What lay within the temple’s depths? The presence of these foes forced that question to the forefront of her mind.
This was no illusion. They were undeniably stronger than any they had faced before.
Licia had just confirmed that grim realization in her heart, and she knew Fiona shared it.
The relentless onslaught of ice magic and blade-work continued, and though they maintained a dominant lead, the unprecedented strength of these Demon King Cultists weighed heavily on them.
"I have a bad feeling about this. We need to rendezvous with Ren-kun immediately."
Licia agreed with Fiona's assessment, pressing her advantage with even more ferocious strikes. Just as Fiona began to unleash a barrage of high-level ice magic, the air around them shifted.
"Wait—!"
"These magic circles...!"
Dozens of magic circles unfurled in the air and across the ground, surrounding them and sparking a surge of alarm. Each one pulsed with a staggering amount of mana that made both girls furrow their brows in concern.
Though they had never seen these specific patterns before, the circles bore a haunting resemblance to the ones Orphide had utilized in Windea.
The Cultists serving as the rearguard were drenched in sweat, their faces contorted with effort as they desperately tried to trigger the circles’ power.
"That magic... it isn't something they can control on their own!" Fiona declared, her voice sharp with realization as she surveyed the scene.
"Then you mean someone else prepared them?"
"Yes! They would never be able to handle that much power otherwise!"
"I see... No wonder they look so desperate!"
Regardless of how the circles had been placed, they could not allow that power to be unleashed. Judging by the overwhelming turbulence of mana, they had two choices.
Flee.
Or stand their ground.
In truth, there was only one choice the girls were willing to consider. The Cultists wielding swords rolled up their sleeves, exposing the Mark of the Demon King Cult etched into their skin.
Working in unison, they poured every ounce of their remaining strength into the arrays. A powerful gale howled around them, and a thick, suffocating aura of dark mana began to saturate the air.
Attacking head-on was a gamble; if they were bathed in that mana without protection, the consequences would be dire. The sheer density of the magic made closing the distance suicide. Licia took a deep breath, her resolve hardening.
The same determination filled Fiona’s heart.
The two girls stood back-to-back, eyes scanning the perimeter.
"Unleash your most powerful spell. I’ll hold them off until you're ready."
"Understood. I'll give it everything I have."
The White Saint spoke with regal poise.
The Black Priestess nodded without a trace of hesitation.
A moment later, the magic circles erupted.
While the output was weaker than the magic Orphide had once used, that was only because he had been an anomaly. The force generated here rivaled his in malice, saturated with the Curse of the Demon Continent.
It released a crushing pressure unlike anything Licia and Fiona had ever experienced. The jet-black mana condensed into a single, blinding ray of light that tore toward them.
Licia raised Byakuen high.
"Step aside... you wretches of the Cult!"
With a defiant cry, she swung her blade down with all her might.
The Power of the Demon Continent was a tide of darkness far too immense for any ordinary person to intercept. The Cultists, draining their own life force to fuel the attack, were certain of their victory.
But their opponent was no ordinary girl.
She was the White Saint—the ultimate antithesis to all things evil, the natural enemy of the Demon King Cult. Even against the concentrated malice of the Demon Continent, her holy light refused to be overshadowed.
"It really is stronger than before... but still!"
Beads of sweat rolled down her face as she strained against the overwhelming force, but she refused to yield an inch.
As she held the line, she felt her Enshroud begin to stabilize, settling into a calm, focused state.
At the climax of a struggle where both sides had staked their lives—
"Fiona!"
The long stalemate finally broke.
Licia had called out the name without an honorific, driven by a desperate need to convey her intent as forcefully as possible. Her urgency and clarity of mind had stripped away all formalities.
A sudden, azure wind swirled at her feet, and Licia felt the tension in her chest ease.
"Show me! Show me the power of the Black Priestess!"
"Yes!"
A massive Ice Flower manifested, tall enough to pierce the clouds above the temple.
Its colossal petals remained closed at first, enveloping the entire area. Its form was that of a world-rare Ice Crystal, shimmering with a blue radiance that rivaled the finest polished gemstones.
What descended next was a wave of absolute zero that glowed with a deep, ethereal light.
The moment the Ice Flower bloomed, time itself seemed to freeze. The blue flash radiating from the flourishing petals struck the magic circles, encasing them in layers of indestructible ice.
The power dwelling within the arrays began to dissipate instantly, but the danger wasn't over.
"Wait—what!?"
"It’s still not enough...!?"
It fell just short of total neutralization.
The magic circles began to pulse with mana from within once more, attempting to force a final, violent release. Though they were shattering under the ice, they were self-destructing, transforming their remaining energy into a massive explosion.
