Polos thumped the floor with his old staff.
　Then a magic circle unfolded there and began to emit a green light.
　From there, a strong wind arose and struck us.
　It was probably this attacking magic that killed all the guards at once.

　I flashed my treasured sword and stepped forward, pushing forward through the wind.
　The wind was drowned out by my sword, and I lightly swung my sword down at Poros.
　Poros retreated, trying to avoid my attack.

　I took the spell from my pocket and scattered it over Poros's magic circle.
　Polos asks me.

'What's the trick?'

It's just a little trick.

　Before I could finish, Polos's magic circle went dark and then began to glow blue.
　Polos is probably a high-ranking sorcerer.
　I don't know if we can win in a proper fight, and the longer the fight goes on, the worse off we will be.
　That's why I used a strategy before that.

　Polos gave an impatient look.
　The magic circle he had generated had changed unexpectedly.
　What will happen, Polos will be alarmed.

　I shot water magic at Poros and closed the distance.
　Polos would wave his wand and unleash a magical wind to offset my attack.
　But he seemed to be distracted by the increasingly radiant magic circle.
　In the next moment, I accelerated and came around behind Poros.
　Before Polos could turn around to face me, I kicked him in the back.

''Nah........!

　Polos lost his stance and fell on top of the magic circle.
　At the same time, a massive vortex of water appeared from the magic circle and enveloped him.
　He was constrained by a barrier made of my water magic.
　Polos had lost.
　I told him, "I'm not going to kill you.

"I'm not going to kill you. How many others do you have?

　Polos laughed.

'And that I have plenty of company. It's late.'

　Every time an explosion sounded, flames curled up all over the place.
　The enemy sorcerers, and perhaps more than one of them, set fire to the air all at once.
　The blast was coming from the entrance side as well.
　I drowned out some of it, but the entire hall was ablaze, making it impossible to prevent it all with my magic sword.

　When I looked back, I saw Lucy defending Filia and deploying a massive water magic technique to counteract the oncoming flames.
　But even then, it was not in time. Lucy is a great wizard, but as the nickname "Crimson" suggests, she is on the side of using fire and is not very good at water magic.

''Lucy-sensei!''

　I rush back to Lucy and manage to block the flames attacking her side with my treasure sword.
　Lucy smiles at me with a tired look on her face.

''All the exits seem to be blocked. If this is the case........''

　They will all die from being caught in the hot air.
　Even if the enemy's attack magic itself could be counteracted, they would run out of oxygen and suffocation would be inevitable.
　Just as the July Party wanted, the imperial room would be mostly dead, and if that happened, there would be no more politicians and the imperial center would completely collapse.

　If that happens, me, Lucy, and Filia will die.
　Filia clung to me and looked at me with moist eyes.

　Then a voice that sounded like she was singing echoed through the place.

'God. Save us, O God.

　The words were a church-style magic chant.
　At the same time, the vast area of flames disappeared in an instant.
　When I turned around, a golden-haired girl covered in light all over was there.

　It's Saint Sophia.

　Thanks for the help, I was about to say, but when I saw that Sophia looked like she was about to cry, I stopped myself.
　Sophia stared straight at me with her big jade-colored eyes.

''I will never forgive you, Solon-kun!

"Huh?

I'm very hurt, you know.

Um, Sofia?　What are you talking about?

It's awful to walk away from the Order without telling me.

　My former companion, Sophia, said.