A mage, their red robe emblazoned with an inverted pentagram, had frozen the surface of the river.
Soldiers from the Geisel Empire were already beginning to cross the ice, intent on reaching the near bank.
"Star Eater."
Rest leaped from the brush and immediately unleashed his magic.
A black star formed in his palm—a Dark Star that swallowed everything. At the moment of its birth, it devoured all surrounding light, dropping a heavy veil of darkness over the area.
"What—!?"
"What's happening!? Why did it suddenly go pitch black!?"
The soldiers on the ice cried out in confusion and panic. They stumbled and stopped in their tracks, looking around blindly in the sudden void.
"Amaterasu."
Then, Rest fired his lethal counterattack. He focused the light absorbed by the Dark Star and released it as a concentrated solar laser.
"Clear the way!"
Screams erupted from the Geisel soldiers as the blinding flash sliced through the darkness.
The darkness lifted as quickly as it had fallen, and light returned to the riverbank. The ice, hit by the intense heat of the beam, melted and collapsed. The pent-up current surged forward with a vengeance, swallowing the soldiers who had fallen into the water.
Rest smiled wryly to himself. He had been just as blind in the darkness as his enemies. He had aimed based on his last visual and a gut feeling, but it seemed the strike had found its mark.
"That should stop the enemy's advance. Now, all that's left is...!"
"Above you!" the Sky-Demon stealth agent barked.
Drawn by the warning, Rest looked up to see a silhouette flying with the sun at its back. It was the red-robed figure. Using some form of magic to clear the river, they were diving straight for him.
"Thunder Cannon!"
Rest fired reflexively. A bolt of lightning surged toward the figure, only to be diffused by a translucent, wall-like barrier. The strike vanished into the air.
"Begone," a voice whispered.
Rest used magic-enhanced speed to hurl himself out of the way just as countless projectiles pierced the ground where he had been standing. They gouged deep holes into the earth, as if a shotgun had been fired at point-blank range.
"What was that...!?"
"Water, sir," the Sky-Demon said from behind him.
Looking closely, Rest noticed the holes in the earth were damp. The projectiles had been droplets of water no larger than a fingertip.
It wasn't just that attack. That wall that blocked my lightning was a Water Barrier, too.
Rest frowned. Common sense dictated that electricity would travel through water, so how had they managed to block a bolt of lightning with it?
"You're with the Geisel Empire—" Rest started, but the woman cut him off.
"Are you Japanese?"
Rest had been about to question the woman as she landed, but her question stole the words from his mouth. Her voice was high and feminine, but more strikingly, she had spoken in Japanese.
"...So you're Japanese as well. Are you an acquaintance of that sand mage?"
"You knew Shindo-kun? I heard he died in the line of duty in the north... Did you kill him?"
Rest didn't recognize the name Shindo, but based on the context, she was clearly referring to the sand-manipulating 'Curse User' he had fought in the Great Forest. As he had suspected, the inverted pentagram was no mere decoration.
"So you are from Takfir Kahen...!"
"I see... Yes, I suppose it really is like that."
Rest didn't give her a direct answer, but she seemed to read the truth in the atmosphere. She crossed herself over her chest and bowed her head.
"May your soul find rest."
Rest hesitated, his hand hovering over his next spell. Even if she was an enemy, she was a fellow Japanese person. Beyond that, he felt that interrupting someone offering a prayer for the dead was a line he shouldn't cross. If he trampled on a moment like that, he feared he would lose something vital to his own humanity.
A few moments passed in silence.
"Well then, let's begin," the woman said. She raised her head, looking at him through the shadow of her hood.
"Are you finished?"
"I apologize for taking up your time. He was a comrade, but truthfully, we weren't particularly close."
Transparent spheres of water materialized around her, circling her like satellites.
"Here I come."
The surfaces of the waterballs burst, and the liquid extended like striking serpents toward Rest. To meet the incoming assault, Rest activated his magic once more.