"What…What happened?"
Despite watching the whole battle right from the sidelines, Kaete the Round Table couldn't comprehend the conclusion.
Mestelexil was an immortal construct. If the golem died, the homunculus would regenerate the golem, and if the homunculus died, the golem would regenerate the homunculus. On top of it, annihilating both at the same time was impossible.
In the unlikely scenario where defeating Mestelexil was possible, it still shouldn't have looked anything like what had played out before them.
"Hey! Mestelexil! Get up—what's wrong with you?! You're gonna lose!"
Kiyazuna stood up, her vigor suggesting she might barge into the arena at any moment. Kaete had to stop her from rampaging out of control, but he had an even more terrifying premonition.
A surprise attack from above… Was something that mundane really the truth behind this terrible foreboding? An attack using a balloon would have been utterly impossible to pull off in the castle garden theater, the original venue. Why did one of Miluzi's golems show up here out of the blue? The balloon isn't the only problem… My attempt to change the arena… Mestelexil's participation in the Sixways Exhibition in the first place… If there was someone…pulling the strings to make all that happen…
"Mestelexil! C'mon!" "…! Grams, get back!"
Kaete immediately pulled Kiyazuna's hand. Suddenly getting up, Mestelexil rushed toward Kaete and Kiyazuna's spectator seats. Leveling and demolishing the seats, the golem continued on unfazed through the old town.
Meeka the Whispered shouted:
"Fourth Minister Kaete! Apprehend Mestelexil this instant! Sponsors must have control over their hero candidates! I rule that he has fled from the match!"
"How dare you order me…!"
Kaete had to instantly quell his rage.
Kiyazuna was already running off without a word. His only option was to follow after her.
No one outside Kaete's camp could have understood just how abnormal the situation was, whether he tried to explain it or not. There shouldn't have been anyone out there in the world who had more control over Mestelexil than Kiyazuna the Axle.
"This ain't his own will," Kiyazuna muttered as they ran. "He can become independent someday and turn against me, I don't care, but this is something else entirely!"
"Then is there some sort of technology that could steal control from you…?!
He may be a golem, but he's still just a machine!"
"No. Unauthorized hacking, credential spoofing—all that only works for machines from the Beyond. Golems are Word Arts creatures. Controlling authority? That couldn't—"
Right as they approached an old town back alley, Kiyazuna suddenly stopped.
He was the only example in the land of a construct being controlled under two different wills. Therefore, if he did have a vulnerability that couldn't exist in other golems…
"…It could. Of course. The shared curse…! Mestel and Exil's lives are both equally valuable, but Exil has more authority, since it holds the knowledge from the Beyond! If they had to make judgments with the same authority, it'd disrupt the order of command! You understand this reasoning here, Kaete?!"
"Roughly, sure! But are you saying they killed the homunculus side, then?!" "That stupid puppet was aiming for Mestelexil's head section right from the
damn start! If you're talking about a living, breathing creature, than there's one thing that'll force 'emselves into an ultimate position of authority!"
"…Vampires…! So Zeljirga really is linked up with Obsidian Eyes?!"
It was a difficult conclusion to accept. Kaete had painstakingly confirmed for himself that it wasn't possible.
Did Enu the Distant Mirror know what was going on? Exactly how far had the roots of this conspiracy spread?
"What other explanation is there?! Those bastards… I'll flatten 'em all! This is war!"
"I told you, just calm down! You might not know this, Grams, but there's more to turning someone into a corpse than just wounding them! You need to
administer a considerable amount of the parent unit's bodily fluids to do it! Isn't it unnatural that the wounds from this fight would've been enough to infect him?! So just one drop or some fine particles wouldn— Gaugh!"
Kaete was suddenly grabbed by the nape of his neck and dragged down to the ground.
He could tell that something had flown right over him, a hairbreadth above his nose. A chakram.
"We gotta do this fast! They're already here to finish the job!"
Kiyazuna was staring up at the roof of a building at the end of the street. There, set on all fours, was a bizarre-looking minia. Kaete jolted up like a spring and immediately drew his sword.
"Grams!"
A lycan, emerging like a shadow, stopped Kaete's sword with his large claws.
Up until that second, he hadn't noticed him drawing near—the footsteps had been inconceivably silent despite his massive frame.
"Grrrrr."
When the lycan gave a low growl, Kaete's sword was twisted under the enemy's grip, which was beginning to shove Kaete along with it. Kaete immediately took his hand off his sword and prioritized covering his ears more than defending himself.
The lycan swung his claws up into the air, and the sniper from afar readied two new chakrams.
"Good job coverin' those ears, Kaete!"
There was an explosion of bright light. The violently loud roar shook all the lycan's five senses, and thanks to the light, nearly as bright as the sun itself, the faraway sniper lost sight of their target, too.
The hexagonal and cylindrical weapon Kiyazuna the Axle threw was an M84 stun grenade.
"Great, now we gotta scram!"
"I can't hear a single thing you're saying!"
