Editing Godhorn Tech:Volume2 Chapter4 (section)

===Chapter 4 Section 3===

Miyabi Blackgarden was used to camping out now.

He stretched his arms on the abandoned ship to help wake his sleepy body in the morning sun.

He stepped out onto the weathered deck.

He found long-eared Alicia Blueforest munching on some bread for breakfast. The open deck probably made for a more enjoyable meal than the indoor dining hall where a permanent musty smell had settled in. He used a knife to cut a slit in an oblong piece of bread, smeared butter inside, stuck some jerky within, and then cooked it until it was nice and crispy. It was only possible thanks to the firewood they had secured by breaking up one of the masts he tore down yesterday.

“Not far to the ruined Magic Empire now,” said Alicia.

They left the ship.

The ground was still nothing but dark soil.

They had spent all night afraid those dog-sized Plague Rats would attack, but the things were nowhere to be found now. However, that was no reason to celebrate.

“This means not even the Plague Rats dare approach this place, doesn’t it?” cautiously concluded Helen.

After walking a while longer, an odd color joined the scenery: red.

As Miyabi wondered what it was, it overtook everything.

A red and shining dust covered the land as far as the eye could see. All of the buildings had collapsed, melted, and sunk into the ground, so it was hard to even imagine the city that must have once stood there.

“Is this…the pollution!?”

Miyabi started to take a step back and nearly stepped on an apple lying on the ground.

He managed to avoid it, but then a thought occurred to him.

“Wait, ''how long'' has this apple been here?”

There was no fruit tree nearby for it to have fallen from and not many travelers came through here.

Had one of the few eccentric travelers dropped it?

Or had it been here ever since the Empire fell?

''The apple would have been exposed to the elements on the ground there, yet it still shined bright.'' It was unnaturally pristine. Even a wax sample’s colors would have faded in the sun.

It was almost like the entire fruit had been submerged in a special chemical to preserve it.

“I-I definitely want to avoid eating that,” groaned Celina Bodenburg, staying as far away as she could while poking at it with her rifle’s bayonet.

It was just as concerning as hearing a salesman insist a little too hard that “This milk is fresh. Don’t believe the lies. It’s as fresh as can be.”

“Rusty mana,” said Alicia who was self-taught in alchemy. The entire view here was covered by that scarlet dust that even dyed the rising sun as it floated into the air. “Mana is the natural power at the root of all magic, but when it deteriorates, it transforms into a nuisance that clings to all things. It surrounds everything, effectively isolating everything from everything else. It even repels and kills the ‘invisible things’ needed to make bread or cheese.”

“That explains the lack of Plague Rats.” Eliza Silverstorm placed a handkerchief over her mouth to avoid breathing in the red dust in the air. “This place is not dirty. Quite the opposite. It is so clean nothing can live here. It may be similar to a river of undiluted bleach.”

It was possible to be too clean.

This place took purity too far.

They could see red quagmires dotting the ground. Was that the result of the dust concentrating, or of it growing wet? It definitely had to do with the dust, but the exact requirements were unclear.

The wind blew a cloud of red dust from the ground up ahead of them.

Celina’s eyes widened.

“Hey, um, does anyone have any magic for protecting the mouth and nose!? Maybe called Toxin Away or something!?”

“Does the Bodenburg Company name everything like it’s athlete’s foot medicine?” complained the radio.

That girl was enough of a clean freak to carry around a portable water filter and silver-catalyst disinfectant magic, but even she could tell this was overdoing it.

“I wish you could create specialized magic like that,” Alicia sighed. “Besides, I thought a perfectly sterile world was exactly what you wanted? Ugh, a handkerchief over the mouth ''is'' about all we can do, isn’t it?”

“Wow,” said Miyabi as he appreciated just how complete the Empire’s fall had been.

“Kyoo…”

Hearing an odd cry, he looked down to find Alma had already transformed into a sort of black cat.

“Ohh, the shadow element!?” exclaimed Alicia. “Is that supposed to be a Greymalkin?”

Everyone had their own way of fighting it, but Alma had decided to be the opposite of the “deadly purity” of the red dust. If that was meant to repel the dust to remain safe, then the form may have been more aggressive than it looked. And either way, it was unlikely to protect Miyabi and the others.

“I-it’s a good thing I was using Compress Cargo,” groaned Helen while holding her small bag close. “Otherwise, this might have ruined all of our water and food. I bet that red dust gets in everything while it blows in the wind. Ugh, I thought my hair was feeling gritty. Not to mention my chest…”

The red ground crumbled and something came into view further down.

The objects lined up along a stone wall appeared to be bookcases. The parchment plans spread out on a desk resembled the design of a Godhorn Tech. It was unclear how valuable that would be, but there was no retrieving it anyway. Not only did a chemical-smelling red waterfall flow inside, but some of it bubbled up before crawling around on its own.

That caught Miyabi by surprise.

“I-it’s moving like it has a mind of its own?”

“Its movement is simply modeled after such things. Mimicking an animal’s movements is an efficient way of searching its surroundings and capturing its target.”

But that did not explain why the red slime was so intent on surrounding everything around it and turning the former imperial land into a red wasteland.

Maybe it was designed to do so, but that just led to further questions.

Also, the crawling red slime was not the only thing here.

“Are those the Empire’s famous magic automatons?” asked Celina, biting her thumbnail at seeing treasure she could not get at.

“Automatons?”

Come to think of it, that term had come up in reference to Number 8.

“Something that looks human but is not. Their specs and sizes can vary, so the Empire used colossal ones for military and construction purposes and miniature ones for medical purposes. I have heard they would send automatons smaller than a flower’s pollen into a patient’s body so they could directly cut away the disease from within. This is all a thing of the past, of course.”

The ones in the underground space below were all ordinary human size.

They had no hair, clothing, or even skin. The ball-jointed dolls were struggling within the red quagmire.

It all produced the sizzling sound of a caustic chemical at work.

“They’re fighting the red sludge. Have they been doing this the entire time?”

“Huh? Celina, haven’t you been through here before? On the Schwarz Schütze, I mean.”

“Why would I want to look outside in such a dreary area? Enjoying a good book and some delicious tea was a much better use of my time.”

