Seiana vanished along with the swirling storm of petals that obscured their vision.
"...Lovey?" Heillo murmured, staring at the now-empty space, but Seiana did not reappear.
Everyone stood frozen, unable to comprehend the situation, staring like statues at the vacant spot. The first to react was Raymund. An ominous energy began to radiate from him in palpable waves.
Gasp...!
The pressure was so intense it was nearly unbearable for anyone faint of heart.
Raymund's trained escorts merely collapsed to the ground in terror, but others nearby felt close to losing consciousness entirely.
Heillo, though not weak, found the overwhelming energy too much for an ordinary person to withstand.
While everyone else was pressed flat against the ground like frogs crushed beneath stones, only one person remained unaffected.
"Get a grip, Raymund."
Her voice sounded deceptively cool. For Raymund, already consumed by blinding rage, Aries's sharp command sent him over the edge.
'Get a grip? In this situation? Seiana is gone!'
Absurdly, kidnapped by a fairy. A creature from a race long thought extinct.
As much as Raymund couldn't forgive the fairy, he couldn't forgive himself either. It was his map that had led them here.
'If only I hadn't brought that map in the first place. If only I hadn't foolishly let my guard down, thinking nothing would happen...'
Raymund's blazing eyes fixed on Aries.
'If only we hadn't come on this ridiculous trip because of her nonsensical talk about fairies!'
He knew his anger was irrational, but Raymund desperately needed someone to blame, somewhere to direct his fury.
Sensing the danger in his wild gaze, Aries instinctively uprooted a nearby tree and thrust it in front of her as a shield.
"You crazy bastard...!"
The moment Raymund's gaze fell upon the tree barricade, it crumbled into dust.
He had rapidly accelerated its time, weathering it away in an instant.
'If that had hit me instead of the tree...' A cold sweat broke out on Aries's back.
"Hey! Snap out of it!" she yelled again.
The instant Aries saw the tree disintegrate, she leaped backward. But her landing spot was precarious.
'Damn it, right when there are so many people around...'
'Damn it all.'
Aries gritted her teeth. The knights and attendants were positioned all around them, ostensibly as escorts. No matter where she dodged, someone else would be in the line of fire. Honestly, Aries usually wouldn't care if strangers got hurt.
'But these are the Count's knights! That's different!'
These were people Seiana cared about. Having visited the Count's estate several times, Aries knew how much Seiana and her family treated their retainers and knights like family.
If they were harmed or killed, Seiana would be heartbroken. So, Aries desperately tried to protect them while dodging Raymund's attacks, but...
"He's pulling out all the stops!" Aries cursed.
He attacked Aries using every ability he could possibly use. Flames erupted before her eyes; lightning bolts crashed down from the sky aimed straight for her head.
She hastily smothered the flames with conjured earth and snatched a nearby knight's sword to redirect the lightning strike elsewhere.
While frantically evading the onslaught of powers, Heillo attempted to intervene, trying to restrain Raymund to help Aries. The fool didn't know his limits.
"Don't!" Aries shouted.
If he really wanted to help, the best way was for everyone else to just run, leaving her and Raymund alone.
Then at least Aries wouldn't have to worry about protecting bystanders.
Naturally, Heillo's attempt was futile. He tried to tackle Raymund like apprehending a common thug, but his opponent was a monster.
Instead of being subdued, Raymund simply floated into the air with the large Heillo clinging uselessly to his back.
Raymund glared down at the flustered Heillo, clearly unimpeded.
It would have been better if he had just let go and run away then. Raymund's anger didn't spare anyone.
When his eyes met Heillo's eyes, Heillo breath was choked off. A feeling like being crushed to death by something enormous.
The enraged monster could have torn him to death with a single finger, yet he didn't.
Feeling malice wanting to kill him as painfully as possible, the moment Heillo sensed his end was imminent...
"I said stop!"
Aries leaped forward like lightning and struck Raymund with all her strength.
Perhaps even he couldn't completely ignore a blow from another power user; as he staggered, Aries snatched Heillo from his grasp.
"Gasp...! Gasp...!" Heillo choked out.
"Th-thank..."
"Just get out of here!" Aries snapped.
Not waiting for his thanks, Aries shoved Halo away.
He slid back effortlessly, as if on ice, landing safely among the cluster of attendants and knights.
Aries must have subtly moved them all to a safe distance.
"Now you don't have any hostages left,"
Aries sneered, the implication clear 'Without hostages, you're nothing.'
