Difference between revisions of "Godhorn Tech:Volume2 Chapter4"

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(Created page with "===Chapter 4 Section 1=== People’s fear led to doubt. The have-nots doubted the haves while the haves doubted themselves. And they all chose the same method of finding pea...")
 
 
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“But that’s why I have to get the truth,” grumbled Miyabi. “I have to know why he’s spreading those sorcery bombs as the 11th.”
  
“But that’s why I have to get the truth,” grumbled Miyabi. “I have to know why he’s spreading those sorcery bombs as the 11th.”
   
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===Chapter 4 Section 2===
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===Chapter 4 Section 3===
   
 
Miyabi Blackgarden was used to camping out now.
  
Miyabi Blackgarden was used to camping out now.
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“What the hell!? Why does the magic automaton sound like the normal one!?”
  
“What the hell!? Why does the magic automaton sound like the normal one!?”
   
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“Fshoo? What’s this, some competition? You’ve got guts trying to steal from the great Marietta Diggrave.”
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“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.
−
'''End of preview. The full novel will be released on February 10.
  
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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.
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“Please look at me! I’m not an automaton, see!? I’m a human in here!”
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“W-wait? There’s actually someone in there!?”
  +
  +
Celina’s flustered shout earned an introduction from the timid girl inside.
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“I-I am Angela Custardmare.”
  +
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The octopus mask shrugged off the claim.
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“All I see is old tech so advanced it looks human. Fshoo, I’ll be set for life after this one☆”
  +
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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.
  +
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“This should do it.”
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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.”
  +
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“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.
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“What did she do to you, Miyabi!?”
  +
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“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.”
  +
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“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.
  +
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“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.
  +
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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.”
  +
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“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!!”
  +
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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!”
  +
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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.
  +
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“It needs to do that again,” calmly stated Eliza Silverstorm.
  +
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“U-umm!! Couldn’t you at least take us both away at once!? This wait time is so awkward!”
  +
  +
  +
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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.
  +
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That was the entire point of their preparations and the entire point of evacuating those two.
  +
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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?”
  +
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“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.
  +
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“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.”
  +
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“What do you mean?”
  +
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Something was up.
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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.
  +
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“What’s that about messing with him?”
  +
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“I get the feeling there is more to this.”
  +
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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.
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Helen nodded from behind another bookcase.
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“Does that meant Moebius was taken from the village against his will?”
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“Hmm, we can’t make out enough of their conversation to say for sure,” added Alicia.
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“Why not tiptoe even closer?” suggested the philosopher’s stone.
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  +
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.
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He slowly walked on, remaining behind those walls.
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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.
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He continued approaching until they had reached the last of the surviving walls.
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He held his breath and listened.
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He was pretty close now.
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The stone wall was thick, but they would hear if he rapped on it.
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“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.”
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Miyabi could not fight the wave of dizziness.
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“!?”
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“Quiet. This is just as much of a shock for me.”
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Celina steadied his shoulders and they both concentrated on the voices.
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“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.”
  +
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“…”
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“But only the real one would know I was a fake.”
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He clearly stated his goal.
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A crunching sound came from the wheelchair and magical automaton.
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Miyabi risked a glance to see they were slowly circling around the fallen crystal chandelier as they confronted each other.
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Why?
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It was like a game where one approached while the other kept their distance.
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They were both so cautious, like they could not let the other approach too close.
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“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?”
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“What are you talking about?”
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The question flowed out so easily, but that may have been what made it so unnatural.
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The young man in the wheelchair narrowed his eyes toward the butler automaton standing motionless in the red wind.
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“You’re an automaton, so whose orders are you acting on now?”
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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.
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The shattered crystal chandelier reflected the light in a twisted form.
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That symbol of ruin was coated in red dust.
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“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!!”
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The dizziness vanished.
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The doubt was gone.
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The boy clung to the red stone wall with both hands and whispered too quietly for anyone to hear.
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“Moebius.”
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“That’s more like it,” whispered the radio. “We can still get closer, so how about we find a better position to listen in?”
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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.
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Miyabi felt like he could sense Moebius’s emotions through the door.
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“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!!”
  +
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“What nonsense is this?”
  +
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But the automaton was not following along.
  +
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As if to say he could not comprehend the emotional aspect.
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“The 11th? A trillion years could pass and I would only ever serve one master: the emperor of the Unified Cassul Blanc Sorcery Empire.”
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“Then answer me this,” cut in Moebius. “What is your beloved emperor’s name?”
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“…”
  +
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Silence.
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“…”
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Silence.
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“…?”
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Silence, but of a different type.
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The wind blew, whipping up a cloud of red dust. The black bangs half-covering Number 8’s face were lifted.
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The area around his eye was cracked and a complex arrangement of tiny gears audibly turned within.
  +
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This proved he was mechanical.
