Chapter 15
EARLIER THAT NIGHT: midnight of the day of the final battle.
“Gramps, wake up! C’mon, huuurry!”
“Nnh… What? You’re too loud…”
Mira had bathed, ate dinner, and gone to bed early as usual. But this time, she was suddenly forced awake by Kagura. “The fight’s begun. We need to get going!”
“What…?!”
Kagura told her that Alioth of the First Company had just reported that the Skyfolk man appeared and began an assault on the village. “I’ll issue orders to each unit. Gramps, you gotta go tell Cyril.” Kagura immediately used her Celestial Arts to begin contacting people.
Mira simply replied, “Very well,” and ran out of the room to find Cyril. She stopped in a fancy hallway full of suite-style hotel rooms, knocking urgently on Cyril’s door while she called out to him, “Cyriiil! Are you awake? It’s me.”
“What’s going on? Has it…begun?” Cyril promptly poked his head out the door; he must not have gotten to sleep yet. He quickly surmised the situation based on Mira’s hurried summons.
“Hrmm, indeed. They’ve begun—”
“Hold on, Mira! I don’t think you should walk around like that.” He wasted no time on small talk. When Mira started to repeat what she’d heard from Kagura, Cyril took his cloak and wrapped it around Mira.
“Nnh…? Oh! I forgot entirely.” Mira looked down and realized that she was still in her underwear. But she laughed it off without any shame and explained that the Skyfolk man had begun his assault.
“Understood. Let’s go.” Cyril was already prepared; as soon as Mira finished telling him what had happened, they left his room behind.
***
When they returned, Kagura turned to greet them, having just finished issuing her orders. She immediately frowned at Mira. “Wow, what’s with the getup?” Kagura furrowed her brow at the far-too-big cloak hanging from the little summoner’s shoulders. Mira’s fair skin peeked out here and there, making for a rather enticing picture.
“Blame yourself for rushing me…”
Kagura sighed. “Fine, just get changed, please.”
What fool would run outside in their underwear, rushed or not? But Kagura left it at that, picked up the clothes on the floor next to the bed, and handed them to Mira.
“Okay…” Mira replied, disheartened, and began putting on her usual outfit. Cyril had already left the room to wait outside.
***
Mira eventually finished changing, and Cyril came back in. It was then that Kagura finally divulged the details.
According to the reports, the Skyfolk man had begun his assault, sending the base into chaos. And though reports were fragmented, some said that he seemed to have an ally with him. The identity of this person was unclear, but they were apparently quite strong. This mysterious ally would likely raise the chances of his success greatly.
Their assault was quite effective, so Kagura had ordered First Company to charge into battle to take advantage of the confusion.
He did say he had a troublesome acquaintance. It seems they’re more helpful than he let on. Mira recalled what the Skyfolk man had said when they’d met days ago. What sort of person would such an antisocial man allow to join him? The details were unclear from reports so far, but Mira was interested in whoever this person might be.
While Mira thought about the Skyfolk man’s assistant, Kagura said, “So basically, it’s time for us to get going. You haven’t forgotten anything, have you, Mira?”
She looked up and saw her medium friend’s exasperated face. All of her necessities were in her Item Box. Mira put on her coat and answered firmly, “Of course not. I’m as ready as can be!”
“All right, then. Let’s get going.” Kagura nodded and began walking.
Mira asked as she left, “Aren’t you going to ask Cyril?”
“He doesn’t forget to put on clothes like a certain someone. Why should I have to ask him?”
“Nrgh…” Mira grumbled and pouted in response. Cyril followed after the two with a smile.
***
The trio ran out of the hotel like the wind, toward the government building where the entrance to Chimera Clausen headquarters had been found.
They didn’t need to slip through security with Wasranvel’s powers this time. The three ran boldly through the front gate, busted into the building, and sprinted through the halls. Whenever Kagura spotted an employee, she slapped a talisman onto them to put them to sleep. This would also help Second Company, coming in behind them, get through without issue.
They proceeded further in and soon stepped into the staff-only zone. In the back-most room was a door leading to the secret passage. The lock was an old combination lock, so Mira whipped out a set of notes and unlocked it.
They moved swiftly through the door and into a huge tunnel that looked to be for drainage in case of tsunamis. It was also incredibly well-lit despite an apparent lack of visible light sources, perhaps due to light spirit magic.
“It’s bright in here, isn’t it?” Cyril narrowed his eyes at the brightness, no dimmer than the daytime sun.
