Isekai Mahou wa Okureteru! (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Way of a Genius 

Hydemary Alzbayne was a homunculus. Unlike a regular human, she was created artificially by human hands. She was not born from the womb of a mother, but rather a large glass tube. She was nourished not by her mother’s milk, but by the wisdom of her Lapis Philosophorum. 

Her creator was an alchemist renowned in the world of magicka: the automaton maker Edgar Alzbayne. He was also known as the Doll Master, and it’s said that the multitude of automata he’d created had played an active role at every turning point in history. 

Hydemary was the Doll Master’s self-proclaimed magnum opus. Like any normal homunculus, she lacked emotion, moved by her own will, and possessed an exceptional talent for magicka. But what truly set her apart was her ability to pull knowledge from the almighty catalyst known as the Lapis Philosophorum. 

Hydemary was truly a genius among geniuses; there was no denying it. And precisely because of that, anything should have been possible for her. She was naturally unfettered by the worries and frustrations of most normal people, yet her heart had recently been shaken with great vexation. The cause for this? It was none other than the young man who had become her mentor, Yakagi Suimei. 

Even though he always told her about incoming enforcement requests right away, he’d been unusually cagey this time and refused to share anything with her. It was as if he was saying that he didn’t trust her. One thing then led to another, and before Hydemary knew it, she was sneaking into his hotel room to steal a glance at the coveted enforcement request. 

And now she was atop a giant rabbit she’d pulled out of her toy box—one that was practically identical to a real rabbit—riding off to the target location to fulfill the job. 

“Just casually leaving something so outrageous at large... What on earth was Suimei-kun thinking?” she muttered, doubtful and irritated. 

Why would Suimei, of all people, neglect something so serious? We were talking about the summoning and assimilation of a god, after all. 

Hydemary had once been involved in a divine incident with Suimei. Many magicians regarded the summoning of divinity as calamitous, and as such, attempts at such rituals were practically unheard of. It was unthinkable to simply stand back and let it happen. Yet even after seeing the request, Suimei had done nothing. He’d simply said it wasn’t an emergency and gone about taking care of the girls he’d brought back from another world. 

Hydemary certainly wasn’t of a mind that the girls were unimportant. But in the grand scheme of things, the enforcement request took priority. In spite of that, Suimei hadn’t lifted a finger. Hydemary had a building mountain of criticism for him. 

“Suimei-kun, you dummy. You big, mean, stupid dummy...” 

Suimei’s magicka lessons with Hydemary had come to a grinding halt with his disappearance six months ago. That was bad enough, but he’d suddenly returned out of the blue with a gaggle of girls. And because he was spending all of his time with them, he continued to ignore Hydemary’s lessons and even his own research. This further fanned the flames of her irritation. 

“What does Suimei-kun think I am...?” 

Hydemary knew good and well the girls all had their circumstances, so she couldn’t be openly frustrated with them. But she was unhappy nevertheless. She was Suimei’s disciple. His first disciple. How could he just ignore her? She should be getting most of his attention, yet he’d barely been paying her any mind. And when he did come to her, all he did was either ask her for something or treat her like a child. 

“If this keeps up, he’ll always think of me as a child... But if I settle this, even Suimei-kun will have no choice but to recognize me. I’m not a child...” 

Little did Hydemary realize that her behavior, in a way, was indeed incredibly childish. This was essentially an inferiority complex born of her latent potential as a homunculus. 

Homunculi were artificial beings created to prove that they could function every bit as properly as “the real thing,” so to speak. Born of the perfected catalyst that could create even life—the Lapis Philosophorum—they were said to be well-versed in all the wisdom of the world and to provide their creators with sage advice. They were highly sought-after in that regard. 

They sat proudly at the top of the hierarchy of intelligent beings. They could not be further from inferiority in those terms. However, the source of a homunculus’s wisdom was far different from the fruit born of actual experience. 

Though homunculi possessed superior intellect, they were pure and innocently naive to the world. Other intellectuals envied their position. Their purity made them precious, and their innocence made them irreplaceable. 

However, no matter how one dressed it up, homunculi were still fabricated geniuses. And it was impossible to truly appreciate wisdom that had not been gained through one’s own experience. 

This, you see, is what leads to an inferiority complex. 

Once it was established that Hydemary was really gone, Suimei gathered the girls in his room after quickly getting dressed and ordering some breakfast via room service. Everyone sat as they pleased—on top of the bed, arms crossed over the back of a chair, on the sofa, and such—so that they were all facing each other. 

Despite what it looked like, this wasn’t a meeting to gripe about how there was only meat for breakfast. Indeed, the matter at hand was far more serious than that. Suimei was finally ready to discuss the enforcement request he’d been so reluctant to share thus far. After meeting with Wiegel, he at last had all the information he needed and was preparing to tell the girls about it anyway. But, thanks to Hydemary’s disappearance, he no longer had a choice about speaking up. 

“The summoning and assimilation of a god, was it?” Felmenia asked, repeating the words she’d heard from Suimei earlier. 

“Yeah. There’s not much to explain, though... It’s exactly what it sounds like. The goal is to bring divinity into this world and unify with it. Really, it’s an extension of a ritual that’s pretty common in this world.” 

Seeking to unify with a god and integrate with the cosmos... It wasn’t truly all that different from the goals of Neo-Puritanism. But the sheer fact that a summoning was taking place made this particular case far more direct and far more dangerous. There was no room for error or doubt. 

Suimei gave a rundown of what was happening, but it didn’t really seem to stick with his otherworldly visitors. Understandably so, of course. Mysticism in their world differed greatly from mysticism in the modern world. Here, magicka was a secondary benefit acquired in the pursuit of greater knowledge. But for the girls, learning magic had always been an end unto itself. The idea of assimilating a god was completely novel and foreign to them. What good was that? What did it do? Was that like eating a god? If so, was that even possible and would it taste good? They were simply that confused. 

“Hmm, to put it in terms of your world... I got it. This is like trying to summon the Goddess Alshuna and become one with her.” 

When put into perspective, the gravity of the matter naturally set in. Panic was suddenly writ large across the faces of Suimei’s otherworldly visitors. 

“I-I-I-I-I-I-I-Is that not absolutely preposterous?!” 

“Meaning... that your request... is to... stop that?” 

Suimei nodded at Liliana, leaving Lefille with dubiously furrowed brows. 

“Then why haven’t you done anything about it, Suimei-kun? This is clearly far more important than tending to us. I can understand Lady Mary’s impertinence.” 

Lefille now sympathized with the impatient Hydemary, but Suimei shook his head. 

“Well, it’s really not an emergency or anything.” 

“How so?” 

“It doesn’t seem the Thousand Nights Association cares much about how this goes down.” 

“What? Even though it’s so serious?” 

“First things first: Why is the ritual to unite with a god fundamentally something that must be stopped?” 

“Now that you mention it... I suppose if the summoner isn’t doing anything particularly bad, then there’s no reason to stop them.” 

“Right? If they don’t have any ill intent, then the ritual is essentially a grand experiment. They’re not all that uncommon in this world. It’s a good way to collect data on the success rate and other things, so it’s not something that absolutely needs to be put a stop to.” Suimei paused for a breath there before continuing, “In short, the Thousand Nights Association’s mission is no different from any individual magician—the pursuit of knowledge. They would choose the fruits of magicka over world peace should they be weighed on a scale against each other.” 

“But they still supervise magicians, no?” 

“They basically just act like police on paper for their own benefit. In truth, they’re a shady lot who’s willing to look the other way as long as things aren’t made public.” 

“But they specifically sent you a request to stop this incident, right? Doesn’t that mean this Thousand Nights Association organization has apprehensions about it?” 

“That’s true, but... Well, as proof that they really don’t care what happens, they’ve been monitoring the target quite closely this time. Look.” 

There, Suimei handed Lefille several documents. 

“This is...?” 

“It’s a written report.” 

“And these are... foto-giraffes, you called them?” 

“Photographs, yes. This is all the information that’s been delivered to me so far, starting pretty much as soon as I returned to this world.” 

Suimei then reviewed the rest of the documents with the girls, after which Liliana raised her hand. 

“Suimei...” 

“What is it?” 

“It’s... strange. How is it... that you were kept updated... so frequently and conveniently?” 

“That’s simple. The Thousand Nights Association leaked the fact that they sent out an enforcement request.” 

“Huh? Why would they...?” a befuddled Felmenia interjected. 

“To urge the target to hurry up with the ritual,” Suimei explained in brief before going into more detail. “Essentially, the Thousand Nights Association is trying to settle this case while I’m handling my own business. By leaking intel and speeding up the ritual, they’re trying to force my hand. They’ve orchestrated this to be an absolute pain in the ass for me.” 

“That’s... quite precarious, no?” 

“Isn’t it? But if I don’t show up at the site at all, it doesn’t matter if the ritual succeeds or fails. If it all goes to shit one way or another, they’ll be expecting me to clean up the mess anyway.” 

The Thousand Nights Association placed a significant amount of trust in Suimei’s abilities. His reputation preceded him, and this was certainly child’s play compared to subjugating a red dragon. 

“Why you, Suimei-dono? There are other magicians, no?” 

“I’m their only pawn that could decisively take care of this. I’m the so-called specialist.” 

“But... a pawn?” 

“That doesn’t sound very nice.” 

“Yeah, well, they have a reputation. Everyone knows what kind of authority they have, and everyone knows they can really throw it around. It’s convenient, in a way.” 

With that much cleared up, Felmenia raised her hand with a question about a different detail. 

“Suimei-dono, when you said someone’s trying to summon a god... Do you mean a god that this world believes in?” 

“Er, well, that’s where things get complicated. It’s probably a god they created themselves.” 

“Bwuh? A god... they created?” 

“Think of a cult. When starting up a new religion, you have to make your own god, right? You know... What kind of god are they? What kind of blessing does one receive for earning their favor? That kinda thing.” 

Suimei paused there, flashing a rather empty smile. 

“In truth, there are no real gods in this world.” 

“What?” 

“Huh?” 

“Let me clarify. When I say ‘divinity,’ I’m generally referring to a colorless power of high mystical grade from the astral plane. And, frankly, there’s no way something like an omnipotent god exists there. Basically, humans are the ones that arbitrarily grant astral powers vessels and then stereotype them as gods and whatnot. That’s what divinity really is.” 

Lefille in particular furrowed her brows over Suimei’s explanation. 

“If that’s truly the case, wouldn’t it mean Alshuna isn’t a real goddess either?” 

“That depends on your personal take on the matter. There are, of course, powers that can manifest of their own will. High-ranking spirits and devils, for example. By intervening directly with the world, they end up becoming a part of it. And as the world matures and faith in them accumulates, they’re exalted into the status of divinity. That’s probably Alshuna’s deal. Fundamentally, such beings aren’t omnipotent, so whether or not you can call them gods really depends on your definition of a god.” 

“Mrgh...” 

Lefille clearly had complex feelings on the subject of Alshuna’s goddesship. But in broad terms, there were two kinds of godhood: the vast, omnipotent kind ascribed to the likes of the Judeo-Christian God, and the specific, role-based kind ascribed to the various gods of Eastern pantheons. The very fact that Alshuna and the Evil God were vying for control of a single game board proved they weren’t the omnipotent kind. 

“We’ve gotten a little off track here. The long and short of it is that these guys made up their own god, are summoning a colorless power from the astral plane, providing it a vessel of their own accord, and doing whatever they want with it without reporting to a supervisory authority.” 

“But... A god they made up, huh?” 

“That’s the scary part here. What kind of god they summon is up to them. We don’t know exactly what’ll show up. It might even be something powerful enough to destroy the world. The bigger the scale of the summoning spell and the more mana used as an offering, the closer the result will be to what they were hoping for. It’s nothing to sneeze at.” 

“Suimei-dono, will it really be so easy? It would seem to me that this sort of thing would be quite difficult from a technical perspective.” 

“How exactly... is it done?” 

