Editing Godhorn Tech:Volume1 Chapter2 (section)

===Chapter 2 Section 4===

Strangely, he did not feel cold.

Which scared him.

“Ow…”

Miyabi Blackgarden was lying on his back and he had to extract each of his limbs from the deep snow before he could slowly get up. Nothing seemed to be broken, but where was he? He was surrounded by a raging blizzard and an unfamiliar pointy type of tree jutted up into the frigid sky. A portion of that forest had been brought down by a scattering of metal rails, wooden boxes, and more detritus.

And by colossal train cars.

(I-I was thrown outside?)

Glass shards and wooden splinters were everywhere. Fancy truffles spilled from a broken barrel and he did not even want to think about how much those had to be worth. The kind of cutting-edge phonograph and film projector never seen in his village were smashed and half-buried in snow. The entire area would have looked like a treasure trove to the scrap collectors who had gathered in that inn town full of sheet iron and rusted rails.

With this much of the contents spilled, the armored train’s exterior could not have survived intact.

The links between cars had broken and they had rolled onto their sides. They were spread out over a wide area, so they and the scattered cargo containers built a strange 3D labyrinth as far as the eye could see.

Miyabi found himself outside.

What had happened to the giant front car? The entire car may have been torn asunder instead of just having the link to the next car broken.

“Are the others okay?”

Miyabi saw the others lying nearby and half-buried in the snow, so he called out to them. His body was number than he had thought. He experienced a general lack of feeling more than any pain from the impact of being thrown clear, but that was no reason to relax. Not feeling the biting cold could easily mean he was close to death.

[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v01_bw17.png|thumb]]

“K-kyoo…”

“Are you all right, Alma?” asked Alicia. “Even for a Wicked God, that must have been rough at your age. But it’s okay now.”

“It turns out the body you made for me is sturdy, but a little concern would be nice.”

Alma and the radio seemed unharmed and Helen Clockgear mostly looked exasperated.

With a quiet popping sound, Alma’s coloration changed again within Alicia’s tight grasp. The creature was red now. The burning red seemed at odds with the snowy kingdom.

“Ohh!? Is that supposed to be the fire element Phoenix? You’re just so cute!!”

“At least you won’t blend in to your surroundings like with the green of the fields,” bluntly stated Miyabi, noting that this new form did not look any more useful in combat than the last one.

Was this meant to fight the cold rather than function as camouflage? But despite the fiery appearance, the elf was not burned as she held Alma close and rubbed her cheek against it. He tried snatching Alma up (to Alicia Blueforest’s protests), but he felt no warmth at all from the useless thing.

Miyabi held the juvenile Wicked God up out of the short elf’s reach, causing her to hop up and down trying to grab the one member of their party protected from the cold, but his little game was interrupted.

Celina Bodenburg appeared to be having trouble with the blizzard in her flirty miniskirt maid uniform. Her movements were stiff and slow as she got up.

A deep tremor ran through the white land and clumps of snow fell from the conifer trees.

“Eliza’s Icicle Bullet has left.”

That white giant was several dozen meters long. It was designed for ramming attacks, making it look like a spindle-shaped artillery shell with two icy blades attached below it in parallel. It would stab and pierce or crush and flatten. The sorcery weapon felt more specialized than Miyabi’s Lucifer Horn or Celina’s Schwarz Schütze, making it a true oddity. It was so specialized for ramming that the cannon at the center of the top looked puny by comparison. Even though that cannon was enough to obliterate Miyabi’s party on its own.

However, it seemed the still-unseen knight had only been interested in stopping the dangerous train’s approach. She had left without finishing off the survivors. The Icicle Bullet was departing through the blizzard, blasting white snow up from the ground along the way.

But Celina still could not believe what she had seen or what had been done to her.

“What was that about?” she asked. “We never did find a sorcery bomb.”

“…”

“…”

Alicia and Helen maintained poker faces.

(Did those two do something?)

Miyabi was curious, but he could not ask in front of Celina.

And there was a problem with that idea.

