"What the hell… this situation…"
Philly had decided to retreat, but she still couldn't shake Fuka.
With [Recognition Alteration], her presence and even her aura should have been impossible to detect. Yet Fuka used her extraordinary five senses and [Future Sight] to their fullest, never letting Philly escape.
They had moved far from the former hero party mansion site. Now they were near the northwest outer wall of the city.
"If this keeps up, my family's in danger! Just give up already, you criminal!!"
A civilian shouted abuse at Fuka while reaching out to grab her.
Besides the one shouting, four others were also trying to capture her.
This too was Philly's [Recognition Alteration] at work.
The civilians had been made to believe Fuka caused this incident.
Moreover, they were gripped by the obsessive belief that "if they don't capture Fuka, their families will be in danger." They pursued her desperately, heedless of consequences.
"…Annoying."
Fuka couldn't cut down civilians manipulated by Philly. She was forced to fight while fending them off.
For Fuka, shaking off ordinary civilians would be easy.
But Philly maintained a careful distance from them—close enough to threaten, far enough to stay safe.
If Fuka tried to leave the civilians behind, Philly would attack them with magic. Fuka couldn't abandon them.
From this alone, the situation seemed overwhelmingly in Philly's favor.
—Yet the advantage lay with Fuka.
Philly no longer had enough power left to rewrite Fuka's recognition meaningfully. At best, once more.
She considered killing the clinging civilians along with Fuka via magic, but naturally—no one had died yet.
"She was the one person from the Shinonome family who should never have been left alive… Even if she can wield that katana, this is impossible…"
Philly muttered while clutching the shoulder Fuka had slashed earlier.
Even with experience from countless battlefields and fights, Philly couldn't immediately accept what was happening before her.
When Philly tried explosions, Fuka threw surrounding civilians out of range before they could be caught. When Philly tried tornadoes, the copper-red blade sliced through space, physically disrupting mana flow.
She performed absurd feats with perfect calm.
"[Agility Up]"
With civilian-based tactics failing and her stamina draining, Philly abandoned tricks and focused solely on escape.
◇
Once Philly distanced herself, the civilians—who had only received simplified [Recognition Alteration]—snapped back to normal.
"Huh? What was I doing…?"
"Why am I here?"
"Everyone, this place is dangerous. Head to the guild immediately. It's the evacuation point."
Fuka instantly saw through Philly's brainwashing and called out to them.
The civilians paled at her words and the surrounding collapsed buildings.
When Fuka repeated the instruction to go to the guild, they rushed off in a panic.
After watching them leave, Fuka immediately pursued Philly.
In raw physical ability, Fuka held the advantage.
Even if Philly buffed herself, Fuka had ki-based buffs of her own.
In a simple chase, Philly couldn't outrun Fuka.
Fuka caught up before Philly reached her intended west gate.
But Philly had foreseen this outcome.
She stopped abruptly and turned, activating magic.
"—!"
Fuka immediately drove her sword into the ground. A violent gust erupted—strong enough to blow people away—and scattered surrounding buildings.
But Fuka—Philly's true target—crouched low, clinging to the embedded sword, enduring the wind until it subsided.
When the gust died, Fuka released the sword, closed in low, and struck.
"First hit."
"—!?"
Fuka concentrated ki in her right fist and drove it full-force into Philly's abdomen.
Philly—thinking the earlier gust would buy distance—reacted too late and took the punch squarely.
"Gaha!"
Philly slammed into the outer wall.
"Guh… ugh…"
Overwhelmed by pain, she grimaced, unable to stand immediately. She slumped against the wall.
Fuka returned to her embedded sword, took a small breath, and pulled it free.
Her right arm erupted in countless slashes—as if shredded by something. Blood poured down.
Ignoring the wounds and flowing blood, Fuka gripped the copper-red blade and approached Philly without lowering her guard.
"You should be grateful. I won't kill you easily. I'll carve the suffering of everyone you've toyed with into your body before I kill you gruesomely."
