* * *

Until moments ago, the sewer had been underground. Now, in the aftermath of a ninth-class magic skill's explosion, it had collapsed completely, leaving the sky plainly visible overhead. A lone figure stood looking down into it.

Blood-soaked scraps of a robe caught in the rubble. Fragments of a staff, broken into pieces and embedded in one corner. Above all, a presence that could no longer be sensed anywhere in the world.

After quietly surveying it all, the black-haired young man, Limon, suddenly murmured.

“So he had promise, but no manners whatsoever.”

He briefly shook his head, then glanced aside. Looking at the spot where two pale spirits had lingered until moments ago, he continued softly.

“Consider yourself lucky, Monarch of Magic. Out of respect for your final choice, I'll refrain from chasing you into the afterlife to cut you down.”

With that brief remark to himself, Limon vanished once more into London's mist, sheathing the sword with which he had cut down the starlight that burst out as though fleeing when Karl's body disappeared in a blaze of light...

* * *

WHOOSH.

Cir quietly watched as the two dolls in her hands suddenly burst into flame on their own, finally crumbling into dust. Then she chuckled.

Scattering the ashes from her palm into the air, she murmured languidly.

“Remember it as my final gift, you ill-mannered brat. This is how real magic is used.”

The citizens of London could never have imagined how many times their fate had changed in this single day.

The first was when Rose's advance evacuation saved them from danger.

The second was when Crown Prince Edward died before obtaining the Seven Arcs, reducing the scale of the destined catastrophe.

The third was when Karl took his own life rather than renew his contract, averting London's destruction.

Before she was a legendary witch, Cir was a prophet. Able to sense, however roughly, the moments when fate changed, she smiled.

'It's finally over.'

She couldn't care less whether London's citizens lived or died. But she was pleased that she had managed to stop Karl's rampage, which would have arisen from that entire chain of events.

She had thwarted the prophecy that Karl, armed with the power of the stars and his hatred of witches, would kill her.

That alone had made it worthwhile to take the forefront in place of the witches of the twenty-seven magical lineages.

SCREEEECH!

“The barrier...!”

[“Oh my goodness, what do we do?!”]

That was why Cir could observe the situation so calmly, regardless of Rose's and Yu Na-gyeong's alarm as Karl's final 『Chaos Scream』 shook the Great Barrier of London, tormenting the souls and allowing the shadow monsters to rampage with renewed vigor.

'About tenth-class, in terms of magic skills? But it feels less like a skill and more like the fundamental power of the stars.'

Items embedded throughout London. A noise that resonated with the pillars Karl had painstakingly designed over decades to destroy the Great Barrier of London, amplifying its effectiveness dozens of times over.

Sensing it—or, more precisely, the mystery contained within it—Cir narrowed her eyes.

'Hmm, indeed. Comparing it with a constellation's power makes it clearer. What was sealed within that violin really was...'

As Cir leisurely pondered this, Yu Na-gyeong addressed her in a panic.

[“Miss Witch, do something about this! We have to stop that strange noise!”]

“It can't be stopped.”

[“What?”]

“More precisely, I have no way to stop it.”

Cir shrugged. Even the greatest Great Witch of the Silver Age had her limits. She was already expending enormous magical power simply to sustain the Great Barrier of London; she had nothing to spare for this.

And honestly, even if she did, she still had no way to stop it.

“Those items that ill-mannered Monarch of Magic made are a kind of wedge driven into the Great Barrier of London.”

The Great Barrier of London was activated by sound, and the items likewise used sound to interfere with it and induce resonance. Like a needle injecting a drug, or a nail concentrating the force of a hammer, they allowed an external force to affect the barrier more directly.

“If we forcibly pull them out or break them to stop them now that they're resonating, we'll damage the Great Barrier itself.”

Snapping a needle at random because it was injecting poison could cause serious trouble. Besides, the noise was bouncing between the pillars, reflecting and amplifying. Far from disappearing with its caster's death, it would continue for quite some time.

As Cir calmly explained this, Yu Na-gyeong's beak fell open.

[“Then what are we supposed to do?!”]

“That's why I said that I have no way to stop it.”

Rose's expression darkened at Cir's firm declaration. If even this legendary Great Witch, who knew more about the Great Barrier of London than anyone, could do nothing, then no one could resolve the situation.

What if the Great Barrier of London collapsed again? Could the Blue Dragon Clan and the Magus Guild members alone hold off the endlessly emerging monsters?

Even if they succeeded, by the time the monsters disappeared, all of London except Seaserpent Castle would have been razed.

Rose felt stifled as she considered, however roughly, the upheaval that would cause throughout the British Empire and the rest of Europe. Then Cir suddenly spoke.

“Still, it seems that Child intends to try stopping it anyway.”

[“What?”]

“...?”

Yu Na-gyeong and Rose turned to follow Cir's gaze and blinked. Someone had appeared atop the magic tower that served as Magus's headquarters, now deserted because every guild member was helping defend the castle.