  +
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This proved he was damaged and that damage was spreading.
  +
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Were the gears audibly straining because the red dust had gotten inside?
  +
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“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.”
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Alicia’s eyes widened in confusion on the other side of the door in the surviving wall.
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“I don’t get it. What does that mean?”
  +
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“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.”
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“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.”
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“More importantly, Number 8 is behaving oddly,” whispered Helen while peeking out from behind the wall.
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They heard and felt a heavy rumbling.
  +
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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.
  +
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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.
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But that efficient destruction was not the true threat of that weapon.
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“From the control weight to the horn core.”
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Light spread out from the metal ball after it dropped to the red ground.
  +
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That light formed a giant magic circle.
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“Divine Doll – tactical open.”
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This time, even the sound was blown away.
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It all radiated out from the thick wall towering up behind Number 8.
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It looked like a king’s castle.
  +
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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.
  +
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But it was not.
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  +
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.
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“This is the Empire, the continent’s greatest country, ruled by the glorious emperor.”
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A new red sandstorm roared up.
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The silver armor had raised its colossal foot in order to mercilessly crush its target seated in the wheelchair.
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“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.”
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“How sad. This red wasteland can’t even return to nature, but you claim this place has eternal peace?”
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He was faced with great violence and a strange red glow, but the puny boy hiding behind a surviving wall no longer hesitated.
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He spoke after using the crumbling shelter to escape the sinister redness.
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“We can’t wait any longer.”
  +
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“Yeah, that light’s back in your eyes now, kid,” said the radio.
  +
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“Let’s do this!!” roared the redhead boy.
  +
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He kicked open the surviving door and entered the same world as those two.
  +
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He was there to protect Moebius Entrance, his party member.
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  +
The air shook around him, but not because the Divine Doll’s foot had crashed down upon the wheelchair.
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Just before it could, the Lucifer Horn had soared by and fired a beam of light that knocked the giant back a bit.
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The redness burst into the air.
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[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v02_bw6.png|thumb]]
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He could see that man grinning even through the deadly-pure rusty mana.
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“You’re right in the nick of time, you cute little hero.”
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What was that young man thinking while he maintained his jocular tone? He viewed his old control sword like it was shining bright.
  +
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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.”
  +
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“I’m giving you a piece of my mind once this is over.”
  +
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But that would have to wait.
  +
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In front of him, another figure was muttering to himself with a hand on his head.
  +
  +
“Force deleting self-contradiction…eliminating unnecessary doubt.”
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  +
Number 8 continued to produce a straining sound. Almost like sandy gears forced to turn. He held something while he lowered his head.
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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.”
  +
  +
===Meanwhile at Horn Fortress 3===
  +
  +
The island was starting to feel a lot more civilized.
  +
  +
That was largely thanks to Garret Goldcave, a dwarf and expert craftsman.
  +
  +
The old man may have had a better example of femininity than Curse Cleaner Sophia Calamity-Jinx or Martial Artist Victia Magnumfist, who had been lying around naked since the island was deserted. At the very least, he was wearing clothes.
  +
  +
A few buildings and manufacturing facilities were taking form on the empty island.
  +
  +
It was crudely made, but having a furnace meant a lot. It could refine ordinary dirt and sand into bricks and glass.
  +
  +
“Hmph,” snorted Garret, sounding annoyed. “I still have a lot to do before I’m ready to work with metal.”
  +
  +
He had found some sulfur and niter on the island, but it would be a while before he could create alchemy gunpowder. Iron came first. But finding items from several steps ahead in the process made his current level of skill and equipment feel all the more inadequate.
  +
  +
On this desert island, he had to figure everything out on his own. Iron ore would be hard to come by, but he could at least separate the iron sand out from the beach’s sand. Still, he had to go through a few other steps before he could create blades and hammers out of that iron sand.
  +
  +
Sophia viewed the buildings with delight.
  +
  +
“Good, maybe we can finally be of some use. Instead of just sending them sexy swimsuits, sexy swimsuits, and more sexy swimsuits.”
  +
  +
“Ha ha ha! But I have a feeling Miyabi would love a world of nothing but sexy swimsuits!”
  +
  +
“Eh? Miyabi likes to wear them? I never would have guessed he was into that!”
  +
  +
Victia made no attempt to correct Sophia’s mistaken interpretation. Idiots came in many forms, but the kind that failed to explain themselves properly tended to spread confusion.
  +
  +
Meanwhile, two new rookies had just arrived.
  +
  +
“Fshoo shoo shoo!! This supposedly desert island is littered with wreckage. Someone may have lived here before. Only one way to find out: grab my shovel and dig, dig, dig☆”
  +
  +
“Y-yikes!”
  +
  +
The octopus mask and giant armor were both shouting about something or other.
  +
  +
The island may have been cursed to never see any traditional femininity.
  +
  +
===Profiles===
  +
  +
[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v02_bw2.png|thumb]]
  +
  +
Marietta Diggrave
  +
  +
Age: 16
  +
  +
Sex: Female
  +
  +
Height: 153cm
  +
  +
A salvage hunter who digs up the remains of a ruined kingdom to gather advanced magical lab equipment and sell it to used item shops. Known for aiming big, but the high price of the treasure maps means she barely scrapes by despite the high profile of her jobs. Her excessive mask is more of a good luck charm or jinx, so it may not be strictly necessary.
  +
  +
<br style="clear:both"/>
  +
  +
[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v02_bw3.png|thumb]]
  +
Angela Custardmare
  +
  +
Age: 15
  +
  +
Sex: Female
  +
  +
Height: 200cm (140cm inside)
  +
  +
A maid known for her extreme loveliness known as the “Unfortunate Beauty”. Strange Guide once led a death game in which several nobles killed each other with her as the prize and the nobles’ wives responded by enclosing her in the unremovable Prison Armor. She wants a Wicked God horn in order to free herself from the armor.
  +
  +
<br style="clear:both"/>
  +
  +
[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v02_bw4.png|thumb]]
  +
Number 8
  +
  +
Apparent Age: 20 (actual age unknown)
  +
  +
Sex: Designed as Male
  +
  +
Height: 190cm
  +
  +
A magical automaton created from the advanced technology of the massive Empire that once ruled a third of the continent. He was given the humanoid Divine Doll Godhorn Tech as the foundation of the Empire’s defenses. He continues to obey the emperor’s commands even after the Empire’s fall, so he continues to protect the ruins of the capital. The extreme environment causes his damage to grow by the day, which has likely negatively affected his internal memory.
  +
  +
<br style="clear:both"/>
  +
  +
[[Image:Godhorn_Tech_v02_bw5.png|thumb]]
  +
Godhorn Tech Silver Armor: Divine Doll
  +
  +
Pilot: Number 8
  +
  +
Affiliation: Unified Cassul Blanc Sorcery Empire (since destroyed)
  +
  +
Size: About 8m tall
  +
  +
Colossal silver armor. Obeys Number 8’s orders and works to slay its enemies. Wields swords, spears, and bows, but their great size turns them all into enormous blunt attacks. Number 8 was created to protect the Empire’s massive borders on the emperor’s orders. The Divine Doll obeys his orders unconditionally, so if he were to malfunction, the Divine Doll would follow along. Design motif: the sword which automatically fights to bring victory to its wise owner.
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| Back to [[Godhorn_Tech:Volume2_Excerpts|Excerpts]]
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| Return to [[Godhorn_Tech|Main Page]]
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| Forward to [[Godhorn_Tech:Volume2_Chapter5|Chapter 5]]
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Latest revision as of 05:33, 16 February 2021