The destructive force of these collapsing arrays would likely eclipse the initial attack. It was a suicide move, meant to take everything down with them.
Licia gritted her teeth, her eyes burning with fierce determination.
Could she block the next surge? If she failed... she didn't even want to contemplate the outcome.
Her heart stung with a sudden, sharp sense of her own inadequacy.
But then, a thought struck her.
What if I can’t stop it?
The tremor in her heart wasn't just fear of failure. It was a burning irritation at herself for even considering such a possibility. She tightened her grip on Byakuen until her knuckles turned white.
She took a step forward.
In that moment, she felt as if she saw his back just ahead of her. Glimpsing the silhouette she yearned to follow, she pictured him deep within the temple's shadows.
"I can’t hope to stand by Ren’s side if I falter here."
She closed her eyes and took a single, deep breath.
She cast aside her doubts and reconfirmed her place. That was the end of her hesitation.
She didn't just recall the strength of the boy who was braver and kinder than anyone she knew. She remembered the lesson he had inadvertently taught her.
It isn't wrong to chase someone's back, but don't focus too much on just that.
She finally understood the weight behind Estelle’s advice.
The crushing pressure of the Demon Continent remained, but Licia moved forward again, her stride stronger than the last.
"Can you still use your magic?" the White Saint asked her companion.
When had such an unbreakable bond of trust formed between them? Perhaps the seeds had been sown the very moment they first met.
Fiona gave a firm nod, her expression serene despite the chaos. Hearing her once again vow to fight "even at the cost of her life," Licia smiled. She gripped her hilt with renewed power.
To move forward, she would struggle.
"Just trying to keep up... that isn't who I am."
She would do more than just follow. Even in this dire extremity, Licia reached for the heights she was meant to achieve.
She fought. She struggled. She reached out with everything she had.
And there, waiting for her, was a single spark of radiance. Her senses sharpened to a razor's edge, and the nature of her Enshroud began to shift.
Suddenly, a sensation she had never known flooded her body.
In a way, it reminded her of the strange fever she had suffered recently, but this was different—it was as if her entire being was finally coming into focus.
That mysterious sensation began to hum, turning into a faint melody.
It was still weak and lacked a clear shape. Compared to the resonant melody Fiona had described hearing in Eupeheim, it was a mere whisper. The time for her true awakening had not yet arrived.
But it was enough.
"I won't give up! I am—!"
For a single, fleeting strike, Byakuen was wreathed in a surge of pure energy.
A lingering echo of the melody she had almost grasped remained within the blade.
"I am Licia Clausel!"
A beautiful wave of energy, shimmering like diamond dust, erupted from the sword as she swung.
The blast struck the ice-bound magic circles just as they were about to explode. The distance between them vanished, and a blinding flash of silver light consumed the battlefield.
The magic circles were obliterated, their power scattering into a mist of silver radiance and sparkling ice.
The biting cold finally began to recede. Every single one of the Cultists who had exhausted their lives for the spell lay unconscious upon the grass.
Licia swayed unsteadily, but Fiona was there in an instant to support her.
"I’d like to say we did a wonderful job and praise ourselves, but..."
"We should save that for later, shouldn't we?" Fiona finished.
"Yes. Otherwise, there was no point in us coming this far."
Whether due to the sheer force of the explosion or the collapse of the magic, the wall blocking the temple entrance had vanished.
The two girls stepped past the fallen Cultists and headed inside. Licia began to weave her Holy Magic to heal their wounds as they spoke.
"Do you think they were so much stronger because the Cult is finally getting serious?"
"Likely. Their skill with a blade was one thing, but their magic was far beyond anything we've seen from their rank-and-file before."
"Then this temple must be incredibly important to them."
If it weren't, they wouldn't have gone to such lengths, nor would they have chosen to strike during the height of the festival. There had to be a reason this location was vital.
"That magic... didn't it remind you of the curse Ren described when he fought Orphide?"
"The sensation of the curse was very similar, yes."
"I thought so. The user was different, so it wasn't a perfect match, but..."
Licia wondered who had actually prepared those magic circles. If someone truly powerful had been there to activate them instead of those expendable cultists, the destruction would have been absolute.
There were many questions left unanswered.
"Honestly... he’s always so far ahead of us."
Ren had faced a curse even more powerful than that, and he had done it entirely alone.
The girls shared a small, weary smile as they imagined the battle Ren must have fought in Windea.
"And that strike of yours, Lady Licia... that sound...!"
"We’ll talk about that later. It’s not like I’ve actually mastered anything yet."
She had only just caught a glimpse of the threshold.
Their footsteps rang out, echoing into the dark heart of the temple.