Light Novel Volume 14

Rakudai Kishi no Eiyuutan Light Novel 14 is the fourteenth installment of the Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry light novel series, written by Riku Misora and illustrated by Won. It was released in April 2018.

Summary
"Desperados striking each other!"

''"Yaksha Princess", you are the same as me. A monster hiding under human skin!" ''

''As Ikki and Stella each advancing forward in their battle, the battle between two Desperados, "Yaksha Princess" Nene Saikyou and "Haboob" Naseem, is also getting more intense. It is a battle between both strong people that give everything they have in order to force the other admit defeat while acknowledging each other's abilities. While in the middle of it, Nene remembers her encounter once before with her most worthy rival "World Clock" Kurono Takizawa who she sharpened herself with during the KOK League. Meanwhile, the battle in which Stella and the others are within the "Puppet King's" range has also entered a new phase.''

''Each past and memory is becoming clear. The 14th volume where their decision and resolve as knights are tested, and are above the line between life and death!''

Chapters
Intermission: Sorrow Rain

The scene takes place during a rainy night years ago. Nene is waiting in the middle of a street without an umbrella, and then Kurono arrives while under an umbrella. Nene says that she heard from Nangou that Kurono is finally getting married and congratulates Kurono. Though Nene is genuinely congratulating Kurono, her eyes are filled with anger. She then says that she doesn’t understand why Kurono has to retire from the KOK A-League because of that. The next match will be between Nene and Kurono, and Nene is looking forward to settle the score they were unable to fulfill during the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. Nene asks if Kurono has become afraid and Kurono says yes. Nene then angrily grabs the collar of Kurono’s suit and asks her why even though she’s Kurono Takizawa the “World Clock” and ranked 3rd in the world. Kurono drops her umbrella during that moment and explains while looking down. She says that she’s not afraid of Nene or herself. After the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival, they heard from Nangou and Ryouma that someday they will surpass the limit of their soul. While she was forging herself in order to settle her score with Nene, she saw an image of herself just one step away from passing through a door. She understood that passing through the door will enable her to overcome the fate given to her and it was necessary in order to fight Nene. It was also the same thing Nene saw when she was forging herself for her rematch with Kurono. However, while she was about to pass through that door Kurono heard the voice of her lover Takumi from behind. She realized that achieving “Brute Soul” won’t guarantee if she will remain human and if meeting Takumi was her fate as a person then she doesn’t want to throw it away, including her future as Takumi’s wife. Kurono explains while caressing her lower abdomen. She then says this is her limit and she can’t move forward anymore, and so she decided to retire from the KOK. Nene realizes even though Kurono feels guilty, she doesn’t regret her decision. Nene protests, saying that Kurono’s wish of becoming Takumi’s woman must be a mistake because they had so much fun when they fought in the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. Kurono agrees that giving all of her life to defeat her opponent was fun and felt really ecstatic. However, Kurono can no longer fight like that because she has found something more important than her life and pride. As shown in a pic, Kurono apologizes while bowing her head which causes Nene to have a pain look on her face and tells Kurono to stop because she doesn’t want to look down on her like this. Knowing their paths will never cross again causes tears from Nene’s eyes to flow together with the rain. The next day, Kurono officially announces her retirement from the KOK.

Chapter 19: Showdown between Demonic Beings

In the present, the representative battle between the terrorists representing Cradleland and the team representing Vermillion is leaning towards in favor of Vermillion. 4 people on Vermillion’s side are still standing while only 2 people on Cradleland’s side are left. However, it is still far from over since Cradleland’s side still has their main forces which consists of Or-Gaule who is capable of putting an entire country under his control and Naseem Al-Salem who possesses power that has destroyed many countries. While Iris Ascarid is facing Or-Gaule, Nene is facing Naseem. Nene and Naseem remain at the same place where Naseem released his Noble Art that blew everyone else far away during the beginning of the battle. After they released “Jibakujin” and “Mictlan · Tormenta”, Nene then uses “Kokutou · Yatagarasu”. Her Device “Beniiro Ageha” is a pair of iron fans and a gravity blade is formed on the closed fans with the appearance of a black light that is over 3 meters long. Nene makes an elegant dance movement that is similar to a Noh dance while swinging her sword towards Naseem. Nene’s fighting style is combat dance, which is a combination of her mastery of dance movements and the swordsmanship she learned from Nangou. Her sword dance only uses her senses and doesn’t require thought intervention to deliver a series of fast attacks like Ouma’s “Amatsukaze”. But unlike “Amatsukaze”, Nene’s fast movements don’t require fixed patterns and so it should be impossible for her opponent to read them. If Edelweiss’ sword technique is said to be the pinnacle of techniques, then the combination of Nene’s rare battle sense and aesthetic sense can be considered the pinnacle of talents. There shouldn’t be a way to sever this sword dance. Nene launches slashes towards Naseem but they are all intercepted by jabs from Naseem’s left hand that is protected by his gauntlet-shaped Device “Toxcatl”. Even though Nene has a reputation of being superior at close combat even in the A-League, she maintains the length of her gravity blade to deliver slashes from a certain distance. It is because she’s being cautious of Naseem’s right fist that can deliver his finishing move “Dead End Blow”. Naseem’s right fist which has destroyed a number of countries and killed a lot of people is even capable of crushing Nene’s “Hadou Tensei” in just one hit, so it’s natural that Nene doesn’t want to get close to him.

As Nene tries to maintain distance, Naseem tries to get close to her. Naseem’s advancing speed is faster than Nene’s retreating speed so eventually he will caught up to her. Once Naseem is close to her, Nene adjusts the reach of her gravity blade and parries the barrage of Naseem’s jabs. The difference in their body height makes it easier for Nene to narrow down the trajectory of Naseem’s incoming jabs which are aiming at her head. Nene then uses her gravity magic to create a spatial distortion in order to twist the trajectory of Naseem’s jab and so he pulls back his left fist. But during that moment, Nene bends her body very low to attack Naseem’s ankle with her gravity blade. Naseem’s boxing style fighting has a weakness of leaving his lower body nearly unprotected. Nene’s attack should be unavoidable, but Naseem is able to stop the incoming blade by stomping on it. Naseem then uses his finishing move “Dead End Blow”, which his right fist is powered by his drying ability. He launches “Dead End Blow” in a form of uppercut that targets Nene’s chin, but Nene let goes of her stomped Device in order to dodge his attack. Nene then creates a distance from Naseem and gets her Device back in her hand using gravitational pull. They both end up back where they started, but Naseem is convinced that he’s the superior one in this battle.

Nene then recreates her 3 meter long gravity blades again in order to keep maintaining her distance. Naseem is moving in towards Nene and once again is getting closer while Nene is trying to maintain her distance by moving backwards and keeps swinging her blades towards Naseem who just sweeps away the incoming attacks by punching them. Suddenly, the crushed gravity blades crumble and the crumbled pieces become countless black butterflies. Nene is using her Noble Art “Kokushichou” to create 200 butterfly-shaped super gravity energy mines that are surrounding Naseem. But Naseem is not agitated and is just standing there with his eyes closed. Nene causes the butterflies to explode and Naseem shouldn’t be able to defend with just using his left hand. However, Naseem ends up being okay despite being hit by the blows of the gravity mines. Out of the 200 butterflies, only 12 of them were lethal to him while the rest were just decoys that would only give him pain. So all Naseem had to do was using his left hand to crush the lethal ones and let the rest of the butterflies hit him. Nene is surprised that Naseem was able to tell and Naseem says it’s because he can predict the future. Naseem was born from the belly of a woman that got hit by a bomb in a place where dictators and rebels had war for half a century, and so death was always around him. Because he was born in such condition, he has developed a sixth sense which he refers to as “super war sensitivity”. Naseem is able to sense his enemy’s killing intent even before it is inside the enemy’s head to send out commands to their body. Thus, he will always be ready to deal with his enemy’s next move and surprise attacks don’t work on him. Naseem says the only way for Nene to defeat him is to unleash a powerful attack with everything she’s got.

