Cornered!

The white figure was flying further away.

"Let's go!" Noel shouted and the knights were all about to give chase but...

"Wait. Don't leave the room", Amelia said and blocked the exit.

"What are you doing, Amelia? Spade Echo's going to get away", Temma asked.

"Even if we give chase to that, by the time we reach the ground because of the long staircase, that thing would be gone already. We don't even have Floaters on standby", she answered.

"But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try", Noel told her.

"Nah. There's no need to chase after it if we want to catch Spade Echo", Amelia grinned.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"It's all part of her plan... Right, Spade Echo?!" she pointed at a Peafowl knight.

"Me?" the knight pointed at herself.

"I was disappointed by how simple your code was compared to the previous one... However, you can look at the "When the soldier digs the earth" in another way", she said.

"Another way?" Reine asked.

"I deduced the Jack of Spades from that message... But if you think about the phrase "digging the earth", you could think about digging graves. In other words, it could mean that a soldier was digging the grave of this case. Spade Echo would disguise as a knight and make us fail in guarding the Red Rose", Amelia explained.

"But what makes you say it's me? Spade Echo could be anyone", the knight argued.

"That's right. Why would you doubt Sheila? She's an outstanding knight", another Peafowl knight asked.

"That's true... When I realized the code's second meaning, I had to suspect every knight here. So I'll demonstrate it. Mikage", she called my name.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Take a good long look at her. Make sure to remember her face", Amelia instructed.

I did what she told me. The knight had brown hair and green eyes. I burned her face in my mind.

"Now look away and describe her", Amelia said.

I turned my head away and was about to describe the knight. But I couldn't remember anything about her. Even if I took a good long look at her facial features, all I could remember was a blurry image.

"I can't describe her", I gave up after trying real hard to think.

"I encourage everyone to try it too. Take a good long look at her face and then try to describe her when you look away", Amelia said.

"This is strange. Why can't I remember her face?" Noel wondered and everyone murmured in agreement.

"I see... It's because of Spade Echo's artifact, isn't it?" Temma asked.

"Yes. Spade Echo uses a rare artifact that makes people forget her face even if they see her. That's why she doesn't use a mask or wear anything that would hide her identity. So when I suspected the knights, I looked for someone who's face I couldn't remember and it just happened to be you!" Amelia pointed at the knight again.

It was a dangerous situation for Spade Echo. The door leading to the staircase was blocked and there were no other exits. She couldn't possibly overpower everyone here. It was the ideal situation to catch her...

Until an eerie feeling washed over me.

One of the walls of the tower crumbled as something crashed into it. It was a huge bird made up of darkness. Riding on its back was a man who had bandages wrapped around him.

"What's going on?!" Noel asked.

Several humanoid shape shadows with claws formed from the darkness of the bird.

"Mikage Kamishiro... I have come for you", the bandaged man said and landed on the floor.

"Oh come on! Why do you have to attack just when I was about to capture Spade Echo?!" Amelia complained.

The humanoid shadows attacked the knights and the room was chaotic. Amelia stood by the doorway to prevent Spade Echo from fleeing while everyone was ready for combat.

"I thought this was a no-magic zone?" I asked.

"It's supposed to be that way... We have no choice but to fight using swords", Temma said and slashed at a shadow.

Pekora and Moona were also busy fighting.

The bandaged man walked towards me as several dark balls hovered above him.

"If you come with me quietly, I will let everyone here live", he said.

(Anya... Can I use magic?) I asked her.

(You're wondering because of what Reine told you?)

(Yeah... Also, that bandaged man can use magic despite the anti-magic barrier. I'm thinking I could do the same.)

(Let's try it.)

"Nope. I'll defeat you myself!" I unsheathed my kris sword,

"A foolish response", the dark balls launched towards me.

My shadow rose up and created a wall between us. The dark balls hit the shadow wall and exploded.

"You can use magic?!" Temma asked.

"Somehow", I answered.

I then charged at the bandaged man and swung my sword. He made his shadow block it.

"As expected, you are indeed related to the Primordial Dark", he said.

"What makes you say that?" I asked him.

"I will let you in on a little secret. Anti-magic barriers are useless when you tap on the bottomless power of the Primordial Dark."

More balls of darkness headed towards me and I dodged it. I was standing near the hole in the wall. It was a long way down and I didn't want to fall.

But of course, I fell anyway when a piece of the floor crumbled and I lost balance.

"Mikage!" Amelia screamed.

A brown-haired girl jumped after me and then caught me. Her wig came off revealing pink hair and her knight outfit came off and was replaced with frilly white-pink outfit.

"Hold on tight", she told me and wings appeared on her back.

We were flying in the air and getting away from the chaos.

"Spade Echo?! Why?" I asked her.

"I'm a courteous thief. As much as possible, I don't want anyone to get hurt in my heists. Although this one was too much of a failure because of the sudden interruptions", she answered.

"Look out!" I shouted when I saw a dark ball heading towards us.

Spade Echo didn't dodge in time and the dark ball expanded and swallowed us.