Chapter: 78. Elemental Sovereign (4K)
On the other side of the battlefield.
The ice blocks that were stabbed into the ground had slowly melted into puddles of clear water.
Mana learned the full extent of the incident from Akko.
While she could draw somewhat reliable conclusions based on what Akko said in conjunction with reality, there was one point that left her uneasy—
“Even if what you said is true, I absolutely don’t want to cooperate with someone who would take Nagi as a hostage,” Mana said firmly.
Her response did not surprise Akko.
As someone who had always been by Mana’s side, Akko knew all too well how much her two childhood friends cared for her.
If they truly threatened her with their lives, it would surely lead to a confrontation against the “greatest masterpiece.”
So Akko had been prepared from the beginning:
“It’s okay, actually, taking Hoshimiya Nagi as a hostage is just an excuse.”
“An excuse?”
“Yeah, just to prevent you or Kanade from thinking that they are the traitor that infiltrated Ark Academy, in reality, they won’t truly harm Nagi. Rather, it’s more about protecting her,” Akko recited verbatim what “that man” had told her.
“Protect? Are you saying that Kitano-sensei kidnapped Nagi to protect her?” Mana’s delicate and beautiful brows raised slightly, seemingly finding it hard to accept Akko’s words.
“You believe that the people in Shikikikan are the ones suspected this time, including me and the young master… Since I know I’m innocent, I can deduce the true culprit through the process of elimination.”
“I’ve watched the young master grow up and know his character very well. Based on his recent reactions, I know he’s not involved in this matter.”
“And the dorm leader of Shikikikan, a repeat student from Ark Academy—Nanjou Akane-senpai, whose true identity is the Elemental Sovereign that escaped and is hiding in Ark Academy, she is also not a suspect.”
“So as long as we figure out the suspicions surrounding the three of you, we can find out who the final culprit is.”
“As for the first-year student, Otoriku Raku, and his associate, the former ACE Raven, Maria Makuhara, who serves as an advisor at Shikikikan.”
“Considering the actions you and we took tonight, it would be dangerous to leave Nagi alone with Raku in Shikikikan, so Kitano-sensei took Nagi under the pretense of a kidnapping,” Akko frankly revealed the information she possessed.
“As for why I had the young master intercept you at Noah Hall, it was to keep him from getting involved. Otherwise, with his character, he would surely stir up trouble.”
“Wasn’t he already causing enough trouble at Noah Hall…”
“It’s fine. Given the young master’s personality, he would only make Kanade temporarily lose her ability to resist and wouldn’t really harm her. Plus, once I personally explain everything to him afterward, we can clear up this misunderstanding immediately.”
Akko’s words persuaded Mana to a certain extent.
Assuming that everything was true, their actions seemed quite “reasonable,” but—
“I understand, but I have one request.”
“What?” Although Akko had the skills to oppose the greatest masterpiece, she also didn’t want a full-blown conflict with Mana unless absolutely necessary.
“Since the Elemental Sovereign wants this thing, I want to hand it to her myself. Is that okay?”
“….. I understand. I will convey that to her.”
—————–
“What just happened?”
Noah Hall.
The sky was filled with dark thunder, striking down in dazzling flashes towards Kanade’s position, resembling a torrential downpour made of lightning.
And although Kanade dodged these attacks with his extraordinary intuition, the sheer number of them had already exceeded the limits of his current physical capabilities.
After the first bolt of lightning exploited a momentary weakness and struck him, the ensuing heat and pain caused him to make more and more mistakes.
After wave after wave of carpet bombing attacks,
The battered Kanade lay in the ruins, his body suffering various degrees of damage from the heat and magic contained in the dark thunder.
The most severe injury was from the first lightning strike that hit his right hand, burning it below the elbow to a charred black, releasing a burnt smell, and rendering him unconscious.
Had it not been for the primal instincts of the beast within him and the wildly surging adrenaline, Kanade might have fainted like an ordinary person on the spot.
After Kanade finally lost the ability to move,
Seiryuu picked up his fantasy weapon, a twisted expression on his face, and approached Kanade once more, asking the question that concerned him.
“Why did those images flash through my mind when you were there?”
“How did you do it?!”