The mist of the Misty hours blurred the figure, but Rose and Yu Na-gyeong recognized him at a glance.

[“Wait, what's the Team Leader doing up there at a time like...?”]

Yu Na-gyeong's uneasy mutter trailed off, and her eyes widened. Limon had set down the case he carried on his back and taken out something pitch-black.

“... A violin?”

An instrument, in the midst of this chaos? While Rose and Yu Na-gyeong looked bewildered by the incongruous sight, Cir gave a brief murmur of admiration.

“I see. A good idea, for a Child.”

[“A good idea?”]

“Didn't I tell you that violin can interfere with a constellation's power? The Child intends to use that effect.”

[“Oh...!”]

If the items couldn't be destroyed, he would instead interfere with the constellation's power resonating with them. It was an unconventional approach only Limon, the bearer of the Violin of Deepest Black, could attempt.

“But I don't know whether it will actually work.”

Cir narrowed her eyes. Until now, Limon had only used that power to dissolve the fragments of starlight he had absorbed. Could his playing alone dissipate a constellation's power that had already manifested as a skill, and had been enormously amplified by countless items?

Even a Great Witch like her could not know.

After hearing Cir's explanation, Yu Na-gyeong and Rose watched with anxious, worried eyes. Limon, meanwhile, calmly placed the Violin of Deepest Black on his shoulder and poised his bow, as though he felt no unease whatsoever.

And the moment his bow slid over the violin's strings—

VEEEEEN.

A strand of melody spread across London.

* * *

Since Limon had come to the countess's household as a musician, Rose had heard him play the violin many times. She had never doubted that he was a truly world-class performer, and that even including Julia, only a handful of violinists in the world could rival him.

But in this moment, she had no choice but to realize how utterly mistaken that belief had been.

VEEEN.

Her body froze, like an empty shell whose soul had been stolen by a melody of breathtaking beauty.

Only her heart moved. Its fierce pounding set her blood boiling, as though, unable to contain its rapture at the melody, it might burst.

The harder she focused every nerve on hearing the performance just a little more clearly, the sharper her senses became—and the dizzier her consciousness grew. As though entranced, Rose sank into Limon's music.

[“Oh, look! It's working!”]

Perhaps the wondrous melody had weakened the constellation's power within the noise filling the air. Seeing the turbulent mist settle once more and the souls' suffering ease, Yu Na-gyeong cheered.

“No, it's still not enough,” Cir pointed out coolly. Limon's playing had stabilized the Great Barrier, but it wasn't enough to eliminate the constellation's power.

Of course, that alone had averted the barrier's immediate collapse. But at this level, it could do no more than keep the barrier precariously intact.

VEEN—

It happened immediately afterward. Another faint melody joined Limon's violin.

[“That sound...?”]

Following the unexpected yet strangely familiar second melody, Yu Na-gyeong turned her head in the opposite direction. As she looked toward Seaserpent Castle, where fierce fighting still raged, her beak fell open involuntarily.

[“Julia?!”]

* * *

VEEEEEN.

'Lee?'

In the shelter at Seaserpent Castle, Julia, who had taken refuge there with the servants in advance, sprang to her feet before she knew it. Having taught him herself, she could hardly fail to recognize Limon's playing.

Of course, there was still much she couldn't understand. Why was Limon playing in the middle of this battlefield? And how could she hear his music in a shelter completely sealed off from the outside?

Yet Julia picked up her violin case without hesitation. The moment she heard the music, she somehow knew that her playing was needed.

Limon's performance was only half complete. Only she, who had practiced alongside him, could supply the other half.

“Huh? Hey, miss. What are you doing?”

“I'm going outside.”

“What! Are you crazy? There are monsters rampaging out there!”

The servant beside her tried to stop her in alarm.

“I won't waste words. Help me, or just stay here. It's your choice.”

Julia refused to back down. It wasn't that she wasn't afraid. But as a musician, her pride would not allow her to flee before a performance.

“What the hell...?”

The servant couldn't find anything to say. It wasn't merely that he couldn't treat a guest of the countess's household roughly, nor let her venture alone into danger. He had been overwhelmed by the force of her presence as a world-class musician at the pinnacle of her field.

After a moment of indecision, he looked around for someone to help. But the other servants and maids merely averted their eyes, not daring to meet his gaze. Most were former criminals to begin with, and none wanted to get dragged into such a troublesome situation.

“Ah, fuck! Hell if I know!”

That was why he finally grabbed the new servant beside him—who was also his friend—and abruptly hauled him to his feet.

“Hey, let's go!”

“What? Why drag me into this?!” his friend cried in alarm.

“Why do you think, you bastard! You've got items you stashed away when you ran that dealership, don't you? If you don't use them now, when will you?!”

“But they're just for self-defense...!”

“Then use them for self-defense now!”

The servant set off, dragging his friend, a former street vendor, along. Guided by Max Powell, Julia left the shelter and ran through the castle toward the top of a spire—the place from which her music would carry best.