“Augh!” Lennart grunted, stumbling back a step. He’d managed to hold his breath, but couldn’t avoid breathing in just a bit of the strange gas. Quickly regaining his composure, he shielded his mouth and nose with his arm and swung the other one through the air in front of him, conjuring a quick [Gust] to blow away the cloud.

Immediately, his eyes widened to see Abigail in front of him, mask re-equipped and having closed the distance, now thrusting a blade protruding from the black bracer on her arm towards his face.

Reacting quickly, he moved his head to avoid the stab and brought both arms up to lock hers in place. The faintest splash of a liquid licked his cheek in the process, sending a rush of adrenaline through his body.

Poison on the blade…?! Then that cloud must have been the same. She’s trying to weaken me; tire me out so she can land a fatal blow or escape. Let’s hope the small bit I breathed isn’t fata— “Ugh!”

He gasped as he felt his momentum work against him, the girl having abruptly changed motions to throw him off balance before twisting her arm in his grasp. With a surprising show of strength, she brought herself up in a cartwheel, using her body’s weight to lock his own arm while angling her foot to kick him in the head. But to Lennart’s shock, a sudden *shink!* sound brought his eyes straining to see a thinner, smaller blade protruding from the front of her foot.

A hidden blade in her boot?! Don’t tell me it’s also—!!

Before he could even finish that thought, the knife-boot met his jaw. Or it would have had he not thrown his head to the side with all he had, leaving it only able to leave a minor slice on his cheek. Still, the sly young woman wasn’t quite finished, and after landing from her acrobatics display, she hopped again to plant both feet on his chest and forcefully launch herself away.

Lennart stumbled back in a daze as she sprung back in a series of flips before landing in a crouch, blade primed at the ready. Close quarters combat without his sword was proving all but impossible against such a lithe and agile opponent, but she’d made a mistake by putting distance between them. He knew she was going to rush him, but at this distance he could reduce her to ashes long before she reached him.

However, as he was preparing to cast [Flame], his vision swam, a sudden sense of vertigo throwing his body off balance. He wobbled in place and put a hand to his forehead in an attempt to stabilize himself, but everything only became more blurred with each passing second. Whatever drug had been in the gas and the liquid on her blade was extremely potent, as it hadn’t even been a minute and he was already feeling the effects.

By now even the girl’s visage had become warped, little more than a shadowy blot before him. Rather than rushing him like he expected, she slowly came to a stand, but by the time she reached full height he realized that he was seeing double— no, triple the number of her. The three shapes approached with blades at the ready as Lennart dropped to a knee, desperately fighting the dizziness to avoid passing out. There was nothing he could do; if he didn’t attack now, he’d be killed on the spot.

So, in a last ditch effort, he threw both arms out recklessly, sending a large blast of fire down the hall. It was sizable enough to engulf everything in view, yet even while disoriented the man’s superb mana control allowed him to concentrate only on the target in front of him while the surrounding area remained unaffected. By the time his attack had ceased, not a single burn was left on the carpet, walls or ceiling.

However, to his surprise, he found that the masked girl — or rather, two of them — were also unharmed. They’d simply rushed forward through the flames, and were now sprinting towards him with blades primed to attack. Before he could even process whether he was still hallucinating, they struck, stabbing him in both the shoulder and chest.

“Agh…!” He let out a strained grunt and toppled to the ground immediately, his body no longer possessing the strength to resist. He realized that one or more of the drugs she employed must have contained a muscle relaxant property and/or anesthetic, as he could barely even keep his eyes open.

The two figures hovered over him, and that was when he noticed that the third — the one that had been in the center when he launched his flames — had disappeared. That observation led him to the understanding that this wasn’t a hallucination born from his delirium, but a manifestation of that girl’s Ability.

Cloning.

That still didn’t explain how they were able to run through his flames without damage, but he managed to learn something valuable about the intruder. Satisfied, Lennart took a deep breath. At the moment he exhaled, flames burst from his body as he shot up suddenly, snatching both of the clones by their necks.

This was [Flame Cloak], a spell of his creation that fully utilized his flame affinity alongside his other powers. It boosted his physical traits and covered his body in a continuous coat of [Flame]. Appearance-wise, it resembled a high-collared cape that flowed down to his legs, protecting him from outside attacks while harming those that came into contact with him unless he allowed it. The flames could also be manipulated offensively without needing to cast [Flame] again, making his cast time near-instantaneous while the spell was active.

It required a high amount of mana to maintain alongside great mana control, meaning mages who could replicate this spell were few and far between. In fact, it was primarily due to the specialty of the Brightwind family who often possessed mana control far above the average mage that a spell like this could be feasible. It was because of this spell that Lennart Brightwind was regarded as one of the most distinguished fire magic users in the world.

The clone in his left hand didn’t even have the chance to struggle before he incinerated it from the shoulders up, watching as its headless body crumpled to the ground and disappeared before turning his attention to the other. It used both hands to struggle in his grasp for a bit before lashing out with its arm blade, which Lennart easily stopped by grabbing its wrist with his free hand.