Naseem manages to get very close to Nene and fires a barrage of left punches again. Nene tries to twist the trajectory of the punches by creating spatial distortion with her gravity magic like before, but Naseem is able to fix the bent trajectory immediately. Nene is able to repel the barrage of punches with her dance movements and Device. Even though it looks like a fierce close range battle, Naseem feels like he’s only hitting cloth and all of his punches are being repelled. He thinks that Nene is using Nangou’s boasted technique called “Kenkyoku · Tsurugi no Mai (Sword Music · Dance of the Sword)”, which the user endures the enemy’s attacks until the threat passes by receiving the enemy’s attacks infinitely with soft defense and rotating their body as if dancing in order to repel the impact of the attacks. Nangou was left unscathed during the fierce battles in the southern front of World War 2 and was nicknamed “Flawless” at the time. However, Nene replies that the beautiful dance she’s using right now is actually something much better than the octopus-like dancing that Nangou uses. Nene is only focusing on defense, so Naseem can’t sense any killing intent from her. But he can tell that Nene is inviting him to attack her with his right hand. Naseem then launches his right fist towards Nene and she moves back to get out of the range of “Dead End Blow”. However, Naseem uses “Alquimia · Hierro” to create a thick iron wall behind Nene in order to prevent her escape. “Dead End Blow” then launches towards Nene’s head and at that moment Nene moves the Device in her hand. It shouldn’t be possible to deal with “Dead End Blow” while struggling to escape. However, “Dead End Blow” ends up passing above Nene’s head and crushes the iron wall behind her. Nene then is about to launch a counterattack at Naseem with her Device in both hands. Naseem realizes this is Nene’s aim and he is surprised because he didn’t sense her killing intent. Nene’s gravity blades prevent Naseem turning into sand, and so the ten slashes she delivers cut off parts of his body with blood coming out and organs exposed. Nene says Naseem’s ability to sense his enemy’s killing intent is incredible but that also means he’s reading his enemy’s heart. For Nene, killing Naseem is like killing an insect and so her heart won’t be moved from that.

The black aura that Nene and Naseem scattered in the beginning of their battle made it difficult for Boomer and the people watching live coverage of the war to see their battle. But the afterglow of magic power has cleared up and everyone watching can now see that the area where Nene and Naseem are fighting has turned into a waste land of 3 km in diameter. Everyone watching also sees that Nene is standing on the battlefield while Naseem is on the ground with his body shredded. Everyone in Vermillion is cheering at this development and praises Nene. Boomer comments that Naseem in his current state might not be saved even if he is put into a Capsule immediately and that anyone surviving this state can’t be human. However, Nene knows that it is still not over yet because Naseem is not stupid enough to get defeated like this and so she tells him to get back up. Suddenly, Naseem is laughing and raises his body. Boomer is shocked that Naseem is alive and treats it like it was nothing even though Naseem’s body is heavily damaged with so many blood and his guts coming out. Nene understands how this is possible while looking at her fingers that are bent in unlikely directions. Other than his “super war sensitivity” that enables him to sense his enemy’s killing intent even before it commands their body to attack, Naseem also possesses fast reaction speed which limits his opponent’s surprise attacks. During Nene’s counterattack, Naseem hit Nene’s fingers with his left hand which caused Nene’s advance and slashes to be shallow. A person can remain alive for tens of seconds even if their heart is pulled out and so it is necessary to split their brain into two to ensure instant death. But Nene’s slashing to Naseem’s head didn’t reach his brain and so he can recover after reconstructing his body. After Nene fixes her broken fingers by applying compression and gravity magic, Naseem has gotten up but for some reason he didn’t fix the lacerations on his face and left it bleeding.

Naseem says he was surprised that “Dead End Blow” was deflected but now understands that Nene had used Naseem’s own strength. Nene confirms it by explaining that the technique she used can circulate the force of the opponent’s attack and return it back while in a dance. Unlike Ikki’s “Madoka” that returns back the power of the absorbed attack immediately, the combination of Nene’s dance movements and gravity ability makes it possible to accumulate all of the power she continuously absorbed. Thus, Nene was stealing all of the power from Naseem’s jabs and uses it to deflect “Dead End Blow”. This is her Noble Art “Yaksha Kagura” that she developed based on Nangou’s technique. It is a remarkable technique but what made Naseem surprised the most was how his “super war sensitivity” didn’t sense Nene’s killing intent. Killing intent is a strong feeling that can overcome a person’s primal repulsion in killing another person. Even if killing intent can be hidden by training, Naseem’s “super war sensitivity” can still detect it as long as it’s not removed completely. He had never failed to notice any killing intent before, even when he faced Edelweiss in the Middle East as a government mercenary. Killing someone without having a killing intent can only be done by someone who doesn’t value life like Naseem. Therefore, Naseem believes Nene is like him, a person who doesn’t have such moral feelings and is a monster covered in human skin. It’s because she’s such a monster that she is capable of killing him, and so this makes him happy. Naseem became so strong that he got tired of living and so he accepted Or-Gaule’s invitation in the hope of being fulfilled from making half of the world his enemy. He believes Nene can satisfy his thirst for war and so declares to her that the real war starts now.

Naseem puts his fingers on the wound on his face and strongly tears the skin off as shown in a pic. He then releases a huge scream and an aura from his whole body which becomes a strong gust of wind. The black mana surrounding him is gradually turning into a golden glow that illuminates the night and his physical appearance is changing. When the dust is clear everyone can see that Naseem’s body has gotten bigger and the color of his muscles become black with obsidian-like gloss, tearing his skin and clothes. The flesh on his face peeled down to the ground and his eyes melted like a burned corpse. Water buffalo-like horns are protruding from his skeleton-like head, bat-like wings have risen from his back, and reptile-like tail has grown from his waist. Boomer comments that Naseem’s appearance is like that of a demon and wonders what kind of Noble Art this transformation is. But Nene understands it is not a Noble Art from the golden shine in Naseem’s empty eye sockets and drastic change in his amount of mana. This transformation is called “Excessive Awakening”. Achieving “Brute Soul” is when a Blazer overcomes fate and transforms their soul into a person not bound by fate, and so it is called that because it is like having the soul of a beast. There is a rumor that a Desperado using the power from undergoing “Brute Soul” too much will result in their body changing to match the shape of their changed soul and they will also gain enormous power in exchange of losing their humanity. Desperados are rare and so this rumor was never verified, but Nene mutters that it seems it’s not just a rumor. Naseem replies, in a voice with low growl that is like bellows, that this form represents his true self. What he wants is not a relaxing life, but devoting everything he has by being very close to death. He also believes that Nene desires the same thing even right now. Nene replies that she won’t turn into something hideous like him, but Naseem replies that she will because he will force her to.

