Chapter 12: Intense Cold Trial
At 6,000 meter altitude, there is a group who are on their way to Edelweiss’ place in order to get the reward money from taking down an international criminal. One of the people in the group wonders if they can win, but another one says that they have almost 50 people and if they join with those who are coming later it will be over 100 people. Another person in the group also says that the story of Edelweiss annihilating an entire army must be an exaggeration, but even so they don’t plan on underestimating her. They have gathered well-known Blazers and each has the power of a C-rank Blazer at least. This group is the first one to attack Edelweiss with these many Blazers since not all of the people in the army that Edelweiss took down in the past were all Blazers. Once they almost arrive at a camp site, they spot a girl there. The girl suddenly manifests a sword that’s emitting flame and creates a wall of fire in front of the group. They recognize the girl as the ‘Crimson Princess’, Stella Vermillion, and asks her what she’s doing in a place like this. Stella replies that she’s here to go after Edelweiss like them but the condition to have a match with her is to take down everyone in the group. She apologizes and says that if they can’t beat her then they can’t beat Edelweiss either. Stella then creates another a wall of fire in front of them by firing ‘Dragon Fang’. The group then manifests their devices and disperses the wall of fire. They then try to slash at her but Stella flies to the sky with her wings of fire. Stella then uses ‘Broken Arrow’, firing countless fireballs from the sky which take down almost half of the enemies. Some of the enemies also use their abilities to fly but Stella takes them down one by one. Ascarid and Tatara are watching from a high place above the camp site, but Ikki is nowhere near because there is something that Edelweiss wants to talk with him and so she invited him into her home.
As shown in a pic, Edelweiss is holding an apple pie that she just took out of an oven while wearing an apron and oven mitts, and says it was baked to the right condition while Ikki is sitting at a table in a living room. Edelweiss puts the pie on the table and tells Ikki to enjoy it along with the cookies and cake as much as he wants. Ikki thanks her but is slightly bothered by the fact he is receiving a warm welcome from the world’s strongest swordsman who is also wearing an apron. Edelweiss seeing Ikki’s expression asks if he’s not good with sweets. Ikki replies they all look delicious but he’s not sure which one to start with. Edelweiss says he should start with the apple pie because there is no food in this world that can beat a freshly baked apple pie. Ikki tries the pie and then says it is really delicious that it is the best apple pie he ever had. Edelweiss says her grandmother taught her and that Calvados was added as hidden flavor, which the spiciness and bitterness of the brandy when mixed with the cooked sweet apples create a rich sweet flavor. Ikki then tries chocolate cookies and vanilla with orange peel cookies, both having the acidity of Kona coffee. Ikki is surprised the food are all delicious and this causes his image of Edelweiss to have changed a lot now. Edelweiss then asks if there is something on her mouth because Ikki has kept staring at her face. Ikki replies he just thinks that it looks like Edelweiss is having fun. This causes her white face to turn red and she then apologizes for showing something shameful. She says she had become very excited because making sweets is her hobby and she rarely has guests that she can offer her sweets to. She also says that she doesn’t have many friends and not married yet despite already at a mature age. She makes a dry laugh with a distant look in her eyes while saying it, which is a very painful sight. Ikki looks around the living room to find something that he can use to change the topic and then sees two picture frames on a shelf. One of them shows a photo of Edelweiss with her family when she was a kid, but the other is placed face down which Ikki thinks it’s something Edelweiss doesn’t want to show to other people. Ikki then asks Edelweiss why she chose to go on the path of swordsmanship. She replies that it was in order to go on a diet. Edelweiss has liked making sweets since she was a kid and she also like eating them which caused her to become fat. Her parents left her under the care of a Japanese living near their home and taught swordsmanship, so that she could exercise. Ikki is surprised and Edelweiss adds that she was born into a normal happy family and was raised normally. She doesn’t even know what sort of personal talent that she possesses and she is envious of Ikki and Stella because they know for what purpose they wield their own swords. Edelweiss is still searching for the reason why she wields her sword and being born with such power, in other words her chivalry.
After Ikki finishes his food, Edelweiss says that she invited him into her house so that she could thank him for what he did for Amane Shinomiya. Edelweiss was the one who introduced Amane to Rebellion and when she found him it looked like he didn’t want to live in the light side of the world. Ikki says that it’s amazing that Edelweiss was able to get close to Amane in that condition because he could have refused to meet with her using his ability. Edelweiss replies it was not difficult to resist his ability to make wishes come true because Desperados are independent to the cause and effect in this world and her ability is also a causation manipulation type. Even so, all she could do was giving Amane a place to live and preventing him from destroying himself and his surroundings. Ikki however was able to save Amane and Edelweiss thanks him for that. Ikki says it was because of his chivalry but Edelweiss can do one thing for him if she feels indebted. Stella is currently working in order to become stronger and Ikki wants to do the same so that he can also protect Stella’s hometown. Ikki asks Edelweiss to train him in swordsmanship but she says that it’s not necessary. After watching Ikki and Stella’s match, Edelweiss can tell that there is not much gap between her sword skills and Ikki’s. Their sword skills are already on superhuman level and so the rate of improvement would be lower. Even if Ikki’s sword skills are on Edelweiss’ level, the amount of improvement he gets won’t help much in his fight against Or-Gaule’s group. The sword technique Ikki is using may be an imitation of Edelweiss’ but it is becoming his own original technique and so it is unreasonable to try to match hers now. Thus, Edelweiss should train Ikki in something else that is definitely lacking. She then says she will take him to her treasured training spot.
Ikki and Edelweiss are at 9,000 meters altitude, on their way to the top of the mountain which can only be reached by rock climbing. After two hours of climbing, Ikki and Edelweiss finally reach the top. It is the highest place on Earth with an altitude of 9,350 meters. The place is made of permafrost and is always below freezing temperature with cold wind blowing. Edelweiss then says Ikki’s sword skills are near perfection but the way he uses his mana is still immature and far from perfection. Ikki’s mana control is wonderful that despite his low amount of mana he is able to use it to raise his physical capabilities up to tens or hundreds of times more. But it is still not enough which he can’t even construct something with his mana and if he did he would run out of mana fast. Edelweiss then stands near a pointed tip and tells Ikki to pay attention as her body is emitting white magic light which resembles the state of Ikki’s ‘Itto Shura’. She explains that mana resembles flame and its raging appearance is caused by energy loss. Flames that burn quietly like blue flames are very powerful, and the same principle can be applied for mana. Edelweiss then causes the light covering her body becoming faint while explaining that it’s important that mana doesn’t get burn out too much so that it can be utilized to the maximum within the body. It’s also pointless if Ikki is too focused on mana control, resulting in the accuracy of his movements to drop. Ikki has to be able to control his mana better while maintaining the same physical capabilities as before. Normally it’s impossible to learn in just 6 days, but it can be done at where they are now. Edelweiss whose body is covered in mana then does a handstand on the pointed tip using only one index finger. She says if Ikki can maintain this balance for one hour then he can master performing advanced mana control and body control both at the same time, rapidly extending his capabilities. Ikki says he will try doing it and Edelweiss then goes back to her home.