Fuka spoke while unleashing unrelenting killing intent.
Then she lightly leaped back to create distance from Philly.
Immediately after, a massive bolt of lightning struck where she had stood.
"Dodging a perfect surprise attack. As expected of the Sword Princess~"
A boy with an androgynous face—likely the caster of [Mjolnir]—muttered to himself from atop a nearby building.
He wore a bright red robe.
As Fuka turned toward the boy, she suddenly crouched. A silver trail sliced through the space where her neck had been.
The silver trail was a flying slash. Because Fuka dodged, the building behind her was bisected.
"Dodged this too. Physical surprise attacks really don't work, huh."
The girl who fired the slash muttered while resting a longsword on her shoulder.
She also wore bright red clothes, her face identical to the boy's.
"…"Cyclamen Cult""
Fuka muttered upon seeing the boy and girl who had suddenly appeared—clearly twins.
The "Cyclamen Cult"—alongside "Amuntzaas"—was one of the two great criminal organizations.
They preached the revival of an evil god and were said to commit all manner of crimes.
Many cult members wore bright red clothing like these two.
"Heh, you figured out we're from "Cyclamen Cult" pretty quick~"
The boy—with his drawn-out speech—casually confirmed his affiliation.
"Your clothes give it away."
"Ahaha! Fair enough~"
"—You got done in pretty badly, Philly."
While Fuka spoke with the boy, the girl—who had somehow moved beside Philly—called out to her.
"…No excuses left… Sorry, but could you heal me?"
"Can't be helped. We'd be in trouble if you died here. —!"
As the girl moved to cast recovery magic on Philly, Fuka instantly tried to close the distance.
—but Fuka couldn't move.
"—!?"
Fuka suddenly felt complete loss of strength throughout her body.
Finally unable to hold her sword one-handed, she sank to the ground, pulled down by its weight.
"That was close…"
The girl—shaken by Fuka's killing intent—muttered while sweating coldly.
"You okay, sis?"
The boy—with his usual drawn-out tone—called out while approaching Philly and the girl.
"Thanks, Fred."
While listening to the twins' conversation, Fuka stared wide-eyed in confusion at her own state.
Even with three enemies splitting her focus, Fuka—who could see the future—shouldn't have been caught off guard.
Yet now she had collapsed, completely drained of strength.
From the twins' talk, she understood the boy had done something to her—but not what.
"You don't know what hit you, right~?"
The boy spoke to the confused Fuka.
When Fuka turned her killing-intent-filled gaze on him, he flinched—but only for a moment.
Quickly realizing he held the advantage, he chattered on, revealing everything.
"[Future Sight] is one of the most powerful abilities out there~ With it, the Sword Princess would be unmatched in combat, right~?"
The boy was correct.
Fuka's strength was supported by her extraordinary five senses and physical ability.
[Future Sight] could only be fully utilized because of those.
"But [Future Sight] is just seeing future scenes… right~? Meaning it only reads visual information. So after that, it's simple~ If the magic is colorless, transparent, tasteless, and odorless, even future sight can't detect it~ That's why you're collapsed on the ground right now~ You received a debuff support spell~"
Support magic falls into three main categories.
First: ability-boosting—commonly called buffs.
Second: unrelated to the six attributes or recovery—non-attribute magic.
Third: ability-lowering—the opposite of buffs—commonly called debuffs.
Even enchanters who specialize in support magic rarely use debuffs.
The reason is simple: high difficulty and minimal effect.
Debuffs are heavily influenced by the target's magic resistance—more so than buffs.
You need to know the target's exact resistance and adjust the formula accordingly. Mastering it in combat is extremely difficult.
"I'm good at debuffs~ That makes me a natural enemy for the Sword Princess~"
Even Selma—the continent's greatest enchanter—rarely used debuffs.
Yet this boy claimed debuff mastery.
His words—combined with successfully debuffing Fuka to the point she could barely stand—proved he was a formidable ability user.
