One-way traffic

The purple-haired knight, Julius, silently fixed his gaze on Accelerator.

"No, no! I can't control it!"

Reinhard looked at his waist with some surprise; the Dragon Sword was trembling more and more violently.

If this continues, it will escalate into a situation where fighting is inevitable!

Right now.

—A terrifying aura emanated from the first person in front of them.

"W-what...?"

People looked at him in astonishment again, and that was it.

The white-haired, red-eyed figure walked step by step toward Reinhard.

That sense of oppression was directed at him.

No, it should be said that it was aimed at the Dragon Sword.

As mentioned before, the Dragon Sword is a being with its own consciousness.

I don't know if it's just my imagination.

Under the watchful eye of the Dragon Sword.

Something was slowly spreading from the white-haired, red-eyed person in front of me.

It was a dark, unidentified power.

That power was silently gathering around Accelerator and behind him.

It saw it.

—It was like black wings.

Something unseen was slowly gathering behind Accelerator.

then.

The Dragon Sword heard a sentence.

“abeoughabaeougbao kill wobnoweuferya——!!”

A sentence that does not belong to human language, but to a higher dimension.

Subsequently.

The dragon sword at Reinhard's waist retracted on its own, forcibly restoring calm.

Chapter Sixty-Five: The Challenge of the Duel

Almost everyone in the hall was stunned.

They may not know just how strong Accelerator really is. Although Roswaal did say that he was no less powerful than himself, no one dared to say for sure whether that was true or not.

But it's different now.

The knight's sword at Reinhard's waist returned to complete stillness.

The Dragon Sword is a sacred sword with its own consciousness, and it is the holy sword that the Sword Saint of the Astrea family has wielded throughout the generations.

The Dragon Sword is incredibly powerful. Even if it is not wielded by someone like Reinhard, it can still unleash extraordinary power. Under normal circumstances, the Dragon Sword will never be drawn, because enemies who are too weak are not even qualified to draw it.

But now what?

For the first time, the Dragon Sword displayed unprecedented dynamism towards a single person.

Then, an even stranger scene unfolded.

After unleashing an activity that even Reinhard found difficult to suppress, the Dragon Sword suddenly fell silent.

It was suppressed by some force.

In the simplest terms, it was frightened.

Everyone knows perfectly well who caused all of this.

"Just kidding...that's absolutely impossible."

Even Marcus, the captain of the Royal Guard, was stunned and stood there in disbelief.

They couldn't understand what was going on.

"The dragon sword, about to be drawn, was actually... forcefully suppressed back?"

"Is that kind of thing really possible?"

"This isn't even recorded in the history of Lugnica!"

"Hey, wait a minute, so if you're saying this, then it's all because of that white-haired guy—"

"He forcibly suppressed the Dragon Sword?!"

This should be impossible.

Everyone in this kingdom should know exactly how powerful the Dragon Sword is.

Even without a terrifyingly monstrous user like Reinhard, the Dragon Sword itself is a legendary and powerful artifact. All the sword saints throughout history have used the power of the Dragon Sword, and their deeds have even been recorded in history. One can imagine just how powerful it has become.

but.

No one expected that the Dragon Sword would one day be suppressed.

Even Reinhard himself hadn't expected this.

However, in reality...

—Even the person involved in all of this didn't understand it.

"...What happened?"

Accelerator stopped abruptly after taking only a few steps toward Reinhardt.

A strange feeling lurked in his chest.

It wasn't the location of the heart, nor was it pain from any physical organ; rather, it was a mild sensory sensation originating from the mind, similar to a phantom limb.

There was a unique, strange sense of oppression in his chest.

'What's going on? This feeling... it's like my whole body is trembling.'

He had no idea what was happening inside his body.

The only thing Accelerator could sense was that when he got close to Reinhard, he felt something from the dragon sword.

Then, he felt as if something had been released from his body, followed by a sense of oppression from the depths of his heart.

