* * *

VEEEE.

Perhaps because she had rushed out headlong, drawn by Limon's music, Julia had lost her usual neat appearance. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes covered in dust. Yet her melody layered itself over his performance without the slightest wavering.

The instant their music overlapped in the air to form a single harmony—

VEEEEEE—

Limon's melody settled into deeper, gentler tones, and the horrible, screamlike noise disturbing the mist rapidly subsided.

The Seven Arcs. Their mysterious power, which could melt even fragments of stars, swelled explosively, swallowing the constellation's power.

Only then did Yu Na-gyeong feel relieved. She could tell at a glance that it was now only a matter of time before the noise vanished. But that relief came far too soon.

RUMMMMMBLE!

Whether they instinctively sensed that everything would end once the noise disappeared, or were affected by the Seven Arcs' power, the shadow monsters, already emerging in an endless stream, suddenly doubled in number. Like a tidal wave, they began surging in two directions: half toward Seaserpent Castle, where Julia stood, and the rest toward the magic tower where Limon was playing.

TAP!

["Ack! Countess?!"]

The moment Rose saw that, she moved on instinct. She leaped from the pillar guarded by a witch's spirit and ran toward the magic tower.

A wave of thousands upon tens of thousands of monsters blocked her way. Even faced with a vortex of shadows that would crush solid iron if it swallowed it, Rose did not stop. She merely raised her psionics to their limit.

『Seventy-Two Martial Schools, Fifth Supreme Technique

Seventy-Two Martial Schools, Fifth Supreme Technique

Sea-Parting Sword Severance

Sea-Parting Sword Severance』

KRA-KRA-KABOOM!

A fissure sprang up along her blade and tore through everything, opening a gap hundreds of meters long in the pitch-black wave of monsters. It was a sword that parted the sea—a strike that ripped apart space itself, possible because she belonged to the Blue Dragon Clan, and above all because she was its Blue Dragon Princess.

But just as cutting water accomplished nothing, the endlessly emerging monsters tried to fill the gap again in an instant. Seeing this, Rose was about to raise her psionics once more when—

RUMMMMMBLE!

A translucent blue wave split the closing tide of monsters again, creating a path as blue as the sea between them. Rose's surprise at the blue-cloaked knights charging into the monsters almost bodily lasted only a moment. With a faint smile, she immediately advanced along the path opened by the souls of the Blue Dragon Clan.

Pushing the Form-Shifting Position-Switching Style to its utmost, she left an afterimage with every step and cut down the monsters in her way, steadfastly forcing her way through the overflowing tide toward the magic tower.

But when she finally reached the tower, monsters already covered more than half of that magnificent structure.

'Just as I feared...!'

Rose bit her lip as she watched the tower shake as though it might collapse at any moment.

Unlike Seaserpent Castle, the heart of their defensive battle, or the witches' pillars, the magic tower was almost defenseless. As the Magus Guild's headquarters, it had been reinforced with all manner of skills, but there was a limit to how long it could withstand this endless horde. Nor could she rely on the Blue Dragon Clan's heroic spirits, who were held up by monsters emerging anew behind them.

Rose did not hesitate. She simply plunged into the tide of monsters and once again drew her psionics up to their limit.

With the Space-Cleaving Sword Style, she cut through space; with the Space-Twisting Spiral Style, she widened the gap. With the Sea Dragon Water Orb Style, she gathered moisture to fill that warped space, then fixed it in place with the Body-Guarding Outer Energy Style. Thus, following the Form-Shifting Position-Switching Style, she divided her own body among eight spaces, then launched them like arrows with the Falling-Star Finger-Flick Style.

『Seventy-Two Martial Schools, Six Supreme Techniques

Seventy-Two Martial Schools, Six Supreme Techniques

Sea Dragon's Eight Ends

Sea Dragon's Eight Ends』

KRA-KRA-KRA-BOOM!

Rose's body vanished behind her sword. In her place, eight enormous water dragons surged up and swept through the monsters covering the tower. Eight streams of water coiled around it and climbed upward. The monsters swung their claws and hurled themselves against them, but their resistance was futile. The vortex formed by the eight water dragons intertwining in a spiral shattered, shredded, or flung away tens of thousands of monsters.

Just when the entire magnificent tower seemed to have been swallowed by the draconic vortex, that vast mass of water lost its dragon shapes and cascaded down like a flood. In its place, a blue-haired woman appeared atop the tower.

"Cough!"

Rose retched up a mouthful of blood. Using even the Six Supreme Techniques within the mist of the Misty hours had inflicted internal injuries. Yet even then, she darted forward, leaving another afterimage.

SHUNK!

Her blade sliced through the air, cutting down a shadow monster that was just lunging at Limon and sending fresh blood flying. She had barely finished sweeping away all the monsters covering the outside, yet those that had crawled inside the tower in the meantime were now pouring out up the stairs.

VEEEE.

Whether he had failed to sense the danger or was placing his trust in something, Limon did not so much as pause his hands. He continued playing calmly, his eyes closed. Rose sighed once at the sight, then raised her sword before her chest. Standing guard in front of him, she stared straight at the monsters.

Despite her internal injuries, Rose was drawing up her psionics again and preparing to face the monsters when she started.

"...?"

A figure had appeared unnoticed, as though to bar the way between them and the monsters.

Why was there still a ghost that looked like a shadow in this mist, where the others had recovered at least a hazy semblance of their original forms? As Rose watched with questioning eyes, the figure took a light step forward.