(No, you need a Wicked God horn to make one of those. Only the 11th can create a sorcery bomb, so it couldn’t have been them.)

But that thought was cut off by the sudden arrival of the real issue at hand.

A high-pitched, evenly-spaced alarm rang in his head.

His horn was resonating with a sorcery bomb.

“!?”

The ringing was loud and constant. It was terribly distracting when he could not turn it off. But Celina noticed the way his head sprang up to look into the frigid white sky.

“Is something…wrong?” she asked cautiously.

“I can hear it.” He gulped. “It’s just like that other time. I’m detecting a sorcery bomb!?”

They could not ignore this. This was a remote snowy forest, but if the sorcery bomb were to detonate without warning, it could reduce a village or two to ashes. ''Or so he had been told.'' He only had Moebius Entrance’s word to go on, but he felt that was better than having seen it for himself. However, the scope of the blast meant running away was not a good plan. With the deep snow hindering their movement, they would never escape the range of the blast in time. They would be swallowed up and blown away.

They had to do something about it themselves.

After the Schwarz Schütze derailed and rolled over, it had spread metal rails, wooden boxes, cargo containers, lab equipment, and furniture everywhere. The twisted remains of the giant cars themselves could be seen further in the distance. Nature and the artificial combined to create a deadly labyrinth in this forest.

“Oh, that’s my clothing bag.”

Celina happily reported a find while shivering in her maid uniform. A sleeve was sticking out of a boxy trunk. It did not appear to use the Compress Cargo magic that allowed so much more to be packed inside. But since that magic wound up the Palette Dice – or folded them up? He could not remember exactly – it apparently reduced the value of art or antiques where authenticity was so important.

“Please wait a moment.”

She circled behind a squashed container and rummaged around for a bit.

“What I wouldn’t give for some camera controls right about now,” lamented the radio.

“What in the world are you talking about?” asked Alicia.

It could not have taken more than 10 minutes in all.

“Thank you for waiting.”

Celina emerged in the black dress adorned with golden embroidery and red gems that she had worn before. It did not appear to use any heat insulation magic.

“That doesn’t look much warmer to me,” commented the elf.

“What is this about a sorcery bomb?” asked Celina. “You said there wasn’t one earlier! Are you saying that anonymous letter was right!?”

Her armored train had been destroyed over this, so he understood why she was upset.

“I can’t explain it either,” was all he could say. “But I can sense it now. If we don’t find the bomb and deal with it, we’ll be blown away along with the entire snowy mountain!”

The distance was all he could sense, so he wanted to walk over a wide area to figure out a general area where the bomb had to be.

It did not have a set form. The previous one had been transformed into a half-rotten and broken tree, so this one could be a box, a barrel, a container, a metal wall piercing into the ground, twisted metal scraps, a billiards table, or a chandelier. Any of the debris strewn across this area could be it, so they could not hope to spot it from a distance.

They walked deeper into the forest, where the remnants of the cars and furniture were. The forest’s trees had been torn down, the cars lay oin their sides with connections broken, and the containers and boxes had fallen in precarious piles. No straight path through lasted for long. They even had to duck below a train car blocking the way and walk along an oblong cargo container spanning a ravine.

Celina did not appreciate navigating a vast labyrinth made from her own possessions.

The contents of the containers and boxes had expanded to their original size when the Compress Cargo magic wore off, making it look like a giant’s toybox had been overturned.

“This feels like one of Strange Guide’s deadly dungeons.”

“?”

“That is a ''mysterious individual'' rumored to host death games as a form of entertainment for the immoral members of the wealthy class. I have never seen one for myself, for better or for worse.”

“Hm? The immoral members? Are you saying you’re not like that?”

“Hmph. I will leave that up to your imagination.”

But they were soon interrupted by a low rumbling.

No, a group of Beast Novae passed by close nearby. They were covered in white fur to survive the harsh blizzards and the appeared to be Abominable Snowmen, Werewolves, and the like.

“Kyoo!?”

