The ruthless crossing of ice pillars whipped up a white fog in the room, cloaking the shadow in black robes within the low-temperature storm.

The speed of the ice pillar’s projection easily surpassed what I saw in the alley, it felt like it was reaching a level only seen in major leagues, hitting a velocity I could only imagine in a game.

Their sharp tips would easily pierce through human bodies, turning the transparent warheads crimson with fresh blood.

No less than twenty. If they hit, death was a foregone conclusion. Yet—

“Did they really do it!?”

“Yep, we’ve got a bad flag here—!!”

The bald man, who had maintained silence until now, interjected right at this critical moment.

In response to Subaru’s shout, the bald man retorted, “—Preparation is key. I hated wearing it because it was heavy, but I’m glad I did.”

Cutting through the white smoke, Elsa—her black hair dancing—burst onto the scene.

She swung her kukri knife, stepping lightly, showing no signs of injury. There was no difference from earlier, except that she had discarded the heavy black cloak, revealing only the form-fitting black robes beneath.

“Could it be that the coat was heavy and shedding it made her lighter?!”

“That’s amusing, but the truth is much simpler—my cloak was woven with a spell to ward off magic. It saved my life.”

Responding calmly to Subaru’s concerns, Elsa took a low stance as her blade faced forward.

There stood the false Satella, who had just unleashed a great technique.

The blade aimed straight for the girl’s chest, its heavy tip poised for an attack. Subaru found himself almost ready to scream. But just before that—

“Don’t underestimate a user of spirit magic. It’s terrifying when they become an enemy.”

Multiple ice shields deployed in layers easily stopped Elsa’s blade.

With her hands clasped in front of her chest, the false Satella must have conjured the ice shields. And as Elsa’s strike was halted, she instantly performed a backflip to evade.

What followed were smaller ice pillars that punctured the ground in pursuit.

Those follow-up attacks were initiated by Pack, waving his arms like a conductor beside the silver-haired girl.

“A division of attack and defense—effectively a two-on-one situation.”

“That’s the troublesome part about spirit users. One attacks while the other defends. In certain cases, one can buy time with simple spells while the other launches a big strike… You know, the battlefield rule is ‘If you encounter a spirit user, throw down your weapons and flee.'”

Rom, gripping his cudgel, muttered gravely next to Subaru while the latter nodded in agreement. Indeed, with that kind of advantage in a one-on-one situation, their upper hand was absolute. It wouldn’t crumble easily.

“By the way, what are you trying to do, old man?”

“I’m planning to help the elf girl when the time is right. She seems to have a better understanding over there.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Don’t! You’ll just get in the way! You’ll lose your right arm and head, just stay put!”

“Don’t predict such specific loss! Just saying that makes it feel like I’m truly about to lose them!”

Having witnessed Rom getting cut twice already, his statement had a ring of truth to it.

Could he sense the other dimension where he had been cleaved? Rom was truly averse to putting his arms and neck on the line.

But while all this banter was happening, the battle continued.

Slicing through the light banter, a combat that offered no openings persisted.

—Countless ice chunks kept appearing, dancing chaotically throughout the room.

Their sizes varied significantly, the large ones being as big as a head, while even the small ones were about the size of a fist. Each flew by at a speed comparable to a full-on throw, so their danger level was quite apparent.

Yet, amidst this violent storm of ice, Elsa, having lost her protective cloak, was moving like a seasoned warrior.

She spun, crouched down as though crawling on the ground, occasionally using walls as footholds to perform gravity-defying evasive maneuvers. Should she judge that she couldn’t avoid an attack, her bendable blade would break the ice, shattering it into a mist. Such extraordinary skill compensated greatly for the overwhelming quantity of projectiles.

“She’s quite seasoned for a girl.”

Even Pack, while attacking, couldn’t help but express his admiration for that kind of mastery.

In response to his remark, Elsa smiled amid the chaos of battle.

“Oh? It’s been a while since someone treated me like a girl.”

“To me, most opponents seem like babies. Still, you’ve got to be quite pitifully strong.”

“To be praised by a spirit, it’s truly an honor.”

Gratefully accepting the compliment, she swept aside the swirling ice chunks with her blade.

By now, the number of ice pieces shot well into the hundreds; yet, aside from those that formed the first barrier, none had managed to directly hit Elsa.

Though Pack had pushed forward with sheer numbers, the decisive blow remained elusive.

“At this rate, are we gonna run out of MP and lose?”

Imagining a turn in the tide, Subaru voiced concerns about the disadvantages of a prolonged battle.

However, shaking his head in response was Rom.

“I don’t know what this ‘MP’ is, but in battles of spirit users, there’s no worry about running out of mana.”