“Step one is to find people with a lot of mana and really drill some faith into them. Faith in the existence of the god they’re trying to summon, mind you. By doing that, even without a massive number of zealous believers, they’ll at least be able to summon something. It’s a ton of work and takes a ton of effort, but you can tell these people are committed based on the progress they’ve achieved since the enforcement request was leaked.” 

“But how do they drill faith in...? Oh!” 

Felmenia clapped her hands together in exclamation, and Liliana gave voice to the answer she’d just realized. 

“Drugs... right?” 

“Right. By putting the people they’ve gathered into a deep trance, they can bring them close to a state of pure faith. Then, once everything’s in place, all that’s left is the ritual.” 

Now that they’d finally covered all the technical details of the enforcement request, Lefille had a very different question for Suimei. 

“I understand the situation, but why did you refuse to tell Lady Mary about this? You could have at least shared it with her little by little, right?” 

She certainly had a point. Hydemary had misunderstood Suimei’s silence as a lack of trust, so if he’d told her something—even a little something—things likely wouldn’t have turned out this way. Nevertheless, Suimei had a good reason for keeping his mouth shut. 

“I handled it this way because... the target’s a homunculus.” 

“I see. Just like Lady Mary...” 

“You mean to say you were worried that Mary-dono would sympathize with the target?” 

“Oh, no. Not a chance. But no matter how you cut it, having to defeat someone so similar to yourself is a little... I wanted to keep a lid on things until I had all the intel, but that ended up biting me in the ass.” 

“Just like... with Reiji.” 

“No kidding. Seriously, why does it always end up like this when I’m trying to be considerate?” 

Suimei let out a long, grumbling sigh. His plan had blatantly backfired on him, but nobody could blame him for it. There were indeed times it was difficult to decide whether or not to talk about something—especially times like these. 

Now that he’d said his piece and the conversation seemed to wrap up, Suimei rose from his seat. 

“My personal car should be getting here soon. Let’s wait at the entrance.” 

Seeing the three girls nod, Suimei’s thoughts turned to Hydemary. 

I’ll have to properly open up and have a talk with her next time... 

With that, Suimei headed for the door. 

After flying out of the hotel, Hydemary made her way to a certain abandoned town in a certain remote forest in Germany. The clear sky turned cloudy along the way and an ominous wind was now blowing. It didn’t quite look like the heavens would open at any minute, but there were definitely signs of rain to come. 

“Doing a ritual out here really is in poor taste...” 

There was the sour stink of mold in the air. The crumbling walls of the remaining buildings were barely holding together, and broken glass was scattered everywhere like caltrops. Yet despite its lack of charm, this was nearly the perfect place for a summoning ritual. 

Coming out to such a remote location meant there were few consequences even if things got messy, and land out here was plentiful. Moreover, abandoned locations like this had a certain mysticism to them—slight though it was—that was empowered even further by the natural energies of this peculiar part of the world. Location-wise, it was the obvious choice; any magician would’ve picked here for their ritual. 

Hydemary observed the ghost town from the cover of a tree. There appeared to be people roaming around with glazed-over looks on their faces. In all probability, they’d taken—willingly or otherwise—the strange blue pills that the Thousand Nights Association had sent Suimei a sample of. 

The target of the enforcement request was trying to summon and assimilate a god. In order to do that, they were likely manipulating anyone they could find with mana, making use of their now-hazy consciousnesses to create faith in the god to be summoned. Meaning... 

“There’ve gotta be bigger fish to fry around here.” 

Behind all of the glazed-over puppets were the people manipulating them. Cults were usually built around a leader that brainwashed their followers. But in truth, there was a limit to what a single person could do. Whoever was planning and staging the ritual likely had a number of trusted subordinates that were more than mere puppets. 

And just as Hydemary suspected, she found a number of clear-eyed guards patrolling the perimeter of the ghost town and supervising the drugged members. They were all magicians, and their presence here indicated they were at least strong enough to participate in the ritual. Facing them all at once would be difficult, but nothing said Hydemary had to face them at all. If she could slip past them and take out their leader, this would all be over. 

“And the big guy’s... over there.” 

Her gaze fell upon a building with a steeple—exactly the place that came to mind on the subject of gods. It was the ideal setting for trying to call forth divinity, and of everywhere in town, it had the highest concentration of mysticism. It was the obvious choice for the ritual. 

Hydemary slipped past the patrolling guards and stealthily entered the building. Its interior was decorated with old paintings and a crumbling statue of a saint on a cross. There was a musty, worn out red carpet and a series of splendorous ornamental pillars lining the sanctuary, with a small wooden confessional off to the side. All in all, it was a typical Catholic church. 

Hydemary took a look up the altar steps where she thought the summoning ritual would be held, but to her surprise, there was no magicka circle. 

“It’s not here...? But their defenses should have been thickest here...” 

She was certain that this would be the place. It was the only logical choice. Any magician would have picked it, but there wasn’t a single sign any ritual preparations had been made at the altar. What was going on? Hydemary had gotten caught up in her own preconceptions, and just as she began to doubt them... 

“Hmm. I thought it was about time for someone to come, but I never thought it’d be a homunculus.” 

“!” 

Hydemary quickly leaped back as if she’d been flicked away upon hearing a voice from on high. When she looked up at the ceiling, she spotted someone sitting atop one of the beams: a beautiful blond boy with a short bob. He appeared to be in his mid-teens, and his angelic looks made it seem as though he’d stepped out of one of the church’s paintings. The greatest irony of all, however, was the way he was dressed. In a white robe and stole, he looked as though he were here to celebrate God, not create an idol. 

“You’re...” 

“A pleasure to meet you, homunculus girl. Welcome to my church.” 

The blond boy politely greeted Hydemary like a guest before she could even ask who he was. He was unflinching, but Hydemary kept a vigilant eye on him. 

“You sound as if you’ve been waiting for me.” 

“But of course. I’ve been anxious to receive you ever since I heard an Enforcer would be coming. I’ve been ever so eager to meet you.” 

“This is a trap...” 

“Precisely. Though it’s a little late to be realizing that. In any event, this is exactly what I should have expected from the Thousand Nights Association. They identified the most suspicious place right away and threw their protégé of a homunculus at the problem. Yes, yes, I should have expected all this. Of course a haphazard plan would be so transparent to an Enforcer.” 

The young boy, a homunculus himself, spoke in a somewhat disappointed tone, leaving Hydemary grinding her teeth. It was true that she’d carelessly stepped into his trap, but he mistakenly believed she was a sacrificial pawn. 

“I’m not some puppet,” she declared, quickly scanning the room for magickal traps. “I came here of my own will.” 

“Oh? Is that so? Even though you’re a homunculus? No one ordered you to do this?” 

“That’s right.” 

“How admirable of you. And what, pray tell, urged you to come here?” 

“That’s none of your business.” 

“Hmm. It sounds to me as though you were ordered to come here then, homunculus girl.” 

“I don’t know what you think of homunculi, but that’s not how we’re meant to be treated. Also, could you not refer to me as ‘homunculus girl’? I have a proper name: Hydemary Alzbayne.” 

The boy’s eyebrow twitched upon hearing this. 

“A homunculus with a name, hmm? Was that the whimsy of your creator or something?” 

“It’s a matter of course to name the things you create. Humans give names to everything, don’t they?” 

“...” 

There, the blond boy fell silent. The only answer he offered Hydemary was a dark stare. 

“So? Where’s your master?” she tried asking instead. 

“Who knows? I wonder where he is now... I have no idea.” 

“Don’t play dumb with me. Your master’s probably the one who came up with this worthless plan, right? So, where are they? Making preparations for the summoning?” 

Hydemary tried to rile the boy up, but he calmly shook his head. 

“You’re quite wrong, I’m afraid. This is something I started.” 

“You...? Ridiculous. That’s impossible.” 

“Say what you will; it’s the truth.” 

Or so the boy proclaimed, but Hydemary couldn’t believe it. It was mind-boggling to think a homunculus was independently responsible for this. Homunculi were treasure troves of knowledge; their wisdom would inherently have them think better of such a precarious plan. Moreover, there was no merit in a homunculus assimilating with divinity to obtain power. 

“Why would a homunculus do something like this?” 

“Whatever do you mean? It’s precisely because I am a homunculus.” 

“...?” 

Hydemary still wasn’t following. What about being a homunculus prompted him to do this? What did he mean? Was he just toying with her? 

“Oh my. You truly don’t get it, do you? Just by accomplishing the summoning and assimilation of divinity—something that no one has ever truly done to completion before—I’ll be released from the homunculi’s dilemma.” 

“The homunculi’s dilemma...?” 

That concept wasn’t logged in Hydemary’s vast repository of knowledge, leaving her with knitted brows at its mention. 

“What? You’re not familiar? I’m talking about the emptiness that all homunculi feel. We possess nothing of our own. All we have is knowledge. We are naive things, pantomiming wisdom. And with no experience to our names, even if we possess great knowledge... it leaves a hole in you rather than filling you up, doesn’t it?” 

“That’s...” 

It came as a surprise even to herself, but Hydemary hesitated to reply. She couldn’t. If she did, she feared that she would give voice to what she’d been trying to keep silent all this time. A strange sensation began clawing at her back. It seemed the boy had struck an unpleasant chord. 

“Doesn’t it? And, in all likelihood, you came here because you hate that too, don’t you?” 

The young boy paused for a moment, but didn’t wait for Hydemary’s reply. 

“You came here all on your own to stop me. But isn’t that because you want some sort of accomplishment? Because you crave acknowledgment from someone?” 

“Ugh!” 

Hydemary scoffed, suddenly becoming self-conscious about why she was here. Why was she, exactly? Wasn’t it because she wanted a certain boy to admit just how capable she really was? 

“Ahaha! See? I’m right! You’re no different from me! You acted on your own to try and accomplish something, yet you’ve fallen right into my trap!” 

The boy sneered, laughing at Hydemary and her blunder. At this, she snapped. 

“Don’t talk like you know me! I’m nothing like you! I’m my father’s magnum opus, the ultimate homunculus!” she screamed. 

“The ultimate homunculus, huh? I don’t really care whether or not that’s true at this point, but I’m still right, aren’t I? This makes you the same as me. So tell me... Why are you trying to stop me?” 

The blond boy suddenly began accumulating mana. When he did, Hydemary sensed the deployment of a spell. She’d gotten caught up in the heat of the moment and let her guard down. 

“This is... barrier magicka?!” 

A violet magicka circle swiftly spread out at her feet. The moment she noticed it, her vision warped like an image reflected in a marble. It was a spatial control spell. Violet manalight gradually encroached on everything around her as her body felt like it grew heavier and heavier. 

“I have another question for you,” the boy said. “Where is the alchemist who created you right now?” 

“M-My father isn’t here!” 

“He’s not, is he? I knew it. You and I are the same. We’ve both been cast aside by our creators.” 

“You’re wrong! I wasn’t cast aside!” 

“Then why isn’t the alchemist who created you here? Don’t alchemists normally keep their homunculi by their side?” 

That much was certainly true. But it was equally true that Hydemary hadn’t been abandoned. Her father, Edgar, had simply sent her to study at the Society for her own good. 

“I was... I was sent out for training... For the sake of my own future... So...” 

“That’s an excuse. Homunculi are complete upon creation. They don’t have futures. That ‘father’ of yours simply sent you away because he didn’t need you anymore.” 

“You’re wrong! It was for my sake!” 

“Really? Where is the value in such pursuits for the likes of us?” 

“That’s...” 

The blond boy’s question echoed mercilessly in Hydemary’s head. Where was the value...? It had been years since Hydemary was born, and she’d accomplished nothing. Where was the value in her to begin with? 

Hydemary’s vision began melting like iron in a smelting furnace, and her consciousness began slipping with it. But even as everything faded, that scornful voice rattled in her head. 

Following shortly behind Hydemary by car, Suimei and the other girls arrived at the remote forest. Celtic culture remained quite prominent in this region of Europe, and forests were viewed as sacred—especially here in Germany where they were often protected. They were frequently the setting of famous fairy tales like “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Hansel and Gretel.” 