Chapter 4 Section 1[edit]

People’s fear led to doubt. The have-nots doubted the haves while the haves doubted themselves.

And they all chose the same method of finding peace: to attack.


Moebius Entrance.

Confronting that man required turning back from the snow-covered Arsenal Kingdom and returning to the first village. The Schwarz Schütze had taken them the majority of the way there, but they would have to trek through the cold on the way back. That meant taking time to prepare for the journey in the Arsenal Kingdom.

But the 15-year-old redhead boy with sawdust goggles on his forehead did not remember any of it.

He knew he and the others had walked around the fortress city surrounded by those thick walls, but he did not remember how he had spent his time there.

“S-sorry,” he vaguely recalled a puppy-like chosen knight saying. “Tours of the castle are currently canceled due to all the confusion. But only because everyone is working so hard to fix our current situation instead of insisting someone else do it. In that sense, this is a step in the right direction.”

She wore gorgeous armor, including fine silverwork, a feather headdress, and a miniskirt, but it also possessed excellent magical defenses. She was one of the elite White Seidr Chosen Knights, but she was now running around fixing up the castle town with the ordinary soldiers.

The heat of the riot had faded from the icy city, so everyone was working to gather up the trash and repair the crumbling wall.

“Sorry, but no tours today,” he half-remembered a chosen knight saying with a condescending look. “Nothing good comes of the commoners seeing chaos in the castle. You should leave now.”

The icicles and frozen waterways were likely an intentional part of the city’s design in this snowy land.

“Sigh, the place is finally looking like a city again,” he partially remembered a tomboyish chosen knight commenting. “I have more strength than I know what to do with, so I really wish they would send some jobs my way. I’ll do anything – even lay bricks or paint walls!”

“Eh? You were wondering if all the Arsenal Kingdom’s knights are women?” He must have asked a knowledgeable chosen knight that at some point. “It’s not a requirement, but it is true most are. Hee hee. But we do have male knights. Look around and you might just find one.”

But.

He felt like he was wandering through a dream.

He must have left the Arsenal Kingdom at some point, but he didn’t remember doing it. He would not have questioned it if someone told him the memories were merely implanted in his head.

The shock had left him feeling utterly pathetic.

Betrayals did not just leave the victim brimming with rage toward the traitor. It was more complicated than just hating an enemy. They found themselves unable to trust themselves after trusting the traitor like that. It left a deep emotional scar.

“Moebius.”

“Hold on, boy. I thought you were shopping around to prepare for our journey.”

He did not even hear Alicia Blueforest, an elf who looked 13 or 14.