That was not all. When they peered down into the split ground, they saw the bookcases rattling as thick magical tomes took flight like butterflies or birds and crashed into the lit candles. This was a purely inorganic conflict with none of the usual rats or roaches in evidence. A human like Miyabi had no way of telling how many sides there were or how they determined who was on what side, but they were doing it all on their own and he figured the party could avoid it all if they avoided provoking those things.

Alicia shut her eyes and muttered to herself.

“To think this is the massive Empire that came so close to conquering the entire continent not too long ago.” The words were bitter in her mouth. “It hasn’t even been a full year since it fell, yet these piles of rubble are all that remain. Even this scarlet mana was originally the all-purpose experimental material they had artificially created with their advanced technology.”

“Cough, cough!”

“Are you okay, Alma? Hmm, this red dust must be rough on a juvenile, even in that shadowy Greymalkin form. …If only I had a cloth to cover your mouth. Oh, how about you take shelter in my clothes?”

“You dare enter that unexplored zone kept off limits even to me!?” roared the crystal radio hanging from the elf’s neck.

Helen of course ignored it.

“The Empire once controlled a third of the continent. They were a major threat to the Republic. Not that we could focus on a foreign war when our primary city was embroiled in a civil war against the old monarchy,” she said. “Their military might was supported by advanced magic technology and even their Godhorn Tech was left in the hands of a special magic automaton, not a human. To ensure their strongest power was never used in error.”

“And that’s Number 8, huh?” Miyabi viewed the shocking scenery of red, red, and more red. “He’s continued protecting this place even with no one left to protect.”

“The Arsenal Kingdom could not ignore the Empire either. You could even say the Icicle Bullet was built as a defensive Godhorn Tech as a direct response to our fear of the Empire,” confessed Eliza, her large lance resting on her shoulder. That snow sleigh’s ramming attack had packed a punch, but since it required snow on the ground to move, it indeed could not be used to invade other countries. “We viewed them as our greatest enemy, but only because we admired what they had accomplished.”

Miyabi was honestly afraid to keep going, but he knew Number 8 and the Divine Doll were up ahead. Which meant Moebius would be as well.

He pulled his shirt’s collar up over his mouth as he trudged on through the red world.

“Urp, this is awful,” groaned Alicia.

That elf had been born in a filthy forest teeming with life, so this excessive purity had her long ears drooping.

After a while, they noticed some patterns in the red ruins. The rows of trees that looked frozen in time while surrounded by their fallen leaves showed the outlines of a major road. The foundations of angular stones and bricks showed where buildings had once been. They even spotted some dry fountains. A broken metal fence surrounded a large section of land, suggesting a considerable building had once stood there.

“They apparently called it a university,” said Eliza. “I never visited it myself, but instead of an apprenticeship or tutoring system, the Empire filled a large building full of hundreds or even thousands of people to provide them all with the same high-level magic education. And over a short period of time, too. Yet they were not trying to master a form of group action, like with knight or soldier training. I have even heard they competed among themselves over the tests and their standing in the class. They would keep their head down on their desk and choose to be alone within a room full of other people, something I have trouble imagining myself.”

That sounded like it would exclude the people who were not a good fit for that education format, but the Empire must not have cared if they had some dropouts as long as enough people succeeded. In Miyabi’s village, people would study as an apprentice at their own pace so they could learn the logging business while also pursuing their own dreams, so the Empire’s way of writing off some percentage of the population as “acceptable losses” sent a chill down his spine.

It might sound noble for the Empire to treat their automatons just like they treat their people, but what if they achieved that by reducing their people to the level of the automatons? The people were like no more than cogs in the machine.

Helen sighed.

“They covered a third of the continent, so I guess they decided they had people to spare.”

Then they heard a scraping metal sound.

Were more magical automatons fighting their endless battle somewhere in this red world?

Miyabi pulled his jacket’s collar over his mouth as well and turned toward the noise.

“The hell is that?”

He saw something odd there.

Was it some kind of confrontation?

On one side was a girl in an octopus-like mask. Why was he so sure she was a girl when he could not see her face? Because she wore her red hair in a side ponytail and because her skintight leather outfit revealed the shape of her figure.

“Oh, baby!! Black leather with a high-leg design!? What’s she supposed to be, a phantom thief? Or a sexy dominatrix? That bulging chest and indecent crotch are exactly what I’m looking for in a fantasy setting!!!!!”

The radio rejoiced, but Miyabi was not quite sure what he was looking at. Why cover her face and barely cover anything else?

And.

On the other side was a giant suit of armor standing two meters tall. The mass of steel was almost entirely round, but it was running away with its hands held protectively over its head. It behaved surprisingly feminine. Almost like the heroine in a children’s book.

Celina reflexively aimed her flintlock rifle from a short distance away and then spoke with her eyes on the exhibitionist in the weird mask.

“She might be a salvage hunter.”

“A what?”

“Basically, they are professional thieves who recklessly visit this dangerous ruined land and dig up old lab equipment and books. …That look tells me you are wondering how I know. Because my company buys more of their finds than anyone else.”

That business was so greedy it sounded borderline criminal.

Also, if that creepy octopus mask was what the experts wore, was it indeed dangerous to walk around this scarlet territory with their faces exposed?

The party was feeling a lot more anxious now.

“B-boy!! Hand me your goggles!! You aren’t using them, so you don’t mind, do you!?”

“Shut up, these are mine!! Hey, don’t just snatch them away! Noooo fairrrrr!!”

Eliza sighed at the idiots’ petty conflict.

The way the rusty mana could keep an apple fresh and shiny for years was certainly disconcerting, but if an expert thief was willing to operate with so much skin exposed, it must not have been deadly on contact or anything.

“Then what about that giant armor?” asked Eliza.

“That I can’t say,” said Celina. “Her next target perhaps?”

Anyway, finding an actual person here changed things significantly.

Number 8 and Moebius Entrance could use the Divine Doll and the only way of combating that Godhorn Tech was the Lucifer Horn, but that would mean a clash between two of those colossal sorcery weapons. A simple stray shot was of course a threat, but just the red dust blown into the air from an explosive blast or shockwave would be bad enough.

Even if this girl had special equipment, Miyabi stilled wanted to give her a chance to escape first.

But when he approached her to warn her, she was focused on something else entirely.

He heard two voices.

“Fshoo shoo shoo!! Now this is a find. The more human a magic automaton acts, the better its parts must be☆”

“No, really, please! I’m just an ordinary maid!”