Naseem rushes towards Nene though it is slower than before. Nene thinks his huge demonic body increases his attack power but decreases his speed. He is also using kicks with big motion instead of just jabs and so the number of strikes he’s delivering at Nene is less than half of it was before. Nene is receiving the strikes with “Yaksha Kagura” and it shouldn’t be possible for Naseem to break through her Noble Art with a rush that is even slower than before. However, Nene is actually having a hard time because each of Naseem’s strike is much more powerful than before. The amount of mana Naseem possesses now easily surpasses even Stella’s that is said to be the highest in the League of Mage-Knight Nations and his mana control is also very high now. All of his enormous mana is put into his punches and kicks. There is a limit to how much of the absorbed power that Nene’s “Yaksha Kagura” can accumulate. If Nene continues to receive Naseem’s powerful attacks with her dance, her body will be twisted. Thus she slips into a gap in his rush and delivers ten fast consecutive slashes at him. However, there is not even a scratch on his black body. Nene realizes that the mana protecting his body is much stronger than the energy of Nene’s “Yatagarasu” gravity blades. Once again Nene is caught by Naseem’s rush and she endures his strikes with “Yaksha Kagura”. Nene suffers some mental damage after seeing Naseem defended against her Noble Art with just mana alone, but her defense hasn’t weakened. She slips into a gap in Naseem’s rush and delivers a slash powered with all the energy accumulated by “Yaksha Kagura” at him. However, Naseem uses his tail to turn his body around sideways in order to dodge the slash. He then counterattacks by launching an uppercut with his glowing left arm which Nene manages to evade with just a graze on her right arm. Suddenly, Nene cuts off her right arm from the shoulder with her Device in left hand. When her arm crumbles as soon as it drops to the ground, everyone watching understands that if she hadn’t cut it off then the rest of her body would have crumbled as well from Naseem’s drying ability. From Naseem’s very lethal power, Nene is convinced that he now possesses fighting power comparable to Arthur Bright, Abraham Carter and the “Tyrant”.

Nene then escapes to the night sky using her gravity ability. Naseem follows by kicking the ground strongly and soars to the sky with his wings flapping. Nene then uses “Hadou Tensei” at maximum firepower, which a shower of thirteen meteorites with diameter of 20 meters fall towards Naseem. Soon afterwards, Naseem’s whole body is shining brightly and he uses “Mictlan · Tormenta”. The golden light from his body and the black dust wind have merged together to form a giant tornado that is rising towards the sky. The tornado swallows all of the meteorites, turning them into dust, and it continues to rise towards Nene. She uses her gravity ability to place her two fan-shaped Devices in front of her and forms a butterfly-shaped magic shield. The tornado swallows Nene and she does her best to endure it. After it passes, her device is worn out with countless cracks and her skin is dry with loss of complexion. Naseem then suddenly gets above Nene and launches “Dead End Blow” towards her with his shining right arm. Nene tries to block with her Device but Naseem’s finishing move crushes the embodiment of her soul, causing her loss of consciousness at the same time. The right fist ends up hitting Nene’s chest and then her body is blown away from the sky towards the ground hard. Desperados have human bodies but their souls are not that of humans, making them existences that are on the boundary between humans and demons. Naseem has crossed over that boundary, which he stopped being human and became a demon. As a result, he is able to fully exercise the power of an inhuman soul which couldn’t be done if he still had a human body. Naseem descends down to the ground to check Nene’s status and he finds her still standing. However, Nene is making an eerie smile and then laughs in a sharp voice with her shoulder shaking. Naseem understands that the blow just now had crushed the ego belonging to Nene as a human and now something buried deep within the Desperado known as the “Yaksha Princess” has awakened. He then says that they are the same like he thought and tells her to not hold back anymore. At that moment, black mana with red light rises from Nene’s whole body and her body is changing. Her lost right arm is now replaced with a new one made from super gravity magic, her white eyes have become dark with the irises shining as if burning, and a pair of horns has grown on her forehead. As shown in a pic, her appearance has become like that of a demon. Immediately after, the killing between two monsters has begun.

Nene rushes towards Naseem and launches her right fist at him, which he intercepts with his left fist. The collision between the two fists cause a huge shockwave but the two Desperados remain in the center of the waste land. Naseem then hits Nene’s head with his right fist which would have killed the usual her from before but she is able to withstand it now. Nene also hits Naseem’s side with her left fist but he doesn’t waver. He then joins both of his fists together and drops them down like a hammer towards the back of Nene’s head. She doesn’t fall to the ground and instead jumps up to deliver a knee strike to Naseem’s chin. As he moves one step back, she immediately delivers a jump kick that hits his head. Naseem doesn’t falter and grabs Nene’s ankle to throw her down towards the ground. He tries to stomp Nene’s face but she kicks the approaching foot with both of her own feet. His body is blown away from her while she gets back up, causing them to stand opposite of each other. They then exchange blows with their fists, just beating up each other without skills and tactics. Everyone who is watching doesn’t understand the power Naseem and Nene are displaying but they do know that they are fighting equally now. The people of Vermillion are cheering for Nene but Sirius is giving out cold sweat since he understands better than the others just how terrifying Nene is in her current form. Back when Stella and the others were going to Edelberg and Nene was going to prepare for this battle, Sirius became frightened when Nene seriously told him not to let anyone come close to her and he also thought he saw horns on her head. He wonders if this female demon can be stopped even if she defeats Naseem.

Nene’s body is blown back after receiving continuous blows in the abdomen, but she stops her blown away body with gravity magic. As Nene approaches him, Naseem uses “Alquimia · Hierro” to create a line of spears coming out from the ground. However, Nene just breaks through the line of spears while knocking down the blades without receiving even a single cut on her exposed skin. After Nene and Naseem achieved “Excessive Awakening”, their bodies are now wrapped in high amount of mana and the only way to break through each other’s armor is to deliver directly a blow charged with even more powerful mana. Nene delivers a punch with her right arm that is filled with high amount of mana but Naseem blocks it by crossing his arms. He then returns a punch back to her but she deflects it with “Yaksha Kagura”. She uses the power of the blow she just received to power up a turning kick that hits his body’s flank. Nene continues her rush of attacks and Naseem feels impressed while defending. Nene should be still unconscious after gotten hit by “Dead End Blow”, but her trained body knows what to do on its own. Nene has gotten much stronger due to the increase of mana from “Excessive Awakening”, but Naseem is confident that he will win. He survived wars as a mercenary and is now feared to the point that no country wants to hire him anymore and many countries in the Middle East would band together just to kill him. Going up against the entire world is his war and his “Brute Soul” is the power he gained to overcome this war. Nene on the other hand obtained “Brute Soul” from her time in the KOK A-League which is just a fighting entertainment show to Naseem and she also had achieved “Excessive Awakening” just now. Naseem launches a powerful “Dead End Blow” on Nene but she delivers a powerful counter to his abdomen. He is confused because he can tell that the power didn’t come from his own power stolen by “Yaksha Kagura”. He then launches a kick and a tail attack, but both don’t affect her. Nene then launches a rush of attacks and Naseem is being pushed back. As he is guarding himself from Nene’s fists and kicks, cracks are formed on his body and his black flesh begins to peel off. Naseem understands now that Nene’s mana is continuing to rise above his level. She already had this much mana from the start but couldn’t use it while in human form. Naseem can’t believe that Nene could have increased her mana this much after achieving “Brute Soul” since she has been immersed in a warm environment by being part of the League of Mage-Knight Nations.