“They use light spirit power. Goodness, how awful can they be, taking spirits as slaves just for such things?” Mira stared hatefully through the tunnel.
Kagura, remembering Mira’s habit of keeping Cleos close at hand, glanced at her as if to say, You’re one to talk.
Approximately thirty kilometers lay between their current location and Chimera HQ. Though there were some curves here and there, the tunnel itself had good visibility and no obstacles, so they could wield their mobility skills to the fullest.
Their charge was ferocious. Unlike the government facilities on the outside, the tunnel would only have Chimera conspirators inside, so they didn’t hesitate to use force.
Whenever Mira’s group ran into Chimera’s people along the way, their adversaries ended up silenced and bound in seconds—or less. These people were supposedly strong, but they could do nothing in the face of two Wise Men and the leader of a top-ranked guild. They hardly even had time to see the trio before they were defeated and left in the dust.
***
Before long, they’d found and bound two more Chimera members and reached the end of the tunnel. This was the entrance to Chimera HQ.
It was quite a small door compared to the size of the tunnel. In fact, it was the same size as the front door of any common person’s home. They almost wondered if they had the wrong place. Perhaps the door was so small because there weren’t a lot of people going in and out. It would be easier to seal a smaller entrance, too.
According to Jamal, this door might have a special identification feature installed. Might. The reason he thought this was that once, when he’d gone through the door, he quickly realized he’d forgotten something and gone back to retrieve it. Upon his return, he’d been questioned as to why he passed through so many times. When he went through the door again days later, he’d focused his mind more and noticed a hint of discomfort, as if something were searching him. He’d realized that something must have been set up there to read people going through.
“Now, I wonder how they’re doing…” Mira said.
“It’s been an hour since they started, huh?” Kagura shrugged. “Well, no news isn’t necessarily good or bad.”
“We have plenty of reliable friends fighting out there. Let’s wait patiently for them,” Cyril chimed in.
They didn’t know what might happen if someone not from Chimera passed through the door. They decided to stand by until the control center was seized.
***
East of Sentopoli, Emella and her unit hid in the midst of a great rocky mountain range, monitoring the village where the underground control center lay.
Shortly after midnight, Emella saw the village erupt into blue flame. She strained her eyes to try and see better. “What’s that?! What just happened?!”
“Guess we’ll just have to go and see!” Zef ran down the slope, and others jumped out behind him to follow. They ran three hundred meters in a single breath and used a hill in front of the village as cover. There they stared speechless at the horror before them.
The flames billowing over the village quietly yet ferociously burned everything they touched to ash. When the wind blew, the fire made an eerie whine and devoured yet more objects, continuing its indiscriminate destruction.
“Blue flames, a crossbow bolt… Looks like he’s on the move.” Aaron spotted a man’s burning corpse and realized that this too was the Skyfolk man’s doing. He had witnessed similar carnage upon first meeting the man, though this was obviously on a completely different scale.
“Is this really the doing of one Animist?” Emella asked. Aaron had told her once that this priest had no mercy whatsoever toward Chimera Clausen, but when she saw the scene of destruction, she had to wonder if this was truly religion or something else.
“No doubt about it. I’ve seen his abilities in action,” Aaron said, surveying the corpses littering the village. He continued with a frown, “And he’s the only guy I know who’d have a motive to do all this.”
The First Company—including the Bellerophon Platoon led by Mizar and Alioth—had been waiting nearby. Mizar ran over shortly after Aaron’s group and gazed at the village lit by blue flame.
He asked, “Aaron? Did the guy you mentioned a few days ago do this?”
“Yeah, he did. I didn’t think he’d do it so soon, but, hey, that’s not our problem.” Aaron stood up and took the white axe from his hip.
“Right. As Lady Uzume instructed, we’re all ready.” Mizar whipped out his white sword as well. The two then turned around to face their comrades.
“We’re going in,” Aaron said quietly. Emella nodded, and her unit began moving toward the edge of the village.
As for First Company…
“All right, time for the final battle!” Mizar announced. The hundreds of Isuzu’s elites in his unit roared with him. Their years-long conflict with Chimera Clausen would finally end with this battle. Everyone there had waited many years for this moment. They couldn’t wait to get started.
***
While Aaron’s side watched from afar, their battle cries ripped through the air, and the army tore through the village like lightning. Chimera Clausen’s forces were cut down in swathes. At a glance, the population seemed to number about a hundred. But when Alioth used special magic to search the area, he found a thousand humanoid—yet inhuman—forces underground.
