tells Stella, who is showing doubts from her face, that her intuition is not wrong. Reasons no longer apply to a demon like All-Goal who is pure evil, and yet he would agree to Luna’s negotiations. Nene asks Luna what kind of ‘price she paid’ to such a demon. Luna doesn’t answer the question and says that she only fulfilled her duty as Vermillion’s First Princess. Nene is fine with Luna not answering and the way things are being resolved. Nene also asks if “ending the history of conflict between two countries” doesn’t refer to rights to an oil field. Luna says that it is correct and that Cradleland’s new government is demanding Vermilion to be consolidated into Cradleland. In other words, it is a war that bets Vermillion’s existence as a country. Also, even though the schedule and the number of representatives will remain the same as before, the format and the venue will change. Originally it was supposed to be 5 members from each side getting the most wins out of one-on-one matches. But now it will be set in an urban area, which is Cradleland’s capital city, in the form of a battle royal.

All-Goal, Naseem, ‘Dirty Rose’, ‘BB’ and Johann are the chosen representatives from Cradleland. All-Goal’s conditions to accept the war being conducted in form of representative battle are the change to battle royal format and Stella’s participation. Stella accepts because she is Vermillion’s sword. Since people who are in Vermillion are allowed to participate, Nene and Ascarid are entering as Vermillion’s representatives. Ikki says he’s entering as well since he’s already gotten permission from Luna and Sirius. Nene asks if Ikki is sure since this is a real war but Ikki is determined. Blazers are after all warriors that protect people during time of war, and now his most beloved’s country is in a predicament. In addition, Ikki should be in the top 5 of all the Blazers that are currently in Vermillion. Nene says she’s okay with it and will inform the League’s Japan branch. Sirius then says that the fifth member is naturally himself since he’s the king of this country. However, Nene says it’s not necessary because it will be a bother to have someone who can’t even protect himself on the team especially when the war will be in the form of battle royal, which shocks Sirius. Nene then says the same can be said about Stella though. Stella probably can handle fighting against someone like ‘BB’ or Johann’s level, but All-Goal has his sight on Stella and a fight with him is inevitable. The way she is now, Stella won’t even last 3 minutes against All-Goal. Stella agrees because she knows that she’s going up against Desperados. Nene says this war is a battle against some of the world-leading Desperados and so she will make sure that Stella improves at least to the level of able to defend herself against such enemies. However, Stella declines because it is meaningless to flee from the enemy since she is Vermillion’s sword. What she wants is the strength to fight so that she can protect Vermillion, but it is impossible to fill the gap between her and her enemies in just one week even by special training with Nene. However, Stella believes there is someone that can make that possible. She says that it is fortunate that Vermillion is in Northern Europe and Edelberg is just in front of her eyes. Edelberg’s peak is the highest in the world which is over 9000 meters above sea level and is located in Estonia, and only one person lives there. Stella then says she will go challenge the strongest swordsman, ‘Twin Wings’ Edelweiss.

Later that night, Stella immediately got on a private jet heading to Estonia. Sirius who is watching the plane flying in the sky asks Nene if Stella is going to be alright. Nene is not sure but it should be fine because Ikki and Ascarid are with her and Edelweiss is not the type who would seriously take someone’s life indiscriminately. She also says that even if Stella meets Edelweiss, she probably won’t be able to get close to her though. Sirius asks Nene that if she thought it was pointless then why she didn’t stop Stella from going and challenging someone so dangerous. Nene replies it’s because she has expectations for Stella. Even though Stella became afraid of facing Desperados like All-Goal and Naseem, she’s not running away. Nene believes that Stella might overcome her own limits and become stronger. Nene also tells Sirius not to worry because the upcoming battle is a battle royal and so she will take care of everything including Stella and Vermillion. She then asks Sirius if the helicopter heading for Kardia has been prepared. Sirius replies that it is but he also asks if it’s fine for her to go there alone because a training facility can be arranged. Nene says it’s fine because she will just end up destroying everything. Some of her opponents are world-leading Desperados, including Naseem who was able to counter her ‘Hadou Tensei’. She doesn’t have any experience fighting against such opponents so she needs to hone herself to the limit. As Nene starts walking towards the heliport, she tells Sirius not to let anyone near her for the next one week. When Nene says it, her voice is low and cold and her eyes are filled with cold-heartedness and bloodlust as shown in one of the pics. Sirius, who is watching Nene’s back as she walks away, wonders what he just saw that made him very shocked and his forehead sweating. For a moment, it looked like he saw a pair of huge horns covered in black flame on Nene’s head.

Chapter 11: White Summit

Russia, which is part of the Union, invaded Estonia 15 years earlier. At the time Estonia was a non-member state of the League of Mage-Knight Nations, but the League was against the invasion and sent troops there. It was a major incident called the Baltic Crisis, which was one step away from World War 3. However, the incident was resolved before the two forces could clash because a girl wearing pure white clothes and wielding a pair of swords annihilated both forces of 30,000 people by herself. This was the beginning of ‘Twin Wings’ Edelweiss’ legend and resulted in her becoming an international fugitive wanted by both the Union and the League. Attempts to capture her had failed and resulted in oppositions against sending many troops to Estonia in order to capture just one criminal. For the next 10 years since then, Estonia had massive political changes including joining the League. Edelweiss was considered no longer part of the country which it abandoned territorial rights of the land where Edelweiss lives.

Stella and the others arrive in Estonia in the morning after they left Vermillion. In a rental car, they head towards the border between Estonia and the land which is now Edelweiss’ country. The car is being driven by Ascarid, with Ikki in the front passenger seat and Stella and Tatara both sitting in the back. Ikki and Stella were surprised that the person who saved Sirius and the others from ‘Dirty Rose’ was Tatara. Stella thanks Tatara and offers a handshake but Tatara hits Stella’s hand hard instead. As a professional killer, Tatara came there to take care of a traitor and saving Stella’s parents was just a turn of event. She doesn’t intend of being friends and that innocent girls like Stella are someone she really hates. Tatara then says she’s tagging along now because seeing Stella getting beaten up by Edelweiss would be a great show while laughing. Hearing this makes Stella’s face flushed with anger but Ikki tells her to stay calm because they still owe Tatara and they will be fighting together. Tatara negotiated with Astrea and she was allowed to enter the upcoming representative battle as one of Vermillion’s representatives. The car then arrives in front of a small village where Stella and the others have very close view of Edelberg, a mountain over 9,000 meters with steep slopes and sharp edges that make it look like a sword that pierces the sky. Stella and the others also have spotted many Blazers that are planning on making a name for themselves by going after Edelweiss. They then run into an altercation with a group of dozens of men that look like bikers. They are a mercenary group called ‘Murder Entry’ and their leader is Guile the ‘Raging Waves’ who is carrying a huge zanbatou and wants to be the world’s strongest swordsman by killing Edelweiss. Ascarid tells Stella that laws don’t exist in the land they’re in. Before they all can clash with each other, they are stopped by a voice coming from two men that came from the village.

One of the two men that have prevented Stella’s group from clashing with the bikers is a muscular Western man wearing a red riding suit and he greets Stella who is a princess. The other is an Asian man wearing a Japanese clothing and sword. Ikki recognizes the Asian man as the ‘Wolf Blade’, Yoshikazu Kiba-sensei. 15 years ago, Kiba was ranked 12th in the world before he suddenly disappeared from the A-League, and it was the highest rank in Japan at the time until Kurono Shinguuji surpassed the record few years later. He’s a master swordsman that is said to be equal to the ‘Last Samurai’ and many young knights including Ikki admire him. The Western man then recognizes Ascarid from the presence she’s emitting and says it’s been two years since he last met her. Ascarid tells Ikki that the man is Ranbalt Raab, ‘Red Scorpio’, who is a captain in the US Secret Service. In the US, Blazers are referred as psychics and those in the Secret Service are chosen elites. Ascarid met Raab when she was guarding the French President during a conference between US and France two years earlier. Raab says even though he knew Ascarid was a woman from her manner at that time, this is the first time he has seen her face and he didn’t expect to her to be such a beautiful person. Even though Guile’s men became worried after realizing who Stella and Ascarid are, Guile says they’re still women. He also says it’s impossible that Edelweiss, just one woman, was able to annihilate an army of soldiers from the League and Union all by herself. Guile then leaves with his men while laughing. Raab then asks if Stella and the others are also here to go after Edelweiss like everyone else here and Stella replies it’s just her. Raab is here to show that even the world’s strongest sword can’t penetrate the shield of the US.