“No concern about running out of mana…?”

“Unlike magic users who use what’s inside themselves, spirit users draw from the mana in the outside world. As long as the world doesn’t dry up, spirit users don’t run out.”

“Unlimited gasoline for a free-revving engine? What a cheat.”

It seemed Rom didn’t grasp Subaru’s answer at all, tilting his head.

Sticking with that angle, he prefaced, “However, how long the spirit can manifest is another matter. Without the spirit, things may turn drastically.”

“Ugh, now that you mention it… Has it been five yet?!”

Pack had fallen asleep shortly after sunset in the previous world.

Though not much time had passed since the battle commenced in the evening, with this much magic warfare happening, surely the mana that had been stored was being used up rapidly.

Those worries of Subaru were confirmed when—

“Ah, this is bad. I’m starting to feel sleepy. Actually, I’ve been battling while dozing a bit.”

“Pack! Get your act together!”

“I… I’m not sleeping! Not sleeping at all! Totally wide awake!”

“Why do we sound so anxious in soft voices!?”

It appeared he’d hit the nail on the head.

Pack might practically be dozing off, as the girl with the tiny cat on her shoulder also showed signs of panic.

“I was just starting to have fun, and now I’m not really here. How cruel.”

“It’s the tough life of a desirable guy, huh? The girl won’t let me sleep. But hey, staying up late is bad for your skin.”

With a slight bend of her knees, Elsa readied herself to leap.

Ahead of her, Pack winked skillfully and declared.

“Shall we wrap this up? You’ve watched the same performance enough times, right?”

“—My foot!”

The moment she tried to step forward, Elsa stumbled and had to plant her hands on the ground.

In front of Subaru, who was astonished by her unbelievable mistake, the answer to her stumble lay beneath her feet.

Elsa’s right foot had been frozen to the iced floor.

Broken ice shards had piled slightly, ensnaring her foot like a wedge.

“It’s not like I was just throwing things out there, you know?”

“So, did I just get played?”

“You can commend me for my experience. Good night.”

Fluffing up her chest, Pack’s tiny body shook slightly on the girl’s shoulder.

With a pose like she was about to unleash a finishing move, both hands thrust forward as what seemed to be the greatest concentration of magic power built up—Subaru could see it.

The magical energy lost its ice shape, firing solely as pure destructive force.

A pale blue light froze everything in its line, bathing the Thieves’ Repository in white.

The energy barreled straight through Elsa and slammed into the entrance of the Thieves’ Repository, blasting the ill-assembled door off its hinges, sending the freezing wave cascading outside.

In the wake of the aurora, only the frozen remnants remained, casting everything—goods, furniture, counters—into the frozen ground.

Naturally, a direct hit would freeze even a human in place.

However—

“No way…”

“It’s no lie. Oh, how lovely. I thought I might die.”

That is, if she’d taken the direct hit.

“…As a girl, I can’t really admire that kind of thing.”

Having just been at the brink himself, Pack felt like he’d been outplayed, but there was no anger in his words—only pure dissatisfaction with the act itself.

—Blood dripped from a spot on the frozen floor, a faint steam rising could be seen even by Subaru.

The source of the blood was Elsa’s right foot. Removed just slightly from the line of the frost magic, standing barefoot, her right foot was bleeding profusely.

That was to be expected. Her right foot’s sole had been brutally sliced away.

“I nearly cut it off prematurely, that was close.”

“That’s gotta hurt like hell.”

“Yes, it does. It hurts. It’s wonderful. It makes me feel alive. And…”

Nodding at Pack’s concern with an air of ecstasy, Elsa lifted her bleeding foot and pressed it unhesitatingly against an ice chunk nearby.

A sound echoed as though the atmosphere had cracked, and “Uuuuh” escaped Elsa’s sultry voice, subsequently followed by the slight swipe of her kukri cutting through the ice’s surface.

Just like that, the rough first-aid, almost brutally, attached a piece of ice to her foot.

“It’s a bit inconvenient to move in, but it’s enough.”

The sound of her footsteps grew heavier, and Elsa laughed even more joyfully in her ice footwear.

Subaru was stripped of words by her combat addiction, unafraid even of self-harm, but now the ones facing a serious situation were the false Satellas.

“Pack, can you still go?”

“Sorry, I’m really sleepy. I underestimated this. I’m running out of mana, so I might vanish.”

Pack’s response to the girl’s hidden worry was the first indication that he was losing composure.

The small cat on the silver-haired girl’s shoulder glowed faintly, looking as if it might vanish at any moment—a sign of time running out.

“I’ll handle things from here, so just rest for now. Thanks.”

