An underground structure somewhere in Astrion.

Step. Step. Step.

In the pitch dark, only the patter of dripping water and the sound of footsteps filled the space.

They belonged to different Houses; whenever they conspired across Houses, they had to hide underground where their patron stars could not see.

“The Royal Stellite rats dare at last to raise their heads toward the clear sky.”

“Even the help of rats will be desperate to you. There is always a sky above the sky.”

“What use would rats be in a contest of the sky’s clarity?”

“Clarity? Are we not contesting turbidity?”

“How dare you!”

“The darker the thundercloud, the stronger the lightning that falls. That’s how I understood it.”

The man who had come through this darkness with only a few attendants was named Traysan.

“……”

He was the senior foster heir of Great Astreos.

His mustache trembled with anger, then he pressed it down with a faint sigh.

They were people who could be used—either as sword or shield.

“Forgive the discourtesy.”

At Traysan’s sigh, the man who had been speaking before him dropped to one knee.

“I’m merely a sword-hand and my mind was hasty, so my mouth ran loose. I am Deranus, a Knight serving Stellite—the House blessed by the twin stars of Fate and Infinity. Unworthy as I am, I serve as deputy commander of one of the Royal Stellite Line’s six knight orders.”

Through his cloak, the thick plate and the hilt of a longsword showed.

Behind Deranus, scores of such Knights were lined up.

“Twelve Vow-takers who can carry the twin stars’ blessing upon their blades, and thirty-six Knights blessed by the twin stars. I believe we can aid Your Excellency’s great work.”

Yet the tense one was Deranus; the one gazing down, indifferent, was Traysan.

“No matter how thirsty you are, would you tilt your head back and drink filth?”

Born a nameless commoner’s son and risen to senior foster heir of a Great House, this overman did not so much as blink even before sword-specters contracted with the twin stars.

“But one can at least drink seawater, can one not?”

“Either way, the price to be paid later is dear.”

“You cannot allow yourself to wither now.”

“Why do you think I would wither?”

“Your methods of gathering intelligence are surprisingly classical.”

“You cur!”

Deranus gave an affected shudder at Traysan’s raised voice, then continued.

“Yes. I’ll speak plainly. Our Royal Stellite Line and the Church are praying for the victory of Traysan, senior foster heir. As for the reason—you know it better than I; there’s no need to prattle.”

“……”

“Moreover, by our analysis, it is highly likely that even the senior foster heir cannot bring down Andromeda alone.”

“Sharing a goal does not mean we can walk together. The future is obvious: you try to use this matter as a hold over me and my House, and I move to exterminate you, roots and all.”

“Then will the senior foster heir give it up? He will not. If you were going to give up, you would have prostrated yourself long ago. You wouldn’t even have thought to lay hands on Okeanos, who was stronger. Admit it, Traysan.”

Deranus’s eyes glowed a pallid gray.

“You are Astreos—a lightning bolt that must fall, whether you fail or succeed. We, the twin stars of Fate and Eternity and Infinity, can shine upon you and make that inevitable fall a success.”

“……!”

Traysan answered not with words but with motion.

His hand dipped to his belt and brought up a palm-length throwing slim-blade shaped like a spike.

Crackle!

In an instant, the slim-blade glowed orange-hot.

Blue current and the orange-heated slim-blade made a strange harmony.

That light warped the faces of the Royal Knights and the shadows at their feet.

Kwoooooom!

The slim-blade shot out at seven times the speed of sound.

Rrrrrrrr!

The entire underground structure shook.

Air ripped by high heat and pressure sent a shockwave rolling through the passage.

Royal Knights tumbled across the floor like dolls thrown away.

Railgun.

Among the myriad Authorities of Astreos electrocraft, it ranked among the highest.

“……What is that?”

Deranus’s voice was visibly shaken.

“Since, as you say, the goal is the same—if you say you’ll go with me as far as the destination, I won’t tear you off. But do not think you can gain anything at that destination.”

Traysan spoke through gritted teeth.

