Black Badger

Do you have no intention of showing yourself?

I sharpened my senses to a razor’s edge.

Even if he had cast an invisibility spell, that didn’t make him a ghost. Footsteps, objects being stepped on—presence born of physical substance couldn’t be completely erased by magic.

And it wasn’t as if I didn’t know what kind of magic Meierbold usually used.

He might have sent a split body instead of his main one. But whether what was here was the original or a fragment didn’t matter much.

Whatever came—

I would kill it.

There was no need to think too hard about it.

Find him and stab him. That was all.

I honed my focus even further than usual.

「You....」

At the center of the Core that blanketed the headquarters.

From somewhere atop the land covered in the Urkhai ranks, a voice rang out.

「I thought I saw the seed of it the moment you refused to abandon that rootless surname.」

Hm?

I blinked at the unexpected remark.

「You mean my final name?」

「Yes.」

「It seems keeping my surname bothered you.」

I twisted my lips into a crooked smile.

There had been plenty of Imperials who disliked someone of no noble standing carrying a rootless surname.

It had been a long time since I’d run into this kind of displeasure.

「You carried a surname beyond your station even before you were granted a title.」

「Even if I don’t know their faces, it’s the surname my parents passed down to me. I can’t very well throw it away.」

「You must have known it did not belong to the Empire. A rootless surname. Anyone who heard that name should have refrained from telling you, for your own sake—and you, even knowing, should not have spoken it.」

Truly, the rigidity of old wizards was something else.

「Though now, that sort of thing no longer matters....」

I had heard that at the level of a Grand Mage, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) it was possible to rejuvenate one’s body.

And so Meierbold, who maintained his youth long before attaining immortality.

He was one of the older mages even within the Empire.

I didn’t know the man himself all that well. Grand Mages were expensive assets. They usually stayed holed up in their towers and rarely came out. There was a reason Kyle favored Valdez, a battle mage who actually took the field.

Even though flame magic was advantageous for offense.

「Did Kyle not come?」

Instead of an answer, lumps of fire appeared throughout the air.

From the west came Yo’s irritation-filled shout.

“Bombs won’t go off!”

Rose reported as well.

“Same here, Captain!”

Damn.

Starting out, this was already no small thing.

I had heard that Meierbold had been bestowed the title of Lord of Flames.

Every flame reaction in the area would now be under his control.

Within his domain, modern weapons—bombs, guns, turrets—were rendered unusable.

Not an easy set of conditions.

Is this why he thinks he has a winning hand?

Because the Grand Mage recovered with his body intact?

Mana feedback was just another name for a mage-exclusive vegetative state.

How a mage had miraculously recovered from such a fatal condition was a mystery.

But that was something to think about later.

First, I would strike him down.

Watching the growing clusters of fire, I got a rough sense of where he was standing.

I spoke, having finished readying myself to dash out.

「Even if I try to persuade you, you won’t listen, will you?」

「Why would I listen to the words of a traitor?」

「That’s what I thought you’d say—but if there’s even a speck of possibility, I wanted to grab it.」

I swung my sword, extinguishing the flames that had begun to lick up from the ruins at my feet.

The fire rising from the western debris I’d suppressed swelled again, annoyingly large.

It seemed he intended to devour everything in flame.

Heat hammered against my body.

「If you surrender, I’ll let you live peacefully here.」

「Sorry I can’t say the same. I have no intention of accepting your surrender.」

Fine, then.

There was no point pressing further; nothing would change.

We’d both lived long enough—no need for guilt when wagering our lives.

Facing an evenly matched opponent for the first time in a while, adrenaline surged.

I flicked my sword and set my stance.

The space grew hotter.

Black ash began to drift through the air.

Standing within the heating Core, I looked at the shattered windows of the headquarters building and spoke.

「It’s an honor to face you.」

I kicked off the ground and charged.

***

“Ha, shit.”

Giacomo Ro said.

“What is that—Spider-Man?” 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

He was staring at Hildebert climbing the outer wall of the headquarters.

He wasn’t the only one stunned. Those who had nearly run out of ammunition and were preparing for close-quarters combat inside the completed trench; those filming or tending to patients—everyone lost their words as they watched the scene unfolding outside.

Hildebert was scaling the headquarters building at breakneck speed.

As if gravity didn’t apply to him.

He leapt, dodging fireballs flying at him again and again. Ascending in a lightning-bolt pattern, he evaded even the attacks of flying Creatures.

It looked as though psychic spiderwebs were attached to his hands and feet.

People were more shocked by this than when Hildebert had sung a hymn.

Only a few sharp-eyed individuals realized that he was stabbing his sword in, using it as a foothold to leap upward, then stabbing it into the wall again—over and over.

“That’s terrifying.”

Someone who’d grasped the bizarre principle of the climb said.

“How is that even possible?”

Crash!

Instead of answering the murmurs, the white-haired Badger shattered a window of the headquarters with a resounding crash.

In that instant, flames surged up inside the window. Bright fire blossomed within the building that had looked calm moments before.

Those watching let out shrill cries.

“It’s a person!”

The flames soon took on a human shape.

“That’s the mage?”

Dazzling blond hair.

Braided locks swaying within the fire.

No one could tell how tall the mage was.

Like a genie emerging from a lamp, the figure appeared—then vanished with the flames, only to flare up again from a fire near the trench.

In an instant, he had put distance between himself and Hildebert.