Raymund might have bristled at the taunt, but he merely continued to stare at her with icy eyes.
Then, the real fight began. Unlike their usual squabbles, now they exchanged blows filled with genuine killing intent.
The world around them erupted. The ground churned, lightning split the clear sky, water erupted from dry earth, instantly freezing into sharp spears that shot towards Aries.
"Seriously! Isn't this unfair?!" Aries yelled.
She screamed as she sliced through a raging firestorm directed at her. It wasn't surprising she felt that way; she was relying on a single power while he wielded several.
However, it clearly wasn't without cost. Raymund's nose began to bleed profusely, and his eyes grew bloodshot as if he might start weeping blood.
"You're going to kill yourself at this rate!"
Aries warned. As much as she disliked Raymund, perhaps due to their long-standing antagonistic bond, she didn't actually want him dead.
As the strain on his body increased, Raymund seemed to grow desperate, his attacks becoming even more ferocious.
Faced with an onslaught even more frantic than before, Aries urgently grabbed nearby objects and hurled them at him.
Raymund, who had been obliterating the projectiles with his powers, suddenly hesitated.
'Huh?' Aries thought.
Why did he stop? It didn't seem like overload; he was still destroying other things, yet a few specific items remained untouched.
Wondering what the difference was, Aries examined the unscathed items and quickly spotted the common factor.
'That sentimental fool.'
The unharmed objects were all things belonging to Seiana. Her parasol, the gloves and shoes she'd removed when they sat down, her hat, even the fork she had used... Even lost in his rage, he had somehow recognized and spared them. Now it was Aries's turn to take hostages.
When Aries moved to destroy the items he'd carefully spared, Raymund instantly countered with equal force, locking their powers together to prevent her.
Tremble, tremble.
Caught between their opposing forces, Seiana's belongings hovered precariously in mid-air.
"Hey! Get a grip! You can see Lovey's things, but you can't see the people right in front of you?!" Aries screamed.
Seiana would value people far more than mere objects. Aries's eyes narrowed.
'No way... Is he doing this with the thought of harming everyone and leaving only himself?'
Just as that suspicion crossed her mind,
"Ah...!" Aries stumbled. Not from an attack, but from the sheer exhaustion of continuously using her power.
The problem was, as her power faltered in the tense deadlock, Raymund's unchecked force instantly shredded the very items he had been trying to protect.
A look of utter devastation flashed across Raymund's face as he saw the items destroyed in an instant. Before that devastation could deepen into despair, Aries moved.
Just as Seiana had taught her, she slammed a fist, middle knuckle extended, straight into the philtrum below Raymund's nose.
CRACK—!
"Urk!"
"Snap out of it! Stop obsessing over stupid things and focus on finding Lovey!" Aries yelled.
Her words seemed to jolt him back to reality. The haze of fury cleared slightly from Raymund's eyes, and clarity returned.
Gazing up at Aries, who was panting heavily and glaring down at him, his mind gradually cooled.
"Right," he breathed. "We have to find her."
Raymund scanned the area intently. Though in truth, their battle had turned the flower field into utter ruins.
But no matter how hard he looked, there were no clues. Fairy magic operated on different principles than their own powers, making it harder to trace.
'What do I do?'
Growing agitated again, Raymund felt the destructive urge surge within him, the desire to obliterate everything around him.
But he knew it wouldn't ease his turmoil, and it certainly wouldn't help find Seiana.
As he wrestled with what to do, he recalled the power Violet used – the power to manipulate space.
'This was supposed to be the entrance to the fairy realm. If the way isn't open, then I'll just have to force it open.'
Raymund's eyes gleamed with fierce determination. Gazing at the spot where Seiana had vanished, he steadied his resolve.
His power was one of manifestation, the ability to create what he envisioned. Raymund pictured the most impenetrable fortress gate imaginable in his mind, then cupped his hands and twisted, applying force to that mental image.
Creaaak— Crack— SNAP!
A sharp cracking sound echoed in his mind, and he felt his body being pulled forcefully into something.
'Where... am I?'
When he opened his eyes again, he was met with complete darkness.
Reaching out instinctively, his hands met a smooth, curved surface enclosing him. It felt as though he were trapped inside a sphere, perhaps a large ball or an egg.
'...Sei is here.'
He felt certain that Sei was behind this barrier. Rather than realizing it instinctively, he felt his own presence that he had attached to Seia.
Because, just in case, he had given her a hairpin as a gift and put his power inside it.
Comments Box