“A skillstick that allows one to peer back into the past, huh?” Dia closed her eyes and tried to sift through her memory. “Hmm.”

“It’s called Bygone Mirage,” Nero replied. “I’m told that this skill comes from some really important person from the Grandis capital, a skill that the Lord Protector of the Grandis Empire has. What’s a Lord Protector?”

“The top guardsman of the Grandis Empire,” Dia replied. “Probably.”

“Top guardsman of an entire nation, huh?” Nero chuckled. “Not sure why such a personage would have a non-combat skill like Bygone Mirage, though.”

Dia laughed, her mind whirling. She, obviously, had heard of Protector Albarea’s name before, but she didn’t know about him possessing such a skill. Like Nero said, why would the foremost protector of the Emperor have a non-combat skill? Or was it a skill that could be called unique, one of its kind? Whatever the case, Nero’s plan was rather simple. He would empower Bygone Mirage with his overwhelming mana pool and force out the clearest mirage of the devastation that had happened hours ago.

She glanced at the shimmering field of dying lunar light and shivered. The death of the Moon Emissary had resulted in the contamination of a huge area with the fey, tri-coloured light of the three Moons. Dia didn’t know what the light did, but her senses were screeching at her to not step into the illuminated areas. If she did…something would change forever.

“Don’t step in that,” Dia muttered.

“Yeah.” Nero stared at the rippling, tri-coloured field of light. “Caroline told me so. The scout sent by Count Daybreak stepped into that…and that’s why we’re here now.”

“What happened to that scout?”

“Moons if I knew,” Nero replied. “But from Caroline’s tone, it didn’t seem pretty. She warned me five times to not enter it, and told me that if you showed any signs of wanting to enter, I’m allowed to break your limbs.”

“…You could have left that last bit out, really,” Dia replied.

“I’m an honest person,” Nero replied. “Alright. Just watch over me and prepare to drive the mana wagon away if anyone comes after us in a hurry. My Mana Control Proficiency is only at Initiate. I’m going to leak out a lot of mana.”

He paused. “Don’t look at me like that, show-off.”

“What?” Dia shook her head. “I’m not looking down on you, okay? You’re younger than me. And besides, other than Claud, none of the others have an Intermediate Mana Control Proficiency either. There’s really nothing for me to look down on, since I’ll be looking down on the others too.”

“Sounds like you’re treating us all equally,” Nero replied.

“Well, you are one of the Moon Lords,” Dia replied. “Right? That’s why you’re here and doing fieldwork with me today.”

“…True.” He stuck his nose in the air. “I’m the most powerful member of the Moon Lords, hoho. In times of crisis, I’ll smack the offending parties into meat paste. Be thankful!”

“That’s totally not you.”

Nero shivered a moment later. “I think I need to down some of Schwarz’s alcohol first before I do anything as showy as that.”

“Not now,” Dia replied. “Complete your job and we’ll go back. Once we’re back in Moon Mansion, you can drink to your heart’s content. Schwarz will even pour out the booze for you.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” The smile on Nero’s face vanished. “Time to get to work.”

He took out a skillstick and a skillslip. “With my enhancement, the mirage we see will have a far greater range and far greater clarity. It won’t reproduce the damage, but it will recreate the atmosphere, the oppression that one would feel when vast amounts of mana are mobilised. Do not be alarmed.”

“Got it.”

“Alright, I’m done reading the script.” Nero took a deep breath. “Ready yourself. I’m activating the skill now.”

Dia nodded, her body poised to take the frontmost seat of the mana wagon if necessary. If the foot soldiers of the Moons responded to Nero infusing mana into Bygone Mirage, she would drive the mana wagon away and let Nero continue to record the scene.

That was her job.

Mana poured out of Nero as he activated both the skillstick and the skillstrip, and Dia felt her heart skip a beat. The enormous amount of raw energy flooding the area could easily tear apart paper just by moving, but fortunately, most of the energy was directed into the skillstick. Nero’s body was shimmering faintly, a sigh that he just mobilising a bit more mana than he could wield skilfully, which was why the mana pouring out of him wasn’t dealing any damage to Dia yet.

