"You... have a very familiar scent."
As the girl's voice faded, the ice shards suspended before Yūki trembled in unison.
Silent Magician moved faster than Yūki.
She stepped in front of him, her long silver hair lifting slightly in the cold air, her staff held across her body.
The deep blue gem at its tip shone blindingly, and the surrounding ice crystals gave off faint, fragmented hums under the pressure of her magic.
Yūki had been about to tell her not to act rashly.
The next second, Silent Magician turned her face slightly.
Looking toward the stone door, she parted her lips.
"It's a spirit. A powerful one!"
Yūki froze.
In his earpiece, Amamiya Mio was still urgently shouting for him to retreat.
The engineer behind the stone pillar was also calling out readings-something about energy peaks, seal responses, and overloaded monitoring equipment. Everything was in chaos.
But Yūki didn't hear a word.
Silent Magician... spoke?
This silver-haired beauty, who had expressed her opinions through glares, raised staffs, and turned heads ever since they met, had spoken to him properly for the first time-and it was when he had nearly been turned into a sieve by ice blades.
That timing was very much Silent Magician's style.
She either said nothing or sounded the alarm.
Watching her tense back, Yūki suddenly felt a little conflicted.
He had been wondering whether Silent Magician found the style of his deck so twisted that she couldn't be bothered to talk to him.
Now it seemed she hadn't been ignoring him.
She was simply Silent Magician, and she took her professional habits rather seriously.
When she didn't speak, she really didn't speak. When she did, it was to tell you there was an absurdly powerful spirit on the other side.
"Got it."
Yūki lowered his