"Your Highness, we've deployed them all."
"Roger that. Keep on alert until the warning signs show up." I gave my orders
to Commander Lain and looked up to the sky. There were stars everywhere, and
not a single cloud in sight.
Linze and I were sitting on the shoulder of her inactive Helmwige, looking up
to the sky. Huh... Come to think of it, I don't recognize any of these
constellations at all.
We were in the eastern plains of Yulong, barren land that stretched out wide
before us.
I sent out a report about the current situation to every world leader, just in
case. Given where the emergence was occurring, none of them objected to me
sending out a few Frame Gears.
Yulong had been left to rot after the last Phrase invasion and the civil war
after that.
Most of Yulong's citizens began migrating outwards towards the borders of
other countries and establishing small towns there in order to rebuild their
lives.
The majority of them headed west to Hannock's border, or south to
Roadmare's border. Very few actually headed north or east.
That was because Xenoahs to the north was ruled over by the Demonkin, and
they didn't typically entertain the requests of migrants or other nations. Plus,
the northern areas of the continent actually had pretty harsh weather
conditions, so it was hardly what I'd call hospitable. Demonkin had far sturdier
bodies, so it didn't matter as much to them.
But then again... There's the Nokia Kingdom to the east, right? Why didn't the
Yulongese migrants head there?
I voiced that question to Linze, who responded with a simple enough answer.
"Yulong and Nokia didn't have friendly international relations. Actually, Nokia
is said to have been founded when a group of people seceded from Yulong and
formed their own independent nation to the east." There was a steep mountain
range along the border of Yulong and Nokia, which acted as a natural barrier to
defend the Nokian people from Yulong.
Back in the day, Yulong had made several attempts to reclaim the land, but
each excursion ended in failure.
I could understand why the Yulongese people hadn't headed that way to seek
refuge, given that relationship. The Nokians would probably be suspicious of
anyone that came in from Yulong, since they might want to sabotage the place
and claim it or something.
Still, it seemed that Nokia was another closed-off nation like Xenoahs was...
They were similar to Elfrau, a cold northern nation with more isolated borders.
"The wind is pretty cold out here. I wonder if Yulong's in the middle of its
winter." The seasons here didn't work the same as they did back on Earth. The
spirits made the climate generally unstable, but some countries did have
cyclical seasons. Brunhild and Eashen had a standard spring, summer, fall,
winter progression. It seemed like Yulong did, too. Brunhild's summer had just
about ended, incidentally.
Linze shivered slightly as she took out a small canteen and poured a hot drink
out of it. She then passed it over to me.
Prepared as ever, eh? That's certainly one of your strong points, Linze...
"Linze, do you think you'll be able to handle the flying Phrase this time?"
"Of course. I have my Phrasium Blade and my Phrasium Scattershot, so
fighting shouldn't be a problem. Also, it only takes about half a second to
transform, now." Impressive. Guess Doc Babylon's been working hard.
She'd been so focused on the Reverse World that I'd thought she'd forgotten
all about the Frame Gears.
"Come to think of it, Touya... Your personal Frame Gear isn't finished yet, is
it?"
"Well, the design part is done... But honestly, it's not urgent or anything. I can
handle stuff without a Frame Gear for now... Plus the Doc would rather focus
on the Reverse World research right now." Saving that kind of stuff for later
seemed fine to me. It wasn't like I didn't want her to make it, but she was only
one person... Even if that person was a genius. It was still better to be safe than
sorry, though.
"Your personal Frame Gear... What was it called... Reginleif?"
"That's right. It's basically following the same naming scheme as the Valkyries,
so that sounds fine by me." I was originally planning on calling it Odin, but I
thought giving it the name of the Norse All-father might have been a bit
arrogant... So I settled on Reginleif.
Reginleif meant "daughter of the gods," so I thought that was appropriate,
given that someday I'd succeed the gods and become one.
I sipped on the coffee that Linze had poured out for me when my smartphone
suddenly began to vibrate.
"Master, we've-a confirmed the signal. They'll be-a coming-a in about five-a
minute." I was being called by Parshe, who was aboard the Gungnir.
She'd been put in charge of support and intel for this skirmish, but she was
technically being advised and guided by Cesca.
It wasn't as if I could give full intelligence control to a moron like her, even if
she did have some redeeming qualities... That being said, the pervy maid was
hardly any better.
"Gotcha. Tell everyone to start firing up their Frame Gears."
"Si, si!" There was no moon up in the sky tonight. The only thing illuminating
this battle was the pale starlight. The Valkyries had night vision, so Yumina and
the others would be able to see fine. But the standard Chevaliers didn't have
any functions like that...
That's why I went to the Storehouse and picked up some external equipment
that the regular knights could use. It kind of looked like the Chevaliers were
wearing visors, which was a little funny... But it did the job and gave them the
necessary low-light vision.