Nene’s mana finally reaches the level where Naseem can no longer receive her blows, and her fist crushes both of his arms. His arms shattered like ore and golden body fluid is gushing out. He tries to fight back using kicks but Nene immediately crushes his legs up to the knees. With his limbs gone, he collapses to the ground and then tries to use his tail to attack. However, Nene grabs his tail and tears it off. She then strikes Naseem’s body with “Jibakujin”, preventing him from regenerating his limbs. She also grabs his body on the ground to turn it over and then stomps on his chest many times. When someone enters the state of “Excessive Awakening”, their whole body becomes one with their Device and thus their body is as strong as their Device. Despite having such strong body, cracks are formed and body fluid spurts out every time his chest is hit. Nene is soaked with his body fluid that is a mixture of his blood and mana. She licks the body fluid that has scattered on her cheek and straddles Naseem who is lying on his back. As shown in a pic, Nene lays her body on top of Naseem’s and licks the wound on his chest while laughing in a seductive way. Everyone who is watching becomes silent after realizing that this demon is a completely different existence from the Nene they know. Nene herself, who is finally starting to emerge from a dark place in her vague consciousness, is staring at her changed self. Looking at herself in such state, Nene makes a bitter smile. She knew that she’s similar to Naseem, a person who is addicted to violence and craves to exert their power. Ever since the day she beat her stepfather to death, she had felt pleasure in seriously beating up people who annoy her without feeling guilt. There was only one reason why someone like her didn’t end up becoming like Or-Gaule or Naseem and became part of the League of Mage-Knight Nations. She wanted to settle her score with Kurono and pay back to her the humiliation she had experienced for the first time in her life by ten times. However, Nene’s wish didn’t come true when Kurono retired. As a result she didn’t feel like aiming for the top in the KOK and since then her frustration accumulated. But now the power she obtained after achieving “Brute Soul” for the purpose of fighting Kurono can be used on the enemy right in front of her instead. The fulfillment she’s having right now is what she has always been seeking and so what happens to the “human” named Nene Saikyo shouldn’t matter. However, she wonders if that’s really the case.

Chapter 20: Memory that Can't be Casted Away

Nene’s mother was remarried to a worthless man who didn’t work and was just drinking and playing. The man would raise his voice and became violent while drunk at something he didn’t like even a little, which caused her mother always crying. Nene would get hit at any opportunity for reason of “unable to make money with her ability to make objects float in the air”, though it wouldn’t be painful for a Blazer like Nene. She and her mother would just let those days pass by until she couldn’t take it anymore. One day, they were having Nene’s favorite food for dinner but her stepfather got angry for some reason as usual. He was being violent at her mother and stepped on her favorite food that fell on the floor. At that moment, for the first in her life she became irritated and seriously hit her stepfather in the face with her fist. He died from the hit, but she felt joy instead of regret. She also discovered at the same time that gravity was her true ability. A year after, Nene’s mother disappeared after unable to endure being with her anymore since she killed her stepfather. Around that time Nene started to pick fights at school, streets and even underground fighting arenas due to being drunk in releasing the power idling within her. She would keep fighting until she crushes her enemies, makes them beg for forgiveness while crying and feels satisfied. Nene who enjoyed such violence was given the nickname “Yaksha Princess” and when she reached middle school there was no one in West Japan who wouldn’t know the name of the delinquent. During her 3rd year of middle school, she was arrested along with all fighters who were in an underground fighting arena managed by gangsters. Nene had not entered a mage-knight school yet but the incident along with her mountain list of previous offenses caused the League of Mage-Knight Nations to seriously consider revoking her qualifications to be a knight which would have been the first since Japan joined the League. However, a turning point in her degenerating life then came.

The scene then takes place in a police hospital in Kyoto. The Commissioner General of the National Police Agency named Hizaki is visiting to see Nene. He is escorted to a VIP room which is like a first-class hotel suite filled with luxurious furniture. When he enters he is shocked to see Nene relaxing on a massage chair while watching TV and getting a nail art as shown in a pic. A chief of police named Shimogamo also has brought what Nene ordered him to buy, which is a confectionery that is difficult to buy. Hizaki demands to know why the notorious problem child who is not even injured is being treated like a VIP here. If this becomes public the police will lose their authority, so Hizaki orders Shimogamo to have Nene put in a detention center immediately. However, Shimogamo won’t obey even if he is ordered by the Commissioner General. He then explains that they didn’t arrest her because it was impossible as the Kyoto Prefectural Police didn’t have the power to do so. The only thing they could do was keep Nene here and provide her with as much hospitality as possible. Hizaki then asks why they are being pathetic since there are still knights in Japan who are stronger than Nene, such as Kaieda and Kiba for example. Shimogamo replies they don’t know when those knights will arrive and Nene has the power to destroy the entire hospital area. With a pale face, he further explains that the police really didn’t do anything when they arrested the gangsters running the underground fighting arena. Nene annihilated the entire Kyoto faction of the largest gangster organization in Japan because they angered her due to money issue, and she did it in just one minute. The police only restrained them after their whole bodies shattered due to many of their bones broken. Nene then stands up and gives Shimogamo a light kiss to his cheek while pulling his necktie and demands him.

“''Ojisan sure is an honest and good kid. I’m pleased. Are you free tonight?''”

“N, no, I am…”

“You are free, right?”

“Y, yes…, of course”

“Okay then, I will be waiting in this room tonight”

Shimogamo complies at the terrifying eyes that refuse “no” for an answer while making a drop of sweat, and Nene makes a sadistic smile towards his obedience. She then turns her eyes on Hizaki and says in a bad mood voice that he is somehow annoying her. Suddenly, Hizaki’s body is lifted into the air and his neck is being squeezed by Nene’s gravity ability. Nene says she hates people who annoy her, especially those who only have big attitudes even though they don’t have the power to entertain her. Before she could really crush him, Hizaki’s body suddenly falls to the ground as if the gravity holding him was cut. A voice is then heard, saying that the girl called “Yaksha Princess” turns out to be far less than the monster he had imagined and is just a misbehaved child. The owner of the voice is an old man who enters the room shortly after and he introduces himself as Torajirou Nangou. He has come to offer a good proposition to Nene.

Nangou explains to Nene that if a Blazer doesn’t have a license they are not allowed to use their ability and will be monitored for the rest of their lives. So he offers Nene to be under his care and study for 3 years in Bukyoku Academy where he works as an advisor in battle techniques. If she agrees, he will negotiate with the League headquarters to make her punishment end up being temporary observation and she will obtain mage-knight license. But Nene understands that he is scouting her to participate in the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. She then says she’s not interested in becoming a mage-knight since even without a license she would still get good treatment from Yakuza, terrorists or such. In addition, she hates school since there is no thrill there as everyone would fear her and whisper behind her back. As a result, she entered the world of underground fighting as it was more exciting for her. Nangou then asks if she’s fine with choosing a boring life such as being a disposable pawn for evil people, and thinks that she’s wasting her talent. To this provocation, Nene stands up and places her foot on the table in front of Nagou and asks if he would like to test her. Nangou comments that girls these days are scary and wonders jokingly if Nene is one of those “yanmama (young mothers)”, which Nene angrily replies that she has never given birth. Nangou then says that hurting an old man that has retired from the frontlines is nothing to boast about, but the world is much bigger than Nene thinks. At this rate, Nene will end up being second-rate at best since in Japan there is a girl of her generation who is stronger than her. Nene doesn’t believe it because all the people she fought in the Little League were very weak compared to her and so the Senior League shouldn’t have anyone strong as well. In response, Nangou proposes a bet. Nene and that girl will have a mock battle and if Nene loses she will enroll in Bukyoku while being under Nangou’s care. Nangou also says that he will allow Nene to do whatever she wants with his body if she wins. Nene replies that she will kill him, and Nangou then says that it was just a joke. He will actually do whatever she asks if she wins. Nene accepts his bet since she’s interested in this other girl and she has some time to kill.