Ikki, now alone, touches the pointed tip that got sharpened from the extreme weather. The tip can tear the skin of Ikki’s finger just from touching it, but if he loosens his mana a little he won’t get cut. Mana is used as fuel for Noble Arts but it is also used as resistance to physical impacts by covering the entire body with it. Ikki then releases his mana from his whole body but concentrates on keeping it back inside his body and not letting it escape. In that state, he does a handstand on the sharp tip using only one finger to support his body like Edelweiss did earlier. However, it is really tough for Ikki to concentrate on maintaining the mana used to shield his body from the sharpness of the tip and maintaining the posture at the same time for one hour while winds are blowing from all directions. Shortly after, Ikki is unable to maintain mana control and body control both at the same time and as a result his body is blown away to the sky. He prevents his body from falling to the ground by thrusting ‘Intetsu’ into the rock wall. Ikki is frustrated because he didn’t even last a minute. But if he succeeds in this training he might be able to regulate his ‘Itto Shura’ mana during battle. The mana that would just end up dispersing before can now be applied to his blade instead. If he is able to achieve this then his Noble Art will evolve entirely, even making his ‘Itto Shura’ to have the powerful effects of ‘Itto Rasetsu’. Ikki then starts climbing back to the top of the mountain in order to continue the training.
It is now the first night in Edelberg, and back at the camp site Stella is surrounded by 4 men with Ascarid and Tatara watching from a high place. Two of the men who are wearing volleyball uniforms create balls of light in the shape of volleyball and spike the balls towards Stella. The resulting explosion causes Stella to stagger. Another of them who is wearing a soccer uniform fires a soccer ball that strikes Stella’s abdomen and to Stella it feels like being hit by over 100 kg iron ball. Stella then uses ‘Bahamut Howl’, but the heat wave disappears the moment it touches the men. The volleyball men spike their balls at Stella again but she dodges by jumping upwards. At that moment, another of the men wearing a baseball uniform hits a magic ball with his bat. The ball creates an explosion when it hits Stella and she is blown away almost 10 meters. She manages to reposition her body mid-air and kicks a rock wall to launch a thrust with her sword at the man with the bat. However, the thrust was repelled by an invisible force. Stella can’t understand why all of her attacks had no effect and one of the men says unsportsmanlike actions are not allowed. Since morning, Stella has been fighting straight ahead against over 50 people that were gathered to fight Edelweiss and so it is natural she would be exhausted already especially when her dragon metabolism consumes a lot of calories. Ascarid says Stella’s opponents are probably using a causation manipulation type ability that prevents unsportsmanlike moves such as lethal sword movements or burning moves, but Stella’s too exhausted to realize this. At this rate, Stella will run out of mana used to protect her body. ‘Rule of Grace’ prohibits anyone helping Stella, so Ascarid plans on knocking Stella out and bringing her back to Vermillion. Tatara is angry because she wants to see Stella getting humiliated from being beaten up by someone so strong like Edelweiss. Tatara then screams to Stella, telling her to use her head and ball games are not the only kinds of sports. Stella then launches an open hand strike on the face of one of the enemies, blowing him 300 meters away. She can now deal damages if she uses attacks that resemble movements used in sports. The remaining enemies then surrender and offer a handshake to Stella. She responds by giving a handshake with all of her strength, and then a huge scream is heard.
After defeating about 100 people in the mountain, Stella has become very exhausted. Ascarid and Tatara who were watching from somewhere earlier are now with Stella. Tatara insults Stella for becoming exhausted just from fighting 100 weak enemies. Stella rebuts that it’s because she hasn’t eaten anything since morning. Stella wants to get some food at the bottom of the mountain but she can’t leave the camp site she’s currently at because she risks letting enemies pass her if she leaves the site. Stella then picks up and eats food belonging to the people that Stella defeated earlier. Stella has recovered enough to generate heat to warm her body, but not enough to fight for the next battle. If enemies on the level of ‘Red Scorpio’ and ‘Wolf Blade’ come, Stella’s fuel tank will be completely empty and it will be the end for her. Tatara says she is irritated seeing Stella fighting like an amateur even though she possesses great talent. Tatara’s face then turns red after she realizes the words that slipped out of her mouth. While embarrassed, she then says that seeing Stella fighting like that is stressing and so she will teach her how to fight in real combats. Causation manipulation type abilities are powerful but they still have holes in them. ‘Rule of Grace’ prohibits anyone lending a hand to Stella, but giving advice should be fine. The fact that Stella is still alive after Tatara gave an advice earlier in the recent fight proves this. Stella is hesitant at first because Edelweiss was kind enough to give her a chance and so she’s not sure if it’s alright to fulfill her condition in such a dishonest way. Tatara then says there is no fairness in real battle and reminds Stella that she came to Edelberg to fulfill her goal with any means necessary. Stella doesn’t deny this and so she asks Tatara to give her some wisdom.
Tatara wonders what she is doing because she doesn’t care what happens to Stella and yet she’s helping her. She starts by saying that there are 3 things Stella does that are largely pointless and thus holding her back. The first one is wasting calories, which Stella’s magic consumes calories and yet she’s using her magic for unnecessary things such as keeping her warm ever since she came to this mountain. This is similar to making a hole in a gas tank and so Stella has to stop. Stella complies by removing her armor of heat which causes her feeling cold, but Tatara says Stella is still consuming calories from shivering. Tatara, Ascarid and Ikki are able to remain fine and don’t even shiver in cold weather despite not having any ability to produce fire. It is because they are professionals that have learned skills to adapt to any environment or situation such as how to control shivering. In order to teach Stella how to do this, Tatara embraces Stella’s head to her chest as shown in one of the pics. Tatara says to listen to her heartbeat, which Stella notices that it’s dropping. If level of life activity drops, metabolism goes down leaving no room for shivering and only minimum life support function to be active. This is a way to control metabolism which energy is saved when the body is in a half-death state similar to mammalian hibernation. But if the heartbeat is too low, it increases the chance of freezing to death. Tatara plans to lead Stella in lowering her heartbeat until it reaches 20 beats per minute, but Stella is already able to do that on her own. Tatara is surprised because she mastered this technique after being left in a snowy mountain along with her dying sisters for one month when she was a kid.
