Chapter 1: The Aerial Battle of Rodania
In the noble district of Rodania, home to the headquarters of the Restoration...
Along a section of a street leading to the enchanted airship harbor by the lake, Rio stared at Celia in shock.
Why?
Celia was weeping sadly—but at the same time, there was a hint of confusion on her face. A spell formula appeared around her small body as though a magic was trying to activate itself.
It worked. It’s not possible to give you all of it right now, but I’m entrusting everything I couldn’t give that person to you.
“H-Huh...?”
Celia looked around restlessly, unsure of where the voice was coming from. One beat later, information started flowing into her head.
“...”
Her eyes were fixed on Rio, but she wasn’t seeing him. Wrapped in the dazzling glow of the spell formula, she stood there gazing into the distance.
“Celia? Celia?!”
Her father, Roland, shook her by the shoulders in a panic. Sara, Orphia, and Alma were also watching her worriedly from nearby. Everyone was equally surprised by the sudden turn of events.
But now wasn’t the time to be distracted by their surprise. The Beltrum Kingdom’s main army led by Duke Arbor was still attacking Rodania at this very moment—and the fall of the city was imminent.
The Aerial Knights of the Beltrum army were closing in from the skies, and the fleet of enchanted airships with Duke Arbor on board was a short distance away. The few remaining troops of the Restoration’s Aerial Knights were doing their best to buy time, but they wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer.
No matter how one looked at it, the situation was clear. That was why Christina and the others trying to evacuate noticed Celia and the spell activating around her, but had to ignore her in favor of moving to the harbor.
Celia remained in her dazed state for less than a minute. Once the spell formula faded, she snapped back to her senses.
“Ah... Oh...”
However, her expression was one of extreme sadness. Tears spilled from her eyes and flowed down her cheeks.
“Whatever is the matter, my dear Celia?” Roland asked, peering into her face. He must have sensed what his daughter was feeling from her expression.
“N-Nothing, it’s just...” Celia shook her head as she wiped her eyes. There was something more important than explaining things to Roland right now.
“...”
With her red, swollen eyes, Celia stared at Rio with a determined look, as though to say she wouldn’t be forgetting him anymore. Rio himself was staring at Celia with an absorbed gaze. The two held their gazes from a distance of two meters for a long moment. As he looked between the two of them questioningly, Roland seemed to feel an odd sense of unity between Rio and Celia.
“Who...are you?” Sara, the silver werewolf, asked. Beside her, the high elf Orphia and dwarf Alma also had their eyes fixed on Rio.
“I’m Rio,” he replied truthfully. Based on what Sora had told him, transcendent ones had difficulty remaining in the memories of those around them. The moment he distanced himself from them, they would forget they ever made contact with him. Thus, he believed there was no problem in telling them his name.
But risks aside, there was also something Rio wanted to confirm: Did Sara and the others still remember him?
“Have we...”
“...met somewhere before?”
Alma and Orphia asked together. Sure enough, they couldn’t remember Rio. But their reaction implied that they felt some sense of familiarity with him.
It seems they don’t remember me. But they seem to feel some kind of recognition.
Once Rio confirmed that, he looked up at the sky. “You must be imagining things. What’s more important right now is for you to hurry. I will escort you to the harbor.”
He had originally planned to leave at this point, but he wanted to speak to Celia some more. That was why he made such a suggestion instead.
“Let’s all go together,” Celia responded first, agreeing with Rio’s idea. “Princess Christina and the others have left already.”
“Right...”
In reality, this was no time to be chatting. Once Rio and Celia started down the street to the harbor, Roland and Sara’s group finally moved as well. Just then, three young Aerial Knights descended to where Celia and the other evacuees were. Rio immediately prepared an art for counterattack, when—
Isn’t that...Stewart Huguenot?
He paused his art the moment he recognized his opponent. As his last time implied, he was the son of Duke Huguenot. Back when Rio had attended the Royal Academy of Beltrum, Stewart was part of the grade one year younger than him, and he had pinned his crime of pushing Flora off a cliff onto Rio. He was the culprit behind Rio’s decision to leave the Royal Academy. He had also abused Latifa for his own amusement, back when she was a slave.
The last time Rio had encountered him was when he returned to the Strahl region as Haruto. The drunk Stewart had picked a fight with Rio in an Amande restaurant, which his father Duke Huguenot scolded him harshly for. Rio hadn’t seen him since that event.
Is he part of Rodania’s Aerial Knights? But why has he left his squad to descend here?
The few remaining Aerial Knights of the Restoration were still fighting in the sky. With all the squads focused on stopping the enemy, why had Stewart and the other two knights left their post to descend here? Rio found their actions somewhat odd.
“Who the hell are you?!” Stewart must have found Rio and his mask equally odd, as he yelled for Rio to identify himself with a glare.
“It’s okay, Stewart.” Celia intervened immediately in support of Rio. “He’s someone we can trust. What’s more important right now is protecting Princess Christina and Princess Flora. They’re up ahead—go guard them.”
