Chapter IV: Inglis, Age 15—Battle with the Prismer (2)
Having encircled Ahlemin, the second wave of bird magicite beasts slowly tightened the noose on the town. The defending Karelian army, meanwhile, rallied around portions of the Paladins in all four directions, and attempted to repel them. Knights perched atop the ramparts let loose volleys of long-range fire, but of course this was not a sufficient defense, and soon the battle for Ahlemin was in a tense tug-of-war for control.
Rafael, defending the east, threw himself into combat, his voice ragged as he called out to his forces. “If you’re wounded, don’t press yourself! Fall back to the tunnels! You’ll be safe below! If you’re unhurt, protect the wounded as they evacuate!”
The enemy being flying birds, it was hard for Rafael to imagine the creatures would infiltrate the tunnels. They couldn’t fly nearly as well in the cramped confines, and they would likely back off. Because there were knights at the ready in the tunnels, any attempt from the enemy to attack them there would be to his side’s advantage.
Rafael was glad the tunnels existed. If the wounded were left out in the open with nowhere to retreat, they would be easy prey for magicite beasts. That was the normal state of affairs, but because he knew of the tunnels, of course he’d take advantage of them to improve the chances of his allies surviving.
Rafael issued his commands. “Don’t spread too far apart from one another! There’s no need to push forward alone. Cover your allies, and take as few losses as possible! There’s a long battle ahead!”
The front lines are evenly matched despite the enemy’s numbers. We’re holding out with minimal losses. If we can keep this up... Rafael was wrapped in his thoughts when he saw a person leap out from behind, pushing far ahead of the rest of them into the midst of the enemy. “Ah! You’re too far forward! It’s dangerous! Come back!”
Despite Rafael’s efforts to help, he lost sight of the person thanks to the magicite beasts surrounding the lone fighter.
From there, a pillar of blue-white light shot into the sky.
Fwoosh!
It obliterated the magicite beasts. Floating within the light was the leader of the Steelblood Front, the man in the black mask.
Rafael gasped.
“My apologies for getting in your way, but there are things I must do,” the Steelblood leader said. Another group of beasts closed in on him, perceiving him as a threat.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Struck by a barrage of sharp, powerful blows, they were cut to pieces thanks to a hail of thrusts from a golden spear. Sistia stood next to the black-masked man and looked back at Rafael. “Remember, you chose this. And we don’t take orders from you anyway!”
The black-masked man and Sistia must have finished freezing their transformed comrades inside the walls and were ready to deal with the humanoid magicite beasts outside the walls.
“Go for it! Just be careful, please!” Rafael had no reason to stop them, nor had he the right. Regardless, it seemed like they didn’t need his help.
“Worry about yourself first!” Sistia snapped.
“No matter, Sistia. We must hurry. Our comrades are waiting.”
“Pardon me.” Sistia bowed her head to the black-masked man, and they disappeared among the beasts.
“I wonder how it’s going in the other sectors?” To check, Rafael took to the skies and cast his eyes toward the rest of the town. Eris in the west and Ripple in the north were progressing much like he was. The lines were holding firm against the enemy.
Miriela and the lieutenant colonel were in the south. Their front was putting up the strongest fight—they were already beginning to advance.
“I can always count on her! Thanks, Miriela!”
He had sent Miriela and the detachment from the academy to the south. He regretted having to send students into battle, but the power of Silva and the others spoke for itself. If Miriela had been defending that front alone, its strength would likely resemble the other sectors.
She was raising good students—and some of the most notable, like Rafinha or Inglis or Leone, weren’t even here. Rafael was in no hurry to die, but the generation which would replace him was growing up. He felt reassured that he could focus on his own sector. But just as he began to advance, he heard knights shout in dismayed confusion behind him.
“Whoa! Hey, you! It’s dangerous!”
“One of the academy students?! You’re too far forward, get back!”
They were shouting at a short, slender girl with a blank expression—Yua. She was headed for the front line in a manner that was akin to a morning jog. Despite her nonchalant attitude, her speed was incredible. She leaped off a wall to the roof of a nearby tower. Even though she looked as though she were doing nothing in particular, she was so fast that the knights lost sight of her.
“Huh?! Where’d she go?!”
“Up there! She’s fast!”
Yua turned back to the shocked and concerned knights. “Yo. I’m here to help.” She held up her index finger and thumb, pointing with her finger like a gun. “Bang.”
Whoosh!
A ray of light sprang forth from her finger and pierced the body of the nearest magicite beast. It hit the ground and disappeared.
“Squaaawk!”