The next day, Tatara says that the second pointless thing that Stella does is the amount of time she wastes. Anyone going to Edelweiss’ home will surely pass through the camp site where Stella is now and so Stella is right to put defensive line here. However, she wastes precious time by doing nothing but waiting until the enemies arrive at the camp site. Then, the group of bikers led by Guile is coming towards the camp site while riding their motorcycles and buggies. Tatara says those men wouldn’t have reached here if Stella had used the wasted time from yesterday more effectively, and Stella’s condition only needs to hold this place for 6 days in order to achieve victory. Stella realizing what Tatara meant then uses ‘Dragon Stamp’, causing cracks on the ground. The cracks reach Guile and the others, and the road they’re on collapses. Guile and the others then tumble down the steep slope from 6,000 meter altitude. Stella only needs to create obstacles when possible and this reduces the amount of time used for fighting. Later, the group from the day before has come back running towards the camp site in order to try take down Stella again. Stella uses ‘Flame Veil’ to give the illusion that the road in front of the incoming group that leads to the camp site had never collapsed. As a result, the group also ends up tumbling down the steep slope. The third pointless thing Stella does is using excessive movements. Stella shouldn’t use too much power when fighting weak opponents. It is most effective to only use excess powers during the most critical moments. During the third day, all of the enemies from the previous days have joined together to form an army of over 100 people and attack Stella again. But this time, Stella easily overwhelms them by using just her swordplay and selecting actions that can obtain maximum results with minimum effort. Ascarid is amazed that Stella is not only controlling her metabolism to adapt to the environment, she is also putting defensive moves and Noble Arts to other uses in order to reduce her dragon metabolism’s calorie consumption. As a result, she is saving her energy to the utmost limit. Tatara says even without her advice this was bound to happen to Stella because she is very talented. On the fourth day, half of the people from the third day go back down the mountain and the remaining men launch a suicide attack but end up failing again. Then on the fifth day, not a single of the previous enemies comes back up to challenge Stella again.
On the night of the fifth day, there is only one night left until the condition to fight Edelweiss is fulfilled. Stella has made an open air bath by gathering snow in a hollow space on the rocks near the camp site and then using her flame to melt the snow and maintain the temperature. Stella, Tatara and Ascarid are taking a bath with Tatara complaining that it looks like a heated stone pot which Stella replies with a pouted face that Tatara didn’t have to enter if she had a problem with it, as shown in one of the colored pics. Tatara also says Stella is wasting her fuel for this but Stella argues that it’s necessary because she’s meeting Ikki tomorrow and as a maiden it’s impossible to meet him while she hasn’t bathed for 5 days.
“Aren’t you worrying about it too much? A guy I caught in a honey trap once liked the smell of sweat.”
“D, d, don’t lump my Ikki with such high-level pervert!”
“Well, so between you two, you’re the one that likes something like that?”
“I, I don’t like it!! I-it’s not like I get on Ikki’s futon when he’s not around!!”
After calming down, Stella wants to thank Tatara by planning on giving her one year worth of chocolates for free. However, Tatara says that she doesn’t like free chocolates very much because it’s her habit. Tatara was born and raised in the house of Abgrund, which has a history of over 1,000 years. Those who were born and accepted into the family received training since they were born in order to become first-rate assassins. They used living materials to train to commit murder, trained in hiding among people, trained to endure torture, and trained to adapt by surviving in a snowy mountain without food and clothes. There were also selections where they killed each other until there was only one person left. All the time was used to become excellent assassins and so they never had any form of amusement. Their meals were controlled with nutritional supplements since they were babies and even their meals were served with poison once every three days. The only thing they enjoyed was getting chocolates as reward for getting jobs done well and so Tatara does not enjoy receiving chocolates for free. Tatara then tells Stella to hand over ‘Dirty Rose’s’ life if she wants to thank her. Stella heard from her mother that Tatara and ‘Dirty Rose’ were from the same organization, but ‘Dirty Rose’ betrayed the organization. Tatara confirms that her parents along with all of her other sisters are dead and she’s the only survivor from Abgrund. She also says that she’s not getting revenge since she doesn’t care about everyone in the family being killed. However, Tatara’s older sister ‘Dirty Rose’ had also killed the clients and so Tatara is taking responsibility in order to restore Abgrund’s credibility. Stella asks why Tatara would go that far even though Tatara should be able to live her life freely now. Tatara replies it’s because she’s a professional and she’s not interested in having a respectable occupation just because her home had been crushed. Tatara has already taken many lives and so it’s already impossible for her to walk on the path of atonement. She doesn’t feel any guilt at all from killing people since she was never taught such morals. As a professional from Abgrund, she can have pride in this line of work. Therefore, Tatara wants to kill ‘Dirty Rose’ and she won’t let anyone interfere. Stella then tells Tatara that if they win they will have a victory party with a huge chocolate cake served which is a special menu. However, if Tatara dies then she will be given a grand funeral with Stella crying for her and to Tatara this would be the worst way to die. Tatara replies with a smile and says that she’s a professional and she won’t make mistakes like an amateur. She also tells Stella to keep her promise regarding the cake.
