Part 6 of 8
Gaaaah! My eeeears!
What the hell was that?!
Why’d it make a way bigger boom than when I hit the mega-robots?!
Then the answer becomes painfully clear.
The sea urchin is still intact.
You’ve gotta be kidding me…
How can anything be alive and well after taking a direct hit from a meteor bullet…?
I guess that boom was the sound of the sea urchin blocking it.
Okay, that barrier must have a two-layer structure.
The meteor bullet is too powerful an attack to block with high physical resistance alone.
So the natural conclusion is that the barrier also defends against physical attacks.
I’m guessing the inner layer is the physical-defense barrier, and the outer layer is the anti-technique barrier.
If it were the other way around, the anti-technique barrier would cancel out the other one.
So magical and conjuring attacks are prevented by the anti-technique barrier, while physical attacks are prevented by the physical-defense barrier.
How much energy must it cost to operate a weapon like this…?
Damn you, Potimas! Don’t go using up this world’s valuable energy to make crap like this!
I know complaining to him won’t get me anywhere, but I still wanna say it!
Grrr…
What am I gonna do about this, though…?
I don’t have any method for piercing a two-layer barrier.
I mean, it’s not that I can’t do it, y’know?
But it would mean using up a massive amount of energy myself to do it.
Honestly, that would be a waste.
So I’ll have to try another way.
The truth is, I didn’t really wanna resort to this.
But you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
When I busted out the meteor bullets, I realized that you can’t let the right moment pass you by to use one of your trump cards.
It would be way worse to hold back now and let this sea urchin do whatever it wants.
So I’ll use another one of mine now, too!
I open my eyes.
Focus all my power in my pupils.
Then I set my sights on the sea urchin.
Activate Gluttonous Evil Eye!
This is a new Evil Eye I developed after becoming a god.
Its ability is modeled after the Demon Lord’s Gluttony skill, hence the naming scheme.
Basically, it absorbs energy from the target.
Any conjuring that enters my line of sight can be broken down into energy and absorbed.
Strictly speaking, the anti-technique barrier around the sea urchin is itself a kind of conjuring.
A conjuring that obstructs and dispels other conjurings.
That’s all the barrier really is.
In which case, you just need to develop a conjuring to erase a conjuring…that erases other conjurings.
That got me thinking about the Demon Lord’s Seven Deadly Sins skill, Gluttony.
Gluttony’s ability can convert anything at all into energy, and then consume it.
By analyzing that principle, I figured out a way to focus the energy conversion on conjurings, and repurposed it into this Gluttonous Evil Eye.
It’s one of the trump cards I developed in case I need to fight Güli-güli.
Which is why I didn’t really want him to see it, but oh well.
Since I developed it for use on a literal god like Güli-güli, Gluttonous Evil Eye’s effects are the real deal.
It easily devours the anti-technique barrier, then the physical-defense barrier underneath that, and even the conjuring that keeps the sea urchin floating in the air, sending the thing crashing into the ground.
Where the queen is lying in wait.
The sea urchin tries to defend itself by firing bullets, but now that it’s fallen to the ground without its barriers, it doesn’t stand a chance.
The queen’s giant fangs pierce the metallic sea urchin and tear it into scrap metal.
We’ve won.
Or so I thought—but then the sea urchin explodes.
The queen gets hit with that explosion at point-blank distance.
Her upper body gets blown away without a trace, and the remaining lower body crumples lifeless to the ground.
NO! Dammit!
That crafty bastard, sneaking in an explosion at the very end.
Well, it hurts that I lost the queen and most of the taratect troops, but you could also say it was a small price to pay to destroy the elves’ ultimate weapon.
I’ll just have to tell myself it was a necessary sacrifice.
As that thought crosses my mind, my eyes fall on a sea urchin floating in the sky.
No, not just one—tons of them.
………Huh?
What?
Hmm?
Hmmm?
Hmmmmm?!
Wait just a minute!
Are you serious?!
Whaaat?!
There’s more than one of that sea urchin thing?!
In fact, aren’t there way too many of them?
At a glance, it looks like there’s at least a hundred of them…
And for some reason, there appears to be a pyramid thing even bigger than the sea urchins floating in the center.
Don’t tell me the sea urchins were just another mass-produced weapon…
And the real ultimate weapon is that pyramid in the middle?
First the robots, then the mega-robots, and now this…
Stop reusing the same damn twist!
ARGH!
“Loooser, loooser.”
…Why in the world am I being mocked by a six-armed little lady riding on a spider, hm?
Whew. Let’s calm down.
First, I suppose I should look back at how I got here.
My name is Ronandt.
I was born… Ah, no, I suppose that’s going too far back.
But I ended up in this here elf forest because Prince Hugo ordered me to come.