Having been one of her students at the Royal Academy, Stewart trusted Celia.
“Professor Celia... Very well. We will focus on protecting the princesses.” Stewart backed down obediently.
“Over there! There may be someone of importance with them. Don’t let them get away!”
Just then, the movements of Stewart and the other knights caught the eyes of the enemy. Aerial Knights from Beltrum started descending one after another.
“Tch...”
Sara and the spirit folk girls were the first to raise their weapons, but—
“I will bring up the rear. Sara—please guard everyone until they reach the ship,” Rio ordered, before leaving without waiting for a response.
“Huh...?”
Sara did a double take at her name being called. She hadn’t introduced herself to him, but she assumed it was because he had heard the others call her name in the middle of the earlier battle.
“Sora will accompany you!” Sora immediately followed after Rio.
“Thank you. I’ll do most of the fighting, so please take care of anyone who gets past me. Don’t let them reach the harbor.”
“Got it!”
Thus, Rio decided to throw himself into more battles.
“H-Hey...!”
With the worried look of a lost child, Celia called after Rio. She seemed to believe he would disappear again.
Rio paused and looked back at her with a gentle smile. “It’s okay. We’ll talk properly later.”
That was enough to ease her woes. “Okay!” Celia said, wiping away her tears.
At that, Rio started running. He accelerated and took to the sky, meeting the incoming Aerial Knights midair. He then activated a spirit art to create a blast of wind that changed directions erratically, directing it at them.
“Wh-What?!”
The blast of wind swallowed up the Aerial Knights along its path.
“Huh?!”
The Aerial Knights were violently shaken by the wild air current. In the blink of an eye, the knights lost control of their griffins. Their safety harnesses prevented them from falling from the griffins, but the harsh wind forced them to land one after another. But there were more knights hovering just outside the range of the art.
“What is that guy?” Their attention was completely focused on Rio’s presence in the air.
“Eliminate him. Prepare your photon bullets! And fire!”
“Photon Projectilis!”
The Aerial Knights uttered their spells one after another, deploying magic circles at the ends of their swords. Once they locked their aim onto Rio, they fired their spells at once.
“...”
Rio stared at the approaching barrage of light bullets calmly. It would have been easy for him to accelerate and evade them, but he chose to remain in the air and draw the enemy’s attacks towards himself instead. Then, he cast a barrier of magic essence to block those shots of light.
The bullets of light sank into the barrier like balls being thrown against water, losing their kinetic energy and coming to a stop. After all the attacks were successfully halted...
“Wha...?!”
The Aerial Knights who attacked were speechless—Rio had stolen control of all of their spells. Once he noted all their locations by eye, he reflected the light bullets he had caught back at them.
“E-Evade! Evade them!”
The attack they had used was rebounding back towards them. The Aerial Knights had never experienced such a thing before, so they panicked. Their formation promptly fell apart as they dashed about evading the bullets.
Photon bullets were preferred for enemy suppression as they had lower lethality than other attack magics, but a direct hit was still strong enough to send an unguarded human flying. If a bullet struck the wrong spot, it could even fracture bones or snap the spine, resulting in death.
I have to avoid hitting them if I can...
And so, Rio manually controlled every bullet one by one, diverting them away from directly hitting the knights. Choosing to injure instead of kill on the battlefield further lowered the enemy forces by causing them to redirect troops to assisting injured allies.
But another reason for his actions was the rule of god that said he couldn’t support the interests of an individual or group. With the exception of a few circumstances, transcendent ones had to use their powers for the sake of the entire world. He was forbidden from participating in the conflict of humans and protecting only one side.
A certain amount of support could be overlooked, but the moment the rule was triggered he would lose all memory of the people he tried to assist. That was why the more Rio fought right now, the more the situation leaned towards activating the rule’s penalty.
Crk. Crrrk.
The cracking sound of the mask, which was taking the burden of the penalty, reached Rio’s ears. He had to be extremely careful of the penalty growing in proportion to the degree of his assistance—if he was going to intervene, he had to do it in a way that wouldn’t be considered as strongly. This way, the penalty would also be weakened.
There were many factors that contributed to whether his assistance would be considered strong or weak. The reason why he was only injuring the approaching enemies was because he was hoping that leaving them alive would be considered less assistance than killing them. His aim was for a stalemate in the situation without tipping the power balance. However...
“Damn it!”
“Assist the injured!”
There were too many enemies for that to be feasible. No matter how much he held back, taking on this number of people had to be considered a strong show of support.
He had no choice but to buy as much time as possible. Rio looked around the battlefield calmly, considering the most efficient way of consuming his mask’s capacity.
He controlled the countless photon bullets and made them attack the flying Aerial Knights of Beltrum Kingdom from every direction. He made them cut off the paths of those who tried to approach him and chase away those trying to flee, forcing their front lines to retreat farther and farther.
If a group of knights was gathered in one spot, he would aim to injure the griffins of one or two of those knights, forcing the others to focus on rescuing them.
The Beltrum Kingdom’s army, which had had the superior position thanks to the huge attack Renji made with his hero powers, was now faltering. The tides of battle were turning thanks to Rio’s extraordinary power.