With cold eyes, he snapped that same wrist like a twig without hesitation, though interestingly the clone did not react with pain, instead simply going limp in his hands. Still, its lack of further resistance made it easier to go through with his intentions.

“Now then,” he started, before having a sudden coughing fit that he shielded with his arm. “Let’s finally get a look at who’s under there.”

He reached out with his free hand, but before he could grab onto the girl’s mask, it too suddenly faded away along with the clone’s inert body, leaving him alone in the now-quiet hall. Surprised, he considered the timing of her recalling the clone remotely to be too convenient, and eventually settled on the theory that they automatically disappear in response to physical trauma.

If that was true, that would mean snapping its wrist was a blunder on his part. Still, despite failing to get a look at the intruder’s face, gaining an understanding of how her Ability works was a valuable piece of information regardless.

He was forced to cover his mouth in response to another coughing fit, and turned to where the third girl — likely the original who’d spawned the clones — had been prior to his attack.

So, she used them as a diversion and chose to escape…

He recalled her positioning in the hall. At that time, near her would have been a service door used for easier transportation of goods and other things between floors without the need of the grand staircase in the main hall. She must have noticed it and ducked inside while sending her clones to attack at the moment Lennart shot out his flames.

Was that just a result of astute perceptive capabilities? Or did she know the layout of the mansion prior to her infiltration? Either way, that girl was no normal thief or vandal. Her height made her appear to be a teenager or young adult at best, yet she was highly skilled to the point that even Lennart had been caught off guard and forced to use his [Flame Cloak] to resist her poison’s effects, though even that would only last for as long as he kept the spell going. That service door did not directly lead to an exit and instead went to the floors above, so with that in mind, he needed to alert someone of the girl’s presence and have the entire estate go on alert.

And as if on cue, multiple footsteps came running in his direction, shouting towards him.

“Lord Lennart!”

“We heard an explosion! Are you alright, sir?”

“Your [Flame Cloak]...! Was there an intruder?”

Lennart turned to see his servants appear, including the head butler. All of them wore expressions of concern, which reminded him of how grateful he was that Achill had granted their request to stay behind and look after him and Aurelia.

Since they caught on so quickly, he didn’t waste time explaining the situation and got down to business. “Lock down the estate grounds and get all non-combatants to a safe place. The intruder is upstairs, and likely searching for an exit or a hostage to ensure their safety. Aurelia—”

“I have already dispatched servants to check on her and our guest sir, with instructions to guard her room until further notice,” the head butler replied with a bow. Lennart couldn’t help but smile at the man’s forethought, and nodded accordingly.

“Thank you. In that case, pass along the information I’m about to relay to whomever you deem capable and have them begin searching.” With that, he described the intruder to the servants, including her appearance, a rough physical description, as well as what he’d managed to learn about her tactics, equipment, and her cloning Ability.

“Understood. I’ll organize a search, and also contact the Regalian Military for reinforcements,” the butler said, already sending away some of the servants with tasks assigned.

“Alright. I’ll also help—” Lennart took a step forward as he spoke, but suddenly broke into another vicious coughing fit that brought him to his knees, this time producing blood from his mouth. Immediately, the rest of the servants rushed up to him worriedly, horrified by the revelation that he himself had been administered multiple doses of the unknown poison.

Lennart tried to assure them that he was fine, but his strength was quickly fading. Even with plenty of mana to spare, he could no longer concentrate enough to maintain his [Flame Cloak], causing it to dissipate. Within moments his vision blurred and he vomited, passing out shortly after to the cries of his servants.

-----

Meanwhile, on the third floor…

[[God’s Blessing] has leveled up! It is now Lv. 67]

“Y… Yuu…?”

“...? Ah—!”

Micah was in shock as she laid eyes on her little brother. How was this possible? Why was he here? What in the world was going on?

Such was her confusion at the unexpected encounter that she failed to notice [God’s Blessing] level up, nor could she even react as the boy gazed up at her face, tilted his head in puzzlement for a moment, then suddenly perked up happily and leapt to embrace her. His arms wrapped around her tightly as he nuzzled his head into her chest, all while Micah’s mind tried to process the situation.

It was such a random, trifling encounter that she could hardly believe it was even happening, and yet Yuu seemed to recognize her in turn. Then did that mean… this was really… real?

“Hey, is it… really you…?” She looked down as the boy continued hugging her affectionately. Slowly, her arms wrapped around his body in turn, pulling him closer. “You’re… you’re alive… You’re really alive, Yuu… I’m so glad—”

*Boom!*

A sudden rumbling echoed from somewhere below cut her off, startling the two of them.

“What… What was that?!” Micah exclaimed, though only the quiet of the night responded. Seconds ticked by in silence, until she realized that Yuu hadn’t said a single word since she’d grabbed him. She looked down at him to find him looking up at her in return, first with concern in his eyes, then with a smile of joy as they continued locking eyes, and finally with brows furrowing in response to Micah’s sudden change in expression.

No… It… It’s not him. It’s not Yuu.