“Watch out, Alma!”

Alicia moved to protect Alma and then lurched backwards.

“Gh!?”

“Alicia!”

“I-I am fine. I would have died without this hanging from my neck, though. (Grin)”

“What she means is, the claw or fang struck me instead!”

The pervert radio’s legitimate complaint was brushed aside.

Helen cautiously viewed their surroundings with her breath white and a finger on the side of her glasses.

“What is this? Are the Beast Novae afraid of something?”

“Damn, why don’t they focus on running and leave us alone?”

Miyabi had never seen snow monsters before.

They looked a lot more dangerous than the animals in the well-maintained forest of his village. Did the harsh cold environment mean they had to fight harder to survive? Those masses of powerful muscle would normally bring despair to any traveler who encountered them, but now they were fearful and panicked.

Miyabi heard what sounded like the snow and the ground below it tearing apart.

It came from a boar so massive he had to look up at it. The boar must have been agitated because it showed no sign of trying to flee like the other creatures. It was kicking its hind legs at the snow in an attempt to fight.

The philosopher’s stone noted the thick curved tusks.

“Oh…oh dear. Now those things would make short work of me, wouldn’t they?”

“Heh. Is that a fellow forest ruler I see?” said Alicia. “I get what’s going on here. He’s the rear guard, allowing the others to escape!!”

Miyabi’s party would gain nothing from defeating the ruler of this forest. In fact, spending time on it would give them less time for the sorcery bomb.

“My point is that he does not really want to fight. Now, set aside your prejudices, stop insulting him with terms like ‘Beast Nova’, and approach with a smile. I am sure we can work this ou-”

The ruler of the forest charged.

Miyabi swung his control sword to protect the elf who had frozen with a smile on her face. Specifically, he slammed the grip into the boar from the side.

The entire space was shaken by what sounded like a thunderclap.

The enormous boar had to weigh four times Miyabi’s weight, but it spiraled through the air, knocking the trees down along the way. It lay there twitching on the ground after it landed.

What was that?

It had not felt like simply saving his party member.

He stared blankly at his hands on the sword for a while.

This felt so different from when he had been cowering from Celina’s shellfire and searching for the sorcery bomb in the forest, or when the Shadow Hyenas had surrounded their tent that first night out camping. He had only struck the thing with the grip. ''Only''? Since when was Miyabi Blackgarden the kind of person who violently intervened like it was nothing?

Celina looked exasperated by his response while holding a control gun made of the same material.

“Oh? I see you’re getting the hang of it now.”

“…”

“The more experience you gain, the more efficiently you can wield your own power. It acts as the fuel needed to draw out more strength than you knew you had. Do not forget that you possess one of the world’s strongest powers. Is that only now sinking in?”

That meant Celina was the same.

No, she would have even more experience than him.

This went beyond the Godhorn Tech itself. Its wielder grew more inhuman the more they fought.

Combat alone could change people. Even if they were only fighting to protect their everyday life. Alicia and Helen were able to keep up with the battle despite no control sword or Godhorn Tech of their own, so did that experience affect everyone in his party? The rich girl gave a self-deprecating smile and declined to answer any of his questions.

To avoid thinking about it, he focused on the more pressing issue.

The resonance continued to ring in his mind. The sorcery bomb was out there, but he had not yet tracked down its location. Their only options were act now or sit around waiting for it to detonate.

The fleeing Beast Novae demonstrated no intention of fighting, but their fear and desperation were still dangerous. The more panicked they were, the harder it was to predict where they would charge. They could only aim their weapons toward any noises they heard.

“C-can you summon other partner members from Horn Fortress?” asked Helen. “Victia’s obscene strength would come in handy right about now!”

“Where even is that Horn Fortress?” replied Alicia. “How long does it take the Lucifer Horn to travel there and back again!?”

Miyabi swung his control sword this way and that.

“Why do you use a gun? Those things scare me. I’ve seen the plays, so I know those are what gangs use.”

“Sigh. Don’t let the royals and nobles trick you with their jealous lies, Miyabi.”