Despite how I might seem, I am still the head mage of the imperial court, and I cannot refuse an order from the crown prince.
Even if I was less than enthused about the prospect, to say the very least…
Well, can you blame me?
Here we are in the height of the war against the demons, and suddenly we’re declaring war on the elves and heading out on the offensive. It makes no sense whatsoever.
There has to be something going on behind the scenes.
But knowing that doesn’t mean I can do a single thing about it by myself.
Folks may call me the strongest mage in all of humanity, but there is still much I’m incapable of.
Which is why I am being forced to throw myself into this battle against the elves, as ordered…
But that was all well and good at first.
I was put in charge of a separate troop from Prince Hugo and instructed to proceed on a different route.
Obviously, I took advantage of that situation to put on a show of proceeding slowly and carefully, delaying the march as much as possible.
It simply seemed beyond foolish to put my life on the line for such a senseless battle.
But once we made contact with the enemy, of course we had to fight, and I will admit that a part of me did always want to try fighting the elves one day.
After all, the legends say that elves excel at magic above all else.
I may be the strongest mage in all humanity, but folks still often compared me to the elves, wondering whether their strongest mage would be stronger than me.
Unfortunately, I haven’t the slightest idea who the strongest elf mage is, and elves rarely use magic in front of humans at all, leaving me with no way to truly compare.
Will my magical prowess make any headway against the elves?
I must confess, I was always curious.
…But I never expected that I would be the one with the overpowering advantage.
Elves excel at magic, my foot.
They can’t even deal with my magic sniping properly!
Hell, my apprentices could do better than this.
Disappointed in the baseless rumors, I foolishly proceeded to take out my anger on all the elf soldiers I could find.
Next thing I knew, we’d gotten ahead of Prince Hugo’s battalion.
Dear me, how very careless!
If only I had known where that carelessness would lead…
The elves may have been a letdown, but then I found a strange, gigantic metal golem of sorts blocking my path.
Golems are humanoid monsters made of earth and stone, but what stood in front of me was more like metal armor.
I compare it to a golem for lack of any better description, but it was clearly something else entirely.
Since it was inside the limits of where the elves’ barrier stood, it must have been a creature that worked for the elves, not a wild monster.
It was when I tried to Appraise it that everything changed.
<Cannot Be Appraised>
“All units, retreat!”
The second I saw that result, I gave the order to withdraw.
In all my life, there have been very few creatures that I could not Appraise.
Indeed, with the Appraisal skill at level 10, it was strange that there was anything at all that could resist my Appraisal.
I suppose that is why when I cannot Appraise something, I must assume that it is far stronger than anything I can handle.
And as if to confirm my fears, the metallic golem pointed a strange pipe-like shape in my direction and fired something.
I was only able to dodge it in time because I was already on highest alert.
Even then, the shock wave still threw me aside.
But the soldiers directly behind me were not so lucky.
They were blown away, blood spraying everywhere.
It looked as if they had literally blown up.
Their limbs flew in every direction, holes gouged through their torsos.
Each time one of these mysterious objects that I couldn’t even see flew past, more of my subordinates died horrible deaths.
I immediately fired magic at the metal golem.
Without holding back at all.
But the metal golem easily dodged my flame arrow.
Hrm. Just as I feared.
Sure enough, the metal golem was too powerful to defeat by any ordinary means.
I was the only one of us who stood a chance.
I would just have to bring up the rear and buy my soldiers time to escape, it would seem.
I constructed a spell.
Throughout my life, I had polished my magic fundamentals to the best of my ability, especially after encountering that master.
These fundamentals also served as a secret technique.
I created ten arrows of flame.
Each one flew at full speed, completely under my control.
But the metal golem evaded more than half of them.
And even those that hit didn’t appear to deal much damage at all.
It likely had high defense, true to its armor-like appearance.
It had high-speed mobility, too, and those mysterious long-distance attacks.
Whatever it was, it was strong.
Strong enough to remind me of the earth dragons in the Great Elroe Labyrinth.
A shiver ran down my spine.
But by bathing it in magic, I had at least bought a small amount of time.
My surviving subordinates had all started to run away.
But with this metal golem’s speed, it would be all too easy to catch up.
Just buying time would not be enough.
I had to take out a single leg at least, even if it cost my life.
I teleported, landing behind the metallic golem.
Immediately, I wove magic.
It froze the golem’s foot.
Then I used Wind Magic for a follow-up strike.
The frozen metallic foot cracked halfway.
Only halfway.
But even so, halfway.
That should’ve brought down its mobility a fair amount.
The metal golem swung its arm back in a direction that defied how any joints should naturally function.
I froze for only a second, then dove to one side.
This creature was no proper living being, so of course it could move its joints however it wished.
But I didn’t understand that until I saw it for myself.
