Hestia could not even tell when the crown prince swung his sword. She merely saw a flash before her eyes and instinctively shut them, then heard an explosive crash.

Her ears felt clogged.

EEEEEE.

An unpleasant ringing filled them.

She was dizzy, as though her sense of balance had vanished entirely. It felt as though every drop of blood had drained from her body. She could collapse at any moment.

Her initial resolve to watch the crown prince fight closely, to coolly assess the Leonberk Kingdom's potential and future, had long since disappeared. She did not even dare open her eyes.

Even with her eyes closed, she could sense the crown prince with perfect clarity. The immense power within the impossible phenomena he unleashed struck her skin unfiltered. Utterly terrified, she could do nothing but tremble.

This was not the clash between knights she had imagined. That magnificent spectacle of boldly clashing swords embroidering the air with beautiful flashes existed only in her imagination. This battle was far more savage, many times more horrifying.

If she had to put it into words, it was closer to a rampage by hideous monsters. A battle beyond human perception, one an ordinary person could not even dare behold.

The buffeting wind slashed at her fragile body. Formless waves of energy seized her delicate soul and shook it mercilessly. She could no longer tell whether she stood on solid ground or empty air. Her consciousness grew distant. Unable to endure any longer, her body began to crumple.

Suddenly, a firm hand gripped her shoulder. At that same instant, the monstrous presences shaking her body and soul faded as if by magic.

'Uncle...?'

Hestia cautiously opened her eyes a sliver.

'Ah...'

Her eyes widened. She had expected her uncle, but found someone entirely unexpected instead. An otherworldly beauty was looking at her, her torn skirt roughly tied up and a longsword clutched in one hand.

Had there been a woman this beautiful among the princesses? Why had she not seen her yesterday? Could she be one of the elves she had only heard about? Thoughts kept coming, yet her mind refused to work properly.

"Wh-who...?"

After all that effort, the single word she managed was such a mess that it sounded ridiculous even to her. Her pronunciation was slurred, her voice muffled as though she were mumbling underwater.

Fortunately, the woman did not mock her dazed voice. She merely moved her lips, concern on her face.

"...! ...!"

The ringing in Hestia's ears drowned out her words.

Hestia frowned. It felt unreal, like watching a pantomime. The woman's unearthly appearance only heightened that impression.

The woman furrowed her brow. Even that was as beautiful as a painting, leaving Hestia entranced.

"...!"

The woman shouted something and tightened her grip on Hestia's shoulder.

Heat flared from the shoulder beneath her hand. Faint at first, it rose like a wildfire in an instant, until it became unbearably hot. Hestia felt she would burn to ashes if it continued.

Unable to endure it any longer, she screamed.

"Aah!"

Heat escaped through her open mouth. The pain that had felt as though her entire body were burning vanished as if by magic. Sound returned to a world that had held nothing but ringing, and with it came her lost sense of reality.

BOOM! BOOM!

Explosive crashes battered her eardrums without pause.

"Have you come to your senses?"

An exceptionally clear voice pierced the deafening noise.

"The situation is urgent, so I was somewhat rough! Please forgive me!"

Hestia stared at the woman with round eyes. Her consciousness, which had felt lost in a nightmare, had returned to normal. Her sense of reality, lost in that daze, was intact again. Yet the woman's beauty still seemed unreal. As Hestia stared blankly, her eyes widened in recognition.

The Leonberk Quad Knight who had defeated the Quad Knight of the Rose Thorn Knights. The crown prince's knight whom she had found herself cheering for, so proud and confident among those rough men. Though she now wore a dress and light makeup, the strength and confidence that had impressed Hestia then remained unchanged.

Arwen Kirgayen, was it?

Belatedly recalling her name, Hestia opened her mouth to offer her thanks at last.

"Merely watching knights who have attained mastery fight can sometimes harm your spirit. Please bear that in mind."

But Arwen Kirgayen's warning came before her thanks.

"Now, if you will excuse me."

The female knight glanced behind Hestia, then turned away without giving her a chance to respond.

"Ah..."

Watching her retreat with an inexplicable sigh, Hestia suddenly turned her head.

Duke Seymour stood there, his face rigid and deathly pale. Hestia's expression, so soft just a moment earlier, hardened coldly.

"What in the world were you doing? With so many knights of Teuton here, must I receive help from a foreign knight?"

"My apologies."

Hestia frowned at his soulless reply. How could the man called the finest in the West, Teuton's strongest knight, be so weak? That weakness contrasted so starkly with Arwen Kirgayen's steadfast bearing that she clicked her tongue despite herself.

"I will protect you."

Only then did Duke Seymour step in front of her. A flash flared beyond his shoulder. Even that brief glimpse made her heart churn.

Afraid of losing her senses again, Hestia could not look at the light for long and turned away. She also tried to shut out the incessant explosions. Instead of watching the crown prince fight the black knight, she followed Arwen Kirgayen with her eyes, a fervor in them that might have been envy, admiration, or something else entirely.

Unaware of Hestia's unwavering gaze, the female knight of Leonberk remained wholly absorbed in her liege's battle.

THUD.

Then, suddenly, she stamped her foot. That was the beginning.

THUD.

Hestia turned toward the footsteps nearby. The knights who had introduced themselves as members of the Iron Lion Knights were stamping their feet.

CLANG.

This time, a heavy metallic sound came from farther away. It was the Royal Knights. They were driving their great iron shields into the floor.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

All around her, the Leonberk Kingdom's knights stamped their feet and pounded their shields against the floor.

Hestia could not understand what it meant. All she knew was that the air around them had begun to seethe since they started stamping. The air in the banquet hall, which had merely screamed as sword strikes tore through it, began to surge violently. And at its center stood the crown prince of Leonberk.