I originally thought of casting [Light Orb] to illuminate the place, but that
would've just made us easy targets in the night, so I scrapped that idea pretty
fast.
Anyone outside of a Frame Gear would find it incredibly hard to see in the
dark, but I could easily use my own divinity to grant amplified vision to myself. I
was slowly becoming less human, that much wasn't in dispute.
Linze slowly headed towards Helmwige's cockpit, as the sound of mechanical
whirring echoed out from various spots in the dark.
I hopped down from Helmwige and looked ahead into the dark, until finally, I
started hearing a sound like splintering glass.
"They're here." Space itself began to divide as sparkling, shimmering beasts
filed out of the very air. The Phrase were here.
Yep, just Lesser and Intermediate Constructs.
"Try to remain as a group, and don't let a single one escape. Leave the
airborne ones to Linze, Yumina, and Leen. Lu, you act as the situation demands,
alright?"
"A-Alright!" Leen's Grimgerde, Yumina's Brunnhilde, and Lu's Waltraute were
all capable of long-range combat. Though in Lu's case, she needed to swap out
gear for it.
"Alright... Guess I'll start off with a good old bout of Meteor Rain... Then I... CCan..." Just as I thought about opening a portal in the sky, I noticed something
weird going on.
The Phrase were moving irregularly. They weren't charging at us, like usual.
They hunted people instinctively... I knew that they chased down heartbeats
and sought to end them... That's why they headed towards the nearest
population centers they could find and targeted all the people there. In other
words, they were meant to come right at us. We were the nearest gathering of
people.
So why in the hell were they scattering in all four random directions? Some
were coming towards us, but others were running in the complete opposite
direction.
"The hell? Are there actually civilians in the area?!" I was worried about that.
It reminded me of when the wrecked Frame Gear was stolen... Back when that
organization had taken it to make their inferior replicas.
They'd used an artifact to make themselves invisible when they stole that
Frame Gear, it was entirely possible that something similar was being employed
here to hide people... But that wouldn't mask their heartbeats.
I decided using Meteor Rain wasn't a good option right now.
Still, we couldn't afford to let the Phrase escape.
"Linze! Take out the ones that are fleeing! Yumina, take down the stragglers!"
"Got it!"
"Understood!" Helmwige soared up into the sky after transforming.
I looked down and saw Phrase shattering to pieces as their cores were
expertly sniped from afar.
Yumina's Brunnhilde was located in the back, wielding a sniper rifle. She was
expertly dispatching many Phrase mooks at once with precise shots.
It was definitely doing a fine job as a vanguard support unit.
"Still... They're acting really weird. They don't have a leader or anything, so I
guess they're just wandering around and dying... Almost makes me pity them."
As the melee continued on, I could see the crack in space start to close,
signaling the end of this weird mess. Alright, now I just gotta...
"Master! Grosso problema! Big trouble! Another wave incoming!"
"What?!" Parshe, who was analyzing the battlefield from Gungnir, delivered
some devastating news.
Right on cue, the opening in space began to spread apart.
A new batch of Phrase came crawling out in the same horrifying manner as
usual.
"Wait... Hold on..." Size-wise, they were no different to standard Lesser
Constructs... But something was different.
Their bodies were not transparent or crystal-like, as the other Phrase's bodies
had been. They were more of a muddy-gold... Shaped kind of oval-like. I
wondered if they were some kind of mutated subspecies... Their forms also
seemed to shimmer and distort in the air.
But that's when it hit me. When I realized what I was looking at. When I saw
the light emanating from them.
No matter how you looked at it... They were emitting divinity.
They had an aura proving they were blessed by a god.
"Son of a bitch... What the hell has that thing created?!" These Phrase were
clearly not normal... They were probably created by the wicked god, the one
that had eaten the servile god some time ago. They were clad in divinity, but I
didn't sense massive power in them. That being said, they were several degrees
stronger than a standard Phrase. I could tell that much.
But that meant that the wicked god must have already emerged from its
cocoon... I started to gather my thoughts, but had no time to complete them.
The Divine Phrase were on the move. "Wait... What?!" They did something I
didn't expect. Something nobody expected. They started attacking their own.
They extended their crystalline limbs and pierced the cores of the Lesser
Constructs around them... Then they plucked the cores out of the other
Phrase's bodies.
For whatever reason, the Lesser Constructs did not break to pieces... They
started to... Melt.
It looked like ice turning into water... But it was a bit more viscous than water.
They melted into what seemed like a sticky syrup.
The Divine Phrase then began to slurp up the goop that was once their allies,
until only the cores remained. They didn't seem to care much about the cores,
which were tossed to the ground and shattered. I had no idea what was
unfolding before my eyes.
They ate their own kind... Something about that shook me to the core.
