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“…How can this be? Even Gatel Nandine was defeated.”
An annoyed voice echoed in a desolated hall in the royal castle.
It was Redome Aegis, who was blind but whose ‘eye’ could see everything. She observed the battle with the poisonous mushroom-like ESP organ on top of her head.
But this meant she saw three slave sorcerers dying.
“It can’t be…!”
There were two girls, one who used swords and one who used magic accelerating weapons. Surely they were the ‘irregulars’ Liu Kinfei talked about.
Rhadamanthus who used a thrusting barrier, Ahura Mazda who used a barrier reminiscent of flower petals, and Gatel Nandine who used a double barrier and was the strongest of the three.
They were not like the inexperienced and unstable Mihirakula, they were fierce fighters with great combat skills.
After the capital’s main army was routed, all those who got in the way of their ideal world were put to rest.
Liberating people’s souls from their filthy bodies was the ultimate salvation. The groundwork to build their beautiful, pure world.
Slave sorcerers existed for that purpose alone. All to make Liu Kinfei’s beautiful dream a reality.
“…What!? What is this mess…!?”
The mushroom head started swelling, and many eyes opened.
It was all too unexpected.
Irregulars. Nuisances destroying the logic of this world.
People who could destroy their divine invincible barriers suddenly appeared.
It all started with Mihirakula’s defeat, and before long, four slave sorcerers had been slain.
“Lord Liu Kinfei’s ideal… His dream…! Do they dare get in its way…!?”
The great Liu Kinfei’s beautiful ideal.
The six slave sorcerers existed to do everything in their power to make sure that dream, that magnificent ideal became a reality.
Anyone getting in its way was evil. Enemies that needed to be destroyed. And yet, these irregulars were doing just that.
“Ugh… How dare…!”
The woman with the mushroom head angrily ground her teeth, and the royal castle shook as though it was about to collapse.
The royal castle, the glorious center of the world, had long since lost its shine, and was turned into the dwelling of the followers of darkness. A place of silence and death.
“Calm down, Redome Aegis.”
A calm, clear voice echoed.
A beautiful young man wearing a blue noble’s outfit appeared in the dim hall.
He had a slim figure, and his movements were elegant. He had an air around him that made him feel like the son of a noble, as he walked down the stairs.
Above this hall, was the highest room in the castle, known as the ‘space of prayer’. The sorcerer Liu Kinfei was there.
“…Terracotta Balistas. Were you granted an audience with our most magnificent comrade?”
The woman with the mushroom head opened multiple eyes, all looking in his direction. They seemed to be writhing with a mix of jealousy and envy.
“Yes. Lord Liu Kinfei informed me that he will be leaving everything to us.”
“I see.”
The mushroom headed woman felt this overwhelming trust was marvelous.
“Our most magnificent comrade is completely devoted to praying at the moment, and is unable to move.”
“I see. Then we will be his limbs.”
“Yes, to open the gate to heaven and create our ideal home. The ultimate prayer, so the enormous magic energy and the countless souls that have been gathered can flow as one, and reach the heavens…”
The man put his hand to his chest as he looked completely entranced, and a little mad.
“We cannot disturb this beautiful prayer. Irregulars…! This detestable duo and the ones they incited are making their way here.”
“Are they attempting to create a rebel army? But this is perfect. Our most magnificent comrade told us to offer the souls of the irregulars. That is the final key to open the gate to heaven.”
Said the beautiful man with a diabolical smile on his face.
“I see. We will defeat these irregulars, and offer their souls.”
“Reliable as always, Aegis.”
The mushroom headed woman, Redome Aegis, and the fallen noble Terracotta activated their barriers, and a mixture of purple and green lights filled the hall.
A thunderous roar shook the royal palace, and ominous dark clouds covered the sky above Ethnocentria. Many purple bolts of lightning flickered, and a creepy vortex began to swirl, as though it was the devil’s breath.
And then, the shadow of a giant black disk broke the castle’s wall and flew. Many eyes moved.
The disk cast a shadow on the area around the castle as it flew. It was Redome Aegis who sent this disk.
“It will take time to fire the main armament. Terracotta, I am leaving the small fry to you.”
Terracotta sat on a chair that appeared as though it was made out of jellyfish tentacles.
“I assume there is no problem if I defeat them. These irregulars will be like babies before my ‘Military Barrier’.”
“…Do as you please.”
The earth rumbled as though it was vibrating, and the giant disk began slowly gliding close to the ground.
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There was a powerful force field.
The pale-faced sorcerer, Liu Kinfei, continued the ritual in the room of prayer.
A million souls were not enough, he needed denser energy. He wanted to sacrifice the two irregulars.
All to pierce the sky, and open a dimension distorting ‘gate’.