It is now the beginning of spring and Nene has arrived at Hagun Academy in Tokyo. One of the school’s training grounds is being lent for the mock battle. Important people in suits are also there and they are discussing about Nene. One of them wonders why Nangou is planning to have the problem child Nene enrolled in Bukyoku Academy. Itsuki Kurogane replies that it’s not a bad thing since the League’s Japan branch wants her to be reformed and work as a mage-knight for the nation. Some of them is also worried that Nene will eventually tarnish the reputation of mage-knights in Japan but it will be fine as long as they are able to make her behave after she gets beaten. Nene feels irritated because the conversation she overhears is based on the assumption that she will lose this mock battle. This makes her wonder about who is the person she’s about to fight. That person finally arrives while being escorted by Bakuga Tsukikage. It is a beautiful girl with long black hair, plump breasts, slender legs and deep-colored eyes. Nene doesn’t seem to like her since she looks like a young lady that grew up in a warm home based on her beautiful hair and nails and her smooth skin. Nangou who is waiting nearby apologizes to Tsukikage since having this mock battle is so sudden and the girl is not officially a student of Hagun Academy yet. The girl says it’s fine since she doesn’t have much experience in a match and so it is good learning for her. She introduces herself as Kurono Takizawa, who will be attending Hagun Academy starting this year. Kurono offers a handshake to Nene as shown in a colored pic but Nene responds by saying she doesn’t recognize Kurono of ever been in the Little or Senior League, and so asks when Kurono first became a Blazer. Kurono answers that it was last year’s late spring and because of that she didn’t even make the registration for the Senior League in time. Nene then says she will make Kurono learn how dangerous the opponent she’s picking a fight with is. Tsukikage tells Nangou that he admires him as a fellow educator since Nangou tries to put Nene on the right path. But Nangou replies that it’s actually because he wants to raise Nene’s talent by himself and have her challenge Kurono who is expected to be the strongest student knight in the history of the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. Tsukikage tells Kurono not push herself too much but Kurono says it will be fine because Nene is not an opponent that Kurono needs to push herself much. Kurono is a late bloomer that had just awakened her Blazer ability a year ago. However, her overwhelming ability caught the attention of the country’s important officials when it was blooming and she received high expectations. Tsukikage also thinks that Kurono will win and that Nene won’t be able to touch her. The match starts after Nene and Kurono manifest their Devices.

“''Let’s bewitch them! ‘Beniiro Ageha’!''”

“''Shred eternity. ‘Propator’, ‘Ennoia’”''

The match uses Senior League rules which have 10 counts and 3 knockdowns, and they use their Devices in illusion form. It starts by Nene about to use her iron fans to attack Kurono. However, Kurono suddenly disappears and immediately shows up behind Nene while aiming her gun on the back of Nene’s head. Kurono fires her gun and then the bullets in illusion form penetrates Nene’s skull, causing Nene to fall to the ground. Those who are watching the match comment that Kurono’s causation interference type ability to manipulate time is very powerful since Nene who also has strong ability went down so fast. Kurono was able to get behind Nene fast by using “Clock Up” to accelerate her own time. Nangou is amazed that Kurono is already accustomed to combat despite having just manifested her Device less than a year ago. Kurono’s rare ability caused her to receive special education from the League’s Japan branch and Hagun Academy ever since her ability first manifested. She is recognized as a talented super elite since the education she received was severe even for adults but she handled it without difficulty. Thus, Tsukikage is surprised to see Nene still able to stand against such opponent. Nangou explains that damages caused by illusion form are like receiving strong hypnosis so they can be endured if the person has strong mentality. But Nene is still receiving the same pain and so her consciousness is hazy. She still intends to continue the fight and finally understands why everyone is convinced Kurono will win. Kurono explains that her Noble Art “Clock Up (time increase)” can extend her own time within one second of the world’s time and currently her limit is moving up to 10 times as fast. Nene then moves towards Kurono to engage her in close combat. Kurono uses “Clock Up” to increase her speed to 10 times but Nene uses “Jibakujin” to cause Kurono to slow down from the heavy gravity. Nene then swings her Device that is filled with super gravity mass towards Kurono. However, Kurono uses “Clock Lock (time freeze)” to stop Nene’s time including the time of the space around her. While Nene’s body is frozen with a swinging down posture, Kurono moves back and then fires a total of 20 bullets at Nene. The bullets stop in the air in front of Nene since they have entered the space where time has stopped. Kurono then uses “Clock Draw” which she fires another bullet and it causes the stopped time to move again. As a result, all the bullets that had stopped in the air now have pierced Nene’s body at the same time. Nene once again collapses to the ground but she still isn’t giving up. She feels irritated by Kurono and so is determined to beat her up. Despite all the pain she has received, Nene manages to get up which surprises everyone. Kurono suggests that Nene surrenders but she refuses.

Nene then is attacking from a distance by swinging her fan which causes crescent-shaped super gravity energy flying towards Kurono while Kurono sighs at the same time. Once again the time of the space around Nene is stopped and after getting closer Kurono fires 60 bullets this time. Tsukikage can’t help but feel frightened at the sight he’s seeing. Nene is clearly stronger than even the Senior League’s current year winner and possesses power of a B-rank or higher, but Kurono is dealing with Nene easily. If the time of the space around Nene moves again, she will be hit with the barrage of bullets. However, all 60 bullets bend in unnatural trajectories and pass through the side of Nene’s body. Nene had used her gravity ability to distort the space-time of the area around her, which impresses Tsukikage. Nene immediately moves towards Kurono to attack but her whole body ends up being hit by Kurono’s bullets. The reason Nene couldn’t avoid “Clock Draw” this time was because there was no gap between her body and the bullets. Kurono narrowed down the area where time stopped to just barely the outlines of Nene’s body and so the bullets were fired at almost point blank distance. However, despite receiving dozens of fatal wounds in illusion form, Nene doesn’t go down. She says it’s still not over and that she refuses to lose to a sparkling young lady like Kurono. Nene is barely standing which indicates that she has already reached her limit. Tsukikage suggests that the match is stopped because any more than this might cause psychological trauma to Nene. However, Nangou believes that Nene is planning something judging from the expression on her face. Kurono once again uses “Clock Draw” and this time 200 bullets hit Nene. However, Kurono notices that Nene is vomiting large amount of blood which confuses Kurono because she is using her Device in illusion form.

