episode_0245

“Ugh… cha.”

The anchor thrown into the hotel.

Clinging precariously to its chain, Thirteenth grunted and climbed, barely managing to reach the top floor.

Quite unbecoming and unseemly, but he couldn’t fly, so what could he do?

“…Oh, what’s this? Were you waiting?”

Arriving at the luxuriously empty lounge, he saw a figure approaching with clicking footsteps.

It was Rahe, who blocked Thirteenth’s anchor with one hand.

“You are dangerous. …I don’t think I can let you off.”

“What, were you letting me off easy before?”

Rahe unsheathed the sword sheathed at her waist with a *clang*.

In what way she had been letting him off easy, and to what extent Rahe even had reason to begin with… Many questions arose, but there was no time to leisurely ask them.

“Huh?”

Thirteenth was pulling on the anchor he’d just thrown to retrieve it when he suddenly felt strange lines being drawn along the floor.

Rahe glanced back, and Thirteenth followed her gaze.

There stood Mabel, the vice-captain of the Fourth Squad, holding her large brush vertically.

Rahe created an ice pick and shot it towards Mabel.

However, the incoming pick was blocked by a thick wall of ink that suddenly appeared.

And in that time, Mabel’s magic was completed, beginning to change the world.

*Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh*

The place where ink, paintings, and letters originating from Mabel were drawn.

All of that space transforms as if being overlaid with something.

What was once a narrow, luxurious hotel corridor instantly changed into a vast outdoors.

The sun was shining brightly, the scent of grass filled the air.

Far in the distance, mountains with clouds hanging around them towered high, and in one corner, a waterfall and pond could be glimpsed.

Beautiful landscapes and dreamlike scenery.

This place was different from where they were just a moment ago… a completely different, otherworldly realm.

“…Hoh. Impressive.”

He could instinctively tell that it was Mabel’s magic.

Rahe also knew that it wouldn’t harm her, so she didn’t bother to break the world or strongly stop Mabel.

“We don’t have to go back, Captain Rahe?”

“…We cannot return. There will be no one left who can move among those remaining on that side.”

How much magic would it have taken to create such a ‘world,’ large enough to trap even Rahe?

Mabel, who had probably used magic far exceeding her limit, would have collapsed and lost consciousness on the spot.

Rahe could easily make such assumptions, and so, instead of worrying about what was happening outside, she glared at Thirteenth.

And then, she continued, “Right now, the most dangerous thing is you.”

Thirteenth was dangerous now.

She might have to use her full power.

In that case, Doraji and Dorothy, who were nearby, could also be in danger.

Rahe judged that this situation was for the best.

*Swish swish swish swish swish*

Thirteenth silently pulled on his weapon, the anchor, which had been transported to this world with him.

The ridiculously huge anchor moved as naturally as his own limbs, wrapping around his body and arms.

Thirteenth gripped the head of the giant anchor, taking a stance, while Rahe, holding her rapier a short distance away, faced him amidst a tingling tension.

Soon, the two figures shattered the tension in an instant, rushing towards each other—and colliding.

* * *

“Ha, ah…!”

Meanwhile, at the moment when Thirteenth and Rahe began their battle in the other world.

Outside that world, Mabel, who had remained in the original hotel hallway, leaned on her brush, swaying… before collapsing to the ground.

Sweat poured down her face.

【Gwandong Byeolgok】.

That was the name of the magic Mabel had just used, and the title of the poem she had chanted as her incantation.

The magic created another world, isolating the target within the created world.

No matter how much chaos the two of them caused now, there would be no further damage.

‘Just now… that villain… that bastard’s power… and Captain Rahe’s… power…’

‘If they clashed together… this entire building would be destroyed without a trace…’

‘So… huff… ah… I don’t know… my… power… is… only… this far…’

Her vision was blurry.

Her brain seemed out of control, unable to grasp reason and on the verge of flying away.

*Clatter!* The brush she had been holding fell noisily to the floor.

Pressing her hands on the floor, Mabel crouched down, drooling.

Since she had poured out all of her magic, her magic would be maintained for a certain amount of time anyway.

So she could let go of her mind like this. She could faint….

Even as she thought that, a foot appeared in her clouded vision as she desperately clung to her consciousness, unable to comfortably faint.

“……?”

Looking up slightly, she saw a tall woman with long hair looking down at her.

The woman’s hair was half blue on the left and half black like a normal person on the right.

Her eyes were also colored to match.

Dorothy’s younger sister, Doraji.

The only one in this place who was still relatively sane and maintaining her sanity.

She was looking down at Mabel with a snarl, holding a knife she had taken out from somewhere in her hand.

Huff… huff…

“Are you… going to kill me… with that…?”

“Yeah. I’m going to kill you.”