Stella then asks if Ascarid is really Or-Gaule’s older sister. Ascarid confirms and also says that she’s fighting against Or-Gaule in order to atone for her sin. Or-Gaule and Iris-Gaule were siblings born in an average family. They had a reliable father and a kind mother that ran a small restaurant in a French village. Or-Gaule was liked by many people for having a sociable personality and a talent to become an excellent Blazer. However, he was actually a demon who was able to hide his warped soul and no one noticed until one day. During his 10th birthday party which was held in the village’s chapel, Or-Gaule told everyone that he was the happiest person in the world for being loved by so many people and so he decided to make that day to be the best day ever. He then immediately trapped everyone inside the chapel and immobilized them using his ability, in order to break them one by one. Angry voices, then screams, and finally sounds of people begging for mercy were heard inside the closed chapel. Or-Gaule’s smile during the bloody scene made Ascarid realize that her brother couldn’t have been human. She then says that the police finally came after noticing the villagers had disappeared for a week and at that time she and Or-Gaule were the only ones left alive. Or-Gaule managed to escape and Ascarid was taken under the care of the government. The incident, which was known as ‘La Croix Sanglant (The Bloody Cross)’, was thoroughly concealed because it was so terrible that the ‘Winged Chancellor’ was afraid of its impact on all Blazers’ social positions. Ascarid still remembers the scream and despair of everyone who died, including of her parents who she destroyed with her own hands. She regretted not realizing Or-Gaule’s true nature earlier and so she decided to not allow it to happen again. Or-Gaule has shown himself in person this time which is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Ascarid. She is determined to stop him, which is her reason to fight and to live. Stella then grasps Ascarid’s hand and says that they will work together to defeat Or-Gaule and not let such thing happen again. At the end of the conversation, Tatara is staring towards outside with an expression that looks like she has felt something.
It is 10 minutes earlier and Raab is inside a bar in the village at bottom of the mountain. He tells the people that went back after being defeated by Stella that they should thank her for preventing them into committing suicide by going after Edelweiss. Hearing such insult causes the men to be angry and attack Raab. Kiba who is sitting nearby prefers that they fight outside and so Raab brought them to the village’s square. It only takes just under 10 minutes for Raab to defeat all 50 of them, even though it took Stella half a day to do so at first. Raab and Kiba didn’t climb up the mountain for the past 10 days because they had been accumulating energy through regulation of meals and workouts in a strategy called carb-loading so that they can be in their best conditions when they fight Edelweiss. Raab removes his device ‘Death Stinger’ which is gauntlets that have a long sharp needle coming out of each forearm. He then tells Kiba who had just came outside that he has confirmed he’s at good condition. They then start moving to Edelweiss’s place in order to return the favor from the Baltic Crisis, during which both Raab and Kiba couldn’t even resist Edelweiss’ power of influencing fate. However, they stop at the voice of a girl saying that it’s good to meet such strong people. The girl is in her late teens with dark skin and hair wearing a white prisoner clothes as shown in one of the pics, and her bare feet are shackled with iron balls. Raab and Kiba recognize the girl as Fu Xiaoli, the ‘Taotie’ and one of the ‘Four Xian (immortals)’. Shinryuu (Dragon God) Temple is the place in China where they hold the God of War League, and the 4 Desperados who were the closest to earn the ‘God of War’ title are known as the ‘Four Xian’. Raab says it’s strange for her to be here because she was sentenced to 300 years of imprisonment for violating three of Shinryuu Temple’s law called the ‘Five Prohibitions’. Xiaoli replies that she got bored and so she got out. She also says she has a dream to fulfill even if it means violating the ‘Five Prohibitions’. She asks both Raab and Kiba to fight with her right now since they would do it eventually along the way. Xiaoli manifests her device which is gauntlets with attached pieces of chains and does a fist wrapping salute.
Kiba tells Raab that he will fight her and then unsheathes his device ‘Shimotsuki (month of frost)’. He stabs his sword to the ground, which causes white mist to come out and cover the battlefield. When the mist is cleared, 10 Kiba are present. Kiba is using his Noble Art ‘Mahyou Juuroujin (demon ice ten wolves formation)’, which creates 9 ice clones of him and the clones will keep reviving as long as his real self is not defeated. All the ice clones then attack Xiaoli together. However, Xiaoli is dodging lightning speed slashes even though her movements can be easily followed by Kiba and Raab. Not only the 10 Kiba are unable to even graze her, Xiaoli is destroying the ice clones one by one with her palms, fists and kicks. Xiaoli later destroys an ice clone with her fist, but the destroyed ice turns into water and engulfs her arm. The water turns back into ice again and restrains Xiaoli’s arm. The other ice clones also end up becoming ice shackles that restrain Xiaoli’s limbs, and at that moment Kiba swings his sword down at her in a move called ‘Zeppyou Kassatsugeki (severing ice killing strike)’. Xiaoli breaks the ice restraints but she can’t avoid Kiba’s sword that is coming down on her, and the magic on his sword will freeze her to death if she tries to stop the attack by touching it. However, Xiaoli catches the sword with her bare hands and launches a crushing fist that pierces Kiba’s abdomen. Kiba’s body ends up frozen and crushed, settling the match. Xiaoli then thanks the crushed Kiba for the experience while doing a fist wrapping salute. Raab, who was watching, is confused at Xiaoli using ice ability because it is known that Xiaoli was using an ability to manipulate wind in the previous God of War League 5 years ago. Kiba’s last attack could only be stopped by fire and water abilities and maybe by lightning ability if the user is an expert. However, it’s impossible for wind ability to stop the attack and the wind would just amplify the cold chill.
Raab then manifests his device ‘Death Stinger’ in order to challenge Xiaoli. When she moves closer to him, Raab throws a flash grenade to the ground. Blazers (also called ‘psychics’ in the US and ‘warriors’ in China) wouldn’t use firearms because these weapons are not a threat to their Blazer opponents. However, the light from flash grenades can still pass through Blazers’ magical defenses and thus blinding them. While Xiaoli flinches from the flash, Raab uses ‘Lethal Venom’ which he pierces her with the pointed tip of his device and her body then suffers strong convulsion. ‘Death Stinger’ has the ability to manipulate any kind of poison in existence and the poison used on Xiaoli can kill her. However, Xiaoli ends up fine and says that she didn’t let her guard down because even if her vision was compromised she could still read Raab’s intent. Xiaoli sensed from the kind of bloodlust that Raab was giving off that he just wanted to land a hit on her even if it was just a graze. Thus she figured he was going to attack with the poison on the needle, which was something she would be fine against. Xiaoli then pulls out the needle out of her body and then stabs Raab’s abdomen with her finger. Raab’s whole body becomes numb causing him unable to move at all and he then collapses on the ground. He realizes what Xiaoli’s ability is right before he loses consciousness. After the match is over, Xiaoli asks a landlady in the village to have Kiba and Raab treated. She then says that she should make a little greeting, and so lets out a huge fighting spirit that shakes the mountain. It is felt by Stella and the others who are at 6,000 meters altitude, and Stella can tell that it’s not Edelweiss. Even though she knows that this person is someone of Edelweiss and Or-Gaule’s caliber, Stella does not plan on running away.