Stella can feel strong aura coming from Raab and other nearby people that had come with the same purpose. She says she has no intention of getting along and her business here is only with Edelweiss. She then uses ‘Dragon Wing’, manifesting a pair of wings of fire on her back, and tells Ikki and Ascarid to grab on to her because they will fly straight for the top of the mountain. Stella says to Tatara that she’s not taking such an unpleasant person with her, but Tatara says it’s not necessary. Tatara can jump in mid-air as a result of using her Noble Art ‘Total Reflect’ which she continuously reflects the gravity at her footings. Stella and the others then head towards the top leaving everyone else at the bottom behind. After seeing Stella’s dragon ability, Raab says she might get ahead of him and Kiba. However, Kiba tells Raab not to say such cruel thing because Stella won’t even get close, which was something that happened to them 15 years earlier. As Stella and the others are flying towards the top, Ikki can feel from the pressure he’s feeling that they are getting close to the strongest swordsman. They pass the 8,000 meter altitude where the air is thin and there is very little water, which is beyond the adaptation limit of human beings. Ikki spots a small stone cabin between the cliffs and they land beside the cabin. Stella wonders what Edelweiss was thinking for her to build a home at place like this. Ikki thinks it’s probably so that Edelweiss doesn’t end up getting many unwanted visitors.

They then walk towards the cabin but Stella ends up unable to move forward as if being stopped by an invisible wall. Stella wonders if it’s a barrier but Ascarid replies that Stella just can’t move forward because her soul has become frightened after understanding the significance of moving forward. Stella doesn’t believe it and tries to put more strength to her legs, but a voice tells her to stop because Stella would lose her life if she continues. The voice belongs to Edelweiss who is wearing plain clothes and has her back on the cabin’s front door as shown in a pic. Edelweiss says she is surprised that Iris also came here despite the current situation and Ascarid replies if Edelweiss knows what’s been happening. Edelweiss says the League has made an announcement regarding the situation between Vermillion and Cradleland including the representative battle that will occur a week later. Stella then says she wants to become stronger in order to defeat All-Goal and protect Vermillion. While manifesting her device, Stella asks Edelweiss to have a match with her. However, Edelweiss turns down Stella’s request because she doesn’t feel like doing it. She also says she is not interested in fighting someone who can’t even pick up their sword, while looking down on Stella with cold eyes. Stella asks what that means and Edelweiss apologizes but it’s just like she said. At Stella’s current level, Edelweiss can kill her even with her gaze.

Stella, after hearing such insults from Edelweiss, puts more strength to her legs in order to move forward. But as she takes just one step, her limbs and neck are slashed by an invisible force in an instant. Stella’s body becomes unbalanced and has moved backwards. Stella says she thinks it was caused by vacuum slashes like what she saw during Ikki and Sara’s match. However, Edelweiss says it’s completely wrong because in the first place her ability is not for combat use. All Edelweiss did was release her bloodlust a little stronger, but Stella doesn’t believe that intimidation alone can cause injuries. Edelweiss explains further that it’s impossible for normal people, but she herself is not a normal person. Blazers are people who have the power to change fate, but even among them there are those who can overcome the limit of their own fate and exist outside this world’s cause and effect. Stella realizes Edelweiss is referring to Desperados. Edelweiss then says Desperados can surpass the limit of the talent they were born with, distort this world’s cause and effect, and put their own mark in history. In other words, they can paint over this world’s fate with their own will. What hit Stella earlier was a manifestation of that special characteristic which resulted from Edelweiss’ desire of wanting to hurt Stella a little. Therefore, Stella can’t win against Edelweiss no matter what. It’s the same as when Stella couldn’t win against All-Goal and Naseem because the fate they were carrying on their backs was something that would result in her own death. In order for Stella to win against them, there is no other way but to become a Desperado herself as well. Stella argues that it’s for that reason she came here to fight Edelweiss but Edelweiss replies that she has no reason to accept Stella’s request. She refuses to help Stella commit suicide and so asks her to go back.

Ikki then tells Stella that it’s impossible after all, and he feels the gap between Edelweiss’ strength and theirs are larger now. He also says that Edelweiss wasn’t serious after all during that final strike in the last time they fought. However, Edelweiss replies that she actually gave her all during that moment and that the reason Ikki feels the gap has become larger is probably because she has become stronger at a faster rate than theirs. Stella believes that Edelweiss is both kind and strong. Edelweiss could take Stella’s life at that moment before but she was concerned about her and chose to give her a warning. Stella fully understands now that what she’s doing is rash and foolish, but with strong determination present in her eyes she still refuses to give up. Stella might be able to survive the current predicament by depending on people like Nene and Ascarid. However, they might not be present the next time Vermillion is under attack and the person that attacks next time might even be Edelweiss herself. Stella says misfortune could fall on Vermillion at any time and so as Vermillion’s second princess and its sword, she has to become stronger than anyone right now. As she moves forward again, her body receives cuts as shown in one of the colored pics. Despite Ikki’s warning to stop, she keeps moving forward and her body keeps receiving cuts from the blades of cause and effect. Ikki and Ascarid then move to stop her, but Stella then moves faster while saying that she has a responsibility and so she won’t run away no matter what. Edelweiss then says she’s beaten, and the blades of cause and effect disappear once she suspends her bloodlust. Stella’s determination reminds Edelweiss of the same determination Ikki had when he fought her. But that’s still not enough because the strength of the person’s ‘ego (self)’ is important in Desperado’s domain. Right now Stella is so determined that she’s fine with dying, but a stronger determination than that is needed and moreover it’s dangerous for Stella to have no regard for her own life.

Thus, Edelweiss accepts Stella’s challenge but she wants her to do something for her. The people who came to challenge Edelweiss are bothering her and she can’t get some rest because of them. Edelweiss wants Stella to give her some holiday as a present. There are 6 days until the representative battle and if Stella prevents any of them from coming to Edelweiss’ house for 5 days, then Edelweiss will use the sixth day only for Stella. Stella also has to do this alone without anyone lending a hand to her, and Edelweiss wants them to swear to her device, ‘Testament’. She manifests her device and thrusts it to the ground in front of Stella. As Stella is about to give her promise, Ascarid stops her and tells her to be careful because Edelweiss’ ability has been activated. Edelweiss is a causation manipulation type Blazer with the ability to administer contracts. If the person that swears in front of Edelweiss’ device is unable to keep their promise, they will lose their life from their heart being torn apart. This is Edelweiss’ Noble Art, ‘Rule of Grace (flawless pledge)’ which has poor use but its binding power is unrivaled. Stella then puts her hand on the handle of the sword and says to the others that even though she currently isn’t capable enough to make them believe in her, she asks them to make her believe in herself. Ikki then says, while placing his hand on Stella’s, that he believes in Stella and that she will surpass her own limit. Ascarid places her hand as well and tells Stella to do her best because Ascarid no longer wants to see people getting hurt by her younger brother and so it will be helpful if Stella becomes stronger. Edelweiss then says Tatara has to swear as well in order for the contract to be established. Stella then asks Tatara to go along but Tatara refuses at first. Tatara then says Stella has to crawl like a pig, and she will agree if it’s interesting to see. Stella asks Edelweiss if it’s okay to kill Tatara right now so that Tatara won’t help Stella as agreed by the contract, which Edelweiss replies that it should be no problem. Stella then swings her sword in order to cut off Tatara’s head but Tatara manages to dodge. Stella also activates ‘Dragon Spirit’ which causes Tatara to give in to Stella’s demand, and the echo of her scream reaches even the village at the bottom of the mountain.

Chapter 12: Intense Cold Trial

At 6,000 meter altitude, there is a group who are on their way to Edelweiss’ place in order to get the reward money from taking down an international criminal. One of the people in the group wonders if they can win, but another one says that they have almost 50 people and if they join with those who are coming later it will be over 100 people. Another person in the group also says that the story of Edelweiss annihilating an entire army must be an exaggeration, but even so they don’t plan on underestimating her. They have gathered well-known Blazers and each has the power of a C-rank Blazer at least. This group is the first one to attack Edelweiss with these many Blazers since not all of the people in the army that Edelweiss took down in the past were all Blazers. Once they almost arrive at a camp site, they spot a girl there. The girl suddenly manifests a sword that’s emitting flame and creates a wall of fire in front of the group. They recognize the girl as the ‘Crimson Princess’, Stella Vermillion, and asks her what she’s doing in a place like this. Stella replies that she’s here to go after Edelweiss like them but the condition to have a match with her is to take down everyone in the group. She apologizes and says that if they can’t beat her then they can’t beat Edelweiss either. Stella then creates another a wall of fire in front of them by firing ‘Dragon Fang’. The group then manifests their devices and disperses the wall of fire. They then try to slash at her but Stella flies to the sky with her wings of fire. Stella then uses ‘Broken Arrow’, firing countless fireballs from the sky which take down almost half of the enemies. Some of the enemies also use their abilities to fly but Stella takes them down one by one. Ascarid and Tatara are watching from a high place above the camp site, but Ikki is nowhere near because there is something that Edelweiss wants to talk with him and so she invited him into her home.

