In deciding to bring Utsuwa to the free district, they were prepared for the Exinov to launch some kind of attack against them. Utsuwa and Danna Ryl were part of the same whole, after all, so it followed that wherever Utsuwa went, Danna Ryl would know.
“Attack came quicker than we expected, though, huh.” Sitting on the roof of the tallest building in the free district─the bell tower─Mercenary’s ears drooped as he looked up at the gatekeepers that had appeared out of nowhere in the sky above the city. “Sure make an awful sound.”
“Those are cries of intimidation,” replied Zero. “They are intended to throw the chain of command into disarray, interfere with incantations, and prevent retreat by freezing all who hear them in their tracks. Any normal army would likely break ranks at the sound alone.”
The witch was sitting nestled between Mercenary’s legs to block out the ocean winds, but now she got to her feet, seemingly fed up with the ceaseless sonic assault. Under normal circumstances it would have been impossible to hold a conversation amid the gatekeepers’ cries, but this was an ancient witch and her bodyguard. The gatekeepers had demonstrated their cries before, in Kuravanuluox, and so Zero had prepared appropriate measures.
“But…those things didn’t come all this way just to howl at us, did they?”
“I expect not. If the airborne gatekeepers are here, then their opposite numbers must be in the ocean below. Dawn made mincemeat of the one in Kuravanuluox before our ship could be devoured─but in truth I believe they had one more card to play.”
“One more card…?”
“If my prediction is accurate─it is about to rain.”
Mercenary looked up at the sky, and a droplet of water landed on his nose. The gatekeepers’ great black maws gaped overhead. Wondering if they weren’t just drooling on him, a disgusted Mercenary wiped the liquid from his nose only to be met with the strong scent of the ocean.
“…Seawater?”
“─Here it comes.”
The ocean was falling─or so it appeared to Mercenary’s eyes. From the three gatekeepers’ mouths came a torrent of water like to wash away everything before it.
“This is…unreal! Whadda we do?!”
“Not much to do,” Zero said with a smile.
The moment the seawater met the ground of the free district, the witch snapped her fingers. A great chill ran through the city, traveling up the three columns of water and transforming them into pillars of ice in the blink of an eye. The free district was suddenly quiet once more, and the light of the setting sun glinted off the frozen bodies of the gatekeepers, like three great ice sculptures in the sky. A clamor rippled through the city, its denizens pointing up at them in wonder.
Zero’s shoulders heaved with stifled laughter as she looked out over the scene. “I was just thinking the place could use some decoration. Being a symbol of peace in the New World, these gatekeepers will do nicely.”
“Yer a nasty piece a work…” said Mercenary. “But, I thought they couldn’t come after us so long as Utsuwa was here?”
“Well, they did, so clearly they can,” replied Zero.
“What kinda answer is that?”
Zero raised her arms as if to call attention to the fine work she’d done, then began to make her way down from the bell tower.
Mercenary looked up at the frozen gatekeepers once more. “Better than chunks a flesh rainin’ down on the city, I s’pose,” he muttered, before following after Zero.
+++
Kuravanuluox, the city of the Keybinder.
A basement room beneath the tower housed the city’s thaumaturgical control systems. All the mana necessary to run everything from streetlamps to plumbing and sewage was gathered there, then apportioned to the various systems via a control panel. This was the primary occupation of the Grand Magister who oversaw the tower. The Grand Magister’s soul was deeply connected to this control panel, and none but the Grand Magister was permitted to operate it.
Now Danna Ryl stood before that very console. “It can’t be… How is this possible?! The gatekeepers have ceased responding! All three of them! What is happening, Zaza?!”
“They must have been defeated, by those invaders in their free district. As I have already expressed, the power of the gatekeepers will not work against them.”
“But I sent three…!”
Zaza Ryl heaved a deep sigh. How long has it been since Danna Ryl set foot in this control room, I wonder. A hundred years? Two? But Zaza Ryl did not blame her for that. The city usually ran smoothly without any direct input. Even the summoning of the gatekeepers happened automatically when the city itself detected any kind of insurrection against its ruler.
Since Utsuwa’s desire to escape had been realized at the hands of the free district invaders, the city’s defensive systems had malfunctioned. Danna Ryl and Utsuwa possessed the same soul, so the system was unable to automatically determine whose wishes to prioritize.
Danna Ryl had rushed immediately to the control room and tried to summon the gatekeepers to bring Utsuwa back─but Zaza Ryl had stopped her. If Utsuwa was being taken to the free district, why not wait for her to arrive and thereby determine the precise location of the enemy? Then they could set in motion a plan to recapture the girl.
“Fear not, my lady. Though Lady Utsuwa may possess the same soul, she will not so easily be able to take command of this tower.”
“You don’t know that!” Danna Ryl slammed her fist down on the control panel.
Zaza Ryl could hardly bear to watch as tears filled the Keybinder’s eyes and fell onto her clenched fist. He placed his hand over hers and gave it a soft squeeze. “Let the invaders be for now. And should they even demand this tower, let us give it to them, for what we will gain is something much greater.”
“But we couldn’t even bring down the free district…!”
“That is only natural. Their path diverged from ours in the age of legend, and, shut away in the Forbidden Land, they have never needed to fear outside incursions. Accordingly, they do not believe they need expend any of their strength on defense. Their military might is at present focused in the free district, and while they celebrate their victory in bringing Lady Utsuwa to their side, we need only take the Forbidden Land for ourselves.”
According to Har Bell, the Forbidden Land is fourteen days by ship─but the gatekeepers can transport us there in an instant. We know where the Forbidden Land lies, and we need but trace the mana of the thaumatheria Har Bell left behind there. By the time those free district fools realize what’s happening and rush back home, the Forbidden Land will already be under Exinov control.
“With the abundant mana of the Forbidden Land at our disposal, the free districters will have nothing on us. What we must do now is get to the Forbidden Land as quickly as humanly possible.”
At Zaza Ryl’s insistence, Danna Ryl reached for the thaumaturgical communicator. Once activated, it would carry her voice to the rulers of all the towers scattered throughout their world.
“Now then─the preparations are complete.”
There were seventy-seven towers radiating out from the central tower of the Keybinder─though the number currently in operation had been reduced to fifty. The rulers of those towers rendered moribund by the mana shortage had become unable to maintain their own bodies, quietly passing into oblivion. The others had bred more Nurabehn, absorbed their mana, and struggled to maintain the balance of their world─but that would all end today.