This discovery changed their strategy. Rather than fight inside a base that might conceal unknown traps, they would attempt to draw the enemy out into the open if they could.
Instead of charging into the control center, the First Company rampaged conspicuously within the village. Meanwhile, the seizing of the control center would be entrusted to Aaron’s smaller forces.
Aaron took a wide detour around the village and infiltrated the laboratory from the side opposite the battlefield. It was quite the large facility, about a hundred meters long on all sides. Inside were perhaps a thousand experimental gadgets, including many with indiscernible purposes.
“Whoa… No way.” Emella’s eyes went wide at a tank with what looked like a human arm inside.
Flicker saw the same thing and said, rage evident in her voice, “It seems to be a spirit’s arm.”
“A spirit’s? I thought spirits could only be seen by mages?”
“The liquid in that tube is what lets you see it,” Aaron explained. Long ago, he’d seen something similar on an Isuzu mission and researched it after the fact. Now he shared that knowledge with Emella.
“It makes spirits visible? That sounds bad…” Something like that had the power to bend nature itself. Zef took a step back, but at the same time, Flicker stepped forward. She went to the tank and flung open the lid. At once, the arm inside turned into particles of light that spewed forth violently. They seemed to be enraged, destroying everything in the lab that they touched.
“Whoa! Careful!” Zef panicked when one grazed his cheek.
“What does this thing do?!” Emella squatted down in fear.
Both of them glared at Flicker.
“That one’s real mad,” Asval said, much calmer.
“Yeah. I bet you’d be mad stuck in a tank too,” Aaron agreed.
They kept a close eye on the angry spirit light flying around as they searched for the path to continue deeper in the facility. But just then, the lights abruptly changed directions and closed in on Flicker from every direction.
“Flicker!” Emella screamed as the rays of light approached. Spiritual power was not meant to be handled by human hands; if she were showered in such power, the results could be tragic. Yet when Emella timidly looked again, Flicker didn’t look to be wounded. In fact, she seemed clad in divine light.
“What the heck?” Zef said dumbly, totally lost.
The freed, rampaging spirit had attacked Flicker; everyone had seen that. But instead of being hurt, she was now glowing. It was as if Flicker and the spirit were nestled in close to each other, symbolizing the ideal relationship between humans and spirits. While everyone watched speechlessly, the light seemed to unravel, then gathered in Flicker’s left hand.
“Even when they’re ruled by anger, as long as we have love in our hearts, the spirits will understand us,” Flicker said. “That’s the true nature of the spirits that have walked alongside us throughout our history.” She gazed at her hand, where a red pattern had appeared, and turned to her friends. “This is proof that the spirit understands my heart. A relationship that has stood the test of time.”
The pattern on her hand was a spirit’s blessing. It was usually evidence of a strong bond with a spirit, but it could also be given to a person when a spirit entrusted their hopes to them. Perhaps the rage of the spirit in the tank had been tempered by Flicker’s kind heart—perhaps seeing her, the spirit could trust in people again.
Flicker put her left hand to her heart and said firmly, “The spirit has told me where the core of the control center is. Let’s go.” The spirit had entrusted her with its deepest wish: the rescue of its trapped friends. That was Flicker’s original goal anyway, as someone who loved spirits.
“Got it. Lead the way,” Aaron agreed. He stood by Flicker to protect her.
As a result of their preliminary investigation, they knew that the control center itself wasn’t large, but the location of the core remained unknown. The spirit had given them the necessary information to take the next step. Armed with this information, the party renewed their determination and entered the control center.
***
Stone walls, stone floors. No visible light source, but the corridors were bright enough that Aaron’s group could see through to the end. Flicker guided the group down the halls.
“Look at him go. People with famous titles really are something else.” Zef took his order seriously, but he couldn’t help but laugh as Aaron showered every enemy in blows that crushed their armor.
“Yeah. Seems like our help’s not required.” Emella kept her white sword at the ready and grinned wryly; why not just leave the front line to Aaron at this point?
The enemy forces protecting the control center were focused mostly on the surface, thanks to the efforts of Mizar’s group and the Skyfolk man. But as a result, the remaining security here was armed to the teeth. Their adversaries used their spirit weapons and black mist ore weapons to the fullest, posing quite the threat. But Aaron’s fantastic technique and strategy in battle allowed him to fell them one after another.