Chapter 12: Intense Cold Trial
At 6,000 meter altitude, there is a group who are on their way to Edelweiss’ place in order to get the reward money from taking down an international criminal. One of the people in the group wonders if they can win, but another one says that they have almost 50 people and if they join with those who are coming later it will be over 100 people. Another person in the group also says that the story of Edelweiss annihilating an entire army must be an exaggeration, but even so they don’t plan on underestimating her. They have gathered well-known Blazers and each has the power of a C-rank Blazer at least. This group is the first one to attack Edelweiss with these many Blazers since not all of the people in the army that Edelweiss took down in the past were all Blazers. Once they almost arrive at a camp site, they spot a girl there. The girl suddenly manifests a sword that’s emitting flame and creates a wall of fire in front of the group. They recognize the girl as the ‘Crimson Princess’, Stella Vermillion, and asks her what she’s doing in a place like this. Stella replies that she’s here to go after Edelweiss like them but the condition to have a match with her is to take down everyone in the group. She apologizes and says that if they can’t beat her then they can’t beat Edelweiss either. Stella then creates another a wall of fire in front of them by firing ‘Dragon Fang’. The group then manifests their devices and disperses the wall of fire. They then try to slash at her but Stella flies to the sky with her wings of fire. Stella then uses ‘Broken Arrow’, firing countless fireballs from the sky which take down almost half of the enemies. Some of the enemies also use their abilities to fly but Stella takes them down one by one. Ascarid and Tatara are watching from a high place above the camp site, but Ikki is nowhere near because there is something that Edelweiss wants to talk with him and so she invited him into her home.
As shown in a pic, Edelweiss is holding an apple pie that she just took out of an oven while wearing an apron and oven mitts, and says it was baked to the right condition while Ikki is sitting at a table in a living room. Edelweiss puts the pie on the table and tells Ikki to enjoy it along with the cookies and cake as much as he wants. Ikki thanks her but is slightly bothered by the fact he is receiving a warm welcome from the world’s strongest swordsman who is also wearing an apron. Edelweiss seeing Ikki’s expression asks if he’s not good with sweets. Ikki replies they all look delicious but he’s not sure which one to start with. Edelweiss says he should start with the apple pie because there is no food in this world that can beat a freshly baked apple pie. Ikki tries the pie and then says it is really delicious that it is the best apple pie he ever had. Edelweiss says her grandmother taught her and that Calvados was added as hidden flavor, which the spiciness and bitterness of the brandy when mixed with the cooked sweet apples create a rich sweet flavor. Ikki then tries chocolate cookies and vanilla with orange peel cookies, both having the acidity of Kona coffee. Ikki is surprised the food are all delicious and this causes his image of Edelweiss to have changed a lot now. Edelweiss then asks if there is something on her mouth because Ikki has kept staring at her face. Ikki replies he just thinks that it looks like Edelweiss is having fun. This causes her white face to turn red and she then apologizes for showing something shameful. She says she had become very excited because making sweets is her hobby and she rarely has guests that she can offer her sweets to. She also says that she doesn’t have many friends and not married yet despite already at a mature age. She makes a dry laugh with a distant look in her eyes while saying it, which is a very painful sight. Ikki looks around the living room to find something that he can use to change the topic and then sees two picture frames on a shelf. One of them shows a photo of Edelweiss with her family when she was a kid, but the other is placed face down which Ikki thinks it’s something Edelweiss doesn’t want to show to other people. Ikki then asks Edelweiss why she chose to go on the path of swordsmanship. She replies that it was in order to go on a diet. Edelweiss has liked making sweets since she was a kid and she also like eating them which caused her to become fat. Her parents left her under the care of a Japanese living near their home and taught swordsmanship, so that she could exercise. Ikki is surprised and Edelweiss adds that she was born into a normal happy family and was raised normally. She doesn’t even know what sort of personal talent that she possesses and she is envious of Ikki and Stella because they know for what purpose they wield their own swords. Edelweiss is still searching for the reason why she wields her sword and being born with such power, in other words her chivalry.
After Ikki finishes his food, Edelweiss says that she invited him into her house so that she could thank him for what he did for Amane Shinomiya. Edelweiss was the one who introduced Amane to Rebellion and when she found him it looked like he didn’t want to live in the light side of the world. Ikki says that it’s amazing that Edelweiss was able to get close to Amane in that condition because he could have refused to meet with her using his ability. Edelweiss replies it was not difficult to resist his ability to make wishes come true because Desperados are independent to the cause and effect in this world and her ability is also a causation manipulation type. Even so, all she could do was giving Amane a place to live and preventing him from destroying himself and his surroundings. Ikki however was able to save Amane and Edelweiss thanks him for that. Ikki says it was because of his chivalry but Edelweiss can do one thing for him if she feels indebted. Stella is currently working in order to become stronger and Ikki wants to do the same so that he can also protect Stella’s hometown. Ikki asks Edelweiss to train him in swordsmanship but she says that it’s not necessary. After watching Ikki and Stella’s match, Edelweiss can tell that there is not much gap between her sword skills and Ikki’s. Their sword skills are already on superhuman level and so the rate of improvement would be lower. Even if Ikki’s sword skills are on Edelweiss’ level, the amount of improvement he gets won’t help much in his fight against Or-Gaule’s group. The sword technique Ikki is using may be an imitation of Edelweiss’ but it is becoming his own original technique and so it is unreasonable to try to match hers now. Thus, Edelweiss should train Ikki in something else that is definitely lacking. She then says she will take him to her treasured training spot.
Ikki and Edelweiss are at 9,000 meters altitude, on their way to the top of the mountain which can only be reached by rock climbing. After two hours of climbing, Ikki and Edelweiss finally reach the top. It is the highest place on Earth with an altitude of 9,350 meters. The place is made of permafrost and is always below freezing temperature with cold wind blowing. Edelweiss then says Ikki’s sword skills are near perfection but the way he uses his mana is still immature and far from perfection. Ikki’s mana control is wonderful that despite his low amount of mana he is able to use it to raise his physical capabilities up to tens or hundreds of times more. But it is still not enough which he can’t even construct something with his mana and if he did he would run out of mana fast. Edelweiss then stands near a pointed tip and tells Ikki to pay attention as her body is emitting white magic light which resembles the state of Ikki’s ‘Itto Shura’. She explains that mana resembles flame and its raging appearance is caused by energy loss. Flames that burn quietly like blue flames are very powerful, and the same principle can be applied for mana. Edelweiss then causes the light covering her body becoming faint while explaining that it’s important that mana doesn’t get burn out too much so that it can be utilized to the maximum within the body. It’s also pointless if Ikki is too focused on mana control, resulting in the accuracy of his movements to drop. Ikki has to be able to control his mana better while maintaining the same physical capabilities as before. Normally it’s impossible to learn in just 6 days, but it can be done at where they are now. Edelweiss whose body is covered in mana then does a handstand on the pointed tip using only one index finger. She says if Ikki can maintain this balance for one hour then he can master performing advanced mana control and body control both at the same time, rapidly extending his capabilities. Ikki says he will try doing it and Edelweiss then goes back to her home.
