"Everyone seems to lack awareness of their place."
Phosphorus muttered.
"Hope and despair are separated by the thinnest margin. All those who failed to die in the laboratory will meet their end here. Especially you, Eidel Rheinland—I'll burn your entrails while you're still alive, blacken your flesh, and kill you slowly."
With those words, the incarnation of fire swung its arm, summoning dozens of fireballs. It was the signal that the battle had begun.
"Block them!"
The swordsmen guarding me lowered their swords. Blades collided with flames. The fire, upon hitting the swords, slid like flowing water and traveled up the blades.
Fire spread to the swordsmen's arms. The temperature was high enough to melt their heat-resistant suits.
"Arghhhh!"
"The suits are melting! Don't block—dodge!"
[— 'Rhezein von Rheinland' uses <Fire Suppression>, <Healing>.]
[— Temporary healing effect (+50%) applied to the injured.]
The swordsmen who had been hit by the fireballs groaned painfully. Their ragged breathing gradually stabilized.
"Mother?"
"Son, you haven't forgotten that your mother worked on the southern front for over twenty years, have you?"
Right, that was true. I'd been so distracted by the fire incarnation that I completely forgot my mother was more familiar with these situations than I was.
The original reason my mother married into our family was because she possessed a healing constellation, just like father and Zernya.
That was much more reassuring.
Fire had caught on Sonia's arms and the hem of her skirt. She quickly tore away the fabric from her forearms. I helped her by cutting away the bottom of her skirt with my calipers.
Sonia sighed.
"The clothes you bought me... I treasured them."
"If we survive this, I'll buy you new ones."
"Since you've torn my skirt, I suppose I have no choice but to marry you now."
"Save the jokes for after this is over."
"I'm being serious, though."
"Here it comes!"
We rolled in opposite directions. A pillar of fire erupted from where we had just been standing. We had nearly been roasted alive.
Phosphorus seemed determined to kill me first, continuously throwing fireballs in my direction. These fireballs were the monster's cells. Due to its Darwin-type characteristics, complete organisms and flames were identical in their ability to reproduce rapidly.
"Damn it, our attacks aren't working..."
The attack squad had stabbed their swords into Phosphorus's main body several times, but to no avail. Fire couldn't be cut by conventional methods.
That's right. At least, not by conventional methods.
"Young master."
Sonia whispered, gripping her calipers tightly. I blocked her path and shook my head.
"Don't engage."
"...I'll just hit it with one mental collapse and come back."
"No, we can't show our hand yet."
[— The 'God of Wisdom and Curiosity' nods.]
"It's not time yet."
The joker card here isn't Naiere but Sonia. We need to deal decisive damage to that thing at a critical or desperate moment.
For now, we focused on dodging and blocking.
While Phosphorus was distracted with me, Captain Naiere positioned herself behind the creature.
"...Your back is exposed."
A blue light flowed from Naiere's body and sword. Her eyes gleamed with intense killing intent.
The state of instantaneous constellation—becoming the star itself.
Stars were the most effective means of cutting through fire, the alpha and omega against outer gods.
[— 'Naiere Clarke' uses <Song of Water>.]
Slash!
With a horizontal strike, Phosphorus's head separated like pudding. Its body staggered.
A water vessel wrapped in starlight appeared. Naiere used her sword like a shovel to scoop the fire incarnation's head into the vessel, then shattered it with a series of strikes.
Crack!
With the sound of a core breaking, Phosphorus fell backward. A heavy vibration was felt first, followed by Naiere landing lightly on the ground.
"...Is it finished?"
"Don't say that line! Ah."
Of course, it wasn't going to fall with just one sword strike.
"That tickled."
Phosphorus got up calmly as if nothing had happened and set its own head on fire. Its bright red head changed to a light orange.
The expressions of the swordsmen, which had briefly filled with hope, hardened. Even Naiere was startled and increased her distance.
"...Could it be a multi-core entity?"
"Yes, this thing has nine cores! We need to break eight more!"
"Oh ho."
Phosphorus tilted its head with interest.
"The Queen's conjecture was correct. To know exactly how many cores I possess—you're certainly not ordinary humans... Or perhaps you weren't human to begin with?"
"What? What nonsense are you spouting?"
