I took the lead.
"Style-Armament Armatione, Gale-Lightning Agilitus Fulminis!!"
Wrapped in lightning and a storm, I charged straight ahead.
"Sherlock!!"
"I've been very interested in you. Come, show me your true power."
"As you wish!!"
Despite trading blows with me, wrapped in lightning, Sherlock's face remained calm.
"Chain Seal, Triple."
Chains burst from the ground, coiling around Sherlock's torso and stopping his movement.
"Left Arm Release, Dexter Emittere---Lightning Throw, Iaculatio Fulguris!!"
I hurled a lightning spear I had prepared beforehand.
But it was blocked by a dome-shaped shield of sand.
"White Lightning, Fulguratio Albicans!! Zakeru!!"
I unleashed two types of lightning magic, but they were all blocked by sand shields that rose from the ground. It seemed sand and lightning were a bad match after all.
Sherlock, who had destroyed the chains, took out a single card.
"Limited Deployment, 'Sword'."
"A Class Card!!"
"Exactly. Though, it's a defective one that isn't connected to any Heroic Spirit."
In Sherlock's hand appeared a long, black mist. He called it a sword, but from my perspective, it looked like he was just swinging around a black fog.
"Leave this to me!!"
Jugras stepped forward in my place, but the blurry outline of the sword made him look like he was having a hard time fighting it.
"Mr. Jugras, fall back!! Hah!!"
Yukina's slash blew away the sword of black mist.
"Hmm. The spear that nullifies all magic, Yuksekkenrō. I saw your fight with Mr. Patra, and it seems to be quite a troublesome item."
Any object enhanced by magic couldn't clash with Yuksekkenrō. Sherlock took out another sword.
"A real sword...!!"
"Yes, this was a gift from Her Majesty the Queen a long time ago. Its name is Excalivarn."
"That's a grandiose name, Professor!!" Jugras joined in.
"Very well. I'll give both of you a lesson at once."
It looked like Sherlock was fighting both Yukina and Jugras with two swords. But in reality, he was fighting Yukina with Excalivarn and Jugras with the 'Sword' respectively.
He was essentially fighting one person with each arm.
"Both of you, get away!!"
I held a glowing sword up to the sky.
"Super Cosmic Holy Sword, Space Caliber!!"
I unleashed a beam-like slash.
"Hmm."
Sherlock conjured sand shields. Ten of them.
And then,
"Limited Deployment, 'Shield'."
The black mist now stood up, flat like a wall.
The light slash cut through the sand shields one after another. And when it hit the final shield of black mist,
Crack!!
"As deduced."
The shield cracked but held.
"Not yet!!"
Yukina must have known this would happen. She attacked without giving him a moment's rest.
The black shield was still in front of Sherlock, but it was no obstacle to Yukina. She thrust her spear, ignoring the shield.
The spear easily pierced through it, but...
"First...!?"
Yukina saw something beyond that.
A baseball-sized sphere rolled out from the hole Yukina made in the shield. Seeing it, Jugras's face also tensed.
"Grenade...!!"
The grenade Sherlock threw exploded—not with a bang, but with a puff of smoke.
"This is...!!"
"Tch!!"
The two of them quickly backed away, but...
"Why...!!"
The smoke surrounding Yukina showed no sign of dissipating. Instead, the scattered smoke was gathering around her.
Sherlock was manipulating the airflow!!
"Then I will!!"
Coccolo manipulated her wind spirits to try and blow the smoke away. But Sherlock was too skilled, and it had no effect.
Eventually, Yukina...
"Ah..."
...lost her strength and collapsed.
"Yukina!!"
"Don't worry, Mr. Yozuki. It's just a muscle relaxant. The effect is strong, but the duration is short. Ah, unfortunately, it's not something that can be fixed with magic."
Hearing that, Coccolo's movements stopped.
She stopped the hand she was about to use for healing, held her spear, and stepped in front of Yukina.
Just as Sherlock deduced, we were unable to damage him, and now Yukina was out of commission.
The melody of 'The Magic Flute' that was playing changed.
"Mr. Shou, though we are in the middle of a battle, I must begin a lecture on 'A Study in Scarlet' now."
"Scarlet...?"
Sherlock quietly closed his eyes.
"!!!"
