It was then that the rain began to fall, bit by bit.
Weather changes were common in places like this, so the rain itself didn't feel out of place. Being dampened by a light drizzle wasn't a concern, either. However, after the rain ceased, a thin haze began to form, gradually thickening into a brilliant, opaque white. The haze became a mist, and the mist soon transformed into a dense fog.
The next anomaly began then. Ren and Licia stopped in their tracks, pressing close to one another as if to protect each other. In the brief moment it took for them to blink, the presence of others had vanished from their surroundings. Sera and the rest of their group were gone, along with all the other visitors.
"——Ren."
"I know. Please, don't leave my side, no matter what."
Ren came to a halt and scanned the area.
The pressure he was radiating now was something even Licia, standing right beside him, had never felt before. He had been imposing during his fight with Jelququ, but the aura he exuded now was on an entirely different level, a testament to how much stronger he had become.
Ren stood protectively in front of Licia and silently summoned his Iron Magic Sword. It had been a long time since he had summoned a Magic Sword so openly before her. Without a hint of surprise, Licia drew Byakuen from her waist and took a combat stance.
Both of them sharpened their senses, prepared for something to strike at any second.
However, nothing happened.
Ten seconds passed, then a full minute, yet the two of them simply remained standing in the heart of that silent space.
Strangely, the dense fog didn't even seem to sway in the wind.
"I don't feel any human presence. For that matter, there isn't even a trace of a monster."
"...What should we do?"
"...What indeed."
Given the sheer absurdity of the situation, they relaxed their guard ever so slightly.
Even after several minutes, the situation remained unchanged. It was as if the world was telling them their vigilance was for naught.
"I'll try one thing."
Ren swung the Iron Magic Sword through the air. He attempted to exercise Star-Cleaver, but he didn't feel as though he had dispelled any magic. Since there was no feedback suggesting a failed attempt to erase an effect, he realized they weren't trapped inside a spell.
That only made the situation more inexplicable.
Ren drove the Iron Magic Sword into the ground and summoned his Great Tree Magic Sword instead.
Without hesitation, he exercised Nature Magic to grow a single tree beside them. It was a massive, tall tree with a sturdy trunk.
"——Wha—Ren, you did that?! It’s completely different from the one I saw before!"
"That's, well... I suppose you could call it an evolution, or something like that..."
Even "evolution" didn't quite cover the change. Ren decided to prioritize the task at hand and placed his foot on the trunk of the towering tree.
He wanted to avoid acting separately from Licia in this mysterious space. If that was the case, there was only one solution.
"I'm going to climb up and scout the area."
"Then should I wait here?"
"No. I'd rather avoid that in case something happens. Let's climb together."
Licia assumed they would each scramble up different parts of the tree, and she was about to say she didn't mind. But then, Ren reached out to her.
"Forgive me. May I?"
"May you what... what are you doing?"
"I'm going to carry you, Lady Licia, and run up."
"——Okay. ...Wait, what?"
Licia answered blankly, her mind barely processing the request.
Taking her answer as consent, Ren scooped her up in a princess carry. Licia’s eyes went wide, and she stared up at Ren’s face, which remained perfectly clear even through the deep fog.
"Eh?"
"Here we go."
Before she could even wonder if he was serious, Ren took flight.
He kicked off the Great Tree and landed on a branch. Kicking off that branch to leap even higher, Ren scaled the tree in the blink of an eye.
Still cradled in his arms, Licia found her voice.
"Re-Re-Re... Ren?! A-Am I not heavy?!"
"You aren't heavy at all. Please don't worry about that at a time like this."
"T-That might be true, but...! Don't start being all logical all of a sudden!"
Licia was flustered by the sheer absurdity of it all, but she made sure not to squirm so she wouldn't interfere with his movement.
Ren kicked off twice more before coming to a stop on a high branch.
"...As I thought, I can't see a thing."
Despite the height, there was no view to be had. The deep fog completely obstructed their vision.
He immediately descended back to the ground and gently set Licia down. Standing on her own two feet for the first time in a minute, Licia gave a small, strained laugh. "...We really couldn't see anything, could we?"
"For now, shall we try walking?"
If they were simply lost in the wilderness, it would be better to stay put. However, anyone in this situation would deny that this was a simple case of being lost. One didn't describe a scenario where everyone else vanishes and leaves you in a bizarre space as "getting lost."
Neither of them liked the idea of standing still, so they began to move.
"Let's go."
Ren dismissed the Magic Sword, and the tree he had grown vanished along with it.
Licia watched the scene from beside him, recalling a question she had held for a long time.
"...A mysterious power."
She knew it was tied to the swords Ren pulled out of nowhere, but out of consideration for him, she had never pressed him for details.
Now, Ren was hesitating.
Licia's murmur had reached his ears, and it made him think.
(——Maybe I should tell her now.)
To be honest, he was fine with it. Ren had intended to tell her after the Lion King Grand Festival was over anyway, so doing so today wouldn't change much.
However, he wondered if revealing a truth that might cause further confusion was the right move given their current predicament.
Still, deciding that being able to coordinate with Licia was more important, Ren was just about to speak about the Magic Sword Summoning Arts when—
"Ren!"