“?”

“Unlike magic or swordplay, guns are a next-generation all-purpose weapon that provides power equally to all, regardless of intellect or size. However, the powder must be treated with care, something the countries caught up in musty old tradition have a hard time with. They will carelessly let their armory grow too damp or blow up the entire room after an accidental ignition. So while those hardheaded countries dislike guns, they are spreading through newer, more openminded groups. Like, for example, our Bodenburg Company!!”

None of that seemed to address his fears, but he could not say a word more after seeing how she held her (small) chest out proudly.

She would occasionally aim the gun toward a noise and pull the trigger, but it looked like she was trying to frighten the Beast Novae away with the noise, not kill them.

The muzzle-loading rifle was not made for rapid-fire.

She had to stuff powder and a bullet in through the muzzle and cram it down with a long rod after every shot, but she was still fast. It only took the span of a breath. At the very least, she seemed quicker than someone could raise a large two-handed axe and swing it down. He could tell just how much she had used the gun.

As they trudged through the snow in their search, they came across an entire enormous train car. Wires thicker than Miyabi’s arm had snapped and the other Godhorn Tech loaded on its roof was now jabbed into the snow.

“That’s it.” Celina sounded like she had made a discovery. “There was no sorcery bomb on my Schwarz Schütze, so what if the sabotage was on your Lucifer Horn!?”

“Why would it be!?”

“It’s the only logical conclusion!”

She was adamant about this.

She may have been under more pressure than even she was aware.

“You knew you could never defeat my armored train in a fair fight, so you planned an underhanded trick. It all fits!”

The dark-hearted elf could not look the girl in the eye.

“(Ugh. It’s hard to argue when that ''was'' more or less our plan.)”

Miyabi took a deep breath.

It irritated him that his exhalations were visible. It felt like he was giving her a way to read his mind.

“Then we would be reduced to ashes along with you. How is that logical!?”

“But.”

“And the reading is coming from further back. It isn’t here.”

Miyabi could sense it.

Without that, he may have had no way of convincing her.

She still looked skeptical, but…

“Oh, right. You said you could somehow sense a sorcery bomb’s location.”

“It’s weird that you can’t.”

His sample size was too small, but since Moebius had gone out of his way to explain how it was done, he could only assume the man could do it too.

Moebius had said he was using the Godhorn Tech’s power to search, so detecting sorcery bombs may have been exclusive to the Lucifer Horn. And if only Miyabi could do it, then it was up to him.

“Just follow me. I’ll show you where the real sorcery bomb is.”

He gave a random swing of his control sword and frowned, noticing something off about it.

The power of the sword clearly weakened when the tip was aimed toward the Lucifer Horn lying on the ground.

“?”

“Obviously you can’t destroy your own Godhorn Tech with your own control device. Where did you think you were drawing that power from?”

But now was not the time for chitchat.

As they continued into the woods, the warning sounds sped up, showing they were getting closer. This was the right direction. There were no wild Beast Novae around here. They had all fled in fear, but from what?

Most of the trees had been toppled here.

At the farthest reaches of the strewn wreckage, the Schwarz Schütze’s front car lay half destroyed on its side.

The ringing was painful at this point.

“It’s here,” he said, his empty hand holding the side of his aching head.

“Kyoo?”

“Here?” repeated Celina, not sure what he meant.

Thick glass covered a mass of metal far more daunting and impressive than the pipe organ in the village’s church.

The girl’s voice wavered as she looked back and forth between Miyabi and the bomb.

“But that’s the Wicked God horn’s sealed container. Are you saying the sorcery bomb was placed on the horn!? Could someone really replace a component here!?”

“It explains why I didn’t notice it before.” Miyabi grimaced from the deafening noise no one else could hear. “My horn or its energy resonate with the bomb, but there was a more powerful reading than the bomb here.”

“Yes, that does make sense,” said Alicia. “This horn was creating too much interference, but now that it has stopped, the bomb’s reading rises to the forefront.”