Kurono runs towards Nene to see if she’s alright. Once Kurono is close and unprotected, Nene raises her own head and it hits Kurono’s chin. Nene then uses her iron fan that is powered with her magic to strike Kurono and this causes Kurono to fall down to the ground. However, Nene doesn’t stop even after the referee declares that Kurono is down. Nene jumps and lands on the fallen Kurono’s abdomen. While mounting on top of Kurono, Nene hits Kurono’s face with her iron fan many, many times while laughing and telling Kurono to die. The referee immediately pulls Nene away from Kurono and it is revealed that the blood Nene released from her mouth was actually due to biting her own tongue. Everyone watching is shocked with fear since Nene would go that far just to win a mock battle. While looking down on Kurono who is still down on the ground, Nene mocks her while laughing.

“''KYAHAHAHAHAA! SERVES YOU RIGHT, STU-PID! SUCH A GOOD SENSATION! SAYING THINGS LIKE ‘GIVE UP’ OR ‘IT’S POINTLESS’! IT’S BECAUSE YOU ALLOWED SUCH OPENING AND LET YOUR GUARD DOWN THAT YOU’VE EXPERIENCED SUCH UNPLEASENT THING! “KYAHAHAHAHAA!''”

“''I see. It’s certainly like that.''”

Suddenly, Kurono who is supposed to be on the ground disappears and Nene feels a blow to the back of her head. She looks towards her back but no one is there and then suddenly she feels another blow to her abdomen coming from right. While faltering Nene swings her weapon towards the enemy who is supposed to be there but once again she receives another blow from a different direction. She keeps receiving blows one after another on different parts of her body as if violence is raining on her, even though she can’t see Kurono’s figure. The technique Kurono is using right now is called “Rush Hour”, which is a combined technique that makes use of “Clock Lock” and “Clock Up” at the same time. It causes the time difference between both sides becoming much wider and thus Nene is being continuously shot, hit with the butt of Kurono’s gun and kicked from all directions while unable to deal with it. This event occurs in the world for a short time but Nene can experience this even for hours. Suddenly, Kurono pulls up Nene’s hair to prevent the fall of Nene, who looks like she’s about to lose consciousness, and puts her gun into Nene’s mouth as shown in a pic. She then says she realizes that there are people who would take advantage of those who think of defeating their opponent without hurting them and so she has to cast away her sympathy towards her opponent while challenging them in a serious fight. Kurono, with a face that shows anger and recognizing the opponent in front of her as her enemy, thanks Nene for the lesson and then tells her to die. After Kurono pulls the trigger of her gun, Nene’s body then stops moving. With an expression of disgust on her face, Kurono let goes of Nene’s hair which causes Nene to fall to the ground for the third time and Kurono being declared as the winner of the match.

Nene later wakes up in a medical room half a day later, and realizes that she lost in her match against Kurono. She then overhears Nangou and Tsukikage talking outside the room. They talk about how Nene never gave up and was able to touch Kurono despite the latter having such an overwhelming ability. Tsukikage says Nene is more amazing than he thought and he’s counting on Nangou since he is the only teacher in Japan who can handle her. After Tsukikage leaves, Nangou enters Nene’s room and finds her awake. He mentions about Nene losing miserably despite her opponent lacked much experience, which causes Nene to be angry. She throws random things nearby at him, but he catches all of them from being agile despite his old age. Nene is obviously irritated, angry, frustrated and envious after having been defeated by Kurono so easily despite all the effort Nene made. However, Nangou also asks Nene if the match was fun, which Nene doesn’t deny. Nangou says that giving everything you have in order to make the opponent that irritates you to do what you want and overturn impossible things is very fun. He said it with a scary enjoyable expression that causes Nene tremble. She asks if that’s the kind of face an educator should make and Nangou replies in his usual happy tone that he and Nene are both perverse after all. Nangou then asks Nene if she wants to work with him so that she can have an extremely enjoyable fight with the undefeated and talented Kurono. Nene accepts and swears that she will be the one looking down on her enemy instead.

In the present time, Nene is remembering what happened after she decided to train under Nangou. Nene had worked hard by undergoing harsh special training in order to become much stronger and to return the humiliation she received back to Kurono. However, that day never came because Kurono chose to live as a woman and a mother over settling things with Nene. Nene then thinks that it’s fine since everything she forged in order to defeat Kurono can be used on the opponent currently in front of her instead and it should be fun. She mutters that being convinced of that should put her at ease. However, Nene who had been on top of Naseem and hitting him suddenly stops attacking and gets off of him. Naseem is confused because Nene could have finished him off but she didn’t. Nene says she can’t fight seriously when he is her opponent because he doesn’t irritate her. Naseem is like Nene before she met Kurono. The person Nene wants to fight with everything she’s got has always been Kurono, not someone boring like Naseem. Kurono’s appearance and way of life from when Nene first met her caused Nene to be irritated and admired of Kurono. It’s because she admired her that she wanted to defeat her. Nene then thanks Naseem because it’s thanks to him that she has realized that she can’t let go of her admiration. If she can’t settle things with Kurono, then all she has to do is make Kurono admiring her this time. Immediately after, Nene’s horns and black right arm break apart and her eyes return to normal. Nene returns back to her usual form because her form during “Excessive Awakening” is not something she should show Kurono, even if it means reducing her fighting power. As shown in a pic, she manifests again her Device, which is the embodiment of her soul that was once broken, and holds it in her remaining left hand in order to challenge Naseem again.

Naseem gets up and says it was foolish of Nene to let go of the power that could have defeated him. Nene’s “Jibakujin” that was holding Naseem down to the ground has become weakened now that Nene is no longer in “Excessive Awakening” state. Naseem now is able to reconstruct his body with his ability to turn his body into dust. It was the first time that Naseem became terrified during battle when he couldn’t do anything and was close to death. But he doesn’t have to worry anymore now that Nene is back in her human form. His right fist is emitting light and he moves towards Nene to attack her. However, Naseem can tell from the expression on Nene’s face that she hasn’t given up and he even trembles from seeing it. It should be impossible for Nene to defeat Naseem since she doesn’t have the power to use “Jibakujin” nor physical strength to use “Yaksha Kagura” anymore and evading by spatial distortion would be ineffective. Naseem launches “Dead End Blow” at Nene which should turn her into dust even by a scratch. But he loses his balance the moment he launches it, which is caused by Nene turning gravity to become lighter. As Naseem’s attack becomes ruined, Nene easily slips in front of him and strikes the side of his body with her iron fan. However, she ends up coughing out black blood and then kneeling on the ground while agonizing. The energy load from Naseem’s “Excessive Awakening” was damaging Nene who was already at her limit. Naseem laughs and was expecting something from Nene’s attack just now because she was full of confidence. Nene admits with a faint smile that in her current state she can’t inflict even a scratch, but at least not on Naseem.