Instead, he stabbed his thick blade into the deep snow.

That control sword had a short blade for a two-handed sword, but who would believe it had originally been a machete? It was in fact a special control device used to send commands to the Lucifer Horn.

He let his anger take control of his voice.

He felt like he had lost all other emotions.

He shouted the name like he was preparing to tear the man’s throat out with his teeth.

“Moebius Entrance!”

“Wait!! Summoning that thing in this blizzard accomplishes nothing. Snatching yourself up with its wire will only throw you out into the sky!!”

The short elf’s white dress fluttered as she grabbed at Miyabi to stop him. Concluding that was not enough, Helen Clockgear, a young black-haired woman in a tight skirt and glasses, struck the back of the boy’s neck with the pommel of her knife. He collapsed into the snow, and Eliza Silverstorm, a professional fighter of the White Seidr Chosen Knights, grew flustered.

“But why?” shouted blonde Alicia, scooping the boy up from the snow. “Why would he be pulling the strings!?”

None of them had the answer.

Nor would they until they returned to where this journey had begun.

They knew the answer awaiting them would please none of them, but they had to return to the first village. They had arrived comfortably enough in the Schwarz Schütze armored train, but the way back would be on foot, meaning the white snowscape would bear its fangs.

Just one step outside of the gate transformed their surroundings into one of biting cold.

“Are we really headed in the right direction?” groaned Celina Bodenburg, whose black dress left her shoulders bared even in the frigid temperatures. “We aren’t going to end up stranded out here, are we?”

They could not continue traveling through the night.

As impatient as they were, a night blizzard would be fatal. When they spotted a village along the way, they would take a short detour to find an inn. If they did not, they had to camp out in a cave or some other shelter.

Today, they were in a rocky mountain cave.

“Ugh, how many days has it been now?” asked Alicia. “How I miss stretching out in a nice bath.”

“Why is this forest elf only interested in burning trees for warmth?” added Helen. “But to be fair, I’m just as sick of this snowy land as she is.”

Helen was soaking a towel in boiled water. When they couldn’t find an inn, even that was a luxury. She had loosened her jacket and tied up her black hair to rub the wet towel against her nape, breathing an alluring sigh. The towel really was their replacement for a bath. Not only did it clean them off, it warmed them and helped them relax, albeit to a limited extent.

“Koo,” cried the stuffed animal creature called Alma.

That juvenile Wicked God was currently in a red phoenix form. It was only the size of a slipper, but its own warmth kept it nice and cozy. It looked a little sleepy.

Celina was passing water through a portable filter the size of a beer mug and using the purified water to cast Aqua Wash magic on her hands, eliciting an exasperated comment from Alicia.

“When did you humans forget how to play in the dirt and vegetation? We are surrounded by water out there. Just fill a pot with snow and place it over the fire. You aren’t going to sterilize our dinner with ethanol and formaldehyde, are you?”

“This may be difficult to understand for a nature-loving elf who thinks bathing in the same natural springs as an elephant or hippo will actually get her clean, but a cute and elegant lady must be ever vigilant when it comes to cleanliness. You should thank me for this kind gift – have some deodorant.”

The wild elf, whose long hair and nape gave off a sweet feminine scent, fled as she was sprayed with a disinfectant magic that used purifying silver as a catalyst.

Miyabi was curled up by the rocky wall and did not join in the horseplay.

His shell was shut tight around him.

Even in the freezing cave, the gloomy-eyed boy only ever brought up one topic.

The passage of time did nothing to remove the roiling mass within his heart.

“I don’t know why he did it.”

Throughout their break, he had been staring out from the cave entrance into the thick curtain of snow while muttering fragments of a conversation with himself.

He seemed to be releasing his doubts in advance in order to escape the nightmare. The pressure building in his heart was so painful he refused to eat.

He felt bad doing this to Eliza.

Starting a journey with this hanging over their heads had to be rough, but he could do nothing to break free of the weight bearing down on him.

“But from the beginning, I only ever did what he told me. He told me to take his Godhorn Tech and he told me to search for the 11th’s sorcery bombs.”

He felt used.

His own words threatened to tear him apart.

“He was even the one who told me to contact Celina and send the armored train to the Arsenal Kingdom!”

He had no real motivation. There was no treasure waiting at the finishing line. But he had to push on. Like it was his penance for being so gullible.

Still, each step brought him closer. If nothing else, the path he took would not betray him.

And before he knew it…

“Wow,” gasped Eliza, her silver ponytail swishing behind her.

The snow had vanished from the ground.

That proved they had left the northern lands where the Arsenal Kingdom held sway and that they were approaching the first village. Their feet trod on dark soil and their eyes fell on sparse green undergrowth. They saw the occasional wooden fence, suggesting this area had once been a ranch.

To the chosen knight in miniskirt armor, the white of snow was the natural color for the landscape, so this must have been an unusual sight for her.

But Miyabi only felt gloom.

He was approaching the person he most wanted to see but least wanted to hear from.