“We are Astreos forever. We have no thought to prostrate under Manseong, nor to bow our heads beneath the Royal Stellite Line.”

“Yes. We did not expect such things. To the blood of the Dreaming Thunder Star who live in dreams, the logic of reality is empty, is it not?”

Deranus now wore a satisfied smile.

“Please take care of us.”

“When the time comes, I’ll send for you.”

“We will wait quietly.”

“I won’t make you wait long.”

Traysan turned and went back the way he came.

*We net Kyrie with the Three, and Andromeda with the Royal dogs. Then we use the foster heirs to purge the Royal dogs… That would be best. No—I will make it so.

He surfaced and returned to the palace of the main seat.

“Unutus?”

“Two days ago he sent word by Courier Dragon that he was preparing to attack. Considering the winds for this season and the distance, we expect contact to begin this afternoon.”

Traysan recalled the number of ships and soldiers the Three had gathered.

The numbers are sufficient.

Just medium sailing ships alone numbered over a hundred.

If you added the transports and cutters large and small, it was a fleet approaching four hundred hulls.

They mobilized many Blue Knights as well.

They had brought in over thirty Blue Knights of the light cavalry.

The quality of commanders is excellent, too.

Unutus, Diaes, and Trinios were strongmen who used magnetism to wield diverse Authorities.

There was no need to mention magnetic grenades and magnetic flight; they had deep mastery of other magnetism Authorities as well, such as steel-shot blades.

If Kyrie was a rising holy star, Unutus was already a mid-career star with a constellation of his own.

We can win.

In both quantity and quality, they could casually crush Kyrie and the army under him.

Erica as well.

It was when we had come about two-thirds of the way to Astrion.

“Fetch Lord Kyrie, fetch Lord Kyrie!”

“Kyrie! A large fleet is approaching from far off! Looks like at least a hundred sailing ships!”

The deck officer came clattering down to my cabin in a panic.

“They gathered fast.”

I was not surprised.

Among the canal merchants there were magnates who owned over a hundred sailing ships alone.

Securing ships, at least, wouldn’t have been hard.

“Let’s go look our elder brothers in the face.”

I went up to the deck.

Just as the deck officer had said, far off a fleet was drawing near.

At a glance it looked smaller than ours, but that was because merchants were swarming behind us; if you counted only combatants, they were roughly the same.

“Ships incoming!”

Ahead, a small cutter approached.

An officer who looked Navigator-rank stood on the deck and shouted through an amplifier magi-device.

“[Unutus of Astrion Astreos addresses Kyrie of Astreos.]”

“Not ‘Kyrie of Astrion Astreos’? Just ‘of Astreos,’ is it.”

Gaveng, standing beside me, knit his brows.

“By House law, that’s grounds for summary execution.”

I did not knit mine.

“Joi. Battle stations.”

When something makes your face draw tight, you return the favor—make theirs draw tight too.

“Been waiting for that.”

Joi sent cutters racing in all directions and ran up flag signals.

“[You are now under suspicion of treason for taking Spiramentaon by joining hands with Princess Erica of Rykenta. Disarm at once and cross over with Princess Erica alone, and you will receive a fair inquiry; if you resist as you are, we will deem you a traitor.]”

The elder brothers’ officer kept shouting through the amplifier magi-device.

I looked around lest any soldiers waver.

As the Three, their names were far grander than those of the brothers Prokus and Epicus.

And magnetism-craft is a terrifying Authority in man-to-man combat.

It wouldn’t be strange if some failed to master their fear and defected.

“What the hell is that bastard saying?”

“Lord Kyrie, a traitor?”

“They didn’t send a single soldier or coin while we fought, and now they’ve got something to say?”

Judging by the reactions around me, they’d agreed—not to betray now, but to betray if it looked like I was going to lose.

“Kyrie! Give the order to attack! I’ll chop those worms to pieces and make chum of them!”

“Kyrie, let’s brand them the traitors.”

“Kiri-kiri, they’re basically saying ‘let’s fight.’ Do we have to keep listening? Can’t we sink them with the cannons?”

