The wind was noticeably colder outside the ruins.
After spending so much time fighting inside narrow corridors and collapsed chambers, stepping beneath the open sky should've felt refreshing. Instead, the chilly breeze merely reminded the trio how exhausted they had become.
Moses walked at the rear with Gideon slung across his shoulder, his expression growing darker with every step. Greater Heal had repaired the damage Knox's dagger left behind, but restoring torn robes, shattered pride, and the memory of being used as an oversized projectile unfortunately fell outside the spell's area of expertise.
Some wounds, it seemed, were far more stubborn than others.
Hamiel glanced at him once before wisely deciding not to say anything.
Lethe continued leading the group through the ancient ruins, occasionally checking the surroundings before urging everyone to keep moving. Their rendezvous point wasn't much farther ahead. Once they met up with the second retrieval team, they could finally leave this cursed place behind and report everything that had happened.
Or more specifically...
Everything that had happened with that masked lunatic.
"..."
The silence lingered longer than anyone expected.
Normally, Lethe would've spent the walk complaining about Knox's face, Knox's attitude, Knox's jokes, Knox's existence, or perhaps all four at once. Strangely enough, she hadn't said a single word since they escaped.
Several minutes later, the narrow streets gradually opened into a much larger area.
The remains of an old plaza stretched before them, surrounded by crumbling stone buildings and weathered pillars that had somehow survived centuries of neglect. Beyond the broken plaza lay nothing but open sky. The ancient city had apparently been built atop a massive plateau, leaving a steep cliff overlooking an endless sea of clouds.
The location ahead was supposed to be their rendezvous point.
Yet the moment it came into view, Lethe's steps slowed on their own before stopping entirely.
Hamiel nearly walked into her back.
"...Lethe?"
The priestess didn't answer. She simply stood there, her gaze fixed toward the edge of the plaza.
Frowning, Hamiel looked in the same direction. The moment her eyes found what Lethe was staring at, she stopped in her tracks.
"...Huh?"
Several dozen meters away, near the edge of the cliff, someone sat quietly on a cheap white (plastic) chair.
The contrast was so absurd that, for a brief moment, Hamiel genuinely wondered if exhaustion had finally gotten to her.
Ancient ruins surrounded the plaza. Collapsed pillars lay scattered across the weathered stone, while an endless sea of clouds stretched beyond the cliff.
And right in the middle of that breathtaking scenery...
...was a cheap chair.
The stranger sat with his back facing them, a long white coat swaying gently beneath the mountain wind. His left hand rested casually atop the hilt of a sheathed tachi planted beside the chair, while his posture remained so relaxed that he could've easily been mistaken for someone enjoying the scenery rather than waiting in the middle of a battlefield.
Silence lingered over the plaza as no one uttered a word. Their attention remained fixed on the lone figure seated near the cliff, while the cheap white plastic chair beneath him only deepened the sense that something was terribly out of place.
Moses narrowed his eyes, studying the stranger in silence.
Before anyone could question him, the man spoke first.
"So... you've come."
His voice remained as calm as ever, still facing the endless sea of clouds with his back turned toward them.
A few seconds later, the young man slowly rose from the plastic chair. He picked up the sheathed tachi resting beside him.
Only then did he finally turn around.
White hair swayed gently beneath the mountain breeze, framing a face so flawless it looked as though a master sculptor had painstakingly carved every feature by hand. His crimson eyes quietly met theirs without the slightest ripple of emotion, while the breathtaking scenery behind him somehow made the entire picture look even more unreal.
Of course...
Still not as handsome as the readers.
"...Wow..."
The word slipped out of Hamiel's mouth before she could stop herself.
She didn't bother taking it back. Faced with the surreal scene before them, anyone would've reacted the same way.
Moses, however, wasn't paying attention to the chair.
The moment his eyes met the seated man's, a chill ran down his spine.
This person...!
It felt as though a devil had quietly descended upon the ancient ruins.