The features were similar, but a second, deeper glance had allowed Micah to realize that this boy was not her little brother. In fact, the more she studied him, the more the differences made themselves apparent. His hair wasn't brown like her and Yuu's, nor was it a color you’d commonly find in Japan, like black or even blonde; instead it was red, the same as Aurelia’s. He also bore the same ocean blue eyes, which were now watching her with worry.

‘What’s wrong?’ he seemed to be asking, but for some reason he wasn’t speaking at all. His tiny hands went up to touch her arms, making her realize that he was smaller than Yuu too. He must have been… eight? Nine? The Yuu from her memories was already thirteen.

It made some sense if you only looked at the age difference between Micah — or rather, Mikasa — and Yuu, which was about five years, but when you considered that she and Yuu would likely have reincarnated at similar times, the disparity didn’t add up. Unless Yuu specifically lived for five more years after her before dying on Earth, then logically speaking they should be around the same physical age here in Magi.

There were too many variables to make a definitive statement, but Micah wanted to believe that she could easily recognize Yuu in this world if she ever actually saw him. And though this boy was a close match, she could say with certainty that it wasn’t him. It was a conclusion born purely of her gut feelings as Yuu’s older sister, but she decided to go with that assumption until she could be proven otherwise.

Then, if he’s really not Yuu, I wonder why he’s so attached to me? This is definitely the first time I’ve seen him, yet he’s acting like he knows me already. Maybe he also mistook me for someone?

No, I can worry about that later. He’s a little strange, but if the intruder I saw was him then it’s good enough for now that I caught him. More importantly, I should probably find out what that noise from before was. It wasn’t anything huge, but it did sound like something might’ve blown up downstairs. I don’t like the coincidence, so I’ll check it out just in case.

“Alright, listen,” she said, taking hold of the boy’s shoulders. “I’m taking you to Aurelia’s room for now, and when I get back you better be ready to tell me what you were doing sneaking in—”

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap*

She cut her stern warning off due to the abrupt sound of footsteps approaching. [God’s Blessing] was still active, so her enhanced ears easily identified that they were coming from below, from somewhere beyond a door that was right nearby them.

Huh…? Were there stairs in places like this too? No wait, who would even be running up the stairs at this time of night? Does it have to do with that explosion-like noise? I don’t hear a fire or anything though…

She glanced at the door in puzzlement for a moment, until she realized that the person wasn’t slowing down at all; instead they were gunning for the door at full speed as if they were planning on—

“Oh crap!” Acting on instinct, she hugged the boy to her body and threw herself out of the way just as the wooden door burst outward, revealing the form of a teenage girl jumping through with arms braced. Micah tumbled across the floor for a bit before sliding to a stop on her side as the figure landed in a crouch.

For some reason she was dressed up like a magician’s assistant, complete with a tailcoat, corset, hot pants, cylindrical top hat, the whole nine yards. What struck her as most odd though was the girl’s white porcelain face mask. It immediately evoked a sense of déjà vu in her mind, though compared to the woman in white she’d encountered last year there was almost no other comparison. The mask didn’t even seem to have any holes in it — instead displaying strange, inky blots forming a pair of dotted eyes and a pattern on her cheeks that brought to mind the face of a six-sided die  — leaving Micah puzzled as to how the girl could turn her head and seemingly stare right at them.

There was a moment of pause; of a silent mutual confusion between both parties. Or at least Micah felt as much as her mind struggled to process the sudden turn of events and the girl similarly remained both still and quiet. The moment wouldn’t last however, as the instant she tried to put her feet under her and rise with the boy, the stranger attacked, flicking her arm out and tossing something Micah’s way.

The projectile was little more than a blur in the night, and Micah’s awkward posture plus the boy in her arms made it difficult to do much other than fall backwards to avoid it, landing on her back. A sharp *thunk!* came from her right at almost the same time, and when she turned her head it was to see the would-be weapon embedded into the ground just next to her head.

What the…? A… playing card?

Though the dim lighting made it harder to see clearly, the small, thin, rectangular white shape was unmistakable. It even had a smiley face on it reminiscent of a joker card — though upon closer inspection it seemed crudely drawn on with something like a marker or crayon. Also there was writing on it, and despite the situation Micah reflexively squinted to read the single word childishly scribbled just under the drawing.

“G-Gotcha…?”

Eh? Whoa—!

The distraction nearly served its purpose if Micah hadn’t sensed the girl looming over her. Wrapping her arms around the boy tightly, she rolled to the side to avoid the lunging stab, then immediately sent her scarf ends out to retaliate as she got to her knees. They punctured the girl’s side, only to slap the far wall when her form vanished into nothing right after.

“What?” Micah’s eyes widened momentarily, then even more when two more playing cards whizzed by to pierce her scarf ends, affixing them to the wall. She turned her head to see the girl only just begin to start running, leaving her stupefied as she crossed them.

For a moment time seemed to slow to a crawl, and both Micah and the boy watched the girl seemingly glance their way only briefly before continuing down the hall and disappearing around the corner.

