While the card hunting event is taking place, I take a peek at what the Devil Lord is up to… And it looks like she’s up to no good.
“Whoa, that looks big. As big as a fully grown giant dragon, maybe?” I mumble.
An enormous silhouette is looming in the darkness.
Displayed on the screen─enhanced with a night-vision barrier─is a huge beast, or rather a monster standing upright on its hind legs in a massive cave.
Its torso and arms are that of a muscular, hairy man or gorilla. The head resembles something like a lion with two impressive horns curling out up top. Its tail looks like a scaly dragon’s. When you look carefully, its lower half looks like the hind legs of a horse or a deer.
“What is it?” I ask Professor Tear.
We’re in her research lab. It’s just the two of us, so I’m not in Shiva Mode.
“Hmm… A Devil Lord and a gigantic monster, huh? Hold on a second.”
Professor Tear runs this way and that as she picks up books one after another. She skims through one, tosses it aside, and picks up the next.
Can you treat your things a little better?
“Ah! Here it is. This one.”
She scuttles back to me with a cheeky grin and shoves the dirty old book in my face.
“This is a personal speculation log that someone wrote after reading a number of ancient scriptures, piecing them together, and compiling them. I couldn’t find their original sources, and the speculation itself was sloppy, so I’d almost forgotten about it─read this part right here.”
I do.
The wording is complicated, but I do notice one phrase.
“Synthetic beasts?”
“It’s what the extraordinary life forms–known as gods of the ancient times─called these monsters. They altered existing monsters, and even literally combined multiple monsters together to create a creature of true terror…is what it says.”
“I see. In other words, a chimera.”
“You always use words I’ve never heard of. What’s that?”
Isn’t it obvious from the context? An animal made from various creatures combined. They’re always in games and fantasy anime, you know?
It’d be futile to explain any of that to her, so I move the conversation forward.
“But Professor Tear, isn’t it a little too big to be a combination of some animals?”
Dragons and bigger monsters are understandable, but some of these other ones mixed in aren’t known to be that large.
“Did you read the latter half of the text?” she says. “During the process of concocting them, the mana of its creators─gods, an existence so magnificent─have a certain effect that enlarges the monster’s size. The fact that it’s the only thing written indicates that this author has abandoned their due diligence of investigating, and even the most basic thought experiment. It’s practically a bad novel─” The professor dives into a hotheaded rant.
I ignore her and decide to analyze the monster.
Hehehe, my Mija’s Crystal (Upgraded Edition) can work from far away, too.
“Its mana level is 68.”
“Whua?! That’s practically at the Demon King’s level─oh, but according to lore, his mana level is estimated to be 80, which is even higher than Glameus, mankind’s strongest being.”
But he lost his will to fight and was defeated by Gizelotte and her army or whatever…according to Professor Tear’s rambling.
Moving on.
Honestly, this dragon’s about the same level as Liza in dragon form and Flay in Fenrir form. I’d just recently maxed out their mana levels. Glad I did.
The two of them together shouldn’t have much trouble taking it on. I can watch from a distance and help them out with my Barrier magic. There’s nothing to worry about.
Professor Tear says in an unusually serious tone, “If something like this goes berserk in the capital, an immeasurable amount of damage could be done.”
I’m surprised to hear such a level-headed opinion come out of her. I expected to see her overjoyed for the chance to slide a knife in, squealing, “Let me dissect it!”
“That said, I would love to get my hands on it for a dissection!”
Phew, that’s more like it.
“You’re right. If something like that gets weaponized in battle, it’ll be a disaster…” I say.
Before anything else, the fact that it’s palling around with the Devil Lord is quite an abnormal situation.
I don’t even know the Devil Lord’s mana level and stuff. It’s definitely stronger than this giant mythical creature, right?
Hmm, but…
“Are you thinking of something evil again?” the mad scientist says.
You’re in no position to be asking that.
“Not evil per se, but this could be our chance.”
“Mmhmm?” Professor Tear leans in for my big zinger with stars in her eyes.
Here we have a giant Chimaera that possesses immense strength and an ongoing card hunting competition against Team Devil Lord.
This enormous beast is sure to be incorporated into future battles.
If that ends up being the case, there’s only one thing the Magical Girl of Justice can use to compete:
“A giant robot…” I mutter.
“Huh?”
I know, I know.
It’s not magical girl stuff, but Char watches the tokusatsu shows that are aired before and after it, too.
✦ ✦ ✦
Somewhere far east of the capital, deep in the mountains…
On the side of a rocky mountain is the entrance to a small cave that leads to a bigger one.
The small cave is a natural formation, but the bigger cave is manmade─made by a god to be more precise.
A woman of bewitching beauty is standing alone. Right under her lustful smile, shackled to her neck is a heavy, rugged prisoner’s collar.
She looks up and gazes at a colossal silhouette.
“Looks like this is the best I could do with the meager materials I was able to scrape up,” she lets out the softest whisper.
Despite her words of discontent, she has a somewhat pleased smile on her face.
In actuality, the synthetic beast she created is full of flaws. It’d barely stand a chance against the wall around the capital, let alone a fight against Shiva.
The capital’s defense is impermeable.
Multiple ley lines intertwine throughout the city, and the capital utilizes them to raise layers of sturdy protective barriers.
Creating a gap small enough for one person to pass through is feasible─and has been successful in the past─but tearing a hole wide enough to send through a creature of this size wouldn’t be easy.
I’d have to cleave a wide enough hole myself or have the beast try to pulverize the castle walls.
The former is out of the question. Causing a scene would be too risky; it’d attract Shiva’s attention.
“Hmph, I guess I don’t have much of a choice to begin with.”
The queen only has one role in the first place: to assassinate Charlotte Zenfis─the disguised form of one of the Three Primordial Gods─and to seize her powers as Lucifyra’s own.
And in order to do that, she will need to distract Shiva with the beast she created.
Then there will be nobody who’d pose a threat to me… Maybe with the exception of one person.
But even then…
She slowly lowers her gaze as she opens and closes her hand in a smooth motion. The smile on her face vanishes.
But not out of fear or despair or anything negative.
“Not as bad as I thought.”
Lucifyra’s certainty morphs into joy, and finally to resolution.
The Devil Lord started off in the queen’s body as a temporary fix, but she could feel herself becoming closer to what her original flesh was. The vessel no longer feels like an alteration, but more like absorption.
“Hehehe. It seems like your soul was very similar to mine.”
The woman who was touted as the Flash Princess through hard work and dedication was, in fact, stained in greed and bound in grudges. She deserved to be in the depths of darkness.
Despite that, Gizelotte had spent her whole life writhing to reach the top. And while watching her do that…
Ah, she’s just like I once was.
A faint voice deep inside contests, but Lucifyra ignores it and carries on with her thoughts.
There is one thing that’s been on my mind.
It’s the fact that Shiva hasn’t been actively involved in any of the card hunting so far. On the other hand, Charlotte─who should be the lord’s mainframe─has been standing on the front line, zealously engaging in the scavenge.
The circumstances would call for the girl to prioritize her safety over anything.
There must be a reason why she must gather the cards herself… That’s the only logical analysis.
Alexei likely hasn’t been informed of the reason. Likewise, the other students who are speculated to be Charlotte’s subjects haven’t been told either.
Either way, I have the upper hand right now. I’ll carry on with my task to draw Shiva’s attention to me.
Charlotte will eventually summon Shiva to retrieve the cards that are in the Devil Lord’s possession. When that happens, the cards can be used as bait to lure Charlotte and slaughter her with Lucifyra’s own hands. The only thing to do for now is to plan meticulously for that moment.