Make no mistake.

The “fshoo shoo shoo” came from the octopus mask exhibitionist and the “I’m just an ordinary maid” came from the giant armor.

Miyabi’s eyes widened.

“What the hell!? Why does the magic automaton sound like the normal one!?”

“Fshoo? What’s this, some competition? You’ve got guts trying to steal from the great Marietta Diggrave!! Fshoo!!”

The octopus mask girl was willing to wield her giant shovel against human and automaton alike, so she seemed to be lacking in the sense department.

But just as her attention was diverted toward Miyabi’s party, the giant armor took a step back. With that sliver of safety, the armor flipped up the helmet’s visor.

“Please look at me! I’m not an automaton, see!? I’m a human in here!”

“W-wait? There’s actually someone in there!?”

Celina’s flustered shout earned an introduction from the timid girl inside.

“I-I am Angela Custardmare.”

The octopus mask shrugged off the claim.

“All I see is old tech so advanced it looks human. Fshoo, I’ll be set for life after this one☆”

Uncertain whether this was a human or an automaton, Miyabi hesitantly approached the armor. The visor looked tougher than a set of iron bars and, even with it raised, the armor was too tall for him to see inside from the ground.

“This should do it.”

He had to grab at the thick, round armor with his arms and legs and scramble up it. He was a teenage boy, but he had a hard time thinking of this as climbing up a teenage girl’s body. Unfortunately, the octopus mask girl (in revealing clothing) was winning that particular battle.

“Let’s take a look in here.”

“A boy!? No, that’s a bad i-”

Miyabi peeked inside the helmet.

“Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!???”

He collapsed to the red ground, arched his back, and screamed.

Eliza immediately readied her enormous lance.

“What did she do to you, Miyabi!?”

“No, wait. I didn’t do anything. Sigh, why does this always happen? Agh!”

The giant armor held her head and the visor fell back down.

She skillfully pushed it back up again.

“Whoops… Um, the thing is, I used to work as a maid in a certain mansion, but unfortunately, the nobles who wanted to be my master ended up killing each other in a death game.”

“…”

“Their wives all blamed me and trapped me in this Prison Armor. Ugh…I really don’t know why it had to happen to me.”

“Unfortunate Beauty, hm?” Alicia sounded somewhat exasperated. “A talent like that sets you up for a difficult life.”

“D-does that mean Miyabi wasn’t harmed at all?” hesitantly suggested Helen. “Wow, that really is ecstasy on his face, isn’t it?”

“Hey, let’s not be ridiculous. He has a long-eared elf on his right and a curvy young woman on his left and you expect me to believe that round armor is what gave him his sexual awakening!? This swords and sorcery fantasy is too kinky even for me!!”

The radio’s lament stabbed through Miyabi’s heart, bringing him back to his senses. He blinked the hearts out of his eyes and managed to focus on reality once more. He realized having the hots for that round heavyweight was just plain rude to Eliza and her miniskirt armor.

The maid inside that armor was too beautiful to view directly.

He felt bad for Angela, but he agreed she would be too powerful without that thick armor sealing her away. He had never known cute and pretty could have a lethal dose. She had to be around his age, but she did not at all look that way.

Meanwhile, Celina brought a hand to her slender chin.

“Hmm, was that cruel death game the work of Strange Guide?”

“Oh, I don’t care about that. It wouldn’t bring the dead nobles back to life or anything.” The maid was surprisingly practical. “If anything, I want to find a way to remove this Prison Armor. Well, I can actually remove it just fine, but before long, it comes back to me like a magnet. It at least gives me enough time to wash my face or take a bath if I try hard enough.”

A maid too beautiful to gaze upon would strip down and bathe. All while rushing to beat the time limit. That thought made Miyabi even dizzier. Simply imagining the scene caused the capillaries in his eyes to burst, so Angela’s loveliness was like an anti-adolescent toxin.

“Is there any way to escape that?” asked Helen with an exasperated sigh.

“Um, the Prison Armor was bound to me using a fairly special contract. It involved Under Lilith, a Demon Lord whose name is found in major ‘Super Kingdom’ level contracts.”

“Th-that name’s in the spells related to Godhorn Tech contracts too.”

“Ah ha ha. That’s just how much effort went into creating this armor prison. I was lucky to learn the half-legendary abandoned library here has the magic book needed to negate that ‘Super Kingdom’ level curse, but as you can see, I ran into this shovel-wielding idiot.”

Miyabi and Celina exchanged a glance.

Under Lilith’s power was great, but not a 100% guarantee. There had even been an error when transferring the Lucifer Horn’s contract from Moebius to Miyabi.

Fortunately, that had let him use the power of creation on top of the destruction.

When he explained that, the maid clapped together her large armored hands and danced a jig. She was close enough that he was terrified he would be caught in the joints of that thick armor.

“That’s wonderful news!! Joining you might be better than blindly searching this vast and dangerous red kingdom. And if that doesn’t work, my only option might be trying blast the armor off with one of those rumored Godhorn Techs.”

“You’re the first person I’ve seen who ''wanted'' to be attacked by a Godhorn Tech,” said Alicia. “Just how powerful is that curse?”

“By the way, what about you?”

Miyabi’s question earned a cackle from octopus masked Marietta.

“Fshoo shoo shoo!! Where that thing goes, I follow. I’ll be rich once I disassemble it and sell it for parts. Treasure awaits☆”

“Were you not paying any attention at all!?” shouted Helen while bristling. “I get the feeling she’s going to murder someone with that shovel if we don’t give her some basic education first!!”

At the moment, their top priority was getting these survivors out of the empire’s ruins. Number 8 and Moebius could pick up on their movements at any moment.

“Take care of it, Lucifer Horn!”

A colossal form with bat-like wings roared through the sky and the thick wire dangling from it snagged the back of the black high-leg outfit, carrying the wearer away to Horn Fortress.

“It needs to do that again,” calmly stated Eliza Silverstorm.

“U-umm!! Couldn’t you at least take us both away at once!? This wait time is so awkward!”



They had successfully evacuated(?) Marietta and Angela, but that was not the end of it. Miyabi’s party had to continue onward and locate Moebius and the butler automaton named Number 8.

A clash was almost guaranteed no matter what happened.

That was the entire point of their preparations and the entire point of evacuating those two.

