Ai, the White Magus

 

I had been waiting, all this time, for this day.

 

"I dunno if you've noticed, Ryouji, but there are unique magics that only specific beings can use, y'know?"

Even as Algernon spoke gleefully, someone struck at her with the speed of the wind.

Yuuki. Of everyone here, she was perhaps the one who understood the danger best. Memory drove her to act.

"Oh my. How unlike you, Yuuki."

Yuuki carried more than her own memories. She had inherited the memories of every Swordsaint before her, and her swordsmanship surpassed even that of Yuuka, who had been called the Swordsaint.

And yet.

"You of all people, underestimating your opponent and rushing in so carelessly."

Algernon deflected the blow with a casual flick of her bow.

In her other hand, a sword of blue-scale steel had materialized at some point, already slick with blood.

In that same instant, she had counterattacked, slicing deep into Yuuki's leg.

"Yuuki!"

Rin screamed and shifted into the form of a mountain cat, racing to Yuuki's side.

Trees erupted from the ground without warning, ensnaring her and binding her tight.

"Rin's transformation magic. Yuuki's sword-manipulation magic. Nina's tree-conjuring magic. Chryse's soul-manipulation magic."

Reciting them like verses of a poem, Algernon strolled forward and gave it a light pat.

The next instant.

The fire dragons, who should already have been dead, raised their heads.

No… it can't be…

"Well, that's the long and short of it, Ryouji. If you had to give it a name… let's call it the magic that steals magic, shall we?"

The white rats create nothing. They do not innovate.

The creatures they spawn cannot fashion even a single crude tool.

But that does not mean they lack intelligence.

To plunder, to steal, to take by force. That is their very nature.

"I've been waiting, you see. All this time. Waiting for this moment. You, who gave me individuality and eternal life… I hate you, hate you, hate you, hate you so much…"

With a sickening squelch, Algernon plunged her hand into the wound on my great-grandfather's carcass. The scalding blood of a fire dragon burned hot even in death, searing and blistering her hand, but she showed no concern as she wrenched out his heart.

"That I could almost love you."

And swallowed it whole.

"Mentorrr, run!"

Rin screamed. I understood immediately what she meant.

Rin's transformation magic expanded its range through catalysts. A single one of my scales had been enough for her to take the form of a fire dragon. And Algernon had just swallowed a fire dragon's heart…

Her body did not swell into a monstrous shape. Instead, red scales spread across her entire form, encasing it like armor. Simultaneously, a staggering wave of draconic aura erupted from her in all directions.

Perhaps because she was a usurper, devoid of any creativity, her appearance bore a vague resemblance to the coat I wore in human form. But the design was a thousand times more vile and grotesque.

Worse than simply taking on a dragon's full form. What Algernon had become was a being that concentrated all the power of a fire dragon into a human frame. And beyond that, she could shift her form at will, wield the Swordsaints' techniques, conjure trees from nothing, and transcend death itself.

"Come now. Have at me, Ryouji."

"OOOOOOOHHH!"

She didn't need to tell me twice. I shifted into dragon form and brought my claws crashing down without a moment's hesitation.

"… Is that all?"

A blow backed by Mighty Power, one that could have sent even the most powerful fire dragon flying.

Algernon caught it with one arm.

"I see… Ah, having this kind of strength isn't half bad."

A casual flick of her arm sent me hurtling back, tumbling across the ground. Her arm hadn't even touched me. This was… my own Witch's Broomstick. Had she stolen that too?

"O thou redder than my scales, mightier than my fangs, hotter than my blood, more radiant than my eyes…"

"Oh, that does look like it could be a bit troublesome."

Algernon snapped her fingers. Countless trees burst from the ground in an instant and bound my entire body. Vines coiled tight around me, sealing my jaws shut. She had absorbed Yuuki's reinforcement magic and layered it on top of the rest. Mere plants, yet terrifyingly strong.

"Now then… I'm not going to kill you right away. Not when all of your precious, precious loved ones are gathered right here."

Algernon swept her gaze across the battlefield before letting it settle on a single point.

"You'll be first."

Stop. I couldn't even scream the word.