Moebius Entrance was waiting. The better one of them knew him, the more keenly aware of that fact they were.

Celina Bodenburg, only child of a massive company, was the first to address it.

“He was the one who chose that forest for our battlefield and injured himself protecting Miyabi.”

She had known the man before even Miyabi.

It had been a hostile relationship, but still.

“Are you saying he did all that to set this up?”

“You mean he dragged Miyabi into this in order to attack the Schwarz Schütze?” Helen placed a finger on the side of her glasses. “So he could send Miyabi after you, use that letter to have Eliza attack, and then lie in wait in the snowy forest so he could replace a portion of the derailed train with a sorcery bomb!?”


How many times had they discussed it now?

How many times had he seen it in his nightmares?

“Pant, gasp. We’ve finally – finally! – made it back,” said Alicia, her shoulders rising and falling. “I’m taking a bath and sleeping for three days straight.”

Yes.

Miyabi Blackgarden had returned to the first village.

That logging village was half enveloped by the Blue Forest. The rhythmic pounding and sawing of tools on trees was unchanged. The small village of log houses seemed cut off from the world’s changes.

Small.

Miyabi was a little surprised to find that adjective in his head. Had the journey really changed him that much? The place had felt so comfortable and complete when he was living here, but now its peace looked fragile and undefended.

“Oh, you’re back, Miyabi?”

“Your parents just went back home a bit ago. You barely miss each other an inordinate amount of the time.”

Some of the neighborhood workers called out to him, but the redhead boy did not respond.

“Is…?”

“Hm?”

“Is Moebius Entrance still here?”

He threw open the door to the clinic, but the place was empty. The wheelchair was gone too. He only found the stillness unique to an empty space.

No…

“Yikes!?” cried Helen after casually peeking below the bed, a habit she had picked up as a “government official”. “That’s Iris, the dancer who was looking after Moebius. …Good, she’s still breathing.”

Miyabi checked too and saw a silver sparkle. It was the dancer’s braid. She had been laid on her side and shoved under the bed in a pose that could not have been comfortable.

If Moebius had nothing to hide, he wouldn’t have had to run off or harm the person so kindly nursing him back to health.

Miyabi tried to fight the dizziness as anger swelled out within him. He now knew that bastard had done more than just trick a gullible fool like him. Moebius had even attacked someone doing him a favor.

“Goddamn it! It really was him.”

He had to shout.

If he did not use that as an outlet for his anger, he was certain he would collapse on the spot.

This new revelation weighed on him that heavily.

“Moebius really was the 11th!!”

“…”

“He set up the sorcery bombs, he had us pit our Godhorn Techs against each other, and he made sure Celina’s was destroyed. Why would that scumbag do all that!?”

Just then, Alma started hopping up and down on the windowsill.

“Koo? Koo, koo!!”

“What is it, Alma?” asked Alicia. “Oh…boy, set your wailing aside and take a look out the window. I see a wheelchair out there, so this is your last chance to catch him!!”

He seriously considered breaking through the wall to get at Moebius faster.

But he stopped himself at the last second and used the door instead. Maybe he wanted to prove that he, unlike that man, was still human.

He had already drawn his control sword and readied it in both hands.

He wanted to vomit remembering that this power was borrowed from that man.

“Moebius!!”

He spotted the distinctive wheelchair in the middle of a public square where anyone could see it. He also saw the man seated in it. He saw the long red hair and the thick coat that could have belonged to a noble or a pirate. He could not see the man’s face, but his mind’s eyes still saw the grin he knew would be plastered on the man’s face.

He could no longer view that smile the same way. Even if the movement of the eyes and lips was identical, it would only look cruel and mocking now.

But Moebius had his back turned.

He had to have heard Miyabi shout his name, but he said nothing.

A powerful tremor shook the entire village.

“Whoa!? Wh-what is that!?”

Celina had seen something while struggling to keep her footing.

Something had just stepped in from outside the village.

But what was it?

It almost looked like a thick castle wall, but…no. It appeared to be a colossal suit of bipedal armor, but its excessively wide torso was more reminiscent of a stretched accordion than realistic body proportions. It could likely create a crater in the ground with a single punch, but its size was not the only unusual thing about it. Its shoulders and chest appeared to be crammed full of as many projectile weapons as the Schwarz Schütze and the Lucifer Horn. It leisurely crossed the village’s border, crushing the fields and fences underfoot, and ignored all the surrounding chaos and confusion. It never hesitated, even when a house stood in the way.

No one could remain standing.

The boy heard piles of logs crashing to the ground.

His party and all the villagers struggling with the logs could only stay on all fours as they bore with the terrible shaking. Attempting to flee may have actually increased the risk of injury.

“Is that…a Godhorn Tech!?”

Godhorn Tech v02 bw1.png

Helen’s eyes bugged. The Republic had no Godhorn Tech of its own, so not many people there had seen as many as she now had.

Moebius did not so much as glance back at them.

Were Miyabi and his control sword not even worth his attention?

“Took you long enough, Number 8.”