As shown in a pic, Edelweiss is holding an apple pie that she just took out of an oven while wearing an apron and oven mitts, and says it was baked to the right condition while Ikki is sitting at a table in a living room. Edelweiss puts the pie on the table and tells Ikki to enjoy it along with the cookies and cake as much as he wants. Ikki thanks her but is slightly bothered by the fact he is receiving a warm welcome from the world’s strongest swordsman who is also wearing an apron. Edelweiss seeing Ikki’s expression asks if he’s not good with sweets. Ikki replies they all look delicious but he’s not sure which one to start with. Edelweiss says he should start with the apple pie because there is no food in this world that can beat a freshly baked apple pie. Ikki tries the pie and then says it is really delicious that it is the best apple pie he ever had. Edelweiss says her grandmother taught her and that Calvados was added as hidden flavor, which the spiciness and bitterness of the brandy when mixed with the cooked sweet apples create a rich sweet flavor. Ikki then tries chocolate cookies and vanilla with orange peel cookies, both having the acidity of Kona coffee. Ikki is surprised the food are all delicious and this causes his image of Edelweiss to have changed a lot now. Edelweiss then asks if there is something on her mouth because Ikki has kept staring at her face. Ikki replies he just thinks that it looks like Edelweiss is having fun. This causes her white face to turn red and she then apologizes for showing something shameful. She says she had become very excited because making sweets is her hobby and she rarely has guests that she can offer her sweets to. She also says that she doesn’t have many friends and not married yet despite already at a mature age. She makes a dry laugh with a distant look in her eyes while saying it, which is a very painful sight. Ikki looks around the living room to find something that he can use to change the topic and then sees two picture frames on a shelf. One of them shows a photo of Edelweiss with her family when she was a kid, but the other is placed face down which Ikki thinks it’s something Edelweiss doesn’t want to show to other people. Ikki then asks Edelweiss why she chose to go on the path of swordsmanship. She replies that it was in order to go on a diet. Edelweiss has liked making sweets since she was a kid and she also like eating them which caused her to become fat. Her parents left her under the care of a Japanese living near their home and taught swordsmanship, so that she could exercise. Ikki is surprised and Edelweiss adds that she was born into a normal happy family and was raised normally. She doesn’t even know what sort of personal talent that she possesses and she is envious of Ikki and Stella because they know for what purpose they wield their own swords. Edelweiss is still searching for the reason why she wields her sword and being born with such power, in other words her chivalry.

After Ikki finishes his food, Edelweiss says that she invited him into her house so that she could thank him for what he did for Amane Shinomiya. Edelweiss was the one who introduced Amane to Rebellion and when she found him it looked like he didn’t want to live in the light side of the world. Ikki says that it’s amazing that Edelweiss was able to get close to Amane in that condition because he could have refused to meet with her using his ability. Edelweiss replies it was not difficult to resist his ability to make wishes come true because Desperados are independent to the cause and effect in this world and her ability is also a causation manipulation type. Even so, all she could do was giving Amane a place to live and preventing him from destroying himself and his surroundings. Ikki however was able to save Amane and Edelweiss thanks him for that. Ikki says it was because of his chivalry but Edelweiss can do one thing for him if she feels indebted. Stella is currently working in order to become stronger and Ikki wants to do the same so that he can also protect Stella’s hometown. Ikki asks Edelweiss to train him in swordsmanship but she says that it’s not necessary. After watching Ikki and Stella’s match, Edelweiss can tell that there is not much gap between her sword skills and Ikki’s. Their sword skills are already on superhuman level and so the rate of improvement would be lower. Even if Ikki’s sword skills are on Edelweiss’ level, the amount of improvement he gets won’t help much in his fight against All-Goal’s group. The sword technique Ikki is using may be an imitation of Edelweiss’ but it is becoming his own original technique and so it is unreasonable to try to match hers now. Thus, Edelweiss should train Ikki in something else that is definitely lacking. She then says she will take him to her treasured training spot.

Ikki and Edelweiss are at 9,000 meters altitude, on their way to the top of the mountain which can only be reached by rock climbing. After two hours of climbing, Ikki and Edelweiss finally reach the top. It is the highest place on Earth with an altitude of 9,350 meters. The place is made of permafrost and is always below freezing temperature with cold wind blowing. Edelweiss then says Ikki’s sword skills are near perfection but the way he uses his mana is still immature and far from perfection. Ikki’s mana control is wonderful that despite his low amount of mana he is able to use it to raise his physical capabilities up to tens or hundreds of times more. But it is still not enough which he can’t even construct something with his mana and if he did he would run out of mana fast. Edelweiss then stands near a pointed tip and tells Ikki to pay attention as her body is emitting white magic light which resembles the state of Ikki’s ‘Itto Shura’. She explains that mana resembles flame and its raging appearance is caused by energy loss. Flames that burn quietly like blue flames are very powerful, and the same principle can be applied for mana. Edelweiss then causes the light covering her body becoming faint while explaining that it’s important that mana doesn’t get burn out too much so that it can be utilized to the maximum within the body. It’s also pointless if Ikki is too focused on mana control, resulting in the accuracy of his movements to drop. Ikki has to be able to control his mana better while maintaining the same physical capabilities as before. Normally it’s impossible to learn in just 6 days, but it can be done at where they are now. Edelweiss whose body is covered in mana then does a handstand on the pointed tip using only one index finger. She says if Ikki can maintain this balance for one hour then he can master performing advanced mana control and body control both at the same time, rapidly extending his capabilities. Ikki says he will try doing it and Edelweiss then goes back to her home.

Ikki, now alone, touches the pointed tip that got sharpened from the extreme weather. The tip can tear the skin of Ikki’s finger just from touching it, but if he loosens his mana a little he won’t get cut. Mana is used as fuel for Noble Arts but it is also used as resistance to physical impacts by covering the entire body with it. Ikki then releases his mana from his whole body but concentrates on keeping it back inside his body and not letting it escape. In that state, he does a handstand on the sharp tip using only one finger to support his body like Edelweiss did earlier. However, it is really tough for Ikki to concentrate on maintaining the mana used to shield his body from the sharpness of the tip and maintaining the posture at the same time for one hour while winds are blowing from all directions. Shortly after, Ikki is unable to maintain mana control and body control both at the same time and as a result his body is blown away to the sky. He prevents his body from falling to the ground by thrusting ‘Intetsu’ into the rock wall. Ikki is frustrated because he didn’t even last a minute. But if he succeeds in this training he might be able to regulate his ‘Itto Shura’ mana during battle. The mana that would just end up dispersing before can now be applied to his blade instead. If he is able to achieve this then his Noble Art will evolve entirely, even making his ‘Itto Shura’ to have the powerful effects of ‘Itto Rasetsu’. Ikki then starts climbing back to the top of the mountain in order to continue the training.

