“Report: The southern Iron Curtain has fallen. The city’s defenders have withdrawn to within the Second Ring.”

The fires of war had reduced the three Iron Curtains, which had held out for a full 48 hours, to heaps of wreckage. The adjutant watched the enormous war machines advancing toward the main thoroughfare of Charon Special District, his hands trembling.

It seemed Academy had won this battle after all.

“How much longer can we hold out?” the adjutant asked, pretending to be casual. He tried desperately to be as strong as General Aleph, but he couldn’t stop his voice from trembling.

“Three hours at most—and that’s only if our soldiers keep throwing themselves into the fight without stopping.”

“Damn it.”

The adjutant sank into a chair. The scene of war lay reflected in the floor-to-ceiling window before him, and the absurdity of it all suddenly left him utterly exhausted.

According to General Aleph’s plan, they had to hold out until Academy was forced to use the power of the Tower of Babel again to end the war. That would remind everyone, lost in their false peace, of a fact they had chosen to forget: they were forever living in the shadow of the Tower of Babel’s range.

But now, that seemed all but impossible. Academy’s forces had already broken through the Iron Curtain. It was only a matter of time before they captured the command tower.

“What about reinforcements from Dibithe?”

“No word yet, sir.”

The adjutant sighed and fell silent. The sounds of battle outside grew louder. As the front line continued to retreat, the scales of victory seemed to have tipped entirely in Academy’s favor.

The many instruments and maps before him were reflected in the adjutant’s eyes, but he could barely bring himself to care. When an overwhelming force appeared, any last-ditch resistance seemed insignificant.

After all, he wasn’t Aleph Stello. Not everyone could return from hell like that man had, then turn the broken ideals he’d salvaged from its flames into reality. The dark-skinned, golden-eyed man was the strongest person the adjutant had ever seen. But even if that man was as unyielding as The Rock, the waves one person could make against the Academy Federation’s destructive might were like an egg hitting a stone: utterly pointless.

Just as the adjutant sank into emptiness and despair, a battlefield monitor suddenly hurried over to him.

“Report! We’ve detected abnormal readings in the Factor Cloud activity over the Ademir Continent.”

The adjutant shot to his feet as if he’d just been given a shot of adrenaline and looked at the monitor.

“Let me see.”

The monitoring team handed him a briefing board displaying a weather map of the Factor Clouds over the Ademir Continent. Normally, the clouds were distributed evenly across the upper atmosphere. But now, the amount of Factor Cloud gathered around the Academy Federation had suddenly begun to dwindle—

“Could it be...”

The adjutant glanced at the worried look on the monitor’s face, then sighed in relief.

“Yes. The Tower of Babel is charging up.”

......

“Have you been waiting long?”

Perlis watched the imposing man before her, her pretty face drawing into a slight frown.

“You know me?”

“Of course.”

Aleph smiled faintly. His deep, powerful voice carried clearly to every corner of the hall without him needing to raise it. His face remained unreadable as he casually spun the enormous double-ended spear in his strong right hand, as if it were nothing more than a slender bamboo pole.

“Well? How about having a nice chat with your uncle?”

Uncle... A chat? Perlis gave an exasperated little pout. There was no need to spell it out: this was probably just Aleph’s tired old ploy to buy time.

After all, the later the Academy Federation’s victory came, the closer this traitor would get to his goal.

With that in mind, Perlis leaned forward slightly. The Factor Bracelet on her left wrist spun at high speed.

“No.”

A flash of red. Perlis launched herself forward in a single bound, riding the force of the Factors as the Butterfly Knife in her hand spun toward Aleph in a slash—

“Clang!!”

Aleph locked onto Perlis’s attack almost instantly, catching the tip of her knife with the shaft of his double-ended spear. They held there, locked against each other. Aleph’s immense strength made Perlis struggle. For the first time, she got a close look at this traitor to the Academy Federation: dark skin covered in patterns of raw, primal beauty, golden eyes fixed on her—and an inner calm that seemed to surround him.

It was the indifference of someone who had seen countless battlefields.

Aleph watched the girl before him and let out a soft laugh.

“Just as I thought. You’ve got quite a temper, like him, don’t you?”

Aleph’s voice was still deep and powerful, but this time it carried a hint of mockery.

“Edward’s Little White Flower?”

