The clash between me and the mysterious girl beneath the cloak—Rose calls her Olivia.
My battle with Olivia begins.
Strike after strike crashes down, heavy and precise. Her movements are sharply trained. Whose technique is she really using?
I evade, but my vision cannot keep up forever with her relentless speed.
She is different from the man before her. His swings are wide and wasteful. This girl—Olivia—wields a blade just as massive, yet every movement is controlled. Truly mysterious.
In the midst of the exchange, Olivia sneers. "Is all you can do dodge and run?" Her taunt is as sharp as her blade.
I exhale slowly and tighten my grip. My stance shifts—guided by my sight—into a posture unfamiliar even to myself.
Olivia freezes for a split second after taking her stance. Then she slams her sword into the ground. "What the hell…?" she mutters, before mirroring the exact same stance.
I take the stance first—because I see her doing it in the future.
The follow-up, the impact, the attack that follows this unfamiliar form—my vision already knows it.
Seeing this far ahead is exhausting. That is why my nose bleeds so often—like when I fought the kraken, like when I fought the Professor. The thought flickers through my mind even as the battle continues.
Now the fight, unwatched by Rose, becomes balanced. My sight finally finds openings, and I begin to attack. A solid defense forms between us as blows are exchanged back and forth.
But both of us begin to tire. This fight feels like she is battling herself—because I am fighting entirely with her own techniques.
Olivia grins. "Incredible," she murmurs, her movements slowing.
Then she stops.
Not me—her. Exhausted. Far more exhausted than I am.
"Huff… my master's techniques," she says quietly. "They are really difficult to refine any further…" The fight ends.
I breathe heavily. There is no threat anymore. I open my eyes.
Olivia stares at me intently. "It is hard to defeat you. It feels impossible. The Paragon inside your body…" She exhales. "My presence here was nothing more than to test that—through a great trial."
"Hm?" she murmurs, glancing toward Rose.
"Olivia… that really is you, right?!" Rose says as she approaches, hesitates for only a moment, then wraps her in a tight embrace.
---
The tree she cut down—along with our essential travel gear near it—fortunately is not damaged, since everything lies very close to the trunk that had already been severed.
Now we sit near the campfire. It turns out that the girl named Olivia is Oliver's daughter.
"I thought you were another disciple of my master," she says while chewing meat from a canned ration and taking a sip of milk. "But instead, you use my master's technique after seeing me—from the future?!"
After reaching this hill near the harbor, we only rested and did not eat dinner. Now, at last, we eat—together with someone familiar to Rose.
Rose cuts in and nods. "Right?! And he did it with his eyes closed."
That is true—that is what I do. But the cost is not equal. Inside my body, my organs burn, and my entire body feels like it is on fire the more I draw on the crystal's power.
I only let out a quiet breath and do not answer.
"My master's technique—I still cannot use it fully or perfectly," Olivia continues. "But you copy it after seeing me and then refine it. How does that even make sense?!"
Forcing my vision to reach further into the future always demands a price. Blood leaks from my body—sometimes from places I do not expect. It usually starts with my nose, then my mouth, and sometimes even my eyes. Yes, my eyes bleed when I push it too hard, like when I fought that Professor.
"Hey, why are you so quiet?" Olivia says. She has already finished eating and drinking.
"That's just how he is," Rose replies, having finished her meal as well. "Quiet and cold. Hard to talk to."
I am almost done with my food. My shoulder feels heavy with unease—Olivia's presence, her aura. What she said earlier lingers. Her potential, paired with her master's technique, is terrifying.
I finish eating and drinking without responding to either of them.
Silence settles in, but Rose's expression shifts—as if she is holding back something serious. Of course. Oliver. The man who was taken away.
"You know Uncle was worried about you, Olivia. That's why he—"
"I know," Olivia cuts in, falling silent for a moment. "I thought about the risk. But I had no choice, Rose."
"Why?!" Rose presses. "Quenstown is your home. What is so lacking that you had to leave?!"
"You know, Olivia… your uncle—" Rose hesitates.
"Hm?" Olivia turns to her.
"Your uncle was taken. By someone he called a Vanguard."
"W-What?! That's impossible!"
"I'm sick of this," Olivia says quietly. "Things I never wanted keep happening to me." She looks up at the sky, her eyes empty. "I worked so hard since that day… and it still ends like this." Her voice trembles at the end. "I'm scared, Rose."
"Of what?" Rose asks quickly. "What are you afraid of, Olivia?"
"Oliver. My father." Olivia clenches her hands. "He is a Legend. A fugitive with an enormous bounty. I am afraid he will be executed, Rose."
Rose goes silent.
"So that is one of the reasons you disappeared from Quenstown?" she asks.
Olivia exhales. "Yes. I was prepared for this from the beginning. I will face it." There is a note of resolve in her voice.
"Hm?!" Rose murmurs.
"Anyway," Olivia adds, changing the subject, "where are you two headed?"
A pigeon perched on a nearby branch flutters down and lands on Rose's shoulder.
"E-Eh? Santiago's pigeon?!"
Olivia raises her hand to chest height. The pigeon hops neatly from Rose's shoulder onto her hand.
I pull the crystal necklace out from beneath my clothes and close my fingers around it. "The plan was Oliver's," I say. "But something went wrong. The journey has to continue. We are finding another way—to Nimurelle."
The crystal no longer hurts. Its warmth settles deep inside me, as if its power has finally merged with my soul.
Rose nods slowly.
"I see now… Father," Olivia says softly.
"Hm?" I murmur.
"What?" Rose blurts out.
"What is your name?" Olivia asks me.
"Hiroshiki," I answer.
"Hiroshiki…?" she repeats.
I let out a breath. "Raze."
"Raze?!" Rose echoes.
Olivia smiles faintly. "My father wanted to help whoever obtained that crystal. It turns out that person is the child of my father's old friend."
"Why?" I ask.
"To stop the absolute dominion of the magi," Olivia replies. "The absolute power hanging around your neck is the key to how this world ends, Hiro. That is what your father and my father fought against long ago."
"I see," Rose says. Then her brow furrows. "But then… why did they become fugitives?"