Layla had set up a telescope on the rooftop of the tower. Elise was checking her watch beside her.
"Elly. It looks like it's about to start."
The empty air viewed through the telescope was fluttering with colorful currents. It's a precursor to a mana wave.
"Yeah. I'm watching too."
Observing mana waves is quite an important event for mages. It's the collision that occurs when the mana from outer space, carried by solar winds, intertwines with the continent's mana.
It only happens at specific points on specific days.
"Let's measure the mana levels first."
Elise turned on the mana counter.
Zzzzzzt───!
The artifact sounded off loudly, almost like it was at a dungeon level.
"…It's more than expected."
A bit flustered, but it's something that could happen.
"Elly. It's starting!"
At Layla's words, Elise also peered into her telescope.
...
The silent movement of the mana currents. The mana that flowed in from an unknown extraterrestrial source was colliding with the continental mana in the atmosphere, creating a special wave.
It's a mana wave.
"Wow, it's beautiful...."
"Isn't it…?"
Layla exclaimed in pure admiration, but Elise's brow furrowed suddenly. A strange unease had arisen.
The movement of the mana wave. The intermingling and undulating form seemed unusual.
It was as if it writhed like a living creature, gradually descending towards the ground...
"Wait."
Elise took her eyes off the telescope. She looked up at the sky with the naked eye.
Pop- Pop-!
Sparks embroidered the sky like firecrackers, over which a spider web-like mana wave was coalescing.
"Elly. What?"
Layla asked nonchalantly.
───!
The sky flashed intensely. A strange purple light undulated like a liquid.
Pieces of that light, like tiny droplets, settled into Elise's eyes.
"Ah!"
She closed her left eye due to the sting.
"Elly, what?"
Layla turned to look at her. Elise rubbed her eye and shook her head.
"No, it's nothing… Let's write the report."
Unfortunately, there was no time for that.
Aaaaaah───!
It was because of the screams echoing from inside the tower.
* * *
──15 minutes earlier.
I was patrolling the outside of the tower. Nothing particularly special or suspicious was happening. The sunshine was clear, and the breeze was warm.
"Hmm?"
While leisurely patrolling the tower, I ran into Kain.
He was the first to speak to me.
"Hey."
"What."
Kain scanned me from head to toe.
"…Have you grown a bit?"
"So have you."
I've grown a lot, but Kain has grown a little more too.
This boar-like guy is probably about 2 to 3 centimeters taller than me now. He's over 2 meters tall.
"It's strange. That little rat of a guy…"
Kain glanced at me, but didn't say much. He didn't seem to be picking a fight.
I asked him.
"Hey. How's your family's business doing?"
"Huh. The rat's offspring is worried about our family. What a world we live in~"
"Talking a lot for someone who's lived 20 years. Then again, your face looks 50."
"Do you want to die?"
Anyway, Kain is a mana stone tycoon.
However, the future doesn't treat him too kindly. Although he can live off the mines he owns for a lifetime, the processing and distribution lines of mana stones are monopolized by Libra.
He is destined to be subjugated to Libra for life.
"Hey. Aren't you interested in the Final Club? You've been skipping all the school events."
"Yeah. Not interested."
"…Well. Not just anyone can join anyway."
It was while we were idly chatting.
Crackle──!
A spark sound occurred. Kain and I looked up at the sky. Magical forces were intertwining in the air.
"Ah. It must be the mana wave."
Kain muttered nonchalantly, but I felt something more. Suddenly, the inside of the tower's windows turned pitch black.
A barrier had been formed.
"What the…"
I turned to enter the tower.
"You can't go in!"
Someone blocked me.
"…What is this?"
There stood a mage in robes…
"A Magic Tower mage. This tower has been infected with a formula."
He said this as he took off his robe. Kain recognized him first.
"…mage Benvele, right?"
"Yes."
A famous mage. Known to Kain, and to me.
"I came to observe the mana wave and stumbled upon this… Anyway. You absolutely must not enter. You can't get in because of the barrier, but that also means don't even touch it."
"What in the world is happening…"
Kain stared blankly at the tower. I examined it closely too.
Something like tree roots had attached themselves to the previously intact tower entrance. Kain muttered in disgust.
"Hey. Isn't that thing alive?"
Thump-thump— The pulsing of those things, as if they were living creatures, was quite grotesque. I turned to look at Benvele.
"…So. What do we do now?"
"Just wait. I will study this formula and create an anti-viral formula."
"We might all be dead by then."
"Hey. Do you think Elise and Layla will die? They're venomous."
Kain said that, but his face betrayed his anxiety. Benvele shook his head.
"…Then there's no helping it. Wait outside for now. It's better than going in there to die together."
Bang bang bang bang bang──!
The sound of someone pounding on the entrance door echoed.
─Please open the door! Inside, there's a strange monster! People are turning into monsters, ahhhh!
I have seen a similar disaster before. In my timeline, it's a thing of the far future.
'Void'.
That damned biochemical formula terror caused by that bastard.