“W-Who the heck was that? Damn it, like I’ll let you get away!” Grunting, Micah wrenched her scarf ends free and got to her feet. However, just as she started to give chase, she felt a tug on her shirt. Looking back, she watched as the boy clung to her and let out a whining series of grunts.

“Ahh… Ahh…!”

“Huh? What? What’s wrong?” Though still refusing to speak, the boy looked at her desperately. “What is it? Do you know her or something?” He frantically shook his head, then hugged her arm while continuing to jabber on incoherently.

“Ahh… Ahh…”

“I-I don’t understand what you’re trying to say! C’mon, can’t you use your words or something?” Seeing as he wouldn’t let her go, Micah knelt down to his eye level and took hold of his shoulders. “If there’s something you want to tell me, you have to do it in a way I can understand. Please?”

Blue eyes filled with concern stared into her own as he continued letting out unintelligible mewls, giving Micah nothing to work with.

What is wrong with this kid? He should be old enough to speak, so why isn’t he? A mental problem? Ugh, I don’t have time for this!

She made to stand again, intent on separating from him despite his resistance, but soon heard more footsteps climbing the stairs in the passageway along with faint voices, which for some reason caused the boy to flinch fiercely.

“I-It’s okay, I think it’s just the servants. I recognize some of their— hey!” As they continued to near, he suddenly shrank behind her, shivering. “What the heck…? Seriously, what’s got you so freaked out?”

“Ahh… Oogh…”

His hands were balled as he gripped her shirt tightly while burying his face in her back. Micah really couldn’t tell what was bothering him so much, but he seemed to be getting worse and worse the closer the footsteps got.

Honestly speaking, Micah couldn’t help but feel annoyed. The boy was actively preventing her from chasing the strange girl and finding out what the heck was going on tonight. She wanted nothing more than to just push his trembling form away and start tracking her, but…

“...!”

Seeing him like that, Micah couldn’t help but overlap the sight of him with that of Yuu’s. It reminded her of their early time together, back when Yuu was still very, very young. He was a brave boy even back then, never crying or throwing fits or anything. But one night, she caught him tearing up just like this all alone in his room.

He wouldn’t tell her what was wrong no matter how many times she asked, so in the end she gave up trying to understand and simply hugged him tight until he calmed down. It took some sisterly reassurance and some bribery ice cream, but he did return to normal eventually.

She’d nearly forgotten about that precious memory from long ago, but right now it was as if she was replaying that very moment. The boy only vaguely reminded her of Yuu, but she’d already let herself entertain the thought, and now her heart was throbbing painfully from what she felt was the first time she could truly understand him since their abrupt meeting.

“Ahh… Ahh…”

‘Help me… Please…’

“...Gah, geez! C’mon!” Micah exclaimed. She reached around to scoop him up into her embrace, then stood and charged down the hall before the servants could arrive at the top of the stairs. “I still don’t really get it, but you’re scared of the people of this house, right?! Then I’ll just take you somewhere no one will find you! Okay?”

She couldn’t see his face while hugging him to her as she ran, but she could tell that he had been struck silent by her actions. After some time, she felt his chin nestle onto her shoulder and his arms come around her neck as he seemed to entrust himself to her. The sensation made her chest tingle with a bitter nostalgia, which she forced herself to ignore.

…Damn it. I know this isn’t him, so why am I feeling déjà vu from this? I swear, I’ve never seen this kid before, but something about him is just so familiar. Is it really just because he reminds me of Yuu…?

-----

Abigail dashed down the winding halls of the mansion, head on a swivel as she scanned her surroundings for threats. Her luck had been nothing short of awful tonight, what with the run in with Lennart Brightwind and the odd scarf girl she’d run into on the third floor, and though the dozen or so clones she’d spread around were working well in misleading her pursuers, the hasty escape she’d had to make during both instances had gotten her a bit lost as a result. 

She knew the rough layout of the place though (the detailed floor plan was not publicly available unfortunately, so they were forced to analyze the place from a distance to get a general idea), so it was just a matter of getting her bearings. She was fairly certain that she was still in the west part of the mansion, but not knowing where exactly limited her options.

Since the windows were all made of tempered glass, near-indestructible, the third floor balcony was the ideal route for escape. But she didn’t know where it was relative to her position and couldn’t afford to waste time searching for it randomly, especially when the estate’s able-bodied combatants could show up to suppress her at any time.

Even if she managed to hold them all off somehow, the Regalian Military would likely be barging their way in soon enough. She needed to be long gone by then, which meant that her only hope was to use a door. The front door to be precise.

It was the closest exit she knew of, and if she was lucky, the estate staff wouldn’t be able to mount a defense effort fast enough to intercept her, and she could escape through the main entrance just as easily as she came in.

With her plan of action decided, she rounded a few more bends while keeping an eye out for stairs or a railing of some kind. They’d be more common and easier to find than a single balcony, and following them would lead her towards the main hall. After some time spent searching while also avoiding her pursuers, she unconsciously sighed in relief when she finally sensed what she was looking for. The white banister was practically a godsend, and she wasted no time in rushing over to it.