The sorcerer Liu Kinfei continuously offered prayers to gather the souls of those who died in this world and store them in a crystal in the highest room in the castle.
It was a grand ritual, that required various overlapping magic circles, and interweaving barriers. A magnificent ritual to pierce the sky.
He had one goal, bring true salvation.
He would resurrect the souls of his beloved people, free from worthless worldly thoughts, into this world.
That number would be one billion. He would resurrect one billion people.
The true core. The splendor of the world. All to build a new, ideal land in this world.
“Fuhaha…! Fuahahahahahaha!”
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“Squeak!”
“Squea…!”
Small mice gathered around a girl.
She was surprised to hear what the mice scattered all over the castle had to say.
“There’s no one in the castle…? All the slaves are out?”
Said Metis, a disciple of a sage, with a surprised expression.
She figured something must have happened, considering the vibrations that occurred and the current silence in the upper floors.
The mice told her the number of scary slave sorcerers had shrunk recently, and the remaining scary people went outside.
The ones that left before did not come back, and the last two broke through the castle’s wall and left.
Still, there was one remaining in the highest place in the castle.
“The highest… So just the sorcerer.”
Metis swore she would avenge everyone.
The days she spent training in the castle with her strict but fun sage master would never return.
One day, the sorcerer and his followers attacked, and everything was taken from her. The warriors, guards, witches, and wizards in the castle were all quickly slaughtered.
The last person to stand between them and the king was a sage, but he was no match for them.
He unleashed lightning, and fire hot enough to melt metal, but nothing worked.
Even the sage could not break the powerful barrier. The sorcerers would be unstoppable as long as they had the protection of that unknown magic.
With the last of his strength, the sage turned Metis into a mouse so she could escape. She hid in a room underground, where no one would find her, and waited for an opportunity while gathering information.
“…There’s only one now.”
But she asked herself what she could do.
She knew all too well that she did not possess the strength to fight the sorcerer. Even if she could reach the highest place in the castle, she could not fight him. She would simply be killed.
More important than anything was the notebook she held in her hand, full of information gathered by the mice.
It detailed the characteristics of the slave sorcerer’s barriers.
The power of their leader was a mystery, but the feeling of discomfort the mice felt could be the key to victory.
She had to hand this information to someone who could defeat them.
If the slave sorcerers did not return, that meant a rebellion was happening outside.
Metis decided to go outside. She undid the magic she had placed on the mice, setting them free.
She walked through a dim passage, all the way to the first floor, before pushing open the door she used to sneak into the storehouse to steal food.
“…”
No one was there.
Were the few surviving maids killed, or did they escape?
She advanced through an area on the first floor of the deserted, dilapidated castle that was connected to many rooms.
However, the plaster and dust on the floor started gathering, and slowly taking the form of what looked like human shadows.
“Kya!?”
“…Kid…”
“…Catch…”
“…Peel skin…”
What appeared to be resurrected dead people slowly approached her with their hands raised.
The mud people composed of hardened plaster and pebbles had black slits where their mouths and eyes would be. They moved while covered in green mist, like cursed dolls or golems brought to life with magic energy.
Metis turned around and ran.
“What kind of sick joke…!?”
She was heading in the opposite direction of the exit, but she had no choice. She turned around and saw the monsters gaining speed as they chased her.
Two appeared right in front of her, and opened their arms to try to catch her.
“Eek!?”
“…You can’t escape us…”
“…Mister Terracotta’s…”
She stopped and looked for another path, wondering if she should have stayed underground.
The monsters that looked like poorly made clay figurines chased her with clumsy movements, until they finally cornered her, and Metis made up her mind.
“Some kind of magic…!”
It was no good, she had no offensive magic.
The dolls were within a few meters of her when…
“You! This way!”
“Hurry!”
A small part of the wall opened. It was a hidden door, and two maids peeked from behind it while gesturing for Metis to go to them.
“Hyah!”
Metis jumped into the narrow pathway behind the hidden door, and the two maids then closed it and covered it with something that resembled a pot.
Metis finally breathed a sigh of relief, as she heard pounding noises from the other side.
There were many hidden doors around the castle, but even the disciple of a sage, who walked freely around the castle, had no way of knowing all of them.
The hidden path was faintly illuminated by magic lamps, and it was too long for Metis to see its end from where she was standing.
“T-thank you…!”
Were the first words out of her mouth. The two girls were half elves, and Metis could not help but stare at their cute faces.
She wondered if they were in the castle before it was attacked, or were brought in afterwards.
“Are you alright!?”
“I am Metis, a disciple of a sage.”
“Thank goodness, a living human…”
“I was brought to this castle with him.”
“They started watching us less closely, so we hid here.”
Him?
Metis decided to leave that aside, as she remembered something important.
“I think we can follow this hidden path to the outside!”
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