Lethe's reaction wasn't much different. For the briefest instant, the exact same word nearly escaped her lips before she caught herself.
"..."
Fortunately, years of self-control won the battle.
The admiration disappeared as quickly as it had come, replaced by a look of disbelief as her eyes widened ever so slightly.
"...No way."
There was no way she could mistake that face.
No.
More accurately...
There was no way anyone from the Holy Federation could fail to recognize the infamous young man standing before them.
Because the young man standing before them...
...was the White Devil.
Knox Aznable.
"...You are..."
Lethe's voice unconsciously trailed off as the young man answered with nothing more than a faint smile. Tilting his head, he rested the sheathed tachi against his shoulder before lightly tapping a finger against his chin, as if he had suddenly found himself facing an unexpectedly difficult problem.
"Looks like I got recognized."
"Now I'm in a bit of a dilemma..." he murmured. "Should I say, 'Nice to meet you'..."
He deliberately let the sentence linger in the air, his gaze sweeping across their stiff expressions before the corner of his lips curled up ever so slightly.
"...or, 'Nice to meet you again'?"
"...Again?"
Moses frowned before he even realized he had spoken. The word slipped out almost instinctively, while Lethe's eyes remained fixed on the young man, trying desperately to remember where she could have possibly met someone like him before.
Instead of answering, Knox slowly raised his right hand. A white mask materialized above his palm before settling into his grasp.
Hamiel's eyes widened the instant she saw it, while Moses's pupils contracted sharply. Even Lethe, who had remained composed until now, couldn't hide the flicker of shock crossing her face.
They recognized it immediately.
The bizarre smiling mask had followed them throughout the pursuit. After everything that had happened over the past hour, there was no chance any of them could mistake it for anything else.
Knox casually lifted the mask in front of his face. He didn't put it on. Instead, he held it there until the familiar smile perfectly covered his own.
"Hehe~"
"Remember me now?"
"...That mask!"
Lethe's composure finally broke, her voice rising nearly an octave.
"You?!"
Her eyes widened even further as everything that had happened over the past hour flashed through her mind in an instant. The constant teasing, the infuriating jokes, the masked fool who had toyed with them from beginning to end. One by one, the scattered pieces finally fell into place.
"Wait... don't tell me..."
She took an involuntary step forward, raising a trembling finger toward him.
"You're that masked man?!"
"Bingo."
Knox lowered the mask, dismissing it with a flick of his wrist before offering a small, almost gentlemanly bow.
"Allow me to introduce myself properly." A faint smile lingered on his face. "My name is Knox Aznable."
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you all."
His left thumb eased against the tsuba.
Shrrk...
The tachi slowly slid free from its scabbard. Its polished blade caught the light as a faint violet glow traced along the edge.
Lethe's posture shifted almost instinctively. Golden holy power flowed around her feet as she prepared for battle.
Moses instinctively stepped in front of Gideon while Hamiel moved to the opposite side without anyone exchanging so much as a glance. Their bodies had already entered combat stance before their minds fully caught up.
The air between them grew noticeably heavier.
Moses kept his eyes on Knox.
"So..." he said after a long silence. "The White Devil."
"I've heard enough stories about you."
Knox chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm honored. It's not every day someone cra-..."
He stopped, coughed into his fist, then continued without changing his expression.
"Ahem. I mean, it's not every day someone as respectable as yourself knows who I am."
Hamiel looked from Moses to Knox, then back again.
She couldn't tell whether Knox had genuinely misspoken or deliberately corrected himself before finishing the sentence. Knox's smile never changed, while Moses continued watching him without saying a word.
"...You jest."
"Hehe. My apologies. That almost slipped out."
Moses smiled back.
The corners of his mouth lifted ever so slightly, but his eyes remained cold.
"Now... let's get to the point," Moses said. "Why are you here?"
Knox turned his head toward the endless sea of clouds beyond the cliff. A faint smile lingered on his face as he took a slow breath.