They continued the conversation without the person who should have been at the center of it.

“W-wait! Are you saying…?”

“Yep,” confirmed the philosopher’s stone. “The only way to stop it is to destroy that thing.”

“Silence, box!! …Box?” Celina tilted her head at what she had just said. “Anyway, we can rebuild the train as long as that survives. But if the sealed container is destroyed, the horn will be destroyed as well and it can never be repaired! Are you telling me to abandon my Schwarz Schütze!?”

“B-but if we don’t do it, the explosion will kill us all!” shouted a flustered Helen.

But Celina still could not bring herself to do anything.

That showed just how valuable the Godhorn Tech was to her. It was enough to hold her back and restrain her.

No one was telling her to protect the train she was so proud of.

They were only telling her to rob the Bodenburg Company of that power.

The time had come for her to become just a girl once more.

So.

“…”

So.

So.

“…”

So.

So.

So.

“Control gun, connect to the horn core. Armored Train Schwarz Schütze, tactical open!”

Several things moved all at once.

The train had derailed, the links between cars was broken, and it could no longer move, but the many cannons on the roofs and walls turned their heads to answer their master’s call. Just like a mortally wounded beast raising its head for one last threat.

It was an undeniable sign of hostile intent.

Miyabi was flustered.

“Celina, what are you doing!?”

“I cannot give up my Godhorn Tech.”

At first, he thought her face looked flat and emotionless.

“Without this, I lose my strongest power,” she said, her flintlock hunting rifle’s bayonet stabbed into the snowy ground. “I lose the continent’s safest trade routes and the trust in my company.”

But she was far from emotionless.

With each word, the mask crumbled further, revealing the true face hidden below.

“And I lose all hope mother and father had in me.”

She looked just like a lost child.

“Celina!!”

“Laugh and call me a fool if you must.”

Her face crumpled into a tearstained smile, but she refused to let go of the rifle. She now aimed Schwarz Schütze’s control gun toward Miyabi.

“If I must lose it, then I will take the title of strongest for myself and go out in a blaze of glory. I will create a legend no one can ever hope to match. That is sure to increase the company’s value.”

She spoke only of becoming the strongest for her business brand name, but she had not chosen that path so she could bathe in riches herself. All she wanted was her parent’s approval. Yet that simple desire had been twisted beyond recognition.

The boy clenched his teeth.

Slowly but firmly.

“Ready your control sword, Miyabi Blackgarden!!” roared the lonely girl. Her courage was misplaced to the very end. “I will use you to decorate my death!!”



Deafening roars tore through the air in multiple directions, seeming to drown out all other noise.

These were not something you could dodge by sight. If Miyabi had not swung his empty hand to create a Decoy Wall, they all might have died to the very first blast.

It was a fragile wall made from packed snow.

Helen Clockgear had fallen into a sitting position right next to the crumbling white obstacle. Even the capable Republic official had never seen Godhorn Tech destruction up close before.

Yes, the Republic had no Godhorn Tech.

“W-we’re alive?” she asked.

“Assuming you aren’t a ghost,” replied the elf.

But no wall was better at diverting enemy fire. Not even an array of the thickest fortress walls would have helped against this opponent.

“Hey!” shouted Alicia Blueforest, pale in the face and holding her long blonde hair down against the cutting wind. “What now, boy!?”

“Change of plans.”

A thick layer of snow could be heard falling from somewhere.

They all knew what it had to be.

The bomber had instantly reacted to the boy’s thoughts by snapping its bonds and taking flight.

He had thought his senses of hot and cold had been numbed away by the icy blizzard, but this heat he felt.

He did not fight the throbbing he felt in his chest.

There was no need to fight it.

“I can’t just watch this happen. I will break Celina’s bonds!”

“Heh hee hee. Now we’re talking! If your strongest character isn’t hot-blooded deep down, what the hell are you even doing!?”

The radio responded before Alicia herself could.

The philosopher’s stone may have had some issues with its attitude, but its answers were accurate.