There were no stairs; it appeared to be a spot designed for merely overlooking the main hall, but it was better than nothing. Planting both hands on the handrail, she vaulted up and over with ease, letting gravity pull her down all the way to the ground floor where she was prepared to cushion the impact with her mana.

On the way however, she sensed a presence — a small red figure on a lower floor that took notice of her descent, took a few steps back, then ran and somersaulted over the handrail after her. Their momentum carried them further, allowing them to drop between Abigail and the door in a graceful crouch.

-----

“Found you,” said Aurelia Brightwind as she came to a stand, rapier in hand. To say her night had been restless would be an understatement. She’d unconsciously noticed Micah’s absence and woke up sometime after she’d disappeared from the room, and just as she was about to put together a search party, the commotion downstairs caught her attention. A servant came running to check on her soon after, and she’d had just enough time to get changed and grab her weapon to help find the intruder when she saw her dropping from the floor above.

“Honestly, what a disgrace. To think we’d have an intruder on the first day of our guest’s stayover,” she muttered, mostly to herself. She turned her glare on the masked girl. “That sound from before was my father’s flames, wasn’t it? He hasn’t been active for a while, but he’s still one of the greatest Heroes in the world. That some riffraff thief could escape him without a scratch is just unthinkable. You… You’re not normal, are you?”

“...”

“No response? I suppose it makes sense that you wouldn’t want me to hear your voice, seeing as you’re going as far as to hide your face too.”

Aurelia watched the girl take a careful step to the side in an attempt to get a better angle at the door behind her, and realized that she wouldn’t be able to stall for much longer. “...The others seemed convinced that you’d go for the rear or side entrances, but I had a feeling you’d try here first. With everyone scrambling around like this, it’s easy to imagine you’d want to exploit the confusion and slip away before someone could be stationed here. Nearly got ahead of me too, so it wasn’t a bad plan all things considered. What interests me, though…” Her blue eyes narrowed. “...is why you don’t seem interested in the windows.”

“...”

“It’s not private information, but if you’ve done your research enough to know that much, then you also should have known that it was dumb to try and steal from this place at all. And even if you wanted to try it anyway, it would definitely require more than one person. So what are you really after?” Still no response. But based on the timing of the infiltration, she could only settle on one definitive answer. “...Micah?”

Aurelia watched the stranger closely, but didn’t see so much as a twitch at the name like she’d hoped. Still, it would also explain her friend’s bizarre disappearance. Well, it didn’t actually, but if this girl had really come into this place just for Micah, then it was possible she’d gotten to her during a bathroom visit or something.

“Either way, I plan on getting the answers from you here and now. And I swear, if you’ve harmed even a single hair on her head, I’ll personally see to it that you regret ever—”

Aurelia’s emotions had brought her out of focus for a moment — one that was immediately exploited as the girl suddenly threw her left hand out, dispensing some kind of liquid from her sleeve. Aurelia flipped to the side to avoid it, cursing as the intruder sprinted down the cleared path to the door. “Oh no, you don’t—!”

Aurelia’s own hand came up, and in an instant flames erupted out from the door. The masked girl flinched, then leapt back before the fire could nick her. Aurelia was there to meet her, but the girl’s agility won out as she twirled up and over the redhead, meeting her rapier with a quick midair slash from her arm blade before landing behind her with ease.

Khh… She’s fast.

Aurelia turned to face her, the nerves of going up against her first real opponent all by herself finally catching up to her. Reinforcements would be here soon, and it was likely that someone would pass by the main hall and spot them any minute now. All she had to do was keep her here until then, but…

She’s employing hidden weapons, and even poison… Traditional swordsmanship won’t be enough. I need to make sure I don’t get any of that stuff in me, or I’ll be in real trouble.

If worse came to worst, it would be better to let her escape than to risk dying here, but that would only disgrace the Brightwinds even more. The political situation in Norith wasn’t so easygoing that they could let an incident like this occur while the patriarch was away and not expect some scorn from the other noble families.

At best, Lennart’s position as heir would be called into question, which would also damage her status as heiress even if he tries to take sole responsibility for the break-in. At worst, someone could capitalize on their perceived weakness and stage another attack to finish them off, then make a case to depose her grandfather for not taking proper precautions while he was away.

It was certainly a risky venture, but this series of moves could potentially result in the total loss of power for her family, which was why it was imperative that they capture the intruder with little-to-no casualties. More than that though…

“...Hey. If I was ever in a situation where you all couldn’t protect me from an immediate threat—where only I, a support mage, was able-bodied, what do you think I should do?”¹From the beginning of chapter 7, in case you forgot.

“Well, my lady, if such a situation were to occur it would be advisable for you to flee, abandoning us and any other allies in order to save yourself.”

“Yes. All who would go into battle alongside you understand their responsibility to keep you safe, my lady. Just as I am sure you understand your responsibility to preserve your own life.”

More than anything… Aurelia just didn’t want to believe in those words. In the idea that she was incapable of doing anything on her own — that her life was somehow so valuable that she could never put it at risk for anyone else... even for those she truly cared about.