Was that someone’s name?

“So what’s the plan? Hoping to take me away with you?”

Someone stood at the feet of the giant armor.

He looked like a young man with half his face covered by black hair. He wore a tailcoat the color of the night, making him look like a butler. The source of the tremors had to be even more badly shaken, but he used motions as precise as clockwork to negate it, allowing him to stand tall without the slightest waver. He seemed cold and unfeeling, making him seem just as unshakeable as ever-grinning Moebius, but in a different way.

“…”

“Is the Divine Doll hard to operate even for one of you?”

The young butler never responded.

The Divine Doll crouched down and then its massive hand approached the wheelchair. It could have crushed Miyabi’s house with those fingers, but it instead grabbed and lifted just the one person. The butler also hopped onto the giant hand.

Miyabi immediately squeezed his control sword tight.

“Wait, Moebius!!”

“You mustn’t, Miyabi!!” Eliza stepped forward to stop him. “Think of the damage a Godhorn Tech battle would cause this village!!”

“Kh!!”

They were not the only ones in the village. The loggers and hunters who made their living in the forest had yet to get back up from the ground.

Meanwhile, the Divine Doll turned 180 degrees.

Almost like the worms crawling on the ground meant nothing to it.

Moebius did not look back even once. Miyabi could imagine the man’s look of scorn for Miyabi’s inability to actually fight.

The tremors resumed.

The Divine Doll made the ground quake when it walked. It leisurely left the village with Miyabi’s party pinned by the shaking. Its slow movements made one wonder if it even saw this as “running away”, but each step covered a great distance.

“Hm? It’s headed south,” commented Alicia, sounded exasperated. “That leads to the ruined Magic Empire.”

“Come to think of it, I had heard of an automaton that continues to protect those ruins,” said Eliza.

“Koo?” groaned Alma with a head tilt.

The creature may have been responding to the word “automaton”.

Miyabi felt a fire lit inside him as he listened to them speak.

He squeezed the control sword’s grip tight and muttered under his breath.

“Moebius and Number 8.”

But his power was borrowed.

And it was so insignificant that Moebius had not even tried to retrieve it.

Miyabi understood that, but he still could not bring himself to abandon it.

“He toys with us all without ever wiping that damn grin off his face!”

Chapter 4 Section 2[edit]

Miyabi Blackgarden’s party left the first village with just one goal in mind.

“If we’re going to catch up to Moebius, we need to reach that ruined empire.” His voice was clear but somewhat hoarse. “I’m getting that bastard to tell me the truth and then I’m settling the score with him.”

“…”

Alicia Blueforest viewed the boy from the side, but she decided against saying anything.

After traveling a while south, they stopped seeing inns.

Something like scarecrows dotted the weed-covered plains, suggesting these had once been farmlands.

The road was nothing more than brown wagon wheel ruts running along the green plains, but even that grew spotty. In fact, the weeds and grass faded away, leaving nothing but exposed dirt. The only remnants of the road were long, narrow puddles that actually made it harder to walk.

The blonde elf wiped the sweat from her brow and viewed the surrounding wasteland with obvious frustration over the absence of green. There were no cats or rabbits here. Her face lit up when she espied a creature covered in fluffy fur, but she screamed after realizing it was a Plague Rat the size of a small dog.

The desire to rest was written plainly on her face.

“D-damn. I guess we are close to the Empire of all places.”

“Um?”

“It has already been destroyed,” explained Helen. “The entire area has been fully polluted, some say as a reaction to the advanced sorcery technology they used. That has cut off the main road leading north to south, so people and things cannot travel through that polluted land without the use of a monster like the Schwarz Schütze. The lack of shops and homes is just a taste of what is to come.”

“With my company’s armored train gone, the only standard route left has to take a lengthy detour out into the ocean to bypass this area. And we were really hoping to keep costs down since we support so many people’s lives in this region.”

Helen Clockgear and Celina Bodenburg both sounded bitter, but that did not change what they needed to do. The talk of pollution was concerning, but Moebius Entrance and Number 8 had gone to that polluted empire.

They could not expect any more inns during this journey.

There was no guarantee they could find a cave to camp out in every single night and, if a cave happened to be a nest of those giant unclean Plague Rats, any attempt to rest there would only wear down their stamina further. After walking a while longer and feeling a lot closer to that ruined empire, they decided to stop for the night.

They had discovered a run-down sailing ship inexplicably abandoned on the land.

It was more than 50 meters long and the deck stood 7 meters above the ground. They guessed it had been used to sail across the ocean, not just along a river.

“Let’s take a short break there,” smiled Helen Clockgear.

“I can keep going.”

“Miyabi.”

The forceful tone in her voice demanded he obey.

Really, he had simply failed to notice how late it was until she forced him to notice.

The sun had vanished beyond the horizon and it had grown dark. They could not even guess what kind of Beast Novae awaited them in this unknown land, so continuing any longer would be dangerous. The Mobile Fire magic could provide illumination in the night, but it could only do so much. Miyabi had already learned just how thoroughly the darkness grew out in the true nature found outside the villages and cities.