Ikki, now alone, touches the pointed tip that got sharpened from the extreme weather. The tip can tear the skin of Ikki’s finger just from touching it, but if he loosens his mana a little he won’t get cut. Mana is used as fuel for Noble Arts but it is also used as resistance to physical impacts by covering the entire body with it. Ikki then releases his mana from his whole body but concentrates on keeping it back inside his body and not letting it escape. In that state, he does a handstand on the sharp tip using only one finger to support his body like Edelweiss did earlier. However, it is really tough for Ikki to concentrate on maintaining the mana used to shield his body from the sharpness of the tip and maintaining the posture at the same time for one hour while winds are blowing from all directions. Shortly after, Ikki is unable to maintain mana control and body control both at the same time and as a result his body is blown away to the sky. He prevents his body from falling to the ground by thrusting ‘Intetsu’ into the rock wall. Ikki is frustrated because he didn’t even last a minute. But if he succeeds in this training he might be able to regulate his ‘Itto Shura’ mana during battle. The mana that would just end up dispersing before can now be applied to his blade instead. If he is able to achieve this then his Noble Art will evolve entirely, even making his ‘Itto Shura’ to have the powerful effects of ‘Itto Rasetsu’. Ikki then starts climbing back to the top of the mountain in order to continue the training.
It is now the first night in Edelberg, and back at the camp site Stella is surrounded by 4 men with Ascarid and Tatara watching from a high place. Two of the men who are wearing volleyball uniforms create balls of light in the shape of volleyball and spike the balls towards Stella. The resulting explosion causes Stella to stagger. Another of them who is wearing a soccer uniform fires a soccer ball that strikes Stella’s abdomen and to Stella it feels like being hit by over 100 kg iron ball. Stella then uses ‘Bahamut Howl’, but the heat wave disappears the moment it touches the men. The volleyball men spike their balls at Stella again but she dodges by jumping upwards. At that moment, another of the men wearing a baseball uniform hits a magic ball with his bat. The ball creates an explosion when it hits Stella and she is blown away almost 10 meters. She manages to reposition her body mid-air and kicks a rock wall to launch a thrust with her sword at the man with the bat. However, the thrust was repelled by an invisible force. Stella can’t understand why all of her attacks had no effect and one of the men says unsportsmanlike actions are not allowed. Since morning, Stella has been fighting straight ahead against over 50 people that were gathered to fight Edelweiss and so it is natural she would be exhausted already especially when her dragon metabolism consumes a lot of calories. Ascarid says Stella’s opponents are probably using a causation manipulation type ability that prevents unsportsmanlike moves such as lethal sword movements or burning moves, but Stella’s too exhausted to realize this. At this rate, Stella will run out of mana used to protect her body. ‘Rule of Grace’ prohibits anyone helping Stella, so Ascarid plans on knocking Stella out and bringing her back to Vermillion. Tatara is angry because she wants to see Stella getting humiliated from being beaten up by someone so strong like Edelweiss. Tatara then screams to Stella, telling her to use her head and ball games are not the only kinds of sports. Stella then launches an open hand strike on the face of one of the enemies, blowing him 300 meters away. She can now deal damages if she uses attacks that resemble movements used in sports. The remaining enemies then surrender and offer a handshake to Stella. She responds by giving a handshake with all of her strength, and then a huge scream is heard.
After defeating about 100 people in the mountain, Stella has become very exhausted. Ascarid and Tatara who were watching from somewhere earlier are now with Stella. Tatara insults Stella for becoming exhausted just from fighting 100 weak enemies. Stella rebuts that it’s because she hasn’t eaten anything since morning. Stella wants to get some food at the bottom of the mountain but she can’t leave the camp site she’s currently at because she risks letting enemies pass her if she leaves the site. Stella then picks up and eats food belonging to the people that Stella defeated earlier. Stella has recovered enough to generate heat to warm her body, but not enough to fight for the next battle. If enemies on the level of ‘Red Scorpio’ and ‘Wolf Blade’ come, Stella’s fuel tank will be completely empty and it will be the end for her. Tatara says she is irritated seeing Stella fighting like an amateur even though she possesses great talent. Tatara’s face then turns red after she realizes the words that slipped out of her mouth. While embarrassed, she then says that seeing Stella fighting like that is stressing and so she will teach her how to fight in real combats. Causation manipulation type abilities are powerful but they still have holes in them. ‘Rule of Grace’ prohibits anyone lending a hand to Stella, but giving advice should be fine. The fact that Stella is still alive after Tatara gave an advice earlier in the recent fight proves this. Stella is hesitant at first because Edelweiss was kind enough to give her a chance and so she’s not sure if it’s alright to fulfill her condition in such a dishonest way. Tatara then says there is no fairness in real battle and reminds Stella that she came to Edelberg to fulfill her goal with any means necessary. Stella doesn’t deny this and so she asks Tatara to give her some wisdom.
Tatara wonders what she is doing because she doesn’t care what happens to Stella and yet she’s helping her. She starts by saying that there are 3 things Stella does that are largely pointless and thus holding her back. The first one is wasting calories, which Stella’s magic consumes calories and yet she’s using her magic for unnecessary things such as keeping her warm ever since she came to this mountain. This is similar to making a hole in a gas tank and so Stella has to stop. Stella complies by removing her armor of heat which causes her feeling cold, but Tatara says Stella is still consuming calories from shivering. Tatara, Ascarid and Ikki are able to remain fine and don’t even shiver in cold weather despite not having any ability to produce fire. It is because they are professionals that have learned skills to adapt to any environment or situation such as how to control shivering. In order to teach Stella how to do this, Tatara embraces Stella’s head to her chest as shown in one of the pics. Tatara says to listen to her heartbeat, which Stella notices that it’s dropping. If level of life activity drops, metabolism goes down leaving no room for shivering and only minimum life support function to be active. This is a way to control metabolism which energy is saved when the body is in a half-death state similar to mammalian hibernation. But if the heartbeat is too low, it increases the chance of freezing to death. Tatara plans to lead Stella in lowering her heartbeat until it reaches 20 beats per minute, but Stella is already able to do that on her own. Tatara is surprised because she mastered this technique after being left in a snowy mountain along with her dying sisters for one month when she was a kid.
