Prologue - Memory of Pledge–
At her childhood, Yoruka happened to overhear that the content of dream was something that one didn"t remember.
Even so, she believed that she was the type who remembered her dream.
She also knew that she didn"t see the dream of her deceased little brother at all.
「──Nice to meet you. How do you feel waking up, oh captured princess?」
*Blink*, Yoruka was awakened with those words.
A few months ago──at the underground of a ruined building in a solitary island without any name near Ries Island, there was such strange s.p.a.ce there.
It was a cubicle that was called a Podcoc.o.o.n.
The container where she was put in that looked like a large coffin made from metal.
A thick forest could be seen from the room"s window. Yoruka recalled that she was being confined in this uninhabited place that was like a penal colony.
She surrendered to Arcadia Empire and exchanged master and servant contract with the old empire.
And then, the strange three-dimensional image that was projected before her.
A girl clad in dangerous atmosphere, possessing asymmetrically colored eyes and silver hair.
「My name is Hayes. Your savior who awakened you from those guys.」
The girl said that she had connection with Arcadia Empire that had already been destroyed, but she wasn"t directly involved with them.
After the girl revealed her ident.i.ty like that, she explained to her simply the way to use the facility.
This island was under the management of a n.o.ble called Dobar, and in a few days he would show his face to give order to Yoruka.
After that, one of Yoruka"s eyes was strengthened with a surgical procedure that was accompanied with agony called Baptism, and she continued training in that facility.
After she slept here due to the old empire"s hand, she understood that several years had pa.s.sed while her memory and body were preserved as they were.
And then──about how the bloodline of Arcadia Empire that she should serve still hadn"t gone extinct.
「I"ll leave for a while after this. ──But, before that there is one thing I want to ask.」
The girl in the three dimensional image who introduced herself as Hayes asked her with a fearless smile.
「Why didn"t you let go of that thing even while sleeping? Did you want to kill someone? Or perhaps you were scared of being defenseless?」
She was sleeping naked, but it was only the Sword Device of Yato no Kami that she didn"t let go from her hand even while sleeping.
She couldn"t think of any particular reason about why she did that.
But, she understood instinctually.
She was branded with the mark as failure as the princess of the nation of Koto and as a human, but it was only her talent in battle that was recognized and granted her strength.
This was the only thing she could lean on, what herself who didn"t possess anything could feel attachment to.
「It"s neither.」
That was why, Yoruka told her true feeling toward that girl in the three dimensional image.
Most likely, this was her only love that no one would be able to understand.
That this was the only thing that she could feel pleased about when she held no interest toward human and unable to feel concern for them.
Till the end she didn"t understand why her little brother tried to save her who was abandoned as something inhuman.
Was it pity due to the blood they shared as siblings?
Or perhaps, was it because of her value as combat force?
Either was fine.
「──No, this is something necessary for me, so I can be me.」
Yoruka smiled without hesitation. The girl in three dimensional image grinned widely and erased the image.
After that Yoruka trained alone waiting for her turn until the man called Dobar appeared in the island.
And then, when she displayed her strength to Dobar who finally arrived, he secretly formed a plan and brought her to Ries Island without informing Hayes.
After that she encountered Airi in the Ark and reached this point of time.
When her little brother who approached her with human heart and hope died, Yoruka"s emotion was completely unmoved.
Even when she knew that the old empire was destroyed, it didn"t change.
Lux was treating her as human, and he was also acting considerate to her with her Academy life.
But, while she was happy of her master"s feeling, she also felt how she didn"t have anything to repay him.
She who wasn"t a human had nothing of equivalent value that she could give as repayment for their feeling.
「This time for sure, I will accomplish my duty as tool without fail.」
──And then, the time was right now.
Within the Academy"s ground, at the practice ground in midnight.
Yoruka who was wearing Yato no Kami talked to herself while looking up at the moon.
Unprecedented danger and fate were still approaching Lux.
She who was unable to save her little brother and the old empire from ruin would finally be able to accomplish her long-cherished desire.
She would kill the enemy as Lux"s sword. If her body broke protecting him, then her mission would end.
「──I won"t commit a failure for the second time, Aruji-sama.」
A gentle smile was surfacing on the lips of the girl who was hiding such resolve in her heart.