A Godhorn Tech provided the greatest destructive force, but it was not an all-powerful shield. And the darkness was always an ally to the attacker. What did it matter if he was a Godhorn Tech user? If a Plague Rat the size of a small dog snuck up and sank its fangs into his calf, complications from the many illnesses they bore would kill him just the same as anyone else.

“Sigh, okay.”

He sounded uneasy and he held a hand out toward the ship.

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

Once he recited the incantation, blocks of stone emerged from the filthy ground and rearranged themselves to create a sturdy boarding stairway. He had registered this one under the name Layer Stairs.

Normally, Godhorn Techs could only destroy, but an error in his registration transfer had given him the power to create as well.

Celina looked somehow happy as she raised both hands and stretched her back.

“Good, good. This looks like a merchant ship, not a warship, so if the interior is intact, we should be as comfortable as in any town. Ohhh, I’ve so missed a kitchen and bath!!”

But once up top, the entire ship wobbled, either from the wind or its poor balance. With a structure of at least 50 meters, it felt like an earthquake.

Alicia cautiously reached for the side deck’s rusted railing.

“Hm, I don’t know how it ended up on land, but this does not look safe.”

“It might shake so much you need to hold on for purchase or the entire ship might roll over, but the time to choose is now, Miyabi. Yes, if your face is going to end up in someone’s chest, what size would you prefer!? If you’re in a flat mood, I think that slender and strait-laced Eliza might just be even better than Celina.”

The crystal radio (containing a philosopher’s stone) hanging from the elf’s neck was trying very hard to earn a punch from one of the girls.

“Don’t those sails only make the problem worse?” Celina sighed while wiping off her hand with a handkerchief. “They catch the wind and raise the center of gravity.”

“This ship is not sailing anywhere, so it might be safest to tear down all the masts.”

Eliza may have been the type to take any task to its extreme.

The job was simple but hard work.

Miyabi used the knowledge from his logging village where everyone made a living growing and felling trees. Plus, he had the control sword and Godhorn Tech at his disposal.

He used the thick blade to slice through the base of the masts like he was cutting an opening in a bag and then let them fall so they tumbled off of the ship. Great clouds of dust rose each time. It was his upbringing in the logging village that let him so accurately control the direction in which they fell.

The task took enough focus that it distracted him from everything else. But he felt like garbage once he realized he was distracting himself like that.

“…”

“He was important to you, wasn’t he?”

Once all the masts were down, Eliza wiped off her mouth with a handkerchief and asked him that.

He slowly looked up from the weathered deck.

“What do you mean?”

“I only knew Moebius Entrance through his letters and his legends as a fixer, so I never really knew him. But you did, didn’t you?”

He shook his head. The action made him wobble, so he pressed his back against the wooden wall.

“I didn’t.” He was speaking from the heart. “I’m not even sure what I saw anymore.”

“Koo…”

“He gave me his Godhorn Tech.” He slid down to a sitting position. “He asked me to do something about the 11th’s sorcery bomb. I just happened to be there and it could have been anyone, but during that journey, I thought I had come to understand who I wanted to be.”

He clenched his teeth and hung his head. There was no hiding this, so he just let the words spill out.

“But I was in the palm of his hand the entire time. I thought I was saving someone, but he was using me to make everyone I met suffer.”

“Boy…” said Alicia, sounding different from normal.

“It can be…hard when someone breaks a promise between men,” said the radio, also differently.

“I never would have left the village without that. I never would have met anyone. He gave me that opportunity. Without him, I wouldn’t be who I am now. Nothing can change that.”

His breathing was heavy.

He so desperately wished to deny the reality sneering at him from the back of his mind. He covered his face with his filthy hands.

“Or I thought nothing could!!”

“…”

Celina stared silently down at the boy.

But she finally spoke.

“No.”

“?”

“Maybe Moebius was manipulating you. And maybe that led to the destruction of my Schwarz Schütze.”

He did not even want to contemplate that possibility.

He had thought he was hunting down the 11th to prevent any further harm from those sorcery bombs, but he had only been spreading that very harm.

But strangely, he saw no anger or resentment on Celina’s face. There was a gentleness in her eyes.

“But you don’t need to disparage yourself like this.”

“Even though I more or less destroyed your Godhorn Tech?”

His own words stabbed into his chest like tiny thorns.

Hurting Celina would change nothing. Was he trying to make everyone else feel the same pain he was? He curled up in a ball of self-hatred.

“Even though. Because I also gained something from that.”

But she did not hesitate to respond.

She was even smiling.

Smiling in a way she had not when he first met her.

“Look around you, Miyabi. You too have gained something from all this.”

He raised his head.

His view expanded. He was surrounded by people worried for him while he curled up and trembled.

“Yes, the people.” Celina placed a hand on her flat chest. “None of this changes that you met all of them. You have made some new, and unparalleled, business partners.”