It is now the first night in Edelberg, and back at the camp site Stella is surrounded by 4 men with Ascarid and Tatara watching from a high place. Two of the men who are wearing volleyball uniforms create balls of light in the shape of volleyball and spike the balls towards Stella. The resulting explosion causes Stella to stagger. Another of them who is wearing a soccer uniform fires a soccer ball that strikes Stella’s abdomen and to Stella it feels like being hit by over 100 kg iron ball. Stella then uses ‘Bahamut Howl’, but the heat wave disappears the moment it touches the men. The volleyball men spike their balls at Stella again but she dodges by jumping upwards. At that moment, another of the men wearing a baseball uniform hits a magic ball with his bat. The ball creates an explosion when it hits Stella and she is blown away almost 10 meters. She manages to reposition her body mid-air and kicks a rock wall to launch a thrust with her sword at the man with the bat. However, the thrust was repelled by an invisible force. Stella can’t understand why all of her attacks had no effect and one of the men says unsportsmanlike actions are not allowed. Since morning, Stella has been fighting straight ahead against over 50 people that were gathered to fight Edelweiss and so it is natural she would be exhausted already especially when her dragon metabolism consumes a lot of calories. Ascarid says Stella’s opponents are probably using a causation manipulation type ability that prevents unsportsmanlike moves such as lethal sword movements or burning moves, but Stella’s too exhausted to realize this. At this rate, Stella will run out of mana used to protect her body. ‘Rule of Grace’ prohibits anyone helping Stella, so Ascarid plans on knocking Stella out and bringing her back to Vermillion. Tatara is angry because she wants to see Stella getting humiliated from being beaten up by someone so strong like Edelweiss. Tatara then screams to Stella, telling her to use her head and ball games are not the only kinds of sports. Stella then launches an open hand strike on the face of one of the enemies, blowing him 300 meters away. She can now deal damages if she uses attacks that resemble movements used in sports. The remaining enemies then surrender and offer a handshake to Stella. She responds by giving a handshake with all of her strength, and then a huge scream is heard.

After defeating about 100 people in the mountain, Stella has become very exhausted. Ascarid and Tatara who were watching from somewhere earlier are now with Stella. Tatara insults Stella for becoming exhausted just from fighting 100 weak enemies. Stella rebuts that it’s because she hasn’t eaten anything since morning. Stella wants to get some food at the bottom of the mountain but she can’t leave the camp site she’s currently at because she risks letting enemies pass her if she leaves the site. Stella then picks up and eats food belonging to the people that Stella defeated earlier. Stella has recovered enough to generate heat to warm her body, but not enough to fight for the next battle. If enemies on the level of ‘Red Scorpio’ and ‘Wolf Blade’ come, Stella’s fuel tank will be completely empty and it will be the end for her. Tatara says she is irritated seeing Stella fighting like an amateur even though she possesses great talent. Tatara’s face then turns red after she realizes the words that slipped out of her mouth. While embarrassed, she then says that seeing Stella fighting like that is stressing and so she will teach her how to fight in real combats. Causation manipulation type abilities are powerful but they still have holes in them. ‘Rule of Grace’ prohibits anyone lending a hand to Stella, but giving advices should be fine. The fact that Stella is still alive after Tatara gave an advice earlier in the recent fight proves this. Stella is hesitant at first because Edelweiss was kind enough to give her a chance and so she’s not sure if it’s alright to fulfill her condition in such a dishonest way. Tatara then says there is no fairness in real battle and reminds Stella that she came to Edelberg to fulfill her goal with any means necessary. Stella doesn’t deny this and so she asks Tatara to give her some wisdom.

Tatara wonders what she is doing because she doesn’t care what happens to Stella and yet she’s helping her. She starts by saying that there are 3 things Stella does that are largely pointless and thus holding her back. The first one is wasting calories, which Stella’s magic consumes calories and yet she’s using her magic for unnecessary things such as keeping her warm ever since she came to this mountain. This is similar to making a hole in a gas tank and so Stella has to stop. Stella complies by removing her armor of heat which causes her feeling cold, but Tatara says Stella is still consuming calories from shivering. Tatara, Ascarid and Ikki are able to remain fine and don’t even shiver in cold weather despite not having any ability to produce fire. It is because they are professionals that have learned skills to adapt to any environment or situation such as how to control shivering. In order to teach Stella how to do this, Tatara embraces Stella’s head to her chest as shown in one of the pics. Tatara says to listen to her heartbeat, which Stella notices that it’s dropping. If level of life activity drops, metabolism goes down leaving no room for shivering and only minimum life support function to be active. This is a way to control metabolism which energy is saved when the body is in a half-death state similar to mammalian hibernation. But if the heartbeat is too low, it increases the chance of freezing to death. Tatara plans to lead Stella in lowering her heartbeat until it reaches 20 beats per minute, but Stella is already able to do that on her own. Tatara is surprised because she mastered this technique after being left in a snowy mountain along with her dying sisters for one month when she was a kid.

The next day, Tatara says that the second pointless thing that Stella does is the amount of time she wastes. Anyone going to Edelweiss’ home will surely pass through the camp site where Stella is now and so Stella is right to put defensive line here. However, she wastes precious time by doing nothing but waiting until the enemies arrive at the camp site. Then, the group of bikers led by Guile is coming towards the camp site while riding their motorcycles and buggies. Tatara says those men wouldn’t have reached here if Stella had used the wasted time from yesterday more effectively, and Stella’s condition only needs to hold this place for 6 days in order to achieve victory. Stella realizing what Tatara meant then uses ‘Dragon Stamp’, causing cracks on the ground. The cracks reach Guile and the others, and the road they’re on collapses. Guile and the others then tumble down the steep slope from 6,000 meter altitude. Stella only needs to create obstacles when possible and this reduces the amount of time used for fighting. Later, the group from the day before has come back running towards the camp site in order to try take down Stella again. Stella uses ‘Flame Veil’ to give the illusion that the road in front of the incoming group that leads to the camp site had never collapsed. As a result, the group also ends up tumbling down the steep slope. The third pointless thing is that Stella wastes a lot of openings. The openings created should be used during the most critical moment. Even if the enemies can be easily defeated, they should still be defeated in an easy way. During the third day, all of the enemies from the previous days have joined together to form an army of over 100 people and attack Stella again. But this time, Stella easily overwhelms them by using just her swordplay and selecting actions that can obtain maximum results with minimum effort. Ascarid is amazed that Stella is not only controlling her metabolism to adapt to the environment, she is also putting defensive moves and Noble Arts to other uses in order to reduce her dragon metabolism’s calorie consumption. As a result, she is saving her energy to the utmost limit. Tatara says even without her advices this was bound to happen to Stella because she is very talented. On the fourth day, half of the people from the third day go back down the mountain and the remaining men launch a suicide attack but end up failing again. Then on the fifth day, not a single of the previous enemies comes back up to challenge Stella again.

On the night of the fifth day, there is only one night left until the condition to fight Edelweiss is fulfilled. Stella has made an open air bath by gathering snow in a hollow space on the rocks near the camp site and then using her flame to melt the snow and maintain the temperature. Stella, Tatara and Ascarid are taking a bath with Tatara complaining that it looks like a heated stone pot which Stella replies with a pouted face that Tatara didn’t have to enter if she had a problem with it, as shown in one of the colored pics. Tatara also says Stella is wasting her fuel for this but Stella argues that it’s necessary because she’s meeting Ikki tomorrow and as a maiden it’s impossible to meet him while she hasn’t bathed for 5 days.

“Aren’t you worrying about it too much? A guy I caught in a honey trap once liked the smell of sweat.”

“D, d, don’t lump my Ikki with such high-level pervert!”

“Well, so between you two, you’re the one that likes something like that?”

“I, I don’t like it!! I-it’s not like I get on Ikki’s futon when he’s not around!!”

After calming down, Stella wants to thank Tatara by planning on giving her one year worth of chocolates for free. However, Tatara says that she doesn’t like free chocolates very much because it’s her habit. Tatara was born and raised in the house of Abgrund, which has a history of over 1,000 years. Those who were born and accepted into the family received training since they were born in order to become first-rate assassins. They used living materials to train to commit murder, trained in hiding among people, trained to endure torture, and trained to adapt by surviving in a snowy mountain without food and clothes. There were also selections where they killed each other until there was only one person left. All the time was used to become excellent assassins and so they never had any form of amusement. Their meals were controlled with nutritional supplements since they were babies and even their meals were served with poison once every three days. The only thing they enjoyed was getting chocolates as reward for getting jobs done well and so Tatara does not enjoy receiving chocolates for free. Tatara then tells Stella to hand over ‘Dirty Rose’s’ life if she wants to thank her. Stella heard from her mother that Tatara and ‘Dirty Rose’ were from the same organization, but ‘Dirty Rose’ betrayed the organization. Tatara confirms that her parents along with all of her other sisters are dead and she’s the only survivor from Abgrund. She also says that she’s not getting revenge since she doesn’t care about everyone in the family being killed. However, Tatara’s older sister ‘Dirty Rose’ had also killed the clients and so Tatara is taking responsibility in order to restore Abgrund’s credibility. Stella asks why Tatara would go that far even though Tatara should be able to live her life freely now. Tatara replies it’s because she’s a professional and she’s not interested in having a respectable occupation just because her home had been crushed. Tatara has already taken many lives and so it’s already impossible for her to walk on the path of atonement. She doesn’t feel any guilt at all from killing people since she was never taught such morals. As a professional from Abgrund, she can have pride in this line of work. Therefore, Tatara wants to kill ‘Dirty Rose’ and she won’t let anyone interfere. Stella then tells Tatara that if they win they will have a victory party with a huge chocolate cake served which is a special menu. However, if Tatara dies then she will be given a grand funeral with Stella crying for her and to Tatara this would be the worst way to die. Tatara replies with a smile and says that she’s a professional and she won’t make mistakes like an amateur. She also tells Stella to keep her promise regarding the cake.