After reminding himself of all that, Miyabi felt a great weight in his gut.

“…”

Countless red quagmires dotted the land, giving off a chemical odor.

They had to avoid those, but they would never get anywhere if they walked around them all.

“Contract Owner: Under Lilith, grant me the power to move the Palette Dice.”

Red boxes were extracted from the ground.

But he was not interested in the actual Palette Dice made from that material that was so pure it became deadly to all forms of life. By removing those cubes from the ground, the water(?) filling those red quagmires drained into the newly-formed holes.

“Ewww, what is all that stuff left at the bottom?” Celina sounded nervous. “They aren’t bones, are they?”

“As long as it isn’t human bones, I don’t care,” said Miyabi.

“That’s elfphobia,” cautioned Alicia with a glare. “And to answer your question, I think those are dinosaur fossils. Those thick rusty ponds have dissolved the ground and started to erode the ancient fossils they exposed.”

“What does that mean?”

“In dust form, that stuff is so pure it can kill you, but once it thickens into a liquid, it can dissolve organic tissue. Simply put, it purifies things by physically destroying them. That sludge is deadly to all forms of life, so try to keep your good deeds and righteous acts to a minimum here.”

They continued on while trying their best to avoid provoking the red slimes wandering the area. Those things were frightening, but they tended to gather into a few larger clumps, making it unlikely anyone would accidentally step on one.

They gained nothing by fighting anything here, so if they wanted to avoid pointless injury, it was best to ignore those things and keep going.

The journey felt so empty and unsatisfying, but after crossing another red chemical-smelling bog and approaching a surviving rectangular stone wall, they glimpsed some movement through the crimson sandstorm.

It was more than 100m away.

“Another automaton?”

“No, wait. An automaton wouldn’t be using a wheelchair. They could just get a replacement part.”

The radio was right.

“Shh!”

Miyabi pressed against the crumbling wall and took a peek through the arching gate that looked so strange with no other structures around.

“There’s someone there. In fact…”

His tension grew. Moving even a few centimeters wore on his nerves so badly. He used the crumbling wall as a cover while peering around its edge.

They were a long way away, but there was no mistaking it. A man sat in a wheelchair and a butler stood tall.

“Is that Moebius and Number 8?” groaned Helen when she saw it too.

“You do not need to rush out toward them,” warned Alicia. “Why not eavesdrop on their conversation instead?”

Miyabi’s party slowly passed through the arch to enter an area that had once been surrounded by walls. Something felt different about this place, almost like they had set foot in a king’s tomb.

Celina spotted a metal sign half-buried in the red dust.

“The Imperial Archives?”

“As the name suggests, this was a private collection of old texts made by the last emperor,” explained Eliza. “Not everyone could make a request to read the books like they could with their national library, but it was rumored the magical books here were much more dangerous.”

Eliza had mentioned the universities as well, so why did someone from the Arsenal Kingdom know so much about the Empire?

The chosen knight shrugged with a hint of self-deprecation when she noticed Miyabi’s gaze.

“My kingdom had plenty of mines and metals, but little magical technology. We once put together a plan to send in a spy who would steal dangerous texts from the bookshelves here, but it was abandoned because the risk of military retaliation was too great if discovered.”

So she had her reasons.

The books collected here had been so rare people were willing to cross borers to get at them, but they were now exposed to the red dust. Not even Eliza wanted to pick one up and flip through the pages.

They walked through a cemetery of books that would be forever preserved.

They moved from cover to cover, making sure the figures in the distance never noticed them. Fortunately, the stone walls and bookcases coated in red dust provided plenty of cover.

They walked silently alongside the red-coated ancient tomes.

Once Miyabi had covered half the distance, the wind carried the voices to his ears.

The scratchy sound was mixed with the sound of the blowing red dust.

“I do apologize. Was the ride comfortable enough?”

That was Number 8. His voice was polite…and nothing else. There was no emotion to be found there.

“It was a literal pain in the ass.”

The response from the wheelchair carried an obvious smile.

The voice rang so intensely in Miyabi’s ears that the veins at his temples bulged.

Those two appeared to be facing each other from across a large crystal chandelier that had fallen to the red ground after its chain broke. The ceiling that had once supported it was gone, but some vestiges of the walls remained.

“I had assumed the Empire’s advanced magical tech would be more delicate.”

“We took three breaks along the way. On my own, it would have taken less than a day.”

Miyabi listened to Moebius’s pointless jokes from where the row of bookcases came to an end. He felt faint when he heard the enjoyment in the man’s voice.

“That bastard!!”

“Restrain yourself, boy.”

He clenched his teeth while Alicia held him back.

They still weren’t exactly close. It was risky, but he moved from the bookcases, ducked below a long table, and slowly crawled closer. He knew he could keep going from there.

The conversation across the fallen chandelier continued in the distance.

“Why take me all the way home with you? Afraid you couldn’t win an away game? Thought I might have a trap in place?”

“It had nothing to do with holding an advantage. I brought you here for a reason.”

“Oh, a reason? That narrows it down.”

Moebius’s mocking tone did nothing to slow Number 8 down.

The butler continued speaking with his long bangs covering half his face.

“There is only ever one thing that motivates my actions.”

“Yeah, I thought that might be what they used to mess with you.”

“What do you mean?”

Something was up.

Miyabi’s party moved from the end of the long table and hid behind another stone wall. There was another table there. Food and drink would not have been served here, but it looked a lot like a restaurant counter and it contained quills and what looked like ledgers. Miyabi ducked below that to hide, but his mind was in utter chaos. He started to wonder if those two had noticed their approach and this conversation was disinformation meant to confuse them.

“What’s that about messing with him?”

“I get the feeling there is more to this.”

Eliza primarily fought on vast snowy plains and had little experience in sneaking around labyrinthine urban areas, so she had trouble positioning her enormous lance. She had to tilt it on its side and place it alongside the stone wall while she got right to the point.

Helen nodded from behind another bookcase.

“Does that meant Moebius was taken from the village against his will?”

“Hmm, we can’t make out enough of their conversation to say for sure,” added Alicia.

“Why not tiptoe even closer?” suggested the philosopher’s stone.

Approaching further would be risky, but they did it anyway.

Miyabi slowly opened the door behind the counter, revealing more of that red world. No buildings remained standing, only the occasional walls.