“What is that...?”
It was clear to everyone in the surroundings that the scales were being tipped by Rio. Regardless of which side they were fighting for, the knights in the sky had their eyes fixed on him.
“It’s him! That man is the one controlling the attacks!”
“Spread out! Encircle him and defeat him!”
With their advantage in numbers, the Beltrum Kingdom’s army attempted to eliminate Rio. At their commander’s order, half the squads that hadn’t been engaged with Rio’s fight flew towards him.
“Y-Yes, now’s our chance! Use this opportunity to restore our front lines!”
Meanwhile, the Aerial Knights of the Restoration attempted to reorganize their forces. The shift of the enemy’s attention to Rio had given them the leeway to do that. Several hundred Aerial Knights from both sides filled the sky above Rodania. But then...
What’s this...?
A strange feeling filled Rio. It wasn’t a bad feeling—if anything, it was good.
Rio was currently controlling several dozens of light bullets. Controlling such a number from such a far distance—and at an individual level—should have required extremely precise control.
Has my control over spirit arts improved?
Was it because he had awakened to his transcendent powers? Rio felt like he still had the capacity to use other arts while controlling these bullets.
In that case...
In order to deal with the incoming enemies, Rio increased the number of light orbs before him by over three digits.
“Restoration troops, head to the harbor! Create a defense line and protect the evacuees boarding the airships! Princess Christina and Princess Flora are with them,” Rio said, instructing the Aerial Knights of the Restoration while moving forward to draw the attention of the Beltrum army. Furthermore, he had used a spirit art that carried his voice through magic essence, allowing him to send his voice directly to the ears of the knights who were specifically wearing the officer uniform of the Restoration.
“Huh...?”
The officers of the squads flinched at the sound of Rio’s voice right by their ears. There was a fair distance between Rio and them, and they normally never heard voices this clearly while flying, so they couldn’t tell who just spoke. However, the situation didn’t leave them with any other choice—they turned their griffins to face the harbor and looked for the evacuees Rio had mentioned.
“There they are! We will protect Their Highnesses! Any remaining squads form a line protecting the harbor! Now!”
A man in a fancier uniform than the others gave a decisive order. He must have been the highest-ranking officer present. The other officers began instructing their squads too. Thus, the remaining squads of the Restoration moved around the enemies swarming Rio.
“Damn it! Don’t let the enemies move freely!”
Of course, the Beltrum army noticed the Restoration’s movements. They weren’t about to let them pass without a fight.
“We can’t reach them!”
“Guh...!”
However, the light bullets under Rio’s control obstructed their movement. The orbs smoothly avoided the troops wearing the Restoration’s uniform and hindered only the Beltrum army. That helped the Aerial Knights of the Restoration realize Rio was completely on their side.
“Whoever you are, thank you!”
“All troops get behind that man while you can!”
“Form a line of defense before the harbor!”
In the sky, filled with an overwhelming number of projectiles and enemies, the Aerial Knights of the Restoration flew freely. Among them, the highest-ranking officer flew over to Rio. “Kind stranger, you have my gratitude. Will you continue giving us your assistance?”
“Yes.”
“Is it true the princesses have evacuated to the harbor?” the officer asked. He required more information to make informed decisions.
“Yes, the hero and Duke Huguenot are with them.”
“I see... That’s all I needed to know.”
With his mask on, Rio must have appeared extremely suspicious. But while it would have roused suspicion in times of peace, it was a trivial matter on this battlefield.
There was no doubt Rio was assisting them even now, and they had spotted the evacuees with their own eyes already. There was enough information for the officer to believe Rio’s words.
“I will continue obstructing the enemy’s movements. Move your squads to the harbor and prepare yourselves for further battle.”
“But those attacks are being controlled by you, right? If you join forces with us...”
The man scowled at the frantic movements of the Beltrum army. If Rio continued to help them, they could turn the tables on the other side and regain control over Rodania. That was clearly the thought in his mind.
“...”
Rio was unable to respond immediately and gazed at the battlefield in silence. Indeed, he could drive the enemy away at any moment if he wanted to. The temptation flashed through his mind. But at that moment, the mask creaked as though to remind Rio of the rules of the transcendent ones. Then...
Crack!
A rift ran down his mask.
“I cannot fight for much longer. I will be unable to assist in the recapture of the city.”
Which meant the remaining troops of the Restoration would have to take on the Beltrum army alone, Rio implied with a bitter tone.
It was most likely that the forces invading the city right now weren’t the entirety of the Beltrum army. Their airships had to hold reserve knights waiting to be deployed. If Rio could fight without a care for his masks, he could probably repel them all, but overcoming the current battle wouldn’t resolve things in the long run. As long as Duke Arbor was dead set on destroying the Restoration, Rodania would continue to be attacked.
If Rio wanted to protect Rodania, he had to bring Duke Arbor down from his position of power. But doing that was like changing the history of a nation;he’d be interfering with far more than just a battlefield—he’d be changing politics as a whole. There was no telling how many masks such a move would require, and there were far too many uncertainties to consider it.