Stella then asks if Ascarid is really All-Goal’s older sister. Ascarid confirms and also says that she’s fighting against All-Goal in order to atone for her sin. All-Goal and Iris-Goal were siblings born in an average family. They had a reliable father and a kind mother that ran a small restaurant in a French village. All-Goal was liked by many people for having a sociable personality and a talent to become an excellent Blazer. However, he was actually a demon who was able to hide his warped soul and no one noticed until one day. During his 10th birthday party which was held in the village’s chapel, All-Goal told everyone that he was the happiest person in the world for being loved by so many people and so he decided to make that day to be the best day ever. He then immediately trapped everyone inside the chapel and immobilized them using his ability, in order to break them one by one. Angry voices, then screams, and finally sounds of people begging for mercy were heard inside the closed chapel. All-Goal’s smile during the bloody scene made Ascarid realize that her brother couldn’t have been human. She then says that the police finally came after noticing the villagers had disappeared for a week and at that time she and All-Goal were the only ones left alive. All-Goal managed to escape and Ascarid was taken under the care of the government. The incident, which was known as ‘La Croix Sanglant (The Bloody Cross)’, was thoroughly concealed because it was so terrible that the ‘Winged Chancellor’ was afraid of its impact on all Blazers’ social positions. Ascarid still remembers the scream and despair of everyone who died, including of her parents who she destroyed with her own hands. She regretted not realizing All-Goal’s true nature earlier and so she decided to not allow it to happen again. All-Goal has shown himself in person this time which is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Ascarid. She is determined to stop him, which is her reason to fight and to live. Stella then grasps Ascarid’s hand and says that they will work together to defeat All-Goal and not let such thing happen again. At the end of the conversation, Tatara is staring towards outside with an expression that looks like she has felt something.

It is 10 minutes earlier and Raab is inside a bar in the village at bottom of the mountain. He tells the people that went back after being defeated by Stella that they should thank her for preventing them into committing suicide by going after Edelweiss. Hearing such insult causes the men to be angry and attack Raab. Kiba who is sitting nearby prefers that they fight outside and so Raab brought them to the village’s square. It only takes just under 10 minutes for Raab to defeat all 50 of them, even though it took Stella half a day to do so at first. Raab and Kiba didn’t climb up the mountain for the past 10 days because they had been accumulating energy through regulation of meals and workouts in a strategy called carb-loading so that they can be in their best conditions when they fight Edelweiss. Raab removes his device ‘Death Stinger’ which is gauntlets that have a long sharp needle coming out of each forearm. He then tells Kiba who had just came outside that he has confirmed he’s at good condition. They then start moving to Edelweiss’s place in order to return the favor from the Baltic Crisis, during which both Raab and Kiba couldn’t even resist Edelweiss’ power of influencing fate. However, they stop at the voice of a girl saying that it’s good to meet such strong people. The girl is in her late teens with dark skin and hair wearing a white prisoner clothes as shown in one of the pics, and her bare feet are shackled with iron balls. Raab and Kiba recognize the girl as Fu Xiaoli, the ‘Taotie’ and one of the ‘Four Sages’. Shinryuu (Dragon God) Temple is the place in China where they hold the God of War League, and the 4 Desperados who were the closest to earn the ‘God of War’ title are known as the ‘Four Sages’. Raab says it’s strange for her to be here because she was sentenced to 300 years of imprisonment for violating three of Shinryuu Temple’s law called the ‘Five Prohibitions’. Xiaoli replies that she got bored and so she got out. She also says she has a dream to fulfill even if it means violating the ‘Five Prohibitions’. She asks both Raab and Kiba to fight with her right now since they would do it eventually along the way. Xiaoli manifests her device which is gauntlets with attached pieces of chains and does a fist wrapping salute.

Kiba tells Raab that he will fight her and then unsheathes his device ‘Shimotsuki (month of frost)’. He stabs his sword to the ground, which causes white mist to come out and cover the battlefield. When the mist is cleared, 10 Kiba are present. Kiba is using his Noble Art ‘Mahyou Juuroujin (demon ice ten wolves formation)’, which creates 9 ice clones of him and the clones will keep reviving as long as his real self is not defeated. All the ice clones then attack Xiaoli together. However, Xiaoli is dodging lightning speed slashes even though her movements can be easily followed by Kiba and Raab. Not only the 10 Kiba are unable to even graze her, Xiaoli is destroying the ice clones one by one with her palms, fists and kicks. Xiaoli later destroys an ice clone with her fist, but the destroyed ice turns into water and engulfs her arm. The water turns back into ice again and restrains Xiaoli’s arm. The other ice clones also end up becoming ice shackles that restrain Xiaoli’s limbs, and at that moment Kiba swings his sword down at her in a move called ‘Zeppyou Kassatsugeki (severing ice killing strike)’. Xiaoli breaks the ice restraints but she can’t avoid Kiba’s sword that is coming down on her, and the magic on his sword will freeze her to death if she tries to stop the attack by touching it. However, Xiaoli catches the sword with her bare hands and launches a crushing fist that pierces Kiba’s abdomen. Kiba’s body ends up frozen and crushed, settling the match. Xiaoli then thanks the crushed Kiba for the experience while doing a fist wrapping salute. Raab, who was watching, is confused at Xiaoli using ice ability because it is known that Xiaoli was using an ability to manipulate wind in the previous God of War League 5 years ago. Kiba’s last attack could only be stopped by fire and water abilities and maybe by lightning ability if the user is an expert. However, it’s impossible for wind ability to stop the attack and the wind would just amplify the cold chill.

Raab then manifests his device ‘Death Stinger’ in order to challenge Xiaoli. When she moves closer to him, Raab throws a flash grenade to the ground. Blazers (also called ‘psychics’ in the US and ‘warriors’ in China) wouldn’t use firearms because these weapons are not a threat to their Blazer opponents. However, the light from flash grenades can still pass through Blazers’ magical defenses and thus blinding them. While Xiaoli flinches from the flash, Raab uses ‘Lethal Venom’ which he pierces her with the pointed tip of his device and her body then suffers strong convulsion. ‘Death Stinger’ has the ability to manipulate any kind of poison in existence and the poison used on Xiaoli can kill her. However, Xiaoli ends up fine and says that she didn’t let her guard down because even if her vision was compromised she could still read Raab’s intent. Xiaoli sensed from the kind of bloodlust that Raab was giving off that he just wanted to land a hit on her even if it was just a graze. Thus she figured he was going to attack with the poison on the needle, which was something she would be fine against. Xiaoli then pulls out the needle out of her body and then stabs Raab’s abdomen with her finger. Raab’s whole body becomes numb causing him unable to move at all and he then collapses on the ground. He realizes what Xiaoli’s ability is right before he loses consciousness. After the match is over, Xiaoli asks a landlady in the village to have Kiba and Raab treated. She then says that she should make a little greeting, and so lets out a huge fighting spirit that shakes the mountain. It is felt by Stella and the others who are at 6,000 meters altitude, and Stella can tell that it’s not Edelweiss. Even though she knows that this person is someone of Edelweiss and All-Goal’s caliber, Stella does not plan on running away.

Chapter 13: The Assassin from Shinryuu Temple

Edelweiss, who is at 8,000 meters altitude just outside her home, also felt the huge fighting spirit that came from the bottom of the mountain. She recognizes it belonging to Fu Xiaoli. While looking up towards the mountain peak, Edelweiss notices that Ikki is hanging onto a rock wall to prevent his body from falling to the ground. She thinks the huge fighting spirit probably knocked Ikki off his balance during his training, causing him to last almost 30 minutes in maintaining his balance. Edelweiss thinks it is still a remarkable progress because after he was able to reach 12 minutes, Ikki’s mana control probably had improved. He could make his ‘Itto Shura’ to be almost 3 times as powerful as before. Edelweiss is also aware that Stella has become stronger than before as a result of all the advice given by Tatara. But in order to reach ‘Brute Soul’, Stella first needs to reach her most absolute potential which is the limit of her possibilities. Then if she can discover her own ‘ego (self)’ that absolutely refuses to give up after reaching her limit, she will be able to cut through fate. This is why Edelweiss used ‘Rule of Grace’, in order to force her to draw out her potential. However, one of the four Desperados in China who are called the ‘Four Sages’ has come and she is strong enough to take Edelweiss’ life. Thus, Edelweiss starts heading towards below in case she needs to intervene.