He slowly walked on, remaining behind those walls.

Nowhere was safe anymore. A sorcery bomb had been set up in the forest next to the first village and those were powerful enough to blow away the forest and village both.

He continued approaching until they had reached the last of the surviving walls.

He held his breath and listened.

He was pretty close now.

The stone wall was thick, but they would hear if he rapped on it.

“It’s true I manufactured some sorcery bombs in advance.” Moebius’s words stabbed into Miyabi’s heart. “One for the forest where I met the kid and one for the Schwarz Schütze.”

Miyabi could not fight the wave of dizziness.

“!?”

“Quiet. This is just as much of a shock for me.”

Celina steadied his shoulders and they both concentrated on the voices.

“But I was only a copycat.” Moebius Entrance had a distinct self-deprecating smile in his voice. “I just used the bomber’s horn to pulls off ''something similar'' to what the real 11th does. And I could only stock up so many bombs, so it was a bit of a gamble whether I could draw them out before I used them all up.”

“…”

“But only the real one would know I was a fake.”

He clearly stated his goal.

A crunching sound came from the wheelchair and magical automaton.

Miyabi risked a glance to see they were slowly circling around the fallen crystal chandelier as they confronted each other.

Why?

It was like a game where one approached while the other kept their distance.

They were both so cautious, like they could not let the other approach too close.

“And since you were the first to react, you must be working for the real one. You proved it yourself by falling for my trap. Or do you have another explanation?”

“What are you talking about?”

The question flowed out so easily, but that may have been what made it so unnatural.

The young man in the wheelchair narrowed his eyes toward the butler automaton standing motionless in the red wind.

“You’re an automaton, so whose orders are you acting on now?”

Moebius’s focus was elsewhere. He was physically gazing into Number 8’s eyes, but he was looking through those eyes to some other place.

The shattered crystal chandelier reflected the light in a twisted form.

That symbol of ruin was coated in red dust.

“This isn’t over until I reel in the 11th. I’m no legendary fixer. Not when I failed to stop so many of those sorcery bombs. The aftermath is truly horrific. The children, the elderly, the pregnant, and the sick are slaughtered along with everyone else! …So I need to cut this off at the source. I might earn some grudges and I might dirty my hands along the way, but it’s all worth it if I can stop it from ever happening again!!”

The dizziness vanished.

The doubt was gone.

The boy clung to the red stone wall with both hands and whispered too quietly for anyone to hear.

“Moebius.”

“That’s more like it,” whispered the radio. “We can still get closer, so how about we find a better position to listen in?”

They approached even further on the other side of an almost fully collapsed wall. Only a door remained at the far end. This all counted as outside now and the divisions between rooms were no more, but opening that door would still mean breathing the same air as that man.

Miyabi felt like he could sense Moebius’s emotions through the door.

“I’m sick of hearing the screams. And you should understand how I feel after you lost your entire Empire to a Godhorn Tech made from a Wicked God horn!!”

“What nonsense is this?”

But the automaton was not following along.

As if to say he could not comprehend the emotional aspect.

“The 11th? A trillion years could pass and I would only ever serve one master: the emperor of the Unified Cassul Blanc Sorcery Empire.”

“Then answer me this,” cut in Moebius. “What is your beloved emperor’s name?”

“…”

Silence.

“…”

Silence.

“…?”

Silence, but of a different type.

The wind blew, whipping up a cloud of red dust. The black bangs half-covering Number 8’s face were lifted.

The area around his eye was cracked and a complex arrangement of tiny gears audibly turned within.

This proved he was mechanical.

This proved he was damaged and that damage was spreading.

Were the gears audibly straining because the red dust had gotten inside?

“Yeah, you’re pretty badly broken.” Moebius sounded mournful, like a bad feeling of his had been confirmed. “''Anyone you meet looks like the emperor to you now, don’t they?'' Which means you’ll obey anyone’s commands. That’s why you didn’t even question it when some stranger had you set up those sorcery bombs.”

Alicia’s eyes widened in confusion on the other side of the door in the surviving wall.

“I don’t get it. What does that mean?”

“He’s talking about some malicious roleplaying,” answered the philosopher’s stone hanging from her neck. “Someone used the automaton’s malfunction to pretend they were the emperor. And it was even easier than faking your identity on social media. That guy intends to serve his dead emperor until the end of time.”

“Someone abused his loyalty to have him commit crimes?” Eliza clenched her fist tight. “This 11th individual has made a mockery of someone’s loyalty to their ruler. He might be an enemy and a lifeless automaton…but there are lines you simply do not cross.”

“More importantly, Number 8 is behaving oddly,” whispered Helen while peeking out from behind the wall.

They heard and felt a heavy rumbling.

The contradiction must have been too much for the red-stained butler to accept. He held a heavy metal ball that was connected to his staff with a thick thread of electricity. It was a strange weapon made with unknown technology.

That morning star alone could beat a heavily-armored knight to death in a single blow. With a magical automaton’s superhuman strength and sturdiness, pure weight would be more efficient than a sharp sword or spear. He could simply crush his foe’s thick armor and helmet along with the squishy person within.

But that efficient destruction was not the true threat of that weapon.

“From the control weight to the horn core.”

Light spread out from the metal ball after it dropped to the red ground.

That light formed a giant magic circle.

“Divine Doll – tactical open.”

This time, even the sound was blown away.

It all radiated out from the thick wall towering up behind Number 8.

It looked like a king’s castle.

At first, Miyabi thought it was just another of the Empire’s ruins, frozen in time and left to be weathered away by the rusty mana.

But it was not.

It placed giant hands on the ground and stood up on massive legs before shaking just enough to throw the red dust off of itself. The result was comparable to a sandstorm.

This was the strongest Godhorn Tech of the lost Empire – the Divine Doll.

Redness obscured the sun and a darkness similar to evening set in. The only person remaining on their feet in the dust storm was the magical automaton standing calmly alongside the Divine Doll.

“This is the Empire, the continent’s greatest country, ruled by the glorious emperor.”

A new red sandstorm roared up.

The silver armor had raised its colossal foot in order to mercilessly crush its target seated in the wheelchair.

“The great emperor’s rule has created a blessed land of eternal peace for all its people. All unauthorized intrusions are forbidden and no one must be allowed to insult the emperor. If you doubt his existence, his power, and his great deeds, then know you have committed an unforgivable crime.”