Was that why she had the servants search elsewhere despite her hunch that the intruder would come here? Is that why she hadn’t told anyone to inform her butlers, who were still outside patrolling the estate grounds?

Is that why she wasn’t calling for help, even now?

“...You understand, don’t you?” she spoke as the flames behind her intensified to shield the main entrance further. “These flames will burn until I either dissipate them myself or run out of mana. Put simply, you can’t escape from here unless you defeat me first. So will you take your chances fleeing for another exit despite the risk of running into the search party, or—”

The girl’s left hand twitched again, but it was too late for Aurelia to realize that three small balls were clenched between her fingers before they went flying towards her. She jumped back to avoid the burst of dark-colored gas that appeared when the first struck the ground, then flipped away with her hands to avoid the other two. While shielding her face with her sleeve, she flung herself away to avoid breathing anything in as much as possible.

Poison gas…! Or a chemical that knocks you out? No, she aimed them at the ground, so isn’t it just smoke to conceal her movements? If that’s the case, then she’s either planning to run away or…

Aurelia fixed her gaze on the smoke warily, and as if on cue a steel blade suddenly forced its way through, stabbing towards her in the blink of an eye.

There! A surprise attack!

She couldn’t help but flinch as the steel tip filled her view, shimmering with a clear liquid aimed directly at her face. But instinct quickly took over and her rapier rose to catch it, then scraped its way down to slash the girl’s chest with ease as Aurelia flipped out of harm's way, landing nimbly.

“Fuu…”

Okay, clean hit. Not too deep, so she’ll survive, but the bleeding will leave her dizzy and distracted by the pain. Now it’s just a matter of wearing her down.

Her intent was to render the intruder unable to move such that she could be restrained and interrogated. Failing that, she could simply be incapacitated and captured for later interrogation, or even killed outright if need be, but the important thing was that the first blow had been dealt. Aurelia readied herself for her opponent’s next move, but found herself faltering a bit as the masked girl gripped her wounded chest — a wound that produced not even one drop of blood — stumbled a bit before falling on her side, then vanished entirely.

Wha… What in the world? What IS she?

But there wasn’t time to even process what she’d just witnessed, as two more identical masked assailants burst from the smoke without warning, catching Aurelia completely off-guard. Still, she had the presence of mind to jump back with her mana, narrowly avoiding the two-pronged attack before raising her rapier to meet her new attackers.

A fierce, but brief exchange of blows followed as Aurelia fought them both off, parrying and dodging each of their attempts to cut or stab her while searching for openings to exploit. As future heiress to the Brightwinds — the most powerful family of mages in the world — even fighting two enemies at once was a trivial matter, and soon enough she found a gap in their forms.

The tip of her sword easily pierced the side of one of the masked adversaries as she twirled around them, snagging their arm to deflect the blade of the other before tossing her victim aside. The rapier slipped free of their fading body with ease, again without a speck of blood, and as Aurelia leapt towards her remaining opponent for a finishing thrust, she finally understood the source of the odd phenomenon.

Hmph, so that’s it. Sheesh, what a troublesome Ability.

As both clones faded away without a trace, Aurelia felt a reaction surge from within, and raised a hand to stifle a sudden coughing fit. Her blood turned cold at the possibility that she’d been poisoned unknowingly, but her eyes soon found the flames she’d created by the main entrance, as well as the thick cloud of smoke till pervading the main hall itself, and the cause made itself clear.

Crap… My visibility’s only getting poorer the longer this goes on, and soon enough I’ll end up suffocating. Logically, that mask should make her worse off than me, but it’s bad to make assumptions — especially concerning someone so inherently abnormal.

Okay, let’s think about this. Her best bet of escape is still to weaken me to the point that I can’t maintain the [Flame] wall, so I have to avoid being cut by her even a single time. I can’t fall unconscious either, or lose concentration. That being said, my mana pool isn’t that large to begin with, so I’ve only got about a few minutes left at best before I enter Mana Depletion. I have to hold her off as best I can during that time.

Aurelia took a deep breath and prepared herself for what she felt reasonably certain was coming. Timing it perfectly, she backsprung right as five masked clones pounced from the smoke and rushed to engage her. A rapid series of clangs resounded throughout the hall as Aurelia deflected their flurry of attacks with expert precision, but the numbers were winning out in this case.

Though her particular fighting style and weapon were slightly modified with elements of traditional swordsmanship, fencing was an art designed for dueling a single opponent. Her enormous talent and extensive training made up the difference when it came to two opponents, but five enemies all working in unison quickly pushed her to her limit, particularly as it seemed they were completely unhindered by the low visibility and thin air.

As the battle raged on and Aurelia found it becoming increasingly difficult to avoid being slashed even with her small stature, she realized that the only option for her to keep up at this point was to use magic. It would drain more of her already diminutive mana pool, but there was no other option.

So, after creating some space using her advantage in agility, she held her palm out towards one of the five, and without being able to dodge or avoid it at all the clone was immediately encased in fire. Rather than reacting with pain, it simply looked down at itself for a few moments, then toppled over and disappeared.