At the camp site, Stella and the others meet the girl that released the fighting spirit earlier. The girl came here by running up the cliffs and she is surprised to see Stella here. She was at the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival watching the final match, but she hid her presence in order to hide from her pursuers. The girl introduces herself as Fu Xiaoli, one of the ‘Four Sages’ and a practitioner of Shinryuu Temple martial arts. Her name is known to the world despite of Shinryuu Temple being an isolated place where not much information comes out of there. Xiaoli, nicknamed ‘Taotie’, is a genius warrior who is the youngest ever to be a sage of Shinryuu Temple and is a Desperado. After breaking out of the temple prison called ‘Kyokkurou (Tower of Extreme Suffering)’, she was running away from the ‘Great Sage’ who is the current ‘God of War’ and the head of Shinryuu Temple. The prison is where warriors who committed great sins endure eternal hell-like discipline and no one had come out of there alive. Tatara says it is one of the only 3 places in the world that even assassins of Abgrund can’t infiltrate. Xiaoli was in that prison because she violated the ‘Five Prohibitions’ law that all monks of Shinryuuji Temple must obey. The 5 ironclad rules of Shinryuu Temple are that they: 1) must not boast their skills, 2) must not use their skills to steal, 3) must not use their skills to commit illicit sexual relation, 4) must not use their skills to kill, and 5) must not wield unrighteous power with all these vile acts in mind. Shinryuu Temple techniques are used for righteous purposes such as to protect the lives and dignities of people, not for selfish desires. The God of War League which has no reparations at all is held based on that ideal and practitioners of the arts are prohibited from participating in tournaments other than the God of War League. Even if it’s a request from the government, use of force outside the country is not allowed unless it’s for a huge matter. Xiaoli is proud of the Shinryuu Temple arts, but it’s not boasted much and so many people in the world are calling the people of her country as cowards. She wants to prove to everyone that her country, which has a history of 4,000 years of conflicts, is at the pinnacle of all martial arts even if she is branded as a depraved monk. Xiaoli challenges Stella for the right to fight Edelweiss, which Stella accepts.

Xiaoli’s device, ‘Banki (barbaric demon)’, is indigo blue gauntlets and her fighting style is Shishou (Four Symbols) style hand-to-hand fighting. If Stella’s heart is swallowed by the feeling of accepting defeat, her own fate will be pulled towards Desperado’s power of influencing fate. Thus, Stella’s faith in herself must not be shaken in order to win. Stella plans to remove Xiaoli’s advantage in short distance by launching ‘Satan Fang’ from a distance at the charging Xiaoli. However, Xiaoli just slips through the gaps of the seven fire dragon heads coming from all directions using minimum movements and speed, like water that would slip through any obstacle and eventually reach the ocean. This Shishou style move is a Seiryuu (Azure Dragon) type called ‘Ryuusui (flowing water)’. Stella then makes the fire dragons surround Xiaoli entirely like a dam preventing water from flowing through. The dragons then turn into fire tornados that completely engulf Xiaoli. After all the flame disappears, Xiaoli is nowhere seen but there is melted ground with a deep hole. Stella senses Xiaoli’s sudden presence behind her and launches a horizontal sword slash towards behind. Xiaoli repels the slash by touching the wide middle part of the approaching ‘Laevateinn’ with the back of her hand, and at that moment she launches a spear hand strike at Stella’s abdomen. Stella is then kneeling on the ground due to her body becoming numb from the poison Xiaoli applied to her spear hand strike using an ability to manipulate poison. Stella, Ascarid and Tatara are confused because they have heard Xiaoli used wind ability before. Xiaoli then uses Suzaku (Vermillion Bird) type move called ‘Tenku (sky soaring)’ which she makes a crouch start posture and then kicks the ground hard so that she can rush towards Stella in a much faster speed that makes her look like she’s soaring. At such speed, Xiaoli launches a fist towards Stella who is unable to move. However, Stella is able to move and delivers a powerful slash. Xiaoli is able to block in time with her device, but both her arms get broken and she ends up getting blown away almost 30 meters until her back lands on a giant boulder. She then vomits blood and falls to the ground there. As Xiaoli is confused about how Stella was able to move despite being poisoned, Stella immediately rushes towards her.

Xiaoli is trying to escape from Stella’s pursuit that is happening all over the place. Some rocks get split deeply from Stella swinging her sword down. From Stella’s abnormal strength and flickering skin, Xiaoli can tell Stella is using ‘Dragon Spirit’. Stella then uses ‘Dragon Stamp’ which causes Xiaoli to fall from losing her balance and at that moment, Stella swings her sword down at Xiaoli. However, Xiaoli rotates her body sideways and the iron ball attached to her foot slightly hits Stella’s chin, causing Stella to have a concussion for a moment. Tatara is impressed by the move Xiaoli made, but Ascarid adds that Stella is also amazing that she had lured Xiaoli to the center of the camp. It is a plain area with no place to hide which is a perfect place for Stella to unleash her most powerful Noble Art since Xiaoli shouldn’t be able to escape from it there. Stella uses ‘Katharterio Salamandra’, but Xiaoli manages to stop the sword of light’s slash with her left hand that should have been broken. As Stella is confused about it, bluish-white flame engulfs Xiaoli’s right gauntlet. Xiaoli then says ‘Katharterio Salamandra’ and delivers a fist strike towards Stella, who blocks it with her sword. From the amount of heat and overwhelming power of Xiaoli’s strike and the fact that Xiaoli’s arms are healed, it is no doubt that Xiaoli is using dragon ability. Stella realizes that Xiaoli is a ‘faker’, someone with the concept manipulation type ability to copy their opponents’ abilities. Xiaoli’s ‘Goheitaishu (great master of five soldiers)’ causes her to gain the ability of the owner of the magic she touches. Stella then jumps to the sky to stop resisting Xiaoli’s ‘Katharterio Salamandra’ and avoid it. At the same time, she uses ‘Dragon Wing’ and then moves fast towards Xiaoli.

It is probably difficult for Xiaoli to use Stella’s dragon ability because a ‘faker’ has two flaws. One of them is that it is impossible for Xiaoli’s copied ability to surpass Stella’s ability especially when it is one of the highest of all abilities. The other is the difference in the degree of mastery, which it is impossible for Xiaoli to have learned to use it better than Stella during this one battle. Stella thinks there’s nothing she should be afraid of and so she swings down her sword towards Xiaoli while moving fast with her wings of fire. However, Xiaoli stops Stella’s sword by catching it with her right index and middle fingers only, and Stella can’t even pull back her sword. Stella is shocked and wonders if Xiaoli is able to use the dragon ability better than her. Xiaoli replies there is indeed a huge gap between Xiaoli and Stella in using the dragon ability, but even that gap is insignificant in front of China’s 4,000 years of polishing martial arts skills. Xiaoli immediately pulls the ‘Laevateinn’ she caught with her right hand in order to get Stella closer to her, and she launches a strike up towards Stella’s chin with her left hand. Stella suffers a concussion from the strike and her ability to fly disappears, causing her to be grounded. The superior physical strength that Xiaoli possessed was caused by a Genbu (Black Tortoise) type move called ‘Taizan (large mountain)’. Xiaoli held her feet to the ground so strong that it made her as if she was one part of the mountain that even a dragon couldn’t move. By firmly grasping the ground with her feet’s fingers, she gained huge strength from the support. Stella has a hard time making a defensive stance due to her concussion, and so Xiaoli strikes Stella’s abdomen with the strength she gains from the mountain. Stella’s body is blown tens of meters away until it hits a wall of rock and she then falls to the ground. Stella is on the ground writhing in pain and spreading blood and vomit due to her internal organs damaged. Xiaoli strangely doesn’t attack while Stella is healing her injuries with her dragon life force.

