While we were resting at the old Arius training grounds, I had a dream.
I could barely remember what it had been about anymore. The only vague impression left was that someone had spoken to me in countless riddles.
And then there was the final sentence.
Go beneath the red apple tree.
If that was referring to what was happening now...
Could it be that Seia, who had fallen unconscious again for some unknown reason, or Kuzunoha, whom I'd only met once but who had been unusually friendly toward me and just as fond of speaking in riddles as Seia, had been trying to convey something to me?
The possibility made me desperately search my memory.
But the dream was like a half-melted crystal of ice. The harder I tried to wipe away the fog surrounding it, the faster it melted away.
"Hehe."
As my frustration mounted, Beatrice mocked me again.
"What's wrong, Sensei? After making such bold declarations, why are you still hiding in the shadows under the protection of your students instead of coming out?"
As much as I wanted to make her shut that filthy mouth forever, I knew this wasn't the time to act on impulse.
If I stepped out instead of staying under cover, I'd just be inviting one of those laser beams to hit me.
When I didn't respond, Beatrice turned her attention elsewhere.
"Saori, your judgment is truly disappointing. You actually chose a man who's good for nothing except empty boasting. Look at how pathetic he is. Surely you realize by now that he's been deceiving you?"
"Madam, don't waste your time trying to drive a wedge between Sensei and me."
Saori answered coldly.
"If we're talking about deception, then you're the one who's deceived us the most, and for the longest."
Beatrice's voice grew equally icy.
"You ungrateful child! Who was it that gave you the chance to survive peacefully to this age along with the other children?"
She was spouting more incomprehensible nonsense.
"You're mistaken, Madam."
Saori replied calmly.
"No one should ever have to receive the right to live from someone else."
Azusa smiled with relief.
"That's right, Saori. Exactly. So now..."
"You dare say that to me? The one who raised you and educated you?!"
Even after becoming vastly more powerful, Beatrice still flew into a rage with ease.
"Saori, who do you think you are? I am the one who granted you and all of them the right to live! That means I also have the right to dispose of you however I please!"
Arrogantly declaring as much, she continued,
"Get down on your knees this instant. Surrender, beg for my forgiveness, and become my new sacrifice. If you do, I'll graciously spare your companions! Ah, I'll even return Atsuko to you, despite her having already lost her value. Isn't that a generous offer?"
My heart skipped a beat.
For someone like Saori, who valued her companions above all else, those words struck directly at her weakest point.
Even after being won over by me...
Would she betray me again for the sake of her friends?
Honestly...
I couldn't be sure.
After a brief silence, I listened anxiously as Saori slowly spoke.
"Madam, I once swore that I would never pray again. But now I understand... the person I was back then was a fool."
Beatrice's expression brightened at once, and she immediately softened her tone.
"Excellent, Saori. Good child. This time, I'll keep my promise. Come, put down your gun..."
"What are you doing?!"
"You seem to have misunderstood something. Allow me to correct you."
Saori answered with a gunshot.
"I will never pray to anyone except Sensei. That includes you."
The weight pressing on my heart finally lifted.
After a brief silence, Beatrice let out a shrill scream.
"AAAAAAAH! I've decided, Saori! I will make you regret those words until the day you die!"
...Regret?
Ignoring her threat, one particular word she had spoken stirred something in my memory.
"An emotion taken to its utmost..."
I frowned, murmuring to myself as I searched my memory.
"...is the foundation... for attaining the sublime... or something like that?"
At that point, I began trying to summon those emotions, piecing together the scattered fragments I remembered while forcing myself to recall everything that might make me regret something.
It didn't take long to realize that trying too hard only had the opposite effect.
The reason I blamed myself for certain things was simply because my own standards were high, because I believed I could have done better.
It wasn't as though I'd committed some unforgivable sin.
What was there to regret?
That realization only made me more agitated.
I had no idea what to do, and on top of that I still had to command everyone, making it even harder to wallow in melancholy.
Why did it have to be regret?
Wouldn't anxiety work just as well?
I grumbled inwardly, reluctantly admitting that trying to fabricate regret through imagination had completely failed.
Then what else could I do?
Perhaps I could simply sacrifice ten years of my lifespan to strengthen a single bullet meant to kill Beatrice.
Ridiculous as it sounded...
It was actually a surprisingly viable terrible idea.
If it worked, there would be nothing more to say.
If it failed, if I wasted that much of my life for nothing...
Then I'd surely regret it more than anything else.