And the cost was my right arm and both legs.
I didn’t dodge in time.
But I wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Grimacing through the pain, I constructed another spell.
I managed to complete it before the metal golem could point its strange pipe at me again.
Inferno Magic level 4: Heat Haze.
A small ball of flame forms, no bigger than my fist.
It struck the metallic golem’s body.
The effect only lasted an instant.
But in that instant, the flame consumed everything.
Heat Haze is a spell that compresses the power of a massive blaze into a small flame.
Fire-related magic is my specialty, and this was the strongest fire spell I could use.
Even the metal golem could not stand up to Heat Haze: its sturdy frame burned up, melted, and was utterly destroyed.
Got you.
I smirked, but the expression faded a moment later.
Not far away, I could see several more of the same metal golem approaching.
…I suppose this is where it ends for me, then.
Just as I began to give up hope, four shadows swooped down and attacked the metal golems.
They destroyed all the golems in a matter of seconds.
Then one of them turned in my direction.
Much to my surprise, it turned out to be a little girl riding a spider.
“Loooser, loooser.”
And then she began mocking me…
Hrmm.
No, it still makes no sense even if I go over it from the beginning!
I assume those metal golems must be monsters or something that work for the elves in some fashion, but then what in the world are these little girls?
Based on the fact that they have six arms, I assume they are not human.
Experimentally, I use Appraisal on the girl directly in front of me.
The result informs me that they are a species called puppet taratects.
So, just as I thought, they are monsters.
Taratects are a famous race of spider monsters.
That makes sense, given that they are riding giant spiders as mounts.
But stranger still is the fact that this little girl has a name: Fiel.
Named Monsters…
They are said to be incredibly rare creatures that serve the mightiest of monsters.
After all, since they have a name, it must have been given to them by a superior being.
But this Fiel has stats that are several times higher than the earth dragon I once faced, and on which I couldn’t make a single scratch.
Those metal golems seemed just as strong as said earth dragon, and this “Fiel” creature is clearly far stronger.
And such a powerful monster serves an even greater being?
How horrifically strong must that monster be…?
Only one creature comes to mind.
The legendary spider monster known as the Nightmare of the Labyrinth, which once showed me how truly ignorant I was of the world.
And these are spider-related monsters, too.
It is too strange to be a coincidence.
Could it be true…?
This “Fiel” character is staring at me.
Her eyes are oddly cold and inorganic, impossible to read.
She may have destroyed those metal golems, but there is no guarantee that she’s an ally.
Indeed, I have already used Appraisal on her, which could be taken as a hostile act.
I would have no right to complain if she cut me down on the spot.
…Even if she is the one who insulted me first.
As I wait with bated breath, another one of the little girls smacks this “Fiel” on the shoulder.
Then she shakes her head.
…Though she didn’t say anything out loud, that clearly seemed like a scolding, “don’t say that, even if it’s true…” type of gesture.
“…Geeezer?”
After the other girl’s intervention, Fiel appears to have amended my title.
It’s certainly much milder than “loooser,” but isn’t that still just her appraisal based on my appearance?
“Loooser… geeezer… Loo-gee!”
“You combined them?! Isn’t that even worse?!”
…Oh dear. My old heart is about to break here.
Why am I being mocked by a little girl I’ve just met, even if she is actually a monster, and being consoled with an even worse mockery?
Whatever have I done to deserve this?
Just then, the trees part, and even more of the metal golems from before appear.
“Nngh!”
I immediately get to my feet.
I’ve been using Healing Magic all this time to cure the wounds I sustained before.
I could hardly even take a single metal golem on my own, but I refuse to die lying on the ground.
I do have my pride, you know!
“Loo-gee…”
…The “Fiel” girl speaks to me in a tone that seems to say “don’t push yourself.”
“Aaargh! I am not a ‘loo-gee,’ confound iiiit!”
Like I said, I do have my pride!!
I construct a spell.
Inferno Magic level 1: Scorched Earth!
It’s a wide-ranged attack spell that covers the ground in flames.
Still, while its area of effect is larger, it’s not nearly as powerful as the level 4 spell Heat Haze.
It won’t be enough to deal a fatal blow to the golems.
But I’m just getting started!
Next I put together my second spell!
This time it’s Hoarfrost Magic level 1: Frozen Earth!
This one’s a wide-ranged attack spell that freezes over the earth.
What happens if you suddenly heat up a bunch of metal golems with Inferno Magic, then hit them with Hoarfrost Magic that drops the temperature in the opposite direction?
When something gets superheated and then immediately supercooled, it becomes incredibly fragile.
They withstood the Scorched Earth, but they couldn’t handle the Frozen Earth immediately after.
Cracks begin to form in the robots’ armor, and they fall apart.
