Volume 1 – Following the Maze Drawn With Lines of Blood
Ami left Cutie and the others, and headed for the spot where the explosion sounds came from.
The number of cars around increased when she approached Captis’s suburbs.
The aristocrats who were late to flee were rushing in, creating congestion.
As car horns and shouts echoed around her, she approached closer to the explosion’s center and her mood gradually shifted.
She saw people getting out of their cars and frantically running away.
People staying in their cars and praying.
She saw people heading for the battlefield with rifles in hands as their butlers tried to stop them – everyone had lost their composure.
She went further in.
The explosive blast brushed against Ami’s cheeks.
Her hair and dress swayed, and she smiled as the air tensed around her.
“I’m going to win by myself this time. And then, sis is going to praise me!”
That was the motivation moving Ami.
There was also her desire for revenge against Dugan, of course.
But, her emotions towards her savior, Mary, and her yearning for her had reached a level that could be called devotion.
“Where? Where? Where’s the evil monster bothering my sister!?”
Her wide open eyes sparkled, and she dashed as her wheels scraped against the ground.
Then, an automobile flew out from her front side.
It drew a parabola in the air, and crashed into the ground after grazing Ami’s side.
But she did not move.
Because her open eyes only saw her target.
“Grrrraaaaaah!”
She shouted, no, wailed like a beast.
A giant monster with his flesh sticking out was rampaging while holding an axe made from his own body.
He was around as tall as two floors of a building.
His head was in a shape that resembled a lion’s.
His arms and legs were bigger than an average adult male’s, and he created an overwhelming wind that turned cars over by just swinging his axe.
“Analyze – Sorcery Rating a little over 30,000. His body is larger than the angel from before, but he’s a little weaker.”
“……You.”
Angel spotted Ami and spoke in a low tone of voice that shook the air.
“An arcana user?”
“And who are you?”
“I’m the ruin of a man who was once called a general.”
Defale spoke in a self-deprecating manner.
He was given a mysterious medicine by Digi and had worried himself sick ever since.
There would be no going back after using this – he knew that.
Yet, Platy used it without hesitation and transformed into a monster right before Defale’s eyes.
He couldn’t pull back after that.
He was told he had only a few days to live after using it, and a large part of him was desperate.
“A great man of the army! Err, was it Defale? Unlike the guy from earlier, you still have the consciousness of the original person you were.”
“You…… I see, so you’re an ally of Princess Mary.”
“Ally…… Ally…..? Ehehe, you can call me her sister too, but that’s also nice. Alright, I’m going to defeat you, someone who bothers my sis, so I can call myself her ‘ally’!”
Ami took a fighting stance.
Wheels crawled out of her arms, floated up and started turning
Defale could see Ami’s Sorcery Rating.
His power was higher.
But, that number alone was not enough to decide the battle’s result.
Ami sang of life and Defale accepted death, so their motivations for the fight were completely different.
“Dugan, so this is the end of believing in your dream. Is it my fate to fight to the death with a young girl of a tender age? Heh, haha, hahahahahahaha! It’s like a bad dream! Then, I’ll lose control, and break everything! Just like they want me to!”
Defale swung his axe.
Desperation was the only motivation he had left to move his body.
His axe’s red edge cut a car in half and struck the ground.
It created a shockwave on the ground, which assaulted Ami.
She nimbly jumped to the side to dodge it, and lined up three wheels in front of her.
“Hey!”
She hit the wheels with her slender arms.
Then, her power was scaled up because of Wheel of Fortune, increasing each time the shockwave hit another wheel.
This repeated three times.
The feeble young girl’s fist swooped down upon Defale with a fierce force.
“Nnnnggggggggh!”
He faced the attack by swinging upwards.
The blade clashed against Ami’s shockwave.
(Ugh…… How is that one attack this heavy!?)
Defale wanted to easily blow Ami away, but it was as heavy as an attack from a golem.
He still had more power, so he successfully diverted the attack, but he had no more leeway.
At the same time, though, he felt a strange sense of relief.
“Mr. Angel, you’re laughing.”
“It feels a little better that you’re not just a simple little girl. What’s your name?”
“Ami Hedira! I’m a commoner who really hates you.”
“A commoner using arcana?”
Ami decided that no more words were necessary, and mercilessly started attacking.
Multiple wheels floated up before her eyes, and she lightly struck them.
The shockwave then increased in scale and assaulted Defale.
“Ugh, nnh…… I can handle this much! Grrrrrrraaah!”
A swing from Defale’s axe gouged out the ground, peeled off the stone paving and blew away the cars in his way before swooping down on Ami.
The wheels on the soles of Ami’s feet started rolling and she nimbly dodged, and countless wheels flew at Defale.
“Fnnnngh!”
Defale tried to cut them down.
But Ami floated up wheels in front of her at the same time, and unleashed a shockwave by hitting them, aimed at Defale’s arm swinging his axe.
The momentum of Defale’s attack slackened slightly, and he failed to bring down all the wheels.
The wheels clung to his arm, distorting space and causing Defale’s flesh to pop.
“Kuhahaha…… This pain, this atmosphere, this is a true battlefield! Indeed, this is where I dieeee!”
His arm would regenerate quickly.
Defale had already grown a flesh axe from his other arm, and threw it at Ami.
It stirred the air as it flew and closed in on her while creating a tornado.
It was a whirlwind of death that sucked in both people and rubble.
Ami moved using the power of her wheels as Defale approached closer and threw an axe again with the same arm.
When he finished regenerating his right arm, he started throwing from both arms one by one.
“Grrraaaaagh! If wheels are your weapons, let’s have two revolving objects clash head on!”
The blowing wind dulled Ami’s movements.
Then, not just the rubble, but the windows of the buildings around, and the buildings themselves started flying around, causing more and more injuries on her body by just standing there.
Ami tried to stop the whirlwind, but Defale’s mana made it difficult.
She focused on evasion.
She started turning, rotating around Defale, frantically dodging.
“Is that all!? Is that it!? Don’t disappoint me, arcana user!”
Ami muttered quietly, not reacting to Defale’s remark of disappointment.
“One.”
She did not see the battle between Calaria and Indy in the underground hideout of the Liberation Front.
‘Rotation is a weapon.’ It was up to her to understand this and how to apply it.
“Two.”
Perhaps the reason she was able to recognize this so quickly was because of her flexibility of thought characteristic of children.
“Three.”
(I thought she was just dodging, but is this girl speeding up!?)
Indeed, Ami’s speed had increased while she dodged.
Naturally, the time it took for her to make a full rotation also decreased.
“Fooour.”
The countdown ended before Defale noticed it and prepared himself for it.
“Fiiive!”
After finishing 5 ‘rotations’, Ami pressed Defale fast.
Despite her speed, her control was surprisingly precise and bold.
She dodged Defale’s axe in the air, and didn’t slow down even when the whirlwind pulled her.
Ami’s body itself became a weapon, like a computer-guided missile, and charged at Defale.
“Grrraaah!”
He shouted and swung down with the axes on both hands at once.
“Aaaaaaaaaah!”
Ami fearlessly charged in.
The two’s mana clashed as the sound of something being crushed was heard, and great amounts of blood shot up into the air.