With deliberate, theatrical slowness, Algernon nocked an arrow—

And loosed it at Nina.

"Wh… why…"

Seeing the arrow buried deep, Nina's eyes went wide.

"You… why would you…"

She stared at Ai, who had shielded her and taken the arrow in her place.

"Hm? You're in the way."

Algernon furrowed her brow in displeasure.

"Actually… what even are you? I've been eavesdropping on Ryouji's conversations, but I still can't quite figure you out. He seems to care about you a great deal, though."

Algernon didn't know about Ai. By the time I first encountered the white rat, Ai was already gone. But what did that matter now?

There was only one option left.

The magic Mother had shown me in her final moments. If I set my own blood ablaze, the trees binding me would burn away. Then I could hurl myself at Algernon.

Whether it would work against someone who had taken on a fire dragon's power, I couldn't say, but there was no other way. The execution was simple enough: bite off my own tongue, then breathe fire. The flames would ignite my entire body.

"Why… why did you shield me?"

Nina asked, her voice trembling.

"Because… I don't want you to die…"

The poison must have been spreading through her body.

A venom potent enough to weaken even a fire dragon was fatal to a small ice dragon.

"Why… I never accepted you… I hated you and tried to drive you out…"

"But you were kind to the children. You looked after them, in your own way. You may have… hated me. But…"

Ai coughed blood and spoke.

"I… for some reason, I never hated you."

"Yeah, yeah."

Algernon cut in, her tone dripping with boredom.

"I still have no idea what you are. Whatever. Just die."

The instant her attention fixed fully on Ai, I drove my fangs into my own tongue.

Searing pain. Blood poured forth, and flames leapt to it at once, engulfing my entire body.

At the same moment, Ai charged straight at Algernon.

I tore frantically at the vines binding me.

Algernon wavered for a split second between me and Ai, then trained her bow on Ai.

"Mentor—"

Ai shouted toward Nina.

"Please take care of him, Miss Nina."

The arrow flew, aimed straight at Ai's forehead as she bore down on Algernon.

"Hiiro!"

Just before it could pierce her skull, Nina screamed.

In that instant, Ai's form blazed with brilliant light.

A wind of absolute cold swept through, snuffing out the flames wreathing my body in a single breath.

And Ai's body shrank and shifted before my eyes. The arrow, aimed at her forehead, sailed over her head and flew wide.

Sharp-clawed forelimbs became slender fingers.

Powerful hind legs that had borne a dragon's massive frame became delicate, graceful legs.

White scales that had covered her from head to tail became smooth skin draped in white garments.

Where the dragon had stood was now a girl in human form, with white hair and scarlet eyes.

"Ah…"

A single tear traced down the girl's cheek.

"I have been waiting. All this time. For you to find me. For you to accept me. For you to call me… by the true name you gave me."

She spoke in a voice that was crystalline… yet achingly nostalgic.

The soul and memory are separate things.

Ai had entrusted hers to Nina, whether knowingly or not.

The only ones who remembered everything about her were me or Nina… no.

Since I had never known Ai's true name, it could only have been Nina.

"What… are you?"

Algernon murmured, stunned.

Ai paid the white rat no mind. She coughed a few times, then spat out a frozen green mass. That was… the green dragon's venom Algernon had shot into her.

"My apologies. That was a bit unsightly of me."

"What… why did you take human form? Why… why can you do the same thing Ryouji does?! Why, why, WHY?!"

Algernon's voice cracked, unhinged.

Ai considered this for a moment, tilting her head slightly.

"Well… the power of love, perhaps?"

"Don't you DARE mock me!"

Algernon's form swelled, her fury made manifest.

Into a hideous, chaotic monstrosity, as if every living creature in the world had been mashed together at random.

"I believe that's my line."

Ai answered quietly, then murmured a single word.

"Come forth."

Algernon's claws froze in place, a hair's breadth from piercing Ai.

White. White as far as the horizon. Everything froze solid.

The colossal monstrosity was entombed in a pillar of ice, every last inch of it.

"It's been so long, I may have overdone it a little."

Ai wore the exact same sheepish smile I remembered.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo."

As if rejoicing at a reunion a thousand years in the making, the voice of Jack Frost rang out.