Many of Germany’s forests had been dramatically reduced in size for development, but to the north lay the Reinhardswald, to the west lay Teutoburg Forest, and in the central region lay both Thuringian Forest and Schwarzwald, famously known as the Black Forest. Some of its great woodlands were still well and thriving to this day. 

One such forest spread out before Suimei like a gently undulating wave. The trees were beautiful and verdant, giving the scenery a strong sylvan aesthetic. There were small paths here and there winding through the greenery, dotted with cottages made of plaster-white walls and vivid orange roofs in the clearings and dales. Far up atop a mountain, Suimei could even see what looked like a fortress. 

It would have made for wonderful sightseeing on a clear day, but Suimei and the girls were here on much more serious business. Suimei made a small window with his fingers like he was casually deciding the angle for a sketch and peeked through it at the ghost town in the thick of the forest. There was a sporadic gathering of people—all dressed like the ghosts of said ghost town—meandering mindlessly with unsteady steps. It looked like they were being corralled for some kind of sermon. After getting an eyeful, Suimei slid back down the oak tree he’d been observing things from, where Lefille was waiting for him. 

“Suimei-kun, how does it look?” 

“Yeah, this is the spot alright. Looks like they don’t have too many guys on guard, though.” 

“Is that so...? How strange.” 

Lefille was quite puzzled by the minimal security. However, this was actually quite common with magicians. Fewer guards often meant there was something else in store. 

Felmenia, Lefille, and Liliana stepped forward, ready for action. Suimei, however, stepped back. 

“Aah, sorry. You three go ahead. I’ve got a little work to do here.” 

“Work?” Felmenia asked. 

“Look,” Suimei replied, putting a hand to his chin. “There’s a barrier cast around the area, see?” 

Felmenia looked and saw something like a heat haze and a carved seal that indicated the edge of the barrier. 

“We’ve already passed the barrier meant to keep people out... So what purpose does this one serve?” she asked. 

“Rather than keeping intruders out, this one is meant to regulate the scale of the spell when they summon their god. It’s to make sure they don’t absorb too much of nature’s power, and it doubles as a sort of cage for whatever they bring into this world,” Suimei explained. 

“H-How big is this barrier?” 

“It’s pretty big. It covers the entire region.” 

“And you’re... going to break it?” 

“That’s right. The normal process for dealing with situations like these is to work from the outer moat and break things down all the way to the inner citadel... but that idiot shirked checking for traps and just snuck right in.” 

Hydemary had most likely panicked when she learned the subject of the ritual, the state of its progression, and its overall scale. For the sake of expediency, she would have targeted the ritual directly. 

“Suimei-dono, we don’t particularly mind going ahead, but what specifically should we be doing? Are we to... support Mary-dono?” 

“No, the more important goal here is to render the believers powerless. All you’ve gotta do is put every last one of them to sleep.” 

“Is that really alright? Not assisting Lady Mary first, I mean,” Lefille asked. 

“Well, I do want to save her... But it’ll be pointless if the god gets summoned anyway while we’re doing that. We won’t be able to do much with just us if the assimilation is successful. So we have to keep our priorities straight: our first objective is thinning their numbers.” 

“Understood. Leave that to us.” 

Making that fearless declaration, Lefille was truly dazzling. 

“Wow, how promising. I actually feel kinda sorry for those guys now.” 

Any magician squaring off against Lefille was in for the scare of their life. As a half-spirit, it would take a specialist to stand a chance against her. Your average magician would be completely powerless. 

“Suimei-dono! Me too! I’ll also do my best! I owe Mary-dono a great deal!” Felmenia suddenly piped up. 

“A-Aah... I’m counting on you too, Menia,” Suimei replied. 

“Right!” Felmenia shouted with great enthusiasm. 

After that, Suimei looked back toward the ghost town with a narrow gaze. 

“Suimei?” 

“Seeing the state of the barrier, I’m pretty confident she skipped checking things out properly and just charged right into the inner citadel. She probably thought that smashing it up would put an end to everything. And while I have to admit that it would, the chances of actually doing that are... Well, let’s just say it’s an overly optimistic plan. They should already have a certain amount of power drawn from the astral plane.” 

“Where do you think... Hydemary is... right now?” 

“Probably in the church. Look here. The building with the steeple.” 

Suimei pulled out a few pictures of it for reference. The three girls nodded with determined looks on their faces, probably thinking they’d quickly defeat everyone so they could rush to save Hydemary. They were eager to repay her kindness in taking care of them ever since coming to this world, but they too were overly optimistic. 

“Don’t go there, alright? The place is gonna be trapped for sure,” Suimei cautioned. 

“So you believe Lady Mary has already been caught?” Lefille asked. 

“Without a doubt.” 

Hydemary possessed very little experience, but possessed an overflowing abundance of knowledge. That was why she had a tendency to do things exactly according to theory. She acted in what she deemed to be the appropriate manner for the situation, believing that other rational beings would do the same. But because she never considered the irrational—the illogical and the unpredictable—she also had a tendency to fall prey to traps. 

“If she weren’t caught, she would’ve settled this already. She also would’ve fled if things had gone south, but the guys outside aren’t acting like anything’s wrong. It’s pretty safe to say she went in as straightforward as could be, got caught in a trap, and has now been captured.” 

“W-Will she be alright?” Felmenia asked in a worried tone. 

“Yeah, she’s not that fragile a girl. I can still sense her presence just fine and everything.” 

She’d most likely been entrapped by some sort of barrier magicka. The enforcement request had specifically cautioned about illusion barriers. As such, the most probable culprit was an enclosure-type binding barrier. Suimei didn’t know whether Hydemary was stuck in place or if she was stuck wandering around, but he wanted to get to her as soon as possible either way. 

“Making me worry my ass off like this... We’re even on me vanishing at this point, capisce?” 

Suimei continued to quietly mutter to himself out of concern for Hydemary. 

After parting ways with Suimei for the time being, Felmenia and the other girls boldly decided on a frontal assault and headed straight for the ghost town. They were planning to settle things with an expeditious, decisive attack and showed no sign of hesitation in their movements. Felmenia enhanced her land speed with an acceleration spell; Lefille wreathed herself in a red gale and kept up with such speed that her massive greatsword hardly seemed to weigh her down at all; and Liliana summoned Howler to ride along on its back. 

“What’s... the plan?” 

“I think it’s best that I take the front. What do you think, Lady Felmenia?” 

“I agree. Lily and I will handle the enemies’ magicka.” 

“Then it’s... decided.” 

After hammering out the gist of things, their abrupt meeting came to a swift end. All three girls were professionals with battlefield experience. Their judgment was as quick as their discussion was to the point. 

But one way or another, they now had their plan. Lefille would frontline as their vanguard to take out any magicians that tried to intercept her. Felmenia would cover Lefille while Liliana would move stealthily to take out the enemy’s rear guard. It was a blitzkrieg approach, so to speak. As long as they had Lefille and the power of the spirits—the ultimate trump card against unsuspecting magicians—there was no need for any petty tricks. All they were doing was buying time until Suimei finished dispelling the barrier. That meant the attack itself was an exceedingly simple affair. All they had to do was trust in their abilities, trust in each other, and trust that they could easily surpass their foes. 

Once the girls hit the abandoned town, the guards immediately took notice. One of them—a man who seemed to have seniority—raised his voice. 

“Who the hell are you?! The Thousand Nights?!” 

“We shall be getting in your way!” 

It was Felmenia that loudly answered the man. It was her intention to gather her enemies’ focus on herself, and just as planned, the guards all began readying magicka against her. 

The guards wasted no further time with discussion, and instead began invoking their spells. They weren’t just any spells, either. They were prioritizing speed, launching quick attacks that didn’t require many steps—namely magicka of this world that bypassed the need for a chant altogether. 

As Felmenia moved to respond in kind, Lefille jumped out from behind her. One of the enemy magicians sneered at such a bold entrance. 

“Ha, an easy target! What a fool!” 

Before Lefille could do anything, a volley of spells came flying at her. Her enemies had used numerology to create a rapid-fire blaze, much like a vastly inferior version of one of Suimei’s favorite spells. 

“That’s one down!” 

“Second line! Start with support and defensive magicka! Hurry and establish an encampment!” 

Immediately following their first wave of spells, the order for the second was given. The enemy magicians considered Lefille preemptively defeated and were preparing for their next move: using support magicka to strengthen their offense and protective magicka to strengthen their defenses. They would establish an encampment where they could lay down magicka circles to create a ritual site, thereby allowing them to use much more powerful spells. 

Or, at least, that was the plan. It all went up in smoke as a dazzling red light flooded the area, wiping out the volley of flames, their heat, and everything born of them in an instant. 

“RAAAAAH!” 

Following the red light came Lefille’s war cry. As a half-spirit, low-level magicka had no effect on her. The power of the spirits granted her automatic rank disparity extinction against most spells, and her special attacks created an accumulation of spiritual power that made it impossible for most other mysteries to reach her. This was the first blow to the enemy magicians’ formation. 

The crimson wind of Ishaktney’s Red Gale gathered at the tip of Lefille’s greatsword as she held it aloft before thrusting it downward. 

“Lebeh Luvuast!” 

[Blade of Four Seals!] 

A shockwave surged through the ground, which split apart with a burst of brilliant crimson light. 

Then there was a split second of shock and silence. That oh-so brief calm before the storm. 

And not a moment after that premonition befell the enemy magicians, they were surrounded on all sides by a whirling red gale. The flash from the fissure coiled into a vortex like a tornado that sent them all flying. 

“That’s four down.” 

Just as Lefille proclaimed, four of the enemy magicians were now down for the count. They lay twitching on the ground after being blown some distance away. 

Following the lead magician’s orders, the other guards began unleashing light spells. Blinding flashes shot through the air like laser beams at Lefille, but she held her ground. She stood in place exactly where she was without even taking a defensive posture. 

The intense light and heat of the spells assailed her, yet she looked indifferent. With her greatsword still pointed at the ground, she began marching forward towards her enemies. Seeing her approach like some kind of invincible monster, the magicians were rightfully shaken. 

“E-Eep...” 

“O-Our spells have no effect whatsoever? But how...?” 

“That power’s... T-Telesma?! I-It can’t be! That woman’s not a human!” 

Panic and confusion raced through the enemy line. The guards had never expected something even more outlandish than a magician would show up. But as Lefille stood towering in front of them like a proud battlement, there was a small shadow lurking close by. 

They’re taking up positions... by the building... 

Accompanied by Howler, Liliana was counting up the enemy magicians who were lying in wait for their chance to attack. They were currently behind a crumbling building, building up an impromptu defensive wall with magicka. It seemed they’d use it for cover as well as a vantage point to attack Lefille and Felmenia. 

Liliana continued to observe them, internally remarking on their apparent experience fighting with magicka. In her world, such battles were a much simpler affair. Mages either fought each other in a fair, open confrontation, or were relegated to the rear lines in order to support nonmagical combatants. But perhaps that was only inevitable. Not only were chant-reliant spells the standard for mages there, the very concept of a ritual encampment was completely foreign to them. The combat they knew was oversimple compared to the advanced strategies Liliana was witnessing here. 

“Over here! There’s one over here too! Some kid magician!” 

At last, Liliana had been noticed. In her world, her invisibility and lack of spiritual presence would have made her completely undetectable, but it seemed that wouldn’t quite cut it in this world. Nevertheless, just because they’d spotted her didn’t mean they stood a chance against her. 

Liliana bundled her hands in front of her mouth as if to warm them with her breath, then whispered a curse into them. It looked as though she was merely talking to herself, but a viscous black lump took shape in her hands. She then began modeling the raw malice as if it were clay. Just touching it was dangerous... Or it would be to anyone but Liliana, who handled it freely and molded it to her will. 

Liliana, you see, had a long history with malice and curses. Ever since she was a child, the people around her—her parents included—had showered her with curses. It made her more perceptible and sensitive to them. She’d even once brought forth an Astaroth, so a small curse like this was child’s play to her. 

“Mr. Crow, Mr. Crow...” 

She continued to mutter, as if whispering life into the clay. And with every word, the curse slowly took the shape of a crow. 