Immediately after, rainbow-colored light is overflowing from the spot where Nene’s Device hit and then converges back into it as if being sucked back. But not just light, Naseem’s body is also being sucked into that point with incredible strength. Naseem is panicking and tries to hit the converging point with his right arm, but it has no effect and his arm along with the rest of his body is being sucked into it. He tries to resist and asks Nene what she did while he’s shouting. Nene gets up and replies that she inflicted a scratch on the dimensional space that Naseem is on. Other than the 4 dimensions humans can recognize, there are 6 other dimensions that are normally compacted into closed state of Calabi-Yau space with very small size of 10^-31 centimeters by a special force field. If this force field is loosened by gravity interference even a little, the imprisoned dimensions would be released and turn the world inside out. But the universe can repair itself and so the expanded dimensions would eventually return to their normal small size of 10^-31 centimeters. Thus, Naseem along with everything else that are on top of those expanded dimensions would also get pulled into the small Calabi-Yau space, physically expelling him from the 4 dimensions. Nene couldn’t hurt Naseem with her own power, so she’s using a different power which is the universe’s corrective action that is induced by overturning the universe locally. Nene names this Noble Art “Kanamegaeshi (point return)”, which is a new technique she first created in years. She then says she has been in many crude battles since Kurono left, but she feels rejuvenated after desperately trying to defeat a monster like Naseem. As thanks, Nene is inviting Naseem to the other side of the universe. Most of Naseem’s body has already been pulled into the Calabi-Yau space, leaving only everything above his neck left. Nene places her iron fan on his forehead and during that moment, Naseem is feeling despair. Naseem begs Nene to stop but she puts pressure on the iron fan placed on his forehead, causing the rest of his body to disappear into the point.

“''S, STOOOP!! PLEASE STOOOP!! I DON’T WANT TO GO TO SUCH PLACE!! NOOO!! AT LEAST, AT LEAST KILL ME! KILL MEEEEEEEE!!''”

“Sorry, it’s not my power so there’s no way I have control anymore”

“STO-, aA, A, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”

Everyone who is watching the live broadcast sees Nene as the victor of this battle, although those who don’t know the existence of Desperados were feeling confused and slightly afraid when they saw two Desperados in “Excessive Awakening” state fighting. However, everyone in Vermillion is feeling joy and relief after they saw Nene reverting back to her normal form and then defeated Naseem. Nene is also feeling relieved since Naseem was an opponent much stronger than Kurono was when she fought her. But Nene is convinced that Kurono would be able to repel back the technique Nene had just used because Kurono has the ability to interfere with the direct dimension of time and Nene can’t imagine Kurono would lose easily like that time during the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival. In order for Nene to spend that burning time with Kurono again, she has to make Kurono stand before her again. Nene then tries to head to the next battle but she collapses due to reaching her limit. Fortunately, the enemy side only has Or-Gaule left. His ability is not much useful in direct combat and he’s not used to direct combat much either. Nene then passes out after thinking that Or-Gaule shouldn’t be a threat to the current Stella and thus she can count on her.

Chapter 21: Unpermitted Wish

Shortly before the battle between Nene and Naseem concluded, Or-Gaule had escaped from Iris and is intercepted by Stella in the sky. Or-Gaule dodges the “Katharterio Salamandra” launched by Stella and the ground of the city below is split into two. He then tries to escape by leaping on the threads that are spread all over the city while Stella chases after him with her wings of fire. Both of Or-Gaule’s arms were crushed by Iris earlier and he has repaired them to some extent with his threads. As Stella is getting close, he launches “Grand Guignol” but the hundred slashes of his threads are stopped by just one sword slash from her. Stella then delivers a shoulder tackle that sends Or-Gaule crashing towards the ground from the sky. Though he coughs up blood, his injuries are not fatal due to his threads wrapping around his body like armor. He stands up looking towards Stella who is in the sky and then asks her what happened that made her change in such short time. Stella is no longer affected by a Desperado’s power to influence fate that caused her so frightened a week before. Before today she had faced a powerful enemy that Or-Gaule wouldn’t even compare. She now has grown to the point that she has obtained power that exceeds the limit of her possibilities and overcoming the outside of fate. But Stella doesn’t answer Or-Gaule’s question and instead angrily asks what he did to Lunaeyes since he agreed to have the war in the form of representative battles. He replies in a happy tone that he agreed to Luna’s proposal because she also said that she will be responsible for the execution of war criminals after Cradleland has absorbed Vermillion. In other words, if Vermillion loses the war then Luna will kill her entire family with her own hands. Or-Gaule is really looking forward to see it because Luna will be committing such act by her own will instead of being controlled by Or-Gaule. He then says it’s impossible to be playing dolls with Stella while fighting Iris at the same time so he needs to think of a way while running away. However, Stella knows that it must have been painful for Luna to use her family’s lives in the negotiation and so Stella replies that Or-Gaule won’t have to run away since she will completely turn him into ash and throw it into the sea. Stella then shouts to Iris to work with her. As Iris rushes towards him, Or-Gaule says it’s not fair for him to fight them both at the same time.

Boomer comments that Nene is now in the care of the medical team and that Or-Gaule is the only one left on Cradleland’s side. Stella and Iris are chasing after Or-Gaule as he tries to escape from them. Or-Gaule tries to jump to the sky to escape but Stella knocks him down to the ground. After he lands on the ground, he barely dodges an attack from Iris’ battle axe and Stella’s wings immediately shoot flames that rain down on him. Or-Gaule is hit and his legs are twisted in wrong direction which should make him unable to get up. Stella delivers “Katharterio Salamandra” at him but he manages to dodge it by pulling his own body with the threads that are spread throughout the city. But Or-Gaule is led to in front of Iris and she swings her axe towards him. Or-Gaule dodges it by creating a hole on the ground below him to drop into the sewers. He then uses his threads to get out of the sewers and creates distance from Iris and Stella. He also has reinforced his broken legs enough so that they could move again. However, it looks like Or-Gaule is already near his limit which is not surprising since Iris and Stella both are knights that are too much for Or-Gaule to handle. It is difficult for Or-Gaule who is not specialized in direct combat to go up against even one of them. Despite Or-Gaule being at disadvantage, Stella is worried about Iris because her attacks were softer than usual which caused them unable to finish him off already. Iris also notices that her movements now are slower than before Stella arrived and it is because she has become confused. Iris was strangling Or-Gaule before Stella arrived and during that moment she could tell that he was begging for his life. After that Iris ended up unable to deliver any final blow at Or-Gaule. She is confused because she shouldn’t be showing mercy on Or-Gaule after all the things he had done. But after remembering that it is her responsibility to prevent Or-Gaule creating more tragedies, she then proceeds to attack him again while releasing a scream. Or-Gaule is distracted by the scream and during that moment Stella descends down towards Or-Gaule to swing her sword at him. Or-Gaule blocks with “Spider’s Nest” but he can no longer escape from Iris who is about to swing her axe towards his head with all her strength. During that moment, fear is seen in Or-Gaule’s eyes while he begs to Iris.

“''N, NOOO! NO, NO, I DON’T WANT TO DIE! HELP ME! HELP ME, NEE-SAN!!''”

The person in front of Iris has right and left eyes that are of different colors like her and seeing him begging for his life causes Iris to remember the time when her parents were still alive. Her mother had just given birth to a baby boy named Orleus and he was introduced to the little Iris. The baby stopped crying when he saw Iris’ face and then his small hand grabbed Iris’ finger while smiling as shown in a pic. Iris’ mother told her to protect Orleus since she had become an older sister. After remembering her past, Iris ends up swinging her axe towards Stella and blowing her away. Stella manages to guard herself in time but she along with Or-Gaule and everyone else watching become confused over Iris’ action. At first Stella thinks Iris is being controlled but Iris apologizes to her which causes Stella to realize that Iris is protecting Or-Gaule on her own will. Iris is aiming her axe towards Stella and then Stella becomes angry while asking what Iris is thinking. Iris doesn’t reply to Stella and instead tells Or-Gaule to escape. Or-Gaule is happy that Iris is on his side and then tells her that he loves him as he escapes. Stella tries to chase after him but is stopped by Iris. Boomer comments that Iris’ action causes her to be disqualified but there is no one in the area that can stop her.