“Hyooo-ho-ho-sho! How was that?! Did you see that?!”
I puff up my chest at the little girls.
To be honest, using magic of this level twice in a row is difficult even for me; my head throbs with the pain of being pushed to the limit, and the sudden loss of MP leaves me dizzy.
But sometimes a man has to be proud!
“Oooh!”
Fiel applauds with her six arms.
Heh. Looks like I proved that I’m not a loooser after all.
“Loo-gee!”
“I told you, I am not a ‘loo-gee’! I’ll have you know that I have a very fine name. It’s Ronandt!”
The other three girls watch me interacting with the “Fiel” girl.
Under their gaze, I get the creeping feeling that I am not being particularly mature.
But I forget all about that shame when Fiel starts teasing me again.
“Loooser?”
“Why are you going back to that now?!”
To make matters worse, even more metal golems start approaching, possibly attracted by my yelling.
The little ladies prepare their weapons to fight the golems.
It’s as if they’ve already forgotten I exist.
Now, I scarcely have any MP left after that showy battle.
It would be difficult to take on any more golems.
If these other girls are as strong as this “Fiel” child, they should be able to fight off the metal golems without my help.
But can I really give up now?
Should I shamelessly back down after being called a “loooser”?
“Yaargh! Just you watch! I’ll show you who’s the loooser!”
I have my pride, I tell you!!
Even if I cannot use such big moves any longer, I can at least support these little girls!
I’ll prove to them that I am no loser!
…Hrmm? What did I come here for again?
“…I need to talk to Sariel.”
That day, Gülie visited with a deadly serious expression.
Thinking back, this was the day our peaceful lives fell apart.
“…Maybe he’s finally going to confess?”
“It didn’t really seem like he was in that kind of mood to me…”
An excited girl with slightly pointed ears was conversing with a green-skinned boy, who was gazing anxiously at the room where Lady Sariel and Gülie were privately conversing.
I still don’t know what was said in there, as we couldn’t hear them from outside the door.
But I think I can guess what it was about.
Because even as the two of them were talking, the news suddenly hit.
“We interrupt this program to bring a breaking news bulletin.”
A voice came from the TV, which had been left on.
“The dragons have attacked.”
The newscaster sounded flustered as he read the news.
It was too short of a report, too lacking in information to be a proper news bulletin.
But that was only a temporary problem, for as soon as the live footage came on a moment later, all of that information was filled in.
It was enough to tell at a single glance exactly what was happening.
Whether we wanted to or not.
The footage was rough and jittery, possibly taken on a cell phone.
It showed the remains of what had been a large city.
The buildings were falling apart, cars flew through the air like fluttering leaves, and elevated highways had toppled over.
Amid all the destruction, the people were too small to even be seen.
But what was painfully visible, flying in the sky, trampling the ground, was the forces of dragons.
Then the footage suddenly quaked wildly and was abruptly cut off.
“It can’t be…”
As we stared in rapt horror at the screen, Gülie came up behind us and froze.
Lady Sariel was next to him, too.
Without a word, she turned and walked to the door.
“Sariel! Where are you going…?”
“I must.”
It was a short exchange.
And yet it seemed to be enough for Gülie to figure out exactly where Lady Sariel was going.
At the time, I was still in too much shock from the footage on the TV to fully understand what was happening, or the meaning of Gülie and Lady Sariel’s exchange.
The images seemed far too removed from reality for me to fully accept that it was actually happening.
“Sari—”
“Please do not try to stop me. I do not wish to consider you an enemy.”
“……”
Gülie’s hand was reaching toward Lady Sariel, but it froze at her response.
Just like that, Lady Sariel walked out of the orphanage.
“…She doesn’t think that I would take hostages? Does she really…trust me that much?”
Gülie sank into a chair, his shoulders sagging.
The tense news report continued playing out on the TV screen.
Lady Sariel did not come back.
Every TV channel was showing nothing but news, reporting on the dragons.
Even the news media couldn’t seem to get complete coverage; the information was complicated, and it was difficult to tell what was true.
The live footage from the beginning was all they seemed to have from the site of the attack, which they only got because there happened to be a reporter on the scene.
The whereabouts of that reporter were unknown.
Given the situation, the chances of survival were low.
Gülie stayed at the orphanage from that day on.
At the time, I didn’t quite understand why Gülie was spending the night there.
But in retrospect, I suspect he may have been trying to be of use to Sariel.
By protecting the orphanage, which was so precious to her.
That must have been an act of betrayal to the dragons.
I’m sure it was a serious decision for Gülie, but he was gentle with us, trying to distract us from our worries as we waited for Lady Sariel to return.
A day, two days, a week, a month…
We awaited Lady Sariel’s return.
All of the other kids from the orphanage came back.