Yukina and the others' eyes widened.
Sherlock's body had begun to glow in a scarlet light.
"That's...!"
"Precisely, Mr. Jugras. The reason I was able to unite I-U was because of this power."
Sherlock took a single bullet from his pocket.
"This is the Scarlet Bullet."
The warhead was a rose-like, flame-like, blood-like scarlet color. It was a metal I had never seen before.
"This is a substance that grants humans paranormal power. The 'nuclear substance of the paranormal world'."
"So that's Irokane..." I said, still on the ground.
"Oh, you know about it? Is that knowledge from a different world as well?"
There was no point in hiding it anymore.
"Yeah. In Japan, it's called Hihiirokane. I think there were other types too, right?"
"Wonderful. You know that much."
Sherlock seemed genuinely impressed.
"Aria."
Sherlock pointed his right index finger at Aria.
At that moment,
"Huh...?"
Aria's right index finger began to glow. And not just that. The faint light spread throughout her body, radiating from her fingertip.
"W-what is this... what's happening to my body...!"
"Lady Aria, excuse me! ...?! Yuksekkenrō can't nullify it...?"
Even the light of the Divine Drive that nullified magic couldn't erase the scarlet light that Aria was generating.
Aria, too, showed signs of fear and shock at the unknown energy her own body was producing.
"That's the 'Consona' resonance phenomenon. When two large masses of Irokane are present, one awakening causes the other to awaken, like resonating tuning forks."
Sherlock narrowed his eyes.
"Hmm, the light is not as strong as I deduced it would be."
Sherlock held a gun in his left hand.
"Mr. Shou, I apologize, but..."
He pointed the gun at me.
"...I need you to be the trigger."
I don't know what kind of bullet he used.
But what I do know for sure is that my forehead was shot through.
---------
Shou collapsed, bleeding from his head.
"Senpai!! Senpai!!"
"Master! No..."
"...ah... ahhh, no, no..."
Tears in her eyes, Yukina desperately shook Shou's body, which was bleeding from his head. But he didn't twitch. Coccolo was frantically trying to heal him. Aria was in shock and could do nothing.
"No, no..."
Aria stumbled backward,
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
Responding to her intense emotions, the faint light enveloping Aria became a distinct scarlet.
Sherlock smiled with satisfaction at the sight.
"Now, the preparations are complete. Now, your finger here, Aria."
"Huh...?"
In her state of confusion, Aria pointed her right index finger as Sherlock told her. Sherlock did the same.
Light was emitted from their pointed index fingers, and the two lights collided and merged.
"I was able to deduce the time of my death. That no matter how much I extended it, I would not last past today."
The two lights became a single sphere.
"That's..."
Tsukasa narrowed his eyes. He realized that the light was not a simple lump of energy. It was something only he, who traveled between dimensions, could understand.
"(Space-time is warped. Is it another world—or another time?)"
Sherlock smiled back at Tsukasa's subtle thought.
"I had to 'inherit' the Scarlet Bullet to one of my descendants before that day."
Yukina and Coccolo listened, holding Shou.
"However, there were several conditions for the inheritance of the Scarlet Bullet. One was personality. One must be passionate, proud, and in some way, have a childish personality. I—don't think of myself that way, though."
Sherlock continued.
"The second was that Aria had to grow psychologically as a woman."
"Psychologically..."
Yukina muttered, pondering the meaning of the word.
"The third, the inheritor must be with the Scarlet Bullet for at least three years until their ability awakens."
The sphere of light began to change into the shape of a lens.
"This was the most difficult condition. To fulfill this, I had to hold on to this Scarlet Bullet until today, and furthermore, it had to be given to you three years ago. For that, this moment, this instant, was necessary."
Something was projected onto the lens.
"No way..."
Aria was shocked by what she saw in the lens.
"This is the 'Koyomi Kagami' from the old Japanese documents. A space-time lens."
A girl was reflected in the lens.
"Aria? Who is that person...?"
"That's me! The me from three years ago!"
"What!?"
Yukina received an unexpected, yet somehow expected, answer.
The girl's twin tails were like golden flaxen threads. Her eyes were not reddish-purple but a sapphire-like cobalt blue. It was Aria, but with a different hair and eye color.