Licia stopped abruptly.
The fog was suddenly thinning, allowing them to see a bit of their surroundings.
There, the two of them witnessed the truth.
"What—— No, this is..."
"...How can this be?"
They were past the edge where the choir had been standing, beyond the stone staircase and the mountain path.
The two of them were now standing on the other side of the seal. They were lost for words as they looked at the dense, mist-like barrier—the Time Cage—that now surrounded them.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
The only conclusion was that they were inside the Time Cage.
Ren frowned as he looked at the stone staircase nearby, while Licia stared intently at the wall of mist that formed the seal. Since they couldn't see the outside through the dense fog, they had no way of knowing what was happening beyond the barrier.
When Ren tried to touch the Time Cage, he was pushed back by an invisible wall.
(Come to think of it, the dream from the other day was the same.)
The morning after they had flown near Roses Kaitas on the Magic Ship, he had experienced a strange dream he couldn't remember. After that, there was the sound of the bell only he and Licia could hear, and the mirage-like wavering of their vision.
(Are Licia and I the only ones trapped like this?)
If so, this wasn't a random event. There was a reason why only the two of them were inside the Time Cage. He didn't know the reason yet, but it couldn't be a coincidence.
Or perhaps...
"Maybe the Goddess is angry because I said something strange."
"Something strange?"
"What we talked about during the meeting on the Magic Ship the other day."
Licia laughed when Ren nodded.
"Don't be silly. There's no way the Goddess would get angry over something like that. ...Besides, if she were angry, she'd be mad at me too, since I was talking about the same thing."
Jokes aside, the problem was their next move.
The two of them huddled together, scanning their surroundings with high alert. The scenery they could see was the same as before—the forbidden area that should have been deep within the Time Cage.
While neither could imagine how this had happened, one thing was certain.
"One way or another, we have to find a way out," Licia said.
It all boiled down to that.
However, they lacked the means. It was a question of whether a teenage boy and girl could break a divine seal meant to imprison and purify the Demon King's Army from the inside. Though they didn't say it aloud, they both understood it should be impossible.
(——But.)
Ren thought about it calmly.
If he had an overwhelming destructive power... something like the Flame Sword Asval, it might be possible. But he couldn't summon that Magic Sword yet, so it was a moot point.
Licia, who had her hands clasped behind her back, suddenly turned to the contemplative Ren.
"...Ren? Did you think of something?"
"No, well——"
Ren, unsure of how to voice his thoughts, looked away awkwardly.
Licia circled around him and looked up into his face.
"Tell me what you're thinking."
"No, well, you see..."
"Say it. If you don't——"
"If I don't... what?"
Licia herself couldn't think of a threat to follow up with.
She kept her hands on Ren's cheeks and blinked, lost in thought. The gesture was somewhat helpless, and she found herself wondering what on earth she was doing.
"So, what were you thinking?"
"You just changed the subject because you couldn't think of anything, didn't you?"
This time, Licia looked away.
Ren reached out as if to mirror her gesture, but he stopped himself, realizing it wouldn't be appropriate to do that to a noble lady.
"I was wondering if there was a way to break the seal."
"It's impossible. It's a seal imbued with the power of a Goddess. Even for you, Ren——"
However, Ren's expression was entirely serious.
The two of them looked into each other's eyes, communicating with a depth that almost made words unnecessary. Still, nothing was as certain as verbal confirmation.
Licia eventually lowered her hands from Ren's cheeks.
"——What about that power?"
Licia hadn't seen it clearly, and Ren had only glimpsed it right before losing consciousness, but they both remembered that power. It was the Magic Sword that had manifested when Ren placed his hand over Licia's chest and drew power from her Mana Stone.
Perhaps with that, they could shatter the seal——
"No. I don't want to try that."
Ren shook his head firmly.
Even without him speaking, she sensed his reasoning.
"W-Why?! It was an incredible power, wasn't it?! I don't know how you did it, but with that, we might be able to get out!"
It wasn't that he was reluctant to tell her about his Magic Swords; he was hesitant because her Mana Stone was involved. Even if he could tap into that power again, he didn't know what it would do to her. Normal humans didn't have Mana Stones, but powerful Saints did. According to the logic of this world, putting a burden on a Mana Stone could only lead to disaster.
"Tell me."
More for Ren's sake than her own desire to escape, Licia persisted.
Finally, Ren looked her in the eye and gave his reason.
"That power would put you in danger, Lady Licia."
"How is it dangerous? Do you mean I might get caught in the light and be obliterated?"
Ren shook his head. He raised his hands and placed them over hers.
As he slowly guided her hands down, she happened to bring them to her chest, folding them as if in prayer. By chance, her hands rested right over where her Mana Stone was located.
"I'll tell you everything."
With those words, he began summoning his Magic Swords—the Great Tree Magic Sword, the Iron Magic Sword, the Flame Magic Sword, and others—one after another from thin air, leaving Licia breathless with astonishment.
"My power is the ability to summon swords imbued with special properties."
Seeing a literal arsenal of Magic Swords materialize before her eyes, Licia fell silent, simply staring at Ren in wordless wonder.