At the mention of her father, Perlis’s eyes widened. She suddenly shifted her weight, slipped around to Aleph’s side, tossed the Butterfly Knife into the air, caught it in a reverse grip, and unleashed three rapid slashes with all her strength.

“Clang—clang—clang—”

Aleph spun his double-ended spear. The knife’s tip, coated in Factor energy, met each of Perlis’s strikes with pinpoint precision. Then, taking advantage of the brief hesitation caused when her attack was knocked aside, he swung a fist at her.

“Boom—”

The fast, monstrously powerful punch struck Perlis in the stomach. A burst of sparks erupted where the heavy blow met her Factor Shield.

“Ngh...”

Clutching her stomach, Perlis stumbled back several steps. If the Factor Shield covering her body hadn’t absorbed the blow, she would’ve been killed or badly injured.

“What’s wrong? Edward was quite fond of you,” Aleph said, slowly turning his double-ended spear as he watched Perlis regain her stance. “Don’t you want to talk about your old man?”

“Shut up...” Perlis lowered her stance. The name Edward was like a forbidden word, igniting the fury in her heart. She sprang forward, the Butterfly Knife in her hand spinning rapidly as it absorbed Factor energy from the air—

“Clang—clang—clang—...”

The hall rang with the clash of metal. Sparks burst wherever blade met spear. Aleph simply swung his double-ended weapon with calm ease, effortlessly blocking every one of Perlis’s attacks.

Perlis’s attacks were beginning to lose their force. The battle against the defensive array, followed by Bravo Team’s ambush, had already drained much of her strength. And Aleph was far stronger than she’d imagined. If this kept up...

“Hm?” Aleph’s golden eyes caught the momentary weakness in the girl’s movements. After knocking Perlis aside, he turned the spear tip slightly, then drove it into the floor with tremendous force—

“Huh?”

The floor between Perlis and Aleph shattered as the spear tip plunged into it, burying itself in the ground. The next second, Aleph kicked the shaft with all his strength. The spear tip burst through the floor and swept upward toward Perlis—

“Krrrk...”

The spear tip, propelled by Aleph’s kick, slammed into Perlis’s stomach. Charged with powerful Factor energy, it struck with terrifying force, shattering her Factor Shield almost instantly and hurling her backward. She crashed awkwardly into the wall—

“Ugh... hah...”

Groaning, Perlis rubbed her stomach, then struggled to her feet. Aleph’s kick had sent the spear tip flying with such force that even after her Factor Shield shattered, she’d still taken a serious impact. Fortunately, she hadn’t been struck directly. Otherwise, she’d probably be nothing more than a corpse by now.

“So, let’s have a nice chat, Little White Flower,” Aleph said, still slowly spinning his double-ended spear as he approached Perlis. “Or would you rather die as a dog of the Federation?”

“...I’ve got nothing to say to a traitor.” Perlis forced herself into a fighting stance. She stopped spinning the Butterfly Knife in her right hand and gripped it tightly. “Kill you, and this war will end.”

“Is that so...? You really think that...” Aleph chuckled softly, then slowly shook his head. “Your daughter doesn’t seem as clever as you, Edward...”

“Don’t bring him up...”

“Don’t bring up your father? Have you never wondered how the famous Crimson Phantom, Edward von Valantia, really died?”

Aleph’s voice suddenly turned almost hysterical, making Perlis flinch. He’d completely shed his earlier composure, as if it had all been nothing but a mask.

“You think someone like Edward, a member of the Blade of Babel, could really have been taken down by some foppish noble from Wilkin? Bullshit.”

“Ivar Saikepasi killed your father.”

A brief silence fell over the room, striking Perlis’s heart like a heavy hammer. She stared, dazed.

“That’s impossible...”

Perlis murmured. Her vision suddenly blurred. The hand reaching out to her through the icy rain hung before her eyes, crossing the eight years between then and now.

“You’re lying to me...”

“Oh? What’s the matter? Doesn’t playing the Federation’s dog alongside your father’s murderer feel so righteous anymore?”

The double-ended spear in Aleph’s hands spun faster and faster, its tip tracing a blue ring of light.

“Ivar Saikepasi, the Scavenger, third seat of the Blade of Babel... You must’ve had a lovely time with him all these years, don’t you think?”

“Liar... You’re trying to buy time!”

Perlis roared. Her red eyes blazed with fury once more. She gave a slight flick of her wrist, and the Factor Bracelet spun at high speed—not to charge her Factor Shield, but to slowly feed energy into the Burst module.