“Mr. Crow, Mr. Crow... Your name is Noisy.” 

The crow was completely black, right down to its beak and claws. Only its eyes had a subtle bluish-white tint to them. 

“No way... How is she still herself after using magicka like that?” 

The enemy magicians watched Liliana in complete astonishment. As expected, of course. What was happening before their very eyes was unthinkable, after all. 

It was just as Suimei had said when he saved Liliana from the evil hand of the Astaroth she had summoned. In this world, systems of magicka were categorized, and the direct use of the double-edged sword of malice—as with the dark magic of the other world—had long been abandoned as an art. Anyone would be shocked to see it in this day and age. 

Nevertheless, the magicians were too caught up in their encampment preparations to attack Liliana in time. She’d already finished making Noisy, and Howler was on the move. The phantom dog’s howl counteracted the enemies’ defenses, and as they immediately moved to invoke new magicka... 

“CAa???AaA??W!” 

Noisy’s indescribably shrill caw interrupted their chants. Even the magicians who’d already finished theirs failed to invoke their spells. 

“What...?” 

“The cacophony of the crow’s shriek is obstructing our spells!” 

“Switch to gesture-activated spells only! Quickly!” 

The magicians tried to overcome, but Howler and Noisy were still on the move as standalone forces. They did more than just obstruct magicka, you see. They were also quite capable of direct attacks. 

Liliana’s familiars proceeded to flush three magicians in the rear guard out of their hiding spot, and she then muttered in her usual tottering fashion... 

“This is... how you use... a curse.” 

She then once more began kneading a curse, and a palpable change came over her voice. 

“The fasting earth. It rots away and falls into ruin, never to return. All prayers are severed, all desires vanish, and by the cursing voices that number as many as the nights, the wintery fields turn to deserts. The voice of starvation comes from the depths. The voice of thirst comes from the abyss. Life has fallen. The women lament. But this is only the beginning. It stands upon the land and pulls the living down to their doom... Void Bog.” 

The curse expelled from her mouth crept across the ground like a black carpet. It pooled under the enemy’s feet, melting the earth into a muddy bog. The magicians caught in the curse instantly began sinking into its depths 

This was the spell Void Bog, which used the power of a wicked curse and the energy of the land to seal the magicka of its targets. 

“It’s... a burial.” 

That cold, tottering pronouncement was the last thing they heard before the darkness overtook them. 

“Mrgh... It feels like I ended up on cleanup duty...” 

Felmenia grumbled to herself, dissatisfied with the role she was left to fulfill. She was full of vigor before, eager to save Hydemary and repay her kindness. But now that the fighting had actually begun, there was far less competition than she thought there would be. It was rather anticlimactic. 

But that was a matter of course. With Lefille’s power of the spirits dominating the front line and Liliana’s shadowy maneuvering on the rear, there wasn’t much left for Felmenia to do. 

That was how she’d ended up—as she said—on cleanup duty. She was simply and quietly knocking out the magicians that Lefille hadn’t blown away. 

“Brenn zu Tode!” 

[Burn to death!] 

They tried to invoke fire magicka to save themselves, but it was no use against Felmenia. 

“Goodness... Shush, shush now. Quietly vanish.” 

Using the appropriate mana, the appropriately laid out magicka circle, and the appropriately worded chant, Felmenia effortlessly negated the incoming fireball. 

“Sh-She’s good...” 

The enemy magicians were astonished by Felmenia’s flawless counterspell. They gritted their teeth in jealous frustration—proof of their admiration, even if Felmenia didn’t see it that way. 

Fire, light, and lightning spells... It’s just as Suimei-dono said. 

Suimei had predicted beforehand what magicka the guards would be relying on: high-temperature fire spells with explosive force, high-penetration light spells, and high-energy lightning spells. They each had their own attributes, but they were similar in that they were optimized for maximum destructive force. 

Nevertheless, when one knew what type of magicka they’d be going up against, dealing with it was easy. That was what made the magicians Felmenia was facing remarkably inferior to the one she was studying under. As long as she was careful, even without any special or peculiar powers, defeating them would be an easy task. 

Rather, with Felmenia’s talent and delicacy when it came to magicka... 

“That was awfully crude, wasn’t it?” 

“...” 

Felmenia’s casual comment left the magicians speechless. There was of course no ill will behind what she said; she was merely commenting on her observation of the situation. And that was exactly what made the enemy magicians keenly aware of the difference in ability between them and this odd girl. They could tell her exasperated words weren’t a provocation. She was simply stating facts. 

Felmenia’s magicka was far more meticulous than theirs, and thus beautiful in a way that all magicians strived for. They devoted themselves to the pursuit of that beauty, and its demonstration revealed a magician’s true abilities. 

What followed was a series of offensive and defensive plays, none of which were particularly of note. The magicians would invoke more spells to attack Felmenia, and she would safeguard herself. When the chance presented itself, she would even counterattack, unerringly striking an enemy magician down every time. 

It was just like clockwork. A fight of no real interest at all. Felmenia had no need to push her mana furnace to its limit. This was far beneath her full strength. Or rather, this was simply how strong she’d become. 

If it had been Felmenia before she met Suimei, she would have undoubtedly been defeated in an instant. But she was no longer the girl she used to be. She wasn’t Court Mage Felmenia anymore, but Felmenia the magician. And now that she too was a magician, foes like this were nothing before her natural talent and finesse. 

It wasn’t long before the enemy magicians who dared to stand against her were all rendered powerless. 

“Mrmrmrgh... This just isn’t enough.” 

It was hardly fair to call it a fight, but Felmenia didn’t yet have the experience in magickal battles to appreciate just how clearly that proved her superiority. 

The attack by the three girls was a major shock to the magicians attempting the ritual. They had caught wind that the Thousand Nights Association was sending an Enforcer beforehand, but that was information the Association had leaked themselves. It was somewhat limited in scope and certainly didn’t include details about exactly who was coming or when. Nevertheless, the magicians knew an Enforcer would show up eventually, and so they had a plan in place for when the time came. 

Indeed, they’d set a trap. In fact, they’d even caught someone in it. But almost immediately afterward, the ghost town was breached and assaulted. It came at a most inopportune time, too. The magicians had realized someone was attempting to dispel the barrier around the area, and they’d sent a strike force to handle it. And it was shortly after the strike force left that the assault began, as if to say bluntly and mockingly that the barrier interference was just a diversion. 

This period right before the ritual was the time they were the most undermanned, but it was also when they were most vigilant. Yet, unfortunately for them, their opponents were simply out of their league. 

There was the girl who trampled any and every magician that dared to come at her using mysteries of far higher rank. There was the girl who molded curses that would put a veteran witch doctor to shame. And then there was the girl who used intricately detailed spells to completely overwhelm their magicka. 

None of those powers were anything that could be developed or trained in any short span of time. It was inconceivable that such young girls were wielding them freely. The summoning and apposition of a spirit in particular was astounding; the only word to describe it was unthinkable. Going up against such incredible forces, a third of the enemy magicians’ defenses were rendered powerless. 

And that number was continuing to increase. The opponent giving them the most trouble was in fact the red-haired girl wielding telesma. She was carefreely swinging around a greatsword and manipulating some manner of mysterious wind that was unrecorded in all the legends and myths of this world. 

The sparkling red wind was of a far higher mystical grade than anything the magicians could muster. It blew them and their magicka away—their gestures, their chants, and everything else that composed their spells losing out to rank disparity extinction. If they tried to put up physical defenses, her greatsword would tear them apart. And if they tried to evade, they still couldn’t outrun the red wind nipping at their heels. 

Facing inevitable defeat, the leader of the guards—the highest-ranking member of the group right behind the homunculus boy—gave new orders to his comrades. 

“Stop the redhead! Use the encampment to the east!” 

In preparation for the forewarned Enforcer attack, they had prepared multiple ritual sites within the ghost town for casting large-scale spells. The ones by the town entrance were destroyed before they were ever used, but there were still other— 

“I-It’s no good! The eastern altar has been dismantled!” 

“What?! When did...” 

As the leader muttered to himself in disbelief, the girl with the platinum hair suddenly peeked out from the corner of an abandoned building... even though she’d been supporting the redhead just moments ago. 

“Oh... Teehee!” 

She seemed to start in surprise upon being discovered, only to retreat back around the corner with a giggle. 

“That damn...!” 

Though her childish mockery fanned the flames of his irritation, he had no time to give chase. His comrades facing the redheaded girl were being blown away, now with some kind of mysterious shockwave. 

The redhead then approached the leader with absolute composure, her greatsword pointed to the ground in one hand. She stood tall and proud as the natural enemy of magicians. 

The leader met her with a hostile glare. 

“Are you one of those damn Enforcers?” 

“Am I? Who knows?” 

She gave him little answer other than a bold smile. In truth, it didn’t really matter if she was an Enforcer at this point. The simple fact that she was getting in their way made her an enemy. 

But, just as the leader was about to invoke his magicka, he sensed mana behind him and heard the strange sound of something cutting through the wind. He turned around in a fluster to see a black shadow passing by his side. 

Several ominously colored feathers fluttered to the ground. The man chased the shadow with his eyes and identified a crow cawing in a shrill voice. Taking a better look around, there were red-eyed crows on the roofs of all the surrounding buildings. The leader then whirled back around in a hurry to find a young girl with violet hair standing where no one had been before. 

“Damn it...” 

“Lily, cursing doesn’t suit you, okay? Also, do that outside the wind.” 

The violet-haired girl bobbed her head, then leaped away like an agile rabbit. 

Not yet... I can’t let these little girls continue to mock me... 

The leader’s defiant spirit was burning strong. They could still recover from this. There was still a path to victory. Half their troops were out of commission, but that meant they still had half their forces left. That was more than enough to have hope. 

Even if they couldn’t defeat these girls right now, all they had to do was buy time for the summoning. As long as they could accomplish that, they could then use the power of divinity. With that, they would be able to defeat any opponent. 

Their regulatory barrier may have already been dispelled, but that wasn’t integral to the ritual. It merely served to keep the summoned divinity in the most convenient state possible. Even without the barrier, the summoning could still take place. And upon remembering that, a certain thought passed through the leader’s head... 

We just have to hold out a little longer. Nothing more. 

The table had been set. The glassy-eyed magicians who’d taken the drug were already amassed in the center of town and the summoning ritual was in motion. It was possible the power grade of the god they summoned would be lower without everyone there to incite it properly, but it should still be enough. Neither these two magicians nor even the girl using telesma would be able to stand against it. 

But that was only if things remained as they were. If it was just these three girls they were up against, then victory was still possible. 

If, and only if. 

And that fragile prospect was crushed in an instant. Indeed, the leader soon detected a tremendous amount of mana drawing nearer. Indeed, he realized that twilight was swiftly approaching from the ridgeline spreading out beyond the trees. 

“What...?” 

The afternoon sky was suddenly dyed in the hues of the setting sun. The sky was so red that it looked like a massive fire was burning just beyond the mountains. It was far too early in the day for the sun to be going down, but it was fading at a terrifying pace. It was like someone had hit fast-forward on the sky as the light suddenly retreated behind the mountain range. Blue turned to orange, orange to indigo, and indigo to darkness. 

It was like all the color had been drained away, the sky painted over by the black of night. And it was only then, in the bleak light of twilight, that it dawned on the leader. 

The magician who calls down the stars brings the night with him. He wields a blue sword in his right hand and a golden shield in his left. Enrobed in black clothing and lightning, he condemns all evil in the name of the Thousand Nights. 

That poem was well known among those who steeped themselves in the mysteries. It extolled the tremendous power of the Society magician who’d suppressed that most extraordinary of mystical calamities... the manifestation of a red dragon. It sung the praises of Enforcer Yakagi Suimei. 

The leader could hear one of his troops audibly gulp. 

“N-No way... E-Even Starfall is here?” 

It wasn’t long before a Japanese boy dressed in black appeared behind the three girls. He wore a suit—the preferred uniform of Society magicians—embroidered with a blue rose, a flower that signified both hope and his status as part of the Society’s upper echelon. 