I had just witnessed Phrase-on-Phrase cannibalism. And then it clicked in my
head. The Phrase in the first wave weren't running because they sensed human
heartbeats. They were running to escape. They might have even been running
in fear if they could feel it. At the very least it was something instinctive that
told them to move away. As I tried to gather my thoughts on the situation, the
Divine Phrase continued to devour their own kind. They completely ignored the
Frame Gears surrounding them.
The Phrase species attacked human beings in order to find the Sovereign
Core. That was their instinctive mission, and it was all they did. But these Divine
Phrase didn't seem to care about that at all.
Which meant they served a new cause and were probably devout apostles of
the wicked god.
"Touya... What is this?"
"I don't know. But it doesn't mean our mission is over here. Yumina... Can you
try to hit one of those things from here?"
"Uhm... Yes, I can. I'll do it."
"Take the shot." Yumina fired a sniper round at one of the Divine Phrase as it
was slurping up one of its kin.
Its dirty-gold body completely tanked the shot, save for a tiny crack. My
divinity-laden eyes caught the moment of impact clearly. Its exterior was
monstrously hard.
The surface began to regenerate quickly, but Yumina wasn't done. A second
shot, and then a third, began penetrating through the broken area. Yumina was
shooting it faster than it could heal.
The Divine Phrase wasn't letting its core be exposed without a fight, it kept on
forcing its own metallic material back into the impacted area, desperate to
cover it up. But Yumina kept on shooting into the precise area she thought the
core was located.
If we called the regular Phrase the "crystal creatures," then calling these
things "metal devils" would probably be more apt. The fourth bullet pierced it,
and it began to change its behavior.
Its round body began to melt away, black fumes rising from its form.
Gradually it turned into a goop that resembled mushy ice cream, and its busted
core lay on the ground among the mess. Yumina's bullets had really done a
number on it...
Seems like damaging the core can stop the metal devils, at least. But I gotta
say, melting instead of shattering is a hell of a lot creepier.
"That means they can be defeated, then... Alright, everyone! Approach them
in groups! Sakura, handle the support."
"Got it..." Sakura's Rossweisse began blaring a song that acted as a passive
support spell.
Oh... That song... If I remember right, a four-man rock band from England
played this... They were from Liverpool, I think. My grandpa really liked their
music... I guess I have more of their songs than anyone else's...
"Still... Why that song of all things?" To be honest there was no point
speculating. Sakura couldn't understand the English lyrics, so she probably
picked it based on melody and rhythm.
The Phrase began to slow down as the soundwaves washed over them. It
seemed like this song had the effect of decreasing their speed.
"Brunhild knight order... Charge!"
"HOO-RAH!" Commander Lain led a charge in her Shining Count.
Elze and the other frontliners began contributing to the melee themselves
until it was an all-out brawl.
"Take... This!! Pulverizer!" Elze's pile bunker smashed into the side of a metal
devil's body, but it countered using its bladed limbs... She hadn't managed to
penetrate its core.
After three strikes, she finally managed to take it down, then she jumped back
from its melting body.
"Eww... It looks gross." I agreed with her on that front. These metal devils
were both Phrase and not Phrase at the same time, and frankly, I hated it.
Still... If they were apostles of the wicked god, why were they consuming the
Phrase? I thought the wicked godbeast that ate the servile god was under the
control of Yula, that Dominant Construct. Something didn't add up.
"I wonder if that means something's going wrong on the Phrase's side..." If
they were having a bunch of in-fighting, then I wasn't exactly going to
complain... But it did make me feel a bit uneasy.
Still, the stronger metal devil subspecies is going to be a pain... I had no
problem with fighting both groups at once.
"Master! It's another-a fissure!"
"Huh?!" A third fissure suddenly opened up out of nowhere, and a lone
creature jumped down from it.
It was a humanoid crystalline creature with a coarse body.
"Oh hell no...!" I was face to face with a Dominant Construct. One of the apex
of Phrasium life, superior to even the Upper Constructs.
To make matters worse, I remembered who this asshole was. It was the one I
fought back in Xenoahs... Gila, if I remembered right. Gila grinned wide as he
shot me a fierce glare. His piercing red eyes almost looked right through me.
He was a true scumbag... From what I remembered of the Xenoahs incident at
least. He was a war-loving monster. He reveled in slaughter and didn't care who
he killed.
Gila glimmered softly in the starlight as he looked me down.
One of the metal devils reached out a bladed limb and tried to attack him.
Gila simply showed a look of displeasure on his face as he caught the handrailwide limb in his hand, and dug his claws hard into it.
The sound of straining metal rang out as Gila's fingers dug deep into the
metal devil's limb... Then he began to tug at it, pulling the creature's body
towards him... Then he swung it and threw it into the air.
The metal devil soared into the sky before crashing into a nearby woodland
area. Gila's power was immense as ever...
