Skill 4 Volume 6

No, it's nothing. I simply think you are terribly mistaken. Deus Ex Machina was ready long before you had even begun to fight with Cordé-san. What I mainly took that time to prepare, was another puppet."

At that very moment, Stella, who had been assured of her victory, felt a pressure send a shiver up her spine. Was it the pressure of the puppeteer within that Deus Ex Machina? No. This was different. This pressure came from behind, not in front of her.

What's this feeling—?

She couldn't tell, but one thing was for sure.

—Danger!

Following her intuition, she kicked off the ground with all her might, propelling herself forward without any preparation, just as the place she had previously been standing was frozen.

"This power is…!"

There was only one person here who could cause all the moisture in the air to freeze, creating that blooming flower of ice.

"Icy Scorn's Satin Ice… tch!"

There, in the direction to which Stella had felt that shiver, was the stoically still Mikoto Tsuruya. And her eyes of death were alight with a flame of green-white magic, unlike anything Stella had seen from her previously.