He carried a sword clad in a pure blue brilliance in his right hand. His left was casually stuffed in his pocket. His face betrayed his young age, but his expression made it clear he was as ruthless as any magician. 

It seemed, despite all the firepower the girls already had on the battlefield, their strongest weapon had only just arrived. As the enemy magicians froze over how to respond, the girl with the platinum hair suddenly raised a cheerful voice. 

“Suimei-dono!” 

“Sorry. It took me longer than I thought it would to clean up that barrier. But they responded in good fashion and deployed a proper troop after me, so I suppose that’s commendable. Don’t you think?” 

Suimei’s blazing eyes zeroed in on the leader of the magicians, who was stunned to see him. He never thought this would be the Enforcer they sent. It was true he had a reputation for handling mystical crimes and calamities related to divinity, but his whereabouts were supposedly unknown over the past several months. 

It was only here that the leader suddenly realized what was going on. 

“It can’t be... That intel that was leaked to us on purpose?!” 

“You got it. Both you and I have been dancing in the palms of the geezers at the Thousand Nights Association.” 

Suimei spoke in a tired voice, but it couldn’t be more obvious he was seething deep down. There was a cold, cruel light shining behind his blazing eyes. 

“Prepare offensive magicka! Throw everything you have at him!” 

The leader quickly issued the order to open fire. He told his troops to attack for all they were worth, but they were already on it. You could say that their wills had aligned against the massive threat before them. But in truth, it would be more accurate to say that they were all just desperate. High-penetration light spells came at Suimei from every angle. 

“Primum moenia, expansio munitum.” 

[First rampart, fortified expansion.] 

Suimei pulled his left hand from his pocket and uttered a short chant. A magicka circle took shape in the air in an instant, rotated, and expanded. The beams of light the enemy magicians fired crashed into the circle—which took the shape of a shield—and sparks scattered about violently. Yet none of them pierced through. Suimei simply moved his arm and turned about, dealing with the beams incoming from every direction as he began his next chant. 

“Secundum moenia, expansio munitum.” 

[Second rampart, fortified expansion.] 

And the chants kept coming, one after another. One circle became two, one atop the other. The Golden Magnale. This was the defensive spell Suimei was known for. 

In general, barrier magicka could only be actualized by assembling all the necessary components for the requisite ritual. One had to secure the land where they were to set up the circle and place said components to delineate the boundary. Even other types of reinforcement spells, such as those that created an encampment around the caster, required a certain amount of preparation. 

However, Yakagi Suimei’s defensive barrier—a release-type fortified barrier—was a grand barrier modeled after the defenses of a castle. It would normally require tremendous measures and time to prepare, and was constructed in stages. 

By building the ramparts, the walls, the towers, and all other components of a castle, each with their own effects, and establishing them in their proper place... They all came together as key components of a ritual to invoke even more complex magicka, unifying into a single spell in the process. 

Yet it was said that Suimei’s barrier magicka could be constructed at impossible speeds. He could allegedly craft the whole thing in under three measly minutes. 

It consumed a rather massive amount of mana, but mana consumption wasn’t a serious obstacle to a high grand class magician. Be it by pulling power from ley lines or the stars, or by gathering aether from the air, there were countless means of stretching one’s limits. And Suimei’s mana furnace was most certainly operating at maximum efficiency. 

“Mea aegis non est aegis. Prae omni oppugnatione est solida. Prae omni impetus est invicta. Invincibilis, immobilis, immortalis. Id est ardens aureum castrum ut colligit spiritus astorum. Eius nomen est— Mea firma aegis! Speciosum aureum magnale!” 

[My shield is not a shield. It is sturdy before any and all offense. It is unshakeable before any and all attacks. Invincible, immobile, imperishable. It is the shining golden castle that collects the breath of the stars. Its name is— My firm shield! The brilliant golden fortress!] 

Before long, and without allowing a single spell through, the release-type fortified barrier was completed. 

The Golden Magnale was said to have once blocked a red dragon’s roar. Its golden light was so radiant that it left an afterimage in one’s eyes. Multiple layers of magicka circles lay on the ground, and several others were rotating in the air. Physical defense, mana defense, dampening, time stagnation... As his fortress, Suimei was free to enter and exit as he pleased, meaning he could launch attacks from within. 

The biggest threat, however, was the fact that the fortress moved with its caster at its center. The enemy magicians got a full demonstration of this—Suimei was currently walking toward them, and the magickal fortress moved right along with him. It was uncanny. Unheard of, even. 

But now that the barrier was up and complete, shining in all its brilliant glory, the only ones capable of piercing it were probably limited to renowned magicians and the Greed of Ten. 

“The key to winning magicka battles is to either break your opponent’s trump card, or to put yourself in an advantageous position. The latter requires you to construct a proper encampment from start to finish. Just like this.” 

There, Suimei spread out his arms as if beckoning his enemies to behold his magicka. Witnessing such a grand spell weakened their resolve immensely. 

“Shit. Such pompous showboating even—” 

But Suimei didn’t even give their leader time to complain. 

“O flammae, legito. Pro venifici doloris clamore. Parito colluctatione et aestuato. Deferto impedimentum fatum atrox.” 

[Oh flames, assemble. Like the cry of the magician’s resentment. Give form to death’s agony and burst into flames. Bestow the one who obstructs me with a dreadful destiny.] 

“?!” 

The instant he began invoking his magicka, Suimei’s mana roared as the elements in the air were sucked towards him. There was a brief moment where the wind pressure born from the explosive heat it generated broke the balance of the atmosphere. A magicka circle with the crest of Mars took shape, and a whirlpool of flames expanded in an almost artless manner. Sparks scattered every which way, making the scene all the more brilliant. 

The flames swirling in the air looked like they were eagerly awaiting to be invoked. And upon closer inspection, Suimei held a bright red, incandescent gem floating just above his palm. 

“Itaque conluceto. O Ashurbanipalis fulgidus lapillus.” 

[So shine. Oh Ashurbanipal’s dazzling gem.] 

“W-Wait—” 

The leader’s scream, verging on begging for his life, was drowned out by the explosion that followed immediately after Suimei crushed the gem in his hand. All sound ceased for the leader as if his eardrums had burst. All he could hear now was a buzzing like the distant hum of some machine. The blaze and its detonation were incomparable to the fire spells his comrades used earlier, and they plowed the landscape in all directions with a shockwave that bent even the trees back under its great force. 

There weren’t many present who could put up a defensive wall to protect themselves on the spot. 

“Urgh...” 

Even those who’d managed to do so were unable to fully protect themselves in the wake of Suimei’s flames. The leader screamed in anguish from the pain of burns all over his body. 

As the flames eventually died down, the entire town was filled with similar cries. The enemy magicians who’d been unable to defend themselves lay writhing here and there as a horrible burning stench settled in the air. The ground itself had melted in the heat of the blast, the red glow of which still lingered in Suimei’s eyes. 

The leader attempted to restore his hearing by applying healing magicka to his eardrums. Meanwhile, backup troops arrived from the rear line and began assisting their fallen comrades. 

“Hey! You okay?!” 

“Gah... The burns... My body...” 

One of the backup troops propped the leader up in their arms and began casting a recovery spell on him. And all the while, the Enforcer who’d authored this disastrous scene was unexpectedly just standing there and watching. If the leader and his troops were healed, they could return to the battle. Not only that, but they would be stronger now with the reinforcements from the rear. So what was Suimei thinking? 

Really, he was observing the situation as though he were the one who found it rather unexpected. 

“Hmm? So you’ve got enough guts to try and help your friends, huh? Sorry, but that was a poor choice right now.” 

“Wha— GAH!” 

The magician who’d come to help the leader suddenly screamed before tumbling to the ground in apparent agony. 

“Wh-What?” 

“Hey! What’s— AAAAAGH!” 

And after the one magician sank into inexplicable suffering, the others who’d come to help fell under the same spell. It was as if the pain of the burns had been passed to them. Meanwhile, Suimei simply continued to watch things unfold with an exasperated sigh. 

“You should really study The Golden Bough. Isn’t it the foundation of magicka?” 

“The Golden Bough...? I see... This is... contagion magicka...” 

The law of contagion could indeed be called the foundation of magicka. If one touched a cursed item, the curse would infect them. That was an elementary law of magicka, and precisely how the reinforcements had become so afflicted. Just by touching their cursed friends, their fates were sealed. 

The modern world had the Hague and Geneva Conventions to restrict the use of certain types of weaponry. In the same vein, magicians also had rules prohibiting certain types of magicka. But spells weren’t forbidden for their destructive power. Rather, they were blacklisted when their effects were deemed to be too cruel and brutal. Any magician caught using such spells was subject to severe punishment. 

But one perk of being an Enforcer was freedom from such censure. They were allowed to use prohibited spells in the name of passing judgment on magicians who dared to disturb the order of the world. They fought fire with fire, so to speak. 

Free use of strong suggestion spells that verged on mind control. Permission to use time manipulation to create eternal seals. Authority to invoke any and all grand magicka. Allowance to spread deadly poisons over limited areas. And of course, the ability to cause... 

“A-A curse outbreak with contagion magicka...” 

Upon contact, the mystical force transmitted from one subject to another, manifesting the original magicka within the new target. It was a virus-type curse. Should it be loosed in a populated area, it could shut down an entire city in the blink of an eye. Anyone who came to help would become secondary casualties, just like the reinforcements had here. And with the cause remaining unclear, a third, fourth, and fifth wave of casualties would quickly follow. It could easily reach pandemic levels, threatening the entire world. 

And that was precisely why contagion magicka had been blacklisted by the Thousand Nights Association. Even the girls who stood at Suimei’s side recognized the threat it posed. Frankly, they were downright terrified of it. Seeing so many people fall to the ground in the throes of sheer agony... It was just too brutal a sight. It rendered them speechless. 

“I don’t really like using stuff like this, but I can’t say it bothers me to use it on bad guys.” 

Or so Suimei boasted, but this was still on the gentler side of things. Enforcement targets were to be brought to justice dead or alive. The lighter the crime, the more likely a target was to simply be captured. But the most heinous criminals were dealt with accordingly. Enforcers took their self-defense seriously and didn’t hesitate to consign their targets to oblivion. 

And the cries that filled the town—the abject suffering they were in—was proof these targets were still alive. Suimei, in a way, was being compassionate. But considering the skill it had taken to render so many magicians powerless through the use of an infectious curse without killing anyone... Their leader couldn’t help shuddering before Suimei’s power. 

On the other hand, the girl with the platinum hair timidly turned a question to Suimei. 

“S-Suimei-dono... Is this magicka similar to my Rainyblaze Clouds?” 

“It’s different, you know? Your flames physically leap while this is a contagion. Oh, but you can’t use that spell over here. Anyone who does that without permission here gets arrested.” Or so he said, but he shrugged as though it weren’t a big deal. “Anyway, as you can see, this is the result. It’s pretty much perfect performance for a spell, right?” 

A gulp could be heard. Even Suimei’s allies shuddered at his abilities. All three girls beheld him with abject shock. 

The redheaded girl in particular spoke up with an astonished sigh. 

“Using multiple large-scale spells at once is one thing, but this is something else entirely. You did say that you’d be back to your normal self upon returning here, but I never expected this.” 

“All I said was that the destructive power of my spells would be back to normal. I never said I didn’t know any stronger spells, did I?” 

“Suimei-kun... You really should cut that out already.” 

“Haha, my bad.” 

Under the redheaded girl’s reproachful gaze, Suimei let out a nervous giggle. When all of a sudden... everything began shaking. 

“Hrm?” 

“This is...” 

It was like an earthquake, but wasn’t. It was the manifestation of a manafield vibration—the precursor to the outbreak of tremendous mystical phenomena. It was like the air was screaming as space itself was being torn apart. Debris rose into the air, and the rubble that fell back to the ground exploded into electrical currents. 

Immediately after the shaking started, a light shot out of the center of town. Suimei’s Bless Blade had brought forth an illusory night, which was now pierced by the rising light that rivaled the brilliance of his golden fortress. 