Still, that confirmed my suspicions. A Lesser Construct would never fight
against a Dominant like Gila... It meant they weren't allies. I was honestly a little
relieved to find out the power-hungry bastard in front of me hadn't sided with
the wicked god.
He looked in my direction and extended an arm, then stuck out his index and
middle fingers. Slowly, light began to gather between his fingertips. OH CRAP! A
whooshing sound bellowed out as Gila fired a laser beam right at me.
"[Reflection]!" I created a deflecting shield at an angle in front of me.
"Ghah!" The beam hit the barrier and launched off into the night sky. The very
air around it seemed to reverberate.
It was a hell of a shot, but I knew not to back down. Gila clearly hadn't gotten
serious. He'd fired a beam like that before, and it was stronger that time.
He probably just sent the attack as some twisted way of saying hello... He
really liked to mess with people, so I decided to fight fire with fire.
I opened up [Storage] as I cast [Power Rise] on myself, and then took out a
warhammer made out of Phrasium.
"[Teleport]!"
"Wh-?!" In the blink of an eye, I appeared next to Gila and swung the hammer
like a baseball bat.
Just as I made impact, I invoked [Gravity] to massively amplify the weight of
the hit.
Then I released the hammer, sending it smashing into the Dominant before
me. Gila and the hammer both went flying into the air.
The Phrase hit the ground and began rolling several meters along the plains. It
was satisfying to watch.
But then he simply stopped and stood up as if nothing had happened. I
should've known it'd take more than that.
"Hey now, Tooya! Ain't you rough-housin' me a little hard there?!"
"I don't need your nonsense today, Gila. You should've just stayed down." I
grinned right back at him before drawing my weapon, Brunhild, from [Storage].
I switched it to Gun Mode.
"Sounds like yer plenty busy in this world, huh. It's the same on our side. I
gotta rip that Yula bastard limb from limb, y'know? Honestly, I don't think y'got
him, but I gotta ask... Y'all ain't harboring that guy, are ya?"
"What?" What does he mean by this? Yula...? He was hanging out with the
NEET god before the stuff went down with the wicked godbeast... But what the
hell did he do? Why would we be sheltering him?
"...What did you mean by that? Are you saying Yula came through to this
world?"
"Y'all really don't know, huh? Tsk... That's a real goddamn pain. The hell is he,
then...?" Gila furrowed his brow and growled at the ground. It seemed like he
was trying to locate Yula. I didn't understand if they were enemies or allies.
But if what Gila had said was true, and Yula had seriously come to this world,
then things were gonna go from bad to worse.
Even if the recoil sent him back, he'd gradually become acclimatized to being
here until he'd be able to maintain a permanent presence... And if that
happened...
"...What happened to the wicked god's cocoon, Gila? Did Yula do something?
Those muddy-gold Phrase look similar to it."
"Oh? Y'know about the Shining Egg? Tell me what'cha know about it, bastard!
We don't got any idea of what it is... It's creepy as hell! Nobody can break it! It
sucks in the footsoldiers that goes near it and turns 'em into weird shit!" Gila
looked pissed off as he spoke, but he looked pissed off most of the time
anyway. I was relieved either way. It seemed like the cocoon was still on the
other side... I was worried it had hatched, or that Yula might have brought it
over with him.
From what I could gather it seemed like Yula had abandoned the other
Dominant Constructs and left the cocoon behind... But something felt fishy.
There's no way he'd just abandon the wicked god for no reason... Something
felt really wrong, and it was irritating me.
"Pssh... Well, I don't give a shit what that freak's been plannin'. All I gotta do
is kill him, right?"
"Aren't you guys both Dominant Constructs? I thought you were allies."
"That's pretty racist, kid. We don't all gotta stick together. At the end of the
day I, the great Gila, will designate anyone who gets in my way an enemy. That
goes fer you too, twerp." Gila grinned as his arm morphed into a spear, then he
came lunging at me.
"[Slip]!"
"Ghaugh!" Gila's glorious charge turned into him falling flat on his face. I tried
to shoot him with a couple of Phrasium bullets while he was down, but he
managed to avoid them.
He extended the tip of his spear-like arm and embedded it into a rock before
using it to pull his body out of my spell's effective range.
"Bastard! What'd I say about playin' dirty?!"
He glared at me, but I was getting sick of his attitude. I was pretty pleased
that not even he was safe from my slippery ways, though.
"How about I make you fall over forever, you crystal loser."
"Tsk... Think again, bitch. I ain't gonna fall fer that again." As he spoke, his
heels began morphing slightly, small fragments of crystal began to protrude
from his feet. When the transformation was finished, he began to hover above
the ground. No fair, that's cheating! But I guess since there are flying Phrase, it
makes sense that a Dominant would be able to do that...