In Iris’ current hometown Paris, Levi Ascarid and her secretary are watching the war’s broadcast in her office at the League of Mage-Knight Nations French Branch. The tall woman wearing an eye patch, who is considered an unrivaled great woman in the League, sighs at Iris’ current action. Levi actually had a feeling this could happen. Right after the “La Croix Sanglant” incident, Levi wondered what strong wish Iris had that enabled her to achieve “Brute Soul”. Levi considered the possibility of Iris achieving “Brute Soul” in order to protect her own younger brother. In order to prevent Iris understanding this, Levi said to her that the incident was Iris’ fault and that she achieved “Brute Soul” after realizing that it was her responsibility to kill her younger brother. Iris couldn’t think straight at that time and so Levi’s lie was imprinted into her mind. Levi did that because she was worried about how Iris could continue living after realizing that she wanted to protect such monster. Iris was already in such dreadful state at that time and Levi didn’t want her to get hurt any more. Levi was hoping the sense of responsibility imprinted into Iris would become real emotion someday, but it didn’t come true now that Iris realizes her true wish. Back in the war, Stella asks Iris if she’s serious about protecting Or-Gaule but Iris remains silent. Stella then recognizes Iris as an enemy and proceeds to attack her. However, Ikki arrives and tells Stella to stop. Ikki says he will be Iris’ opponent because it is his responsibility for not doing anything even though he knew this could happen.

The scene then takes place during the night before the war. Ikki is heading back to his guest room and he sees Yui Tatara at the end of the corridor. She has been waiting for Ikki and wonders if he is actually the type of guy that likes to play around with a girl outside even at a time like this. Ikki says he was just talking with Stella but Tatara then asks if he’s the type that likes wearing lipstick. He immediately wipes his lips in panic but there was nothing on them. Tatara laughs while saying that Ikki and Stella were indeed doing something good. While embarrassed, Ikki rebuts that he and Stella were just kissing and doing nothing that Tatara thinks. Once he asks what Tatara really wants with him, she suddenly swings her chainsaw-shaped Device towards his neck. However, Tatara stops her chainsaw at about 5 cm from Ikki’s neck and Ikki has already pressed his own Device against Tatara’s neck as shown in a pic. Tatara is impressed that Ikki was able to land his blade faster even though she was the first one to move. After lowering her Device, she says she wanted to confirm if Ikki can help her kill Iris right now. Tatara explains that Iris is Or-Gaule’s older sister so it wouldn’t be surprising if Iris ends up betraying the Vermillion team. Ikki disagrees because Iris’ desire to stop Or-Gaule is as strong as Stella’s. Tatara then says Iris had told her back in Edelberg that it was Iris’ responsibility to stop her younger brother after she failed to notice his abnormality which caused her hometown to be destroyed. However, Tatara believes it to be ridiculous because Iris’ reason to kill Or-Gaule should have been due to pure hatred towards him. Iris is using excuses such as common sense and other people to fool herself. Tatara knows this because she is a professional when it comes to killing intent. Tatara thinks Iris hasn’t notice this but she won’t be able to finish off Or-Gaule when the time comes. Therefore, the war might end up being a 6-vs-4 battle instead and so Tatara wants to take down Iris before the war. Tatara has chosen Ikki to help her because Nene doesn’t trust her and Stella is a naive person. Ikki understands that Iris might be an uncertain factor but he won’t cooperate with Tatara. He remembers the time when Iris saved him back in Cradleland. She feared Or-Gaule so much, but her responsibility as an older sister and sense of justice as a knight enabled her to stand up against him. Ikki believes in her appearance back then. Tatara then decides not to go after Iris because she can’t do it alone. She also tells Ikki that his judgement may end up destroying the most important thing to him. Ikki replies that Tatara is really kind for thinking about various things for Stella’s sake. Tatara denies this by saying that it is just her profession opinion and that she’s not doing this for Stella. She is embarrassed to the point that her ears have turned red and turns her back towards Ikki who then thanks her since he is now prepared. If Tatara’s prediction comes true, Ikki will take responsibility and face Iris.

Back in the present, Ikki tells Stella to go after Or-Gaule and that he will handle Iris. Stella disagrees because she and Ikki together could barely handle Iris when they fought her after the Seven Stars Sword Art Festival had just ended. She thinks they should fight Iris together, but Ikki disagrees because Stella with her flight ability is the only one that can chase after Or-Gaule who has escaped through the sky. It is their duty as knights to prevent Or-Gaule escaping so that he won’t be able to repeat the same kind of tragedy somewhere else. Ikki also says he will be okay because he also had trained in Edelberg like Stella. Ikki is not the same as before since he and Stella are equals after all. It is dangerous for Ikki alone to face the KOK A-League 4th ranked who is very close to the top in the world and for Stella to face Or-Gaule by herself. But Stella understands that Ikki wants her to trust him and that he also trusts her. She finally agrees with Ikki’s decision and then leaves the area by flying towards the sky with her wings of fire in order to chase after Or-Gaule. Iris wanted to stop Stella from leaving but she was stopped by Ikki’s power to influence fate as a Desperado. Ikki’s intimidation causes Iris to have stinging-like pain on her neck and prevents her from leaving. If she doesn’t put her consciousness focused on Ikki and tries to go after Stella, then Ikki’s blade would slip into her neck. Iris can tell Ikki is serious about killing her, which she thinks is understandable since she helped Or-Gaule escape. She now has realized that she can’t kill Or-Gaule and doesn’t want him dead. However, Ikki says that Iris still chose this even though she understands that her action is considered to be a betrayal and scornful. He understands that it is her own justice (chivalry) and that he is not qualified to say that the path she has chosen is wrong. He believes that since they are both knights then words are not needed and that there’s only one thing to do when they are in conflict. Ikki says, “With my strongest (weakest), I will crush your justice (chivalry) here”. Iris being seen as an equal enemy by Ikki is like a salvation to her since everyone else must be despising her right now. The feeling of gratitude that is feeling up her chest is overflowing as tears as shown in a pic. She has decided not to show any more unsightly appearance and takes a battle stance. She releases a “kenki (sword spirit)” that is like a wind of light blowing out from her entire body. This feeling of intimidation is more than twice of what she has shown before and very close to the amount Edelweiss released back when Ikki first met her at Akatsuki Academy. It is not surprising because previously she was in a state where her body and heart did not match. But she is different now after knowing her true wish. The person in front of Ikki now is the true Iris Ascarid that she has never shown before even in the KOK A-League. Ikki is facing an opponent that is very close to the top in the world, but he is very calm even though he was trembling so much and his heart was screaming at him to run away when he first fought Edelweiss.

“From the League of Mage Knight Nations, Hagun Academy 1st year, ‘Seven Stars Sword King’ Ikki Kurogane”

“KOK A-League 4th ranked, ‘Black Knight’ Iris G. Ascarid”

“Now” “Fairly—“

“LET'S FIGHT!!!!”

Characters

 * Stella Vermillion
 * Ikki Kurogane
 * Or-Gaule
 * Nene Saikyo
 * Naseem Al-Salem
 * Iris Ascarid
 * Kurono Shinguuji (Flashback)