The nearby beasts swarmed their foe.
“Bang, bang, bang!” To deal with the greater number, Yua formed both her hands into finger guns and fired barrages of light from both. One after another, the beasts fell, and their numbers thinned.
“Wow!”
“That kid’s amazing!”
The knights cheered in admiration.
Rafael murmured, “This girl... She doesn’t have a Rune, just like Chris! She really is just like Chris!” The surrounding knights hadn’t had the leeway to notice, but he’d seen no Rune on either of her hands. She had a power he didn’t comprehend, one nothing he knew could explain. In that way, she reminded him of his cousin. Between Silva with his special-class Rune and her, it made sense that the southern sector was doing well.
“Oop,” Yua lightly grunted as she leaped to another rooftop farther within the thinning mass of magicite beasts. Both her index fingers fired blasts of light without stopping.
But it was too much, even for her; there were still too many.
One beast slipped through the beams and crashed into Yua, screeching at her.
“Whoa.”
As light as she was, it easily sent her flying, and she fell from the roof.
“Look out!” Rafael dived to catch her before she hit the ground.
“Are you okay?! Uh...”
“Yua. Nice to meet you.”
“Thank you for your assistance, Yua, but it’s dangerous to fight alone. Want to coordinate with us instead?”
Still in Rafael’s arms, Yua—although normally expressionless—showed a hint of tension. “Eek! Soz! Sorry! I’m so sorry!”
“Huh?! No, I’m not mad or anything, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Huh? I’m not scared.”
“Oh... That’s good.”
“It’s just...you’re her big brother, so I bet you’re scary when you get mad.”
“‘Her’? You mean Rani?”
Yua nodded.
“Ha ha ha... Sorry about that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Rani get quite that mad.”
“So...you’re not mad? You’re not going to be angry at me?”
“Yes, please don’t worry. Anyway, why don’t you work with us instead of rushing out on your own?”
“Sure, Huncules.” Yua’s languid eyes seemed to shine just a little.
“Er, is that supposed to be me?”
Yua nodded intently. Well, she was free to call him whatever she liked, even if it did puzzle him a little.
“A-Anyway, let’s do this!” Rafael set Yua down. The swarm of magicite beasts was upon them.
“Okay, then... Big bang!” A ray of light larger than the ones before shot from Yua’s right index finger. It was more than just big, though. It also mysteriously left a rainbow afterglow.
Fwooooosh!
The blast was just as powerful as it looked. Piercing through beast after beast, it carried them away until they were mere specks before blowing them up.
“Wow, it’s so powerful!” several knights yelled in unison.
“Yua?! That was amazing!” Rafael exclaimed.
At some point, she had grown fluffy ears and a tail like Ripple, but they were shining like the rainbow. Both Yua’s power and range were more impressive than before; Rafael was stunned. Dragon Fang lacked a ranged attack, so it couldn’t be directly compared, but the Artifact shortsword he had been using to freeze humanoid magicite beasts from a distance couldn’t compare to her attacks now.
“Here I go!”
Not only that, but she could fire those large bursts of light continuously!
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoooooosh!
In no time at all, the area around them was burned clean of magicite beasts. She had taken down several buildings too, but Rafael was just relieved there was no collateral damage among their allies despite all the fighting on the front lines. So long as the people were okay, it was probably fine that Yua had let loose.
“All right, it’s opened up!”
“Let’s push the line forward!”
“Got it! Let’s go! We’ll push the magicite beasts back!”
The knights rolled like an avalanche into the gap created by Yua’s fire.
“Hmm, next is...” Yua looked around. She seemed to be at a loss for what to do now that her allies had moved in.
“Yua! Grab on to me! I’ll be your legs!” Rafael called out. He’d observed that she struggled to know how to fight in a coordinated group, so he would fly with her to where she’d be most effective. Then he could let her make the most of her power without hesitation. If enemies closed in again, he could protect her by cutting them down with Dragon Fang.
“Grab on? Like, a piggyback ride?” Yua tilted her head.
“Or you can sit on my shoulders—either way’s fine! I’ll take you to somewhere you can better shoot from!”
“Got it. Then...” Yua hopped up onto Rafael’s shoulders. “Yaaay. I’m riding on Huncules’s shoulders.”
Rafael laughed. “Well, if you’re helping us out, you deserve at least that much. Anyway, off I go!”
“Okay!”
Rafael leaped up, cutting through the nearby magicite beasts on the way, as he brought Yua to the front line. “Yua! Straight ahead!”
“Big bang.”
Fwooooosh!