"Can't slip me now, you little bastard! Time to pay ya what yer owed!" Gila
came charging towards me. It looked like he was running still, but he was clearly
levitating.
I used Brunhild to fire off several rounds at him, but they did nothing. He
tanked every shot and continued hurtling towards me at a breakneck pace.
"Gh... [Accel]!" Just as his spear arm was about to smash into my ribcage, I
managed to jump out of the way.
But Gila saw my change in motion and kicked off the ground, changing his
own direction to chase after me.
His posture changed as he prepared to get me with a shoulder tackle. Several
small spines began growing out of the surface of his body, primed to stab me.
Oh crap! I can't dodge that!
"[Shield]!" I managed to use a shielding spell to prevent those spines from
hitting me, but it didn't stop the attack's momentum. My own shield slammed
into me, sending me flying backward and rolling along the ground.
I looked up to try and get my bearings, and Gila was gone from where he was.
He was now standing right above me, his spear arm transformed into a fist, and
it was poised to come slamming into my face.
I dodged by jumping to the side, but an enormous shockwave from Gila's
impact with the ground reverberated outwards. If that attack had hit me, it
would've done some serious damage... He wasn't holding back this time.
"C'mon, punk! Y'just gonna bore me by dodgin' all the time?!" He grinned as
if to goad me into attacking.
I couldn't use [Teleport] effectively since he was attacking me so often. I
needed to have a clear eye on the target to even manage a good hit.
He could keep up with my [Accel] as well, which meant that another surprise
attack was out of the question.
Plus his body was just too tough. The shots I'd fired earlier had clearly hit his
face and chest, but had barely made a dent in him.
Given that he was a Phrase, it stood to reason that he'd have a core like the
rest of them... But I had no idea where it was.
Standard Phrase were fully transparent, which made it easy to see where
their cores were. But the Dominant Constructs weren't fully transparent, only
the crystal outcroppings on their bodies were.
If they had organs like humans, then it stood to reason that their cores would
be standins for their brains or hearts. I really should've asked Ende's friend
Lycee about more details when I had the chance.
"Guess I don't have much of a choice here..." I allowed divinity to freely flow
through my body, releasing it from me in an explosive burst. I'd unleashed my
Apotheosis.
"Oh? What's all this...?" Gila sneered uneasily at my transformation.
My hair color changed again, but it didn't grow any longer this time. It
seemed like my control over the process had increased to some degree.
"What's a little change of color gonna do, huh?!" He sneered once more
before charging towards me, fist clenched. Gila roared as his fist came crashing
down towards me.
My left hand, now clad in divinity, caught his fist with little effort.
"Wh... What?!" I stared him down silently and began to pour more strength
into my grasp. Slowly, I heard cracking sounds, and Gila's fist crumbled into tiny
fragments.
"Kh... Wh-What?! You fucker!" Gila jumped backward and thrust out his nonbroken hand towards me. All five of his fingers extended forwards with
incredible speed, attempting to pierce me.
But I could read all his motions clearly. I used Brunhild's blade to sever all his
fingers, they shattered to bits in an instant.
"Son of a... Just what the hell happened?!"
"Just a little trick of mine. I didn't want to use it, and now you've gone and
made me do it." Though I was joking, I couldn't really afford to. The Apotheosis
put an incredible strain on my body. I was fine for the time being, but I knew
that once I turned back into a mortal, I'd pass out and probably need to rest for
a while.
I needed to win this fight. I had to take out Gila, the Phrase, and the metal
devils.
"Don't get fulla yerself, bastard! Yer just a human in the end! But fine, you
wanna get serious?! I'll show ya serious!" Gila scowled hard as his broken parts
began to regenerate, but that was only the beginning...
The crystalline parts covering his body started to rapidly grow and expand. His
head, chest, and stomach... All of his body became coated in Phrasium material.
Everything except his eyes was coated in a thick lump of crystal.
His fingernails began to extend into menacing claws, and crystal spines
protruded from his back. His head had a horn on it, and he'd even grown a tail.
He'd turned into some kind of crystal beast... He almost resembled a dragonlike beastman, but far more horrific.
I wondered if this was the true form of the Dominant Constructs.
"GRAUUUUGH!" He swung his fist into the air, slashing his nails through the
very atmosphere. The shockwave rippled towards me, but I managed to see and
avoid it thanks to my divinity. Several Lesser Constructs behind me were unable
to dodge, and the sheer air pressure sliced them to bits.
I shot several divinity-laden bullets in Gila's direction. He laughed and crossed
his arms as if to tank them, but exclaimed in shock and horror as the bullets
actually sank through his carapace.
"Impossible...! How could you penetrate my Crystal Armament?!" Ha! So
divinity does work, great. Just as I was thinking that, the bullets were stopped in
their tracks by Gila's rapid regeneration. They fell to the ground with a clatter.