What Rio really wanted to protect here was Celia and the others. Not Rodania. The issue overlapped in some aspects, but he wasn’t about to mix them up.
“Right, there’s no way anyone could have enough magic essence to control those bullets for so long. Understood.”
The officer knew nothing about the transcendent ones, so he assumed the reason why Rio was limited was because of his magic essence. The essence expended from the body could be replenished with an essence source like an essence crystal or spirit stone, but Rio couldn’t go and retrieve them in this situation.
“Time is of the essence—go!”
Without bothering to correct the man, Rio flew forward. The Aerial Knights were shocked at how he was flying without a mount and gazed at his departing back, but eventually—
“All right, head for the harbor! If we don’t protect Their Highnesses, this war is over for us! Hurry!”
At the order of the officer, the remaining troops all sped for the harbor.
◇ ◇ ◇
Meanwhile, Christina and Celia’s group was on their way to the harbor; it was crowded with evacuees. They all had desperate looks on their faces, but they hadn’t fallen into a panic yet, because they had a clear view of the sky above the city from the harbor. They could see Rio in the distance, controlling countless orbs of light to stop the enemies all by himself. Thanks to that, the enemy troops couldn’t get near the harbor. This was the main reason behind the lack of panic among the evacuees.
However, whether it was because Rio had bought them some time, or because of crowd mentality, the evacuees couldn’t help worrying about what was happening in the sky. The noncombatant residents of the noble district were lined up to board the airship, but their progress along the ramp was slow because they kept looking up.
“Stop looking away. Move quickly.”
Christina walked along the queue, urging the evacuees to board faster. The warning of the First Princess forced the evacuees to focus on the matter at hand. Thanks to that, the line started moving faster.
“All right everyone, get into line calmly. We’ll all be able to board, so don’t panic.”
Celia joined in directing the evacuees to the end of the line. As guards, Sara, Orphia, and Alma were out scouting the area for any incoming enemies.
Rei and Kouta were tasked with carrying the unconscious Hiroaki, so they had already boarded the airship with Flora and Roanna. They looked up at the sky from the deck of the ship.
“He’s like a Gundam,” Rei mumbled.
“Rei...” Kouta shot him an exasperated look for joking at a time like this.
“I’m not wrong! Hiroaki would definitely say the same if he was awake. It looks just like the all-range attack of a funnel,” Rei argued stubbornly, when—
“A squad is approaching! Are they allies?!” Orphia shouted. She had been watching the skies from the deck with her bow at the ready, and had spotted a group of Aerial Knights flying their way. The knights wore the uniform of the Restoration.
“That’s... Yes! They’re allies, so don’t attack!” Christina said immediately as she looked up at the incoming group. There were several dozen Aerial Knights headed for the harbor. The highest-ranking officer of the group landed his griffin beside Christina.
“Princess Christina!”
“Report the situation,” Christina ordered immediately.
“The remaining aerial forces have come to protect the harbor. The front line is as you can see... He’s holding the enemy back single-handedly.”
“I see...”
“Do you know who he is?” the officer asked, gazing at Rio with Christina.
“I do not.”
The officer’s eyes widened. “Your Highness doesn’t know either?”
“Unfortunately...” Christina murmured. For some reason, when she watched Rio struggling in flight in the distance, she felt a mysterious sense of déjà vu. There was something about him that felt trustworthy, yet at the same time, her chest felt as if it was being crushed with guilt.
Just then, Celia came running over. “Princess Christina.”
Christina snapped back to her senses. “Yes?”
“There are no new evacuees arriving at the harbor. Boarding of the remaining evacuees will soon be complete.”
“From what we saw in the air, there are no more evacuees heading towards the harbor.”
Celia and the officer gave their respective reports of the situation. Christina’s expression promptly stiffened, and she looked around at the area.
There were five enchanted airships being used for evacuation. The lines to board them were also split into five, shortening the waiting time.
“Your attention, everyone! As soon as everyone here has finished boarding, we will depart from Rodania. Our destination will be the capital of the Galarc Kingdom, Galtuuk. Inform the captains of each ship of this. The enemy fleet is also closing in on us, so speed up the evacuation. Ensure we leave in the next few minutes!” Christina called out loudly, giving orders to the personnel around her.
“Right away!”
“The Aerial Knights will guard the airships until we leave the battlefield. I will leave the command to you.”
“Understood.”
The officer grabbed the reins of his griffin and returned to the sky. Once everyone set off to complete Christina’s orders, she turned to face Celia.
“Please head inside the ship with Sara’s group, professor. The Aerial Knights will handle the rest of the escorting.”
“Okay.”
◇ ◇ ◇
On the flagship of the Beltrum army’s enchanted airship fleet approaching Rodania, those inside the pilothouse were also watching the situation in the sky above the city.
“What on earth is going on?! Who is that?!”