"Aria. When you were 13, you were shot at your mother's birthday party, weren't you?"
"...Yes."
"I was the one who shot you."
"!!!"
Everyone's eyes widened.
"No, I will shoot you. Both expressions are correct."
Sherlock held a pistol in his left hand and aimed. The bullet he loaded was the 'Scarlet Bullet'—that metal.
"With the power of the Scarlet Bullet, one can even open a door to the past."
Sherlock pointed the gun at the Aria reflected in the lens.
"I will now 'inherit' the Scarlet Bullet to you three years ago."
"Dodge it!!"
Yukina couldn't help but scream at the lens.
The Aria in the lens turned towards Yukina, her back to Sherlock—
"—!!"
The bullet pierced Aria's back.
As the Aria in the lens fell, the lens disappeared as well.
"...!!"
Aria clutched her left breast.
The bullet from that time had stopped near her heart, in a position that could not be removed by surgery. The bullet in her chest was the 'Scarlet Bullet' that had just been in front of us.
"The Scarlet Bullet has two side effects. One is the effect of life extension. It slows the physical growth of the one it is with. That is why your physique hasn't changed much since that time, Aria."
Sherlock continued.
"The other is that the color of your body changes. Your hair, eyes, etc., will become closer to a beautiful scarlet. Like you are now."
Sherlock seemed to have aged several years all at once, likely from losing the Scarlet Bullet.
"With that, the lecture is over."
Having finished his work, Sherlock took out his beloved pipe.
---------
"I see. That was a long story, I almost fell asleep—Zakeruga!!"
"!!!"
A lightning bolt shot straight at Sherlock.
Sherlock must have been surprised this time. Still, he instantly conjured a sand shield to block the attack, but...
Crack!!
"...Hmm. The penetration power is higher than before. Still..."
"Rauzaruk!!"
Shou, wrapped in golden light, had closed the distance to Sherlock.
"I thought I shot you square in the forehead. What's the trick? Or do you have an ability like that?"
"Who knows!! Use your deductions!!"
It was the resurrected Shou.
---------
I rose from a floating sensation, my consciousness returning abruptly.
At that moment, I understood. After this death struggle, three new spells had been written in the book.
"I see. That was a long story, I almost fell asleep—Zakeruga!!"
The first one I used was the fifth spell, 'Zakeruga'.
If Zakeru was a spell that radiates lightning, Zakeruga was a spell that was closer to a beam of light and had enhanced penetration.
But even as a new spell, it wasn't powerful enough to break through Sherlock's defenses.
"Rauzaruk!!"
Standing up, I used the sixth spell, 'Rauzaruk'.
The next moment, lightning struck me, and I was enveloped in a golden aura. This was a spell that purely enhanced my physical abilities. Since my Style-Armament had been undone, I used this spell.
"I thought I shot you square in the forehead. What's the trick? Or do you have an ability like that?"
"Who knows!! Use your deductions!!"
Because even I don't know what happened during that floating sensation!
This is the final attack.
"Baou—"
With the fourth spell, and Gash's ultimate spell...!!
"—Zakerugaaaaaa!!"
What I unleashed was not a simple lightning bolt. It was a golden dragon that roared, "BAOOOOOOO!!" The wide-mouthed Baou was the strongest spell that would devour any enemy.
"This is..."
The hangar was illuminated in gold. A dragon so large opened its mouth—and swallowed Sherlock.
A tremendous flash and lightning filled the room. Even after Baou disappeared, the air remained charged for a while.
Yet, after enduring such an attack...
"No way..."
"Even I was a little flustered. That was a decent spell. A magic I've never seen before. But, you can't defeat me."
"Guh..."
Sherlock held three Class Cards in his hand. All of them withered and vanished.
It was a make-or-break attack. This Baou Zakeruga was meant to be strengthened even more. Until then, it was a spell that, despite being a finishing move, was lacking in power.
Even so, it was more powerful than the lightning storm I had used before. But it still wasn't enough.
I didn't have enough magic left for another shot.
"Have you exhausted all your options? If so, I think it's about time I—"
"Hey, Zi-O—Yozuki Shou!!"
"Huh?"
Tsukasa's voice rang out.
"Catch!!"
Tsukasa threw something at me—
--------------------------------------------
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