The next day, Tatara says that the second pointless thing that Stella does is the amount of time she wastes. Anyone going to Edelweiss’ home will surely pass through the camp site where Stella is now and so Stella is right to put defensive line here. However, she wastes precious time by doing nothing but waiting until the enemies arrive at the camp site. Then, the group of bikers led by Guile is coming towards the camp site while riding their motorcycles and buggies. Tatara says those men wouldn’t have reached here if Stella had used the wasted time from yesterday more effectively, and Stella’s condition only needs to hold this place for 6 days in order to achieve victory. Stella realizing what Tatara meant then uses ‘Dragon Stamp’, causing cracks on the ground. The cracks reach Guile and the others, and the road they’re on collapses. Guile and the others then tumble down the steep slope from 6,000 meter altitude. Stella only needs to create obstacles when possible and this reduces the amount of time used for fighting. Later, the group from the day before has come back running towards the camp site in order to try take down Stella again. Stella uses ‘Flame Veil’ to give the illusion that the road in front of the incoming group that leads to the camp site had never collapsed. As a result, the group also ends up tumbling down the steep slope. The third pointless thing Stella does is using excessive movements. Stella shouldn’t use too much power when fighting weak opponents. It is most effective to only use excess powers during the most critical moments. During the third day, all of the enemies from the previous days have joined together to form an army of over 100 people and attack Stella again. But this time, Stella easily overwhelms them by using just her swordplay and selecting actions that can obtain maximum results with minimum effort. Ascarid is amazed that Stella is not only controlling her metabolism to adapt to the environment, she is also putting defensive moves and Noble Arts to other uses in order to reduce her dragon metabolism’s calorie consumption. As a result, she is saving her energy to the utmost limit. Tatara says even without her advice this was bound to happen to Stella because she is very talented. On the fourth day, half of the people from the third day go back down the mountain and the remaining men launch a suicide attack but end up failing again. Then on the fifth day, not a single of the previous enemies comes back up to challenge Stella again.
On the night of the fifth day, there is only one night left until the condition to fight Edelweiss is fulfilled. Stella has made an open air bath by gathering snow in a hollow space on the rocks near the camp site and then using her flame to melt the snow and maintain the temperature. Stella, Tatara and Ascarid are taking a bath with Tatara complaining that it looks like a heated stone pot which Stella replies with a pouted face that Tatara didn’t have to enter if she had a problem with it, as shown in one of the colored pics. Tatara also says Stella is wasting her fuel for this but Stella argues that it’s necessary because she’s meeting Ikki tomorrow and as a maiden it’s impossible to meet him while she hasn’t bathed for 5 days.
“Aren’t you worrying about it too much? A guy I caught in a honey trap once liked the smell of sweat.”
“D, d, don’t lump my Ikki with such high-level pervert!”
“Well, so between you two, you’re the one that likes something like that?”
“I, I don’t like it!! I-it’s not like I get on Ikki’s futon when he’s not around!!”
After calming down, Stella wants to thank Tatara by planning on giving her one year worth of chocolates for free. However, Tatara says that she doesn’t like free chocolates very much because it’s her habit. Tatara was born and raised in the house of Abgrund, which has a history of over 1,000 years. Those who were born and accepted into the family received training since they were born in order to become first-rate assassins. They used living materials to train to commit murder, trained in hiding among people, trained to endure torture, and trained to adapt by surviving in a snowy mountain without food and clothes. There were also selections where they killed each other until there was only one person left. All the time was used to become excellent assassins and so they never had any form of amusement. Their meals were controlled with nutritional supplements since they were babies and even their meals were served with poison once every three days. The only thing they enjoyed was getting chocolates as reward for getting jobs done well and so Tatara does not enjoy receiving chocolates for free. Tatara then tells Stella to hand over ‘Dirty Rose’s’ life if she wants to thank her. Stella heard from her mother that Tatara and ‘Dirty Rose’ were from the same organization, but ‘Dirty Rose’ betrayed the organization. Tatara confirms that her parents along with all of her other sisters are dead and she’s the only survivor from Abgrund. She also says that she’s not getting revenge since she doesn’t care about everyone in the family being killed. However, Tatara’s older sister ‘Dirty Rose’ had also killed the clients and so Tatara is taking responsibility in order to restore Abgrund’s credibility. Stella asks why Tatara would go that far even though Tatara should be able to live her life freely now. Tatara replies it’s because she’s a professional and she’s not interested in having a respectable occupation just because her home had been crushed. Tatara has already taken many lives and so it’s already impossible for her to walk on the path of atonement. She doesn’t feel any guilt at all from killing people since she was never taught such morals. As a professional from Abgrund, she can have pride in this line of work. Therefore, Tatara wants to kill ‘Dirty Rose’ and she won’t let anyone interfere. Stella then tells Tatara that if they win they will have a victory party with a huge chocolate cake served which is a special menu. However, if Tatara dies then she will be given a grand funeral with Stella crying for her and to Tatara this would be the worst way to die. Tatara replies with a smile and says that she’s a professional and she won’t make mistakes like an amateur. She also tells Stella to keep her promise regarding the cake.