Duke Arbor, the commander of the fleet, was yelling angrily while looking over Rodania. His eyes were fixed on Rio, who was controlling orbs of light to stop the frantically scattering Aerial Knights of the Beltrum army.
“We are unable to seize control of the air,” the captain of the flagship said awkwardly.
“I can see that much!”
Veins of anger throbbed on Duke Arbor’s forehead as he snapped back. The situation had been in their favor after the hero Renji’s surprise attack—they were one step away from completely occupying Rodania. But before he knew it, an extraordinary figure on the enemy’s side had completely flipped that situation.
According to their original plans, they should have gained air supremacy, landed in the harbor, and cut off the enemy’s escape route by now. Yet they hadn’t even completed the first step of that plan.
At this rate, the enemy would escape from the harbor. The regalia might even slip through their fingers. The thought of that sent Duke Arbor into an even greater rage.
“With all due respect, I believe it would be best to alter the course of the fleet for now. If we continue into the city like this, the fleet is sure to be damaged,” the flagship captain advised with a strained look.
Although he was the captain of the flagship, the commander of the fleet as a whole was Duke Arbor—and the power to move the fleet was with him. Thus, the captain was incapable of moving the fleet on his own order. But if they continued flying into the battlefield like this, the valuable airships were at risk of sinking.
“Hmm...” Duke Arbor hummed with a chagrined look. But his long years serving as a military leader weren’t for nothing.
“Change the course of the fleet. All ships increase furnace input and detour around the city, heading for the harbor. Ships one to five split to starboard, ships six to ten split to port.”
Duke Arbor swallowed his burning emotions and gave calm orders in order to achieve the objective.
“How will we address the enemy force controlling the light bullets?”
“Leave it to the Aerial Knights in the city. A ridiculous stunt like that takes up too much magic essence to be a threat for long. Tell them to drag out the fight until the other side is worn down. All they need to do is keep him occupied.”
“Understood.”
“The highest priority is to seize the harbor. In this case, you may destroy the facilities if necessary. Fire as soon as the enemy airships are spotted.”
“The princesses are likely to be evacuating on those airships...”
The thought of attacking royalty had the captain stiffening in hesitation, but—
“Do as you are ordered!” Duke Arbor had no such hesitations as he yelled at the captain with a peremptory tone.
“Yes sir! You heard him—prepare the signal flares!”
The ship crew hurried to fulfill Duke Arbor’s orders. Signal flares soon rose from the flagship. The other ships accelerated from their slow advance and changed course.
“I won’t let you get away...” Duke Arbor muttered hatefully as he stared out at the sky above Rodania.
◇ ◇ ◇
The enemy fleet split up?
While Rio was distracting the Aerial Knights, he sensed a change of movement in the Beltrum army’s fleet. The ships that were one kilometer away from the city split into two and started going around the outer perimeter. Once Rio confirmed that, he glanced at the harbor.
It seems like the evacuation ships are ready to depart, but...
The enemy fleet’s destination was the harbor, and their objective was clearly to stop the evacuation ships. On one side was a fleet already flying at a hundred and some kilometers an hour, while on the other were ships just beginning to accelerate for takeoff. At this rate, the Beltrum fleet would catch up with the evacuation ships.
“Dragon King!”
Sora immediately sensed the danger and approached Rio for an order.
“Yeah, the enemy fleet is moving.”
“Shall Sora sink some of the ships?” Sora said, offering a rather radical solution in a casual tone. Rio blinked in surprise before smiling wryly.
“Wouldn’t that be a heavy infringement of the rules of god?”
“Yes. But that’s about the only thing that will get them to turn back.”
“That’s true...”
Rio started thinking of a solution to the fleet as he controlled the light orbs to hinder the Aerial Knights. He wanted to suppress his mask consumption to a single mask if possible, but there was already a large crack in the one he was wearing, and pieces of the mask were beginning to flake off. It was clearly approaching its limits. What would be the best option? Rio stared at the lake in thought for a few seconds, before—
“I have an idea,” he said slowly.
“As expected of the Dragon King!”
“Aha ha. Thank you.”
Sora praised Rio for his idea without listening to the details. She had unconditional trust in him, which made Rio chuckle in embarrassment.
“For now, I have to finish stopping the knights in front of me. It might be a heavy burden on the mask, though...”
As he said that, Rio called the orbs of the light around the enemies back to him.
“Wha...”
A chill ran down the spines of the Aerial Knights. The bullets that had been chasing them around were suddenly gathering before Rio. What was about to happen was evident. Thus...
“Retreat! Retreat now! Scatter yourselves and flee!” a knight with the authority to command others directed in a panic, sending a signal flare to retreat into the air with magic.
One beat later, the light bullets Rio had called back all shot out at once. This time they weren’t aimed to miss—they were aimed to strike as many of the knights as possible. As a result—
“Ugh!”
“Gah!”
“No!”
Knights started falling out of the air one after another. Those who weren’t struck were occupied with rescuing their comrades, causing the front line to break down in a matter of moments.
The enemy lost their ability to fight in a single attack. But at the same time, the mask Rio wore had to bear a stronger burden. The mask creaked each time one of his attacks struck an enemy, and the material on the surface deteriorated before falling off.