The leader turned to his troops to confirm what was going on in a fluster. 

“Th-The ritual?!” 

“We’re saved! It’ll be done soon!” 

“Pfft! Bwahahaha! You fools! This is what you get for just standing there! Victory is ours!” 

The ritual was at last on the verge of completion. Learning this, the leader burst into laughter as if he’d forgotten the pain of his burns. With the incarnation of an incredible power—a divine power—victory was surely at hand. Or so he thought. 

The ruined buildings crumbled as white lines ran across the ground, tracing a massive magicka circle that expanded and grew even larger. 

“S-Suimei-dono, this is...” 

Seeing this unfold, the girl with the platinum hair turned pale and trembled. She appeared to be perplexed as to exactly why this inspired such fear in her, but it was only natural. Any magician would tremble at the indescribable chill of what was to come. Even the violet-haired girl was shaking. 

The only two who stood unaffected were Enforcer Yakagi Suimei and the telesma-wielding redhead. Even the enemy magicians were unable to hide their agitation at the immense power that accompanied the summoning of divinity. Their leader was no exception. 

It wasn’t long before the summoned god began crawling out of the still-unstable magicka circle and clawing at its edges. Its form had yet to stabilize. Only its murky-looking arm reached out of the blinding luminescence into this world... almost as if it were climbing up out of hell. 

“Suimei-kun, it’s happening!” 

“This is... bad.” 

The redhead and the girl with the violet hair began to concentrate their strength, but Suimei held out his hand to stop them. 

“S-Suimei-kun?! Why are you stopping us?!” 

“The fundamentals of summoning. If you forcefully intervene now in a grand ritual like this, it will trigger a rebound that’ll be a disaster. It’s safer to let the summoning complete and send the god back while it’s still in an unstable and dazed state.” 

There, the girl with the platinum hair seemed to recall something. 

“Oh... This is like what happened back at the royal castle.” 

“Exactly. The regulating barrier has already been dispelled. They’ll no longer be able to assimilate with the god, so we haven’t lost just yet.” 

“Then...” 

“We wait for its existence to coalesce and blow it away in a single shot.” 

Or so Suimei said, but the enemy leader didn’t seem to think it would be that easy. 

“Even if you’re an Enforcer, you couldn’t possibly have the power to repel divinity just like that!” 

“You don’t think so? Unfortunately for you, this isn’t my first rodeo.” 

The arrogance in Suimei’s voice was like oil on the fire of the leader’s indignance. 

“You’re bluffing! There’s no way you can do that!” 

“Yeah! We’re talking about a god here!” 

“One magician can’t do anything about it!” 

Just like that, his comrades rallied to claim it was impossible. They too were certain of their victory. But at this point... it didn’t sound like anything more than denial. Almost like they were pleading for Suimei to back down. 

And that was the real question: if their victory was so certainly at hand, why were they so anxious? 

As the leader regained his composure, the answer dawned on him in the form of a chill down his spine. A bad premonition. There must have been a reason Yakagi Suimei of all people had been sent. And that reason... Suimei had said it himself. This wasn’t his first rodeo. Indeed, it wasn’t his first time repelling divinity from this world. 

“Holy lightning...” 

The mutter that unwittingly escaped the leader’s lips coaxed a smug grin from Suimei. He looked as though he thought nothing— No, as though he feared nothing of the terrifying threat looming over him. 

The shockwave and accompanying tremors were still ongoing, even now. Power continued to pour out of the white magicka circle, the surplus turning into lightning that assaulted the area. The pale radiance was taking shape like kneaded clay, gradually forming into the figure of a massive god. Everything it touched turned instantly to rubble. And as it clawed its way further out of the circle, there was a blast of wind that blew even the rubble away. 

The next thing to emerge from the light was a head—one with a massive eye and distorted features. It was far too profane to be revered as something holy... But its hideous, unstable figure slowly took the form its believers projected upon it. It was approaching its divine nature as it repeatedly expanded and contracted, gradually taking shape as it eventually emerged in its totality from the magicka circle. 

Its majesty was such that it forced all to kneel before it. The girls were no exception. It was as if no one could stand against the calamity before them. Everyone understood that within it lay a fury which equaled its majesty. The god’s true nature had yet to be determined, but it destroyed everything it touched... Good or evil, it was calamity incarnate. 

And before such calamity, only Suimei remained perfectly composed. He stabbed his mercury katana into the ground, pulled at the lapels of his suit to get himself comfortable, and then... 

“Abreq ad Habra.” 

[Hurl your thunderbolt even unto death.] 

He held one arm out like a blade, and lightning took form in an instant. From the sky above to distant cities, it felt like all the world’s electricity was being plundered by its roots. All the energy in the region that was electric in nature came together in a pale flash. At the same time, an inorganic-looking bust of a woman appeared behind Suimei. 

It was here that he began his true chant. 

“Dico. Illa qui impediunt me, tu es illa qui indignantur me. Ergo, tu es mea mors. Itaque, o fulgur caerulum. O locum id adducit. O illa qui conligant praeter me. Dissipato prae mea fulgur—” 

[I hereby declare. All who stand in my path, thou art those who resent me. Thus, thou art none other than my greatest obstacle, my death. So, oh pale lightning. Oh destination where it arrives. Oh those gathered before me. Scatter to the winds before my lightning—] 

The artlessly scattering lightning converged at Suimei’s fingertips like a reverse ripple. A pale sphere of pure energy took shape alongside a magicka circle that continuously compressed it. Before long, the god stretched its arm for Suimei, who responded by reaching his sparking hand out in kind. Magicka circles projected forward in a row towards the god as if to create a channel stretching between them. 

“Return whence you belong.” 

Then, with the piercing shriek of a woman, a torrent of blue lightning fell right through the god, tearing open clouds above to reveal the jet-black sky. 

And so, the god that had crawled out of the magicka circle was destroyed by Suimei’s Abreq ad Habra and returned to the astral plane. All that remained were the fallen believers and the pale lightning still dancing along the ground. Such lingering effects were quite common after the invocation of grand magicka. 

Suimei pulled his mercury katana out of the ground, dismissed the magicka that shaped it, and brushed away the residual lightning with his right hand. As he did, words finally seemed to return to Felmenia, who was still half dumbfounded by what she’d just witnessed. 

“What terrifying power...” 

“Well, that’s how it goes now that I’m back here.” 

Suimei’s spell had pierced the heavens with enough force to blow away an entire mountain. He’d used the same spell twice previously in the other world, but never with this much destructive power. It left Felmenia dazed for a short while as she admired the lingering lightning, when all of a sudden something else seemed to strike her entirely. 

“Now let’s go save Mary-dono!” 

She immediately and hurriedly started to head for the church when the leader of the enemy mages began to laugh. Suimei and the girls all looked at him with puzzled expressions. 

“You’re talking about the homunculus who came ahead of you, right? Our boss has surely taken care of her by now,” he scoffed. 

“Your boss, huh?” Suimei scoffed in return. 

In all likelihood, their boss was the homunculus detailed in the enforcement request. This drew Suimei’s gaze to the church. 

“That thing?” 

“You bet your ass.” 

“‘That thing’? What are you guys talking about, Suimei-kun?” Lefille asked. 

Suimei put his hand to his jaw. There was something like a shimmering heat haze in the direction of the church. 

“It’s barrier magicka. Probably the kind that locks its target within the spiritual world. An enclosure-type illusion barrier.” 

Just as the enforcement request had warned, barrier magicka was the target’s forte. Specifically enclosure-type illusion barriers. The enclosure element indicated the target was stuck within, and the illusion part indicated the target was under the effects of some kind of hallucination. Hydemary was probably trapped by said hallucinations, roaming endlessly inside the barrier. 

There, the leader turned a dark look of animosity on Suimei. 

“With the boss on our side, even you’re—” 

“No match for you guys, huh? What do you take me for?” 

“Ha! You’re up against a homunculus—a natural genius! A mere human can’t hope to match his knowledge!” 

He certainly had a point there. By their very nature, homunculi possessed vast knowledge. Knowledge in itself was a great power to magicians; its presence or lack thereof alone could determine their caliber. However... 

“And that’s how you instigated him?” 

“Huh? What’re you talking about?” 

“Don’t play dumb. You guys claimed you couldn’t carry the burden of being the vessel so you could schluff it on him, right? Homunculi are smart, so they don’t make many mistakes. But that’s exactly how you guys took advantage of the distortion of a homunculus, isn’t it?” 

“...” 

There, the leader fell silent. Suimei had hit the nail on the head, and he knew it. Felmenia, however, looked absolutely puzzled. 

“Suimei-dono, what do you mean by ‘the distortion of a homunculus’?” 

“Homunculi are born with great knowledge. Imagine a child with the most comprehensive education you could imagine and then some. But, in the end, they are still children. Because they possess nothing but knowledge with no personal experience, it’s easy to destabilize their minds. And that’s exactly how these guys took advantage of one for their own goals. They probably told him that if he assimilated with a god, it would fill the void in his heart.” 

Suimei paused there for a moment before cutting to the real heart of the matter. 

“This is the picture you guys were painting. You make it seem like the ringleader is the homunculus when you’re really the ones leading him by the nose. All so you could take advantage of his power. You used the vanity of a genius and his craving for the limelight against him.” 

It was said that homunculi were susceptible to instabilities of the mind because of the gap between their knowledge and experience. And since they were created for the sake of humans, they were naturally predisposed to listen to them. That was what made it possible to take advantage of them thusly. 

“What about it? Isn’t it normal for humans to use homunculi? He’s also using us ’cause he wants a place to belong, right?” 

“I can’t deny that. However, as magicians, you should be able to figure it the fuck out on your own. No, I take that back. This dumb bullshit suits idiots like you who’ve abandoned your pride as magicians .” 

“Ugh...” 

Suimei stood before the leader, who was now groaning in pain again as he passed down an Enforcer’s judgment upon him. 

“Former Alphard Nine, Saix Ruger. By the request of the Thousand Nights Association, though I’ll spare you your life, you’re under arrest.” 

“We’ve fallen so far...” 

“If you want to revive your organization, do it the right way. You should’ve known something that would bring the Thousand Nights Association down on you was wrong out of the gate,” Suimei spat at the fallen leader before turning to Felmenia. “I’ll go get Hydemary. You three restrain these guys. Not that they’ll be moving much with those burns.” 

He then set off for the church. 

“That’s an enclosure-type barrier! You can’t possibly break in from the out—” 

Saix was undoubtedly about to claim it was impossible, seemingly forgetting that Suimei had already done the impossible today. 

The second Suimei touched the outside of the barrier, he suddenly recalled something he’d once heard about Hydemary. Something the leader of the Society once told him... 

It happened in the same dimly-lit room. 

“Mr. Suimei.” 

“Yes?” 

“You know, about that familiar of yours...” 

“Hydemary isn’t my familiar. She’s my disciple.” 

“Not so, Mr. Suimei. She’s classified as a familiar. No matter how you gloss that over, it won’t change the fact that she isn’t human. Do you think otherwise?” 

“I mean, that’s objectively true, but...” 

But even so, Suimei didn’t want to treat her as a familiar. The sour expression on his face said as much, but Nettesheim shook his head. 

“You shouldn’t treat that girl too much like a human, okay? It won’t do either of you any good.” 

“That may be, but I can’t just treat her like an object.” 

Suimei objected in a clear and decisive tone, but Nettesheim chuckled and laughed the whole thing off as a misunderstanding. 

“Aah, no, certainly not. That’s not what I meant. Just being a familiar doesn’t make her the menial servant of a magician; in fact, you shouldn’t treat her like an object. Nevertheless, if you don’t respect the differences between the two of you, it will create an impassable divide between you.” 

“Is that so?” 

Suimei was relieved to hear what Nettesheim had really meant and shot him a dirty look as admonishment for not being more careful with his choice of words to begin with, but Nettesheim again laughed it all off. 

“Heh, maybe I was being a bit too mean. That said, that’s not exactly what I wanted to tell you today. About that girl...” 

“You mean Mary?” 

“Yup, her. Do you know that homunculi have strong ties to the Akashic Records?” 