Yua’s shot precisely brought down a large clump of magicite beasts.
“On to the next!”
“Got it.”
A change of position, another blast. This one brought down just as many beasts.
“We’ll go around that way too! Now, Yua!”
“’Kay. Big ba—?!” Yua suddenly shuddered and went stiff.
Of course, she didn’t fire. Rafael backed away and looked up at her. “Yua? What’s wrong, are you tired?” It wasn’t surprising, given the number and power of her shots. She didn’t have a Rune, so Rafael couldn’t even begin to imagine how much each shot took out of her. She must have been worn out from fighting beside Miriela in the southern sector too. Had he pushed her too hard? If that was the case, Rafael felt terrible.
Yua didn’t respond to Rafael. Instead, she focused on a point far in the distance, her eyes wide open. “Dad...?” she mumbled almost inaudibly.
“Yua?” Rafael followed her gaze.
And there, floating in the night sky, was a rainbow-colored thing so huge that Rafael didn’t have the words to express just how massive it was.
A majestic bird leisurely flapped its wings as it circled Ahlemin.
“The Prismer?! So it shows itself!”
The Prismer was moving as if it was assessing the situation or looking for something. As if drawing an arc, it closed the distance and finally came within their line of sight. The feathers which fell from its gigantic, rainbow body flew like darts in the sky, and an otherworldly rainbow-colored light enveloped Ahlemin.
“H-Here it comes! That’s the Prismer!”
“It’s terrifying, yet so beautiful!”
“Extremely! It gives me the shivers!”
The nearby knights were in a fluster. Rafael was thankful that the Prismer hadn’t charged immediately, instead giving the knights a moment to regain their composure.
But he didn’t expect what came next.
“Huh?! Hey, look at that!”
“Magicite beasts are coming from its feathers!”
The multicolored remnants in the Prismer’s wake shredded, changing into birdlike magicite beasts. The light which had flooded Ahlemin made way for a fearsome scene to unfold: a crowd of magicite beasts overtook the landscape. The knights had never fought this many before. They had held out valiantly against the earlier waves, but this was a set of reinforcements on a far greater scale.
“Ugh! There’s so many!”
“Impossible! There’s how many for each one of us now?!”
“This is insane! Can we hold them off?!”
A shudder ran through the knights. Their morale was crumbling at the sudden overwhelming sight. This didn’t come as a shock to Rafael.
“That makes sense, seeing so many—and it doesn’t stop!” The Prismer’s wake crossed in front of Rafael, and one after another, magicite beasts were brought forth.
The enemy’s number was increasing even as he watched. The gap in strength between the two sides was a growing cavity, getting wider with every moment. With the Prismer circling Ahlemin’s perimeter, there was no escape for the beleaguered army. “Yua! I’m setting you down! Stay hidden!”
“Why? I’m really enjoying the ride.”
“It’s dangerous! I’m about to attack the Prismer itself! You get down and stay safe!”
What kind of attack was still an open question, but if he didn’t do something about the countless magicite beasts, their forces would be overrun before long. The pocket they were trapped in would be worn down, and finally wiped out. It would be best to destroy the Prismer itself, but... But wounding it severely enough to make it stop, or drawing its attention and leading it away would also work.
At any rate, they needed to stop the flow of reinforcements, or it would be too late. The best defense was a good offense.
“Then I’ll come along too...” Yua, unlike the knights, was not rattled. Rafael got the sense that she was calmer in this situation than he was.
“What?! That’d help, but... No! It’s too dangerous!” As strong as she was, she was still just a student. There was no way he could put her in the danger of a direct attack on the Prismer.
“This is no time to worry about that! We need as much power as we can muster!” Eris interjected as she arrived in her Flygear.
“Lady Eris?! Is everything going well in your sector?!”
“It doesn’t matter! We have no choice now but to attack the Prismer! You understand that, right? There’s no point in trying to hold out against such an extraordinary number of beasts!”
“Yes, you’re right,” Rafael said. Their own forces were limited, while the Prismer’s was infinite. The only choice in this situation was to target the source of the disparity with a focused attack.
Another voice rang out. “Eris! Rafael! Yua!”
“Ripple!”
“Lady Ripple!”
“Lady Dog-Ears...”
Ripple appeared in her own Flygear. “If Eris is here, she must be thinking the same thing! With that many, we can’t defend! We need to take out their leader! Sorry, Yua, but can you help out?”
“I know it’s scary, but please! We need to throw everything we have into one attempt! Think of it as helping Rafael!” Eris said.