I see...
It seemed that defeating a large number of enemies counted as a strong degree of interference after all. Rio gently touched his mask with his left hand as he thought that.
Throughout this battle, he had gained a fairly good understanding of how much fighting would result in how much of a burden on the mask. It seemed that the best option for fighting an extended battle was to avoid defeating enemies and focus on stalling them. It was a reckless system, but this had been a good learning experience. He’d be able to fight better next time.
“All right, let’s go. Follow me, Sora.” His job here was done.
“Right!”
Accompanied by the enthusiastic Sora, Rio headed for the lake where the evacuation ships of the Restoration were about to depart.
◇ ◇ ◇
Some time earlier...
“The evacuees have all boarded!”
“All ships are ready to depart.”
Preparations for departure from the harbor were finally complete.
“We’re leaving immediately. Send notice to all the ships,” Christina decided immediately.
“Roger that! Alert the ships!”
The departure bell started ringing noisily, and the enchanted airship slowly began to move along the surface of the lake. During that time, Christina made her way to the pilothouse.
“Christina!” Besides the captain and crew, Flora and Duke Huguenot were also in the pilothouse.
“We can’t relax yet. What’s the situation?” Christina asked.
“The enemy fleet is approaching from port and starboard,” Duke Huguenot reported.
“Their goal is to stop our departure, I assume. The Aerial Knights will protect our rear. Focus on getting away—ascend as quickly as possible.”
“Understood! The journey may be turbulent, so hold on. Raise the output!”
Enchanted airships needed to reach a speed of thirty kilometers per hour before they could lift off from the surface of the water. Normally, they could achieve this speed by gradually accelerating—rushing the process made the ride rather uncomfortable. In fact, the shaking could even pose a danger to the passengers, but now wasn’t the time to be considerate of such things. In this case, the airship moved along the water faster than normal.
However, the enemy fleet was already flying at a high speed, and they were coming at them from two sides to surround them. In the time it took the evacuation ships to ascend, the distance to the Beltrum fleet shrank rapidly.
“Tch. We will soon be within magic-casting range of the enemy fleet!” someone reported to the rest of the pilothouse. Everyone stiffened.
Meanwhile, on the flagship of the Beltrum Kingdom...
“Okay, fire! The target is the enemy’s enchanted airships! Prevent them from sailing!” Duke Arbor ordered with a smug grin.
“Ignis Iecit!”
The sorcerers standing on the deck of the ship used their attack spells on the Restoration’s evacuation ships rising from the water. Fireballs of one meter in diameter started flying at a speed of a hundred kilometers per hour.
Incidentally, enchanted airships were also equipped with their own cannons. But their output was equivalent to advanced magic even when suppressed, so a direct hit on a ship could potentially kill everyone on board. With Christina and Flora on board, there was the chance the regalia could be destroyed or lost in the blast. Thus, the cannon wasn’t to be used this time.
“Guh...” Christina stepped out of the pilothouse and looked up at the sky to the rear. A hundred fireballs were raining down on the evacuation ships of the Restoration. Even a single shot could destroy the section of the ship it struck, and the sparks could spread the damage. Multiple hits would sink a ship in moments.
“All troops, block the incoming attacks! Even if you have to use your own bodies! Protect the ship with Princess Christina and Princess Flora on board with your lives!” The commander of the Aerial Knights defending the rear of the ships sent desperate orders to his subordinates.
But they were clearly outnumbered. The enemy fleet was greater in number and had many more sorcerers on the attack. The sorcerers recited spell after spell, which the Aerial Knights had to confirm the trajectory of before they could defend against them. It was obvious that they were unable to keep this up.
“Orphia, Alma. Move to the ships to the left and right. If the need arises, use your spirit arts to create a barrier.”
Also to the rear of the ships were Sara, Orphia, and Alma. In preparation for the worst-case scenario, Sara gave her approval to use spirit arts in front of other people.
“Okay!”
“Got it.”
The two nodded and leaped across to the ships flying beside theirs.
“W-Wait!”
Just then, Celia, who had been watching the battlefield with bated breath, pointed in the direction of the city and yelled out. Something was flying from the sky above the city towards the lake at a faster speed than the falling fireballs. Upon closer inspection, it was two figures—Rio and Sora.
“Huh?”
“Th-Those two...?”
The girls were startled by how fast the figures were moving. The same went for the Aerial Knights, and Christina and Flora who could see them from the pilothouse.
Rio and Sora stopped a hundred meters before the Aerial Knights, hovering an inch above the water surface, and faced the Beltrum fleet.
Hold on for just a little more...!
Rio stared at the enemy fleet and poured his magic essence into the lake beneath his feet.
“Huh?!” Regardless of their status as an enemy or ally, everyone was speechless; a dragon-shaped mass of water appeared from the lake.
“I-Isn’t that Sir Hiroaki’s...?” Flora let out a voice that cracked in a half scream. And she was right—Yamata no Orochi, the secret ability of Hiroaki’s Divine Arms, had appeared on the lake.