The other clones watched the fate of their brethren impassively, then turned to rush Aurelia once more. She was ready for it though, and calmly moved that same palm to the side, causing the flames to follow her movement and engulf two more of the clones. The remaining two dodged to avoid it, but their number was much more manageable than it had been before. With her swordsmanship alone, she dispatched them without issue.

“*Cough*, *cough* *cough*…” Aurelia stifled more coughs with her arm as the newly-created fire dissipated and she let her posture relax, trying to breathe in as little of the smoke as possible.

Alright… I did it. And more importantly, I kept mana usage to a minimum. But it’s not quite over yet.

It was hard to ignore the fact that no one had shown up to the main hall despite all of this commotion. You could chalk that up to bad luck, but Aurelia was more inclined to believe the masked girl was intentionally misleading the mansion’s residents with more clones to keep them away from here. Based on how they attacked her like this, she either shared some sort of mental link with them, or they were simply able to move independent of her will, and that made it possible for her to use them without needing to see them; or even to be in the same area.

She had no proof to corroborate her theory, but if it was true, it meant that this girl’s Ability wasn’t too costly and she wasn’t likely to overtax herself anytime soon. And if that was the reason no one had shown up yet, then it meant she still believed the main entrance to be her best bet of escape. Well, that or she believed it was worth the risk of capture to poison Aurelia for some reason. Or both.

Regardless, it meant that she — the real her — was still here, waiting for the moment the fire at the door waned even for a second in order to slip away.

Knowing that she was at a disadvantage in this battle of attrition, Aurelia devised a way to take advantage of her opponent’s cautiousness, and attempt to end things in one decisive blow. It was risky, but she felt that these skirmishes had given her a well enough idea of how the intruder would act, so before more clones could appear, she restructured her posture and settled into a stance where she extended her free hand out in front of her while holding her rapier at her side, ready to thrust at a moment’s notice.

In the brief period before her enemies resumed their offensive, she focused her mana into her blade, using it as the conduit for her spell. Immediately, it began to glow red hot, before eventually projecting flames that crackled boldly off of its surface.

Blazing scarlet light shone powerfully through the dim, smoky room. The flickering glow illuminated her face and reflected in her ocean blue eyes, which narrowed as her body grew tense with anxiety and anticipation.

This was it. With this last move, she would end this. She would win.

Without relying on anyone but herself… she would win.

Steeling herself, she allowed the flames by the door to extinguish, then strained her ears and listened.

One second passed.

Then two.

Then more.

Then, after the seventh second—

*Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* *Tap* 

She heard it. Footsteps began to make for the door in a rapid rush, and at the same time another two clones appeared to attack her.

Got you.

Aurelia put a large amount of mana into her feet and zoomed past the pair in a blur. A streak of fire was left in her wake as she dashed towards the figure barely-visible in the smoke. Her blazing rapier primed itself, aiming for the unsuspecting target…

“There!”

And struck her directly in the stomach with a blistering thrust! Plumes of fire spread out at the point of impact, though Aurelia tamed it with her mana and ensured it wouldn’t burn so badly as to incinerate the masked girl’s internal organs. She reached around the girl to pull herself closer, holding her rapier in place while the flames began to die down.

“You… You’re the real one. Considering how careful you were to stay hidden in the smoke and attack only using clones, I knew you were far too clever to go for the door right away. You knew I was prepared to attack the first person who appeared there, so you sent a clone instead, hoping to draw out my attack. Unfortunately for you, I’m not quite so foolish.”

Once the fire had died completely, Aurelia watched as her opponent struggled in place for a bit, attempting to remove the weapon impaling her to the hilt.

“Give up, it’s useless. These flames are under my control, so they won’t kill you right away. I’ll also keep you alive with [Cure]; just enough for you to be able to tell me who you are and why you—”

“...”

“Eh…?”

Aurelia’s eyes opened wide as the girl suddenly fell into her, went limp… then disappeared.

I-It was… another clone?!

Right as she came to that realization, she heard the sound of the front doors swinging open. In a panic, she whipped around.

Then, the real one is—!

Her hand went out, and in the blink of an eye the escaping intruder was set ablaze two steps outside. There was no time to dampen its strength with her mana, but as long as she could be immobilized, she’d be able to heal her later and—

“...”

And… it too, collapsed and faded away.

Huh…? What is…

Dumbstruck, Aurelia was late to recall the pair of clones she’d passed on the way, and when the pounding of footsteps reached her ears, she only just managed to turn and see two figures leaping towards her.

Wh-Which one?! Which one is the real one?! No, does it even matter at this point?! I can’t stop them both…!

The sudden, two-pronged attack left her with no room to dodge, and no time to react beyond simply raising her arms to brace herself instinctively. Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs from the realization that she was about to be poisoned, that she was about to be killed—

*Fwoosh!*

At that moment, the sound of fluttering cloth filled her ears at the same time as a figure appeared from overhead, and Aurelia’s blue eyes shot open to see first a familiar scarf, then its wearer, Micah, performing a scissor kick to attack both of the enemies simultaneously. The impact caused both of them to fly to opposite sides and disappear after crashing into a small table and a wall respectively, though Micah herself didn’t look surprised as she landed confidently near Aurelia.