SSSSSS.

And the mist rippled, like a sea into which a dragon had plunged. Beginning to flow gently throughout London, it soon formed an enormous vortex, gathering around the magic tower where Limon and Rose stood. At the same time, the ghost that had appeared only as a shadow began taking on a distinct shape.

"You're...!"

Armor bearing a lion emblem. A tall, sturdy frame. A luxuriant beard like a wild beast's. A golden crown set with gems. And an unnaturally large, thick two-handed greatsword resting against the floor. Though she had certainly never seen him before in her life, the man was so familiar that Rose caught her breath without realizing it. He lifted the greatsword he had planted point-down on the floor.

The monsters had been growling warily at the man's sudden appearance. It was the very instant they finally bared their teeth and lunged at him together.

『Lionheart Sword, Break Form

Lionheart Sword, Break Form

Roar of the Lionheart King

Roar of the Lionheart』

BOOOOM!

The enormous sword roared. The boundaries of all things shook. Every monster atop the tower burst apart. The same happened to those inside and around it. Hundreds of thousands of monsters within a radius of hundreds... no, thousands of meters exploded at once like balloons. All from a single swing of the crowned man's sword.

PATTER-PATTER.

Perhaps from the recoil, the sword crumbled into powder, leaving only its hilt. Returning it to mist, the man turned his head. Then he looked at Limon, who was still absorbed in his playing behind the dumbstruck Rose, and spoke with a faint smile.

["Goodbye, my old friend."]

As though his part were now done, the man left only that farewell, spoken in a distinctly archaic manner, before dissolving into mist. While Rose stood frozen, dwelling on the voice of the greatest king and knight in the British Empire's history, Limon continued playing.

As though offering his music in place of a farewell. Deep and gentle, quiet and wistful. The melody grew ever more dreamlike as time passed, until at last it reached its climax.

VEEEE—

The violin's melody flowed from the hundreds of items that had been spewing noise just moments before. Limon had finally gained control over the stars' power echoing in every direction and made it resonate with his performance. Thanks to that, the mist of the Misty hours, previously in disarray, became clearer than ever. Now, conversely, the monsters began writhing in agony.

["TeSev."]

["Abrao."]

["isyka."]

["Umar."]

As though determined not to miss this opportunity, the witches on the twenty-two pillars took turns chanting again. Cir, who took up the final portion of the spell, overturned a pouch as she recited in a languid voice.

"Ajyaka sis KarSh orga na eXsebT."

The instant everything Cir had emptied from the pouch—white hair, fingernails, and the like—melted into the magic circle, the mist rippled like waves, and London changed. The shadows that had been disgorging monsters without end turned golden. Now they began sucking the monsters back in instead.

■■■■■—!

The monsters struggled desperately. They drove their claws into the ground and wrapped their tails around roadside trees and the like, resisting the pull. But their flailing was meaningless. Far from cooperating, the shadow monsters shoved one another aside, each trying to escape alone, and only accelerated the rate at which they were sucked in.

Above all, the pull of the golden shadows was not the only thing they had to withstand. The spirits of Magic Knights and witches, the furious members of the Magus Guild, countless members of the Blue Dragon Clan from past and present—and most importantly, Julia and Limon's wholehearted performance—all relentlessly drove back the shadow monsters clinging to reality, rendering their desperate resistance futile.

After a few minutes, every last one of the millions of monsters that had covered London had either been pulverized or sucked beyond the shadows.

"Waaaaah!"

"We're alive! We made it!"

Even when that seemingly endless battle finally ended and those who had fought desperately atop the walls burst into cheers, Limon kept playing. The witches' spirits lifted the hems of their skirts in graceful curtsies and dispersed. The souls of the Blue Dragon Clan and the Magic Knights planted their swords point-down in salute toward the magic tower, then dissolved. Only after bells rang and the mist of the Misty hours covering London cleared did Limon finally stop his bow.

For a while, he gazed quietly at the spot where a man had appeared and swung his sword. Then Limon suddenly turned his head. Looking down at the city left in utter disarray by the rampaging monsters, he spoke softly.

"Goodbye, my old friend."

Was it longing, or bitterness? Feeling a tangle of emotions he could not name even to himself, Limon gently closed his eyes and sank into memories of long ago.

* * *

After watching Limon's back for a long time as he looked down over London, a complicated expression on her face, Rose raised one hand. She lightly rested it against her chest, tried circulating her psionics, and murmured inwardly.

'Just as I thought.'

At first, she had not realized. Then she had dismissed it as her imagination. But now she could be certain.

The Fifth Supreme Technique had come so easily within the mist of the Misty hours, where normally the Four Supreme Techniques were her limit. The internal injuries from the Six Supreme Techniques had been far milder than she had braced for, and rather than being halved, its power had actually grown stronger. Her internal injuries were already almost completely healed, and the flow of her psionics had settled more peacefully than usual. Above all, her heart, still pounding fiercely, lent certainty to her suspicions.

'There's no doubt.'

Now she understood why she had felt so comfortable listening to Limon play. Why she had craved that music to a strange degree, growing restless. And why she had rushed to help him without regard for her own safety.

Her mind simply had not recognized it. Her instincts as a princess had known all along: the resonance she had felt, however fleetingly, when Limon's performance reached its climax.

'... Dragon Psionics.'

She could scarcely believe it, and did not even know whether she wanted to—but she had no choice. Faced with that dreamlike reality, Rose could only wear a complicated expression mingling yearning, bewilderment, and anger.