"Well..." he said. "Would you believe me if I told you I came here to enjoy the scenery?"
No one answered.
Hamiel, Lethe, and Moses simply stared at him.
Knox glanced back at them and laughed under his breath.
"Yeah... I figured that wouldn't work."
He gave a small shrug.
"Shame. I thought it was a pretty good excuse."
His smile gradually faded. Raising the tachi, he leveled its tip toward the three of them.
"You've already figured out why I'm here."
"So why ask a question you already know the answer to?"
The three remained silent.
Then Knox blinked.
"Ah, almost forgot."
His expression brightened with a quiet chuckle.
"You're waiting for your friends to pick you up here..."
His eyes moved from one face to the next.
"...aren't you?"
"...!!"
Knox's words erased the last trace of calm from their faces.
Lethe was the first to move. Golden holy power burst from beneath her feet as she stepped forward, her eyes fixed on Knox with unmistakable urgency. "How do you know that? Where are they?" she demanded, the questions coming one after another before anyone else had the chance to speak.
Knox didn't answer immediately. He simply looked at her for a moment, then let out a quiet laugh and spread his free hand in a helpless gesture.
"What makes you think I have them?" he asked.
Before Lethe could interrupt again, he continued in the same relaxed tone. "Relax. They're already on their way."
Knox slowly raised the tachi and leveled its tip at Gideon.
"Until your friends arrive," he said, "why don't you put him down and leave him to me?"
Hamiel instinctively looked down at Gideon. She looked innocent, but she wasn't stupid. She immediately understood what Knox meant.
As Hamiel fell silent, Moses slowly released a breath.
"I see." His voice remained as steady as ever. "So that's your objective."
His eyes never left Knox. "Our intelligence suggested there was a high probability Kizen would send someone to investigate these ruins... or recover Gideon. What I didn't expect was for them to send... someone like you."
Knox simply smiled.
"No comment."
After letting the silence linger for a moment, he continued, "That said... I do have a proposal."
Lethe narrowed her eyes.
"A proposal?"
"Simple." Knox's gaze swept across the three of them. "Hand Gideon over to me, and I'll let the three of you walk away."
The mountain wind quietly swept across the plaza as both sides remained where they stood. The silence lingered until Moses finally let out a slow breath.
"So that's how it's going to be."
Golden light gathered around him, while Lethe stepped forward without hiding her holy power in the slightest. Divine energy surged from her body as she glared at Knox.
"Don't be so arrogant just because you managed to toy with us!" Her voice rang across the plaza. "You think you're enough to threaten the three of us all by yourself?"
Knox simply smiled.
Good. Stay here. Keep fighting me while I wait for 'her' to bring the others... and our target... to me.
With this... everything is according to 'keikaku'.
Then suddenly, his figure blurred.
One moment he had been standing several meters away.
The next, he was already beside Moses.
"!!!"
Before his body could even react, Knox twisted his waist and drove his right leg forward with frightening precision, delivering the legendary 'Char Kick'. For a fleeting instant, the scene looked strikingly similar to the famous moment when Char Aznable's crimson Zaku II sent Amuro Ray's Gundam flying during their very first battle.
BOOOOM!!
The impact detonated across the plaza.
Moses's body shot through the air like a cannonball, crashing through one ancient pillar after another as shattered stone exploded across the ruins.
Meanwhile...
Knox landed lightly where Moses had been standing only a heartbeat earlier.
He lowered his gaze toward the unconscious Gideon before raising his left hand.
A thin layer of ice immediately spread across Gideon's body, harmlessly freezing him in place.
Only after making sure his prize wasn't going anywhere did Knox slowly turn around to face the remaining two girls.
"Now then..." His voice remained calm.
Knox slowly raised the tachi, the tip coming to rest between Lethe and Hamiel.
"Let me see..."
"...the strength of the Holy Federation's new stars!"