This sense of oppression even caused his hands to tremble slightly.

This isn't the first time I've felt this way.

Accelerator had this feeling when he first met Mitsuki Kaihara, one of his former secret organization, "Group".

Kaihara Mitsuki seems to be one of the members of that magic side, and when I get close to him, I feel a slight sense of pressure from the depths of my heart.

This sense of oppression is something that has been felt ever since September 30th, the day Academy City was destroyed.

—That is, after those black wings appeared on his back.

What he didn't know was that in the same world, Sasha Kloydzev, a member of the Russian religious community, had had the exact same experience as him.

She was once possessed by Gabriel, the archangel whose power is actually recorded in the Bible.

The feeling of pressure in one's chest when encountering some mysterious force is exactly the same as when black wings appear behind Accelerator.

What other connections exist between these two?

Accelerator is currently unaware of all this, and he has no idea what he did to make the dragon sword disappear.

However, he needs to deal with the immediate issues at hand.

"Thank you so much, Yifang."

Despite what had happened, Reinhard's face remained calm.

As he put the dragon sword back into his waistband, he chuckled and looked at the person in front of him.

"Thanks to you, the Dragon Sword has finally calmed down its violent state. That's great."

"Do whatever you want, I have no intention of playing along any longer."

The first one waved his hand dismissively.

He no longer wanted to stay in this pointless place. He had originally come here to find people who could help him gather intelligence, but now, after what had happened, he had come to terms with it.

There are hardly any people who can help in this godforsaken place; they're all just a bunch of cowardly wimps.

After passing Reinhardt, the first one, Accelerator, turned around.

Before him stood a beautiful girl with long silver hair, just like himself.

At this moment, her face showed a complete sense of bewilderment.

"One side..."

"Let me make this clear beforehand: whatever I do has nothing to do with you. I'm only doing what I want for myself. Don't give me any of those stupid ideas that I'm being dragged into this because of you."

The girl wasn't given a chance to speak at all; the first person simply took the initiative and spoke first.

He left behind his last words.

Even a villain like me understands this one thing.

"Life is something that belongs to you. If you choose to bury yourself in the shadows your whole life, you'll never see the sun."

"What happens next is none of my business, but it's your own life, isn't it? There's no need for other people to tell you everything."

"Your life is yours to choose from."

Without saying another word, the number one superpowered individual left the hall without looking back.

Emilia stood there, stunned.

He looked just like a lost child who didn't know how to get home.

"Liya."

Another girl walked up to her.

Emilia looked up and saw Hatsune Miku, the girl she had only recently come to accept.

"He's right."

The girl clasped her hands together and looked at her hesitantly.

"The most important thing for a person is indeed their own choices, and their own future must be decided by themselves."

"Perhaps many people do care about your identity, but how you choose to move forward, whether you should be influenced by people's negative voices, whether you should just let yourself fall into the abyss or persevere in pursuing your dreams—these are all future decisions that you must make."

"Me too. I made many choices to get to where I am today. Perhaps I made some wrong choices along the way, but I don't regret it... because all of them were the futures I wanted to choose!"

“Miku…”

Emilia may not know that the girl standing in front of her is actually a girl who has had many experiences of conviction.

Reaching the status of a world-class idol today is no easy feat; her path has been filled with hardships and choices that rival anyone else's. Even so, she never regrets her decisions.

Because of her, she was able to strive for her dreams.

Emilia nodded, and Hatsune Miku, after encouraging her, also left.

There's no point in her staying here any longer.

It all depends on Emilia's own choice.

And so, only Emilia remained in the arena—along with her sole supporter, Roswaal.

But no one dares to look at her with prejudice anymore.

"No matter what, Wang Xuan will continue."

As the highest-ranking member of the Sages' Council, McLutford naturally wielded the most significant influence.

He looked at someone again, namely Emilia.

"Emilia... is there anything else you'd like to say?"