Canconel was absolutely livid at the defeat of his subordinates.
Mina turned her back on the trembling, furious angel and tried to slip away quietly, shaking all the while.
But Canconel simply stood with his arms crossed, watching her. He clearly assumed he could catch up whenever he pleased.
Mina broke into a full sprint. When she glanced back, she saw Canconel spreading his wings, preparing to take flight.
“Now then, Mina… the hunt begins.”
What was this guy saying? Did he think she was prey?
“You know, you could stay right there a little longer if you want? Um… Can… Ki… Kong, was it?”
“It’s Canconel!”
“Eeeek! Sorry, Canconel—you don’t have to start yet!”
“Can you not keep your thoughts to yourself? Every single one of them is leaking out.”
Canconel spread his wings wide.
“I happen to enjoy doing things people hate. If you’d rather I didn’t chase you—well, that settles it.”
“What awful taste!”
“Don’t be absurd! Doing what the enemy doesn’t want is absolutely fundamental to strategy and tactics!”
After running for a while, Mina spotted a large tree to her right and darted behind its trunk.
Without warning, a violent gust tore through the air in front of her, and the tree was sliced clean through. Mina stared at it, wide-eyed.
The tree was dozens of meters tall. It toppled slowly, snapping and crushing the surrounding trees as it fell. Mina flinched at the noise and took off running again. When she looked back in terror, she saw Canconel gliding after her, wings spread wide.
“Don’t think you’re getting off that easily, girl!”
Canconel swung his arm, and a ferocious blast of wind sent trees cracking and splintering like paper, blowing them aside. Mina dove forward in a headfirst slide—like a leadoff batter diving for first base—and crashed into a tree root.
“What is happening?!”
When she scrambled to her feet and looked up, Canconel had already closed the distance and was touching down right in front of her. There was a reason he commanded three subordinates—the very air around him felt different.
Mina’s body trembled.
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“You insolent little girl… what you did to my men…”
Canconel’s voice was low and terrifyingly cold.
“I-I surrender! I surrender!”
Mina thrust both hands into the air.
“Surrender? Don’t make me laugh!”
Canconel swung his arm, and an enormous blade of wind hurtled toward Mina.
“Eeeeek!”
She threw up an Earth Wall on instinct, but it was carved apart like tofu.
“You think that beginner-level earth magic can stop my attacks? How laughable!”
Mina held up both palms in a desperate stop gesture.
“You’re going to kill me! Is that okay? You’ll get in trouble if you don’t bring me back alive!”
Canconel answered her plea with icy indifference.
“I won’t be satisfied until I’ve taken at least an arm or two!”
“Nooooo!”
Mina ran again.
If earth magic was useless, her only option was lightning.
“I did it before—I can do it again!”
She steeled herself, formed a finger pistol, spun around, and fired with everything she had.
“…Thunderbolt!”
But her aim was hopeless. The bolt veered off into the distance.
“Aaagh—what?!”
Canconel laughed.
“You don’t even understand why your lightning hit those three, do you?”
He raised one arm and advanced toward her.
“…Hold still, girl!”
Mina tried to run, but a gust of wind knocked her back.
“I can’t get through!”
“Ha ha ha—I’ve erected a wall of wind around the entire area. You’re already a bird in a cage.”
“No! You can’t!”
Canconel landed directly in front of Mina.
“Hold still! If I cut the wrong part, it’ll be your own fault!”
He raised his right arm.
“The wrong part?! What wrong part?! Somebody help me!”
“And who, exactly, do you think is going to save you?”
Canconel’s arm came down, generating a massive blade of wind. Just as it was about to carve into Mina—
Impossibly, a girl emerged from Mina’s own shadow.
“A person—from my shadow?!”
Mina’s shadow rippled and writhed, and a small girl rose from within it, scooping Mina up in a princess carry as she launched into the air.
“Aaaahh!”
“Hold on tight!”
The girl soared skyward with Mina in her arms.
“C-cat ears??”
Mina stared at her rescuer in disbelief. She was a girl with cat ears, her black hair cut in a short bob.
Her skin was a warm wheat-brown, and she had round, feline eyes. She wore a horizontal-striped long-sleeve shirt with overalls, and black military boots on her feet.
“Thank you for saving me… but who are you?”
The girl flashed a grin.
“Explanations later!”
Canconel’s face twisted with rage as he screamed.
“Curse you! Where did you come from?!”
He swung his arm and unleashed a barrage of wind blades.
They severed every tree in their path, blasting and toppling the forest in a wave of destruction.
“Watch out!”
Wind blades whistled past Mina’s ears. Branches and thick trunks grazed her body as they flew by. But the girl held Mina tight and spun through the storm like a gymnast, darting from branch to branch, trunk to trunk. Her agility was beyond anything human.
“That’s incredible… you really are like a cat.”
“She dodged all of that…?!”
Canconel cried out in disbelief.
“Fine—I’ll mince the both of you together!”
He began to move as if performing a dance, his steps tracing an elegant rhythm. Then he swept both arms in wide arcs and brought them crashing down toward Mina and the girl.
“Void Cyclone!”
From Canconel’s outstretched arms, a tornado spun to life at terrifying speed—the same blade-lined cyclone that had shredded those demons to pieces.
But now Mina could see something new: the center of the vortex was so devoid of air that it appeared pitch black, bending even light around it. Everything nearby was sucked toward the core and crushed to nothing. The ultimate wind magic—reducing all it consumed to nothingness.
Surrounding trees were ripped from the earth, the ground itself carved away. And the tornado was heading straight for Mina.
She screamed from the girl’s arms.
“Canconel, you idiot! Are you trying to kill me?!”
The deadly vortex was bearing down on them.