Stella then asks if Ascarid is really Or-Gaule’s older sister. Ascarid confirms and also says that she’s fighting against Or-Gaule in order to atone for her sin. Or-Gaule and Iris-Gaule were siblings born in an average family. They had a reliable father and a kind mother that ran a small restaurant in a French village. Or-Gaule was liked by many people for having a sociable personality and a talent to become an excellent Blazer. However, he was actually a demon who was able to hide his warped soul and no one noticed until one day. During his 10th birthday party which was held in the village’s chapel, Or-Gaule told everyone that he was the happiest person in the world for being loved by so many people and so he decided to make that day to be the best day ever. He then immediately trapped everyone inside the chapel and immobilized them using his ability, in order to break them one by one. Angry voices, then screams, and finally sounds of people begging for mercy were heard inside the closed chapel. Or-Gaule’s smile during the bloody scene made Ascarid realize that her brother couldn’t have been human. She then says that the police finally came after noticing the villagers had disappeared for a week and at that time she and Or-Gaule were the only ones left alive. Or-Gaule managed to escape and Ascarid was taken under the care of the government. The incident, which was known as ‘La Croix Sanglant (The Bloody Cross)’, was thoroughly concealed because it was so terrible that the ‘Winged Chancellor’ was afraid of its impact on all Blazers’ social positions. Ascarid still remembers the scream and despair of everyone who died, including of her parents who she destroyed with her own hands. She regretted not realizing Or-Gaule’s true nature earlier and so she decided to not allow it to happen again. Or-Gaule has shown himself in person this time which is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Ascarid. She is determined to stop him, which is her reason to fight and to live. Stella then grasps Ascarid’s hand and says that they will work together to defeat Or-Gaule and not let such thing happen again. At the end of the conversation, Tatara is staring towards outside with an expression that looks like she has felt something.
It is 10 minutes earlier and Raab is inside a bar in the village at bottom of the mountain. He tells the people that went back after being defeated by Stella that they should thank her for preventing them into committing suicide by going after Edelweiss. Hearing such insult causes the men to be angry and attack Raab. Kiba who is sitting nearby prefers that they fight outside and so Raab brought them to the village’s square. It only takes just under 10 minutes for Raab to defeat all 50 of them, even though it took Stella half a day to do so at first. Raab and Kiba didn’t climb up the mountain for the past 10 days because they had been accumulating energy through regulation of meals and workouts in a strategy called carb-loading so that they can be in their best conditions when they fight Edelweiss. Raab removes his device ‘Death Stinger’ which is gauntlets that have a long sharp needle coming out of each forearm. He then tells Kiba who had just came outside that he has confirmed he’s at good condition. They then start moving to Edelweiss’s place in order to return the favor from the Baltic Crisis, during which both Raab and Kiba couldn’t even resist Edelweiss’ power of influencing fate. However, they stop at the voice of a girl saying that it’s good to meet such strong people. The girl is in her late teens with dark skin and hair wearing a white prisoner clothes as shown in one of the pics, and her bare feet are shackled with iron balls. Raab and Kiba recognize the girl as Fu Xiaoli, the ‘Taotie’ and one of the ‘Four Xian (immortals)’. Shinryuu (Dragon God) Temple is the place in China where they hold the God of War League, and the 4 Desperados who were the closest to earn the ‘God of War’ title are known as the ‘Four Xian’. Raab says it’s strange for her to be here because she was sentenced to 300 years of imprisonment for violating three of Shinryuu Temple’s law called the ‘Five Prohibitions’. Xiaoli replies that she got bored and so she got out. She also says she has a dream to fulfill even if it means violating the ‘Five Prohibitions’. She asks both Raab and Kiba to fight with her right now since they would do it eventually along the way. Xiaoli manifests her device which is gauntlets with attached pieces of chains and does a fist wrapping salute.
Kiba tells Raab that he will fight her and then unsheathes his device ‘Shimotsuki (month of frost)’. He stabs his sword to the ground, which causes white mist to come out and cover the battlefield. When the mist is cleared, 10 Kiba are present. Kiba is using his Noble Art ‘Mahyou Juuroujin (demon ice ten wolves formation)’, which creates 9 ice clones of him and the clones will keep reviving as long as his real self is not defeated. All the ice clones then attack Xiaoli together. However, Xiaoli is dodging lightning speed slashes even though her movements can be easily followed by Kiba and Raab. Not only the 10 Kiba are unable to even graze her, Xiaoli is destroying the ice clones one by one with her palms, fists and kicks. Xiaoli later destroys an ice clone with her fist, but the destroyed ice turns into water and engulfs her arm. The water turns back into ice again and restrains Xiaoli’s arm. The other ice clones also end up becoming ice shackles that restrain Xiaoli’s limbs, and at that moment Kiba swings his sword down at her in a move called ‘Zeppyou Kassatsugeki (severing ice killing strike)’. Xiaoli breaks the ice restraints but she can’t avoid Kiba’s sword that is coming down on her, and the magic on his sword will freeze her to death if she tries to stop the attack by touching it. However, Xiaoli catches the sword with her bare hands and launches a crushing fist that pierces Kiba’s abdomen. Kiba’s body ends up frozen and crushed, settling the match. Xiaoli then thanks the crushed Kiba for the experience while doing a fist wrapping salute. Raab, who was watching, is confused at Xiaoli using ice ability because it is known that Xiaoli was using an ability to manipulate wind in the previous God of War League 5 years ago. Kiba’s last attack could only be stopped by fire and water abilities and maybe by lightning ability if the user is an expert. However, it’s impossible for wind ability to stop the attack and the wind would just amplify the cold chill.
Raab then manifests his device ‘Death Stinger’ in order to challenge Xiaoli. When she moves closer to him, Raab throws a flash grenade to the ground. Blazers (also called ‘psychics’ in the US and ‘warriors’ in China) wouldn’t use firearms because these weapons are not a threat to their Blazer opponents. However, the light from flash grenades can still pass through Blazers’ magical defenses and thus blinding them. While Xiaoli flinches from the flash, Raab uses ‘Lethal Venom’ which he pierces her with the pointed tip of his device and her body then suffers strong convulsion. ‘Death Stinger’ has the ability to manipulate any kind of poison in existence and the poison used on Xiaoli can kill her. However, Xiaoli ends up fine and says that she didn’t let her guard down because even if her vision was compromised she could still read Raab’s intent. Xiaoli sensed from the kind of bloodlust that Raab was giving off that he just wanted to land a hit on her even if it was just a graze. Thus she figured he was going to attack with the poison on the needle, which was something she would be fine against. Xiaoli then pulls out the needle out of her body and then stabs Raab’s abdomen with her finger. Raab’s whole body becomes numb causing him unable to move at all and he then collapses on the ground. He realizes what Xiaoli’s ability is right before he loses consciousness. After the match is over, Xiaoli asks a landlady in the village to have Kiba and Raab treated. She then says that she should make a little greeting, and so lets out a huge fighting spirit that shakes the mountain. It is felt by Stella and the others who are at 6,000 meters altitude, and Stella can tell that it’s not Edelweiss. Even though she knows that this person is someone of Edelweiss and Or-Gaule’s caliber, Stella does not plan on running away.