Yo, who had been leaping across the western debris to return to the trench, spun around in shock to look at the mage.

「Meierbold.」

The tactician stared at the Grand Mage, who had raised his hand, forgetting to move.

A blond man stood amid flames that carried unmanned drones.

When he casually opened his palm, fireballs poured down toward Yo.

「Yo!」

Deltei screamed.

「Get away!」

Kwoooom!

Yo couldn’t dodge.

There was nowhere to flee—he was surrounded by pillars of flame.

Yet he wasn’t struck. A white sword arc cleaved swiftly through the pillars and the raining fireballs.

Attacks collided and exploded.

Crouching to withstand the wind created by the sword arcs, the tactician braced himself.

Hildebert, having leapt down from the building into the yard, walked toward the mage.

「Focus on me.」

「An honest one-on-one is something only foolish knights bother with.」

Meierbold replied.

He now stood within flames that covered the private quarters.

Both his eyes were hidden beneath white cloth, unseen.

A Grand Mage said to have transcended limits, becoming nearly one with flame itself.

They said both his eyes had burned away when he entered the realm of a Grand Mage.

The truth was his alone to know.

The white cloth and blond hair fluttered wildly in the hot wind.

「There are no rules or justice in battle. Only results.」

「So that’s why you’re melting the trench system?」

Hildebert asked.

The corners of his mouth lifted faintly, but his voice was cold enough to carry frost even now.

「Planning to take those inside hostage?」

「Why bother with something so inefficient? I intend to sweep away everything inside anyway.」

「Ah. That kind of thinking.」

The white-haired knight answered without emotion.

「So that’s why you took your eyes off me while fighting.」

The muttering, close to a soliloquy, went unheard by the Black Badgers.

All they saw were the sword arcs Hildebert was releasing as if warming up.

Yo ran for the trench in terror.

Rose took down a flying Creature and hurried back as well.

When even Igorm returned, unable to withstand Deltei’s pleas, the only one left outside the trench was the summoner.

The man, absorbed in his summoning, showed no intention of retreating—but the knight didn’t bother telling him to move.

Instead, Hildebert walked behind Kairos and stood with his back to the summoner.

Then he unleashed his sword in earnest.

From where he stood, white swordsmanship spread in all directions, blanketing a vast space.

Wings that had been unfolding slowly suddenly flared wide, covering the headquarters.

The field of vision filled with wind.

“Does that make any fucking sense?!”

Someone shouted from inside the trench.

“What kind of sword is that! That’s a magic staff shaped like a sword!”

“Isn’t it actually magic?”

Another stared blankly outside the trench.

“In their world, aren’t swordsmen basically mages too?”

Amid headaches, worry, and awe—

Jonathan Kudo, holding a close friend who couldn’t open his eyes from the heat, saw the wing-like attack change direction.

He also caught sight of Hildebert bursting out from within the overlapping wings.

The junior’s yellow eyes were wide open, sharp as a puma’s.

And then he smiled, showing neat teeth.

The expression of someone who had locked onto his prey.

Kwoooom!

「That stings my pride.」

Hildebert smiled as he extinguished the flames scorching the yard and sliced off the hair of the mage that hadn’t yet fully turned into fire.

「Being called a Swordmaster isn’t an empty title.」

A bundle of golden hair dropped onto the ash with a dull thud.

The Grand Mage calmly burned it away.

「Good.」

The moment he replied, dozens of magic circles formed in the air.

Magic circles emitting golden light spun beneath the translucent sky.

It looked like divine punishment descending.

「As you wish, I’ll send you off first.」

Pillars of fire slammed down into the ground.

***

Yun dragged his heavy body over and stopped in front of Yehyeon.

“Commander.”

The scientist said.

“Use Martin to cover the teleportation arrays.”

Yehyeon stared hard at Yun.

The trench lay under pillars of fire.

If these fiery bolts kept falling, they’d soon be Badger barbecue.

As he was agonizing over how to deal with the situation, Yun had approached and brought up Martin.

The scientist explained.

“If we pour the liquid inside the bombs over the arrays, it’ll work.”

“Then why does Martin come into this?”

Yehyeon asked slowly.

“That thing can only move inside the Science Wing, can’t it? Are you saying someone has to go into headquarters and get the liquid from Martin?”

“No. Normally, yes—but if approval is granted, Martin can go farther.”

“Huh?”

At the question, Yun added his explanation.

“After the Science Wing attack, when we rebuilt, we added various functions.”

“...What functions did you add?”

“We expanded its authority.”

Amid the eye-searing flames, the man spoke calmly.

“If you approve it, Martin can actually access and move through any computer or machine in headquarters.”

Smack!

The Supreme Commander struck the scientist on the head.

Then he grabbed Yun by the collar as Yun let out a short “Ah.”

Yehyeon shook him back and forth.

“Are you a mole?”

“No.”

“Are you insane? Do you know security? Information and communications security?”

“If approval isn’t granted, it can’t access anything outside the Science Wing, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“You think that’s an answer?”

The Supreme Commander vigorously shook Martin’s creator.

The scientist was rattled about expressionlessly.

Only after hearing the ominous sound of the trench-type Core seeming to melt did the Supreme Commander let go of Yun’s collar.

Yehyeon watched the scientist straighten his clothes with a sulk.

Then, in a reluctant voice, he asked.

“So what, exactly, are you planning to do?”

Yun smiled long and slow.