Shooting or cutting at him, even with divinity, didn't mean much if he could
recover. I needed to destroy his core if I wanted to win.
"You gotta be kiddin' me...! Don't mess with me, Tooya! I'll put you in the
ground!!" He roared right at me. I couldn't make out his face behind the crystal
armor, but he seemed furious. His entire body was shaking.
Wait... He's not just shaking, he's... convulsing? Light began to overflow from
Gila's body, and I realized what was happening. Oh crap... Is he charging one of
those railgun blasts that the Upper Constructs can use?! The light began to swirl
around, causing any fighters nearby to stop in their tracks and stare.
"Crap... I gotta stop him!" I knew he was going to aim at me. Dodging would
be easy... But the people behind me would die. There's no way they'd be able
to dodge a blast like that.
Gila, uncaring, continued to charge up his blast.
Suddenly I noticed something... A round object was shining in Gila's throat. Is
that... Is that his core?! The Upper Constructs had glowing cores right before
they fired, too... So there was no mistaking it. That was what I had to crush to
kill him. "That's right, ya rat bastard! Take the hit or mourn yer friends! Ahaha--
guh?!" Just as Gila was about to release his energy, his entire body was rocked
by a fierce impact.
A massive crystal bullet came in from the darkness, fragmenting against his
dense body and causing him to stumble.
He was staggered for only one or two steps, but that didn't stop me from
taking the chance.
I fired a divine bullet right against his throat. Just one shot. The starlit night
echoed only the sounds of shattering glass.
"...Oh...?" Gila let out a gasp and clutched at his own neck. The hole made in
his body by Brunhild's bullet was gaping.
The crystal armor coating Gila's body loosened and clattered to the ground.
My own gun, struggling from the recoil, broke down at the same time.
"That... Im...possible..." Gila's body slowly turned into pure crystal, as if the
life was being sucked right out of him. And, after a short while, the lump of
shining rock that was once the magnificent Gila, fell forwards and shattered into
myriad pieces.
I cautiously looked at him, but there were no signs of regeneration. He was
gone forever.
I turned my head towards the beautiful Valkyrie who had given me that
golden opportunity.
Brunnhilde, the silver Frame Gear, lowering its sniper rifle and standing proud
in the darkness. Yumina... Had really outdone herself. Hitting a target so small
at a range like that? She saved all of us...
I let out a sigh as the divinity flowed from my body. In a mere matter of
moments, fatigue and dizziness wracked my body. I had no strength to even
stand.
I started crumpling to the floor when suddenly, someone appeared from
nowhere as if to catch me.
"You did a good job, you know? We're proud of you, little brother..."
"That was quite the fight, Touya. I'm really impressed." My eyelids were
heavy but I opened them up anyway. I saw two familiar girls supporting me.
"Late as ever... What terrible sisters..." Karen and Moroha. They'd probably
come after sensing the metal devils and their divinity. Then they probably
picked up the pace when they'd sensed my own.
"Now now, Touya my boy... I wished to see how far you had come with my
own two eyes, so it was I who asked them not to interfere." Yet another familiar
face appeared before me. Even you came...? Ah well... I guess you would... You
are visiting... The other gods aren't here, though...
I didn't know about Uncle Kousuke, but I had no doubt in my mind that Suika
would be either blackout drunk or sleeping.
"Ah... It's bad... World barrier... Gotta..."
"Now, now. Everything is fine. Once things are cleaned up here, I promise I
will get everyone back home with my magic. Rest for now, my boy..."
"Oh... O-Okay... Then I'll sleep... Thank you..." I was fatigued beyond measure
and ultimately submitted to unconsciousness.
◇ ◇ ◇
The festival was over by the time I came to.
I'd been sleeping for over a day... Thirty-six hours, to be more specific.
The fatigue brought on by my Apotheosis was far more intense than I'd
expected, leading me to fall unconscious for quite some time.
Yumina and the other Valkyries, as well as the knight order mopped up the
remaining Phrase after I passed out. Even Moroha chipped in.
The metal devils were definitely blessed by the wicked god. I was worried
their divinity would make them unkillable, but thankfully they didn't have much
coating their souls.
The gods weren't allowed to use their divinity, but my sister managed to
dispatch the metal devils without any real issue.
After the battle, God Almighty used [Gate] to send everyone home to
Brunhild. From there I was put straight to bed. Flora confirmed I was only
fatigued, so they let me sleep it off... For a full day and a half...
As such, I slept through the end of the festivities. The knight king of Lestia and
Jutaro ended up clashing with each other in the final round of the fighting
tournament, and Yae's brother ended up winning just by a hair's breadth.
Lord Ieyahsu was in the audience, and he along with the Eashen delegation
were reportedly delighted. All the former Eashen-dwelling immigrants who
lived in Brunhild were also happy that Jutaro won. It only made sense that
they'd be proud.