“If anything happens to you, I’ll follow the pact. —If it comes to it, squeeze out some of that mana to call for me.”

As if pushed by the false Satella’s nurturing voice, Pack’s body turned to mist, dissipating into thin air.

Everyone in the room regretted his departure, but it was Elsa who seemed to sag the deepest.

“—Ah, he’s really gone. That’s terribly unfortunate.”

Readjusting her grip on the kukri knife, Elsa’s high-spirited laughter echoed as she advanced toward the false Satella.

As ice pillars responded, conjuring in response to her, their numbers dwindled in comparison to Pack’s onslaught.

Despite facing a weakened Elsa, the odds could still revert to fifty-fifty.

“Guess I can’t just watch anymore.”

Deciding to perceive the situation as unfavorable, Rom gripped his cudgel tightly and rose heavily.

Receiving Subaru’s unspoken gaze, he shrugged.

“I can’t gauge my chances with no assistance. Just silently watching would mean losing my chance… You understand, Felt.”

“Yeah, I get it. I’ve got to make a move soon, one way or another.”

Since the initial threat from Elsa, Felt had said nothing until now. She stepped up alongside the battle-ready Rom.

“What was that earlier…? I was kinda saved.”

“—Huh?”

“Just a bit, though. And don’t call me a kid. I’m fifteen, almost the same age as you.”

“I’m turning eighteen this year. Old enough to drive and get married.”

“Can’t tell! Your face is still so babyish. You should live a little more and carve out some experience on that face of yours.”

I’ve been holed up and lived a life with shockingly little variegation so far.

That said, I might argue the current state of affairs is wildly tumultuous.

With the two who had steeled themselves keeping watch over the battle, Subaru had no choice but to watch.

Most likely, he was the weakest in combat prowess present here. If he were only lacking in battle ability, that might be one thing—

“My legs are shaking, and I can’t move. …My resolve is totally lacking.”

There was an issue of not qualifying to participate; Subaru couldn’t involve himself in this fight.

Rom had the might, Felt had agility, and the false Satella had her magic power. Meanwhile, Elsa’s abnormalities far surpassed them all.

Indeed—

“Things are starting to slide against us.”

Rom’s succinct observation summed up everything.

Ice projectiles continued unceasingly, yet all of them shattered before Elsa’s blade, unable to reach their destination.

Elsa’s leaps and slashes danced gracefully, while her ice shields were interrupted by swift attacks that aimed to freeze her feet, barely avoided with a last-minute dodge.

Though distance created openings and the offensive momentum shifted back, no opponent worthy of that term would become so predictable.

Next time those fangs came at her, Subaru might witness a sight he didn’t want to see once again.

“Here we go—!!”

Perhaps having shared the same unpleasant thought, Rom shouted as he leapt into the fray.

His raised cudgel whipped through the air like a gust, barely grazing the tips of Elsa’s hair as the battle began to unfold.

“Oh, cutting in on the dance, how rude of you.”

“If you want to dance so badly, then I’ll give you the best dance! Here, spin around!”

With a thrust of his spiked cudgel, Rom switched his attack’s range from a line to a point.

His unexpected strike aimed straight for Elsa’s throat, only to freeze Rom’s own neck in response.

“What the hell is that?!”

“Because you’re the strong one, I could do this!”

Elsa perched lightly on the tip of the thrust cudgel.

Such is an act that requires almost divine precision in balancing power and momentum and only works in that delicate equilibrium. Before it could crumble, Elsa’s blade swung horizontally.

At the height of Rom’s temple, the direct hit would be enough to blow his head clean off.

“Not on my watch!”

The small thrown knife’s slash struck horizontally with a glint.

With the rising shock from below, the blade’s motion waivered only slightly, and its belly struck Rom’s head with force. A dull sound echoed as steel met bone, sending Rom’s body tumbling sideways.

“Bad kid.”

“—Uh.”

Lightly landing, Elsa turned her gaze to Felt, who now stood alone.

The small knife that had saved Rom from a fatal blow had been in Felt’s possession. Originally aimed for Rom’s arm, it seemed the moment’s urgency had dulled her aim, perhaps saving his life.

“Without the mindset or the ability to fight, you should’ve been hiding in a corner of the room.”

Her entry into the fray was swift, and Elsa’s shadow danced before Felt in an instant.

Rom lay unconscious from the whack to his head, and as the false Satella retreated for distance, it worked against her, leaving her out of range. Given that the snake had its eye on her, Felt was now a frog caught in the snake’s gaze.

“Ta-da—!”

The only one to snatch her small body and leap was the nearby coward who had been crouching nearby.