"…"
I quietly hid myself in the back alley.
I had to get inside.
Because I knew how to neutralize his terror.
* * *
Elise came down from the rooftop. Many people and security guards were gathered in the large hall.
"Everyone, please calm down!"
A child crying, parents holding their child, security trying to soothe them.
Active knights looking around with weapons at their waists. And a few college students and mages who had come to observe the magical waves like herself.
Elise looked out the window.
It was pitch black.
The bizarre magical wave had just blocked off the inside and outside.
"Kuh."
Suddenly, she felt a pain in her eye socket. She clutched at it.
"You're Elise, right?"
Suddenly, a knight approached her. He looked a bit timid.
Elise squinted with one eye and looked at him.
"Yes, that's right."
"Phew. I'm called 'Rhine'. I'm an active senior knight. But it's a relief that there are quite a few mages here. Since this tower is well-equipped, we can research the formula inside—"
──I will make an announcement.
Suddenly, a strange voice echoed inside the tower.
──I am 'Void'.
"Void?!"
Layla suddenly ground her teeth. Elise, enduring the pain near her eye, asked back.
"What. Do you know who that is?"
"That crazy villain! The bastard who murdered his whole family!"
──Yes. I am 'Void'.
"Gasp! He must be listening! You son of a bitch!!!"
Layla glared somewhere at the ceiling and shook her fist.
──I, 'Void', have invented a biochemical formula based on foreign mana, and today, I have achieved it.
Biochemical formula.
Elise closed her eyes and then opened them again. She couldn't seem to focus properly.
──Among you, there are countless humans infected with my miraculous formula. This is an achievement that those Magic Tower fools could never accomplish.
Then, the knight who had just introduced himself as Rhine looked at Elise with a strange expression.
Humans exposed to this magical wave will be reborn as beings from another world. These beings will infect other humans to proliferate their kind.
"..."
Rhine's pupils were bleakly colored. He quietly placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist.
──The choice is yours. Die as humans, or live on as monsters...
"Screw you, you murderer! Where the hell are you right now!"
Layla cursed with furrowed brows, but
Crackle──
The speaker had already been cut off.
"This crazy bastard! I'll catch you!!"
"Layla, that's not the problem right now."
Rhine, who had stopped her, gestured with his eyes towards Elise.
"What's the problem then... Elly, Elly, what's wrong with you?!"
Elise's condition was serious. Her eyelids had turned dark red, and the veins from her face to her neck were visibly inflamed.
"I don't know either."
Swoosh─!
Rhine drew his sword. Just as he was about to strike Elise's neck, Layla quickly blocked him.
Clang──!
Layla's bracelet clashed with the knight's sword.
"Have you lost your mind?!"
"He said it would turn us into beings from another world."
"We can't just believe that!"
Groan───!
Almost simultaneously, a human transformed into a grotesque creature. It was as if the human's skin and muscles had been stripped away, turning into something like a zombie.
"...It's real."
Layla was flustered, and Rhine quickly raised his sword.
"We must kill it now!"
"Kill what!"
"This person is already infected! If someone with a lot of magical power turns like that, it'll be the worst!"
Elise watched the fierce struggle between them. It was a fight to the death.
Elise couldn't see well.
Aaaaaah───!
Her thoughts were intermittently cut off.
Consciousness flickered in and out.
Elise numbly let go of her body.
Elly! Elly!
She could hear Layla calling, but she couldn't focus her vision. Her head felt like it was about to split open. It was as if larvae were crawling inside her eyelids...
Elise eventually closed her eyes again.
...
When Elise opened her eyes, she was lying on a bed in a furniture store in the tower's shopping mall.
Elly! You're awake! Are you okay?!
Layla was shouting something at her. Her voice didn't come through clearly, as if her ears were blocked, but her face was urgent.
Elly! How do you feel! Are you okay?!
I don't know.
Memories are not coming back, thoughts are disconnected, and it's all very strange.
Above all, I'm tired.
So very tired.
I think I need to sleep a bit more.
Elly! Elly!
The voice seeped in like a faint echo.
Elise closed her eyes again.
...
Elise opened her eyes. The place was the same, but there were a few more people. They were sitting at a table with serious faces, seemingly discussing something.
Elise strained her ears to listen.
"...Rhine. That knight has gone mad. He keeps killing people."
It was Layla's voice. Across from her, a man dressed in security attire glanced at Elise.
"Isn't it right to kill the infected..."
"We can wait until they've turned into monsters before killing them."
At that moment, Elise belatedly realized something.
I've been infected.
By what?
For starters, my head hurts. It feels like a huge larva is burrowing through my skull, eyes, nose, mouth, in between.
Is this thing infecting me?
Is it trying to break through my skull and consume me?
"...Elly. I will definitely save you."
Layla stood up. Elise wanted to tell her not to go, but her mouth wouldn't open.
Thud, thud, thud.
Just then, a long walkie-talkie rolled under her bed. She glanced at it.
Crackle── Crackle──
It was making noise.