Th-They were also clones? Then where…

“What the hell are you doing, idiot?!” Aurelia blinked, ripped from her thoughts by her friend’s unexpected shouting.

“Mi… Micah…”

Her shoulders slumped a bit as she spoke, but Micah ignored that and marched over to begin checking her for injuries. “Trying to fight her by yourself, do you have a death wish or something?! God, and after that huge lecture about how reckless I can be… Are you hurt? Did she cut you at all?”

“N-No. I’m fine…” Aurelia didn’t resist as Micah lifted her arms one after the other, turned her head this way and that, and peered around her sides looking for evidence to the contrary. “Really, I’m okay. I didn’t even get hit once.” She grabbed ahold of Micah’s wrists, giving her a quick inspection in turn. “More importantly, where have you been? You completely disappeared while we were sleeping! Did something happen to you?”

“U-Uh… th-that is… um…” For some reason Micah looked awkward and averted her gaze, struggling to put forth an answer. “W-Well… Some stuff kinda happened, and I ended up getting caught up in this whole thing while I was in the can, haha...”

“...Seriously?”

“Y-Yeah, seriously! Some luck I’ve got, huh? I had a run-in with the intruder early on, but she got away from me, and after that I met up with some of the servants and got a run down of what’s going on. There were clones running around everywhere though, so they told me to just leave it to them and go find you. And… here I am.”

“I-I see… *Cough* *cough*.”

Aurelia’s coughs made Micah tense for a moment, until she seemingly realized what the cause was and relaxed again. Instinctively, she covered her nose with one hand and waved the other through the air. “Yeah, it’s pretty smoky in here, huh? What happened?”

“She used… some sort of smoke bombs. I inhaled a good amount of it, but I should be fine now that it’s airing out the front door.”

“That’s good to hear. Anyway, I think things have settled down. The sounds of fighting and running around have gone quiet, so I’m guessing all the clones disappeared.” For some reason Micah closed her eyes as though she were actually listening across the entire mansion.

“Uh… And you know this, how?”

“Huh? O-Oh, well! I just, uh… I’ve got pretty good hearing, y’know? Always have.”

Aurelia furrowed her brows as Micah once again acted skittishly, though she decided to drop the matter in favor of something more important. “Well, you’re probably right. She must have escaped. I’m sure she was here during our fight, but it feels like she just… disappeared right at the last moment.”

She thought back. First, she bypassed the pair of clones, 1 and 2, and attacked the one hidden in the smoke, 3, which turned out to be a fake. She then attacked the one that had gone for the door, 4, which was also fake. Then she realized that the girl had likely been either 1 or 2, but when they attacked her and Micah struck them, they both disappeared.

“The only time it could have happened was… while I was dealing with the ones I attacked first.”

That is, 3 and 4. At that time, she who had shaken up Aurelia’s reasoning by pretending to be a clone and hiding as either 1 or 2, created one more clone to replace her in the pair, 5, then escaped through the previously-opened door while they kept Aurelia occupied so she couldn’t interfere. That made the most… no, it could only have happened like that.

In other words, Aurelia had been successfully fooled and given the slip. Considering her opponent had likely been fighting lightly with the intent to draw out an opportunity like that from the start, the fact that Aurelia struggled so much and still could not pressure her meant it was nothing short of a complete loss.

On top of that, I was saved by Micah again… Well, I suppose I should be glad I survived unharmed in the first place.

“Haa…”

“E-Eh? What’s with the sigh all of a sudden?!”

“No… it’s nothing. I forgot to thank you though. You really saved me just now, so thanks.” Aurelia bowed her head low to express her gratitude, to which Micah frantically waved her hands around in an attempt to stop her.

“H-Hey, it’s not like I really did anything special! Honestly, I should be praising the fact that you held your own against her for so long under these conditions! She was an unpredictable enemy with unknown abilities, but you still managed to avoid being hit even a single time. Guess the name ‘Aurelia Brightwind’ isn’t just for show, huh? You really are incredible!”

Aurelia wanted to deny the praise and push the point that she still would have been hit in the end if Micah didn’t show up, but the dumb grin resting on the latter’s face caused her own cheeks to tighten, and in the end she couldn’t fight the smile that forced its way out except to turn her face away and mutter, “...Knock it off with the weird praise, idiot.”

“Ehehe~ Made you feel better though, didn’t it?”

“Maybe, if it wasn’t so obviously fake.”

“How rude! I’ll let you off the hook though since you did such a good job on your own, hehe!”

“Gross~”

“Come on!”

Like that, the two girls continued bantering as the situation truly seemed to calm down. Now that she was more relaxed, there were about a million things Aurelia wanted to ask — namely concerning the state of the others who may have encountered the intruder like her father. Before she could ask though…

“Hey! Is everyone alright?!” Out of nowhere, a voice came shouting from outside, and several footsteps came running towards the main entrance. Both Micah and Aurelia turned to see several men and women in green uniforms piling in one after another.

Finally, the Regalian Military had arrived.