Herdt-Stanley. Fialaert-la-Volgograd's eyelids narrowed involuntarily at the sight of his former schoolmate wielding a white blade with his golden eyes wide open. There was even a hint of pride in the inside of his skull. And at the same time, a hint of sadness.

　When he was still in the academy of the walled city of Garou Amalia, I don't remember Herdt-Stanley showing that kind of face. Rather, he was always in a relaxed state of mind, and even in the face of difficulties that stopped everyone in their tracks, he had room to spare.

　With such a way of being, he said that everyone could not help being him, and that he could not do it himself.

　With his bottomless talent, he was the sun that made everyone bow down to him. That is the gold of the name Heldt-Stanley, its essence.

　His skin burns, his eyes blaze, and his will shatters if you try to get close to him. That's why no one at the academy ever put him in the same league as himself, never followed his back.

　Now he, the sun, is swinging his sword with all his might, eyes bared and teeth showing. He was driving his body, sometimes tearing his muscles, sometimes making his bones creak. There was only one person in sight.

　The hero of the heraldry, the one whom Fialat had once sworn to turn into gold and cast - Lugis.

　The one who is undoubtedly ordinary, like himself, with no talent beside him. The world would have said he was like lead or copper. He would have said that the world was like lead and copper, that he was not capable of being anything. How repulsive, how disgusting.

　I will no longer allow anyone to speak to me in those terms. I will not tolerate such behavior.

　I swore a vow once. I swore once that I would turn Lugis, who is the very essence of my ideal and who stretches out her fingers to become a hero even if it means decaying her body, to gold. That is, even if it means rewriting the world.

　That's why the sight of Lugis and Heldt now engaging and beating each other is bliss for Fialaat. His accomplice, the man he had cast, now stood before the sun without a step back.

　It's not like the sword fights he once showed in Garou Amalia. In the act of that night, every time Heldt tore through the sky, Lugis spat out his flesh and blood.

　With a body that had yet to break free from mediocrity, he fought against the white blade, risking even his life with a single swing. I well remember watching it as if my heart was being directly cut open.

　But not now. Now I'm just fighting head-on with that gold. As noble and as hard as it can be. Just looking at it, Fialaat feels ecstatic. Her cheeks relaxed and her small lips formed a smile.

　Oh, I'm so proud. He's my accomplice, my hero in the making. The magic that resides within him is unmistakable. No matter what anyone does to me in the future, that will never change.

　If I could, I would continue to stare at it forever. The way it behaves, the way it is. But that would be disrespectful to Lugis. It's as if you're somewhat insecure about him.

　He trusted me and so I trust him. To the end, to the end.

　Then what I will do is not just stare blankly at Lugis' battle, but I will not let him interfere tactlessly in it.

　Fialaert's dark eyes tightened as if frozen, and he stared at the thing in front of him.

　A golden head of hair, glittering, yet without losing its elegance. Both eyes gaze at you with the light of an unmistakable will shining piercingly. The saint Alueno was there with her beauty that seemed to be even sharp.

It's a shame to hear you refer to me as such a violent person. I'm sure I haven't behaved in any way unbecoming of a saint, though.

　In response to Fialaert's words, Alueno's eyes blinked and her lips rippled.

　His movements are the same as they were when I first saw him, and even his fingertips are finely honed and precise. Her facial expression and voice are also somewhat graceful. She was exactly the kind of person you think of when you hear the word "saint.

　However, her appearance and voice made Fialat's skull feel inexplicably uneasy. From the bottom of his heels, a kind of inexplicable fear consumed his whole body.

　The way she was, she was more or less a saint than before.

　However, the quality that makes up the voice is different. It is unmistakably different.

　It is no longer a voice that entangles the ear, but a voice that seems to reach out to the brain. Beautiful doesn't even begin to describe it. It's so beautiful that you almost wonder if it's really human. My eyes distorted involuntarily.

　There used to be a little more humanity in her voice and atmosphere. Now, there was nothing like that.

　Spit slid slowly down Fialat's throat. He stitched his toes into the ground, hard.

"Yes. I hope you'll stay here, like the moon and the trees.

　"Well, I hope you'll stay here like the moon and the trees," said Alueno, eating up Fialat's words.

That's not the way a saint should behave. A saint is supposed to be a savior, and if there is someone to be saved, she will touch the dirt.

　If that's the case, Fialaat muttered in her heart, it's not exactly a quiet nature.

　It was the same when they had spoken in Belle Fain. You will find a lot of things that you can do to make your life easier.

　Alueno did not seem to have the gentle personality one would expect from a saint. Rather, she does not hesitate to do whatever it takes to carry out her will.

　If I may say so, she resembles Lugis in some ways, and even has a fierce ego. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to do it, but I'm going to try.



　During the brief exchange, Alueno was at ease, but the cathedral knight holding him back on either side was not. In the blink of an eye, he had a sword and a shield in each hand, and he was piercing Fialat with his keen eyes.

　Perhaps he sees through the fact that we are sorcerers, Fialaert thought. The shield in front of him felt a little unapproachable. It was a kind of disgust.

　It must be a shield that has been treated against magic. To an ordinary person, it would be nothing, but to a sorcerer, wizard, or sorceress who is familiar with magic, just the mere sight of it would make them feel uncomfortable, as if their skin were being tightened.

　After all, the magic that should have filled the world has been removed from that part of the world, exposing it as it really is. It's very unpleasant. It's easy to see that the shields they carry were created to repel sorcery, magic, and the like.

　But Fialat waved his fingertips as if they were out of sight. It was as if it was a matter of course.

　I'm not sure what to make of that. Even if it dispels demons, it has no resistance to things outside of that framework.

　That's why Lugis said that you're like tearing paper. For Fialaat, if Rougis said that, there is no doubt. It is the truth, and if the words are wrong, then the world is wrong.

　Therefore, with the ease of tearing through a thin sheet of paper, Fialaat played his magic through his mouth. He flips the world inside out, forcing it to rewrite itself.

　The black eyes flicker. Only then does the world exist beneath the blackness, transformed in the blackness.

"I'm sorry, but--

　As Fialat's lips spoke, his fingertips drew letters in the hollow. The only thing Fialaert could see was the momentary flicker in the eyes of the knight in the temple. The knight on his right was raising his sword toward him. In a few more moments, the blade would pierce his own skull.

　But a moment before that... The world froze. No sound, no sign of ripping, not a drop of blood.

　But then it was all over. The cathedral knights on either side did not move their bodies as if they were frozen, they could not breathe, they could not even blink. With their swords raised in the air, they were as solid as sculptures.

　They are no longer alive. No, they're not dead, just immobile, but they're still the same. Only their bodies are frozen, but their souls are still alive. Therefore, their bodies did not decay, and they stopped time without even a single sob.

　Do you call them dead or alive? That's up to the one who calls them that. Fialaert brushes his fingertips and moves his lips.

"I won't let you interfere with Lugis. I'm his accomplice.　

　As she said this, her black eyes were no longer looking at the girl called Saint. A smile of ecstasy appeared on her cheeks, and her whole body was filled with magic.

　The saint looked at the sorceress standing in front of her and her lips rippled a little.