Since I was asleep, Kousaka hosted the awards ceremony in my stead. The
winner was Jutaro, and second was the knight king. He'd been using "Rei Hard"
as a fake name. The third-place winner was Sonia, which came as a small
surprise to me.
There were also interesting battles like a father-son clash between Leon and
Lyon, a fierce fight between old man Baba and the beastking, and many other
action-packed fights. It was a shame I completely missed all of them while
napping.
Kousaka also officiated the closing ceremony, and apparently, the town was
lively all through the night as the partying continued on until dawn.
The festival came to a close just like that, everyone was home before
morning, and I opened my eyes just before noon.
The only people in my room were my nine fiancées and Paula the stuffed
bear.
"Crap... Seriously?" I sat in my bed, sighing softly as they explained the
situation to me.
There's no way... There's just no way I slept through all of that and left our
guests alone...
The other world leaders had the situation explained to them and thus weren't
offended. In fact, the people that governed the nations bordering Yulong
expressed their deepest gratitude. But I still missed a lot, and that sucked.
The world leaders and their parties were returned to their homes via several
[Gate] spells called on by god himself.
They were initially confused as to how someone else was using my magic, but
once the pope explained that he was my grandfather, that seemed to satisfy
their curiosities.
"I'm a mess..."
"That's not true! You were in a life-or-death fight! It's only normal you
collapsed!" Lu tried to reassure me, but it only made me feel even more
impotent.
I took on the risks when I activated my Apotheosis, but I never expected this. I
definitely caused trouble for a bunch of people...
Ugh... The timing for all this seriously sucks. Gila, you rat bastard...
"Don't feel bad about it, Touya. The festival was great!" Elze definitely raised
a fair point, but I still wanted to see it through myself.
"I wish to participate in the tournament next time, I do."
"Me too. My brother probably wishes for a rematch with Yae's brother, as
well." Yae and Hilde grinned to one another as they planned the next festival. It
seemed like this was going to become an annual event... I made a mental note
to prepare better for the next one.
"Wait, where did God-pa... Godpa... Grandpa go, anyway? Did he head
home?"
"This morning, yes. He used his magic to head back." Damnit... I didn't get to
thank you, old man... Well whatever, I'll call him later.
I started rising from the bed since my body felt pretty normal, but everyone
suddenly crowded around and pushed me down on my back.
"Your plans for today have been called off, understand? You are to have
proper bedrest and relaxation. If you don't rest, then the people around you
will be concerned for you." Leen was putting her foot down, and I didn't have it
in me to argue.
I sighed and leaned back into my bed, causing everyone to leave the room
with smiles on their faces. Kohaku and Luli came forwards and stood by, it
seemed they were going to be keeping an eye on me.
"Master, rest is important for your health."
"Fine, whatever... But seriously, I'm not even sleepy at all. I feel good." To be
honest my body felt a little heavy due to inactivity. I wanted to stretch my legs a
bit.
Using a teleportation spell would make it easy to escape, but I didn't want to
get caught out.
"Where are Sango, Kokuyou, and Kougyoku, anyway?"
"Sango and Kokuyou are with lady Suika in a tavern, while Kougyoku is
surveying the affairs of the castle town."
"A tavern, huh..." I grimaced a little at what Kohaku had said. I was worried
about Sango and Kokuyou getting all amped up on booze. That being said, they
did seem to enjoy hanging out with Suika... I had heard stories about snakes
being able to drink a lot...
"Goodness gracious... That lot certainly likes to take it easy..."
"And you don't, kitty-cat? Were you not lazing around like a fat cat during the
festival? Do you have any right to admonish anyone else for being too
slovenly?"
"What'd you say?! Like you're one to talk! I know you've been sneaking
snacks from Mistress Crea in the kitchen!"
"...I was just testing the food. I had to be sure it was appropriate for our
master."
"Sounds like an excuse to me!" I sighed quietly as the two of them squabbled
when two flaming feathers floated in through the window and landed on Luli
and Kohaku's heads.
"Yeoooowch!" They both cried out in pain and tended to themselves as
Kougyoku fluttered in through the window. She perched herself on a nearby
desk.
"Our master is in need of rest, and yet you two argue? Be more aware of your
surroundings, you fools."
"She started it!"
"And I'm finishing it." The two of them were about to argue again, but they
were silenced by Kougyoku's glare. She was certainly scary.
Kougyoku was the most gentle and refined of my summons, but she could
also be explosively frightening.
"Welcome back Kougyoku, how's the town?"
"Quite fine. The people are tidying now that the festival is over. The stores
were all cleaning up this morning, but they've returned to standard business
operations now."