The Prismer was an extremely fast learner, and if repeatedly struck with the same kind of attack, it would quickly develop defenses, not only nullifying but in fact beginning to absorb those same attacks. In addition, its life force also gave it innately fast healing. In other words, the most effective way to attack was to hit it with one high-powered attack before it became resistant. Essentially, Eris was right: they had to strike now.
“Got it. That was what I was thinking from the start,” Yua said.
“Ooh, Yua! That’s what I like to hear!” Ripple replied.
“Saving a cute guy is justice.”
“Ha ha. Yua, you just can’t resist a pretty face, can you?”
“It’s the undeniable truth.”
“E-Everyone! This is no time to joke around!” Rafael protested.
“This isn’t joking! I’m completely serious! We need to do our best with everything we have! If you call on us because you’re holding back for the wrong reasons, I won’t help!” Eris insisted.
“That’s right!” Ripple said. “We’re fighting so we can all laugh together later! C’mon, Rafael! Listen to us!”
“Lady Eris, Lady Ripple!”
“Oop.” Yua hopped down from Rafael’s shoulders and landed lightly on a nearby rooftop. Bounding forward from it, she set off toward the Prismer. “This conversation seems like it’s gonna take a while, so I’m going on ahead.”
“Eh?! Yua!” Rafael called after her.
With Rafael being distracted, Eris called out to the nearby knights. “Everyone, listen! We’re going to launch a direct assault on the Prismer! We’ll finish it off at once and prevent the appearance of any more magicite beasts!”
“It gets used to the same attacks real quick!” Ripple explained. “So we need to focus—we’ve only got one shot at this! We all need to work together!”
“Rafael will take the lead! Please, everyone, follow me!”
At Eris’s final call, shouts arose from the surrounding knights.
“As you order, Lady Eris!”
“Let’s do this! Our lives are on the line!”
“I’ve always entrusted you with my life, Sir Rafael!”
The voices rising, one by one, gave Rafael courage.
Another Flygear, carrying Miriela and Silva, joined them in the skies.
“Let’s go, Rafael!” Miriela said.
“I’ll do my best as well!” Silva added.
“Thank you, everyone... All right! Let’s go! Our target is the Prismer! We charge forth, ignoring the weaker beasts, and launch a simultaneous strike! Load each Flygear to maximum capacity! Follow me!”
Rafael surged forth at full speed, picking up Yua along the way, and headed for the Prismer. An earth-shattering war cry followed him. The Flygears of the Karelian army, suddenly on the counterattack, followed Rafael in his charge toward the floating Prismer as a united mass. From the perspective of the knights on the ground, it seemed as if a gigantic bird was attacking the Prismer.
In all of this, the newborn magicite beasts did not remain silent. One after another, they swarmed on the attackers.
“Aaaagh!”
“Gaaaahhh!”
“Are you okay?! Ngh!”
“Don’t falter! Go forth! Destroy the Prismer! Aaaah!”
With the knights abandoning their defense for an all-out attack, there were bound to be casualties. Flygear after Flygear crashed to the ground, carrying their knights along.
“Ugh! Of course, they’re throwing everything they have at us too!” Rafael said.
“That means we’ve drawn their attention!” Eris replied. “Eyes forward!”
“Eris is right, Rafael!” Ripple said. “The Prismer is our target!”
Some sacrifices were unavoidable, but the magicite beasts could not stop them.
Rafael and the others were about to close in on the Prismer.
“We’ve made it in! Prepare for an all-out attack!” The instant Rafael gave his order, the Prismer’s behavior changed.
“Cawwwwwwww!”
Facing Rafael, the leader of the oncoming group, the Prismer opened its maw. There, a swirl of polychromous light coalesced. Strangely, there was no sense of malice or hostility. But still, it was clear that it was about to fire something.
“Ah! Spread out! Once you’ve evaded its attack, open fire!” Rafael ordered.
The two hieral menaces with him quickly passed along the order. “Ngh! Everyone, scatter!”
“What’s that attack?! Hurry up! Get away!”
Skreeeeech!
A swirling beam of every color gushed from the Prismer’s mouth.
“Ugh...! Hold on tight, Yua!” Rafael yelled.
“Mm. My reward.”
The light was close enough to brush Rafael’s nose as he sharply turned away.
“It’s fast! But not fast enough!” Eris barked.
“Can’t let a hieral menace get hit!” Ripple agreed. Their Flygear also dived out of the way.
“Principal Miriela! I’m sorry. I had to bank sharply to evade,” Silva said. “Are you all right?”