Even the boy who had become an idol insisted on taking a break and came home.
“This is no time for entertainment. There’s hardly any business anyway, so it was easy to get time off.”
I don’t know how much of that was true, but it was clear that he came back to the orphanage because he was worried about us.
Still, all we could do was hope and pray for Lady Sariel’s safe return.
But…
Lady Sariel never came back to the orphanage…
Not long after, the dragons ceased their attack.
I only learned from the news that Lady Sariel had fought against the dragons and drove them off.
There was footage of their battle on the news, though I don’t know how it was recorded.
That short video was the only recording, but it was shown on the news over and over, with the commentators praising Lady Sariel.
Some people questioned whether the footage was doctored, but either way, the fact remained that the insurmountable threat of the dragons had been driven off, and certainly not by humans.
Many governments also officially recognized Lady Sariel’s achievements, which further lessened the number of dissenters.
But the relief of having escaped the wrath of the dragons did not last long.
For around the same time that their attacks relented, extreme weather phenomena began occurring all over the world.
I don’t know if “extreme weather” is the correct way to describe it, since the changes were too extreme to be summarized with such a simple phrase.
The ground cracked open, oceans began to dry up, and the sky lost its blueness.
It was as if the world was ending.
And indeed, that really was the beginning of the end.
“President Dustin of Daztrudia is about to begin a press conference. We will now cut to a live broadcast from the scene.”
“Good morning, citizens. Without further ado, let us first discuss what information we have gathered about the attack by the dragons. The nations and territories attacked cover such a wide range that it would take far too long to name them all at this time. Our nation’s troops have been dispatched to the sites of the attacks, but we still do not have a full grasp of the total casualties. We also attempted to scout the dragons’ territory to assess their strength, but the dragons were nowhere to be seen. My subordinates are currently investigating where they have disappeared to; however, there have been eyewitness reports on site of lights disappearing into the distant skies. Our current theory is that the dragons have taken off into silence.
“Silence, please! As for the reason the dragons attacked, it is safe to assume that it is because we did not heed their repeated warnings regarding the use of MA energy. The dragons consistently informed us that MA energy is the life force of the planet on which we live, and squeezing it out would weaken the planet. Thus, they asked us many times to stop using MA energy, but as we all know, many nations refused and continued to endorse its use.
“Silence! I am not trying to place the blame on any specific nation! I am simply sharing the information we know! Yes, it’s true! The reason for these abnormalities that have occurred since the dragons left is that the planet is weakening… No, it is heading toward destruction!”
The rest of President Dustin of Daztrudia’s press conference fell into chaos.
People shouted and jeered, and some reporters even tried to push closer to the president to hound him for answers, leading the security guards to hold them back, and turning the press conference room into a riot.
The footage ended abruptly with a shot of the president being escorted out by his security guards.
I imagine most people could not accept what he said at that press conference.
After all, many nations were already completely dependent on MA energy.
There were some exceptions like President Dustin’s nation of Daztrudia, but even they could not completely control the illicit use of MA energy within their borders.
Not to mention that those nations that forbade the use of MA energy still could not stop trading with those that did use it.
The products they imported were manufactured using MA energy.
In other words, every nation benefited from MA energy in some way or another.
Our orphanage too was built in Daztrudia, where the use of MA energy was forbidden, but I’m sure we still benefited from it in some small way from imported products and such.
The dragons hadn’t suddenly turned violent.
It was humanity’s fault all along.
But there were few humans who were willing to admit that.
Other nations held press conferences specifically to assert that President Dustin’s claims were nonsense, or to try to place the blame on other nations or the dragons in general.
But whether they admitted it or not, they couldn’t stop the world from heading toward destruction.
Even as people tried to ignore reality or point fingers at one another, the end of the world was growing closer by the second.
The world grew less safe.
No, I suppose that’s putting it lightly.
As they realized the world was going to end, most people’s actions took a drastic turn.
Many of them decided to use what little time they had left doing whatever they pleased, and the world essentially became lawless.
Riots, injuries, thefts, suicides…
Even the police, who were supposed to prevent such things, were often found participating in the chaos instead.
It wasn’t exactly quiet around the orphanage, either.
When something bad is happening, evidently it’s human nature to want to blame it on someone else and take it out on them.
And as it turned out, the chimeras of the orphanage were seen as the perfect targets.
“It’s all because of them!” “If it weren’t for those freaks…”
There was no real logic behind it.
It was just that we were different from them, and that was reason enough to consider us unlucky, and justify violence against us.
Fortunately, we didn’t have huge throngs of people forming a violent mob to come after us.
But people did throw rocks at us, or even shoot at us, on several occasions.
I imagine they didn’t attack us directly because they were still somewhat afraid of us chimeras, and because of the existence of Lady Sariel.