Seiryuu was like a rabid dog, his eyes wide with anger.
Kanade, lying on the ground, slightly cracked open his eyelids and looked at Seiryuu, suddenly reminded of someone familiar.
“After all… we are quite similar…”
“What?” Seiryuu was taken aback by Kanade’s words.
“We… are both… nameless beasts rescued by… someone…” Kanade chuckled lightly, a trickle of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
He had once again felt this truth in Seiryuu’s dream, realizing how similar he was to Seiryuu, like a puppy adopted by a kind girl from a cardboard box on a rainy day.
It was thanks to that girl’s existence that he could feel warmth in this cold world.
“Yes… we were both saved by Nagi-kun, but… you have hurt her time and again—”
“—Ah… I truly… cannot refute that… it’s all my fault that Nagi has been put in danger repeatedly, but it seems that Student Council President… misjudged… cough cough…” Kanade began to cough violently, spitting out dark red saliva.
The indiscriminate attack from Seiryuu had left him battered on the surface, and it seemed to have wrecked his internal organs too.
Right now, Kanade felt excruciating pain even with simple breathing.
But even so, he wanted to finish his statement:
“The one who truly saved you… isn’t Nagi…”
“What do you mean by that—!?” Seiryuu felt his emotions spiraling out of control at that moment.
Reacting to Kanade’s words, he bent down and gripped Kanade’s collar tightly with both hands.
“I… and you… didn’t we both see it?” Kanade’s voice was weak, but his tone was unexpectedly resolute: “The warmth you have been chasing isn’t what Nagi brought you on the screen…”
“The real source of your desire to live… and your goal… isn’t it always the classmate Akko who has been by your side?” Kanade, who intended to clarify Seiryuu’s long-standing misunderstanding, seemed to have realized something himself by the end.
“…Is that so? It makes sense—”
Suddenly, Seiryuu understood.
When he watched the interactions between Akko and Seiryuu in the dream and recalled her deception towards Seiryuu, he projected that onto himself and Nagi, realizing that Nagi had also deceived him.
But at that moment, Kanade noticed a crucial point—
“…The order… is wrong…”
—Even if the two who made a childhood promise betray each other in the future, that doesn’t have to be wrong.
But that was a mistake.
The true order should be—
Her betrayal was all to protect the self she vowed to safeguard.
This was her lie, to protect herself.
At the moment he came to this conclusion,
Kanade suddenly felt a sense of ominous foreboding flash through his mind.
His instincts warned him with a nauseating discomfort.
“No, it’s not right… Akko, Koma, and Nagi… cough cough cough—”
“What are you talking about?!” Seiryuu, affected by the remnants of the earlier dream, could sense Kanade’s thoughts to a certain extent.
And Kanade’s reaction sparked a strong sense of crisis in him.
But at that moment, he only wanted to use this harsh tone to dispel his unease.
“…They… are in danger…”
If Akko deceived Seiryuu to protect him,
Then it meant that she had a vague sense of the danger she was about to face, the person she would confront was extremely dangerous.
Even if she became a traitor, she wanted to keep those she cared about away from this danger.
Hearing this, Seiryuu instinctively turned to look in the direction where Akko and Mana had left.
His magically glowing eyes flickered.
The azure barrier enveloping Noah Hall began to slowly collapse for the first time.
Seiryuu dispelled the domain of dark thunder.
In an instant,
The magical fluctuations from all over the artificial academy island surged towards Seiryuu.
Amid them, two overwhelmingly rich magical powers exuded an ominous aura.
But what really made Seiryuu anxious was—
He couldn’t sense Akko’s magical fluctuations, and Mana’s magical reaction was also incredibly weak.
Only then did Seiryuu truly experience Kanade’s words from the very beginning—
“He had been deceived.”
—————–
Time rewound a bit earlier.
The agreed meeting place with Kitano.
This was the scene of the attack at Ark Academy a few days ago.
When Mana and Akko arrived,
They weren’t kept waiting long by the other party.
Mana had thought that it would be Kitano-sensei coming to retrieve the black box, since according to Akko, he and the chairman were currently helping the Elemental Sovereign complete her plan.