“Yes. I’ve heard that they’re granted knowledge from the Akashic Records upon creation via a special quality of the Lapis Philosophorum that gives them life.” 

“Precisely. The Akashic Records are the source of a homunculus’s knowledge. It’s what gives them their very shape and the reason they’re called geniuses. There’s a deficiency in this, however,” Nettesheim said with a pause before concluding. “The Akashic Records do not go as far as granting homunculi human nature.” 

“Really? The Akashic Records are the annals of all history—present, past, and future. Shouldn’t the subtleties of human emotion be recorded in there as well?” 

“As objective knowledge, yes. But no matter how you approach it, learning something and actually experiencing it are very different things. That’s true even for humans. We develop and grow based on the experiences we accumulate beginning the day we become aware of the world.” 

“And you’re saying homunculi are the same?” 

“Mr. Suimei, no matter the being, growth requires the accumulation of experience. People go through things, foster ways of dealing with them, and use that to develop and mold their ego. The knowledge granted from the Akashic Records is sterile in that sense. That girl may learn of all the experience in the world from them, but that experience will never be hers.” 

That much made sense. In short, learning from the Akashic Records was no different than learning from any other book. Just reading something wasn’t the same as actually experiencing it. 

“That girl is a genius. She’s naturally gifted. Quite literally. Her gift comes from nature. Nothing she has is anything she’s acquired through her own efforts, and yet she carries herself with the utmost confidence. Do you see the dissonance there?” 

“...” 

Nettesheim certainly had a point. People gained confidence from experiences with success, so it was indeed strange that Hydemary behaved so confidently when she had none to speak of. And even though her vast knowledge should have made her keenly aware that such conceit was foolish, she still continued to behave that way. It didn’t make sense. 

“Edgar always was lacking in such sensibilities. He’s quite talented, and like me, he’s an eccentric who likes to keep his distance from worldly affairs. That’s why he entrusted that girl to you.” There, Nettesheim’s cheerful tone grew meek as he said, “As long as that dissonance exists, it’s only a matter of time before she loses her way. So... when that time comes, Mr. Suimei, you must be the one to guide her.” 

Nettesheim asked Suimei to be a guiding light for Hydemary, however... 

“Am I capable of such a thing?” 

Suimei was unsure he was fit for the task. Why did Nettesheim have such a high opinion of him? He was still so young. He’d yet to have a lover, let alone a child. What did he know about guiding others? Suimei’s eyes asked that and more as he looked to Nettesheim, who responded with a grin. 

“Mr. Suimei, the very way you live speaks to your dream. You may share common goals with all of us, but your dream belongs uniquely to you. It’s a light that shines brighter than all else within the darkness. It’s a childish dream of no remarkable conceit, and oh-so priceless. It is the answer to all prayers and a beacon to light the way of the lost.” 

Nettesheim recited those words like a poem, and then said... 

“When people lose sight of themselves, they can still move forward as long as there’s a light to guide their way. When even the very ground beneath them is uncertain, they can still crawl towards the light. That’s why... When the time comes, you must show that girl your dream.” 

Finding this all somewhat embarrassing, Suimei grew even more reluctant. 

“You really think she’d stoop to something as unsightly as crawling?” 

“There’s no need to worry about that. As long as you—the one who possesses everything she doesn’t—are there, she will surely chase after you.” 

“She’ll chase after me...?” 

Hearing that, Suimei couldn’t help recalling the day he’d first brought Hydemary to the Society. She proclaimed herself a genius, unwittingly validating everything Nettesheim had just said. It was like she staked her very identity on it. It was her sense of self. In other words, she was struggling against it unconsciously. 

Being different from others was so, so helplessly lonely. Not possessing anything made her so, so helplessly anxious. That constant mantra—“I’m a genius, I’m a genius”—was a desperate cry to distract herself from what she really felt. 

“You’re worthless.” 

“You’re unwanted.” 

“Nobody needs you.” 

Familiar voices kept repeating the same things. They told her she was disposable, unwanted. That everyone thought that way. 

The voices came from shadows. Familiar shadows. One had the silhouette of the old man she idolized as her father. Others looked like her older sisters. 

“Stop... Please stop already...” 

She didn’t want to hear them. Not those voices, and not those words. 

Hydemary had never once thought that she’d been abandoned. She’d believed with surety that she was needed, that people even relied on her. But there was no silencing that lingering, nagging question in her heart. Why was it that her older sisters—automata possessing wills—were educated by their father while she was sent away? 

There were times when it crossed her mind that she might no longer be needed, just as the blond boy claimed. It was normal for parents to raise their own children. For a few years, at least. But Hydemary had been given away shortly after she was born. Was it because Edgar saw no need to raise her? Was it because he had no affection for her as his child? 

Just like that, Hydemary’s anxieties piled atop one another and compounded. The familiar voices stabbing at her made it all the worse. 

“You’re unwanted.” 

“You were thrown away.” 

The shadows stretched out over her as if to crush her into the ground of this sealed magenta world. She huddled down and covered her ears to block out the whispering shadows, when... 

“Good grief...” 

The shadows surrounding her were suddenly cut apart by magicka as a new voice—a familiar yet exasperated one—reached Hydemary’s ears. 

“What are you doing, genius? Getting caught in a spell like this isn’t like you, now is it?” 

Of course, the one to appear through the shadows was none other than Yakagi Suimei. 

“I see... So now it’s you, Suimei-kun.” 

“Hmm?” 

“You’re here to tell me that you don’t need me either, right?” 

“Hey, don’t space out on me. I’m the real thing, you hear? I’m not one of these shadows that’s been tormenting you.” 

“It... It is you.” 

Taking a closer look, Hydemary saw that it really was Suimei. All the other figures had been mere shadows, but this was a real person with full substance and color. Hydemary didn’t know what he was doing, but non-shadow Suimei didn’t seem to be here to disparage her. He just muttered “good grief” again in astonishment as he drooped his shoulders. 

“Hey... Suimei-kun, am I an unwanted child?” 

“Wha? Unwanted?” 

“Yeah. Didn’t my father send me away because he didn’t need me anymore?” 

There, Suimei shook his head. 

“Like hell he did. If the meister thought he didn’t need you anymore, there’s no way he would’ve sent you to the Society.” 

“Then why did he send me away? Is there any reason for me to learn other magicka when I already have my own?” 

“That...” 

That, Suimei couldn’t answer. It was true that Hydemary was born into the world with magicka of her own. There really wasn’t a need for her to go out of her way to learn other magicka. She was already a full-fledged magician, meaning there was no real reason to send her to the Society. There was no reason she needed to study under Suimei or become his disciple. 

“My father made me, and then he was done with me. That’s why he sent me away, isn’t it? He kept all of my older sisters by his side...” 

At this, Suimei’s tone took a capricious turn. 

“Oh, come on. Where’d your usual sass go? Don’t tell me you got all depressed just ’cause someone said something you weren’t used to hearing. Or did you? That why you got caught in this crap?” 

“I’m... I’m being serious here!” 

His nonchalant attitude was far too irritating. Hydemary couldn’t help screaming at him, and with that, it felt like something murky and dark began overflowing from the pit of her stomach. 

“My father created me, but I was never given a task or a goal! He just sent me away! He never even told me that I was useful as a homunculus, or as a magician for that matter... So what good am I?!” 

“If a genius like you isn’t good for anything, then what about a mediocre chump like me?” 

“What’s mediocre about you?! You can do anything! You know so much! Everyone acknowledges you! But not me! I don’t have any of that going for me!” 

Indeed, Hydemary had no experience. She’d accomplished nothing. So what if she was a genius? The only thing she could take pride in was the single fact that she was homunculus. And what was that even worth? It too was something that had been bestowed upon her. 

“I was created! The power I possess, the knowledge I have, my talent... It was all given to me! Every last bit of it! I possess nothing of my own! Nothing!” 

Hydemary screamed her lungs empty, her chest heaving up and down for air. Even she was surprised at the loud, violent force of the emotions within her. 

She’d been created. She’d been given everything she had. In other words, she—or an exact replica of her—could be made again. So what worth was there in her specifically? What truly made her special? There was no way for her to know. 

But upon screaming her heart out, she neither wept nor wailed. All was finally silent when a gentle hand fell upon her shoulder. 

“Did you get it all out?” 

“I’m...” 

“Mary... It’s true that you’re different from normal humans. You were born with the world at your fingertips, and you’re capable of doing most anything on your own. But that’s not all there is to you, right? No one’s worth is determined the moment they’re born. It’s something that gradually takes shape bit by bit over a long, long period of time.” 

“It happens... over time?” 

“Yeah. People need time to grow into their own, and you’re no exception. You don’t just get to skip that part of the process.” 

“But... there’s no guarantee I will, right?” 

“That’s why the meister sent you to me. So that you can acquire what you don’t have—what you want—with your own two hands. It definitely wasn’t because you’re unwanted.” 

That was entirely possible... But there was also another possibility. If the shadows were right and Hydemary really was unwanted... 

There was no place for her in this world. 

And as her vision shook from such anxieties, she looked up at Suimei who gently smiled back down at her. 

“But even so... Even if no one else needs you...” 

This young man was always chasing his dreams, trying to save those who couldn’t be saved. He was always so radiant, so earnestly running forward. That was simply who he was. And precisely because of that, he held his hand out to Hydemary without hesitation. 

“I need you. So don’t talk about yourself like that.” 

It was why he knelt down next to her, huddled up on the floor, and beckoned her to come with him. 

“You... need me? Really?” 

“Yeah.” 

“You won’t go anywhere anymore? You won’t vanish out of nowhere again?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I hate it, you know? Being left behind like that. Do you have any idea how lonely it is?” 

“Don’t worry. I’m right here now. So...” 

Take my hand, he said. 

Take it and never let go, he said. 

I’ll guide you to where you belong, he said. 

A warmth blossomed in Hydemary’s chest upon hearing those words. Before she knew it, the anxiety that had been tormenting her vanished like the shadows. 

“Mm!” 

And so she took his hand with a grand nod. The force that pulled her up was strong, reliable, and overflowing with confidence. 

Yes, this was it. Wasn’t it precisely because Suimei was this sort of human that she’d decided to follow him to begin with? Why hadn’t she realized it sooner? She’d fallen to the throes of depression and ended up dancing to the blond boy’s tune. It was a splendid trap, and a pity that she fell for it. Oh-so pitiable, but nevertheless unavoidable. 

Because Hydemary needed him. She needed Yakagi Suimei. 

Suimei sat there for a short while, stroking Hydemary’s head with great affection as though comforting a small child. But it was a pleasant sensation, like she was at his mercy. 

“Have you calmed down now?” 

“Mm, I guess. That was quite the disgraceful act I put on. Utterly lame, and completely unbecoming of me.” 

“You’re right about that. Being at least this impudent is more your style.” Suimei then let out a hearty chuckle before asking, “Can you tell what’s going on?” 

“Well... This is a mental barrier. An enclosure-type illusion barrier, no?” 

“Sounds like you’re fine, then. But seriously, you’ve got some screws loose to get caught in this kinda crap, you know?” 

“Oh, I know. This is absolutely beneath me.” 

Her tone was so haughty that no one would have ever guessed the height of her despair just moments ago. But Suimei was glad to hear it, for he accepted Hydemary as she was and—at last—things were back to normal. 

“Let’s go. Time to smash this barrier and give that guy who poisoned your mind with all that crap a good slugging.” 

“Agreed. I need to return the favor for embarrassing me like that.” 

With that, she took chase after Suimei as he moved to destroy the barrier. She followed his figure, that ever-dazzling figure. And as she stared at him running out ahead of her, a thought passed through her mind... 

One day, she too would become a magician that pursued the dream we all dream. A magician that saved people. A magician needed by someone. Just like him. 

And to that end... 

“Kunng-Lei Maximum Licht.” 

She spoke the words to unleash her mana furnace. 

Hydemary’s mana amplified with a tremor. She pushed her mana furnace to its limits, shattering the barrier from within it. Now that she was herself again, that much was a simple task. 