“The main problems here are Celina and the surrounding cannons. Take out one or the other and this silly mess is over. The choice is yours!!”

“Got it!! She’s as good as saved!!”

The choice was obvious.

He could solve this by destroying either the derailed armored train’s countless cannons or the girl wielding her control gun as she raced full speed toward self-destruction. It could not have been more obvious whether a mass of alchemically-strengthened metal or a flesh-and-blood girl would be easier to cut down.

But Miyabi had already made up his mind.

He would save Celina Bodenburg no matter what it took.

“Ooooaaahhh!!”

“!?”

Celina was caught off guard.

She had been so certain he would charge at her, but he suddenly changed direction before reaching her. Before she could recover, he had used his control sword to forcibly smash a nearby cannon. She frantically gave commands to the other cannons, but he just barely got a Decoy Wall up in time. But not to protect himself. It was positioned to redirect the shells from one train car toward the cannons on another car.

The shells must have used a flash freeze magic to add even more cold to this icy land, so the car on the receiving end shattered like a sugar sculpture dropped on the floor and then exploded from within.

“Curse you…Miyabiii!!” screamed Celina with tears in her eyes.

That train was the only thing supporting the lonely girl’s heart.

She quickly readied her dark control device once more, but Miyabi used that moment to dive behind a large boulder. That cut off her direct line of fire, but that was all it did. That gun used alchemical flint to create a spark and guided that into a metal tube where it reacted with a dark powder to provide explosive acceleration. However, magical bullets did not always travel in a straight line. As she repeatedly shoved a long rod in through the muzzle to load the next powder and bullet in the span of a breath and then fired, several lines of light arced over the boulder to stab down behind it, erupting into explosions where they fell.

The paths of light had a variety of colors.

The wind bullets robbed the area of air once they hit and the fire bullets would rapidly fry the lungs of anyone who attempted to breathe in once it erupted.

But there was no one behind the boulder to be destroyed.

Miyabi had already moved elsewhere.

To the next cannon.

(Did he dig a tunnel below the deep snow!? Creating obstacles with that bizarre creation ability was bad enough, but is he also ''creating spaces'' by hollowing things out!?)

“Fight me, Miyabi!!”

“No, thanks!! I’m not giving you your blaze of glory!!”

The boy’s voice shouted back at her from near a toppled train car.

With a dull explosion, another of the cannons was blown away.

“Tch.”

Realizing even her rifle’s bullets were being diverted by the Decoy Walls, Celina clicked her tongue, kicked at the snow, and moved forward herself. She was intent on stopping Miyabi’s destruction even if it meant stabbing him with her bayonet or walloping him with the stock. Or was she willing to let Schwarz Schütze’s attacks blow her slender body away along with him if that was what it took?

However, she failed to get anywhere near the boy.

Because two other figures rushed in to stop her.

Helen wielded a thick dagger and Alicia wielded a gnarled tree branch staff.

“What!?”

“Don’t assume Miyabi is the only one…”

“…who doesn’t want you to die!!”

The attacks came simultaneously from either side, so Celina prioritized Helen’s knife. The blade shined with the purple light of a sleeping magic called Over Sleep, so even a nick could prove devastating in the middle of battle. She swung her rifle’s stock around to hold it back, but that left her open to the elf’s wooden staff.

An explosion of light burst from the staff’s head as it blossomed into a flower larger than the girl’s head.

“There are several schools of alchemy, but every one of them belongs to one of two categories: the transformation of matter or the alteration of living bodies. Thanks to your obsession with money, you were fixated on transforming metals to alter their value.”

“You’re an alchemist too!?”

“I needed some way to create the medicines and White Sorcery Items to look after the short-lived villagers. I know the human body inside and out, so appearances can be deceiving with my attacks. The lightest strike will rattle you to the core!!”

Impossibly, the blow from the staff felt like an explosion.