They looked as if they were flying into a rage like it was their own business—probably my imagination.

Rationally, there’s no reason for them to be this furious just because I took a little insult.

“[You have one hour. Cross over quickly.]”

The Navigator finished like that.

“[Nereus of Tonatio Astreos answers.]”

Nereus took the amplifier in his own hand from the deck of the ship beside mine and replied.

“[Come and take us.]”

Even a patriarch would have to call it a Blue Knight’s answer.

He got on my nerves more often than not, but at times like this—he’s a help.

“……!”

The Navigator dithered, then returned to his line.

“Kyrie! Cannons ready! Ballista bolts ready to fly at any time!”

After a long run of flag signals, Joi came sprinting to my side.

Across the decks of the surrounding sailing ships stood packed the ballista crews and cannons.

“[Advance!]”

I laid a touch of Pressure upon the Authority Lion’s Roar and shouted.

As the merchants following behind peeled off, the fifty-odd medium sailing ships we rode formed a wedge and drove forward.

Shhhhhh!

Ahead, the enemy drew near.

Tense to the quick, I unfolded Authorities.

“By the Constellation.”

【Deepening Perk: Area Imbuement】

Kzzzzzt!

Pale-blue electric fire spread outward from me as the center.

“Waaauuugh!”

“Kyrie! Kyrie! Kyrie!”

Electric fire lit the cannon bolts, the ballista magazines, the soldiers’ spears and blades.

“They’re all dead!”

A cannon crewman on my ship stared at the enemy’s gunners with the eyes of a man seeing his parents’ murderer.

Blue Knights and Knights cast off their plate and, blades only in hand, readied to leap aboard the enemy ships.

Navigator-rank and Retainer-rank, and the elite troops, readied to counter those leaps by casting nets and thrusting spears.

I too stripped off my plate cuirass and, with Physical Reinforcement and Neural Acceleration, readied for close combat.

“Waaauuugh!”

“Uwoooaaah!”

The two armies—nearly thirty thousand men in all, with close to one hundred fifty hulls on the line—smashed together in the middle of the canal.

“Huh?”

And then a shiver ran through me.

“These bastards are nothing, Kyrie! Keep formation, hit ’em with a full volley, lay the ladders, push across—one strike and it’s done!”

Our men fought too well.

“Don’t fear Blue Knights! In the end they have to cross to our ships! Throw the nets and shove them back with spears!”

“Make way for the most beautiful Blue Knight in history! Take my blade, you ugly things!”

Our cannon crews skewered the Three’s Knights with accuracy several times that of theirs.

Every time our ballista crews squeezed the trigger, the Three’s soldiers were swept clean from their decks.

Our net-throwers cast nets square on the Knights as they leapt, and the pikemen and sword-and-buckler infantry stabbed the netted Knights true and beat them down with composure.

Just then, Frey, cloaked in a Glide-blessed mantle she’d gotten from Rykenta Navigators, made her leap.

She kicked a Blue Knight in the chest—one who had stamped Thunder-Step to cross to my ship—dumped him into the water, and came back to my side.

“Kiri-kiri! These guys are all idiots!”

I thought, aghast.

Apparently I’m not the only one who got stronger over the past year in the southern jungles.

Thunk!

At that moment my bio-radar caught a metal projectile.

Krzzt!

The instant I moved, a palm-length throwing iron spike nailed the spot where I’d just been standing.

The angle was from above to below.

Magnetism-craft.

“The Three.”

Unbidden, I murmured it and lifted my head.

“Kyyyyyrieeee!”

Far off, a Blue Knight wearing a brown cloak came running through the sky.

“I, Trinios, the youngest of the Three, will drown you, traitor!”

Magnetism Authority—magnetic flight.

It was an Authority requiring very intricate, delicate control.

I stretched my hand to the sky.

Flash!

A white thorn-tree fell upon Trinios as he ran through the sky.

This was Heavenstrike.

The simplest—and strongest—Authority.

Chapter 103

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