“Y-Yes. I’m fine, but—” Miriela looked out over the expanse of those who could not evade.
“Aaaaagh!” At first it sounded like their screams were echoing, but then it became clear—the screams had never stopped. Not a single Flygear was falling either. Even bathed in the light, they remained airworthy.
“Eh...?!”
“What’s going on?!”
“Nothing happened?!”
The knights caught by the light were screaming in confusion...before transforming into magicite beasts.
“Wh—?!” Rafael, Eris, and Ripple all gasped in shock. According to what they knew, it was a reaction between prism powder and the Prismer’s power that had caused humans to become magicite beasts earlier. Those who weren’t carrying prism powder had been safe from the transformation—or so they’d thought.
Rafael didn’t understand. “No way! Even people without prism powder?!”
“A light that turns people into magicite beasts?! It can even do this?” Eris said.
“This is bad! If it keeps shooting that all over, everyone will...!” Ripple didn’t want to finish her sentence.
“Ugh...!” Rafael grunted. “Let’s pull back and regroup!”
“We can’t, Rafael!” Eris insisted. “We’ve made it this far! We need to keep going!”
“Ah, it’s gone now,” Yua calmly interjected, pointing at the Prismer. While they were confused, the Prismer had flapped its wings and passed them by. Its speed was astounding for its size. Even at full speed, a Flygear couldn’t keep up.
Without cutting its speed, the Prismer then spun in the air to face them. Then, it soared upward for a moment before letting its weight carry it through a sudden dive, its gigantic beak thrusting into the ground.
Slaaammm!
Its momentum sent cracks running from the rim of the crater it created. The earth rumbled, and a huge cloud of dust kicked up.
“What?!” Rafael yelped.
“What’s the Prismer doing?!”
“I dunno, but it’s nothing good!”
It was obvious before long. Another blast of multicolored light followed the cloud of dust, stretching far above Ahlemin’s ramparts, and its scope was wide enough to surround the town completely. Not only that, but it was rushing along the ground toward Rafael.
“Pull up! Get away from it!” he ordered.
“Yeah! We can make it!” Eris agreed.
“We’ll be okay!” Ripple encouraged. “Calm down, and evade it!”
But their calls were in vain. Some of the knights were caught up in the attack.
“Aaaaaagggh!”
Yet again, those caught in the blast transformed instantly into magicite beasts.
“Wh—?!”
It was the same light the Prismer had spewed from its mouth that had turned those struck by it into beasts. It passed below Rafael. The trees and stones it met were not swept away, but remained in place. Physical barriers were meaningless. The entire town was surrounded by the wall of light—and it was closing in fast.
“Ah—” Rafael, Eris, and Ripple’s faces froze. They knew what was about to happen. The battle was still raging inside the town, and a large number of knights were inside. Far more were on the ground within the town’s walls than had joined in the do-or-die charge to the Prismer. And all of them would be swallowed by the light which turned humans into beasts. There was no longer any way to avoid it.
“N-No way...”
“It can’t be! This can’t be happening!” Eris insisted.
“Stop! Stop this!” Ripple cried out.
Rrrrrrrrrrumble!
There was an echoing sound, but no one paid it any notice. The sight of the wall of light about to engulf Ahlemin was too overwhelming, too terrifying—a despair which crushed them.
Until the next moment, when the wall of light was blown away into the sky.
“Huh?”
It was exactly what it looked like. The wall of light had been blown into the air—and the ground it traveled along with it.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was only a moment later that the sound hit them. The sound, and the blast wave. The turbulence violently shook their Flygears. The ground around Ahlemin erupted, gouged away by something unknown. The rainbow-colored wall of light which ran along it was unable to resist the force of the eruption and was blown away as well. Far above Rafael and the others, it burst and faded.
“What a shock wave! Did... Did that blow it away?” Rafael asked.
“The earth is shaking! Wh-What just happened?!” Eris said.
“I dunno...” Ripple began, “...but it seems like it didn’t hit the town directly!”
They were distracted by the fading of the light, and the safety of the town.
“There.” Yua pointed, and their gazes followed.
Booooom!
The sound of an impact deafened them.
“Squaaaaaawk!”
The gigantic Prismer roared as it was flung far away. It bounced repeatedly, leaving gigantic ruts in the ground.
“Wh—?!”
“The Prismer?!”
“It got blown away?!”
And just where the Prismer had been...
“Look. It’s Boobies.”
An attractive girl, a stunning beauty in fact, floated as her hair swayed in the wind. In her hands was a gigantic sword, longer than she was tall, that had just completed a downward stroke.
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