“...It took me eight whole years to climb to where I am now and kindle this spark to awaken the world,” Aleph muttered to himself, as if confessing something. “Kill me, and this war will end? ...No. As long as the Academy Federation still exists, my war will never end!”

Perlis raised her left hand high and gripped the Butterfly Knife in her right hand in a reverse grip. A crimson glow flickered faintly along its silver blade.

“I won’t betray Edward—not even if the one standing in my way is his daughter!” Aleph roared. His spinning double-ended spear whipped up a gust of wind through the hall. “Don’t stand in my way!”

The two glared at each other, red eyes against gold. Invisible sparks crackled between them.

Then, in that instant, the final battle erupted—

“Yaaah!”

Perlis roared and charged at Aleph’s rapidly spinning double-ended spear. Aleph held nothing back, giving it everything he had. The spinning spear tip advanced on her like a deadly storm. Without her Factor Shield, a single hit from that Factor-charged weapon would kill her instantly.

The enormous spear tip tore through the air and slashed toward Perlis. The girl nimbly dodged to the side, and Aleph’s strike shattered the ground where she’d been standing.

“Boom—”

The ground split apart. Aleph gave Perlis no chance to catch her breath, pressing forward at once.

In the blink of an eye, it looked as if the storm of spear tips Aleph had unleashed would swallow Perlis’s slender frame. Yet she calmly swung her knife to meet it. The moment her blade struck the spear tip, she slipped lightly to the side—

“Pathetic trick!”

Aleph swiftly redirected the spear tip, using both hands and sheer strength to bring it to a sudden stop. He shifted its angle, then drove it into the floor beneath Perlis once more.

“Ngh...” Perlis took two steps back. She knew Aleph’s trick, so she reacted at once.

Just as she’d expected, once the spear tip sank into the floor, Aleph kicked the shaft a second time. The spear tip swept upward toward Perlis—but she was ready for it—

“Clang.”

The spear tip met the Butterfly Knife blade Perlis had brought down to block it, and sparks flew. Perlis then slid her knife down along the spear tip. Aleph only smiled.

“It’s over!”

With a mighty upward jerk, Aleph sent the Butterfly Knife flying from Perlis’s hand along with the spear tip. It spun into the air—

“Now!”

Perlis clenched her left fist. The spinning Factor Bracelet came to an abrupt stop—

“Factor Burst!”

While Aleph’s hands were busy knocking his gun into the air, Perlis’s left fist—charged with Factor Burst—shot toward him. Time slowed once more. Perlis watched the tip of her fist drive toward Aleph. The instant Factor sparks blossomed on impact, she precisely controlled her Factor Bracelet and darted backward—

“Boom!!!!”

Even without the momentum of a fall from high above or the boost of abundant factor energy, that energy-infused punch shattered Aleph’s Factor Shield outright. A violent explosion hurled his body into the air, and he slammed hard into the ground.

The red light faded. Perlis barely managed to escape the blast radius with the help of her Factor Bracelet, then staggered until she found her footing.

Aleph had probably focused on the fact that Perlis’s Factor Shield had been broken and assumed she wouldn’t use any moves that might catch her in the blast. But he hadn’t expected her to dodge the Factor Burst so precisely—or to defeat him in the process.

“It’s over.”

Perlis picked up her Butterfly Knife and slowly walked over to Aleph, who was barely clinging to life. She raised the knife, looking at the rebel leader before her with a complicated expression, and let out a soft sigh.

“Rest in peace, spirit.”

With that, Perlis drove the Butterfly Knife hard toward Aleph’s throat—

The next second, something blocked Aleph’s throat. The blade stopped abruptly just short of it. Perlis’s eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the object Aleph was holding against his chest:

“What... is this?”

A diary.

“He said you were purer and more beautiful than any white flower in Wilkin’s Sea of Flowers, with its countless baby’s-breath blooms.” Aleph gave a hoarse laugh. He moved the diary away from his throat and shakily held it out to Perlis. “...Well... I can’t say he was exaggerating about that...”

The tip of the knife lowered. Perlis slowly took the diary and saw Edward von Valantia’s name written on the title page, along with the dedication that filled most of the page:

“To my daughter, Perlis Hafu'erjiade. I will always love you, my Little White Flower.”

......