The illusionary world vanished and dissolved back into the interior of a church. The church itself was likely the boundary of the barrier. And once said barrier was gone, the lovely soprano voice of a young boy came down from where the altar would be. 

“Oh dear, so they ended up failing completely? All bark and no bite, I see.” 

A beautiful blond boy enrobed in white stood before Suimei and Hydemary. He was the one who’d been responsible for sealing Hydemary in the illusory magenta world. Suimei had all manner of questions for him, including why he hadn’t interfered when Suimei repelled the summoned god or when he rescued Hydemary, but he put that all aside for now. 

Suimei and Hydemary were both vigilantly building up their mana as the blond boy turned a question to them instead. 

“Who exactly are you?” 

It was particularly directed at Suimei, who gave a rather straightforward response. 

“Me? Yakagi Suimei of the Society.” 

“Ah, so you’re the one they call Evening Starfall. You must be the Enforcer.” 

The blond boy calmly evaluated Suimei, who flashed his usual cynical smile. 

“You’re being awfully casual about this, aintcha? Your little scheme’s already been blown, you know?” 

“I have to correct you on one point. This was their scheme, not mine.” 

“I’m sure it was all Saix’s idea, yeah... But you had a horse in this race too, didn’t you?” 

“Indeed. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter to me.” 

“What do you mean?” 

Rather than the boy, Hydemary was the one to answer Suimei there. 

“In short, even without assimilating with a god, he’ll be content as long as he defeats the human who repelled it.” 

“That’s exactly right. If I can defeat you, who struck down a god, I’ll be able to fulfill my goal.” 

His ambition had changed partway through. That was why he hadn’t bothered to stop Suimei outside or when he came to save Hydemary. Indeed, the moment Suimei challenged the god and defeated it, there was a change of plans. 

He wanted to display his abilities to the world. Assimilating a god was a concise way to accomplish that, but now that a human had repelled the summoned god... striking that human down would be an even better demonstration. 

In short, this boy wasn’t much different than Hydemary. He was tormented by the emptiness created by the dissonance between his abundant knowledge and his lack of experience—the homunculi’s dilemma. All of this was to fill the void inside him. Suimei’s heart was shaken with pity, but the blond boy made a bold declaration from on high. 

“Evening Starfall, I shall defeat you here. I failed to assimilate a god, but if I can defeat a genius like you, it will fill the emptiness within me all the more.” 

“A genius, huh? I gotta say, I’ve never thought of myself that way.” 

“Are you trying to taunt me...? Aah, it’s really working. That pisses me off. And what would you call yourself if not a genius? You who expelled divinity from the world. You who defeated two of the Greed of Ten. You who struck down the red dragon that heralded the apocalypse.” 

Suimei countered the blond boy’s increasingly theatrical tone with a self-deprecating smile. 

“I’m no genius. I just never know when to give up.” 

“Say what you will, but the world judges you otherwise.” 

That much was certainly true. The way one thinks of themself and the way the world thinks of them are two different things, and the individual rarely has control over how the world esteems them. 

“Anyways, I’m not your opponent.” 

“Are you telling me to defeat your disciple first? The self-proclaimed masterpiece who fell right into my trap?” 

“The very one. This time, try beating her in a proper magicka battle without any sly tricks. You manage that, and I’ll take you on all you want.” 

“You sure are looking down on me.” 

The blond boy then turned to Hydemary, who pointed her wand at him. 

“You really got me good,” she said. “I never thought you’d play a hand like that.” 

“It only worked because your heart was so unguarded. I never thought you’d break out of it. You could’ve escaped from all those painful thoughts if you’d just shriveled away within that barrier.” 

The blond boy began amassing mana, and the scenery of the room began to warp. 

“But you’re still far too careless. This church is my encampment. I have more than one barrier prepared here.” 

With that, the dizzying warping grew more violent with the shrill shriek of what sounded like grinding metal. It was likely the aggravation of phenomena from the establishment of his completed magicka. The boy then spoke the words to activate his barrier. 

“Oh barrier! Manifest!” 

A magicka circle deployed at his feet and a manalight dome as white as flour encircled Hydemary. It was positioned just like a defensive wall, but there was no way a barrier like this was meant for protection. 

The boy held out his hand and slowly pantomimed crushing something within it. Following the movements of his fingers, the dome began to shrink. The contracting barrier compressed space itself, putting pressure on Hydemary with the intent of obliterating her. 

The homunculus boy was indeed a master of barrier magicka. This in particular was an activated-type constriction barrier. Not even high-penetration spells were likely to breach it from the inside. 

So how would Hydemary deal with it? Suimei simply observed as he kept himself on guard. 

Hydemary suddenly pulled something from her breast pocket. It was a favored magickal item of hers, a pack of cards. She opened it and artlessly scattered the playing cards within around her. Then... 

“Wirbelwind!” 

[Whirlwind!] 

As the barrier contracted, Hydemary used wind magicka to blow her cards in every direction. They flew this way and that, plastering the inside of the dome. And just when they were all in place... 

“Kartensoldaten, greift an!” 

[Card soldiers, attack!] 

She let loose her next chant. Under its influence, the cards began transforming. They grew larger, sprouting gloved arms and booted legs as they did. They were just like the card soldiers from Alice in Wonderland. Some carried swords, some spears, and some even shields. They all grappled with the barrier at once, bravely volunteering their bodies to suppress the contraction. 

“Hahaha! Do you really think you can stop my barrier with such simple means? This is beyond foolish.” 

“I don’t think this’ll stop it either.” 

“Wha?!” 

Hydemary’s mana swelled and flooded the area as if to drown out the boy’s voice. The air crackled alive with electricity, the sound of which was almost lost among the creaking of the building and its furnishings under Hydemary’s pressure from within the barrier. The mana pouring out of her turned into a torrent of light, which ascended to the ceiling of the dome like a rising dragon. 

“Th-That mana...” 

“You won’t last if this is all it takes to surprise you!” 

Hydemary shouted at the boy, who was clearly shaken by the manifestation of her mana. She then pulled a single book out of thin air. 

“A grimoire? No, that’s not...” 

“No, it’s nothing that impressive. It’s just a picture book.” 

With that, Hydemary gave the boy a flash of the cover. It was indeed a well-worn picture book decorated with an illustration on the front under its English title. The letters were written in a large, easy to read font. It was unmistakably a children’s book, and appeared to be nothing more. It held no value as a magicka item. It was, as Hydemary said, simply a picture book 

“Through the Looking-Glass?” 

“Yup. This was the first thing my father ever gave me. Just a well-loved book.” 

“Hmph. And what’re you going to do with that?” 

“What am I going to do, you ask? I’m a magician, aren’t I? There’s only one thing to do.” 

“That can’t possibly be a magickal item. Like you can do anything with that...” 

“Oh, I can. And I will. After all, my magicka is...” 

Indeed, Hydemary’s magicka was origin magicka. 

In general, spells were formalized combinations of actions such as primitive prayers and wishes. The exact actions required by a particular spell were determined by its system of magicka, but they were constants. Said actions were fixed, and not something an individual caster could alter. 

Except for Hydemary, that is. The actions required for her spells could be completed using whatever process she wished, readily bringing about the exact result she intended as long as the input matched the output. Essentially, as long as she supplied the correct amount of mana to warrant it, she could wreak anything she desired. 

Hydemary Alzbayne’s magicka was known as Die Kleine Spielzeugkiste, or “The Little Toybox.” It was magicka that used anything considered a child’s toy as a medium to manifest her dreams. As for the toys children used to stave off boredom... Dolls, stuffed animals, playing cards, and magic sets were all fair game to her. Even picture books. 

And so, holding her picture book open in one hand, Hydemary began chanting her spell. 

“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves 

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; 

All mimsy were the borogroves, 

And the mome raths outgrabe.” 

It was a nonsense poem known around the world, famously explained to Alice by Humpty Dumpty, that told the story of a bewildering monster slain with the power of a magical sword. 

The pages of Hydemary’s picture book flipped wildly as she channeled her magicka through it. Pale lightning sparked from it, forming a glowing beam. Hydemary reached into the beam with her right hand, projecting her mana into the book and pulling a blade from it in return. 

“He took his vorpal sword in hand: 

Long time the manxome foe he sought... 

One, two! One, two! And through and through 

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!” 

But it wasn’t just any blade that Hydemary drew from her book and thrust at the blond boy. 

“Do you think that sword could possibly break my barrier?!” he asked in disbelief. 

“Vorpal Sword: Vanity Cutter!” 

It was a blade that cut through all magicka and nonsense with the power of truth. As if in demonstration, Hydemary sliced into the contracting barrier with aplomb. 

“This is the magicka-slaying sword. All falsehoods are fated to be cut down by it.” 

And just like that, her vorpal blade rent asunder the boy’s barrier, reducing it to nothing before it could accomplish anything. 

Things ended quickly after that. The blond boy likely never thought his contracting barrier would be broken, and was summarily swarmed by the card soldiers who escaped it. He hardly put up a fight and was swiftly rendered unconscious. 

“That was unexpectedly lame,” Hydemary frumped. 

“Well, he was up against you...” Suimei replied nonchalantly. 

The two homunculi were fundamentally on different levels to begin with. Hydemary was the magnum opus of the famous Doll Master, while the blond boy—though capable of great things—possessed so little ability that his creator had dismissed him. 

In that sense, this result was inevitable. It should have been obvious from the start. It was actually quite an achievement that he’d temporarily captured Hydemary, but in an outright magicka battle, the scales were hopelessly tipped in her favor. 

Suimei was now looking down at the collapsed boy. With all the intel he’d gathered, he had a grasp of the boy’s situation. After being created as part of a certain alchemist’s experiment, he was dismissed and left to wander the world. It was in doing so that he’d encountered Saix Ruger, and the rest was now history. 

“I feel kinda bad for him... Thrown away, tricked, and this was what awaited him in the end,” Suimei said with a sigh. 

“Agreed.” 

“But, you know, at the end of the day, why was he so eager to take on more than he could handle? If he wants to accomplish something, what’s wrong with doing a little bit at a time?” 

Suimei casually threw that out, and in an unusual turn of events, Hydemary smiled. 

“I’m sure... he wanted the person who created him to acknowledge him. He wanted to be accepted. That’s why he tried to do something grand. To stand out and attract attention. Also... I get it.” 

“Get what?” 

“This boy didn’t have you. That’s why he’s been unable to live freely like I do.” 

Hydemary looked down at the blond boy too. Her tone was sympathetic, and her expression just a bit lonely. 

“Suimei-kun... Could I be a little selfish?” 

“What are you thinking?” 

“I don’t want to hand this boy over to the Thousand Nights Association.” 

“I don’t particularly mind, but what exactly are you planning on doing instead?” 

Suimei questioned Hydemary in a slightly strict tone. No matter how pitiful she found him, cutting him loose would only end with another incident. This wasn’t something that could simply be overlooked. Someone needed to take responsibility, much the same way Suimei had sheltered Liliana. 

“I’d like to send him to my father.” 

“Ah, so you’d like the meister to train him?” 

“Mm. I think that’d be better.” 

“That sounds nice and all, but will he agree to it? This boy is a complete stranger to him.” 

“I’m sure it’ll be fine. If he’s reluctant, I just have to beg him.” 

“Why go that far?” 

“Why? Is that something you need to ask?” 

Hydemary paused there for a moment, but the next words out of her mouth were Suimei’s own... 

“To definitively save those who cannot be saved.” 

I see. In that case, of course she’d go this far. 

“You don’t say, huh? Then you’d better lend him a proper hand. He’s going to need it.” 

With that, Suimei picked up the unconscious blond boy. Now that they’d decided not to hand him over, a negotiation with the Thousand Nights Association awaited. The thought was exhausting to Suimei, but it was all worth it to support his disciple who’d taken her first steps to pursuing the Society’s ideals. It was a good feeling, and Suimei left the church with a smile and Hydemary proudly at his side. Outside they found the girls, the magicians they’d restrained, and representatives from the Thousand Nights Association who’d come to collect their targets all waiting for them.