As the concussive sound and bright light subsided, the two figures disappeared.
The old town plaza began to fill with nervous and confused whispers.
Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge had suddenly lost control after losing the match, then disappeared somewhere. A sight yet to be seen in any of the other five matches.
However, amid all the hubbub, there was a single young girl heaving a relieved sigh.
Her face was covered in a black veil, concealing her eye-catching beauty.
…Thank goodness. I'm so glad. Truly…truly so happy.
There was someone who had been manipulating Zeljirga's physical body while she was unconscious, as well as Mestelexil's, who'd been newly brought under her command. The vampire parent unit, Linaris, had needed to be there in attendance.
Without making a single conspicuous movement, Linaris had simply used her thoughts to command her corpses from her seat in the audience.
I was able to spare Zeljirga's life. It all went…exactly according to my calculations.
From the very start, Obsidian Eyes had intended on making the arena change from the garden theater to the old town plaza.
By using all the obstacles available in the ruined buildings and audience seating, they were able to limit the weapons Mestelexil could utilize and cause a distraction from above with their balloon trap. Furthermore, with the last-minute venue change, they hadn't given any time to the other factions besides Kaete's camp to set up some large scheme for the match, either.
Kaete the Round Table was an arrogant man filled with self-confidence. Even though they were the very citizens he was supposed to govern, he didn't hesitate to refer to those he deemed lacking in ability as ignorant rabble. However, on the other hand, he was extremely sharp-witted when it came to the movements of those he acknowledged as superbly capable—he had a psychological tendency to be deeply suspicious of everything and everyone.
Zeljirga's thread attacks, no matter what sort of strategy she tried to employ, would be incapable of defeating Mestelexil. In which case, Kaete the Round Table would believe there was some sort of scheme beyond them.
In order to lend support to those suspicions, Enu started his surveying operation. Kaete would then suspect his enemy was setting up some sort of trap in the castle garden theater. Since Zeljirga alone had no means of victory, Kaete would assume a scheme involving the arena would be the only way to defeat Mestelexil and then investigate into the truth behind said scheme.
However, there wasn't anything to find in the castle garden theater. Enu had
simply been surveying the area, and nothing more.
They'd been setting up something, but there wasn't actually anything at all. There was only one method left for Kaete to escape from his misgivings: Fundamentally changing the location of the duel itself.
Then a request to change venues was put forth, just as Linaris had anticipated, and the match occurred under terms that gave Obsidian Eyes a one- sided advantage.
Obsidian Eyes' intelligence gathering had begun long before the beginning of the Sixways Exhibition. The battle with the Particle Storm, which had called all the shura to one location, was something that Linaris had plotted herself, mobilizing Atrazek the Particle Storm to do so.
The plan was to observe the monsters that had been drawn together and ascertain which would be the most useful pawn among them.
The answer was Mestelexil the Box of Desperate Knowledge.
With this, we don't even need to fight in this Sixways Exhibition anymore.
Linaris the Obsidian's supernatural ability of forced control through airborne infection was without equal, but it wasn't totally invincible.
Most of the important figures like those in Twenty-Nine Officials and the Queen had been inoculated with the antiserum. It was also powerless against constructs that didn't have any blood. While it was a power that could limitlessly manipulate soldiers and the public, what about when it was against the sort of eminently powerful people nominated as hero candidates? Fragile Linaris herself had to infect them directly, or she needed to stand up against them with someone mightier.
The Sixways Exhibition imposed the restraints of a royal tournament on these powerful individuals, and it was an event that made it possible to fight under fixed match conditions.
With this, we've gained it for ourselves…the military strength to bring down the mightiest players directly.
Mestelexil was now a part of Obsidian Eyes. A golem, a homunculus, and a corpse.
A factory producing weapons from the Beyond, and an immortal soldier who could not be destroyed.
"And with everything staying secret."
The young woman sneaked a finger up to her lips as she disappeared into the middle of the crowd.
A half day had passed since the conclusion of the sixth match. Evening had come.
Kaete and Kiyazuna still remained unable to make it out of the old town. "…Bad news. They got this exit under watch, too."
Pulling back the reconnaissance golem, Kiyazuna clicked her tongue in frustration.
The covert lycan soldier, and the sniper on all fours. These were the two they needed to be wary of the most. They were both unbelievably skilled, and it would be difficult to break through using just the improvised golems Kiyazuna had created.
"This has to be Obsidian Eyes after all; there's no other explanation. How long have they had their sights on Mestelexil? What's their goal…? Systematically hijacking the entire Sixways Exhibition?!" asked Kaete.
"Geez, you didn't prepare for this and make some sorta underground shortcut or anything?"
"Even if I had, that'd be the very first place that'd get pinned down in this situation! Our information's been leaked here!"
"Fine then, you tellin' me to stay here in this boring hellhole until I turn into a dried fish?!"
"…That's all we can do."
Although not the main two they were faced with, a presence that appeared to be hostile was patrolling the alleys and sewers. All the paths they could use as their escape route had been seized and rendered unusable.