After neutralizing yet another enemy, Aaron glanced at his axe—all white, save for the handle—and his face lit up in a heartfelt smile. “Heh. Dvalin’s weapons really are something, huh?” The dwarven blacksmith Dvalin was often revered as the God of the Forge. His Alabaster Oni-Slayer series, though made specifically to counter black mist ore, were head and shoulders above any other weapons Aaron had used.
“Just give me…a chance to do something!” Possessed by the desire to swing her sword, Emella writhed as she watched Aaron mowing down their foes. She’d just acquired the perfect sword, yet she hadn’t had the chance to use it yet.
After defeating the tenth security guard, the group finally arrived at the core of the control center. It was a giant room with a domed ceiling.
“There it is. That’s the tuner.” Flicker pointed at a complicated-looking device in the center of the floor. It looked to be the very heart of this place.
“All riiight! Let’s get this over with.” The tuner undulated eerily, making odd noises that alternated between low and shrill. There was nothing around it, but Zef proceeded with the utmost caution—he knew it might be a trap.
Aaron stopped and furrowed his brow. “This is…a barrier.”
In the end, though, there were no tricks; they were able to walk right up to the device. Their goal was to either stop or destroy the device before them. But it was here that the party would face their greatest obstacle yet. They hadn’t been able to spot it as they approached, but now that they were closer, they saw that a wall composed of mana blocked their path.
“How about this!” Asval stepped forward and slammed his white hammer into it with a mighty roar. No matter how powerful the barrier, as long as someone had greater power, they could destroy it. Yet this barrier only made a dull sound; the hammer had no effect. Though the wall of mana was thin and transparent, it was quite sturdy.
Asval turned a little sadly, disappointed that his full-power attack had failed. “Not even a dent, huh? Flicker, did the spirit tell you how to deal with this?”
“No. They didn’t know anything about this.” Flicker shook her head and glared at the tuner. It was so close, yet so far. “Someone cast this magic, though. Someone who was here recently,” she added. Around the tuner, she saw small, shining fragments and droplets scattered about. “I think…this is an exorcist’s magic.” Flicker suspected that the stuff scattered on the floor were holy water and fragments of their vials. She squatted down to get a closer look.
Emella peeked over her shoulder and stared at the fragments thoughtfully. “Think you can do something about it?”
“If I overwrite them one at a time with my magic, removing the barrier may be possible, but…it could take a long time.” Still, Flicker promptly got to work.
“Man, are exorcist barriers really this tough?” Zef grumbled in annoyance. He stabbed his dagger into the barrier, hoping to chisel at it even a little bit. But even Asval’s brute-force attack had done nothing to it.
“It’s probably just because we’re dealing with Chimera Clausen here. They love to put spirits’ power on top of their own magic,” Aaron answered, also throwing his strongest attacks at the barrier. It seemed he couldn’t stand idly by, either.
“Spirits’ power, huh? No surprise, then. What a bunch of bastards.” Undaunted, Asval swung his hammer again. That same dull noise rang out, as if laughing at their efforts, but he defiantly kept at it.
Just then, a security guard appeared up ahead. “They made it this far?!” As soon as he saw the group, he slammed some sort of orb into the ground. The ceiling opened wide, and innumerable humanoid figures rained down upon them. They were all fighting dolls, each armed with spirit gear.
“Seriously?! Come on!” Zef readied his dagger with a fed-up look.
“Good grief. There’s the fight we wanted!” Asval smashed a nearby doll with his hammer and sighed.
“Just what I wanted! Let’s do this, gang!” Enthusiasm oozed from Emella’s every pore; finally, she could have fun with her weap—er, actually do her job as a front-liner.
“That’s the spirit. You gotta be able to get up and go even in the most inconvenient circumstances to be a real adventurer.” Aaron laughed, happy to be able to cut loose, regardless of the reason. He felled several dolls at once with a single swing of his axe.
“Flicker, you keep working on that barrier. Zef will protect you with his life!” Emella volunteered Zef for guard duty as she cut down a lunging doll.
“Aren’t you supposed to offer to do that yourself?” Zef muttered and took Emella’s place next to Flicker.
Flicker continued her work and said, unaffected, “I’m afraid you’ve already lost that argument, Zef. Now, watch my back for me.”
“Yeah, yeah. I won’t let anyone through.” Behind her, Zef stabbed his white dagger into an attacking doll. It pierced through spirit gear and doll alike as easily as a knife through butter. “Whoa, this thing stabs good!” He was amazed by Dvalin’s dagger.
A smile crept onto Zef’s face as he watched Emella effortlessly cleave through doll after doll with her own white sword in hand.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login