There's a reason military manuals warn against conversing with fire incarnations. I knew this, and the swordsmen knew it even better. They ignored the fire incarnation's words and recharged their swords.
I said, "It gets stronger each time we break a core. Be careful!"
"It gets stronger than it already is? It's plenty strong now!"
I was just stating facts the swordsmen needed to know. But I couldn't afford to lower the army's morale.
So instead:
"Once we defeat this thing, the war will be over!"
The only option was to turn despair back into hope.
***
The battle that began at dawn continued until sunrise.
The higher the temperature, the more flames tend toward blue hues. Phosphorus's head now displayed a distinct blue light. The higher temperature meant the fire incarnation had grown that much stronger.
"I didn't expect this. To think you would push me this far."
Seven.
We had destroyed all but two of the nine cores.
The cost was severe—all the EX-class swordsmen had lost consciousness, their fate uncertain, and Naiere could barely hold her sword. Reinforcements had arrived continuously, but they hadn't meaningfully changed the tide of battle.
"I can finally see the end of this tedious fight. Unlike you primitive beings, I barely understand the concept of fatigue."
Mother had fainted from ether depletion. I too was creaking at the joints from acting as bait.
Our opponent still had two lives remaining. Moreover, it had grown stronger than before. Meanwhile, we had lost most of our fighting force.
"It's been a while since I've been pushed this far. When was the last time? When I fought Stern's forces? Matonica was truly formidable. We nearly killed each other."
Phosphorus pulled something from its chest.
"Anyway, I don't want to have such an experience twice. The conditions are right, so I'll use this."
Despite having anticipated it, I couldn't believe my eyes.
Virgo the Virgin.
A crystal containing the "Fragment of Sacrifice" was in Phosphorus's hand.
"You look surprised. Understandable. After all, the constellation that represents your hope is right here."
"...So that's why. That's how you were able to descend to this planet without triggering the military alert system."
"Yes, that's right. Just possessing it has the effect of disguising one from constellations. What a convenient item, isn't it? And at crucial moments, I can use it like a limb."
Phosphorus crushed the crystal into its head. The starlight was devoured by flames and blazed with a pitch-black color.
[— The 'Fragment of Sacrifice' screams in agony.]
A mere fire incarnation controlling a constellation, and one of the 12 houses at that. This should have been impossible.
But Phosphorus was Queen Aurora's direct subordinate. In terms of pure power, it was closer to an outer god than a fire incarnation.
Moreover, judging by the crystal's irregular polyhedron shape, it had clearly undergone special processing.
[— 'Phosphorus' weaves <Maiden's Loom> through the 'Fragment of Sacrifice'.]
Maiden's Loom.
A skill that uses the surrounding space as a spinning wheel to draw out and fire a thread filled with ether. It's one of Virgo's most powerful techniques. It was also the technique that the previous user, Rasella, had used when she fought fire incarnations to mutual destruction.
The reason this technique is so formidable is simple.
Once caught in the thread's trajectory, you can't move at all.
Snap!
My solar plexus and Phosphorus's head were connected.
"Ugh!"
The thread fired at a speed that far transcended human reflexes. Before I could even perceive it, the line had pierced my chest.
[— 'Phosphorus' prepares <White Phosphorus Incendiary>.]
[— 10 seconds until casting.]
My future sight revealed one fact.
At this rate, I would burn to death, starting from my chest and spreading throughout my body.
"Finally, the end. It's been long."
"Rheinland! You dare—!!"
"Yes, I like that expression."
Naiere, on the verge of collapse, contorted her face. She squeezed out her last ether to deliver a sword strike.
Whoosh!
Phosphorus easily jumped up to avoid it. The main body's speed was immeasurably fast. It was a completely different entity from when we first encountered it.
[— 5 seconds remaining until casting.]
Death was at the threshold.
The way to overcome this situation...
"Sonia! Now!"
"I know!"
[— <Mental Destruction>, <Intelligence Weakening>, <Total Cognitive Failure>, <Collapse>]
Whirr!
The calipers flew through the air. It moved at a speed rivaling the operation of <Maiden's Loom>.
Before Phosphorus could exhale a full breath, the blade of the calipers fiercely pierced the fire incarnation's head.