"…Is it over?"
After the boy finished explaining, the girl spoke in a cold voice.
"Yeah. Done."
Sensing his sister's bad mood, the boy dropped his drawn-out tone and answered seriously.
"Then—"
"Stop."
As the girl readied her sword to approach Fuka, Philly—who had been healed by the girl's recovery magic—interrupted.
"…Don't let the loser give orders. The Sword Princess is at her weakest right now—this is the perfect chance to finish her."
After saying that, the girl instantly closed on Fuka and swung her blade at Fuka's neck.
In a few seconds, Fuka's head would fly. The girl was certain she had cut her.
—but that moment of confidence dulled her swordsmanship. Fuka's upward slash easily deflected it.
"—!?"
Fuka knocked the girl's sword away with her first strike and aimed the second to cut her down—but before the blade reached, the girl vanished and reappeared beside Philly.
The boy's [Space Leap].
"…Ah… aah…"
Feeling Fuka's killing intent and her own near-death, the girl trembled.
"That's why I said stop. —That katana she holds is likely a demonic blade. Debuffs alone can't stop her."
"Demonic blade? You mean the one they say exists in Kyokutou~?"
◆
A demonic blade is a sword imbued with special power.
It is said that blades forged in the age of fairy tales, after centuries of cutting humans and monsters, absorbed their resentment and gained power.
In other words, a blade with an ability.
Several existed in the past, but now only one remains in the world—a precious treasure and one of Kyokutou's national artifacts.
Fuka's demonic blade is normally just an exceptionally sharp weapon. But when its sealed demonic power is released, the blade turns copper-red.
Releasing the demonic power forcibly boosts the user's physical ability and can even cut through space—granting immense power.
At first glance it sounds wonderful, but it naturally has drawbacks.
If the user lets go of the blade while its demonic power is released, they incur the blade's wrath—a backlash.
Even if only for an instant.
When Fuka released the blade to punch Philly earlier and immediately gripped it again, the time it was free was only seconds. Yet her right arm was shredded, bleeding profusely.
Since it was brief, she escaped with that much damage. In the worst case, the blade could have severed her limbs.
Furthermore, the blade accumulates the resentment of those it has cut. If someone incompatible wields it, they risk mental corruption.
For these reasons it was feared by people and had no wielder for decades—kept as a national treasure in Kyokutou.
Fortunately Fuka had excellent compatibility with the blade, so she rarely suffered from its resentment.
Why Fuka possessed this national treasure relates greatly to the civil war in Kyokutou—but that is another story.
◆
Though unsteady, Fuka pointed her blade at the three while still standing.
"We're retreating. I'm at my limit too. Continuing the fight risks mutual destruction. To finish her for sure, I need preparation."
Philly told the twins, then began constructing a spell in her mind.
"You think I'll let you escape? I'll cut all three of you down here."
Realizing Philly was about to activate [Space Leap], Fuka swung her sword to unleash a flying slash before they could escape.
The copper-red trail sliced toward the three—but it hit fakes.
In the very last moment, Philly used simplified [Recognition Alteration] to outmaneuver her.
When Fuka turned toward where they should be, the spell had already activated.
[Space Leap] made the three vanish from Fuka's sight.
The spell's range was only dozens of meters.
Fuka thought she could still spot them from atop the wall and kicked off the ground to climb.
But the boy's debuff and the forced movement from using demonic power to block the girl's attack took their toll—she couldn't move.
Collapsing to the ground again, Fuka—still expressionless—gripped the hilt tightly with her right hand despite the excessive bleeding, making the blade tremble.
◇
After staying like that for a while, Fuka muttered, "…I want yakitori."
The intense atmosphere from before had vanished. The usual Fuka had returned.
She stood, stored the now lead-colored blade in her storage artifact's scabbard.
After wrapping bandages around her right arm to stop the bleeding, she walked toward the north gate where Hart and the others were.