“How sad. This red wasteland can’t even return to nature, but you claim this place has eternal peace?”

He was faced with great violence and a strange red glow, but the puny boy hiding behind a surviving wall no longer hesitated.

He spoke after using the crumbling shelter to escape the sinister redness.

“We can’t wait any longer.”

“Yeah, that light’s back in your eyes now, kid,” said the radio.

“Let’s do this!!” roared the redhead boy.

He kicked open the surviving door and entered the same world as those two.

He was there to protect Moebius Entrance, his party member.

The air shook around him, but not because the Divine Doll’s foot had crashed down upon the wheelchair.

Just before it could, the Lucifer Horn had soared by and fired a beam of light that knocked the giant back a bit.

The redness burst into the air.

[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v02_bw6.png|thumb]]

He could see that man grinning even through the deadly-pure rusty mana.

“You’re right in the nick of time, you cute little hero.”

What was that young man thinking while he maintained his jocular tone? He viewed his old control sword like it was shining bright.

Miyabi did not look back that way.

He took up a position to protect that suspicious man and he no longer doubted his actions.

“I’m no hero. Just so you know, I doubted you the entire journey here.”

“That excessive honesty is part of what makes you a hero.”

“I’m giving you a piece of my mind once this is over.”

But that would have to wait.

In front of him, another figure was muttering to himself with a hand on his head.

“Force deleting self-contradiction…eliminating unnecessary doubt.”

Number 8 continued to produce a straining sound. Almost like sandy gears forced to turn. He held something while he lowered his head.

He called it a control weight, but it was more of a morning star.

The unique blunt weapon connected the grip and metal ball with electricity. It was a powerful weapon in its own right, but it also controlled the Godhorn Tech.

“I must serve…must serve my emperor…in all things.”

“But I’ll start with him!!”

If Miyabi did not win here, the truth he had discovered meant nothing.

So.

“From the control sword to the horn core. Lucifer Horn – tactical open!”

The Divine Doll was a colossal suit of silver armor.

It towered above Miyabi and its chest and shoulders were far broader than any ordinary proportions. It had the shape of an extended accordion, making it look like a massive fortress wall.

Its pounding footsteps shook the ground too much for the average person to remain standing and it could do far more than that. Whether the giant punched, stomped, or tackled, any one of its attacks would be fatal. And not just to an individual. It could tear through armies.

Then there was the issue of its size.

Miyabi’s party had to find some way to attack it.

“But up close, we can only aim for its thick feet!”

“I-I doubt my rifle is enough to defeat that thing.”

Knife-wielding Helen and rifle-wielding Celina both sounded flustered. Approaching would not help them damage it and they would instead be one-shotted by a stomp.

That meant Miyabi had to fight alone.

Yes….

“Contract Owner: Under Lilith, grant me the power to move the Palette Dice!!”

Boxes of the unpleasant red ground were torn away.

He stacked them up into some Layer Stairs to create a makeshift boarding ramp.

White Seidr Chosen Knight Eliza Silverstorm raced up that ramp.

“The Icicle Bullet never did engage the Empire’s Godhorn Tech, but I was trained to battle you.”

She leaped from the peak of the right triangle to reach the top of the Divine Doll’s head.

She flipped through the air, her ponytail whipping after her, and jabbed in her massive lance with precise aim.

“Prepare yourself!!!!!!”

She used the pull of gravity to strike down like a lightning bolt, producing the groan of straining metal.

Number 8 ignored the attack.

“Set priority.”

“!?”

A horizontal sweep of a giant fist brought down the red right triangle of stairs. Eliza landed on the Divine Doll’s arm and ran toward its shoulder.

She made an additional attack.

She jumped from the enormous shoulder toward the head. She scored a clean hit of her lance on its silver face at maximum acceleration, but she was the one who grimaced. She jumped back and into the empty air to avoid a strike from the giant palm.

“I can’t break through!! Now I see why my king never considered anything other than a Godhorn Tech to defend ourselves. A jack of all trades could never penetrate this armor!!”

“Now is not the time for analysis!” shouted Alicia, eyes wide. “I swear your strait-lacedness is going to get you killed someday!!”

Miyabi manipulated the Palette Dice again. He broke apart a lonely imperial flag and a twisted metal railing and constructed a hammock-like cushion to gently catch the falling knight.

The giant silver armor looked down at them.

Its enormous shoulders burst open and metal spikes flew out in a fan shape for a concentrated downpour of destruction. Each spike was taller than Miyabi.

Miyabi held up his hand.

Those javelins or extra-large arrows dropped like a solid ceiling, but he held up a giant stone umbrella to protect Eliza.

Moebius whistled.

“So that’s the power of creation, huh? I’d mastered the destruction side, but I could never fight like that.”

“Are you aware you’re his #1 target!?”

“I’m also aware you would never leave a poor injured man to die.”

That guy always had a retort.

Miyabi spoke harshly, but he had to bite his lip to keep the tears at bay.

Everything was back to “normal”.

If he had not sworn to himself he would never cry in front of Moebius, he probably couldn’t have stopped it.

“Miyabi. The Divine Doll’s horn extraction system uses the ‘auto-fighting sword’.”

“The what?”

“That’s the magic its designers gave it. Just like Miss Celina’s used alchemy and strait-laced Eliza’s used Seidr magic. As big as they are, a Godhorn Tech will have a specific design motif – a type of magic it always uses. Your Lucifer Horn is no exception.”

Even the Lucifer Horn?

That caught him by surprise. He had entrusted his life to that Godhorn Tech several times already, but he now realized he did not even know what kind of magic that trump card used.

“And the Divine Doll was built on the framework of a spiritual sword that flies through the air and slays any enemy once it has been drawn. That idea was expanded upon and reinterpreted to the point of producing this kind of firepower. Doesn’t that sound perfect for a lifeless magical automaton’s weapon?”

“Hm?”

Number 8 tilted his head a little.

He did not seem offended at the “lifeless” descriptor. If anything, he accepted it as accurate.

“I need not focus only on the Godhorn Tech battle. This land is dangerously pure, so why not use that to my advantage? There are other ways to efficiently damage biological life.”

Helen frowned at the red dust floating in the air.

“Is this our chance?”