“…………I see… guess it can’t be helped….”

Mabel, who no longer had the strength to move a single finger, simply lowered her head.

She looked like a condemned prisoner who had resigned herself and offered her neck before a guillotine.

Doraji looked down at Mabel, gripping the knife in her trembling hand——

* * *

*Clang! Clang! Clang!!!*

*Clang!! Clang! Clang!!*

*Swish swish swish swish swish…!! Clang!!*

Sparks flew.

Flames erupted here and there, and the sound of clashing metal echoed incessantly.

It was the sound of Thirteenth’s massive anchor, wielded like a limb, and Rahe’s rapier, swung repeatedly, colliding with each other.

The movements of the two people, who crossed paths with each other multiple times, leaving behind only the sparks of colliding weapons, were impossible to discern even with the trained eyes of humans.

That was how fast, and how intense, they were.

Each time they moved, each time they crossed paths, the ground was torn up, dust billowed, and the land was devastated.

The landscape and terrain changing in real time was truly terrifying.

Even when striking that massive, thick chunk of metal, Rahe’s thin sword neither broke nor dulled.

However, even with that light rapier being swung in a relentless barrage, the heavy, multi-ton anchor was able to block all of the attacks.

‘Why…’

‘Why…!?’

The metal was just a ridiculously large lump.

However, it moved dazzlingly, reliably blocking Rahe’s movements.

And at the same time, Rahe’s magic-infused strikes, which could cut through even diamond, were unable to cut through the anchor.

This was the first time Rahe had directly confronted Thirteenth.

Therefore, she felt anxious because she couldn’t gauge the extent of his abilities.

*Thump!*

Deflecting the anchor aimed at her vitals, Rahe forcefully kicked off the ground.

Then, starting from the foot she stepped on, transparent, sharp cone-shaped ice crystals flew towards Thirteenth like the teeth of a giant beast.

*Swish swish swish swish swish…!!*

*Crack crack crack!! Snap…!!*

However, even that attack, which she thought had perfectly caught him off guard, was blocked, entangled, and instantly shattered by the anchor’s chain, which flew like a snake.

Even though it couldn’t have been ordinary ice, the chain broke Rahe’s ice too easily.

“Hmph!”

“Ah….”

Rahe’s vision was momentarily blocked by countless shattered ice fragments and the giant chain that was swung along with them.

And by the time the chain in front of her was cleared and Thirteenth beyond it was visible again.

Thirteenth had already moved on to the next action, rushing deeply as if aiming for Rahe’s chest.

Rahe’s reaction was a moment too late.

*Bang!!!*

*Splash splash splash whoosh!!!!*

With a clean, powerful kick to the abdomen, Rahe’s body flew like a cannonball.

Her body flew over a large pond that was far away, skipping across the water several times before finally reaching the waterfall at the end, crashing into it with a large splash.

“Keu… cough…?! Ugh…!”

“Yeah, sorry, but I don’t go easy on women or anything, Rahe. Gender equality… is beside the point, but you’re scary.”

Thirteenth said as he approached the pond.

Even though the sound of the waterfall was loud, his voice seemed to be heard so clearly from afar.

For a moment, she couldn’t understand what had happened.

And she realized that she had been countered, kicked hard in the abdomen, and sent flying.

Amid the spinning vision and the deafening roar of the waterfall, she barely realized that fact.

Coughing, Rahe pulled herself out of the waterfall that was heavily falling on her body.

She put her hand on her stomach and staggered back into position.

She glared at Thirteenth’s figure beyond her swaying vision….

‘Why…’

‘I don’t feel like I can win…!!’

Rahe had never been defeated before.

There was nothing she couldn’t do.

There was no opponent she couldn’t beat.

Her ability was 【Libra】.

The existence of Thirteenth was an unbelievable error in her life, which had always exerted greater power the more dangerous the situation became, and never allowed defeat.

It couldn’t be.

This couldn’t be happening.

She couldn’t lose.

——Defeat was out of the question.

*Surge…*

*Vwooooooooom!!!*

Rahe gripped her sword tightly again, putting strength into her eyes.

White magic began to swirl around Rahe like a storm.

The pond that had spread out from her froze with a *crack crack crack!* from the continued cold.

She wouldn’t give in.

She couldn’t lose.

Because she was ■■.

Because she was in a position where she absolutely couldn’t lose to a villain.

‘I can’t lose…’

‘I’m ■■…!!! I can’t lose… I mustn’t lose…!!!’

…Rahe, who couldn’t even remember that title, who she was, or even the reason why she couldn’t afford to lose.

However, she still drew on the will to ‘not lose’ and heightened her magic even more.

In response to the opponent’s strength, her magic soared higher, more intensely, more vastly, and more than ever before…!