Alicia had swung the staff horizontally, slamming it into Celina’s side with all her might. Raising her arms to block the knife with her rifle had been a mistake. Her breath burst from her throat, like her bent ribs were squeezing at her lungs. Not only had Alicia aimed for a weak point, but she had likely used an alchemy potion to temporarily boost her physical strength.

“Gah!?”

Time seemed to freeze for Celina and her eyes landed on Miyabi Blackgarden stabbing his control sword into the last of the cannons.

“Koo!!”

Hearing red, glowing Alma’s cry, Miyabi’s party dove down onto the snow.

They got down to prepare for what came next.

After a moment’s delay, the cannon exploded. A thick shockwave spread out in a ring, compressing space itself. Only Celina Bodenburg remained standing, so she took the shockwave at hip height, sending her crashing down onto the snow.

“Ahh!?”

She could not get back up.

Her body was trembling and ignoring her commands, like she had taken a solid fist to the gut.

Someone else stood before her.

“Stop this, Celina. It’s meaningless.”

The Schwarz Schütze’s front car lay ahead of collapsed Celina.

The sealed container and the Wicked God horn within were there.

Nothing stood between it and the boy now.

The pitiful girl tried and failed to crawl toward him, so she settled for reaching a trembling hand out toward the destroyer’s back.

“Please.” Her voice was a mixture of entreaty and resentment. “Please wait. If I lose that…if I lose the strongest power, I’m worthless.”

She was willing to lick his shoes if it would protect the Schwarz Schütze.

But not for the money.

What she really wanted had never changed.

“I want mother and father to look my way…to say I did a good job.”

This was the true curse placed on her.

The root of her complex spilled out.

“But do this and they…they won’t love me anymore.”

She was not just crying anymore.

She was desperately begging the boy who stood facing the great mass within the broken train car.

“So…”

[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v01_bw18.png|thumb]]

She felt pathetic.

And greedy.

But she could not stop her longing for the strongest power that so clearly bound her.

“So please!!”

Miyabi Blackgarden did not look back.

He faced the sealed container, but he did speak to the lost girl.

With a somehow gentle voice.

“I won’t take anything from you.”

“?”

“This isn’t the only Godhorn Tech.”

He said this while he prepared to destroy the Schwarz Schütze.

Only a Godhorn Tech could destroy a Godhorn Tech.

“I will become your strongest.”

“Ah.”

Celina’s mouth hung open, but nothing more came out.

“But not for Bodenburg. I will become the strongest for you.”

So instead of words, clear drops spilled from her eyes.

“Wahhh!!”

“So can I get started now?”

His choice was a cruel one, but it created a new contract that fulfilled all of the girl’s demands.

“Control sword, connect to the horn core. Tactical open!”

He stabbed the sword into the ground and a sinister magic circle appeared atop the snow.

“No one needs this strongest anymore, so let’s dispose of it.”

A white beam dropped from the sky above and shattered the girl’s chains.



The danger was over for now.

Alicia and Helen stood on the snowy plain. If Miyabi’s senses could be trusted, the sorcery bomb had been safely destroyed, so there was no need to flee the area as fast as their legs would take them.

Dark metal wreckage was strewn everywhere.

All of it contained secrets that could easily start a new conflict.

“Good grief. That boy cut it awfully close,” said Alicia.

“I wonder if he’s even aware how close that was.”

“We can only hope he isn’t that dumb.”

They shared a sigh and the visible breaths were soon swept away by the cold wind.

Helen was the first to resume speaking.

“A third party would have had a very hard time approaching the fully-equipped Schwarz Schütze and sabotaging it en route.”

“That means someone already knew where it would be derailed and was lying in wait to swap in the sorcery bomb after it came to a stop.”

“And they had it replace a piece of the Schwarz Schütze.”

“It would be simplest to assume that was the 11th.”

“…”

“…”

After a short silence, the two young women who watched over the pure and innocent boy shared another sigh.

The cunning displayed by that bastard made this ''their territory''.

“I can’t believe this,” said Helen.

“Agreed,” said Alicia. “Whoever this is must be a lot shrewder and more dangerous than I expected.”