It was well-known that Lady Sariel had driven away the dragons, and everyone who lived nearby was aware that Lady Sariel managed the orphanage, too.
So the good people who were grateful to Lady Sariel would never think of laying a hand on the orphanage.
I suppose the fact that we were shot at anyway is proof that not all people in the world are good.
Normally, we would depend on Gülie to defend us at such times, but unfortunately he disappeared not long after the news broke that Lady Sariel had stopped the dragons’ attack.
At the time, I sulked that he wasn’t there when we needed him most, but later I learned that he was desperately trying to save Lady Sariel then.
There is far too much that I only learned after the fact.
Back then, I was always so powerless, so ignorant, nothing more than baggage…
At any rate, we couldn’t depend on Gülie to save us.
We holed up in the orphanage and managed to survive, but we did discuss strategies for the worst-case scenario.
Our intention was only to try to escape, not to fight anyone.
Aside from a few exceptions like me, most chimeras are very powerful.
Even if our opponents were armed, we were fairly confident that we could still charge head-on and escape intact.
We even had a large vehicle that could fit everyone, which one of our number drove in when they returned after the dragon attacks.
I had scoffed at the time, wondering why they would bring such a ridiculous vehicle, but maybe they’d anticipated that something like this might happen.
In other words, they had foresight that I lacked.
I still remember feeling embarrassed for how I’d scoffed at it before.
Those oddly tension-filled days continued for a while.
We had no idea when something might explode.
It could be one of the nearby residents, or one of us, or perhaps even the world itself would be the first to go.
But something else changed instead.
“We’re going to go see Lady Sariel.”
One of the orphanage residents, a boy who was almost as sickly as me, suddenly made that declaration.
He was physically incapable of sleep, which meant that there were permanent dark circles hanging under his eyes, and a general lack of energy about him.
But something unusual was secreted in his brain, and he could never settle down unless he was doing something.
Although he constantly declared that he didn’t want to do anything, by nature he always had to be doing something.
He was usually holed up in his room doing some kind of activity, so it was unusual for him to say he was going out.
In fact, this might have been the first time.
Normally his eyes looked glazed over, but this time they were blazing bright.
The others seemed to be just as taken aback by this as I was, and soon, we all loaded into the big car and headed out.
Since time was of the essence, he said he would explain on the way.
We planned to use the car to escape if the time came, but no one attacked as we drove away.
There was plenty of time to talk on the journey.
Daztrudia was an entire continent functioning together as one nation.
It was enormous, and took a long time to travel across, which meant we had all the more time for talking.
But in fact, very little of that time was spent on the explanation.
All he told us on the way was simply, “Lady Sariel is trying to sacrifice herself to get the world out of this situation.”
Of course, he also explained her actions and reasons, how she intended to accomplish this, and so on, but that wasn’t important to the rest of us.
When we heard that Lady Sariel wanted to sacrifice herself, that was all we needed to know.
We hardly even questioned how he knew all this.
He was always up to something strange in his room, so we just assumed he’d acquired this information through some dubious means as an extension of that.
But while little time was spent on the explanation, the conversation that took place within the car afterward was very long indeed.
“We have to stop Lady Sariel.”
“And then what would we do?”
We all felt the same way on an emotional level.
We didn’t want Lady Sariel to sacrifice herself.
But if she didn’t, the world would end.
“What, so you want to sacrifice Lady Sariel so you can keep living your precious life?!”
“Of course not! But Lady Sariel chose this path herself, didn’t she?! What right do we have to stop her, huh?!”
It was pandemonium.
I had already accepted that I wouldn’t live for much longer.
My death might come a little sooner than expected, but I was prepared for that.
…If it were just me, that is.
I didn’t care if I died.
But if everyone else from the orphanage was going to die, too?
Even if there was a way to prevent that?
I wanted the others to live.
And when I considered that Lady Sariel might feel the same way, well, it didn’t seem right to stop her…
But it was still hard to accept the idea of her sacrificing herself because of that…
I think the others all had similar thoughts to mine, too.
In the end, there was no right answer.
So opinions clashed, with none being in the wrong, unable to meet in the middle…
“Enough already, you kids! Stop throwing pathetic little tantrums!”
The director put a stop to all this with a single shout.
“What good is babbling at one another about it going to do? No matter what you kids say, it all comes down to Lady Sariel’s decision. If you’ve got something to say to her, you better go say it to her face!”
She was right, of course.
In the end, we were still just powerless kids, and none of our arguments could make a bit of difference.
The director’s rebuke stopped the fighting, and for a while after that, the car was almost eerily silent.
But there was still a long way left to travel. Eventually, we couldn’t help talking quietly among ourselves.
From incoherent rambling to deep discussions about the future, I feel certain that we talked about many things, but I can’t remember any of the specifics.