And that was all based on a dream whose significance I couldn't even confirm.
For the moment, I filed it away as my final contingency.
As I kept an eye on the battle, I flipped through the many Authorities I'd obtained from winning over thirty-six students so far, hoping to find some inspiration, even though I already knew almost all of them by heart.
The battle on the front lines had reached a stalemate.
With flawless teamwork and my command, Arius Squad could barely hold their own against Beatrice.
But only barely.
Arius Squad had already reached their limits.
By contrast, Beatrice still looked completely at ease.
What am I supposed to do...
Wait.
Come to think of it...
What if...
While reviewing everything for a second time and letting my thoughts run wild, my eyes landed on one Authority I'd skipped over before.
After only a moment's hesitation, I activated it.
Feeling my strength steadily draining away, I quietly muttered,
"I truly regret it...
I regret it more than anything."
The next instant, it was as though a floodgate had opened.
Bitterness surged from the depths of my heart like a tidal wave, swallowing me whole.
Through Aru's Authority, I had successfully convinced myself to accept the feelings that had always existed, only kept buried beneath reason.
"Why..."
"...didn't I realize it sooner..."
As the words left my mouth, something felt strange.
I raised a hand to my face.
Only then did I realize tears were already streaming down my cheeks.
But why wasn't the card reacting?
I unconsciously rubbed the smooth, icy surface of the card as the light screen unfolded before me.
My nose suddenly stung again.
Was another condition still missing?
Or...
Was I...
Wrong to place my hopes in that baseless dream, treating it like a lifeline?
At that moment, thanks to the listening Authority that had remained active the whole time, I heard a loud shout from an extremely distant place.
It sounded like Kei.
She was loudly questioning someone.
Had she and Mika run into danger?
It's all...
My fault...
I dragged Mika and Arisu into this...
The instant that overwhelming regret surfaced,
A strange layered voice, three female voices fused into one, echoed beside my ear with absolute clarity.
A voice I knew I would never forget for the rest of my life.
"The Bird of Hermes is my name. Devouring my wings to tame my soul."
"...Wouldn't it have been easier if you'd done this from the start?"
After a brief silence, I let out a sigh.
The regret brought forth by the Authority seemed to have fulfilled its purpose.
It swiftly peeled away from my heart, allowing me to think calmly and objectively once again.
After another brief pause, the three voices sang once more.
"This is the power of all strength, shattering the hard and overcoming the unyielding!"
...Wasn't that different from what they'd said last time?
As the thought crossed my mind, the screen of light suddenly vanished.
Darkness filled my vision.
A strangely comforting darkness.
Then...
A scene unfolded before my eyes.
A desert.
A pink-haired girl in a princess dress stood atop the head of a gigantic mechanical serpent, smiling sweetly.
Beneath the shadow cast by the serpent stood...
Myself.
Wearing the exact same expression of astonishment and relief that I felt now.
This...
Was where the entire story had begun.
...
"...What in the world is this supposed to be?"
Beatrice muttered under her breath.
From her perspective, behind one of the pieces of cover, a silver-white radiance that did not belong to reality had suddenly begun to shine.
"Hmph. Pointless theatrics."
Although she spoke with disdain, caution won out.
Beatrice immediately redirected her fire.
A crimson-black flash streaked across the battlefield.
The marble cover shattered into countless pieces, revealing the young man behind it.
Completely unharmed.
His eyes remained tightly shut.
"Sensei!?"
As the Arius students cried out in alarm, Beatrice finally saw the source of the mysterious light.
Behind the handsome young man extended dozens of spiral-shaped wings of light.
Some were dim.
Some were brilliant.
Some were slender.
Others were enormous.
No.
They weren't wings of light.
Nor were they something growing from his body.
At that moment, Beatrice's attitude underwent a complete reversal.
The indifference she had shown until now vanished, replaced by indescribable shock as she looked closer.
They were...
Wedges.
Driven into his body from the outside.
There were thirty-six of them.
Their surfaces were smooth and lustrous, flowing slowly like mercury reflecting sunlight.
Both sides were engraved with mysterious characters that even someone as learned as she could not recognize, and those characters shifted and danced almost constantly.
At their tips, points of light appeared from nowhere, continuously flowing into the wedges.
Faced with this bizarre sight, one absent from every scripture she had ever studied, Beatrice could not help crying out,
"What... are those?!"
Yet what horrified her even more...
Was what came next.
Something that was recorded in the scriptures.
Appeared.