“Maybe we can’t damage the Divine Doll, but what about Number 8!?”

Helen and Alicia stepped forward.

Number 8’s electrically-linked morning star was powerful, but it had to be difficult to use. It was also not made for defense or for attacking multiple enemies coming from different directions.

But…

“This, for example.”

He made a merciless strike with the metal ball, but not against Alicia or Helen. He attacked the red ground at his feet.

It was a lot like a smokescreen.

The red dust coating the ground burst into the air to cover everything in all 360 degrees. Alicia and Helen were forced to slam on the brakes.

“He used the rusty mana!?”

“It is deadly to life, but not to us.”

The automaton’s unchanging voice spoke from the other side of that red world.

The wind roared as the Divine Doll lifted its enormous foot to follow Number 8’s example.

The stomp was coming.

The noise was on another level altogether. A veritable mountain range of red dust spread out, rushing in like a solid wall.

“Are you serious!? It isn’t that simple!!” protested the radio at Alicia’s neck. “This mystery substance has got to harm machines too!!”

“Magical automatons are not feared for being indestructible. We are feared for our lack of hesitation.”

A single eye glowed through the red curtain.

It belonged to the eternally-faithful artificial butler.

“That is why the emperor had no choice but to provide excessive defenses for the Empire. They were meant to repel external invaders and to prevent any internal fracturing.”

They could not afford to let that cloud hit them, but that did not leave them with many options.

Miyabi stabbed his control sword into the red ground and raised his voice.

“Do it, Lucifer Horn!!”

“''So predictable.''”

Miyabi froze when that voice interrupted him.

The beam of light tore a line in the ground to blow away the approaching red cloud that was so pure it could kill organic life, but Number 8 did not bat an eye.

“If I can predict your flight path, I can fight back. Divine Doll.”

They had seen this attack already. The towering silver armor’s shoulders launched javelins in a fan shape.

This time, they were launched into the red sky and seemed to blot out the sun.

The Lucifer Horn twisted around in protest, but a few of the scattered metal spikes still stabbed into the bomber with their sharp tips. The spikes had small feathers on the rear, so were they meant to be arrows? There were too many of them to avoid even with a rapid turn.

The bomber lost its balance.

“Lucifer-!?”

“Did you think you were untouchable in the sky? Greater altitude is an advantage, but not an insurmountable one. The phalanx gastraphetes was originally used as an anti-air weapon to shoot down enemies of that sort.”

Number 8 dispassionately explained his actions.

They were both fighting to the best of their abilities, so Miyabi could not expect to remain unscathed throughout. He understood that. He really did, but this still came as a shock. He had never even imagined the Lucifer Horn taking damage. He was almost like a small child who fully believed that his father was invincible.

“And the effectiveness of this tactic remains unchanged. I need only repeat my actions.”

Miyabi heard a sticky sound.

To his disbelief, Number 8 had stuck his morning star’s weight into a sticky red bog.

With a snap of his wrist, he swung it around.

“D-dodge!!” yelled Eliza Silverstorm, eyes wide.

It did not matter if the electrically-attached metal ball hit them or not. The entire party leaped out of the way in different directions and Miyabi knocked the wheelchair onto its side so he could lie protectively atop Moebius.

Sizzling sounds surrounded them.

If even a drop of the red slime got on them, it would tear their body apart. He understood that.

“Heh heh.”

But an odd sound reached his ears.

Moebius was laughing. Even though his wheelchair was on its side and he could not have dodged even if it was not.

It weirded Miyabi out.

This was the legendary fixer, a side of the man he had not seem before.

“What? How are you so calm?”

“Huh? Because, boy – heh heh – he gave you all the hints you could want. Looks like these imperial automatons let you play on easy mode. No one’s better at assisting humans, I guess.”

“…?”

Miyabi did not understand at first.

But he gasped when he heard the sizzling again.

None of his party member’s skin was dissolving, yet the audible destruction continued and a disconcerting red steam filled the air.

It came from the half-crumbled stone wall, the fallen crystal chandelier, and even Number 8’s morning star ball.

“It works on more than just living things?”

“Never overlook any information. That radio said it must harm machines too, remember? And that imperial butler said himself that magical automatons aren’t feared for being indestructible.”

It all fell into place from there and Miyabi shouted the answer.

“Then it’ll work on the Divine Doll too. We just have to find a way to send it into one of those red bogs!!”

Easy enough to say.

However…

“Argh, and how are we supposed to do that!?” shouted Alicia, her tree branch staff tight in her hands.

The elf could boost her physical abilities with alchemy potions and the chosen knight was powerful enough to wield a massive lance, but neither of them could make that giant budge. There was no way they were forcing it into a red bog. Even if they tried, they would only get stomped as they approached.

Number 8 did not see this plan as a threat.

“The Divine Doll is the vast Empire’s shield. It will not give ground even if you send in your aerial Godhorn Tech.”

The Lucifer Horn had two weapons: the beam of light that shot down and tore through the ground and the bombs that dropped to the surface and exploded. Both were enormously powerful and thus tricky to use. Using them at such close range would mean surrounding Miyabi’s party with a red cloud or dumping the red sludge on their heads, killing them.

But…

“Who said I’d be doing that?”

Miyabi had it in him to smile.

He held out the hand not holding the control sword.

He held it toward the red ground for a power he had already demonstrated.

By removing chunks of the ground, he could create waterways for the red sludge to pass through.

He just had to repeat the process.

But instead of removing the sludge from their path, he guided it toward the Divine Doll’s feet.

“Contract Owner: Under Lilith, grant me the power to move the Palette Dice!!”

The result was the sticky but heavy sound of a great mass moving all at once.

It came from the Divine Doll’s feet. Red steam erupted from there and then the colossus began to sink.

A deadly artificial lake had formed.

Miyabi had torn down the side of a red bog and sent it through a waterway situated a level lower to create a new bog where none had been before.

That new one was of course located precisely where the Divine Doll stood.

The bog was a mere puddle for something of that size, but it still sank.

Technically speaking, it was dissolving.

Eventually, it lost its balance and toppled backwards. That had to have done considerable damage and it was entirely covered in the red sludge now.

Its greatest enemy turned out to be the very doom the Empire had brought upon itself.

“It’s stopped, boy!!” shouted Alicia.

“Fire that massive cannon you’re so fond of!!” added the radio.