Most likely, it’s because my mind was churning with too many thoughts to fully pay attention.
I don’t remember the details of those thoughts, either.
Perhaps that’s only natural since I couldn’t make sense of any of it myself.
But there is just one thought that I remember quite clearly.
Namely, that I had to give Lady Sariel the handkerchief when I saw her.
A variety of issues had delayed the completion of my embroidered handkerchiefs, but I finally managed to finish one for every member of the orphanage.
I didn’t know what would happen after this, but I had a feeling that either way, I needed to give Lady Sariel the handkerchief this time or I would never get the chance again.
And that premonition proved all too accurate.
Finally, we arrived at what was essentially the center of the Daztrudian government: the executive office.
Somehow, we were allowed in easily, even though ordinary citizens are banned from entering.
I still don’t know how we managed to get permission, even now.
But we didn’t question it at the time, since it meant we could meet with Lady Sariel as we hoped.
Yes, we successfully saw Lady Sariel.
“I am glad you all seem to be in good health.”
That was the first thing she said to us after all this time.
It was a slightly off-the-mark statement, completely oblivious to how much we had worried, and utterly typical of Lady Sariel.
After that, we spoke with her for as long as time would allow.
We tried to convince her to rethink her decision.
But Lady Sariel’s position was firm.
“It is part of my mission.”
In the end, we couldn’t change her mind at all. No matter what we said, she always shot us down with that same statement.
When we realized there would be no talking her out of it, the conversation naturally shifted toward reminiscing instead.
The nights right after she took us in, when we couldn’t sleep and all gathered together to get Lady Sariel to read us stories.
The way that when a child was struck with terrifying flashbacks to the trauma of Potimas’s experiments, Lady Sariel would hold them and gently stroke their head for as long as it took until the shaking subsided.
The days when Lady Sariel would teach our classes because we couldn’t go to school.
That dinner when a kid was served a food they hated and tried to push it off onto the child next to them, only to be caught by Lady Sariel and have the food shoved into their mouth as she informed them, “It is not good to be a picky eater.” (Incidentally, that just made the child in question hate that food even more.)
Then there was the time when flipping girls’ skirts was a popular pastime among the boys, until Lady Sariel confiscated all the boys’ pants and forced them to spend the day in their underwear. There was no more skirt-flipping after that.
Around the period when we were growing out of our early childhood and entering puberty, Lady Sariel made us watch adult videos in the name of health education without an ounce of shame. As she blandly explained the nature of sexual relationships, the director burst into the classroom, yelling, “What are you showing these kids?!” Lady Sariel was subjected to a lengthy lecture of her own after that.
Since none of us knew when we were born, we all celebrated the day the orphanage was opened as our birthdays. Each year, the entire day was a lavish party. Lady Sariel gave every single child a present.
When we needed advice about romance and such, we went to the director, not Lady Sariel. After all, Lady Sariel was of little help when it came to matters of the heart. But she still always seemed a little sulky when she wasn’t consulted about these things.
We all had plenty of good memories, difficult memories, and embarrassing memories.
But we never ran out of memories to talk about.
Lady Sariel had always been a part of our lives.
She was the person who saved us from Potimas’s experiments and made us from test subjects into real humans.
For all of us, talking about our memories of Lady Sariel was virtually the same thing as talking about our entire lives.
So of course we didn’t run out of things to talk about.
“…It is almost time.”
Just like that, we were out of time.
The time had come to say goodbye.
“Lady Sariel, here.”
As this would be my last chance, I gave out the handkerchiefs I made.
First, to Lady Sariel, then to everyone else from the orphanage.
I thought that if she knew everyone had the handkerchiefs I gave them, then she would feel we were always by her side.
I still don’t know if my feelings got through to her.
Lady Sariel was always a little clueless about people’s feelings.
But I still want to believe that she understood…
“All of you. Please, live happy lives. Happy, but peaceful.”
Those were Lady Sariel’s last words to us.
But how can we be happy if you’re no longer here?
I’m sure I’m not the only one who had that thought.
But Lady Sariel left, without looking back.
Once she was completely out of sight, and we were alone, we started crying.
Maybe I was the first one to burst into tears, or maybe it was someone else.
We all sobbed like children, to the point where it was impossible to tell who started first.
Either way, we just kept on crying.
“Humans. Can you hear me?”
As we continued crying, a voice suddenly spoke directly in our heads.
It was the familiar voice of Gülie.
“My name is Güliedistodiez. As some of you may have noticed, as of this very moment, the world has changed.”
We were all sobbing to the point where we were barely aware of what was happening, but unbeknownst to us, the entire world had just been altered.
“From now on, this planet will be managed by the new system. And I will be an administrator of that system.”
Yes, in that moment, the system was constructed.