* * *

Soon after the battle began, I learned that the difference between four Rings and five was far more than the addition of a single Ring.

"Guh."

I learned it by coughing up blood.

I stared down at the red staining the front of my clothes. I was certain I had dispelled every pulse of Ring energy that invaded me when our swords met. Yet before I knew it, those pulses had permeated my entire body.

'When on earth...?'

["It seems the light upon your sword is far too feeble to wake me from my slumber."]

The black knight addressed me as I drew back briefly to think.

["It is not too late. Hand them over to me, and your tomorrow can be just as your yesterday was."]

As though the outcome had already been decided.

Instead of answering, I wiped the blood from my mouth. I adjusted my grip on my sword and steadied my breathing.

"Whew."

The mana disrupted by the Ring pulses returned to normal in an instant. My unsteadily flickering Aura Blade shone brilliantly once more, as though nothing had happened. The black knight watched me, his greatsword hanging at his side.

Watching him, I drew a short breath and kicked off the floor. I unleashed a frenzy of slashes. He swept his greatsword about in turn, blocking them.

BOOM! BOOM!

With every clash, great chunks of the sword light at Twilight's tip were shorn away. Pulses of Ring energy surged relentlessly into me through the blade.

But instead of retreating, I honed the blunted sword light anew and circulated my mana to dispel the pulses. I kept slashing. Then I coughed up another mouthful of blood.

["I had harbored some hopes, but your weakness brings me nothing but disappointment."]

The black knight sighed at the sight. Ignoring him, I settled my battered insides and immediately raised my sword again.

["Not knowing when to retreat is a lout's recklessness. Not knowing how to think is a common fool's stupidity. You are merely a little fiercer than the rest."]

Ignoring his blatant mockery, I charged him, coughing up blood again and again.

["I can find no reason to continue this meaningless duel."]

The black knight suddenly swung his greatsword hard. I gripped Twilight in both hands and blocked the blow, but the force behind it was so tremendous that I was driven helplessly backward.

KRRRSH.

Only after plunging my sword into the floor did I barely manage to stop. I straightened and spat out blood.

["Stand down, before that paltry heart is ruined beyond ever holding mana again."]

The black knight glared at me, his greatsword lowered.

["This shall be the last mercy I grant—"]

His self-important speech abruptly stopped.

["... Why are you smiling?"]

At his words, I touched my lips. He was right. I was smiling. Grinning from ear to ear, in fact.

["What is so amus—"]

"I'm enjoying myself."

I readjusted my grip as I spoke.

"It makes me unbearably happy to know there are still heights in this world I've never experienced."

Mana released from my heart raced through my body to the tip of my sword.

"And knowing an enemy who has reached those heights stands before me makes me shiver with delight."

Mana clung to the blade, flaring into an Aura Blade. Then the Aura Blade blazed into roaring flames.

"And the thought of that enemy soon falling before me fills me with more joy than I can bear."

["Have you forgotten your predicament?"]

The black knight openly mocked me. Then he jerked his chin at me, his helmet rattling, as if to say I was welcome to try.

I lowered Twilight and walked toward him. He lowered his stance and gathered his power. I simply kept walking, then stopped abruptly a certain distance from him.

"It starts here, doesn't it?"

I reached out. An alien energy crept in through my fingertips.

"I had definitely dispelled the pulses that invaded me with your sword strikes. I couldn't understand why my mana kept being disrupted."

The pulses were so subtle I could not sense them unless I consciously tried.

"But once you know, it's nothing."

I clenched my fist tight. The invading energy crumbled in my hand.

"How pathetic. You've linked five Rings, and all you have to show for it is a domain barely ten paces wide."

["You prattle as though you have made some great discovery."]

The black knight dismissively asked what difference discovering that now would make.

He was right. In the end, the outcome would be decided within those ten paces, inside his domain. So I decided to neutralize that paltry domain first. I stepped into it.

THUD!

Someone's footfall sounded just in time to accompany mine.

THUD!

The sound of iron striking the floor followed.

THUD! THUD!

What began as a single heavy beat soon became dozens, then hundreds.

It was the very sound I had heard when I fought the High Elf. Once again, my knights were telling me to advance. Their footsteps urged me forward; their ringing iron led the way.

I took another step. Two steps now. Mighty energy rose like a fortress wall around the black knight. A brutal pressure began to crush me. Pulses incomparably stronger than before burrowed into my body.

["The age of the Mana Heart is over."]

The black knight prattled as though he pitied me. Looking at him, I took another step. Three steps now.

He unleashed his energy more fiercely still, as if refusing to let me come any closer. Just then—

THUD.

An exceptionally heavy footfall reached my ears.

I knew whose it was without looking. That fierce wave of energy was so much like the Iron Lions'. York Walloden, leader of the Iron Lions. It had to be him stepping forward.

That was the beginning. From every direction came bursts of energy, some heavy, some grand, some sharp. The Commander of the Royal Knights, the old knight who had fought beside me on the central front, and a Silver Lion whose name I did not know. The kingdom's Silver Lions, who had been watching events unfold, added their strength to mine, stamping their feet or beating their armor. Arwen joined them as well.

HUMMMM.

The resonance of mana raised by the kingdom's Silver Lions overlaid my heart. A fullness I had never experienced welled up inside me. Amid that almost intoxicating sensation, I could not help smiling.

Five enemy Rings pressed down on my entire body, and five Silver Lions upheld me. To me, that coincidence was far too fitting.

THUD.

Without hesitation, I stepped forward. And at last, I reached him.

The black knight looked down at me. I looked up to meet his gaze. We stared at one another for a long moment, then swung our swords at the same time.