But when Mana sensed an aura from the direction of the woods not far away, her nerves became somewhat tense as she blurted out—
“Nagi…-chan!? N-No, wait…”
The other’s presence reflexively made Mana think it was Nagi.
But once the figure emerged from the shadows of the woods and entered the moonlight,
She realized that the visitor was a young girl.
With a slender body as sharp as a blade, wearing an Ark Academy uniform, and with waist-length black hair and a beautifully delicate face, she was undeniably a beautiful girl from any angle.
But what truly caught Mana’s attention was her eyes.
The starry pupils that gradually dimmed and flickered with white light.
When the white light in her eyes completely dissipated, returning to the reddish-purple gaze,
Mana could no longer sense the familiar aura from her.
However, Mana was finally able to identify the visitor based on her appearance.
“Nanjou… Akane…-senpai.”
“Good evening, Hinata-san, and Mutsumi-san.” Nanjou Akane greeted the two with a poised smile as she walked over.
Nanjou Akane.
The “Elemental Sovereign” mentioned by Akko.
This name was the identity she used while hiding at Ark Academy.
Initially, Mana had been somewhat skeptical about this claim.
But the moment she laid eyes on Nanjou Akane, she understood that everything was true.
The legendary savior, the “Elemental Sovereign” is indeed a girl.
The Nanjou Akane before her was truly the Elemental Sovereign “herself.”
Without a doubt.
No need for any reasons.
“I’m sorry, although it’s for her safety, it is indeed true that I did something rude to your childhood friend,” Nanjou said to Mana with a friendly smile.
“…Is Nagi-chan alright now?” Feeling her guard lowering due to Nanjou’s words, Mana felt her caution diminishing.
“Mm, that child is now being protected in Area One, very safe.”
After Nanjou finished speaking, before Mana could open her mouth again, she proactively asked, “So, where is that thing?”
As she spoke, she glanced towards Akko standing next to Mana.
It seemed she was asking Akko with her eyes.
But since Akko didn’t immediately take it out, Nanjou could sufficiently deduce that the black box was still in Mana’s hands.
“That thing… it’s with me…”
Mana promptly took out the black sphere from her pocket, poised to hand it to Nanjou.
If it were the usual Mana, she would definitely first seek various means to confirm Nagi’s safety, or wait until Nagi returned to her side before handing over the only trump card she had.
However, at that moment, she seemed to be influenced by something.
She felt no guard against this woman before her, even trusting what she said completely.
“Well… that’s wonderful—”
And the instant Nanjou saw the black box,
Her eyes widened, as if seeing a treasure, and the corner of her mouth could not help but lift slightly.
——A research achievement from Tsuki Academy.
——The kind of power that made the whole academy shudder.
——Now it was right before her.
Nanjou had been waiting for this day far too long.
——If she could obtain this power, she would take revenge on that damned academy…..
——As long as she destroyed that academy who treated her as expendable and erased all traces and truths…..
——She could truly “become” the Elemental Sovereign, thus freeing herself from a life of running and hiding.
A life that Nanjou had yearned for over a decade was now right in front of her.
Just as Mana was cradling the hexagonal black sphere in her hands, preparing to hand it over to Nanjou,
Nanjou’s outstretched hand suddenly grasped at empty air mid-motion.
“Please wait a moment, Elemental Sovereign-sama. Before that, could you please prove something to us?”
It was Akko who, at the last moment, snatched the black box from Mana’s hands.
Perhaps due to her long time spent with it,
In the midst of the peaceful atmosphere, Akko felt a vague unease in her heart.
This unease prompted her to make one last struggle at the final moment.
“Prove what?” Nanjou approached Akko with a gentle smile.
“…I want to see Hoshimiya-san, and—”
“—Oh, of course,” Nanjou interrupted Akko’s words.
“Now, I will take you to meet her.”
“Eh?”
As soon as Nanjou’s words fell, a pitch-black blade coalesced in her right hand.
A massive amount of blood splattered into the air.
And the black box that Akko was holding fell from her grasp, caught firmly by Nanjou mid-air.
“Finally—” the corner of Nanjou’s mouth curved up like a crescent moon, her reddish-purple eyes once again shining with white brilliance.
The blade pierced straight through Akko’s heart.
That was a fatal blow that would instantly kill.