“As you all know, this planet is at the end of its life due to the foolish behavior of humans.”
But at the time, we had no way of knowing what exactly that meant.
“You are attempting to sacrifice Sariel to restore the planet to life. In other words, the plan is to resolve the problem you yourselves caused by sacrificing someone else.”
While we were traveling in the car, we had no access to the news, but evidently President Dustin had announced that they would be sacrificing Lady Sariel to save the planet.
And that very day was when this plan was put into action.
I only learned later that President Dustin took care to avoid our seeing Lady Sariel’s final moments.
Evidently, he questioned whether to allow us to stay by her side, but ultimately determined it would be too cruel to allow us children to witness the death of our parental figure.
“Do you not think that humans should be the ones to atone for their own crimes?”
At the time, we had no way of knowing any of that information, nor any idea why we were hearing Gülie’s voice in our heads.
“So we have decided to give you humans a chance. The system that will overrule this planet is a means to that end.”
But as we listened to Gülie’s explanation, the reason became clear.
“We will have you humans fight. By doing so, you can now increase the energy of your souls. You will become machines for fighting, winning, and gaining energy. And when you die, we will recover the energy you have earned, and assign that energy to heal the planet.”
That was the explanation of how the system works.
“However, that alone would end once you have died. So as long as you are within this system, we have made it so that you will be reborn here on this planet. After you die, you will eventually live again, and you will fight and accumulate energy once more.”
Fight, die, be reborn, fight, and die again…
Exhausted from crying, we could scarcely wrap our minds around this hellish system.
“Right now, this planet is being kept from destruction by Sariel’s power. You attempted to sacrifice Sariel, but now you must save her. You yourselves will carry out the role you attempted to force upon her. Simple, is it not?”
But the command to “save Sariel” stuck out in our minds.
There was a way to save Lady Sariel.
That was like a beacon of hope to us.
“This is your sin, humans. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone. Atone.”
To humanity, that voice must have been a painful reminder of their sins, one that made them want to cover their ears.
“Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. Fight. And then die.”
But to us, it was like a song of salvation.
From that day forward, our fight began.
The fight to save Lady Sariel.
A very, very long fight.
…It has been a long, long, terribly cruel fight indeed.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, my eyes flash open.
I lost consciousness for a moment there.
…Oops, that’s not good.
Did my life just flash before my eyes?
“Whoa?! That was close!”
Just as I regain consciousness, I avoid an attack flying toward me.
That was far too close.
I almost went from flashback mode straight into death.
But I can’t die. Not yet.
I take a quick backstep to put distance between myself and my opponent.
Luckily, my opponent doesn’t try to chase me.
Once I’m at a safe distance, I catch my breath.
Touching my head lightly, I feel something wet and sticky.
A fair amount of blood is trickling from my head.
I focus on it, and begin healing that wound.
This must be why I passed out for a second there.
Then I focus on my enemy again.
It’s a simple, humanoid hunk of metal.
It would almost look like an overly simplified, life-size, ball-jointed doll, if it weren’t for the fact that its arms both end in drills.
Frankly, at a glance, it sure doesn’t look like Potimas’s ultimate weapon.
But that’s exactly what it is.
Gloria, Type Ω.
That’s apparently this thing’s name.
Potimas made a point of telling me before the fight.
This “Omega” thing abruptly vanishes.
I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off it.
In fact, I swear I’ve been focusing on it without even blinking.
Yet I’ve somehow lost sight of the thing.
Instantly, I trust my instincts and dive to one side.
A moment later, my instincts are proven spot-on, as the Omega’s drill comes flying in from the opposite direction.
If I’d dodged even a nanosecond later, I would’ve been on the receiving end of that drill.
My heart threatens to pound out of my chest.
“You bastard!”
I swing my leg to hit it with a counterattack, but my kick slices through thin air.
By the time I moved to strike, the Omega was already out of my attack range.
“…Not bad.”
In spite of myself, I mutter something that sounds too much like an admission of defeat.
But I can’t help it—I have to acknowledge it.
How long has it been since something moved faster than my eyes could follow?
It’s not that I underestimated it because of its appearance.
…Okay, I can’t say that I didn’t at least consider it, but Potimas did bother to tell me its name and all.
So I knew it wasn’t an enemy I could take lightly.
And yet, the Omega’s first attack moved faster than I could follow, and hit me squarely in the head.
Then I had to watch my whole damn life flash before my eyes…
The Omega’s speed is abnormal, to say the least.
It’s probably on the same level as me at my best, or maybe even faster.
I’m not saying that to be a sore loser or anything.
But unfortunately, right now, I’m a whole lot weaker than I should be.
It’s that damn anti-technique barrier.
Potimas’s special barrier is stretched over this whole area.
Part 6 of 8