Miyabi’s control sword pierced the crimson ground filled with so much rusty mana.

A large magic circle opened at his feet.

“I’m on it.”

That colossus had fallen.

The magical automaton by its side could not have escaped unscathed after the red dust and sludge were dumped on his head.

Number 8 was staring into empty space.

“Ksshh. Yes, yes. As you…wish, my emperor.”

“That’s enough of that, Number 8.”

“But…but then what…remains for me to protect?”

Number 8 had set up sorcery bombs across the continent.

A great many people had suffered for it.

According to Moebius, not everyone had survived.

But.

Even so.

No matter what anyone said, the magical automaton was not at fault. The blame lay squarely on the 11th who had known he was malfunctioning and used it to pretend to be the emperor.

“Number 8!!”

“Nwahhh!!”

The emperor was gone. The Empire was no more.

Nothing the magical automaton could do would change that history. His best efforts could not protect anyone, could not erase that tragedy, and could never bring about the promised peace and prosperity.

But that did not mean his desperate struggle and his malfunctioning mind’s drive to protect his beloved Empire had accomplished nothing at all. They had struck a chord within Miyabi.

So.

Miyabi Blackgarden rushed straight in and caught the attacking morning star on his thick sword. The Divine Doll was trapped in the red bog, but he still clashed with the magical automaton so trusted by the former emperor that he had been granted that Godhorn Tech.

He attacked the butler who the emperor had trusted more than any of the empire’s many humans, who had felt he owed a powerful obligation for that trust, and who had done everything he could to live up to his emperor’s expectations.

This was not about being living or lifeless or being born as human or inhuman. Could Miyabi’s feelings defeat this man’s? Could he demonstrate something inside him that was greater than this man who had remained alone in the ruined Empire and continued to protect that land even as it slowly destroyed him? That was the true nature of the battle Miyabi had chosen.

His enemy’s attack was heavy.

When metal ball clashed with double-edged blade, Miyabi felt his wrist bones rattling. But for some reason, that weight pleased him.

Both Moebius and Number 8 had been driven by honest motivations.

He did not dodge nimbly out of the way, but not because he cared about protecting the red ruins around him. He had to look the imperial butler in the eye and face him in a proper duel. Only by accepting his opponent’s earnest feelings did he earn the right to speak to him on equal footing.

He could not let the 11th abuse those feelings.

“Your heart is pure, Number 8. No matter what someone tricked you into doing, no one can deny the purity of your feelings!!”

He had to direct his hatred toward the correct person.

Committing a crime did not mean someone could never again seek out help.

So.

There was nothing at all wrong with wanting to save this lifeless automaton! With that conviction in his heart, Miyabi could stand on equal ground. It created a powerful support for his soul.

Just like Number 8 could throw out all else when he thought he was acting on behalf of his emperor.

Miyabi refused to let anyone defeat him when it came to the power of his feelings!!

“That loyalty belongs to you and you alone. I won’t let anyone else corrupt it!!”

He gave the command.

That massive airborne shape had been damaged and he knew he was pushing it too far, but after he deflected the metal ball, he stabbed the control sword into the red ground and raised his voice as if in prayer.

He shouted to his weapon flying unsteadily overhead.

“Isn’t that right, Lucifer Horn!!!???”

A white beam of light dropped from the sky and blew the dissolving Divine Doll to pieces.

Time seemed to distort.

Everything played out in slow motion for Miyabi.

He saw Number 8 blasted into the air like a dried leaf. He reached out an arm to catch him, but Alicia grabbed that arm with her entire body.

Time sped back up.

“Can’t you see all that red sludge on him!? Touch him and not even your bones will be left!!”

In that sense, he had gotten off easy.

He heard a dull crashing as the imperial automaton rolled across the red land, covered in red, but never wavered in his resolve. For better or for worse, his crawling scraped the red sludge off onto the ground.

“Emper…emperor…I…I…”

“Oh, no!!” shouted Moebius in his toppled wheelchair.

“What’s the matter!?” Miyabi looked puzzled. “We’re all dead if we don’t stop the Divine Doll!!”

“Since the Godhorn Tech and automaton are both artificial, their damage is linked. And if Number 8 is destroyed, we lose any way of tracking down the phony emperor who was giving him orders. This solves nothing if we don’t catch the 11th, so we need to get that information out of him!”

But it was too late.

“Bshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!”

“Whoa!?” shouted Alicia.

“Sigh, he’s puking like a new hire who celebrated a little too hard at his welcoming party,” groaned the radio. “As a fellow machine, that is exactly what I hope to avoid.”

Celina’s hands wandered wildly through the air as she watched Number 8 spew white steam everywhere.

And…

“W-we have to stop this. Yes, even if that means attacking him!”

She drove the stock of her rifle into the butler’s head.

That did stop the white steam, but…

“He’s stopped moving.”

Helen was right.

If they could not speak with him, they could not figure out who had pretended to be the emperor. For the 11th, Number 8 was a safety measure, not a crucial lifeline. Even now, they might be leisurely setting up the next sorcery bomb.

“What do we do?” asked Miyabi.

Moebius sighed while the boy righted the wheelchair for him.

He brushed the red dust from his coat before speaking.

“What, ready to follow my instructions again already?”

“Damn. You’re just saying that because you’re out of ideas too, aren’t you!?”

“Hey, provoking adults is a dangerous habit.” Moebius grinned. “Anyway, if he’s broken, he’s broken. But he’s a machine, so we can fix him. How’s that sound for a plan?”

“But the Empire that created him is gone. Where can we find parts for a rare automaton?”

The magical automatons, red slimes, magic books, furniture, and everything else in this danger zone of rusty mana continued to fight all on their own, but that constant struggling meant they would be in bad condition. Trying to use bad parts could actually make the damage worse.

But Moebius did not seem concerned.

“We happen to know a girl who can provide us any product under the sun, don’t we?”

At first, not even the girl in question knew who he meant.

“…”

Celina silently tilted her head for a while before realizing everyone’s eyes had gathered on her.

“Eh? Me?”

“The Boooodenburg Companyyyy,” sang Moebius. “Don’t you offer everything a person could need, from pacifier to coffin? Your home and the company’s headquarters are located in a famous port city. It’s the continent’s largest criminal city, home to pirates and mercenaries, where money is king and the law has no power.”