The ability that was named after his weapon was based on the Japanese legend of the eight-headed dragon. When Hiroaki used it, it was a powerful move that made water take on the shape of the eight dragon heads. If it had been more accurate to the legend, it would have included the body and eight tails as well.
The dragon Rio had prepared was the full form that included the huge body and tails. Each head of the dragon was located at the end of a thirty-meter-long neck.
Its total height was shorter than the beast of the land, which stood at over a hundred meters tall, but it was still overwhelmingly large. The evacuation ships were still ascending away from Rio even now, but everyone watching the battlefield was completely frozen with fear.
“W-Wow! You’re so cool, Dragon King! This is amazing!”
Only Sora’s eyes sparkled with excitement. The Yamata no Orochi swallowed the incoming fireball with its tremendous size. Once Rio confirmed that the attack was being blocked successfully, he looked up at the sky.
“Let’s move upwards.” He began a rapid ascent.
“Okay!”
Sora was right behind him. The two proceeded to rise to a point far above in the sky and looked over the battlefield from above. Most people were too distracted by the Yamata no Orochi to notice the two of them had disappeared, especially since they had flown at a speed that surpassed a hundred kilometers per hour.
“They went up.”
“Yes, it seems he’s the one controlling that art.”
“I can’t believe there’s someone outside the village who can cast an art like that.”
Alma, Sara, and Orphia were some of the few people who had watched Rio leave. They had watched the Yamata no Orochi out of the corner of their eye as they followed Rio and Sora’s figures rising into the air. There was blatant surprise in their expressions.
“...” Beside them, Celia stared at the sky in silence.
After that, Rio started swinging his arms, controlling Yamata no Orochi with his palms. The eight heads of the dragon all opened their mouths.
“Wha...?!” The people on the battlefield were rendered speechless. The heads of the Yamata no Orochi Rio was controlling had released a breath of water at the incoming fleet. Eight beams of compressed water blasted through the air at a supersonic speed.
“...”
Each breath was aimed to miss the ships by a hair’s breadth, but the personnel aboard the Beltrum fleet’s ships were dumbfounded by the events, which surpassed their human understanding. After some delay, fear clutched at their hearts.
“T-Turn the rudder! Back up and retreat! Send the signal flares!” the captain of the flagship ordered without waiting for Duke Arbor’s directions.
“R-Retreat! Back up the ships and retreat!”
The crew member in charge of transmission repeated his words in confusion. The others on the ship also began to move while panicking. Everyone understood at an instinctual level that they could not win here.
Thus, the Beltrum fleet began their swift retreat.
“...” Not even Duke Arbor had anything to say about the decisions being made without his approval. He agreed with the judgment, and above all he felt fear for his own life at that moment.
However, the more they distanced themselves from the Yamata no Orochi, the more feelings of regret rose within him. They had been one step away from capturing Christina. Yet something had obstructed them like a divine intervention.
Outrageous. I was so close... She was almost within my grasp, yet...
Regret gradually changed to rage.
“Damn it!”
Duke Arbor slammed his dominant hand down against the desk of the pilothouse. In the meantime, the airships with Christina and the others on board continued accelerating into the air and left the lake.
◇ ◇ ◇
In the noble district of Rodania...
“My, my, he sure is going out with a bang.”
From a plateau with a clear view, Reiss was watching the Restoration’s evacuation ships leave. Lucci and Arein stood beside him. Renji was still unconscious and being carried by Lucci, who had a larger frame.
“Is it okay for us to just watch on like this?” Arein asked, watching for Reiss’s reaction.
“Yes, he’s clearly an opponent beyond our means. There’s nothing we can do. It’s like going up against a natural disaster,” Reiss answered in a delighted tone.
“I suppose that makes sense. Just who is the guy behind this...”
There’s only one possibility for that, but you two have forgotten him.
Reiss looked up at the sky where Rio was hiding and twisted his mouth in a smirk.
“It’s possible that the water hero was cornered into awakening. Renji will be able to do that much if he’s ever cornered,” he said to Arein.
“Heroes really are crazy, huh?”
Arein glanced at the unconscious Renji. There was a twinge of apprehension in his face. It was reassuring to have him as an ally, but it wasn’t so fun to imagine him as an enemy.
“He is an important fighting asset of ours. Treat him with courtesy.”
“Roger that...” Arein grumbled.
Lucci adjusted his grip on Renji with a reluctantly accepting look. “Hah, what a troublesome brat.”
Seeing their reactions, Reiss looked back up at the sky where Rio lurked and smirked.
That mask shouldn’t be easy to replicate. Now that I know he won’t overlook the predicament of his former comrades, our course for the future is decided.
◇ ◇ ◇
In the sky above the lake, Rio and Sora hovered side by side. Rio was controlling the Yamata no Orochi while watching the Beltrum army’s fleet retreat.
“Ha ha ha! Take that! This is the Dragon King’s true power!” Sora boasted triumphantly, puffing out her chest.