Crackle── Crackle──
It was a noisy sound.
Elise just closed her eyes.
Sleep is coming.
So sleepy.
Strangely, the pain is a bit fainter.
It seems like a bad sign...
─Hey. Can you hear me?
"?"
A voice pierced her ears. It was as if her skull was being tapped with a baseball bat, her head vibrated, and her eyes opened wide.
─Can you hear me?
Elise quickly turned to look at the walkie-talkie. She listened to the voice coming from it.
─Can't you hear?
She forced her hand to reach out. She grabbed the antenna of the walkie-talkie, trembling as she lifted it.
"...You. Kweh-ek."
As she tried to speak, a mouthful of blood spurted out.
─Oh. You can hear.
Elise, with a dazed, vacant face, held the walkie-talkie to her ear.
"You... Shion?"
─Looks like you can hear me. Yeah. It's Shion.
"..."
─A signal from Shion in the future to you.
"What...?"
─Haha.
He chuckled.
─Just kidding. Just checking if you're conscious.
Elise swallowed. Her saliva tasted of blood.
"You... where."
─I'm outside. Can't get in right now because of the barrier. If we enter, we'll all get infected too.
"..."
Then, suddenly, she became curious.
Where did this walkie-talkie come from? How is it possible to communicate with it?
─Anyway. Listen carefully. Use your magnetism.
"Magnetism, what are you talking about..."
It's hard enough to move my fingertips.
─Use an Artifact or something. Isn't there something like a magnet nearby?
"..."
Elise looked around vacantly.
There was a magnet.
─Borrow from an external force. I think, right now, that infection isn't due to magic. It feels like there's some kind of worm crawling in your head, right?
Yes. Right now, a worm is crawling inside my head.
But how do you know so well?
"..."
No words come out.
Elise just held onto the magnet.
─Did you grab the magnet?
"...Yeah."
But it wasn't an ordinary magnet. It had a mana core attached to the end.
What is this?
─Put that on your head. Then, activate your magic power. Use magnetism to bind it in one place, that's what I'm saying.
His voice was full of conviction. As if he had come from the future, as if he had experienced this once before.
…Wait, the future?
"Are you… really Shion?"
─Of course, it's me. Elise. So hurry up and stick the magnet to your head.
"…Okay."
Click-
Elise placed the magnet against her temple. Then she exerted her magic power.
Whiiiiing── Thump!
Something felt like it stuck to her skull, a dull sensation.
─Did it work?
"…Guhhhhh!"
Immense pain washed over her. Elise gasped for air and writhed.
"Ahh, ahhh…"
─Endure it! Keep the magic going. The pain means you're still alive."
"…."
─Don't close your eyes!
Her eyelids, which were about to shut, snapped open.
Elise took a deep breath.
─Keep going.
"…I got it."
─Keep at it.
"I said I got it…"
While feeling a crushing pain in her head and enduring it, Elise thought.
"Keep talking to me."
Just by his voice alone, she could tell who this person was.
"Keep going…"
Just by his voice alone, it felt as if he was right there beside her.
─It's tough to keep going. Try to bear it alone for a bit.
"…."
Honestly, it was a bit annoying, but anyway.
Just his voice was enough to calm her heart. Her body relaxed, and she even managed a faint smile.
With such a headache, his face came to mind.
More clearly than anyone else.
More certain than anything else…
─If it gets too hard, radio me. I'll keep responding.
That's when Elise realized.
She had to admit it to herself.
"…Yeah. I understand."
She's come to like this guy way too much.
* * *
─Ugh. Guhhhh. Guhhhhhh.
On the bed, Elise was letting out painful groans, yet she did not let the magnet fall.
It's a special magnet that I enhanced with 「Perion」 and attached a mana core to. That should buy us enough time.
─Guhhhhhh…
"…"
Not too far away, I was watching through the SZX-9500.
"Hang in there. Even if it hurts. You're good at enduring, aren't you?"
─…I got it. So be quiet for a bit. It's annoying when you tell someone who's already enduring to endure.
"You were the one who asked me to keep talking earlier. Don't be a baby."
─It's not being a baby… Guhhhhhh.
I chuckled and slipped the radio back into my pocket.
Like this, I am also somehow inside the same tower as him. I entered by making a small incision in the corridor's barrier with the 「Severing Sword」.
However, what I must do now must not be traced back to Shion Ascal.
It might be a bit gruesome, and it might be excessively righteous.
The identity for that purpose is already prepared.
I looked at the full-length mirror in the furniture store.
The face reflected within is no longer Shion Ascal.
A villain wearing a hockey mask─ 'Raquel Dra'.
"'Void'…"
Whether in the past or now, a mad lunatic with a penchant for insane acts of terror.
A cancerous growth without any value or reason to exist on this continent.
He is under some grand delusion.
A villain is not a villain simply because they do villainous things. Nor are they a villain because they massacre civilians.
A villain is a villain because they are powerful.
"I'll put you down 10 years early."
Because if you're not strong, you'll be devoured before you can even assert your existence…