That was good to hear. I was sure that the after-party would've left a bunch of
garbage lying around... We needed to put measures in place for that starting
with the next festival. Installing more garbage cans would probably be enough,
but a large incinerator might help as well.
"The hotel guests are all beginning to leave as well. Within a few days, we
should be back to our usual ways." I was glad to hear the Silver Moon would be
a little less hectic, Micah would have some space to breathe.
Lanz was probably still helping her, come to think of it... He'd done a lot to
help her as a waiter during the festival, so I decided to give him a little pay
bonus... Maybe enough money for him to buy something nice as a present for
Micah.
"What about crime? Everything ok?"
"Those that were arrested were released after the festival was over. No major
crimes were committed, it was mostly just rowdy drunkards." In this world,
drunkards often had weapons on them... It wasn't uncommon to see someone
die due to a drunken dispute. I was glad none of that had happened during the
festival.
"Thanks for your hard work, guys. How about all three of you take the day off,
my treat."
"...So you can sneak out unsupervised?"
"Guh..."
I'd been figured out. Kougyoku's scrutinizing gaze was a little much for me to
handle. It was pointless to struggle, I'd already been read like a book.
"We are your humble servants, master. If you wish to sneak out, we will have
to comply with that wish. But even if we turn a blind eye to it... Are you
prepared to deal with the consequences if one of your esteemed brides-to-be
finds out?"
"Ghuhh..." I... I guess you have a point...
Yumina and the others had recently developed an innate skill that allowed
them to pinpoint my general location... If I sneaked out, I was sure they'd just
end up finding me.
"Guess I got no choice... I'll sleep."
"A wise choice, my liege." I'm basically under house arrest, geez... This sucks...
I don't wanna sleep, damn it...
Instead of napping, I fired up my smartphone and browsed some online news
from my old world. Oh... that actor died? That's a shame... Oh, a snap election?
I never even got the chance to vote...
I decided to send out some apologetic texts to the guests, since I wasn't there
for the last parts of the festival. I'd make proper phone calls or greetings to
them later, but this would suffice for the time being.
I made a mental note to send letters through Gate Mirrors to apologize to
people who didn't have smartphones.
That was kind of inconvenient... The better thing to do would be to induct
more countries into the alliance, that way I could give everyone smartphones
and coordinate a lot better.
I probably wasted a good chance... This festival had every world leader in the
same place, we could've done talks... I later learned that the world leaders had
gotten a good chance to talk to each other during the after-party proceedings,
so things might have gone just fine even without me.
The Demon Kingdom of Xenoahs formally declared its intentions to join the
alliance, so there was that at least.
I had time to spare, so I opened up [Storage] and pulled out the books I'd
bought in the Reverse World. These were actually duplicates I'd made in the
workshop. I'd put the original copies in Babylon's library. The ones I had were
translated from the language they spoke over there, too.
The first book I started reading through was called Redia's Guide to Magic.
It was a book on magic written by someone named Redia, evidently. The
information in it was sparse compared to what was known in this world.
Apparently, in the Reverse World, only people born with special qualities
were capable of using magic, and those people were very rare.
I wondered why there wasn't much magic in their world, but it was probably
due to their reliance on technology. The Gollems probably started the decline
to begin with.
Rather than honing one's natural skill to cast [Fireball], it would be much
easier to operate a Legacy Gollem that could cast it at the drop of a hat.
There was no training necessary, no fuss or difficulty.
That being said, Gollems were still terribly expensive. The good ones were
also hard to obtain. Plus they had limited functionality. If a Gollem had the
ability to set a fire, then that was the only ability it could actually trigger.
That was kind of the same as a mage who only had the Fire attribute, though.
I idly read the book and pondered to myself, when a call from Doctor Babylon
came in. She'd been busy in the Research Lab for a while.
"Oh, 'sup?"
"Touya? I did it, Touya! I built the thing! Now you can freely travel to and
from the other side!"
"You what?!" Wait, you seriously did it?! You built up a gate I can use in the
Reverse World?! The Dimensional Disruptor installed in Babylon was a one-way
trip, there was no way back. I had to bypass through the Divine Realm every
time if I wanted to come back to this world.
In order to combat that we needed to build up another portal that could be
installed on the other side, to allow free travel between worlds. And it seemed
like she'd finally done it.
All I had to do was shove it into [Storage] and bring it over to the Reverse
World, then find a safe place to install it over there.
"However, activating it still requires a horrifically immense amount of magic
power... I don't think anyone would be able to pass through either side without
you, Touya."
"To be honest, that's fine. It makes it less likely to be abused."
"I suppose that's true... I'd like to begin testing right away! Are you ready?"
"Ah... Sorry, but I can't. I'm sorta under house arrest..."
"Huh?" I explained the whole irritating situation to her as she grumbled along
to my words. Finally, we agreed that we'd do the testing the following day.
It seemed like I had a busy day ahead of me.