“I hope the enemy will lose their will to fight with this...”
“Of course they will! They ran with their tails between their legs!”
“I was hoping they’d withdraw their ships without a fight if I intimidated them, so I’m glad it worked out well.”
Yamata no Orochi was visually impressive, so it was the perfect move for intimidation. Having seen it once before made it easier to construct with his imagination, and the lake gave him a geographical advantage for the manipulation of water.
“Yes! The Dragon King came up with such a wonderful design! So gallant! So sublime! Sora is certain that the resemblance to a dragon isn’t just her imagination!”
“I actually imitated someone else’s move. But thanks... Aha ha...”
Sora kept complimenting Rio with such rapt attention that he ended up thanking her with a slightly guilty look.
“Wow! The person who originally cast that certainly has great taste, then!”
“The person in question is on board that ship right now. That’s why I was hoping it would look like he was the one who cast it,” Rio said, glancing at the enchanted airship with Hiroaki and the others on board.
“Oooh!” Sora’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at Rio’s face.
“Wh-What?”
“Were you thinking that far ahead when you used that move?!”
“Err, what do you mean?”
“You wanted to weaken the penalty of the rules of god by making people believe that someone else did it, right? You even moved out of view to avoid being seen...”
“Y-Yeah. I figured that if I was going to intervene, doing so without drawing attention would infringe the rules less.”
“In order to reduce the consumption of the mask, right?!”
Rio nodded hesitantly, startled by Sora’s energy. “Yeah... I don’t know how effective it was, but it seemed better than doing nothing.”
“Sora believes it had an effect!” Sora beamed in approval.
First of all, the mask Rio was wearing existed to shoulder the penalty of violating the rules of god: specifically, the penalty of the second rule, where the transcendent one lost their memories of the people they tried to support the interests of.
However, it also had an effect on the other rules as well. That meant that even without assisting someone, the mask could end up bearing the burden of another rule that was being applied to the transcendent one.
For example, the rule that the transcendent ones have difficulty remaining in the memory of others. They could make direct contact and hold a conversation with people, but the memory of the transcendent one would quickly fade from that person.
But what would happen if the transcendent one did something that would purposefully draw attention and leave a lasting memory? That would be equivalent to opposing the rule that god had decided. The rule was strictly made for the transcendent ones to be inconspicuous, so leaving an impression was considered an act of defiance.
This was why the transcendent ones avoided interacting with the world when they weren’t out fulfilling their duties. Instead of standing before other people, they would send their disciples to act on their behalf as much as possible.
And so, there were negative consequences when the transcendent one failed to do this. First, the person who had their memory erased would bear the burden. If they sensed something odd about the missing memory and forced themselves to recall it, they would suffer an agonizing headache.
Secondly, it was unclear what kind of penalty occurred to the transcendent one, but it was definitely a factor in the burden the mask had to bear. This was something that Sora had told him.
Thus, intervening with the conflict between mankind like this—and standing out while doing so—had the danger of causing two layers of burden on the mask.
And so, Rio had to plan around drawing attention while he fought. He had used Yamata no Orochi in hopes of making it seem like Hiroaki had caused the phenomenon instead of himself. It was a bit of a stab in the dark, but he was willing to try anything that could reduce the penalty.
“It hasn’t been that long since you became a transcendent one, yet you’re able to see that far ahead when moving on the spur of the moment! Sora is most impressed! You have a magnificent eye for war tactics!” Sora praised Rio’s thought process with every fiber of her being.
“Thank you. I wanted to reduce the mask’s consumption as much as possible. The one I’m wearing is half-broken already,” Rio said with a smile. The left half of the mask he was wearing was missing, but it remained effective and fixed on his face. There was a look of bashfulness on the exposed left side of his face.
“It’s impressive that the mask is still holding on after so much intervention into a war between mankind!”
“I see. That’s good to hear then.”
“The mask will remain effective until it falls off completely, so you can still fight!”
“I’d prefer if there were no more battles after this, though...” With the Yamata no Orochi standing alert below him, Rio watched the retreating Beltrum Kingdom fleet.
Please, just keep retreating like that...
On the off chance they turned back and chased after the fleeing Restoration ships, he had more intimidation tactics prepared. However, the longer the battle and the more he damaged the enemy, the greater the burden on his mask. He wanted to avoid fighting as much as possible.
The breath he’d made the Yamata no Orochi use at the beginning was a mere warning. He had no intention of harming the enemy if they had no intent to continue fighting. Sure enough, the effect of that warning was perfect—the Beltrum Kingdom’s fleet continued retreating without turning. They flew past the lake and over Rodania, fleeing to the outskirts of the city.
Meanwhile, Rio looked over at the Restoration’s evacuation ships. They had already flown over the lake in the direction of the Galarc Kingdom border.
They’ll be fine now that they’ve fled that far.
Once he confirmed the ships had fled to safety, he turned to Sora.
“Okay. Shall we get going, Sora?”
“Sure!”
Rio dispelled the Yamata no Orochi down at the lake before rising into the sky and disappearing into the clouds.
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