After Stella manages to get back up, Xiaoli says with a serious face that she didn’t think Stella’s power to be this terrible and that she might end up killing her. Xiaoli asks if Stella will give up, which causes Stella to be boiling with anger. Xiaoli replies that Stella herself knows that she can’t win which Stella can’t deny. Stella’s fear of facing against a Desperado has gotten stronger and she is desperately trying to shake off this feeling to prevent her from getting pulled by Desperado’s power to influence fate. Stella then swings her sword many times randomly at Xiaoli with all her might, but Xiaoli just stands there handling the sword strikes with just her right hand without receiving even a single scratch. It is like striking a mountain that cannot be moved, making Stella’s strikes all in vain. Stella then suddenly receives an invisible blow to the side of her head, and her body is sent flying sideways until she rolls on the ground. The blow caused a crack to her skull, but her injuries are immediately healed due to ‘Dragon Spirit’. She then decides to attack from a distance by launching ‘Satan Fang’ at Xiaoli. The flames don’t have any effect on Xiaoli since she is copying Stella’s dragon power, but they momentarily rob her field of vision. At that moment, Stella uses ‘Flame Veil’ to hide her appearance in order to deliver a fatal blow to Xiaoli from behind. However, Xiaoli catches the sword with her two fingers like before and with her back facing Stella. Xiaoli didn’t sense any thought of winning in the ‘Satan Fang’ released, so she figured Stella would attack from behind like this. She then let goes of the sword and delivers a roundhouse kick towards Stella’s side. Stella blocks the kick with the grip of her sword, but then the impact causes the inside of her body to feel like it has exploded. It was a Chinese martial arts skill similar to Ikki’s ‘Dokuga no Tachi’ that destroys the inside of Stella’s body regardless of her wearing her dragon armor. Stella then spits out blood and her body collapses. Xiaoli asks if Stella understands now that she can’t win, but Stella refuses to give up while struggling standing up. While sighing, Xiaoli tells Stella to realize it already and delivers a kick to Stella. Then for over 10 minutes, Stella’s attacks can’t even shake Xiaoli who has become one with the mountain while Xiaoli’s counterattacks keep hitting Stella instead.

During this one-sided development, Tatara is angry at Stella for getting hit by Xiaoli’s counterattacks so easily. Ascarid says it’s because Xiaoli is skillfully hiding her counterattacks behind Stella’s arms and sword that are blind spots, making them look like invisible blows. Stella has wounds all over her body with signs of internal bleeding since her dragon healing ability had become depleted a while ago. She is then walking towards Xiaoli while staggering and doesn’t even have the strength to properly raise her sword. Tatara and Ascarid realize that Stella has lost consciousness and is probably moving by instinct. Tatara is about to go to stop the fight, but at that moment she suffers pain as if her heart is being pierced and then collapses on the spot while in agony. The effects of ‘Testament’ will tear apart Ascarid’s and Tatara’s hearts if they break their promise of not to lend their hands to Stella. As Tatara is desperately thinking of what to do, Edelweiss suddenly appears and says that Tatara is really kind. Edelweiss then says it was her mistake for not predicting Xiaoli’s arrival and she will put an end to this fight since she didn’t make the same promise in front of ‘Testament’. As Edelweiss is moving ahead to stop the fight, a sword suddenly comes towards her. As shown in one of the pics, Edelweiss stops the incoming blade with her own sword and she is surprised to see that it is Ikki who stopped her. Ikki says that at first he thought that he would stop Stella if things went too far because the people in Vermillion do not wish for Stella to get hurt for their sake. However, he realized that she was aware that no one wished for her to be reckless. Even so she still insisted on continuing as the ‘Crimson Princess’ which Ikki does not why. But he does know that Stella is not fighting for everyone’s sake. Right now she is fighting for something that she refuses to yield and she is defending her ‘ego (self)’ that refuses to give up. Ikki had sworn that no matter what happens he will believe in her ‘ego’ and prevent anyone from stopping her. He says to Edelweiss, “With my strongest, I will hold you back for sure this time”.

Edelweiss can tell that Ikki has resolved to prevent her from interfering Stella’s fight even if it means dying. She doesn’t think that Stella’s story shouldn’t end in a place like this and so she has to fight Ikki in order to save Stella. Both begin with moving at their fastest speed and exchange a number of slashes. Even though both of their sword skills are at superhuman level, Ikki is being overwhelmed by Edelweiss due to his fatigue from training continuously for few days. His magic has been depleted too which is not enough to use ‘Itto Shura’. Edelweiss then uses her left sword to repel Ikki’s sword, and then swings her right sword towards Ikki’s defenseless body. However, her sword has landed on Ikki’s body but it won’t proceed to cut. At that moment, Ikki slashes at Edelweiss’ shoulder though she is able to defend with her left sword in time. She was unable to hold her ground and thus her body was largely pushed back. Tatara and Ascarid are surprised that Ikki was able to force back Edelweiss, but Edelweiss herself is more surprised at the hard impact she felt on her right hand after the sword she swung landed on Ikki’s body. From the impact, Edelweiss understood that Ikki used the mana defense that is commonly used by Blazers to protect their bodies from physical impacts. Ikki’s mana was originally too weak to do this, but the training given by Edelweiss had enabled him to concentrate his mana release to a single point on his body to the limit and create mana defense. Ikki then says Stella is determined to continue living as the ‘Crimson Princess’ and not running away no matter how much hardship she is going through. He also tells Edelweiss not to look down on his beloved knight, and at that moment a huge sound from Stella and Xiaoli’s battlefield can be heard.

Xiaoli once again stops Stella’s attack and then delivers a kick to Stella’s abdomen. Stella’s body is blown away and rolls on the ground like many times before, but every time this happens Xiaoli makes a grim face. Stella has wounds all over her body, has no strength in her limbs and has very little light in her eyes, which indicate that she’s just one final blow away from collapsing. However, Xiaoli has already given the supposed final blow tens of times already and yet Stella got back up each time though struggling. There is still some light in her eyes even if it’s little. Stella then drags her sword while moving towards Xiaoli and then swings it at Xiaoli. The sword slash Xiaoli receives shouldn’t have any power and yet it feels heavy to her. Every time the slash is repeated, it gets heavier. Xiaoli then decides to deliver a barrage of attacks to crush Stella’s consciousness completely. She makes an upward kick that hits Stella’s lower jaw and when Stella becomes defenseless Xiaoli then delivers a very fast series of 17 hits with both of her fists on Stella’s body. Stella is about to fall on her back but at that moment, she suddenly lets out a huge scream and then swings her sword towards Xiaoli who receives it with her gauntlets without any damage. Stella’s sword slash couldn’t even shake Xiaoli before but now it has pushed her back few meters away. Xiaoli is amazed and confused because Stella who had received so many hits was able to counterattack like this. Within her remaining consciousness, Stella then remembers that the reason why she became the ‘Crimson Princess’ in the first place was to look cool in front of everyone. Her gratitude towards everyone for loving Stella no matter was what led to her wanting to be their proud daughter. Such ‘ego’ was what supported her through hardships in the past. Even now the feeling of gratitude is what causes Stella to still have some light in her eyes and to believe that she can still continue. Stella then raises her sword to the sky, indicating that she’s going to use ‘Katharterio Salamandra’.

Stella’s ‘Katharterio Salamandra’ this time is largely different. Her sword is only shining slightly and looks like having less power than usual which should be due to her being wounded all over her body and completely exhausted. However, Xiaoli can see that Stella still has light in her eyes that continues to shine and that she has something she refuses to yield which is similar to how Xiaoli refuses to give up for the sake of her country’s dignity. Thus, Xiaoli finally understands that the person in front of her is an opponent she must defeat. She closes her eyes and extends her arms above her head. While her arms form a semicircle, she breathes in slowly and largely until her lungs are inflated to the limit and spreading energy to her blood. She then lets out a huge howl and at the same time a pillar of blue blaze is released from her body towards the night sky. This is the ‘Shishou’ martial arts secret technique called ‘Kirinkou (Qilin achievement)’ that only the talented Xiaoli and the ‘Great Sage’ can use. It is a breathing technique that can cause Xiaoli to ignore all of her survival instincts safety mechanisms and release all of her mana, strength and vitality at once, which is similar to Ikki’s ‘Itto Shura’. Even the power of her Noble Arts (called war technique in China) will be increased up to tens of times and moreover it is the copied dragon power that is being increased. Xiaoli then gathers all of the strengthened dragon power into her gauntlets, creating bluish white plasma on her arms. For the first time today, Xiaoli finally has gotten serious. This battle is already going outside the realm of fate and will be decided by the strength of the soul. Xiaoli believes in her fist that carries China’s 4,000 years of pride.