“Correct.” Eliza nodded, shaking her long silver ponytail. “Your destruction of our Godhorn Tech opened a new path for my king, my kingdom, and myself. None of us would have been saved without you there.”

“…”

“You may have been following the path Moebius laid out for you, but the bonds you built with the people you met were not part of that,” she stated. “What if Moebius never imagined destruction could be beneficial?”

“I’ll admit it.”

Finally, Miyabi got some more words out.

He was hesitant, but he felt like he could let his weakness show around these party members.

It was slow, but he stood back up.

“It was a shock. I didn’t know him long, but Moebius meant a lot to me.”

“…”

“He gave me the chance to leave my village. He was irritating and questionable, but he shined so bright. I could tell at a glance he had something I didn’t. Yeah, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at all happy when he gave me his Godhorn Tech or when I protected everyone from the sorcery bomb.”

Helen said nothing, but the look in her eyes was kind.

“But that’s why I have to get the truth,” grumbled Miyabi. “I have to know why he’s spreading those sorcery bombs as the 11th.”

Chapter 4 Section 3[edit]

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.

Godhorn Tech v02 bw6.png

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.”

Meanwhile at Horn Fortress 3[edit]

The island was starting to feel a lot more civilized.

That was largely thanks to Garret Goldcave, a dwarf and expert craftsman.

The old man may have had a better example of femininity than Curse Cleaner Sophia Calamity-Jinx or Martial Artist Victia Magnumfist, who had been lying around naked since the island was deserted. At the very least, he was wearing clothes.

A few buildings and manufacturing facilities were taking form on the empty island.

It was crudely made, but having a furnace meant a lot. It could refine ordinary dirt and sand into bricks and glass.

“Hmph,” snorted Garret, sounding annoyed. “I still have a lot to do before I’m ready to work with metal.”

He had found some sulfur and niter on the island, but it would be a while before he could create alchemy gunpowder. Iron came first. But finding items from several steps ahead in the process made his current level of skill and equipment feel all the more inadequate.

On this desert island, he had to figure everything out on his own. Iron ore would be hard to come by, but he could at least separate the iron sand out from the beach’s sand. Still, he had to go through a few other steps before he could create blades and hammers out of that iron sand.

Sophia viewed the buildings with delight.

“Good, maybe we can finally be of some use. Instead of just sending them sexy swimsuits, sexy swimsuits, and more sexy swimsuits.”

“Ha ha ha! But I have a feeling Miyabi would love a world of nothing but sexy swimsuits!”

“Eh? Miyabi likes to wear them? I never would have guessed he was into that!”

Victia made no attempt to correct Sophia’s mistaken interpretation. Idiots came in many forms, but the kind that failed to explain themselves properly tended to spread confusion.

Meanwhile, two new rookies had just arrived.

“Fshoo shoo shoo!! This supposedly desert island is littered with wreckage. Someone may have lived here before. Only one way to find out: grab my shovel and dig, dig, dig☆”

“Y-yikes!”

The octopus mask and giant armor were both shouting about something or other.

The island may have been cursed to never see any traditional femininity.

Profiles[edit]

Godhorn Tech v02 bw2.png

Marietta Diggrave

Age: 16

Sex: Female

Height: 153cm

A salvage hunter who digs up the remains of a ruined kingdom to gather advanced magical lab equipment and sell it to used item shops. Known for aiming big, but the high price of the treasure maps means she barely scrapes by despite the high profile of her jobs. Her excessive mask is more of a good luck charm or jinx, so it may not be strictly necessary.


Godhorn Tech v02 bw3.png

Angela Custardmare

Age: 15

Sex: Female

Height: 200cm (140cm inside)

A maid known for her extreme loveliness known as the “Unfortunate Beauty”. Strange Guide once led a death game in which several nobles killed each other with her as the prize and the nobles’ wives responded by enclosing her in the unremovable Prison Armor. She wants a Wicked God horn in order to free herself from the armor.


Godhorn Tech v02 bw4.png

Number 8

Apparent Age: 20 (actual age unknown)

Sex: Designed as Male

Height: 190cm

A magical automaton created from the advanced technology of the massive Empire that once ruled a third of the continent. He was given the humanoid Divine Doll Godhorn Tech as the foundation of the Empire’s defenses. He continues to obey the emperor’s commands even after the Empire’s fall, so he continues to protect the ruins of the capital. The extreme environment causes his damage to grow by the day, which has likely negatively affected his internal memory.


Godhorn Tech v02 bw5.png

Godhorn Tech Silver Armor: Divine Doll

Pilot: Number 8

Affiliation: Unified Cassul Blanc Sorcery Empire (since destroyed)

Size: About 8m tall

Colossal silver armor. Obeys Number 8’s orders and works to slay its enemies. Wields swords, spears, and bows, but their great size turns them all into enormous blunt attacks. Number 8 was created to protect the Empire’s massive borders on the emperor’s orders. The Divine Doll obeys his orders unconditionally, so if he were to malfunction, the Divine Doll would follow along. Design motif: the sword which automatically fights to bring victory to its wise owner.



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