“It’s beginning!” Nero shouted. “Don’t be scared, whatever happens next! And be on the look—”

Night changed to day. The sun illuminated the area all around her, and for a moment, the grass seemed to take on a second layer, as Bygone Mirage projected their appearance in the daytime over their current appearances. At the spot where the tri-coloured field of light shimmered were a sea of tri-coloured beings, small yet threatening.

A gigantic, tri-coloured knight stood in the middle. A pillar of light emanated upwards from its very form, and Dia could keenly feel its quiet, heavy presence, which reminded her of a still lake.

The aura emanating from the Moon Emissary rippled a moment later as the air from beyond the horizon seemed to ripple and contort. Even in their current location, Dia could feel the aberration, the oscillating mass of energy, but when she looked towards the western horizon, there was nothing once more. That overpowering presence that demanded obedience had vanished in that infinitesimal moment of its descent, but…

“Impossible!” Nero muttered. “There’s something building up, but I can’t feel it!”

“It’s there, and yet not there.” Dia felt shivers crawl down her spine. “What’s going on — watch out!”

Without warning, a sky-spanning lance of azure light appeared out of nowhere, a lance so huge, so wide that it blotted out half the sky. Cutting a perfect arc, the deadly spear shot directly at Dia and Nero’s current location, hissing past them narrowly.

The air hissed as the lance passed by, and the ground rumbled madly a second later. Dia and Nero turned to look at the Moon Emissary and its forces, which was now drowning in a conflagration of silvery azure light.

“The Moon Emissary…” Nero gulped.

The giant spear had torn through the Moon Emissary, in a manner that reminded Dia of the murders back at Nachtville. However, the sheer thickness of the spear had completely obliterated its upper half, leaving behind its lower body, which fell to its knees and exploded in tri-coloured light a moment later.

“O Lord.” Nero clasped his hands together. “Who did this?”

Dia didn’t answer his question…and she had a feeling that Nero wasn't asking her either. The azure spear, which had been embedded into the ground, began to evaporate, and within seconds, it had vanished from existence, leaving behind no evidence that an incredible being had killed an Emissary of the Moons.

“Nero?” Dia asked.

“I’m alright,” he replied, clutching on to a crystal. “I’m just…”

He raised his right hand, which was trembling madly. “I’m scared. What manner of being could do that? It’s funny. I, the Holy Son of the Black Church, a tetra-folder…I’m supposed to be courageous and dauntless, but against this…what am I?”

Dia gripped her fist. “If that attack was directed at Licencia…”

“We’ll probably perish like the Moon Emissary,” Nero replied. “We’re all ants in front of that power. That power…it shouldn’t exist. Not even penta-folders can wield that energy, and if they tried…”

“On what basis do you make that claim?” Dia asked.

“Are you patronising me?” Nero shook his head, storing the crystal away. “No, I simply saw a penta-folder make an all-out move before. That’s why I have a basis of comparison.”

He hugged himself. “How can the light of the firefly contend against the sun?”

Dia looked at Nero. She too was shivering, but to her, both a tetra-folder and that sky-spanning lance of light could swat her into non-existence either way. This was the benefit of not knowing, in other words.

“Y-you take a break fast,” Dia replied. “Don’t you need to preserve that visual recording? You can work on that. I’ll bring us back home.”

Nero nodded, his movements wooden and numb. “Sorry. I’m quite useless after all, aren’t I?”

“Well, you had the disadvantage of knowing more,” Dia replied, plopping down on the frontmost seat. Her mana began to stir a moment later, and as she stepped down on the pedal to move, it started to trickle out of her body bit by bit.

For some reason, she could sense her mana more keenly now. Was it the shock of watching that lance descend? She didn’t know, but something in her seemed more vigorous, more sensitive.

Checking on Nero once more, she focused her mind on driving the mana wagon. The night was long, and the things they had witnessed had shocked the two of them to the bones.

Driving back in a safe manner seemed like the minimum requirement to sooth their nerves now.