Conversely, the two of them, lying in hiding, were still alive. These movements meant…
"The way they're acting, it seems less like they're trying to find us and more like they're trying to stop us from escaping, don't they…? If they're cutting off our contact with anyone outside and waiting until we grow impatient and show ourselves, then why? For example, they might be wary of the possibility that we're waiting in ambush with weapons from the Beyond instead. As long as they don't have a full understanding of the capabilities of the Beyond, they might be taking strict care not to move unless it's in response to the movement on our side."
"Hmph… Basically, they're a buncha scaredy bastards, eh? Then what're we supposed to do?"
"If we don't ever return home, either my soldiers or Yuca's public safety force will eventually come looking for me. If we can meet up with those squads and escape, the enemy won't be able to readily ambush us."
The match had been ruled in favor of Zeljirga. However, Kaete hadn't given up on victory yet.
Even if he was knocked out of the Sixways Exhibition, if he could take back Mestelexil, then there were plenty of routes to victory. He'd wage war against Rosclay and Haade, then overthrow everything, along with the results of the Sixways Exhibition. Regardless of Mestelexil's victory or defeat, nothing about his plan had changed.
"At any rate, keep making golems, Grams. Doesn't matter how makeshift they are—we need to gather as much fighting power as we can for our next encounter, or it'll be impossible to fight our way through."
"Feh, Aureatia's damn soil's the problem…! If I could just get back to my lab, I could get all kindsa rare materials ready."
"…! Wait."
Kaete stopped moving, hearing a voice echo in the streets outside.
The voice was searching for Kaete's location; that was without question… However—
"Former Fourth Minister Kaete the Round Table is hiding out in the vicinity of this street! His crimes include grievous rule-breaking actions in the Sixways Exhibition and the recent bombing at the castle garden theater! The individual who committed the bombing on Kaete's orders has already appeared before the assembly—"
"Tha—"
It was an Aureatia soldier calling out with a shout. It was an announcement of his status as a wanted criminal.
"That can't be…! Impossible! Curses, what is this…?!"
"Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee! This happened because you're always up to no good." "Still, this is some sort of mistake! What're they talking about?!"
Former Fourth Minister.
If he ended up losing the faction he was meant to lead, why, even if he regained control of Mestelexil, it wouldn't mean a damn thing.
"Guess I gotta use this after all."
Kiyazuna produced an instrument of some kind.
It was equipped with a display, and when it connected to a simple battery, two faint points of light appeared on it.
"Dammit, dammit… Grams…what is that, then?"
"If we're dealing with a vampire, we only got two options, right? Kill the parent dead, or kill Exil dead and make him regenerate from scratch."
"…So if he's forced to regenerate, it'll mean returning to the state he was in before the infection, then?"
"More accurately, it'll erase the overriding authority on Mestel. Normally, if Exil was hit by some poison or illness, Mestel's made to immediately cure 'im with Life Arts on the spot—the reason he's not is 'cause the orders from an overruling authority are inhibiting that function."
"You can't remotely order him to self-destruct? Any construct needs some sorta function like that."
"Huh? The hell I need some way to blow up my own children. Dumbass." "That's not… Forget it. Let's stick to the topic. The only method's to kill him
on the inside, then… How're we going to destroy Mestelexil's armor and kill Exil? That's a tall order, no matter who you task with the job."
"Even more than that, stupid. The amniotic fluid preserving Exil's been affected by the vampire pathogen, too. Just kill Exil, and he'll get infected right after he's done regenerating, then that'll be that. Gotta be an attack that sends all the amniotic fluid flying, too, or it's still impossible."
Mestelexil's mechanical perfection was now baring its fangs at them.
The peerlessly elite Obsidian Eyes had them surrounded, and all Aureatia was now their enemy.
"…Impossible or not, I at least know where Mestelexil is. In case my boy ever got lost, see… We'll be able to track him down."
"Track him… So that display's a tracking signal…!"
"Obviously, using GNSS is still too much for this world—gotta blast a bunch of man-made satellites out past the stars first. With a LORAN system, it'll only show coordinates, so its accuracy ain't reliable at all. Just shows a broad estimate of his distance and direction."
"Hold up, we're talking about tracking Mestelexil, so where does beyond the stars come in to play? Are you sure that thing'll work?"
"Heh, when have I ever been wrong, eh? We doing this or not?!"
For some reason, Kiyazuna seemed livelier than she had been moments earlier.
—For the entirety of Kiyazuna the Axle's lifetime, she'd had nothing but enemies around her.
A born villain. Kaete was surely the same.
"…We are."
Villains never gave up, even when all the conclusions had been made. "Right. I'm not letting this end here. We're getting Mestelexil back. Whether
it's this Sixways Exhibition…or this factional war for powers, I'll overturn the results of it all…! Kaete the Round Table…isn't just going to lie down and die!"
Match six. Winner, Zeljirga the Abyss Web.