Xiaoli runs towards Stella and delivers her left fist directly at Stella. At the same time, Stella swings her sword down towards Xiaoli. Xiaoli’s fist, which is powered by the dragon power strengthened tens of times by ‘Kirinkou’ and the whole weight of Edelberg by ‘Taizan’, collides with Stella’s ‘Katharterio Salamandra’. Xiaoli’s super heavy fist is breaking her own arm, crushing her shoulder, squashing her internal organs, snapping apart her muscles, and making cracks on the ground she’s standing on. Cracks are then forming on ‘Laevateinn’, looking like it’s going to break. Xiaoli thinks that all she has to do left is brushing aside the sword with her left arm and then delivering a right crushing fist. However, she tries to brush aside ‘Laevateinn’ but it won’t move and feels heavy which surprises her. Then, golden light is leaking out from the cracks on the sword and gets more intensified as the cracks increased further until it becomes much brighter than Xiaoli’s blue blaze. Seeing this, Xiaoli understands Stella’s sword is not crumbling but is actually going through something that is like an emergence. Stella then says that if Xiaoli is heavy like a mountain, then she will just cut the mountain. In an instant, a flame of light bursts out from inside ‘Laevateinn’ and cuts Edelberg into two. Later, a huge cut mark that spans from the camp site to the base of the mountain is visible and Xiaoli who had lost consciousness fell into the huge cut mark’s abyss. Stella raises the sword that burst out of the light high into the sky, confirming herself as the victor. The sword is looks like ‘Laevateinn’ but has a completely different form. It is a golden double-edged blade longer than Stella’s height and the sturdy center part is thicker than a human arm. It is large enough to cut an elephant’s head and has majestic look with some fine decorations. Tatara wonders if ‘Laevateinn’ has changed form and Ascarid replies that Stella’s soul has evolved in order to respond to her feelings of refusing to give up on her ‘ego (self)’ and to surpass her own limit. As a result, ‘Laevateinn’ which is the symbol of her soul has changed too.

Stella’s body then collapses and Ikki rushes there to embrace Stella’s worn body strongly, which causes her to feel pain. Stella then notices that Ikki’s body is slightly trembling from being worried about her, but she thanked him for also believing in her. The final night has ended, and the morning of the sixth day has arrived. Edelweiss makes an applause congratulating Stella for fulfilling her promise. She was actually surprised that Stella was able to drive away Xiaoli who is considered a genius even in the long history of Shinryuu Temple. Edelweiss also says that Stella is now someone worthy for her to cross swords with, as her eyes are showing bloodlust. However, Stella decides not to go ahead with fighting Edelweiss. Stella says that after remembering the reason she picked up her sword, she realized that she has to live and so she can’t be doing something rash like fighting Edelweiss right now. The one thing she has to do now is going back home to Vermillion and recover the strength she needs to defeat those who have messed with her family. Thus, Stella finally realizes that even though sacrificing herself to protect those important to her looks good in appearance, it won’t lead to unexplored futures. Always having hope is the strength of a person who is not giving up on their ‘ego (self)’ that wants to make their own future. In front of such strength, fate is no longer an obstacle. Edelweiss then says, “As long as they don’t give up, people can do anything. After all, humans are living creatures that have shown able to reach the moon despite not having wings.” Ikki is surprised at the words Edelweiss just said, and seeing Ikki’s surprised face causes Edelweiss placing her index finger in front of her lips while making a mischievous smile. She then suggests that everyone should have a meal at her house before they go back to Vermillion. As Stella thanks Edelweiss for the invitation, Tatara suddenly throws a snowball to Stella’s mouth and says that Stella should just eat snow if she’s hungry. Tatara is pissed, complaining about why she had to become worried about someone like Stella. They both end up engaged in a snowball fight, and then the 6 days of training in Edelberg has finally ended.

Chapter 14: Vermillion’s Sword

After the battle, Xiaoli was nowhere found in the bottom of the valley that Stella created. The dragon power Xiaoli copied probably protected her and healed her wounds. Xiaoli had returned to the village at the bottom of the mountain on her own and then left after saying she had no right to remain after being defeated. Stella and the others have also left after having a meal at Edelweiss’ house, leaving Edelweiss alone in the house. The 6 days of watching over the growth of Ikki and Stella was fun, and so she feels lonely now that it’s over. She’s glad that she has met them in her last vacation. Edelweiss thinks that after the situation with All-Goal and the others is resolved, it probably won’t be long until the beginning of the nightmare that Tsukikage shown her a while ago occurs. Vacation is over for her because she’s not going to just let such a thing happen. It is the responsibility of those with power, which is what she learned from the person who taught her swordsmanship. She then puts back up one of the two picture frames that was placed face down on the shelf. It is a photo of her when she was a kid together with an old Asian man with a fine beard. She bows to the photo and says, “I’m going then, Sensei.”

Stella and the others have arrived back at Vermillion’s capital Flareverg. As Stella and the others have exited the plane, they see Nene and Lunaeyes waiting for them. Nene then walks towards the approaching Stella, and gives an intimidation that is trying to prevent Stella from moving forward as if there’s an invisible wall. The intimidation Nene gave using her ability to influence fate is similar to the one Naseem gave which Stella couldn’t resist against before. However, Stella is able to keep walking forward which causes Nene to realize that it was not a waste for Stella to go to Edelberg. Nene then informs that a formal notice listing Johann Cristoph von Collbrand, All-Goal, Naseem Al-Salem, Ein Abgrund and ‘BB’ as Cradleland’s representatives in the war had arrived when Stella and the others were in Edelberg. The war will be a battle royal taking place in the whole area Cradleland’s capital city Lucier and will start at sunset tomorrow. Ikki, Stella, Ascarid, Tatara and Nene who are Vermillion’s representatives have no problem with it. Luna then comes forward and asks Stella for help because something troubling has happened.

At Flareverg’s central park, the people who were supposed to evacuate before the start of the war have gathered there. There are also food stands which makes the whole scene look like it’s a festival and Sirius is seen having fun with the people while drinking. It is preparation for a state funeral and the people insisted on staying even though there shouldn’t be anything they can do since the war will be a representative battle. They still want to cheer for the people fighting for them, and don’t want to just cheer for them from a safe place. Everyone is all one family and so they won’t run away. Luna wants Stella to persuade everyone to evacuate to a safe place, but Stella instead laughs about it and says that she loves everyone when they’re like this. Stella tells Luna to just give up on it because this is the kind of people everyone is. Luna protests it is dangerous for everyone to stay and who knows what kind of dangers will occur if Vermillion is defeated. In order not to let such things occur, Luna even made ‘that kind of deal’. Stella then tells Luna that it will be okay because they won’t lose. While placing her hands on Luna’s cheeks, Stella then says she doesn’t know what kind of deal Luna made with All-Goal in order to give everyone time to evacuate but she’s sure Luna has to submit something very important to her. Stella is sure that she can defeat them and so Luna doesn’t have to give up anything like how Stella wouldn’t give up being the ‘Crimson Princess’. For a long time, Luna has killed her emotions and relies on reasons in order to make decisions befitting to be made by someone from the imperial family. However, she now believes Stella will ensure that everything will be okay. Luna asks Stella to save Johann, while shedding tears. This is her personal wish, to keep the promise she made with Johann when they were kids which was to help him when he’s in trouble. Stella then manifests the sword of her reincarnated soul, ‘Laevateinn’, and shoots some fire to the sky as lights for remembering those who have died for Vermillion. She then says to everyone to leave it to her because she will protect everyone including the people of Cradleland, and that the ‘Crimson Princess’ is invincible as long as everyone cheers for her and believes in her. The volume ends with Luna seeing Stella’s unwavering resolve and then finally realizing that a true king that will lead Vermillion to an ideal future has been born.

Characters

 * Stella Vermillion
 * Edelweiss
 * Ikki Kurogane
 * Yui Tatara
 * Iris Ascarid
 * Lunaeyes Vermillion
 * All-Goal
 * Johann Cristoph von Collbrand
 * Naseem Al-Salem
 * Sirius Vermillion
 * Nene Saikyo
 * Ein
 * Guile
 * Yoshikazu Kiba
 * Ranbalt Raab
 * Fu Xiaoli
 * Norman Creed (mentioned)
 * Big Baby (mentioned)
 * Great Sage (mentioned)